Life has more or less settled into a new rhythm for us. I am happily retired and therefore not concerned about my personal ‘job security’ as are folk out there that are desperately trying to keep things together. I’ve even started going to gym again. It has been more than 3 months since my foot operation and the lack of physical activity really gets to me.
Roger, as I may have mentioned before, has reinvented himself and he is now what he calls “a general worker, handyman, welder, and anything else I am able to do”. He loves the freedom of it, as opposed to the airline schedule, and mostly he loves the creativity of it. He had also resigned from the Board of Trustees at Rosewood Terrace and is now listed as a contractor for our complex. This allows him to be remunerated for his hours of work around here.
We’ve been going to Silver Creek Gorge regularly, enjoying the social events and breakfast runs with all the Bathawk (and other) pilots and their families there. But the big trip this month was once again going to Marloth Park. There is so much to do there since we decided to make some improvements. So, we left home on Thursday the 25th of March at 11:30 am for yet another ‘working holiday’.
The weather was overcast and rainy, so we decided to take it easy. Thanks to a few stops en route and long delays at roadworks we eventually turned into our driveway at 6:30 pm. I am not a fan of arriving in the dark, but despite that, it is always good once we’re there and the car is off-loaded.
The main aim for this visit was to pave the braai area, a much bigger task than initially anticipated. Fortunately, Chigo (Don’s part-time labourer) was available to help but only from Saturday.
We were tired after the long day and tedious drive so decided to sleep in on Friday morning and take it easy for the day. I woke up at 7:30 am and as always stumbled to the bathroom, PJ pants in hand. Then I made my way to the kitchen to get the coffee water going, still with pants in hand. To my dismay, as I turned around to go back to the bedroom, I saw Chigo patiently waiting outside for us to wake up. Apparently his previous job finished earlier than expected! Did I mention that we don’t have curtains…?
After a bit of a scramble Roger had Chigo working, preparing the surface for laying the bricks, while we had a hurried coffee and breakfast.
At the end of the day when Roger came inside, exhausted and very ready for that first cold beer, I asked:
‘Shouldn’t we cover the cement pile?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘It won’t rain’.
‘OK’, I said. ‘Then we should definitely cover it. Remember ANT?’
So, we covered the cement pile with plastic sheeting. And then it rained…
In 2009 Roger and I did a year-long course with Africa Nature Training (ANT). It was an amazing year, but that is a story for another time. On one of our field trips, while heavy clouds were building during the late afternoon, Pauline asked Roger whether he thought it was going to rain.
‘No,’ he said. ‘This is just a bit of cumulus building due to the hot day we’ve had. It will blow over soon’. So, everyone went about their business, unconcerned. Roger is an airline pilot after all; he should be able to “read” the weather.
Before we knew it we were caught in the mother of all thunderstorms, with some hail thrown in for good measure. Our tent roofs collapsed due to the weight of the water that bucketed down; everything was drenched. It was over as quickly as it started.
Sitting around looking like drowned rats, recovering from the suddenness of it all, Pauline said:
‘Remind me never to ask you for a weather forecast again!’
He has never lived that one down!
I am always fascinated by the number of butterflies that appear from nowhere when there is wet cement or mud puddles around. Here is what the Butterfly Lady (butterfly-lady.com) has to say about it:
Many species of butterflies congregate on wet sand and mud to partake in “puddling,” drinking water and extracting salts and minerals from damp sand or mud. In many species, this “mud-puddling” behaviour is restricted to the males, and studies have suggested that the nutrients collected may be provided as a nuptial gift during mating.
These are interesting little creatures that remain buried for most of the year. They only appear after rain. According to https://namibian.org/nature/reptiles-and-frogs/frogs/bushveld-rain-frog
Bushveld Rain frogs (Breviceps adspersus adspersus) have characteristic hardened, horny projections on each heel, enabling them to dig backwards into the ground, allowing them to disappear from sight.
While Roger and Chigo were busy outside in the scorching sun, I did my usual fun things inside.
When Chigo arrived at work on the second day we asked him whether he would like to have the two beds that were in what we called the ‘open area’. We wanted to convert that space into a lounge and no longer wanted the beds. We had salvaged four really good chairs from our basement in Rosebank which belonged to friend and neighbour Alessandra. She is busy decluttering and was only too happy for us to take them. So, the beds were loaded onto the ‘bakkie’ at the end of the day and we took Chigo home in order to save him 3rd party delivery costs. It turned out to be a much longer drive than expected, almost an hour, to a township close to the border of Swaziland. It is very humbling to think how far these labourers travel to work every day. The next day he told us that for the first time ever his kids asked to go to bed early. They had never slept on a bed before. Until that night the whole family had been sleeping on the floor!
Then of course, we can never be at Marloth Park without at least one day-visit to Kruger National Park. We chose to do that on Tuesday in order to avoid the weekend crowds. It was a good choice. The day was overcast and cool and we had some amazing sightings.
The most amazing sighting of the day was that of a leopard which we found after a tip-off from another visitor. We, and lots of other vehicles, followed him for a long time. He seemed unperturbed, almost as if he was using the vehicles as cover. After two failed hunting attempts he casually walked off into the bush.
As always, we had a most enjoyable day in the park.
We ‘braai’-ed inside on all the nights that we were at Marloth Park due to the work-in-progress and the wet cement, but also thanks to the very welcome rain on some of the nights.
All too soon it was time to leave again. We had commitments for the upcoming Easter Weekend. We will just have to go again soon! There is a lot more work to be done. But then again, there always is…