NVJ

Hallo allemaal,
Mens moet maar creatief zijn als de technologie half mee-, half tegenwerkt... Zolang ik net mijn mail kan lezen, maar niet terug kan mailen, gebruik ik blogposts+comments voor (niet-vertrouwlijke) boodschappen. Verder mis ik Nederland voor geen meter, alleen m'n katten. Halfnegen 's avonds, ga zo weer op de stoep zitten, de krekels tsjirpen, de padda's kwaken, de honden slapen, de sterrenhemel is magnifiek. Morgen (23 januari) naar Botswana toe, internettoegang zal daar wel iets lastiger worden.
Hier inmiddels een (dagblad)fotojournaliste leren kennen die prachtige foto's maakt, vooral haar slums-werk is fascinerend bijzonder. En natuurlijk boeiend om te filosoferen over krantensituatie hier vergeleken met Nederland. Morgen op pad naar Botswana,
groet,
Maud

The Knight's Hall

Removing a few, tiny, loose pieces of plaster before the 'stucadoors' started, ended up in a typical 'it must get worse before it can get better'-situation: we got the Knight's Hall, but still no space for the horses. After removing almost 1000 kilograms of old plaster the place is getting a brand-new look now, while the workmen get plastered on beers. Bram is moving around like a hare in spring, while Maud is sharing her bed with Flu; quite a tiring boy he is. Only two weeks now before Anel arrives from Potchefstroom (RSA); she'll be staying with us and working on her phd-research. So no more big renovation works after december 9, which is excellent, because we really have tot start our Botswana-preparations.

Redleg

The Madala has moved up from Eenbeen Gipsieking to High-heeled Redleg, which gives him a bit more 'moving around'-freedom. Still the progression in the house is even slower than it used to be, so we are going to sit in between a pile of boxes and our brand-new fireplace when we make our first in-house campfire. Which we don't really need now, because it's exceptionaly warm for the time of the year (we still have roses, canna, violins and more in our garden), but we have to start getting used to our African way of life; camping, cooking on an open fire... In honour of Bram's 50th birthday we'll be in Botswana & RSA for 3 months, leaving The Netherlands in January (you're all invited to Bram's Very Big Madala Party, March 10, just drive around in Kutse and Central Kalahari until you see an old Toyota-bakkie and a small tent). Fill the Gap!!!
Which was also the title of a conference we visited last week. About (to put it simply) filling the gap between the information-rich and the information-poor, specificaly internet-wise. Which brought back memories of old-fashioned so-called development aid; whities bringing their, according to them, goodies to the non-whities. Bram managed to spot one of the very, very few brada's.