New Blog

Since I can rarely post photos on the Bloggity-Blog, I decided to start a new blog until I can figure this one out. I will be posting there until further notice.
Here is the link. :)

http://www.bloxster.net/IHadABlogInAfrica/

Xenophobia

As you know well by now, South Africa is a place of both beauty and conflict. In the past couple of weeks so-called "xenophobic" violence has broken out sporadically throughout South Africa, making international headlines (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7417590.stm). The mob violence began in the townships of Johannesburg and has traveled throughout the major city centers. The South African military has been deployed to quell the pogroms, a move that hasn't been initiated since the end of Apartheid in 1994. Just recently this unrest has made its way to Cape Town and the surrounding areas, not far from where we now live. I just received a text message from Bernard, our refugee-friend from Malawi, whom we met when we lived in Noordhook and have blogged about on occasion. His message let me know that he has been run out of Site 5 (in Noordhoek) and that he has been beaten and robbed. The violence suddenly hit just Thursday night. He is taking temporary refuge in a church in Fish Hoek not far from where he once lived and where we spent a good bit of time. Ishmael is apparently at a "military camp," as Bernard put it. The majority of the violence appears to be aimed at suspected foreigners - black (South Africans) against (mostly) black (Zimbabweans, Nigerians, Mozambicans, Somalians, etc.), most of whom live in or near the townships. It is 1:25 AM here at the moment. I plan to visit Bernard first thing later this morning. We ask that you would pray for safety for all and that we would know how to reach out to those directly affected.

~Randy

Friday

We have had the craziest rain storms this week. I don't know what our roof is made out of, but I feel like I'm in a hut when it rains this hard. It gets pretty cold now, so I think we're going to start building fires in the fireplace. It doesn't have a grill/cover thingy, so it will be interesting to see how long we can go without a burning ember shooting out of the flames and setting the rug on fire. Of course, our rug could use a good scouring.....
We went into Cape Town last night to eat with Jim and Julianna. I brought my computer and modem to try to launch a blog from there. No luck. So I am going to look into Flickr for pictures. I'll just have to see how many megabytes it eats up each time I launch something. I'll look into other Bloggity-Blog options. We have way too many interesting photos in the works to not have a photo option.
Today I'm cleaning the house. Yee-haw! Its a thrill-a-minute. If this weekend is nice we might go on a field trip. We haven't done that in a while. I want to see something new (or really old!). I'll let you know what we find.
PS-We finally bought a mirror for the bathroom!!!!!!!!!! 4 months with no mirror in the house. That has to be some kind of record.

Saturday

Darn! Still no picture capabilities. Oh well.
We've had a few rainy-cloudy-ugly days this week, but on days like today, its hard to believe that its just about winter. Its really warm outside and there is no wind. There are birds everywhere. In the reeds, in the trees, and lined up on the log railing of our porch. They are loving it. I'm feeling better today, which is good. Now I can clean the house. It is a scary pit. Today is one of those days that I wish I could beam y'all here so we could hang out on the porch and drink some litchi juice and eat some biltong. Its a good Saturday for it.
My life just doesn't seem as interesting without pictures. I'll have some ready for when the option appears again. Thank you for continuing to read my blog, even when its a bunch of banal drivel.
:)

Howdy

Its warm-ish today and I have all the windows open. Somebody is burning stuff in the area and it almost smells like a fireplace. It feels like summer today, even though I know its winter. My senses are all still scrambled for some reason. My taste buds are off and everything smells weird. I'm also kind of dizzy. I'm cleaning the house until I fear that I might do a face-plant on the floor. Then I sit down and try not to fall asleep. Its great fun.

I wish I could have brought a friend back with me to enjoy this weather and hang out on the porch.
The dogs are good companions, though. I love them.

I'm home

I can hardly see straight, but at least I'm here. It was so good to see Randy. I just couldn't wait to hug him. I feel like I flew for days, even though this flight was only about 24 hours. It was all a blur. I know I was in Detroit for a while, and I think I was in Amsterdam for a couple of hours, but really, its all a blur.
Thanks to everyone for all the goodies. The coffee and the candles etc. I got home last night and pulled everything out and it was literally like Christmas.
The dogs lost their little pea-minds when I walked in the door and I was worried for a minute that they might lose control of their bodily functions as well. It was good to squeeze their furry little necks again.
Today I'm considering cleaning up the mess I made when I came in last night, but I'm also considering sitting in this chair all day long and doing absolutely nothing.
:)

Chicago, Chicago

I'm somewhere else now.
I love Chicago. Its one of my very favorite places in the whole world. Melissa and I went into the city to take some pictures for a painting I'm doing. Its going in her nursery. First we ran into the Museum of Art just for kicks, and then we went to this beautiful cemetary and took pictures in the mosoleums.
>:)
Now I'm painting furiously, which is fine because its coldish outside. I'll be going home on Saturday. Pray for me!

Andrew

Today is my (other) brother's 31st birthday. Happy Birthday Andrew. I was lucky enough to be here for it.
We went out to eat at Tiago Cabo Grille (seafood and Mexican). I stuffed as many fajitas into my face as I could. Everyone else had seafood.
Afterwards we walked across the street to the hunting store and I was like, "Where am I?"
It was interesting. Lots of dead furry things.I leave for Chicago in the morning. Thank you everybody for taking care of me for two weeks. I love you.

What I'm doing....

I've been working all week and its nice to be around cool furniture again. I've spent the night at Cathy's house several nights and I've been able to hang out with Cathy and her 47 million (5) teenagers. I love them. We saw a movie and went prom-dress shopping and stayed up until 2 in the morning talking. Remember that tiny little puppy that fell asleep on Cathy's desk last time I was here? Well, he is about Enkidu's size now, but he is still as malleable as a bean bag. This is my friend Grace holding the puppy at the store. I wish I could put a video up of one of Grace's dramatic impersonations. She is a comic genius.
Anyway, I will be here through Monday and then I'm leaving for Chicago. Prepare yourself for weird pictures!