Dec 1, 2010 | An Expat, Travel..ling Tuesdays
You’ve already seen a few of the shots from the delightful moment in the park in the ATL…but I thought I’d share a few more of my favourites this Travelling Tuesday. I’m excited to have more to share, specifically new shots from the Carolinas! Whoo-hoo!
{I’m still absorbing and processing the significant re-entry shock, but am collecting thoughts to share soon!}
Guess whose faces will grace Grandma’s Christmas Cards soon?
The cousins and perhaps their canine cuz…
The Bear really likes the swings he can’t fall out of…
Pass me a spoon, and I could eat this baby.
Logan might make the Grandma Christmas card, too!
I love these boys! Can you believe we’ll have another soon? 🙂
Last, but perhaps not least, a very posed attempt at putting the cousins together… It may seem awkward, but they just met, ya know?
I am a thankful gal this Travelling Tuesday! It’s such a blessing that this time my travels have taken me home!
xCC
Nov 16, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
We travelled to Hermanus with our visitors a few days ago. The whales were in the harbour, and it was absolutely magical. Although we’ve been to Hermanus lots of times, we’ve never been there when the whales are there. But Hermanus is known for whales, because they come right up into the harbour to frolick and breach and mate.
There aren’t many places in the world where you can enjoy whale-watching standing on dry land, but in Hermanus we enjoyed our lunch and watched them breaching just out the restaurant windows. We had our little camera with us, but I suppose I was just so entranced with watching them, and knowing they couldn’t really be captured, I didn’t snap a single shot.
But a little later, while our friends were checking out the market for curios, the Bear and I played on a patch of grass nearby, but far enough away that little hands wouldn’t break little curios they shouldn’t be touching. A peaceful moment unfolded there that did my heart some good, so I’d like to let you travel to that patch of grass with me today, so you can enjoy it, too.
The Bear made some friends in those brief moments on the grass.
And it seemed that nobody minded that anybody looked different.
And when the older boy realised the Bear was “just a baby!” and couldn’t say much, that was okay, too.
And running and jumping and crawling and flipping and climbing was all anyone needed to think about.
Except that the Bear really wanted to give away a Bear Hug or two.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
I sat in the grass and reflected on the scene unfolding, thankful to have these little ones around, to give us big ones an example to follow.
Happy Tuesday!
xCC
If I remember, I might link up to share the thankfulness at Chatting at the Sky this Tuesday. 🙂
Nov 9, 2010 | South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Last week I was busy in the telling of the adventure wherein seven long and arduous flights found me in Cape Town, travelling up-country with a delightful fellow who was not yet Hero Hubs. (To read part one, click here.) And where we left off, I’d just unknowingly met my future father- and mother-in-love, and enjoyed a few days in beautiful Bloemfontein.
Now pressing on!
After the delightful stay in Bloem, we pressed on toward the northeast of South Africa, passing through the Golden Gate National Park, which was gorgeous, to say the least.
The reminders that we’d soon be returning to Bonnie Scotland continued…
and we occasionally stopped to fully take in the amazing scenery passing by our windows.
But finally we made it to Makhasa Game Reserve, in Kwa-Zulu Natal, where friends of the future-HH were field guide and host.
Sans hair dryers or running water in our dwellings, we were properly in the bush.
See? This male Nyala is blocking the way to my tent! It is under that covered awning there!
The week that unfolded at Makhasa was unforgettable for a gabillion reasons.
I never dreamed of seeing some of the sites I took in, up close and personal.
Dung beetles are so incredible they deserve their own blog post. Hold me to that.
I also had no idea how frightened I should’ve been when the field guide told me to quietly step down, as he chose me to follow him and approach a rhino on foot.
The future HH was wrestling between taking photos and picking up the field guide’s rifle just in case.
Wild, majestic, magical Africa unfolded before my eyes day after day.
I found so much cause for thankfulness, enjoying God’s amazing creation in things great and small.
Care to guess which one’s the female funnel-web spider?
HH-to-be was carefully giving no clue that he had it in mind to ask me to marry him. And when the subject came up, even after such confirmations as my favouritest phone call ever, he threw curve balls by talking about needing more confirmation from the Lord, and being unsure of his next steps.
The day before our last full day there, I went for a walk on the beach while HH2B went scuba diving in Sodwana Bay. (I gave it a go, but wasn’t ready for diving yet.) I prayed and spoke to the Lord about my heart, feeling a little discouraged at being in the perfect place, in such perfect surroundings, and what felt like such perfect timing for a proposal. I like to get honest. I just couldn’t imagine a more magical story than this one, to be the start of our journey toward marriage and life together.
I was walking back toward the spot where I’d meet HH2B when he finished diving when the Lord showed me a rock sitting on the sand near my feet. It looked like sand itself, rough and multi-coloured. Since it looked so much like sand, I almost wouldn’t have noticed it was there, if my attention hadn’t somehow been drawn to it. I picked it up and felt the Lord was saying “You can’t see what I’m doing right now, but trust Me. I’m moving.”
I was met with incredible peace.
And the adventure that lay ahead of me was so overwhelmingly great, that after all these photos and stories, it needs to be told fully all on its own.
Can you make it till tomorrow to hear the tale? {Here’s the story.}
xCC
{Happy Tuesday!!! My heart, thankful for things great and small, has linked up to Chatting at the Sky today. If it has remembered.}
Nov 2, 2010 | South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
The year was 2006. I’d been dating a guy I’d known for a year for about four months. And for some crazy reason I took seven flights to visit him in South Africa over the holidays. We planned it mind you…I didn’t just show up! I’d been to South Africa once before, but only to Johannesburg, and briefly, so that didn’t really count … this trip was my first proper introduction to the amazing beauty of South Africa.
A few days after Christmas ’06 I was on a flight from Raleigh, NC to New York (La Guardia) to Shannon to Dublin to Edinburgh … a brief pause to visit my flat in Edinburgh, shower, change clothes, change my suitcases from winter gear to summer gear, nap and head back to the airport … to Paris to Johannesburg to Cape Town.
What’s love got to do with it?
Probably everything.
Eventually Kulula encouraged me to slide that seat belt around those gorgeous hips and get ready for take off — me and all the other passengers listening to the pre-flight announcements — and I was on that last leg of the journey…six flights behind me, Table Mountain ahead of me…and so, so much more.
I thought this Travelling Tuesday I’d take you for a little travelling stroll down memory lane from just a few years ago. And it all started here. And I’m not sure why Julie’s not smiling, cos she’s a happy gal.
Upon arrival in Cape Town, Hero Hubs (who wasn’t Hubs at the time) planned for us to take a wee sunset cruise. He thought it would be a lovely transition from seven cooped and confined flights to spacious open seas, and incredible views of one of the potential New Seven Wonders of the World, Table Mountain, and the city she presides over.
Normally, late December in SA is summa summa summatime. Sadly my friends, the southeaster, she was a blowing. There was a blustery nip in the air, which I was prepared for with trousers and a jacket.
But then what had happened was…
The catamaran’s captain took a sharp turn just past the harbour wall. Did I mention the southeaster was a-blowing? The sea was angry that day my friend. And in that one sharp turn, we were down a deep and watery trough, and up the other side, but heavily, heavily splashed in the interim. Soaked.
So for the next hour or two of the sunset cruise, we were too shivery to enjoy our drinks, and too seasick to enjoy the scenery. Did I mention the southeaster was a-blowin’? But I was so happy to be in SA with my (unbeknownst to me future-) HH, I was not terribly despairing and we laughed at the thought that it could only get better from there.
And it did.
We spent the next few days, staying with HH’s aunt and uncle, and adventuring all over the Cape Peninsula.
Our wee rental scooter took us to Camps Bay Beach.
And to HH’s favourite beach in the world, Llandudno. (Not to be confused with the original Llandudno in Wales. My guess is this one is slightly more picturesque.)
We scooted along Chapman’s Peak Drive
and two weeks of soaking in of some of the most amazing vistas my two and a half decades had ever afforded me commenced.
On New Year’s Eve, we joined some friends to celebrate at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and HH (to-be) kept saying he thought he was hearing bagpipes. I politely reminded him that we were very far away from Scotland and that it was highly unlikely, and it must’ve been the Muzak playing. But as I stood up a few minutes later to find the loo, I glanced out the window and saw…
A piper in full regalia reminding us that in a few weeks we’d be back in chilly, wintry Scotland. Enjoy every moment! the pipes seemed to say.
On the beach, under the stars we rang in the New Year.
Our little scooter allowed us to pass the incredibly long queue of cars waiting to head up Table Mountain on New Year’s Day.
And we enjoyed some incredible views from the top.
After a wonderful couple of days in Cape Town, our road trip up the country commenced! We stopped off in Hermanus to visit some friends. {Remember Hermanus and the mischievous dassies?}
As the story goes, a South African and an American met in Britain…
And then we overnighted in Knysna, a place I introduced some of you to just a few weeks ago!
And though the reminders of Scotland continued…
We were on our way, for my first-ever visit to Bloemfontein, where I (unknowingly) met my future father- and mother-in-love for the first time!
The adventures of that first week in SA hold too many wonderful memories to fit into a single blog post. And though our arrival in Bloem meant about a week of my time in SA had passed, the greatest adventure of my first proper slice of South Africa was still ahead.
Can you tune in next week to hear the tale? {It’s right here.}
xCC
Oct 26, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Happy Tuesday, guys and gals! No word from Canon yet, but here’s hoping! In the meantime, I have some shots to share with you from a visit to the Rhodes Memorial in Cape Town a few weeks ago. We didn’t have the Canon with us, but I think HH still managed some good shots for ya! We were on our way back from picking up a little kiddie table and chairs we found on gum tree, and while passing by we decided to hop out for a moment because I hadn’t been to the Rhodes Memorial before.
The Rhodes Memorial is on Devil’s Peak in Cape Town, and is a memorial to Cecil John Rhodes. Rhodes was the founder of the diamond company De Beers, which at present markets about 40% of the world’s rough diamonds.
“THE IMMENSE AND BROODING SPIRIT STILL SHALL QUICKEN AND CONTROL
LIVING HE WAS THE LAND AND DEAD HIS SOUL SHALL BE HER SOUL”
He founded the nation of Rhodesia (get it?) which after independence became Northern and Southern Rhodesia, but today makes up the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Rhodes was an Englishman, and most certainly an imperialist.
The Memorial is situated on Rhodes’ favourite spot, along the lower slopes of Devil’s Peak. It can be imagined as the start of the Cape to Cairo road.
Rhodes dreamed, with many other Brits, of securing enough territory to create a “Cape to Cairo Red Line.” If Britain had enough territories between the Cape and Cairo, they could set up a telegraph line and a Cape to Cairo Railway, and more easily govern their territories and interests across the continent of Africa. (Britain’s Territories were always marked on the map in Red.)
He said of the Anglo-Saxon race: “I contend that we are the first race in the world and that the more of the world we inhabit, the better it is for the human race.” He also hoped his famous Rhodes Scholarship would eventually raise up elite American students who would have the United States rejoin the British Empire.
Today, the lovely Rhodes Memorial Restaurant sits behind the memorial itself, with lovely views and tasty cuisine.
The Memorial itself has become a nice spot for drinking sundowners and enjoying the view.
It’s interesting to ponder whether this memorial was set up for a particularly great person, or a person who mayhaps wasn’t particularly great, but achieved some great things. But something I’ve been learning here in South Africa is that things are seldom as black and white as we might like to make them out to be. But that’s a thought for another day.
It’s often believed that if the horse of an equestrian statue has one leg up, its rider died from wounds sustained in battle. However, Rhodes was plagued by ill health for much of his life (he was sent to Natal, South Africa at 16 because they hoped the hot and dry climate would help problems with his heart and asthma) and he died due to heart failure in 1902, at about 49 years of age.
Do you ever wonder what a memorial might celebrate, if one was erected in your honour? Might be worth thinking about.
Happy Tuesday!
xCC
Oct 19, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
As you mayhaps have already gathered, we’ve been enjoying a wee week’s visit in Bloemfontein. We’re spending time with Hero Hubs’ folks, delivering shoes and meeting with folks to form some awesome partnerships in this delightful home away from home. And of course, there was a visit to Kloppers this afternoon. Even in the midst of renovations, they are still magic. I didn’t spend a dime but I do love that store!
Since HH’s folks weren’t in the Cape for the celebration of the Bear’s big transition, you know, the one from 23 to 24 months, HH’s Mom decided to bake a special cake for him so that we could re-celebrate the magical two-ness all over again. And just so you know, we’re starting the terrific twos around here.
I thought I’d share a slice of Bear’s second second birthday with you. (If you’re a keen photographer and these photos look a little weak, read this post to find out why. It probably also didn’t help that the lens was dirty. Sorry guys.)
We all smile while the Bear signs thank you for no particular reason. (Yeah, he signs “thank you” backwards, but we know what he means.) And look! When I lean forward and hide behind the Bear, you don’t even know I’m preggers!
We sit on the step to eat our chocolate cake and avoid the crumbsies! “You want me to smile but you just gave me cake and I’m stuffing my face with it?” he seemed to say.
How ’bout I just keep stuffing my face instead?
It’s great to be two.
Since quality photography is limited and we’re on travelling internet (which is much higher in cost — I’ve told you you pay for internet based on how much data you use in SA right?) I just have one more photo to round off the ‘slice of life’ this Travelling Tuesday. Enter the braai, stage left.
Some of you who’ve been coming around for a while will already know that the Braai, Afrikaans for put meat on a fire and everyone is happy is a proudly and beautifully South African tradition, which we partake of at regular intervals. Ya know, we’re traditional like that.
This lekker braai took place Saturday afternoon here in Bloem. Say lamb chops, boerewors, sticky chicken wings, and heaven is a place in Bloemfontein. You get the picture.
Go Hero Hubs, Braaimaster extraordinaire!
Well guys and dolls, that’s a slice of life this Travelling Tuesday! Hope your week is off to a great start. Let me know if you can stop by so we get the braai going for you. Woot! 😉
xCC
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