The role of faith

It is through faith that a righteous person has life Romans 1:17

I woke up this morning thinking about God. This is normally my first waking thought. How can I NOT think about Him, when He's given me a restful night and the day's dawned with light, birdsong and beauty? How can I not appreciate the fact that I still have all my senses to appreciate His wonderful creation?

In everything I do, I have complete and utter faith in God. I'm not silly about it; I'm a practical person when it comes to putting my faith into action. And, ironically I cannot have faith in God without His help. Every day I ask Him to strengthen  my faith. I also ask Him for the wisdom to know what  He wants me to do, say and be.

There is no other way to be renewed by God; the role of faith is central. My spiritual renewal began with faith when I began seeking God and surrendered to Him.

Each  key to spiritual renewal requires faith. There is no magical formala for this; it's a daily act of trusting God enough to surrender my will and my life to Him. I also ask Him daily for spiritual renewal. Why not? I ablute every day. I shower, wash and dry my hair, and put on new (clean) clothes. That's why I ask God to clothe my spirit anew every day.

By doing this I put my hand in the hand of the all-powerful God, who promises never to forsake me and love me no matter how unlovable I may feel.

Hope you're having blessed and enjoyable weekend.

Jo

Economical packing for the bike ride

Even though I finished posting about our biking trip to the Namaqualand last last month, I couldn't resist sharing a couple more photos.

A brooding sky over the Karoo

Photo stop to capture the flowers and heavy clouds over the Karoo in September

We're often asked how we travel with so little space for luggage. Well, I've learnt to pack lightly. So many of the clothes that we pack when we do have the space, like when travelling in a car, are often returned without being worn. We also seem to be visiting friends or overnighting at a guest house with a friendly landlady, by the time we need to run a few things through the washing machine and tumbledrier.

I've never taken a hairdryer on biking trips; when I do appear in photos, you'll notice that my hair is stuck to my skull! (That's what happens when you wear a helmet, and the name for that "do" is helmet hair!) However, last month Grant bought me a traveller's hairdryer; it's light and half the size of a normal hairdryer.

For the actual ride, in the winter, I wear thermal foundation, (Doll, you ain't seen glam until you seen these long johns!). Seriously, we have good quality thermal wear called First Ascent  which is a blessing in cold weather. I wear cycling shorts and a tee shirt over these. Then I add a light-weight turtle-neck pullover (I have a blue one and a beige one. If you saw my post yesterday, you'd see my comment about having that [blue] pullover for six years. Well, I bought the beige one at the same time) During winter I add a thicker V-neck pullover.

My "leathers" -  a term for biking gear padded with armour plating - consist of leather pants (hips, rear and knees are protected) and a leather jacket. Here the elbows, rib area and back/shoulder blades are protected. I wear a black leather waist-coat over my leather jacket. It has red roses embroidered on the front and back and is probably my only item of "almost aesthetic" clothing while biking.  

A snod protects my neck from the cold. This looks like a wide, open-ended sock. I pull it down over my neck, tuck the bottom end into my jacket collar and then pull the top bit up to under my nose. If it rains, sleets, snows or hails, Grant normally helps me into my Driza-bone . My hands are protected (against the cold in winter) with thin nylon gloves, called inners, and I wear leather gloves over these. The knuckle section of the leather gloves are protected. My leather lady biker boots, made by Vixen ,  fit snugly over my pant legs. They protect my feet, ankles and shins 100%. A full-face helmet on my head and I'm ready for the ride. 

In the biking world, we have a saying: "Are you dressed for the jol* or are you dressed for the fall?"  Note: *Jol, pronounced "Jawl" ,  is colloquial South African for a party. So if you're riding a bike dressed in jeans, a tank top and sneakers, you'll look super at the jol, but you have absolutely no chance of protection should you fall off the bike. In full protective gear, however, you're ready for any mishap, and even, heaven forbid,  an accident.  

Back to the luggage: the back box (which I lean against while travelling) is for my purse/wallet, my lipstick and perfume. It also houses our binoculars and my Canon camera. Now that Grant has my previous Canon, this will also fit in the top box. Grant and I share a Bible while we're on a trip. Ours is a little light-weight leatherbound copy of God's Word. We only use one cell phone / mobile while in South Africa, and this is turned off while we're riding and stored in the back box. My little Sony point-and-shoot is always in the right-hand pocket of my leather waistcoat, ready for me to whip out in the ride and take photos.

One of the sideboxes is for my luggage. A square "tog"/sports bag fits into the metal case, so when we stop for the night, we lift our bags out and carry them into our accommodation. I pack a small tube of toothpaste, small pots of face cream and minimal make-up. I have a pair of jeans, a pair of pedal pushers, two pairs of khaki shorts,  four tee-shirts, flat sandals, socks and of course, my lingerie. I always pack my pashmina which is light and comes in handy when we go out in the evening. Grant has a smaller box on the left as it's been designed to fit over the exhaust. He sees to his own clothes although I carry the toiletries in my bag. Our respective Driza-bones are stored in each box. Grant rolls these knee-length coats up tightly and they fit into small bags which makes for easy storage.

We also have a tank bag which, as the name suggests, fits over the fuel tank. (see photo above) Grant packs tools for the bike, a puncture repair kit (never needed, thank goodness), and comfortable walking shoes. A little moonbag (the silver bag just visible at the bottom of the tank bag) clips onto the front and contains driver's lisence, passports, ID books, bike registration papers, and Grant's wallet.

So, what more do we need? We fuel up, turn on and ride off into the great blue yonder!

Have a happy and healthy weekend, everyone.

Jo

For more beautiful skies around the world, click here

Biking to the Flowers of Namaqualand, South Africa Part VIII

After leaving Mossel Bay on Monday afternoon, we continued on the N2 to Wilderness National Park where we spent the night in Ebb and Flow camp.

Our en suite log cabin, had a small kitchen inside, with a fridge and eating area on the deck. It's fronted by the river which ebbs and flows according to the tide, hence the name of the camp

 

Later that evening, we met up with friends, Rudi and Nazette and had dinner at a seafood restaurant called The Blue Olive. Rudi worked in Grant's team in the Namibian diamond mines during the nineties and with his first wife, Rene, we all became firm friends. (Sadly Rene died in a motor accident in 2009.) In 2007 - 2008 Rudi worked for Grant in West Africa. He now works in the DRC (Democratic Republic of the the Congo) and was home on his three-week break.

It was the first time we'd met the [new] lady in his life. Nazette, who has an Arab father and Moroccan mother, lived  in Belguim until five years ago when she moved to South Africa. She teaches French classes in George and because Rudi'd told her I learnt Arabic while living in Khartoum, she insisted on speaking to me in that difficult language. Fortunately she spoke slowly and put up with my shaky grammar and accent! (LOL!) As you can imagine, we had a fun evening.

Rudi and Nazette; Jo, Grant and Rudi (my camera setting was on manual and came out all yellow!)

The next morning Grant and I wandered around the beautiful park looking for birds.  The Touws River runs through the park emptying into the sea about a kilometer away.

Yellow-billed Duck

Jump, Forrest, jump! (or not!)

Mmm. Is "prosecution"  waiting to jump in after the perpetrator?

One of the many birding routes through the park which delivers a variety of birds (see below)

Knysna Turaco

The camp and accommodation is immaculate. The lawns, fields and edges along the main road leading to the camp, were a mass of Gazania regens, (Creeping Gazanias)  The gardens around the Parks Board offices and resource centre, were filled with indigenous plants. I forgot to photograph any of these!

After a relaxing couple of hours of birding, we loaded the bike and left. We've been coming to Wilderness National Park for many years and will return again.

Now our ride took us on the N2 heading east up the coast with the sea on our left and passing little coastal villages with lagoons running into the sea.

We stopped for tea and a scones at one of the villages

Our next stop was Knysna where we were staying at friends, Pete and Mart in their beautiful Guest Lodge. Grant and I have known Pete for sixteen years, suffered with him through a difficult divorce but now enjoy a wonderful friendship with him and Mart, his beautiful [new] wife-of-seven years.

Mart wasn't in when we arrived;  she was at a show in a neighbouring town. Pete, Grant and I drove down to the Knysna Keys for lunch. The men headed straight for Oyster World where they enjoyed a dozen tasty molluscs while catching up on news from the past year.  (Pete lived in Marquard for many years before moving to Knysna in 2005) Pete also rode a bike for many years but has since gotten rid of it as Mart doesn't ride with him.

I had vegetarian spring rolls with guacamole on the side. Afterwards I wandered around taking photos.

No seafood should be eaten without Tabasco Sauce!

Two old bikers deep in conversation (If they read my blog, which they don't, they'd lynch me for calling them "old" lol!)

How much fresher can the oysters be?

A Cape Canary on a wooden fence post

Mart arrived home later that afternoon. Pete barbequed  a  flattie (spatchcock chicken); as a side dish he sauted large mushrooms and made  Greek salad. A hot crusty loaf of bread completed this simple, yet satisfying supper which we enjoyed while chatting and laughing about old times.  

A Common Slug-eater slithered into the courtyard where we sat and chatted while Pete barbequed the chicken (Note: with me and Mart around, NO harm came to the snake which isn't venomous; Pete took it into the large garden and released it)

The next morning, Grant loaded the bike while I took photos (well, somebody has to do the job!)

Pete and Mart's Guest Lodge is very French Provencal, right down to the cat posing on the table...

Amber adds to the French chic of the lodge's decor

By 9.30 we greeted our friends and were on our way.

We took the N12  inland to George. We had one more overnight stop about 550kms up the road. But first we had three sweeping mountain passes to travel.

 The Outeniqua Pass over the mountains of the same name, links George (in the Garden Route) with Oudtshoorn (in the Little Karoo). A few kilometers from Oudtshoorn are the famous Cango Caves, one of the world's greatest natural wonders. 

The flowers were still prolific along this route

We bypassed Oudtshoorn, linked up with the N9 and enjoyed half-a-day's ride through the vast Karoo.

Flowers lined the road as far up as Aberdeen

More flowers and...

...more mountain passes!

We arrived at our last overnight stop on our trip - Colesberg. and Kuilfontein Stable Cottages.

This farm has been in the Southey family for five generations, since 1875, and has borne witness to a rich history, from wars, to drought, and floods.

The original homestead was built in 1818 and has been an ostrich, sheep, racehorse and stud farm, and today is a mixed farming operation that produces South Africa's world-famous Karoo lamb. There are still herds of the original springbuck roaming the plains.

A Karoo oasis built conveniently close to the N1, Kuilfontein Stable Cottages owned by Leigh and Penny Southey, is a unique experience.(courtesy: Kuilfontein website)

 

Grant and I stayed over at this farm in May 2005 when we did our first long trip from Marquard to Knysna on our Harley Davidson. Penny Southey recognised us. She said she doesn't know many people who work in Africa (back then we were in West Africa) and tour South Africa on a motorcyle. 

 

After we'd unloaded our luggage into our stable, we changed into comfortable clothes and went for a walk. On our last visit, I'd taken photos of the trees reflected in the dam near the stables. This time I took photos at the same spot. In 2005 Grant took a photo of me standing under the slave bell. This time, he took another of me in the same place!

All the photos on the left in the collage, were taken in May 2005. The photos of the right were taken in September 2011. You can see I don't spend much money on clothes. The blue pullover I'm wearing in  2011, is the same one I had on in 2005!

 

After breakfast the next day, we loaded our bike, greeted our hosts and left. At the farm entrance, near the  National road, we stopped to take photos at the sign.

 

We turned north onto the N1 and headed for Bloemfontein. Less than two hours later, we stopped at the Engen One Stop for a cup of tea at the Wimpy and then it was the final leg home.

 

The regional roads in the Free State are in a terrible condition. It's not at all unusual to see vehicles driving on the wrong side of the road (as we're doing here) to avoid the huge potholes and cracked tar

 

 

 

At 2pm Thursday we arrived home. We'd been on the road for nine days, had clocked up 3200 kms, seen hundreds of flowers and other beautiful South African scenery and met up with many friends along the way.

 

I hope you all enjoyed the bike trip to the Namaqualand flowers with us!

Blessings

Jo