Thanks Giving - The Pictures

Just so you know  :-)  I actually received these on my new dumb-phone and sent them to my email account. I am sure you all do it all the time but it was a first for me since I am new to the world of dumb-phones.

Anyway here they are:

Here I am getting the connie (here you get to see what they look like) out of the net.

And then I learned how to fillet them. At least now I know the technique though I need more practice.

At the white cross on the other side of the river.

Thinking of My Two African Boyfriends

I have excellent taste in men. In Johannesburg I have not one but two boyfriends and not only are they good looking but they have great personalities.

For some reason, I am thinking of them today and kind of missing them.

Here is M and the oldest of my boyfriends, Zondie.

This is The Beast a super cuddler sweet guy.

Zondie loves football and is already pretty good at it. 

If I can say so myself, I do have fantastic taste in men :-)

Comment from a Police Woman in South Africa

I am on a road trip, randomly driving across South Africa. I have to say that I have seen more police on this road trip than any previous ones here. There seem to be a lot more speed traps (hurray!!) and road blocks to check for driver's license (another big "Hurray!!").

Today I was stopped at one of those road blocks. It was a police woman (Yet another "Hurray!"). When she saw my road atlas opened on the seat next to me she asked "where are you from?".  I answered and she said "You are here alone? Where is your lover?".

Yep, "Where is your lover?" not my husband, boyfriend, sister or anything else.... my lover!!!

Quite a few answers came to mind. I can't remember exactly what I said but kept it to something like "No, I am alone".
From my experience culturally, South Africans do not get "alone" or "silence" (though I would add that San people do seem to get both "silence" and "alone" but I am not the expert), so I get that kind of comments a lot but usually not from the police. On the plus side (and yes another big "Hurray!" for that one) she never asked for a bribe, and that's always a bonus. And, for the record, yes, I have been asked for bribes by the South African police, but not on this trip. Maybe things are getting better.

Though, a few weeks back, driving home after a found raising dinner I had been to a police car blew through a stop sign without their lights on. I don't mean their flashing lights, I meant their head lights, at ten at night. And the husband of the friend I was with said: "One of the charm of South Africa is that the police is part of the problem". I don't know him nearly at all, but he does not come across as sarcastic, and this comment in particular did not sound sarcastic. So maybe things are not getting better. I don't know.

A Fantastic Orange Hat

One of the places where I stopped overnight was a bush camp and the two ladies who looked after the place met me on the road and I drove them to the camp so they could set things up.
The youngest of the two (the daughter?) was wearing a great hat and an all together fun outfit. I asked if I could take her picture and she posed.

The stripy socks are super popular with African women.

What a sense of self. To be in the bush, miles from anywhere and going around wearing a great hat like this! I love it.

The hat has a small veil like thing going around.

Random Photos of May 9th

A nice quiet day today, which is especially nice since I have a pretty nasty cold. This morning I called a friend and my voice was so rough that she didn't recognize me... and with my accent this does not happen very often.
Anyway, here are the photos:

First birds: a cape robin

 and a hadeda, which I have shown before.

Then flowers, even though it is fall the climate is so mild here that there are still quite a few flowers.
A tree in bloom. I don't know what kind of tree it is

 Here is a closer look at the blooms

Not a flower but nearly... at least a plant
Again the climate is so mild here that it is quite common to see tomato plants growing randomly on garbage or un-weeded gardens. Today I saw some strawberries growing among the weeds in front a house

Nicely fall is the blooming season for aloes. Just this makes me look forward to my coming road trip even more.

Then, people:
Two ladies sitting and enjoying the late afternoon

A young woman lying on the bench. The light was wrong but that was the only way to do it.

And finally one more beaded animal:

Random Photos for May 5th

Apparently all I do now is random photos!!

This morning while drinking my tea this great Redbilled Woodhoopoe showed up. Unfortunately I couldn't take the photo in a perfect profile where you can really see the impressive bill.

Added Later on in the day: I don't remember ever seeing redbilled woodhoopoes before but today so far I have seen nine. I managed to take a couple of photos which show them a little better I think.

Also in the garden where I am staying I can see a weaverbird with her nest.

And on a totally different subject, a local maid carrying the boss's kid on her back.

The Hip Young Crowd of Saturday Night

Now I am really going for random photos!

I was with a friend in a trendy area not far from a fashionable club and as we were walking by a group of young people having fun were posing for a photo. Just as they were breaking up I quickly asked them to stay so I could take their photo too. Here's the result. They didn't mind at all. They were totally enthusiastic and as you can see posed for it.

Then my friend wanted to have her picture taken with them:

First I forgot the flash

So I did it again