Visitors

Up in the morning and off to school. Another interesting night, but we are rolling with it. True to form the 06h00 coffee went down a treat. Windy today once again. Todays we were waiting for a call from my brother who is coming over to stay. Unfortunaterly we did not have a time of arrival so we decided to lay low and wait for his call. 

I had bought some bacon as we had expected him yesterday evening, but he had called late in the afternoon and had decided to come this morning. Bacon and eggs on toast with cheese for me. Yummy! When I was just about done, I thought of the honey... would have been excellent! I used another cup of coffee to wash my brekkie down.

Ingrid wrote her blog and I was on the couch keeping up with my game on my phone. Every day I complete a few tasks and on another game I colour in a picture. Colour by numbers digital style. We weren't going to the supermarket until he phoned as we needed to know what we would need.

The wind played a big factor in our day as we could not sit outside. Factor in the that the morning also brought a spittle of rain, but that would not have drowned anyone. Soon the sun forced it's way through and yet still going outside was not lekker due to the wind. If one took a picture, one would say that it is a perfect day. We were not complaining. Something that we have learnt is that we have time. If this hour does not bring what we need, perhaps the next hour will. If this morning does not bring what we want or need, perhaps  this afternoon will.

Justin arrived just before 11am with our favourite African Dog RIley. Riley knows this house, but did a full inspection of every room to see who and what was here.  Sorry RIley, it is just us. So plan A. Go to the harbour in St Francis bay and walk a bit. We were about 200m into our walk and brother said that he wanted to go dive (Spearfish) here. We would take RIley and walk back home. So back to car and we put RIley on the leash and began the walk once again. After a short while I decided to take RIley off of the leash and she high tailed it back to the car where brother was getting ready for his dive. 

"Derde keer is scheepsrecht", they say in Holland. Third time lucky,  Justin walked with us to Point A and then we put RIley on the leash and off we went, while Justin walked back to the car to suit up. RIley at first kept looking back to find Justin, but soon she probably thought OKAY let's just get through this. Justin had explained the route and we were surprised that the walk back home was actually a lot shorter than we thought. If one takes the car, one has to drive out and then around and then a little bit back, but walking was practically a straight line. So much shorter. Back home Riley had the needed fluids and then we got treated to the whining. She loves her dad and sat at the front door pining for him. Actually quite a pull at the heart strings. 

Okay we had some tea and then all of a sudden something went ping, ping ping.  I looked at Ingrid and she looked at me. Was that you?  Not either of us. Riley has a tag around her neck and someone was pinging her location. I thought that it was Justin just to see that we had arrived home and that gave me some comfort as I thought that he was out of the water and just checking. Turns out that it was Rileys Mom. Lol. Track your dog to track your husband I thought. 

Justin came home soon after and Riley was quiet. Typical Potgieter sytle he went to have an afternooner and I went uptairs to have a ZZZ. Ingrid did not join me, so I guess that she just arbed (doing nothing in particular). The wind was still blowing a gale, but hey, we are used to it now. 

After the afternooner Justin and I tackled the case of the missing door handle screws. On one of the doors here the handle had come off. Thorough inspection of the crime scene revealed a few important clues. On the one side of the door handle there were no screws to hold the handle on properly. On the other side the screws were partly loose. Now, how to fix? Blow me down.  Justin says, I have screws in the bus (VW bus) in a box. I thought, Odd, but I will go and get the keys and search for the box. Silly me. Could not have missed the box if I was blind.

WFT. How is this possible? I have a few things in my car at home, but not a box of this size. Next thing I said before I went was, "And you know that the next step is to find a screw driver". Also in the box was his reply. Short story... we had all of the required tools including the correct Allem key in the box of tricks. 5 minutes later the door handle was fixed. Safe like houses we say here. Sorted!

Forgot to mention that bad weather here is good for puzzles. Brother dear had brought a 1500 piece puzzle with him. Ingrid is a puzzle genius and she was onto it in no time. According to sources brother is a puzzle fanatic himself. After posting a picture of the 2 of them beginning the puzzle the cockroaches came out of the closet. Legend tells that brother and Jackpot owner wife are fierce competitors when it comes to puzzle building. He now has a new rival! The picture also brought a comment of... "Doing puzzles? It must be bad weather". Bad is a subjective term. Not ideal would be my term. 

So to the afternoon boogie board session. Ingrid has been true to her word and we have swum in the ocean every day since we have been here. She is still not fearless in the Ocean, but she does face her fear better than I could have wished for. Today was not, I don't want to go into the ocean as it is menacing, but I jut not not feel like it. I played hard ball and told her to get into her cozzie (costume bathing/suit) and she could then decide if she wanted to go in or not. Half of the battle won!

At the beach brother said that he would sit on the side and watch. Ingrid went with me, once again surprising me. Hoppa! Into the water with her boogie board and she caught a wave before I did! After a few waves of my own, I decided to park the boogie board on the beach and go body surfing. Brother had joined us by this time, also for a body surf. Ingrid retired to the beach having done her bit and enjoyed her time in the water.

Forgot. Just as we were entering the sea, we saw a guy to the left of us pointing and he was not pointing into the deep, but the shallow water. I did not know what he was pointing at, but it was odd. I walked over to Ingrid who was not far away and casually said, "Come with me out of the water".  

Brother who was walking toward us was also pointing and I thought as one does here, "SHARK"! As Justin got nearer he was still pointing and I finally made out the words, SEA OTTER.  We were now ankle deep in the water and MY FOK, what a cute little thing. A juvenile sea otter just beyond the break. Bobbing about and doing his thing, but true to nature he was calm as he did not see us as a threat. It took about 2 minutes for him to check us out and continue on his merry way. STUNNING and beautiful! Nature in the natural environment.

I guess that this could bring me onto a whole new topic. Jorn Luka in an interview with Stef Bos the singer. What an interesting podcast on Youtube. Look it up it is worth your time! Point being that when man is confronted by our Mother Nature we are actually peanuts. Man in the shark enviroment, the sea, one on one, one can realise how puny and fragile ones life is. Confronted by a bull elephant on a safari, one realises how puny we are. That is perhaps the joy of Africa. Mother Nature is actually King. Factor in guns and stuff and we take by force, but this is not the way! The purity of Nature is that if it is your time she will oblige. If it is not your time, she steps aside. Learned life lesson number next, but one that those who live in Africa have learnt first hand.

Boogie boarding and body surfing done we walked backt o the car and opened a beer. Even Ingrid had a beer. We sat in the lew and got a bit of late afternoon sun on our backs and looked out over the bay. Surfers to the right and the beach to the left. Where else would we want to be in the world right now? How more special or perfect could it get? 

I can not say that the braai went without hiccup. The steaks were nicely cooked, but I forgot the garlic bread on the coals for a bit. 'n boer maak 'n plan.... I cut off the bottom and Bob's your uncle!. Sorted. Load shedding has come once again, so getting down to some serious puzzling took a back seat. Blogging and now bed time at 20h45. "Saving some energy for tomorrow",  as Justin says. 

Slaap lekker! ./ Goodnight!