Franschhoek

Yesterday we decided to go down a road we've never been down before. It went right into the mountains beyond Stellenbosch and we were just really curious. This whole area is "wine country", so parts of it look like something you might see in Europe somewhere, but then there is always a little shantytown back in the trees or a black family of 11 walking down the road and you realize, "Oh wait....We're in Africa." That and the palm trees. This might be wine country, but its still not tame. We drove through several tiny townships full of crazy shacks and businesses with weird words painted on the outside of them. Its also strange to be out in the middle of nowhere and suddenly the road is lined with trees. Somebody planted them a long time ago. Where is that person now? And why right here?We ended up in Franschhoek. I've heard of the town before but never knew where it was. It is a beautiful town full of old buildings and brick alleyways. As we drove around, I told Randy, "This feels very.......New Orleans-ish". Randy agreed that it did. Lots of cafe's. In fact....most of the street names sounded....French-ish. After spending over an hour there, the two geniuses left the town of Franschhoek and realized it means "French Corner".
Randy said, "Oh yes, I forgot about the Hugenots."
And I was like, "You forgot about the who?"

Mish Mash of info

The haircut was .....a success. I cut two inches off in the front and one inch off in the back. I'll have Randy take pictures of it tomorrow. I really didn't butcher the back too bad. Randy only had to snip off two pieces that I totally missed.

You know, Stellenboch is a fascinating town. Its a strange mix of old (from the 1600's) and new, black people and white people, Dutch and African. Its surrounded by mountains and vineyards on three sides, so you can see them in the back ground of most neighborhoods. Its one of those old cities where the trees are huge because they've been growing there for 300 years. Every street is lines with willows and pines and palms. So pretty.
This is the train station and Mr. Sunday Morning Guitar Man.This Garden is next door to the church we're going to.PS-I don't know if I've posted this picture before, but this is the bed and breakfast in the courtyard behind our house. It has its own private porch and a fountain out front and its surrounded by palms and the beautiful Jakarta restaurant. Its R350 a night which is about $43. Anybody want to come?PPS-Our zip code is 7581, not 7501.......oops......

Man!

This is such a boring way to blog. Its like a telegram.

all is well here.
hope you are having fun in America.
wish I could send some pictures.

I've only sent one telegram in my entire life, and that was to my brother, Alex, when he was still in high school. I sent it on his birthday and made them promise to deliver it during class. I was going to try for a singing telegram, but to hire a singing telegram in Lubbock Texas is like $150! For that price I could have flown to Lubbock and sung it myself. And then to get me to quit singing, his entire class would have thrown money at me and I could have made back the money for the airline ticket. Man, why didn't I think of that before!

Down

Down again. Oh well. At least I know it will come back eventually.
As for me, I'm about to attempt the unusual feat of cutting my own hair (drum-roll, drum-roll, drum-roll) without a mirror! I'll make sure to take some good pictures in case any of you ever find yourselves stranded on a desert island with only a pair of scissors and an overgrown head mop. It can be a visual tutorial of sorts. A "don't try this at home" tutorial.......
Wish me luck!

Thank you, Jesus!

It's back!!!!
I'm posting 2 blogs today, just in case the image option decides to vanish tomorrow.
We're doing good. Randy is at the library today and I'm trying to train The Wump not to bark. He gets worked up all day and then when we let him out in the evenings, he thinks he's The Terminator. He goes after all the things he used to slink away from before. Like the neighbor's cat.
So I decided to engage in one of life's most wretched activities. Jogging. You'll see that I do this every six months when I start feeling particularly doughy. I staked out a jogging path (with the Terminator) in the evening and took some pictures, but I didn't make it all the way because I got mauled by muddy dogs. But I did actually start the jogging night before last and now I couldn't do a squat to save my life. So sore.

I start by running out the front door and up and around a dirt path.

Then I run by the palm nursery. Blurry, I know....

Past the old tractor.
(Pay no attention to Wumpy who is trying to ruin the shot with this activity)

Past the parking lot and our lovely vehicle.

And past the restaurant back to our house. Its a big loop, really.

The only problems thus far (aside from my complete lack of muscular endurance and cardiovascular stamina) are the neighbors dogs. These are the sweet dogs that wouldn't hurt a fly. But they don't take me seriously. They think every move I make and every noise that comes out of my mouth is an invitation to jump all over me. Even when its a face-smack and a "get away from me you ignorant muddy beast!" So I get halfway around the jogging loop and they go nuts (having never seen a jogger on this property) and the puppy goes after my shoelaces while the big one tries to run his muddy paws through my hair. I know people are watching.......

"Hamburgers"

Randy decided we should make some food and call it "hamburgers". Everybody else here does it, so why not us? A while back he order a "hamburger" at school. Let me tell you what he got. The "hamburger" came open, with the bottom bun on one side and the top bun on the other (or, the "top" and the "down" as my sister used to say). On one bun-half there was mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, a questionable meat patty, and monkey-gland sauce which is exactly as disgusting as it sounds. The other side of the bun had an odd assortment of vegetables, a breaded chicken breast, and an egg. Yummy.............
Actually, you can bet that any burger/sandwich/wrap/hotdog-type-thing that you order from a small food joint is going to have an egg on it.
So, Randy made some "hamburgers" with a diced pork/garlic/onion mixture, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and (of course) an egg. Maybe we've just been eating too much soup, but man those "hamburgers" were good.
And since you can see a little of the walls behind me, I will show you the progress I've made so far. I'm not done. I think I still need to do a glaze over the entire thing. The project just grows and grows and grows....
First of all, I was just going to do a cream-colored half wall with a design above it.But then I thought, man, I really want some green in here.
And then I was like, maybe I should paint the designs green too.....AND ADD MORE!!!
And now I want to rub the entire thing down with a darker brown.....
Its ridiculous.

?

Well, I spent the morning in the "help" section of this site but didn't seem to find any. I tried creating a new blog site altogether, but blogger still doesn't give me an option for pictures. It must be our connection. Randy is going to school tomorrow so I'll send the blog along with him to upload and we can be back in bidness.
Nothing exciting going on today. Wumpy has decided he likes to bark. After almost 2 years of never barking, he's suddenly Mr. Bark-face. We can't do anything to shut him up. So weird.
I'm writing, Randy's writing, Enkidu is obsessively plucking his hair out with his teeth, trying to get at the fleas. He likes to jump in your lap, brace himself by jabbing his pointy claws into your gut and then bend himself in half to get the flea (that may or not exist) on his back.
Neighbors are good. Mr. Neighbor is still walking around outside shirtless in his tighty-whitey shorts. Mrs. Neighbor is still hollering at her dog in Afrikaans on an hourly basis. Reminds me of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.........

Saturday

Its Saturday morning and the Wump and I are smashed into our chair. Wumpy sits next to me like a little human and grunts for me to pay attention to him. Unlike our last dwelling place, the morning birds around here are pleasant and cute and calming. No roosters. No guinea fowl. Nothing you want to chunk a rock at.
I don't know what we're going to do today besides chill. I love the mornings here but the evenings are my favorite. It really feels like Africa in the evenings. The sun sets in front of our porch and the light is hazy in the tall grass and reeds by the pond. It filters in through the curtains and the light in our house is all the colors that Africa should be. Green. Khaki. Golden. The breeze cools off at sunset and its the one time of day where you can see all the lazy spores and petals that float in the air.
In the middle of the day, colors are washed out. The sky glares too bright to look at, and the fields are hot and buzzing. But in the evening, green vineyards segregate by color and type. You have the lime colored hillside to the right, perfectly squared off from the deep emerald vineyard that dominates the western hill.
I have great pictures of this scene. Blasted blogger!
:)

a small blurb

Well, we're back to the "no picture" set up. It must be our connection. Next time the photo-upload option rears its head, I'll bombard you with photos. Or I might just have Randy upload them at school.
Just so you know, we're doing good. We're loving our slow-paced life here. What a great gift its been. I think fall is almost here, which is a little weird after our year-long summer. I've been going to town on our walls, so I'll post those pics as soon as I can.
Bye, for now.

Weird Fabric Guy

Today we drove into Stellenbosch so I could check out a "textile" store. I've been trying to cut fabric with scissors that will barely penetrate warm butter. So this "World Textile!!" shop is in the industrial warehouse district of Stellenbosch. It was like a little warehouse full of fabric and buttons and trim. All the things I love. I didn't even look around. I went straight for the buttons and the scissors. The only two things I really needed.
The retail situation is so strange over here. In these stores, there is always a random guy who stands and stares at you. I almost always wonder if its just some crazy guy off the street or this is the owner's genuine attempt at customer service. But these guys don't stand politely by, waiting to see if you need anything. They stand there and stare at you for ten minutes straight while you're looking for buttons, making you feel so uncomfortable that you want to chunk your scissors and flee.
Every customer is highly suspect. Guilty until cash materializes.
Anyway, this is the drive to the fabric store. What more could a girl ask for?

The commute

We drove into Cape Town last night at rush hour. Hundreds of people were leaving the city in their small expensive cars, or driving to their downtown lofts in their small expensive cars. And then you have the laborers, returning to their townships between city and suburbs. They walk, hitchhike, and pile into trucks; thousands of them slowly making their way home. There are far more people hugging the guardrails of the highway than there are people in cars. The boys come out to beg for rands while the adults wait off in the side-lines or work a different intersection.
Passing the shanty-towns themselves we see hundreds of kids playing on the side of the highway. Soccar, tag, whatever. Its a strange parade along this stretch.
But then we top a hill and the ocean, the city, the mountains, the fog, and the sunset all converge at the end of our road. Its thrilling and I'm glad for these people who live these hard lives, that they are able to look up from the dirt roads of their townships and see something this spectacular. Its hard to look at it an not be in awe.
After that great ride, we went to Jim and Juliana's and ate dinner. Here's me in my star t-shirt, about to eat something made out of mango's and yogurt and cinnamon.

Thursday

Well, this morning I was looking at Wumpy and I started to wonder if maybe that dog attack had done something to his brain.But, he still responded according to his training when I said, "Wumpy, scream like a girl!"
I was eating an apple in my favorite white Old Navy t-shirt and one tiny drop of apple juice dripped onto it leaving a ridiculously large brown stain on a perfectly good white shirt. So I was forced to paint over it so that I can wear it.These days I find myself doing things that I used to tease my own mom for.
("Ha ha! You're washing foil!")
I'm saving jars and zip-lock baggies and jugs. I find myself thinking, "I could put my pens in that...." or, "If I save a bunch of these I can eventually build a bookcase!"
I'll let you know how that goes......

Rain and the Wump

Over the last couple of days its rained harder than I've ever seen it rain. And its cold! Just last week we were broiling and now we're shivering. Reminds me of West Texas.
Anyway, there was a break in the clouds yesterday and I took the dogs out. The landlord has a German Shepherd that has decided it wants to eat our dogs and just as I let my dogs out, that dog comes running around the corner with the landlord behind it. It went after Wumpy. I grabbed Enkidu because that dog has gone after him before and he could snap Enkidu's neck in a second. But poor ole' Wump is scared of the broom, so he has no chance against this big dog. The German Shepherd jumped on him and bit into his back and started thrashing him around. The landlord didn't do a darn thing, so I took my drink and threw it in his dogs face. The dog ran off, but by that time, Wumpy was wet and shivering and crying. I took him inside and brushed all the plucked fur off of him while he cried and shivered. Aw! Poor thing!
Of course it would have to be the landlord's dog! No blood was drawn, though, so thats good.
In other news, I'm finally driving around this area on my own now, so we'll be getting more interesting pictures.

And there was much rejoicing.

On my flight home, I brought 27 pounds of remnants with me in a Marlboro duffel bag. It looked like the type of bag one might smuggle drugs in, so I'm sure customs was thrown for a loop whilst stumbling across all the cute patterns.
Then we bought our 4 grimy chairs (a photo to jog your memory).
So I've reupholstered them using my Marlboro bag full of remnants.
The lovely white chair became the lovely blue chair.The two golden oldies still match (each other, at least) (other one is in top picture above)And the ugly boxy one................is still the ugly boxy one.I'm not finished with the walls yet. I'd like to put some kind of glaze over everything so its not so....caramely. The stencil is from one of my favorite artists, Tom Proch, if Fredricksburg. He designs beautiful, crazy, artistic stencils and his web-site is www.thewritingonthewall.com
:)
Ta-da!

Sunday

Still no photo capabilities.....But I will have it solved by tomorrow. I just know it.
This entire week has been one giant scorcher. Today was pretty bad too but at least we had a breeze. David and Annette (our older friends with the cool patio) came over for afternoon "tea", which in this country means hot tea with sugar and cream. But it was so hot today that I decided to go with Texas iced tea. It went over very well. The good thing about this place is that even on a hot hot day, as soon as the sun disappears, it get breeze and cool. And thats what it is.

Saturday

Well, once again, no picture capabilities. It may just be our connection, though, so I'll try this week from Randy's school. We just got back from the store and they are now limiting the number of cokes a person can buy due to CO2 shortages at the Coca~Cola plant in Cape Town. I wonder what political malfunction caused this wierdness.....
Anyway, we're still here, and I'm checking every few hours to see if blogger's gotten a grip yet.
Ta

And we're back

Ok, I don't really have any exciting pictures yet, but I just like knowing that when I DO have exciting pictures, I'll be able to post them.
This morning I took the trash out at about 7:30, before people were out. The trash bins are in the rose orchard, so I walked down the dirt road, through the banana-tree parking area, past the fountain and into the rose gardens. It was still cool outside and the surrounding vineyard hills were all....glisteny. It was spectacular! I'm always in awe when God gives me these little moments of solitude that involve spectacular scenery. Its like He created it just for me and its overwhelming. What have I done in my life to deserve even 5 minutes of an experience like this? Not a darn thing. God's love for me is so much more complex that just a system of rules and rewards. He's knows my personality intimately. He understands what needs to change in me and He knows the desires of my heart that even I don't fully know.
Then I opened the trash-bins and nearly did a early-morning dry-heave. But aside from that, it was all beautiful.
I'll document it with pictures next time so you can get the idea (the scenery, not the gag-reflex).
Anyway, here is a sneak preview of the upholstery I've been toiling over!

Sad Day

Blogger is down today. Again. Such a bummer.
Hopefully I'll be able to add pictures tomorrow.
Until then.......

Pictures

Hi
The ole' Bloggity-blog-blog site seems to be having technical difficulties, so all the wonderful pictures of us sitting on the porch with the dogs have not been uploaded. I'll try later on.
Nothing much going on here. I'm glad to have use of my breathing orifices again and I'm feeling almost 100% better. We've been leading an inactive life, though, while I've been sick. That involves a lot of sitting on the porch with the dogs and sitting in our new chairs watching movies on Randy's lap-top at night. Denise gave us some movies while I was in the States, so we've been watching those. Capote. Babe. Talladega Nights. :) One for each of several intellectual levels.
Randy is at school today studying. I'm at home upholstering (still). Wumpy is snoring on the rug and Enkidu is chewing all the fur off his hind quarters. Poor allergic puppy.
I'll post pics later if I can. They're thrilling.
Ok....here they are. Prepare yourself for a "Non-stop action!!!!!!"

"You'll be on the edge of your seat!!!""Full of unexpected twists and turns!!!!!!!!!!"

"A roller-coaster thrill-ride from beginning to end!"

"Two enthusiastic thumbs up!""With an ending you didn't see coming!"
The End

Indonesian Food.

Saturday night was my first day to once again venture into the land of the living. In these pictures I have the same look on my face that Wumpy does when we let him eat egg scraps from the pan. Yee-haw!

Jim and Julianna came over and we ate at Jakarta, the Indonesian restaurant in our backyard.

:)

The sun was setting and there was some sort of wedding party on the tropical party deck across the pond. We ordered the Rijstafel which is basically a huge assortment of Indonesian dishes that you sample on various kinds of rice. I hadn’t eaten in a few days so I was a little nervous, but I managed to oink out with no problem whatsoever. The whole restaurant area is packed with old statues and potted plants and palm trees and aviaries. It seems to go on forever. We sat out on the veranda and off to the left of us (by a huge wall made of wine bottles) was the entrance to a cottage full of antiques.

After dinner we walked home and drank some coffee. It was wonderful. I was as happy as a dog eating eggs out of a pan.