Bram's No-Party BDay

View from our roof terrace.

Bram’s BDay – ever since his the full monty 50th birthday bash he refuses to have a party. Okay, buying & butchering a goat is a hassle, but even a simple boerwors do is out of the question... To celebrate his 56th he invited ‘our’ welder Shorty to help him build a carport.

A huge carport at that - to fit our future new(ish) Toyota Land Cruiser 70 series pick-up:-) We managed to narrow our shortlist down to that one, which already is a big step forward. Now we have to get and compare quotes for brand-new ones, and look what is available second-hand. He didn’t escape the live congrats totally, cause at the end of the day Hamish and Mpho dropped in on their way back from bike-racing around Rasesa.

Sunday after party! Inga & Andres and their kids came over for a mellow long lunch afternoon. So when Greetje & Arend made a surprise visit we could receive them in a clean house, and offer nice refreshments. People hardly ever drive ‘all the way’ to Morwa for a surprise visit so it’s really nice when that happens!

Another surprise: Mme Binkie walked over with het grandson (our linguist) and her lastborn granddaughter to show the dresses she had the seamstress make out of the cloth we brought her from South Africa. Our by now traditional X-mass present for her is enough metres of Germin or Shweshwe for a new dress. Maduo was so proud of her new dress, same same as nkuku- she couldn’t stop showing of like a real top model

About the traditional fabric Shweshwe

Maduo’s companions will match her beautiful dress after their thorough bath.

At the end of the afternoon it cooled down enough to go for a walk. It even looked like it might rain, but that was again a no go. It’s so beautiful to hike in the bush, and it’s so close to our house – but somehow we only get round to doing that when we have visitors...

Afternoon shadows.

Afternoon nap.

Is this our wake cup call?

Yes, Louis is Maud’s special dog. Though he doesn’t agree he’s a dog; he’s a human caught in a dog’s body, as he already noticed when he was about three weeks old.

Our neighbours Bennie, Thuto and Tintere all set for school.

More neighbours; three generations of Thamage-ladies. Baby Maatla Rianne is ours because we helped deliver her.

The first of our many citrus trees that’s carrying fruit – loads of fruit. This one was bought at the expensive posh nursery Sanitas, and just for once we clearly didn’t buy a lemon. In general the stuff we get from Sanitas isn’t even that good; the community project Mokolodi Indigenous Nursery provides way better plants.

Maud did a lot of citrus trees from cuttings end of 2009. The survivors do quite well – this one looks like it might give us fruit in two or three years. They tend to be attacked by caterpillars, but the Afrikaantjes (Marigolds) should take care of that. Inez gave us a bunch of seedlings end of 2011. They are thriving; we are already on our third generation of self-seeded new plants.

Pula!

In one way we really adapted to our Botswana life: we love rain. Which is weird for Dutch people; we are supposed to complain about rain, hate cloudy days, especially the gray ones, be happy with every bit of sunshine. But here it’s dry, dry, dry most of the year; Kalahari, Kgalagadi, Dorsland (land of thirst). We do have a ‘rainy’ season, in summer, but the rainfall tends to be erratic, unpredictable and highly regional. Maybe that’s why we fanatically compare the contents of our rain gauge (never wanted that appliance in the Netherlands!) with friends living 10, 20, 30 k’s away.
Kalahari desert

This rainy season has been not much good so far... No early September rain(s), even October was dry, November also didn’t bring much, late December we had some, and January again didn’t fulfil it’s promises. But February started good; a 40 millimetres shower, and then a 1 and a 7.5. That's your real semi-arid climate...
semi-arid climate

Nadia (left) and Moira, checking out the yard after the rain. They love the cool, wet soil once the rain is gone, but they are not exactly fond of thunder and lightning – make that somewhere in between ‘not fond’ and ‘terrified’.

Our new ‘pula’ container. Pula is the name of both the Botswana currency and rain.

It’s hard to choose what is nicer; rain or ‘after the rain’... Afterwards everything smells so nice, birds start singing ever so enthusiastically, all my plants look so healthy and thriving, and the soil feels nice and rich instead of dry and powdery.

Botswana climate

Botswana seasons

New Camera Rules!

Bram's new camera arrived (thanks Rory!) - he's happy like a kid on Sinterklaasavond. And very busy; every new feature has to be thoroughly tested. It even has a special 'picture your pets' setting:-)

Moving objects at rest.
This is just a preview; we'll do a huge post coming Monday (if the Internet works...)

House, Garden, Dwgs

 

Some fairly recent pictures of new projects in & around our house, our gardening attempts, and of course our canine darling beauties. Here’s the most beautiful (and grumpiest) of all: Tsarina Lisa.

 

We finally started finishing the roof terrace on top of our bedroom. The roofing over the terrace is supposed to cool down the bedroom, and provide a dry & cool place to sleep during the hottest summer nights. and to add a cool party place with a magnificent view to our premises.

 

This project will also add a cool party place with a magnificent view to our premises.

 

View from the deck around the hot tub.

 

Finally a bookcase; having all our books in crates was really not handy!

 

In the middles of this purple stuff there is a baby lemon tree.

 

Meanwhile Bram’s rock pigeons chased the sparrows from their nesting place. After adding some wire the nest could hold mom & dad fatso and their chicks.

 

Our girls.

 

New dog hobby: sit underneath the nest, stare at it with open mouths, and just keep hoping these delicious snacks will tumble down from heaven.

 

Our attempts at creating a green wall around the plot are already working out at some spots. The flamboyant tree we raised from seeds last year.

 

In between neighbour mme Binkie and us we try to keep the soil free from weeds as required by the village rules, and make a goat- and cow-resistant cactus & aloe‘garden’ to prevent soil erosion and to have something nice to look at.

 

One of the succulent borders; this ‘originally from Madagascar’ plant is producing babies like there is no tomorrow.

 

Baby baobab in between the famous purple stuff that we use all over the garden to prevent soil erosion and have something flowery to look at.

Aussies Moira & Nadia enjoying a well earned rest after another night of guarding the premises. Or was it one of their many ‘chase the effin’ monkeys’ efforts during the day?

Pottering

 

Our neighbours Rachel & Melvin all set to go to church in their new Audi. They are the ideal neighbours; nice, cheerful, and always willing to help out. While Melvin spends most of his time at home working on cars (imagine our luck having a mechanic for a neighbour!), Bram potters in the yard with building materials.

 

Now what is this supposed to be? Being the principal building inspector, aussie Nadia is confronted with some heavy management tasks. Like The Pool phase 1 (the grey concrete basin) and phase 2 (the wooden decks) – very suspicious looking structures, should she ignore this or does it require her attention?

At least Bashi (left) is around a lot, that is reassuring, this whole thing might even have something to do with dog pellets.

 

Applying the marbelite finishing has to be done in the late afternoon because during the day it is way too hot for a quick drying product like this. Note the grey line – that’s where the kinky disco lights will be. Can’t wait to have sundowners while soaking in the hot tub & enjoying the view!

 

Finally the electrician Bathalefi can start his part of the job. First the pool pump Arend gave us has to be connected. And then there are the lights, the jets – amazing what a pool that will be heated by a donkey boiler requires when it comes to electricity.

 

Moira and Lisa (for short; it should be Tsarina Elisabeth Johanna Amalia Victoria Wilhelmina Petronella Katharina Maria de lIzegrim) inspect the sundowners area for those who don’t feel like loitering in the pool.

 

Lisa tries to figure how many 8 kg bags of dog pellets are needed to fill this giant bowl. Or will it be filled with pap or custard?

 

Our fierce watchdog Lionel uses the plateau of Bram’s Hollywood stairs to overlook the premises. Note the ear – nothing goes on unnoticed.

 

When Bram is out of bed first Louis jumps in to have a ‘so glad to see you after this endless night’ cuddle & sleep in.

 

And then there is coffee while the dogs digest their break-fast.

 

This one can grow huge, and is awfully prickly. Taking cuttings will for sure result in at least one damaged arm and hand.

 

Halfmens – a beautiful cactus-like tree that eventually will be a couple of meters high.

 

Maud’s succulent rose garden phase 1 – a desert rose.

 

If you are stranded in the bush without water, look for insects. Insects need water every day, and they can’t cover huge distances, so if you see them water must be nearby. This is one of the many types of wasps we have in our yard.

 

Just like last year ‘our’ weaver is weaving nests like there is no tomorrow. The poor guy never managed to attract a wife so far. If they are interested, they will inspect the nest. If it happens to be unsatisfactory, she’ll rip it apart, just to make clear he should start all over.

 

This last year’s cutting is already flowering.

 

Our lily from Miena’s garden.

Fabulous Aussie Moira, the fastest, the best jumper, the master thief as far as food is concerned, ready for action.