In & Around Morwa

In & around our Morwa house there are a zillion things to do…

Building is and will always be ‘almost finished’. But apart from the details that probably still will have to be done in 2020 there are some things we wanna have now now, like drawers in the kitchen and bookshelves. Then there are the fun new projects we keep dreaming up, like Bram’s hot tub. And last but not least: Project ‘prevent soil erosion, create a greenish oasis on top of the rooisand’.

Bram’s breakfast: Morvite. Maud thinks it tastes like ground cardboard and has the consistency of wallpaper glue, but he and the dogs absolutely love it. And Bram gets extremely grumpy when it is not available, or, slightly less unsettling, when the ‘original taste’ is out of stock and he has to make do with the vanilla-, strawberry- or honey-flavoured substitute.

Taking you mighty long dude, to eat your share and give us what is ours.

Yeah, the doors are in! Since living in the semi-desert is like living close to the beach this makes a big difference in the amount of sand blowing into our stuff. By now Maud is almost over the shock she got when she opened the can of paint Bram bought – baby diaper instead of the colour we theoretically agreed upon, reddish sand. (Click on picture to see .gif effect:-)

Schoolboys in Gaborone. Some days a trip to town is necessary; foraging, meetings with clients and printers, hanging out with friends, and so on.

Botswana is both way bigger and way smaller then the Netherlands. It is roughly the same size as France, but wherever you go, you will always meet someone you know. Bram’s mom neighbour Mme Binkie on the road in Morwa.

Visiting across the road to welcome Neo’s first kid, our second granddaughter, Amogelang Elisa, into this world.

Traditionally Neo and her baby should stay in the rondavel for three months. Men are not allowed anywhere near her hut, and woman can only visit if they are close family. But Neo isn’t that traditional so Bram can just walk in and out as he likes. Note Maud’s super cute boyfriend in his cool pyjamas on the left!

Visiting at the other side of Gaborone, to celebrate Calum’s 7th birthday. Note the Dutch World Championship 2010 soccer cap – we must have had at least half a suitcase packed with soccer crap.

Go Calum, go, no goals for Bram! A genuine Dutch-Scottish Boy, practising for his soccer birthday party.

Cuttings & seedlings – this picture was taken just before a dog-break-in breakin’ & diggin’ party.

A cutting Maud took from the bush last March, armed with only a small knife. By now both cars are equipped with sufficient ‘Hey, stop, I see a nice plant at the roadside’ tools. The small dark green discs are new growth.

The big baby is a cutting from Greetje’s yard. The white arrow is pointing to a ‘clever’ cutting from the cutting thanks to the dogs. They use the cactus garden as a cut-through to race upon the hill when they hear monkeys or squirrels, breaking quite a lot of plants on their way. Maud tries to be less frustrated about this by converting break-offs into cuttings.

And now for something completely different: what used to be the steps to the highest point of our plot are now The Steps to The Playboy Pool. Note the vague greyish structure behind the tree (top right). We’ll unveil our Sky Spa next week…

Dig this horrible diggers; no secret entrances left (we hope)!

Thanks a lot Nadia, Moira, Lisa, Louis and Lionel! The two white arrows are pointing at more break-offs, sorry, clever cuttings.

Miena’s Oleander – actually everything around it is also born by Miena’s garden. Or should we say Tears’ garden, cause she created it. Botswana is small; our friends Tears & Andre build and lived in the Khale View house that our friends Miena & Bernard now own.