Back on Blogger!

Hello friends,  I am back on Blogger and back online. Not only did I travel from one country to another, I also had to get back into the swing of running the guest house (never mind unpacking, or resting, ha!). Come Sunday we had a 12-hour-long power outage - nothing new in these parts - so I didn't log onto my computer at all. 

However, on Monday when it seemed that the electricity would remain with us for a while (it did, it only went off for six hours this time - and that over lunch too!), I decided to sit down at my laptop and get back into blogging, replying to e-mails and so on.

Imagine my horror when my trusty Nokia Smartphone, which doubles as the perfect (and only) effective Internet modem I'm able to use here, suddenly my phone's settings died on me. Yip, that's it. It seized up completely. I could use my phone for phoning (doh), sending text messages, for CHAT's, applications, maps, shopping online, banking, the time and an alarm clock, and to take photos and videos. I just could not do ANYTHING that pertained to "settings": profile, themes, phone (the unit), connectivity etc.  I sent Wessel a frantic message where he is on holiday in South Africa and he suggested I turn the phone off, turn it on, and try again. (the experts call this re-booting)  Only thing is I couldn't turn the phone off! No matter how hard or long I depressed the power button, it would not budge. At once stage I even brought in a small screwdriver and then thought I should rather not, as I could ruin a perfectly good and pricy cell phone. In desperation I decided to allow the battery to run down, it would turn itself off and I could then "reboot" it. 

At midday yesterday, my phone started to show the message: "Battery Low". The second time I saw the message, I thought I'd try the power button once more. Imagine! It turned off the phone! I then turned it on again, connected it to my computer and voila! The USB connected icon showed on top. Phew! I was connected!

So here I am wishing you all a very Blessed Christmas season. We had a wonderful Christmas day here on camp which I will post about. Meanwhile I thought I'd post a few photos of the beautiful Christmas decorations in the Sea Cliff hotel, Dar Es Salaam, where Grant and I always stay over traveling to and from site. 

 The walkway between the hotel and one of its two restaurants

The sight that greets you as you step out of a lift onto your floor

 The stairs throughout the hotel

The nativity scene in the hotel reception 

 The hotel entrance  

And finally...

 Isn't this just the most idyllic scene ever?

May you all have a wonderful day and a really great time with family and friends in this holiday week.

Bless you all!

Jo

Sunset and sunrise over the Breede River

Sunset over the Breede River in the Southern Cape, South Africa

Sunrise the next day

The river mouth is visible in this photo

While  on holiday we spent a weekend with friends at their cottage on the Breede River, I took dozens of photos of the setting sun over the water and again the next morning of the sun rising over the same. I eventually settled for these which I hope you will like. 

For more beautiful skies around the world, click here

Family time

We spent last weekend at a holiday resort near Bloemfontein. Angus, Amanda and their two little ones, Joel and Abby joined us. We had great fun watching little Joel on the trampoline, swings, slides and merry-go-around. He also played mini-golf (called putt-putt here) with his parents causing quite a bit of havoc swinging the club around quite dangerously! LOL! 

 Family fun at the holiday resort this weekend

On Tuesday, Grant and I set off at 4 am to visit his mother in Kwa-Zulu Natal. We had to leave Marquard at this unearthly hour to enable us to reach the old-age-home which is almost 500kms away. The traffic for the last twenty kilometers before Pietermaritzburg is always very congested and this day was no exception. To make matters worse, the rain pelted down from the time we crested the mountain called Van Reenen's Pass which is the border between the Free State and Kwa-zulu Natal. 

We eventually reached our destination at 10 to 10 to find mom-in-law waiting for us at the door! She immediately told us how unhappy she was in this home and insisted that we get her back to the home in Durban. *Note:* last year (2011) in September,  she told us she was bitterly unhappy in Durban and insisted we arrange for her to be moved to the present place in the Natal midlands.  We couldn't imagine why she'd want to go to this particular home as it is in a small town off the beaten track and miles from any of us. Grant and I are the only people - apart from Angus and Amanda who made a special trip to see her  last October  - who have managed to visit her there.

However, the upshot is that she will be more central for all of us to get to her, even though it now involves having to move her back to the home she didn't like a year ago! 

After leaving mom-in-law with the promise that we'd would arrange her move from this place back to Durban in the New Year, I phoned my brother Phillip for instructions to get to his new home  just off the national freeway. He was waiting at the electric gate to the farm where he now lives with his four-legged family. 

 My brother, Phillip's new home and pets in the Drakensberg environs

Do pop over to Phillip's blog here for an interesting read on a wide variety of subjects. Grant always says that Phillip is the best fly fisherman he knows and I say as a historian and recently self-taught photographer, there is much to keep your interest in his blog.

Once we said goodbye to Phillip, we headed up the freeway again. We were on our way to the Drakensberg to spend the night in a cottage with John, Debbie and their precious little family. 

  From the top: Elijah, Eryn and Bethany, Debbie and John with Israel and finally Joshua 

We had a wonderful time of family togetherness and tales of their life in Mozambique while enjoying a BBQ on the enclosed veranda of this cottage.  Next morning after coffee and rusks, we followed John and family in their Landcruiser up to their house on the hill. 

 Joshua and then Eryn show how their competence around Debbie's beautiful garden on the Pee Wee

I have tons more photos: I managed to photograph two types of Widowbirds (grass birds) in the Berg as well as a Rock Thrush which I will post about later. We are home in Marquard now again. I am catching up on medical aid claims, correspondence and instructing our gardeners about quite a large change I want to make. 

Then its final packing and preparing for our return to Tanzania after the weekend! 

Till later, bless you all.

Jo