March-ing On

With the beginning of March, it seemed like we were finally ready to just get moving.

For me, that means back to the gym, driving more than 5 minutes away from the house, driving on the highway! starting new volunteer projects. It feels good to be putting more structure into our time here. We also learned recently how expensive it will be to insure ourselves medically. I guess things are not so different here than at home in the US.

The biggest occupier of our time for the next few weeks is tackling the garden reshaping on the grand scale. Big changes are afoot and we are thrilled with getting into this project. Michael has borrowed a chain saw and I am just thankful that he does actually use the protective helmet and gloves. He has been cutting down smaller trees and pruning in preparation for the landscaping crew we have hired for ONE day this week. We are really looking forward to planting the (90) wonderful plants and trees we purchased at the Kirstenbosch Gardens benefit plant sale.

I'm including just a few garden shots, particularly the one of the strelitzia that lives by the fish pond which got a new opportunity to flourish today when its old growth was removed along with most of the bamboo like grass that has been strangling it. The other is of our cleaner opened up front walk onto the street. We also will plant something called nandina there which is a lovely frond-y bamboo/grass plant/tree.

Otherwise it is bugs, bugs and creatures. Michael found a second chameleon -yea! and we saw our first leopard toad. Plus there was the bright green praying mantis who laid its egg sac on a leash today -go figure - I can't.
Glad to know you are all beginning to enjoy spring. For my part I'm getting ready for the coolth!

Is it already March?

February was full of many things - some happy and a few not.

Hyme Rabinowitz, 88, a great cherished friend of Michael's died on February 15th, succumbing finally to heart failure from which he suffered for many years. Hyme was a very singular kind of person, a potter, (he would frown at the use of artist) who embodied gentleness, kindness and a passion for pottery which he found in the middle of his life. Michael and his ex-wife Sally became close friends with him when they all lived at a place called Eagle's Nest here in Constantia some 45 years ago. Hyme both lived and had his pottery on Eagle's Nest. When Jeni and he married 33 years ago, she joined him there and it is where lucky Nik was raised. We are consoled and grateful to have been here these last few months so that we could spend time with Hyme, enjoying New Year's together and many a meal at home with him, Jeni and friends. We miss him tremendously.

As the first week of February arrived, we prepared for Wendy's visit and after allowing her a few days of light activity while she acclimated to the time zone we began touring with her to our local favorites and the must see hit list of every first time visitor to Cape Town. One evening we all went on a full moon hike at sunset up Kloof Nek on Table Mountain. We brought a picnic and enjoyed the views. Another highlight was swimming at the Boulders Beach with the South African penguins. It is an amazing treat to be able to walk along the rocks and have penguins popping up everywhere. They are so sleek to watch in the water.

We joined the local Constantia Rotary Club this month. We have met some great folks and have already helped out on one event, a book stall at the Wynberg Community Chest carnival. For those of you involved with our Vermont United Way, you will know that Community Chest is basically the South African United Way. Our club raises money to donate to the Community Chest that then goes to local programs- sound familiar? Even funnier for those of you who know about KidSafe's Yard Sale event, the book stall is a sales of donated books, which are painstakingly categorized and sold by weight- we spent 2 hours the other evening sorting books - no kidding! Wendy even helped.

We actually had many wonderful adventures including a 5 day drive out into the Little Karoo and Karoo showing Wendy the incredible changing landscapes of the wide open Eastern Cape and seeing some wild game in National parks. I'll save some of those photos for another entry.





And on the garden home front, we have been keeping an eye on our chameleon who is quite happy on the lavender. We had been worried when we did not see him for a few weeks but now I check on him/her everyday. I even have hopes of someone giving us another one to keep ours company... and the Lemon Verbena has continued to thrive with lots of constant new growth.