Coffee time!

Today I had training meetings at work. I slipped out for a bathroom break and on the way checked my mail. My parcel from my knitter’s coffee swap pal arrived. Thank you Diane, it’s wonderful! I knew what it was as soon as I picked up the box. The coffee smelt divine.
Having very low impulse [...]

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Can’t think of a title

I survived the frantic activity of the weekend and the performances went well.
The graduation ceremony was interesting. A mix of very formal European traditions and some stuff that you could call uniquely African. One tradition I hadn’t seen before was ‘capping’. This is where the graduand kneels down and gets banged on the head [...]

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Frantic

This weekend is graduation weekend and life is kind of frantic. Here’s the schedule:
Thursday night: alumni dinner and awards
Friday: 9.45 Pick up gown, 10am rehearsal for duet, 6.15pm rehearsal with small group.
Saturday: 10am rehearsal with larger choir, 2pm perform solo, duet, small group and larger choir in concert.
Sunday: morning Graduation ceremony, 4pm rehearsal for performance [...]

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Assumptions

When you move to a new country you realise that there are a lot of assumptions in everyday life. These include things like how do you connect the electricity and water to your house? (in Australia ring up the power company- in South Africa: go in person to the municipal offices line up, fill in [...]

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The gift that keeps on giving…

First, some background:
Quite a few months ago Shelly began making a blanket from her left over sock yarn, but she wasn’t making socks fast enough, so she asked on her blog if anyone had any left over sock yarn (she was quite specific about this) that they weren’t going to use, but couldn’t throw away [...]

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A childhood dream

Living in the Southern Hemisphere means that Christmas is a little different to the traditional snow and sleigh rides that we commemmorate in Christmas carols. In Australia family Christmas traditions often centre around watermelon, cherries, a game of backyard cricket and a dip in the pool or a trip to the beach.
One aspect [...]

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A reality check

Saturday morning I had myself a little pity party. I was feeling very sorry for myself (not helped by being surrounded by very pregnant women and new babies I’m sure, seemed like they were everywhere I looked), and so I had a bit of a cry and wallowed in the whole self-pity thing.
Saturday afternoon as [...]

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I found sock yarn and some other goodies!

Yesterday was very busy, but lots and lots of fun. I started the day with a small graduation ceremony for the students who have completed their courses. This is me and one of the vice-presidents of the college handing out their certificates.
After the ceremonies were over Simone went on a coffee/yarn/bead crawl. Everytime I go [...]

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Cheese with Charles

Maybe it’s just me, but I find the following mural vaguely disturbing. I have some questions about the exact nature of Charles’ relationship with that cow…

NB:
1. This shop sells fantastic, locally produced cheese.
2. The guy inside the shop actually looks like his painting.
3. Thanks Ann for asking about weird things we’d seen.

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Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

On Saturday afternoon Gorgeous Man and I took a picnic lunch to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. These gardens are in the heart of Capetown at the base of Table Mountain. They are really pretty and they had some very cool plants like this one.
One of my favourite parts of the garden, apart from the succulents, [...]

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