More a disjointed diary than a blog, here are some adventures, people, places and thoughts, that we’ve experienced.
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We live in a small town, a village really. There is a Community Chat Group on WhatsApp where people cover anything from a cow in someone’s yard to local municipal complaints.
Cow grazing on the lawn down the street.
One chat topic has gone on for days. Here is the intersection of our street. After only .2mm of rain since October, we got 7.5 inches in 15 hours !! A real downpour. Streets were flooded and gardens destroyed. Lots of really sad videos were posted as the water gushed through plantings and yards.
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Our favorite thing after dinner is to drive 20 minutes to the beach and watch the waves and the sunset. Calming and lovely.
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I have no good photos of them, but instead of cones or temporary warning signs, here there are flaggers. Men or women in colored vests waving a red flag continuously (all day?) as a warning to drivers. They can be warning about men using weedwhackers to cut roadside grass, or about backhoes working on a trench, or about trucks entering the roadway.
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K3 is the world’s longest zip line – 3.2 km, (about 2 miles). For 2 years we drove by and watched them build this strange house on stilts & create the line. Wouldn’t catch ME trying it!
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Agapanthus, my new favorite flower.
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Empty house next door has finally been bought. A very nice woman from Cape Town and her rescue dog Tori. Tori thinks she must guard her human and barks like mad whenever we go out or someone walks by. When Tori is at home by herself, she doesn’t bark at us at all. Not sure how to deal with getting her comfortable with us.
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We’ve discovered that summer in SA is better than summer in PA. Daytime is hot and in the 80’s. Evenings and nights are delightfully cool. Where we are, ocean and mountain breezes cool the temperature down to the 50’s or 60’s at night. Great sleeping weather !
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Protem? What the heck is Protem? Signs on several gravel roads point to it but no one ever speaks about it ! Someday we will have to drive down there to see what goes on in Protem.
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As much as we like our house, we LOVE the land itself. Sweeping vistas, impressive mountains, gorgeous rocky seashores. What’s not to like? At the risk of sounding like a cliche, I have to tell you that my heart does a little joyous leap at each new sight of the vast rolling hills and the different patterns farm fields make as we drive along National Route 2.
Each hilltop reveals a new view of the land. Sometimes there are sheep traversing a field in single file. Sometimes cattle are lying down in anticipation of rain. In the far distance there might be a multi-acre canopy protecting fruit trees. Everywhere are fields of grain – or vineyards – or orchards. Then the mountains frame it all in their soft embrace.
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Went for a short walk today and met a new friend. Couldn’t get her to stay still long enough to get a good photo.
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Nearby windfarm. There are 9 windmills about 15 miles away and if we look hard, from our front porch we can just barely see their arms going around beyond the hilltop.
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Why do I get the feeling that we’re being watched ?
John’s “LOOK” brought me to the living room. We’ve just had a snake eagle sitting on top of the phone pole outside our window !
How lovely to be able to soar !