Dec 15, 2009 | Baby Photos, South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
My humblest apologies that all has been quiet on the blogging front for a few days now. I was SICK SICK SICK! One of those crazy 24 hour things that makes you despair of life and wonder if it’s really worth going on. (Don’t worry, my one reader with emetophobia, I won’t go into detail!) Fortunately, I am on the other side and incredibly thankful that (yes I did the math) I’ve lived well over 10,000 days so far, and I’ve only had one like that. One in 10,000 — no cause for complaint!
Anywho, after that lengthy introduction, it is Travelling Tuesday! As promised, I have some stories and shots from our travels up to Bloemfontein, where we are spending the holidays with Mark’s parents (and his sister when she arrives!) The roads are very busy and therefore a bit dangerous this time of year, so we decided to come early to avoid the traffic, since we can still do a lot of our work getting Samaritan’s Feet started from here. Modern communications are a wonderful thing! We thought breaking the trip up over three days (staying overnight in a couple different places) would make it an easier journey with the Bear. We were wrong. Yes, it was still cheaper than flying, but dern, it was a lot of travelling! I don’t think the Bear enjoyed his tent being pitched in a new spot each night or finding himself in the car seat again each morning. So next time we’ll probably do the 10+ hour journey in one day. As they say in the South, we oughta just git ‘er done. Lesson learned!
As mentioned, these travelling adventures brought us face to face with many dangerous wild animals. This is Africa people! We stopped off in a place outside Oudtshoorn called Calitzdorp the first night. And just outside our little self-catering hut we spotted a big, scary…
praying mantis!!!!
Okay not so scary. Still, a little creepy. You’ve heard how vociferous the females are, right? Well then, we went for a walk, and we came face to face with a huge, and very dangerous…
Farm-raised ostrich!!!!!!!!
Behind a fence.
But if he got near the fence…and we were too close…seriously people, they can kick like ninjas, beware!! Â Then it got really dangerous. I’m not even joking this time. We came face to face with a grumbly…grizzly…
Wild Bear!!
You’ve given up on me, haven’t you? Africa’s not as wild as you were hoping, mayhaps? Let’s give it one last try. Â The final creature to give us a fright appeared as we were journeying to Nieu Bethesda for our second night’s stay along the way to Bloemfontein. And you do not want to come face to face with one of these. It’s a big, scaly…
Om… likkewaan!!
This creature kind of looks like a gila monster…and was probably like 4 ft. long! The Afrikaans word for it is likkewaan, pronounced LOOK-a-vahn, but the English word is leguan. I wasn’t familiar with either, but the Afrikaans is more fun to say. Sure, I took this picture from the window of the car, but still, he could’ve gone T-Rex on us at any moment! Grrrr. We actually think maybe it was a her…do you think she looks preggers? I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.
Well, that’s a taste of our dangerous travels from Gordon’s Bay to Bloemfontein with Calitzdorp and Nieu Bethesda in between. Thank the Lord for Mr. Potato Head safely navigating our passage and never stranding us in the wild among these dangerous creatures!
Happy Trails to you, wherever the road takes you!
Dec 8, 2009 | Baby Photos, Hometastic Goodness, South Africa, Travel..ling Tuesdays
This week’s Travelling Tuesday is of a slightly different persuasion. Instead of the usual travel shots, I thought I’d give you a wee slice of life in Gordon’s Bay, South Africa with the Collies at the moment. It’s probably still travelling for most of you. And if not, please come over for dinner!
We’ll be saying good-bye to some of these sweet views tomorrow as we slowly make our way to visit Mark’s family in Bloemfontein. It reminds me a little of the Christmas story and the donkey trip to Bethlehem. Fortunately we’ve got Mr. Potato Head, and room at the inn already booked along the way. (Can you believe taking three days to drive and staying overnight twice is STILL cheaper than flying?) We’re excited for the change of scene, visiting Mark’s parents and seeing his sister at Christmas, and we are (read: Caroline is especially)Â excited for Mark’s Mom’s bacon-covered cherries that will be on their way to my tummy our tummies very soon…YUM!
So back to the present…at the moment in Gordon’s Bay, the Bear is struggling to decide between football and rugby.
(Football usually wins out because it’s easier to get out of the toy basket.) My door is decorated for the holidays, with ornaments and ribbons I already had from this and that.
(Many thanks to the Nester and Southern Living for that idea!) We spent a few hours at Bikini Beach (here in Gordon’s Bay) on Saturday. I wore a tankini in case you were wondering.
The Bear had a good dig, a good swim, and afterwards, a great nap! And don’t worry, that peely-wally skin had SPF 50 on it, no doubt!
So that’s a slice of life Travelling Tuesday from right outside our door! Hope you enjoyed the journey, and that the road rises to meet you, wherever it takes you next!
Dec 1, 2009 | Scotland, Travel..ling Tuesdays
In honour of Scotland’s special national day yesterday, we return to beautiful Caledonia this Travelling Tuesday for a wee walk in the Pentland Hills. These beautiful hills are a delightful escape into the Scottish countryside, sitting just on the southern edge of the city of Edinburgh. I didn’t spend nearly as much time on them as I should have.
Picture happy sheep, grreen grreen grrass, and enjoying wee kick back in a pub after a nice chilly hike in the rain. How the outdoors in Scotland should be. Herewith, the aforementioned visuals:
I dinnae remember the name of the loch below, sorry!
But enjoy the fact that all that purple is these delicate and beautiful flowers:
Scotland the Brave, Scotland the Beautiful. We salute you!
Happy Trails to you this Travelling Tuesday. May the road rise to meet you!
Nov 24, 2009 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
We’re taking it off the beaten South African/Scottish path this Travelling Tuesday with a few shots from an adventure to Amsterdam and a few other parts of Holland I had a couple years ago. I had the privilege of travelling to Holland for an academic conference that was held on the grounds of a very special community, similar in style to L’Arche communities.
I was profoundly challenged to reconsider my understanding of what it means to be ‘abled’ or ‘disabled’ and what responsibilities the Church has with regard to welcoming and living in community with people who we might initially consider ‘different’ or ‘other’ than what we are. A lot of these are thoughts for another post! But here are a few shots from the adventure in and around Amsterdam:
The architecture was so lovely and impressive. The number of bicycles was even more impressive.
Can you believe this is a parking deck for bicycles?
If only one of those bad larry’s would’ve fit in my hand luggage! That’s a lot of cheese.
There were absolutely B-E-A-U-tiful flowers everywhere. And lots of tulips. If only one of those bad larry’s would’ve fit in my hand luggage!
I just thought the grassy carpet in this wine shop was fantastic. How cool is that?
So that’s a slice of beautiful Amsterdam! I highly recommend a visit. But pay attention to where you’re going, and if you find yourself in an area where it seems the shops are getting a bit … raunchy … and there are women standing in the windows, it’s probably a good idea to pull out your map and head in the opposite direction. Other than that, it’s a nice trail on which to find yourself!
Happy Tuesday! I hope the trails you’re on bring you to pleasant places!
Nov 17, 2009 | South Africa, Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Top of the Tuesday to ya! I hope your week is off to a great start! It is Travelling Tuesday again! (Forgive me for bailing last week when I was a grumpymuggins and not feeling well.) A few weeks ago Mark captured what I considered quite a stunning shot of some clouds coming over the Hottentots Holland Mountains. Here’s the backstory.
The Collie Clan went for a stroll at a nearby wine farm a few weeks ago, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, and, as she often does, adventure caught up with us there. We encountered a big beautiful peacock on his way to the cheesery. Delightful!
I would’ve thought he’d have gone for the chocolate shop but, to each his own.
After a while, the Bear got tired of being held and did some of his delightful and mischievous crawling around, here there and everywhere. At one point, he was just a short distance away from us, and we both simultaneously turned to look at him, because the wind picked up, and the outdoor umbrellas, which were closed, looked like they might still be blown over. Not two seconds later, down one comes and — surely it’s not going to hit him on the head — yes, the huge umbrella bops him on top of the head.
It was like it happened in slow motion — the umbrella s-l-o-w-e-d down just before bopping him — as if an angel happened along just in time to hold it back. He got the fright of his life (maybe besides his circumcision) and kind of crumpled over. We ran over to pick him up and I cuddled him for ages, but after forty-five seconds it seemed like he’d totally recovered! He is very brave. He didn’t have a bump anywhere on his head — just a couple of tiny wee scratches on his face from his landing. And ya know, I think mother’s intuition warned me about those umbrellas but I thought — surely not, you’re being overly protective! I will listen next time!
The staff who saw it happen felt absolutely terrible, and gave him a HUGE chocolate lollypop, which he proceeded to devour in two, yes two bites. He still only had one tooth at the time (a few more are on their way in right now!) … how did he do that? In the end, I think he decided the mishap was totally worth the treatment afterwards. Here he is, struggling to keep his mouth closed with a huge bite of chocolate inside:
And afterwards, in a chocolatey stupor. (He refused to share, mind you.)
Finally, just before our departure, Mark captured some shots as the clouds began to pour over the Hottentots Holland Mountains. It is so beautiful to watch the clouds move like this… cascading and pouring over so gently and so quickly. It seems like it happens a lot in this part of the world, but I’d never seen it before I came here.
So that’s this Travelling Tuesday! Happy Trails, wherever the journey may take you!
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