This is K and I coming down a rapid called sjambok... in English... the equivalent of a cat-o'nine-tails.
Monday, April 09, 2007
Orange river
This is K and I coming down a rapid called sjambok... in English... the equivalent of a cat-o'nine-tails.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Orange River - pictures four and five
On the last evening, the campsite was very large, we were basically camping out in a river mouth that had dried up. The boys couldn't resist putting sticks in the gravel for goal posts and playing some soccer. These are the same boys, who on the first night, wanted to sing Manchester United songs at close to midnight when everyone else had gone to bed long ago. They went to sleep talking soccer and woke up talking soccer. So when K bounced the ball on his head and some other fancy stuff, the boys were immediately smitten!
Watching them play in the dust with the sun setting on the mountain behind them was seeing soccer as poetry.
Orange River - pictures two and three
This gives a good sense of the geology and what it was like to be on the river with all the canoes, surrounded by water and mountains. In front is the guide giving the signal to stop.
Monday, April 02, 2007
wishes won't wash dishes
B and S wash dishes at their place next door, and I wash dishes at ours. I miss our dishwasher. Although, even if we used ALL our dishes we still wouldn't fill a machine. So I guess it's a blessing in disguise! Not to mention the water saved!
House & Home
Here are a few pictures of the house as we have done it up. I was given a new digital camera and so can finally put up pics - if I can get the internet to work with me, baby!
The first is of C and K at work in our dining room on a Sunday morning.
The second is of part of our kitchen, we seem to have unintentionally found a striped theme for the downstairs.
The lawn looks like it is starting to recover which makes the smell of the manure we put down worth it. Not that we can lie, walk or sit on the lawn without getting poo all over us yet. Hopefully we'll get it healthy just in time for winter!
I just cut some bougainvilla to put in our house, it doesn't have a scent but it is so exuberant, even in a vase that it livens up the lounge and K's fave sitting and reading the paper chair.
We are slowly starting to get to the place where we are completely set up and the admin is over, and we can actually start living a daily life. For me this involves getting up with the cats, walking around a few blocks with H before it gets too hot and then working on my history before going in to St P to teach it. For K it means running around in the car and eventually ending up at DRFN for some work.
Monday, March 26, 2007
The Great Orange River
The geography of the river is largely towering granite walls painted in red, oranges and blacks. The rock is folded and creased and cut sharply through the middle where the river has carved a path. Often in the morning and evening we were in the shadow of the mountains on either side of us.
It is hard for me to describe the feeling of being on the water in that place. In the early morning there are so many sensual experiences. The cold and wet grass tickling your feet. Drops of water falling off the paddle onto your bare legs as you pull your self through the water with smooth, even strokes, twisting your hand and shoulders to put the blade into the water. the sun burns the backs of your eyes as you watch a bird that is just a black shape against the light blue sky. In the evening the feelings are very different. Your body is exhausted and done. Your brain is on hold from feeling completely dominated by the environment around you. There is dirt everywhere but it is comforting and feels like it is keeping you warm. There are so many things that simply do not matter on the river and living becomes elemental. It is so physical all day that the physical becomes all you can focus on. Food, sleep, water are all your body needs. It leaves your mind and spirit completely empty and then fills it with the unforgettable scenery which becomes seared onto your pupils so that even when you close your eyes at night, in your sleeping bag, you see the silouette of the granite against the sky. And even in the night the physical environment cannot be ignored. It seems as though you must memorise every star and all the star dust and their place in the sky before you can sleep. It cannot be possible that anywhere else on the world is the sky as full as the earth.
It is hard for me to describe the feeling of being on the water in that place. In the early morning there are so many sensual experiences. The cold and wet grass tickling your feet. Drops of water falling off the paddle onto your bare legs as you pull your self through the water with smooth, even strokes, twisting your hand and shoulders to put the blade into the water. the sun burns the backs of your eyes as you watch a bird that is just a black shape against the light blue sky. In the evening the feelings are very different. Your body is exhausted and done. Your brain is on hold from feeling completely dominated by the environment around you. There is dirt everywhere but it is comforting and feels like it is keeping you warm. There are so many things that simply do not matter on the river and living becomes elemental. It is so physical all day that the physical becomes all you can focus on. Food, sleep, water are all your body needs. It leaves your mind and spirit completely empty and then fills it with the unforgettable scenery which becomes seared onto your pupils so that even when you close your eyes at night, in your sleeping bag, you see the silouette of the granite against the sky. And even in the night the physical environment cannot be ignored. It seems as though you must memorise every star and all the star dust and their place in the sky before you can sleep. It cannot be possible that anywhere else on the world is the sky as full as the earth.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
rain, sunburns and the Orange river
Oleo just came dashing in, disgusted that the sky is once again promising to fall on her head. It has been thundering and lightning all day and the humidity is gross. You could say that a monkey is getting married cos it is raining at last, but the sun is till shining through the drops. The humidty after the rain is always worse because the water evaporates off the hot concrete.
K went to a workshop yesterday and didn't know it was outdoors. As a result he spent most of the day in a borrowed hat and trying to hide his crispy forearms under his shirt, behind his back and any other place that could give him some relief. His face is brown as a farmer's but his arms are nothing short of two large lobsters. Sleeping next to him last night was like sleeping next to a radiator. I on the other hand am looking more like my natural colour. Just from swimming and walking around I have got a healthy hue back.
We will be canoeing down the Orange river next week, we'll be going with the International Youth Award students. Four adults, fifty teens - promises to be fun. I made the lead teacher promise to let me be in the same canoe as K and his sunburn. I am feeling more than a little apprehensive as I have never even managed to make a kayak go backwards, let alone forwards over rapids! The advantage of having fifty kids with you is that I won't have to wash a single dish! I am looking forward to sitting at a fire, watching the glow of the embers, while the unending stars are above us.
K went to a workshop yesterday and didn't know it was outdoors. As a result he spent most of the day in a borrowed hat and trying to hide his crispy forearms under his shirt, behind his back and any other place that could give him some relief. His face is brown as a farmer's but his arms are nothing short of two large lobsters. Sleeping next to him last night was like sleeping next to a radiator. I on the other hand am looking more like my natural colour. Just from swimming and walking around I have got a healthy hue back.
We will be canoeing down the Orange river next week, we'll be going with the International Youth Award students. Four adults, fifty teens - promises to be fun. I made the lead teacher promise to let me be in the same canoe as K and his sunburn. I am feeling more than a little apprehensive as I have never even managed to make a kayak go backwards, let alone forwards over rapids! The advantage of having fifty kids with you is that I won't have to wash a single dish! I am looking forward to sitting at a fire, watching the glow of the embers, while the unending stars are above us.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Catchup
I have now been here two weeks and as cliched as it is, time seems to pass differently here. It is like two weeks have been stretched out till I never left. And yet, I seem to not have done very much in the days I have had.
The house is all set up, and we have hung pictures, which goes the furthest to making a place feel like home. We bought and borrowed furniture from various sources so that now we have a lovely lounge and small dining room table. Most of you will understand that a small dining room table doesn't leave much space for scat or speed scrabble. Which is fine as we end up next door at L's most nights anyway.
C is already tired of speed scrabble but the rest of us love it so much that a night hasn't passed in the last six that we haven't played a game. The scat has gone down equally well with the more rowdy crowd. Of course that makes me happy as my bliss is to play cards all night, every night.
The cats are in heaven, Henry gallavants and is fast making buddies with all the neighbours, including L's cat and H's two wee dogs. The one is actually smaller than Henry - giving him an unfair advantage, it won't be long before there are complaints about our roving ginger boy. Oleo is as happy as a pig in mud, she has favourite spot under a bush for her mornings, and a spot in the ferns for the hot afternoons. They are getting along and even snuggle together with me when it finally cools down at about 3 in the morning.
I am walking everyday with H and in the evenings with L, the only times of the day when you want to be moving further than the fridge for water, which must be boiled and then cooled before drunk. On these walks I get thrills from all the birds I see that I have missed. This evening we saw guinea fowl, as well as the blue waxbill which looks like it was dipped in paint.
I have occasionally swum in the new town pool with R and that is lovely. As always, getting in is the hardest part. Your body is warm from the car ride, and the water is still cold from the previous night. Swimming under the sun, with the water glinting in front of me makes me impatient for visitors so that I can share these simple things that define life here.
The house is all set up, and we have hung pictures, which goes the furthest to making a place feel like home. We bought and borrowed furniture from various sources so that now we have a lovely lounge and small dining room table. Most of you will understand that a small dining room table doesn't leave much space for scat or speed scrabble. Which is fine as we end up next door at L's most nights anyway.
C is already tired of speed scrabble but the rest of us love it so much that a night hasn't passed in the last six that we haven't played a game. The scat has gone down equally well with the more rowdy crowd. Of course that makes me happy as my bliss is to play cards all night, every night.
The cats are in heaven, Henry gallavants and is fast making buddies with all the neighbours, including L's cat and H's two wee dogs. The one is actually smaller than Henry - giving him an unfair advantage, it won't be long before there are complaints about our roving ginger boy. Oleo is as happy as a pig in mud, she has favourite spot under a bush for her mornings, and a spot in the ferns for the hot afternoons. They are getting along and even snuggle together with me when it finally cools down at about 3 in the morning.
I am walking everyday with H and in the evenings with L, the only times of the day when you want to be moving further than the fridge for water, which must be boiled and then cooled before drunk. On these walks I get thrills from all the birds I see that I have missed. This evening we saw guinea fowl, as well as the blue waxbill which looks like it was dipped in paint.
I have occasionally swum in the new town pool with R and that is lovely. As always, getting in is the hardest part. Your body is warm from the car ride, and the water is still cold from the previous night. Swimming under the sun, with the water glinting in front of me makes me impatient for visitors so that I can share these simple things that define life here.
A Closed Mouth gathers no Foot.
Last night I sat at my Mother's table and played cards with her, my two sisters, a boyfriend and my husband. The title of this post was something said by S - the boyfriend. It made us all laugh so hard and in that moment I was overrun by the feeling of being home and being held in the normalcy of here.
There are so many changes to the town, and to the people that are here, almost everything is slightly different. Whole new suburbs where, for me "here be dragons" was once stamped on the map. Wanaheda, Rocky Crest, Prosperita, these were not words that were part of my childhood. Now they are sections of the city I have never been to, in a city where I have lived in 18 houses in half a dozen suburbs, in a city where half a dozen suburbs was all there was.
There are also things that are the same and it is these things that give me silence in my soul. The roads still smell like evaporating petrol. The smell of rain (petrichor - I looked it up) and the smell of dust are all sensory reminders that I am where I always have been in my heart. They also remind me that these smells will always be here, wherever I go. The backs of my Mother's hands are still as soft as talc and the couch's texture is grainy. The sky is so blue and all the other colours are washed out by the sun. Everyone spells colours this way.
I do miss WDC. She is a large and vibrant city that sucks your time and leaves you with a nervous and tense energy that almost never fades until you collapse on your couch determined to ignore her, waiting, just outside the window.
WHK is so different, the breeze blows in my open door, and warmth of the passing day leaves a layer of dust on my skin that seems to make my day slow and gentle.
There are so many changes to the town, and to the people that are here, almost everything is slightly different. Whole new suburbs where, for me "here be dragons" was once stamped on the map. Wanaheda, Rocky Crest, Prosperita, these were not words that were part of my childhood. Now they are sections of the city I have never been to, in a city where I have lived in 18 houses in half a dozen suburbs, in a city where half a dozen suburbs was all there was.
There are also things that are the same and it is these things that give me silence in my soul. The roads still smell like evaporating petrol. The smell of rain (petrichor - I looked it up) and the smell of dust are all sensory reminders that I am where I always have been in my heart. They also remind me that these smells will always be here, wherever I go. The backs of my Mother's hands are still as soft as talc and the couch's texture is grainy. The sky is so blue and all the other colours are washed out by the sun. Everyone spells colours this way.
I do miss WDC. She is a large and vibrant city that sucks your time and leaves you with a nervous and tense energy that almost never fades until you collapse on your couch determined to ignore her, waiting, just outside the window.
WHK is so different, the breeze blows in my open door, and warmth of the passing day leaves a layer of dust on my skin that seems to make my day slow and gentle.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Keir's View
This is the view from the Library at Gobabeb in the desert. The White tower in the left is the water tower and has become the icon of the research station.
The morning of
I'm packed, and my plane clothes are laid out on the bed. My toiletries are all in a one gallon bag ready for TSA. I have done all the admin nuisances that I can get done before I leave and now I am lying on the couch feeling the bubble of butterflies for the first time since we booked our flights.
There is a series of events involved with flying that adds to the build up of excitement for your arrival. First you wait in the house, bags packed, dressed, everything done, waiting to leave. There's a flurry of activity as you lug your bags downstairs, hugs all round and then get arranged in the car. Then the airport as you stand in the multiple queues to you get through. There is such a feeling of relief when you hand over your luggage and then again when you get through security and can put your shoes back on.
All the waiting creates momentum for the moment that your head pulls back and the plane magically and fantastically takes off. 7 more hours in the USA, 19 hours in SA, a total of 17 hours on the plane and then home!
There is a series of events involved with flying that adds to the build up of excitement for your arrival. First you wait in the house, bags packed, dressed, everything done, waiting to leave. There's a flurry of activity as you lug your bags downstairs, hugs all round and then get arranged in the car. Then the airport as you stand in the multiple queues to you get through. There is such a feeling of relief when you hand over your luggage and then again when you get through security and can put your shoes back on.
All the waiting creates momentum for the moment that your head pulls back and the plane magically and fantastically takes off. 7 more hours in the USA, 19 hours in SA, a total of 17 hours on the plane and then home!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
ROARRRRRR
I start to have even more compassion for circus animals, and commit more to cirque du soliel every day that this move progresses. I now empathise with any creature that is made to jump through hoops. I have had to do the same to get everything in place. Every hoop imaginable; pink ones, yellow ones, little ones, big ones, thin ones, fat ones. (or is that worms?) In particular, to get the cats to Namibia required hoops of fire. And K and I weren't the only ones who had to make the leap. Big Shout out to B for driving all the way out to Annapolis to the USDA vet services. BUT today I got the call that they had arrived safely and happily and hungrily at our new home. I love to imagine my hubbles, and my kittens snuggled on the couch watching the sunset and breathing the dusty Namibian air.
To tempt you to visit - attached are pics of the garden and the view onto the garden. That bench is begging for a G&T.
Thursday, February 08, 2007
it fast approaches!
Wow - just a little over one week left to go before I leave. Here is a pic of the front of our new place. Keir will be moving furniture etc this weekend. It's a massive place and it's going to be great to have so much space. It'll feel wierd coming back to the States after all that sunshine and air.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The properties of light
Last night on my way home from work I stopped at the grocery store. From there I was struggling back down the hill with my heavy bags, wondering how easy it is to dislocate a shoulder, and whether I should figure out a better way to carry the heaviest bag, when I looked up.
In front of me was a huge construction site, basically a big hole in the ground with cranes in it. Beyond that was another construction site, the building standing, but with no filling, no walls, just concrete and ropes of steel holding the whole structure together. Beyond that was the spire of one of the many churches in our neighbourhood. (All Souls's I think - click here for an image of it - http://www.travelphotobase.com/f/DC16/DCS59.HTM) It was a classic DC scene - actually, probaby a classic city scene, but what made me stare was the frozen moment of light on all these structures.
The hole in front of me, and the cranes in it, were in shadow, and their ugliness hidden in the passed light of dusk. The almost-building behind it was shining, the leftover sunlight from the day was reflecting off all the metal in the structure, it made the whole building into a crosshatch of bright light and dark holes. The church spire was swathed in a low hanging cloud, stretched out like a duvet. The top of the cloud was white, the center was grey and stormy and the bottom of the cloud, the part that was snuggled around the spire was red and orange and yellow and all the colours in between.
I didn't think about my groceries again till I got home.
In front of me was a huge construction site, basically a big hole in the ground with cranes in it. Beyond that was another construction site, the building standing, but with no filling, no walls, just concrete and ropes of steel holding the whole structure together. Beyond that was the spire of one of the many churches in our neighbourhood. (All Souls's I think - click here for an image of it - http://www.travelphotobase.com/f/DC16/DCS59.HTM) It was a classic DC scene - actually, probaby a classic city scene, but what made me stare was the frozen moment of light on all these structures.
The hole in front of me, and the cranes in it, were in shadow, and their ugliness hidden in the passed light of dusk. The almost-building behind it was shining, the leftover sunlight from the day was reflecting off all the metal in the structure, it made the whole building into a crosshatch of bright light and dark holes. The church spire was swathed in a low hanging cloud, stretched out like a duvet. The top of the cloud was white, the center was grey and stormy and the bottom of the cloud, the part that was snuggled around the spire was red and orange and yellow and all the colours in between.
I didn't think about my groceries again till I got home.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
winter crisp
Today is one of those days for feeling semtimental and reflective. Walking to work was cold. My face was cold but the rest of me was snuggled into my fabulous winter coat. Cold, crisp air blowing my hair out of my face, and the sun shining down on my squinting eyelids. This is the best kind of winter day, it is just refreshing and not depresssing.
I got into the office and everyone is in a good mood, sleepy, but happy to see everyone else, happy to have someone else to share the early morning dark of the office with. We commune in the kitchen, the bright lights and smell of coffee assisting in our grunting waking up. Everyone's hands are busy, there's toast in the toaster oven and naturally there is someone standing with the fridge door open looking inside but really only seeing their crumpled, warm bed that they left behind. My tea is sweet and milky and everyone telling banal stories from the night before is soothing. We all scatter down the hallway to stare blankly at the computor. Do people who get in at ten have the same half hour of coming-to, or do they walk into work brains fired and ready to start the day?
I don't really want to let go of the warm fuzzies this morning. BBC2 is helping, "the magic numbers" is excellent early morning assistance.
I got into the office and everyone is in a good mood, sleepy, but happy to see everyone else, happy to have someone else to share the early morning dark of the office with. We commune in the kitchen, the bright lights and smell of coffee assisting in our grunting waking up. Everyone's hands are busy, there's toast in the toaster oven and naturally there is someone standing with the fridge door open looking inside but really only seeing their crumpled, warm bed that they left behind. My tea is sweet and milky and everyone telling banal stories from the night before is soothing. We all scatter down the hallway to stare blankly at the computor. Do people who get in at ten have the same half hour of coming-to, or do they walk into work brains fired and ready to start the day?
I don't really want to let go of the warm fuzzies this morning. BBC2 is helping, "the magic numbers" is excellent early morning assistance.
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Life is Cruel
Earlier today I was sent a link by someone who loves me very much. It took me about two hours before I had time to open the link.
http://www.johnpauljonesarena.com/event_details.asp?id=27
Eric Clapton is playing in Virginia! For a shining, sparkling moment I was ecstatic. Then I looked at the date, he is playing in Virginia Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I feel like the opposite of orphan Annie.
There is no way I can go. Even were there tickets available, which would be a miracle in itself, I can't dump work tomorrow. We have funders coming in, I have to be here.
Like I said, Life is cruel.
http://www.johnpauljonesarena.com/event_details.asp?id=27
Eric Clapton is playing in Virginia! For a shining, sparkling moment I was ecstatic. Then I looked at the date, he is playing in Virginia Tomorrow. Tomorrow, Tomorrow. I feel like the opposite of orphan Annie.
There is no way I can go. Even were there tickets available, which would be a miracle in itself, I can't dump work tomorrow. We have funders coming in, I have to be here.
Like I said, Life is cruel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)