Loadshedding in South Africa

 Good morning dear Blogger friends. I've finally finished leading and coaching my sixth Weigh-Less group.  Tomorrow I do my last group in the Valley. Then I am finished until Tuesday 2pm. 

Meanwhile, the bane of a South Africa's life is the continuous Loadshedding - especially during the winter months. Our energy supplier is under severe constraints and we, the consumer have to suffer the consequences. 

We generally have 2.5 to 5 hours of loadshedding in a day. We are given our schedules and have to do a dance between having electricity and power outages.

If you are the type of person who doesn't like surprises, you need to plan for these periods. I am one such a person. I ensure that my laptop, smartphone and wireless dongles are always charged. I have two chargers plugged into the cigarette lighter in my car. I also recently bought a power pack which I keep charged. Just as a back-up! 

I also have a strong handheld torch; I have a headlamp and I have a nifty light in a jar. All of these are battery operated. 

My light in a jar shines very brightly in the dark

This is what the jar light looks like 

Here on the farm if we have loadshedding from 6 to 8.30am, that is fine. The generator is started in order for the cows to be milked. The same goes for loadshedding between 14h00 and 16h30 when the second milking of the day takes place

Any times out of these periods, we have NO power. 

As you can imagine this phenomena has played havoc with businesses. The traffic lights (called robots here) normally don't work for a day after loadshedding! And of course, your household appliances take a beating with the irregular power.

Up at my holiday accommodation, my guests always have power. The owner next door has a large generator which kicks in automatically when loadshedding starts.

HAPPY THURSDAY TO YOU ALL! 

New curtains!

 Good morning dear Blogger friends. When I posted about my handy woman stint with the light, I realized that I've never had bathroom curtains since moving here in December 2017! My windows are high and frosted so I have never felt the need for curtains.

However, off the shops I went and bought some ready-to-hang curtains. Only thing is when I returned home and decided to hang the curtains, I saw the designs and accompanying slogans were more suited to a kitchen! Things like Coffee is a good idea; Bon appetit and The kitchen is the heart of the home, were definitely kitchen themes! 

So I removed my curtains from my office-cum-kitchen open plan space, washed them and gave them to Thandi. 

The new curtains have made my workspace cozy and homely

I will have to make another trip to linen shop in town and look for bathroom curtains! 

HAPPY TUESDAY TO YOU ALL!

Sunshine, wildflowers and my autumn garden

 At last the sun appeared two days ago. 

It is still sunny. 

Not holding my breath! 

Early morning over the farm

While walking with Skabby on Saturday, I stopped to snap these little wildflowers

And this week, the beginning of May, we're still enjoying beautiful autumn weather and surrounds. 

My garden is secluded...

...restful...

...and my small piece of paradise

HAPPY TUESDAY TO YOU ALL! 

Moonrise; sunrise and my peaceful garden

 Good morning dear Blogger friends. 

Once again, I realized on Friday, how blessed I am to be living on the farm with my friends. It's going on for four years and a quarter years and gets better every day. 

I mean, I have just been to breakfast at a newly opened restaurant a few kilometers from home. 

It's long weekend, so Nine (headmistress of the primary school in town) has the weekend off. Her daughter, Jenn, who teachers in Pietermaritzburg and is boarder mistress at St John's Girls High (her alma mater) and her Plus One, Guilford (a young farmer in Ixopo) were home for the weekend. Younger daughter, Denn, who teachers at a private boys school in Pretoria and her Plus One, Jem (a veterinary doctor), were home for the weekend. Gav, farmer alongside his dad, John, happily enjoyed having his chicks around

John, farmer/owner and my friend, Ron, for whom I work,  asked me to join the family for breakfast. What a lovely family outing it was.

On Friday night, my SIL, Shell and my birding mentor, sent me a photo of the moon rising over the sea. I dashed outdoors with my camera and managed to catch the moon rising over the farm.

The credit for this beautiful image goes to Shelley Hedges 

The same moon rising over the farm in the  Drakensberg 

Mysterious 

The next morning as I opened my door and walked onto the veranda, 

the most incredible sunrise greeted me

 Over the years I have lived quietly  in my little cottage nestled between the two farm houses. I work in the farm office in the mornings; in between I'm able execute all my other business with the peace and calm that is my existence here on the farm. 

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY WEEK AHEAD 

A memorable celebration

Dearest Blogger friends. Today I celebrate an auspicious occasion - on my own.

Today, 50 years ago on 4th March 1972, Grant and I married. 

When I look at my wedding album, the smiles and the expectation of great things waiting in our lives, I think, thank goodness we cannot see into the future...

Nevertheless, I've enjoyed a good life and even though, I was widowed more than four years ago, I decided that I was NOT going to ignore such an important date when it came around. 

Today, on my own,  I am celebrating my 50th anniversary. 

                                                 1972

                                2022

A more recent photo of me and Grant  at our son, Angus' wedding many years later

Thank you to my dear sister, Rose, on my right in the group wedding photo. Rose and I have always been close siblings even into our golden years.  And to my sister-in-law, Shelley, who married Grant's brother (the young man on the far left of the photo) a few years later and with whom I have had a close relationship for 46 years.  Rose and Shelley contacted me first thing this morning and said they were thinking of me. How very  special...

HAVE A GREAT FRIDAY

Confidence is...

A few years ago I met this lady on the farm road while I was walking Skabby. I was fascinated by her total confidence in carrying dozens of eggs on her head. 

Smiling shyly she agreed to a photo

Family visit

 Good morning dear Blogger friends. Last month Angus booked The Bunker for the first week of February. They came to celebrate my birthday (albeit a week early) and at the same time, Angus did several running repairs on my cottage as well as some tidying up at The Bunker (cable tied the electric cords for the bedside lamps and at the kettle and toaster in the kitchen) Amanda re-formula'ed my farm wages and sorted out a PDF issue I'd had with my Weigh-Less member's online enrolment forms. Angus also added a Malware program to Ronnie's desktop as she has been the victim of mountains of spam.  

We are experiencing horrifically hot weather this February. Ronnie invited my family to come and swim at any time. Which they did! 

The comments from the family in the guest book at The Bunker 

We had a delicious lunch at the Waffle hut last Wednesday. When they checked out on Saturday, they came by where I was volunteering at Parkrun.

Abby will be ten in March, Joel turned 12 on 30th January 

and Liam, the littlest Hedges turned seven on 12th January

 Wonderful friends from all over the world, and here in the Champagne Valley and a weeklong visit from my children. 

HOW BLESSED CAN ONE GET? 

The day continues...

 Thank you for the birthday wishes. After posting on my blog this morning, I drove to Cedarwood shopping center where I met my friends for lunch. 

What a lovely outing and what a special time with these friends. 

From left: Less and Lynn (owners of The Bunker); Caroline, moi, Estelle and Steve in the foreground 

I always love spending time with Caroline, a good friend and also our Taigelates instructor. On the fourth anniversary of Grant's death, Caro unearthed a photo of Grant and the main builder, Amon on the site of our cottage which he was building on Caroline's property. I'll always be grateful to her for the kindness and respect she showed Grant during the last three months of his life on earth. 

As I said, I have wonderful, loyal and precious friends in the Valley.

Grant and Amon with three other men working alongside them on the building project 

I was blessed with a great haul of birthday gifts 

Back home, I continued with my chores and at 3.45 my friend Arina phoned and said she was coming over from her home at Morely (about 12km from my home) She wanted to have a cup of tea with me for my birthday. 

Happy Sunday to you all! 

Inquisitive calves

  It's been hot and windy for days. While snow is predicted on the nearby mountains! Skabby and I walked most days, and I managed to capture the young calves watching him snuffling in the grass next to the fence.

In my experience, the bovine critters are very inquisitive. If you walk up the the paddock fence, cows will come from far off to the fence to see what you are doing. This week was the first time I'd seen calves doing this. Skabby was investigating the grass polls (and munching on cow pats -ewgh) on the road so the calves inside the paddock came right up to fence to see what he was doing. 

The calves watch intently as Skabby snuffles up a tasty treat on the road ! 

When he turned back to investigate lower down on the road, the calves turned around to watch! 

I'm linking to Saturday Critters with Eileen, here

Going it alone!

 On Friday, after checking on my large holiday home which had seven guests arriving that night, I drove down the mountain to my two sleeper Bunker. Thandi and I had cleaned the unit on Monday and I hadn't had any guests during the week. However, on Friday night, I was expecting a family of four from the Eastern Cape. So, here I was alone, setting up extra beds for the two teenage children.

Not easy to set up the camp beds on my own...

...but I managed! 

The Bunker, all set for a family of four 

Outside, I took in the beautiful mountains

I TRUST YOU ARE ALL HAVING A GREAT WEEK! 

In memory

 Good evening dear Blogger friends. Many of you may remember how, three years ago, I lost my darling husband, Grant very suddenly. You can read about it here

Today is the anniversary of his death and I have been inundated with wishes, phone calls and WhatsApp messages from friends and family. 

I scrolled through my external hard drive for photos and posted on Facebook. Here too, I was showered with loving comments and kind words about Grant. 

I thought I'd share these here too. 

Grant with his mum, Pam . She outlived him by two years

Easy Rider Circa 2002

Our first years as bikers 

In 2006, Grant moved an entire earthmoving fleet from a gold mine in Guinea to another in Mali. He traversed a distance of 1800 across the wildest and roughest terrain known to man. It took him 53 days. He kept a journal and took over 700 digital photos. I intended to write about his odyssey but somehow life got in the way. I hope to write it one day - soon! 

He was meticulous about the condition of his trucks and other machines; even in the wilds of Africa! He was approaching the his destination in Mali so the roads are kept in peak condition by the mining company. The previous 1600km were so rough that some days he only covered 25km and it always fascinated me how happy he was for this progress!

Grant was a keen on the outdoors and loved fishing. Here he is fly fishing in the Niger river, the border between Guinea and Mali, West Africa 

Grant and I spent two years in Khartoum, North Africa. I blogged extensively about our experiences at the time. Am I glad I did. I have had a few forays into my archives reliving these times. 

Grant and I spent many a Friday (Sunday in the Islamic calendar) touring the Nubian desert in his Landcruiser 

We attended a Sudanese wedding while we were there 

On our breaks in South Africa, we toured the country and neighboring states on our BMW motorcycle.

Namibia on two wheels 

SA national roads boast sweeping passes which are a biker's delight and architecturally superior bridges across our many major rivers. Photo ops of  the bike on a bridge was my forte and my old biker always obliged by posing in a relaxed manner while I clicked away 

Posing at the Tropic of Capricorn in Namibia in 2014

Grant and I at a friend's funeral in 2014 

Lake Victoria in Tanzania

Grant, project manager in Mwadui diamond mine doing a presentation 

At Grant's niece's wedding in 2013

At a motorcycle rally in Bloemfontein in 2017

On the farm in the Drakensberg 2017. Grant was my trusty gardener 

Day hikes in the Drakensberg 

Grant striding out at Parkrun early 2017 

Six months after Grant's death, friend and at the time, employer, artist, Steve Bull commissioned a painting of Grant. He said it was an honor and a pleasure immortalize his old friend on canvas 

Missed greatly; never forgotten

Two, four and eight-legged critters

 Good afternoon Blogger friends. This week in South Africa has been freezing cold - 0 degrees Celsius to minus 5 and 6. That's cold for us warm blooded critters here in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Today the weather has been peachy and sunny. As always Skabby and I had our walk. In fact he's been spoiled. On two occasions this week he and I have walked up to the farm turnoff to meet guests. Yes, we are up and open at the Bunker again and business is brisk. Thank goodness. 

Back to our walk and the critters we encountered. I heard it before I saw it: a Blacksmith Plover. The name speaks for itself. 

Blacksmith plover

Its open bill - even in the reflection - issuing metallic, pinging sounds

As always, Skabby has a swim 

Walking back, I was on the lookout for good photos of the beautiful mountain peaks in the distance. And heard another bird call. I stopped to scan the paddock next to the road and zoomed in on this beauty...

 African Stonechat

After downloading the photos I realized it was very indistinct - the distance was too far that day. I have been watching for this little bird ever since, but it has disappeared! Apologies for the poor quality of the photo but I had to share it. 

Closer by that day, I snapped a White-fronted Bee-eater

Back home, I rescued this critter from the wall above my bed...

...and tipped it out in the garden 

And with further apologies to Sandra; on Friday as I closed the bathroom door, I saw this beauty on the wall. I opened the door for its protection. I'm not sure of Thandiwe's take on spiders. 

Y'all know mine! **

Rain spider female hopefully announcing spring showers next month  

**With my right hand place a drinking glass carefully over the spider. Using a  piece of paper in left hand, I slide it between the glass and wall and with it covered, I have the glass in my hand, the spider generally at the bottom of the glass. As always I like to take a photo (as you see above) and then to avoid causing the spider any more stress, I tip it into the garden where it scuttles away to safety. 

I'm linking to Saturday Critters with Eileen here

May you all have a wonderful weekend - keeping safe at the same time.