rough landing

As previously mentioned, we haven't had the easiest transition back to Cape Town. Our lovely little home was sealed up for nearly a month during the cold, wet Cape Town winter leading to a bit of a mold infestation. Grim. It was nothing that some strong armed cleaning and a trip to the laundromat with nearly the entirety of Brendan's wardrobe couldn't sort out. But the cherry on top of this unpleasant sundae was when Parker fell from a third story window (we surmise he got spooked by a bird because it is better than the alternative of him jumping) into a palm tree and then to the ground. And the little devil did this ten minutes before I was due to pick him up and bring him back to first floor home. What a stinker.

These are the palm thorns that were removed from his abdomen. The large one amazingly did not pierce any vital organs. The vet assured me that this will be one of those freak stories they tell other people about. Parker is famous. He also had some scratches and has a piece of a palm thorn in one of his paws that will actually do more damage if it is removed so he gets to keep that little trophy.

There is no scale here, but trust me this is one seriously big, tough-guy scar. No one is going to mess with this house cat. There are two more layers of stitches below this, as the thorn penetrated all skin and muscle layers.

He is going to have to ditch the cone, however, to keep his macho image. And also grow the fur back in his bald spot or else work on his comb-over. Overall his recovery has been steady. We had a scare the other evening after a day of total lethargy followed by a hunger strike (even for tuna, which is unheard of), but our wonderful friend Dave the vet made a house call and assured us that while he may have an infection we shouldn't start eulogizing just yet. I'm not sure if it was the fear of his guts being turned into violin strings or what, but he made a total recovery overnight and will get his stitches removed on Friday. He might have lost one of his nine lives (eight of them is probably more like it), but he shows no signs of stopping.

3 things

Tomorrow I begin the Great Northern Hemisphere Tour of 2011. There will be visits with friends & family, hot weather (at least once I get to the US), oodles of good food & wine, a special wedding, belated, future, and on-time birthdays to celebrate, a reunion with Big B who left nearly two weeks ago, and a birthday of note for yours truly. I'm beside myself with excitement. I'm even taking my famous guava swirl cheesecake on the road, where it will be making guest appearances in York and ol' Virginny with the two fams. Good times.

But before I say adieu for now, here are three quick stories of the recent goings-on around here.

Brendan has been an all star in the birthday department (which will be getting its own post next month). We went away to Franschhoek a few weekends back for a pre-bday celebration as I won't be seeing him until after the big day. Among the many wonderful gifties I received were two pizza baking trays, thus ensuring Brendan with an abundance of my absolute favorite savory treat food for years to come. I wanted to take the trays for a test drive before he left, so I dug out a pizza crust recipe and got to work. However, being winter here, it was a cold, drizzly day and I was nervous the dough wouldn't rise properly. Time for Plan B: I filled a hot water bottle, rested the dough bowl on top, tucked it into our bed, swaddled it with the duvet, and voila! Parker and I might have crawled under the covers to spoon the bowl, enjoy the warmth, and have a nap at some stage too. The end result was delish. I highly recommend the snuggle-your-dough-to-make-it-rise method.

On said weekend away we came to possess about 30 lemons. I'm not going to go into details about how these lemons came to join us, but let it suffice to say they became ours after a champagne tasting at the Graham Beck Estate*. After a few glasses of pre-lunch champagne, anything sounds like a great idea. So last weekend I made lemon curd with my friend Annabelle. It is tart and bright yellow and the next best thing to sunshine on a winter's day.

*As an aside, the Graham Beck Brut was the sparkly stuff we served at our wedding in Connecticut AND it was the bubbles of choice for Obama's inauguration. I can't believe he took our idea. I bet he gave our wire beaded animals as favors too.

Finally, a lesson in parenting. When asked what he wanted for his birthday, or nephew James asked for a dog. Kate, being the generous mom that she is, responded that James could have Digger. James was thrilled. Digger is her parents' dog, who lives in South Africa (while Ant, Kate, James & Matt live in England). James is now a proud "owner" of a dog that his parents never have to care for. Best parenting move ever! To continue this trend, Brendan and I decided to give him a "cat", so James got a large printout of Parker to call his very own. As James prefers chats with Parker to us on Skype, this seemed a great plan. So Parker now lives a double life, and James got two pets for his birthday. 

Enjoy the rest of June. Have a glass of champagne on the 23rd for the youngest looking 30 year old around!

happy days

Four years ago today I went on a date with a really handsome guy I met on the first night of tango class. It was an icy sub-zero day in New Haven. We had Thai food. Later that evening we drank rooibos tea and I was introduced to Johnny Clegg. We saw each other the next day, and the next day, and the day after that. It was bliss then and it still is.


Our days of late have been very full and happy in other ways too. We've spent a few glorious days on the beach, my new favorite of which is Llandudno though we've spent a fair bit of time in Fish Hoek too.


We went for a sunset walk along Hout Bay beach, watching the mountain change colors and the clouds roll in.


Afterward we had a drink at a bar on the beach and watched the full moon rise. Our chairs were in the sand and we could kick our feet up and relax.


There has been loads of family time as well. We've had more time with this little cutie and his brother. I have a great video of James and Brendan that I will figure out how to post and get up here soon.



There was a gathering of all the M-B sibs, their partners, and their kiddies (I'm glad Ant & Kate have two so I could have someone to hold!).


And now we have B's cousin Kate and her husband James here. On Sunday we packed a picnic and parked off at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for one of their summer concerts.



Sadly the Nepal training has been a bit back-burnered because of my broken toe. I think it is nearly better enough to start hiking and we will hopefully recommence soon. In the mean time, Brendan has been harassing me (I think he would say he is strongly encouraging me) to do wall squats to increase leg strength. I decided that I would do them when Parker did.


While his form leaves something to be desired, I guess this means I need to start doing wall squats. Dang.

second week of Movember

Brendan is on week two of his Movember campaign and has done brilliantly on the fundraising front. His original goal was to raise R3000 (approx $440) to sponsor 30 days of work for someone through the Dreamworker Links of Love program (read more here). Well, an extremely generous donation of R3000 from Citizen Surveys (a Cape Town survey company that Brendan has worked with) has shifted that goal post to R9000 ($1320) to provide 90 days of work. Brendan has already raised a grand total of R4220, and with three weeks ahead I know he will raise a heap more.

But let's be honest...you're just interested in seeing how he looks, right? Well the wait is over.

It's like a young Tom Selleck (although if I'm being completely honest, I am counting the days until November 30).

And just in case your day needed a little pick me up, get an eyeful of this.

Our darling cat decided he wanted a bit of shade during his seventh nap of the day, so he parked himself under some of Brendan's damp hiking clothes that were out drying in our courtyard. I love the close up.

I just fell a little bit more in love with this cat.

potpourri

'Potpourri' was always my favorite category on Jeopardy. I love Jeopardy. It is the only thing I've missed in the couple years we haven't owned a television. If anyone wants to copy and send me episodes, that would be awesome!

Anyway, here's a medley of the happenings in the last little while.

Brendan taking a photo of Hannah. The big camera next to the little baby cracks me up. It is almost like he is on safari and is stalking a her for a cool photo.

Parker, parking off. He leaves no mantle un-sat upon.

Our friends Candice and Warren came over for supper and I made one of my all time favorite things: Lebanese stuffed eggplant. Delish!

On Sue's last day in town we took a ride to the Zevenwacht wine farm for lunch. It was a gorgeous hot day, made even better by great company and cold white wine. 

Calla (or arum, depending on where you are from) lilies were everywhere. Oh, and we saw a mongoose too. Very awesome.

On one of our walks we came across this here dung beetle, and it made me think of my brother Daniel. We have this thing where we call each other 'dung roller'. Dan even addressed our wedding present to Mr and Mrs Dung Roller (sorry Brendan). While it may not appear as such to the outsider, this is very much a loving nickname. 

And then there is this handsome fellow. Here's Brendan in the act of making the bank transfer to buy our new car! This is far and away the most expensive thing either of us has ever purchased, and we thought we might need for adult diapers to get through it all. But the new car is a matter for a whole other blog post...

parker's new best friend

Our darling cat, Parker, is now an indoor/vaguely outdoor cat. Due to circumstance, he has always been stuck indoors and has really struggled with it. His hunting instinct is so strong- he really enjoyed using those skills when we were evacuated back to my parents' house after Hurricane Katrina. I, however, did not love waking up to dead mice and voles at my bedside. I think his time would have been much better spent in learning to bring me tea or breakfast in bed each morning. 

At any rate, in our new house (which, yes, I know I promised a tour of...it remains forthcoming) there is a lovely little enclosed courtyard so we decided to let Parky Pants roam freely between it at the confines of the house until I muster the fortitude to let him really be an outdoor cat. I am not sure that day will ever arrive. At least this is a start for all of us. He has mastered use of the cat flap on the kitchen door, and yesterday I saw him stalk, kill, and eat a bee. Lovely. 

In embracing the not-so-great outdoors, he has developed an affinity for one particular potted tree in the yard.

You talkin about me?

He likes to bathe whilst in his favorite pot.

Sadly, he doesn't understand that bathing in a pot full of dirt continues to leave you dirty. He gets very frustrated by this. 

And then, there is a bit of jungle-gym action in the pot.

 A nap usually follows this maneuver. Such a tough life...

good eats and explosive treats

The days continue to be long and busy for us here. This week will bring the house repairs to a close (Halleluiah!). The only downside to this is that all the paint fumes we have been huffing for the last week and a bit have provided and excellent scapegoat for what ails us. Not sleeping well? Must be the paint fumes.  Hungry all the time? Blame it on the paint fumes. Singing show tunes?  Definitely the paint fumes. 

While we wait for the paint to dry, we’ve been keeping busy with one of our favorite pastimes: eating. Because he is the very best husband and remains vigilant for any signs of homesickness exuded by yours truly, Brendan took me out for breakfast on Sunday to a place he knew I would love. Melissa's has a couple sites around Cape Town and is highly reminiscent of The Pantry.  Fine foods to go, lovely home wares, and a small eat-in restaurant. It is a good thing I am not driving yet because my independence will likely involve significant sums spent at Melissa's. Brendan had a magnificent looking (and tasting) eggs florentine. My breakfast was a total winner: a freshly made croissant filled with warmed brie, crispy bacon, and fried banana. Don't knock it till you try it, and man do you want to try it. 

The nights have still be quite cold, so our little fireplace has come in handy.

In addition to warming us up, it has a soporific effect on our favorite feline. The heat also seems to melt his spine away and he ends up oozing into whatever corner he is in. 

Apparently that is comfortable way to sleep. 

Last weekend brought the demolition of these two looming and crumbling out-of-use cooling towers in Cape Town. We had a pretty good view of them from the balcony off the office Brendan and I are in, so we invited friends to join us and Sue (who is now visiting for 3 weeks) for coffee and tea and destruction. Unfortunately for most spectators, they were blown up 4 minutes ahead for schedule (there was a squall moving in) and part or all of the event was missed. 

Now you see them:

Now you don't:

Ending on a humorous note, I saw this sign in front of a church here a few days back. For translation purposes: hoot=honk; SMS=text. 

Someone clearly has a sense of humor. 

incommunicado

First off, thanks to everyone who has posted lovely comments, sent emails, called, and otherwise shown some love. We had a wobbly transition period into our new home due to some problems with the alarm system and needing to organize pre-scheduled work with some repair men and painters. Nothing major, but such things delay the process of making someone else's house feel like your home. To top it off, we have no internet at home currently and have been feeling a little too out of communication and cut off from the world for our tastes. Soon all this will be resolved and you won't be able to make us shut our pie holes. Consider yourself warned. 

Despite the housing hiccups, the last few days have been plenty full of good times. 

We moved in officially on Monday, but by Tuesday morning had no bowls, spoons, etc unpacked for morning breakfast. So Brendan got creative with his raisin bran. We are now much more settled and have graduated beyond such rustic modes of consumption. Last night we ate a delish vegetable risotto on real plates with real forks and had a glass of our wedding wine in real wine glasses. And this was in front of our first fire in our fireplace. It was all very charming and wonderful.

Parky-pants is settling into his new digs as well. In his prissier moments, he fancies himself as a striking mantelpiece decoration.

 

In moments of relaxation, he makes himself one with the arm of the sofa (this is a classic Parker maneuver, and I'm happy to see it is intercontinentally transferable).

We went on our first real date in Cape Town to Bella Lucia, a darling little restaurant in our neighborhood of Wynberg. 

The food was inspirational: lamb and chickpea stew, pasta rolls filled with butternut and goat cheese topped with arugula, pine nuts, parmesan, and brown butter, and amarula panacotta with carmelized naartjies (a South African tangerine). Heaven.

I've also started my driving lessons. 

It was largely uneventful- a few stalls, a few exasperated drivers stuck behind me, crazy South African taxi drivers giving me heart palpitations...the usual. I did, however, hit a curb at the end of my two hour lesson and managed to scuff the hubcaps on my instructor's brand new teaching car. Oops. She should be thankful that was the worst of my offenses. I am still finding having to make space in my brain to think about a clutch rather exhausting and will continue to fight the good fight toward investing in a manual transmission vehicle. Any support given would be greatly accepted :) 

An then, of course, there is sweet little Hannah.

I think this is probably the best note to end on.

first days in Cape Town

We have been living a very charmed life during our first few days in Cape Town, and this charmed life has not been conducive to blog posts. We've enjoyed settling in, eating all our favorite South African treats, seeing friends, and waking up to views of Table Mountain and Lion's Head each morning.

But let's start at the beginning...

My parents met us at JFK to see us off. We arrived at the airport hotel after a bit of a fistfight with our car battery. It decided to be difficult and stop working the day we were leaving. The nice AAA man who replaced it got a big hug and a tip from me.

Away we went. This photo was taken approximately two hours before the nasty man in the seat behind me decided to shove my seat as hard as he could (causing my forehead to nearly collide with the seat in front of me). When I spun around to ask him what the heck his problem was, he informed me that I could not put my seat back because he did not have enough room. I gave him an earful, with some backup from the South African Airways flight attendant. I also tried to plead my way into an upgrade. Sadly, those efforts bore no fruit. 18 hours, 2 inflight movies, and a complimentary mini-bottle of sparking wine later we were in Cape Town. 

Two hours after our arrival we returned to the airport to fetch Parker. He was delayed, so we went and got a red latte to share. They are lattes made with a rooibus tea "espresso" and are just fabulous. We thought it was a bit of a good omen that the barista used the foam and honey to draw a cat face on ours. 

These are our views from our bedroom windows each morning. It isn't possible to wake up and see Table Mountain and Lion's Head and not feel happy to be alive and in Cape Town. 

Our darling cat had perhaps the most harrowing of all our trips. Thankfully he is settling in wonderfully, even if he is a little bewildered by the new view. I took him out onto Candice's balcony to scope out his new hood. 

Here is evidence of Parker's happy state. Candice's work seat is his new favorite spot to sun himself. It is a race to see who gets their bum into the chair to claim it first for the day. 

This past Sunday we went to Kalk Bay, a lovely bohemian little town on the sea. We went with a singular vision: breakfast at Olympia Cafe. My word, this place is like Cape Town's version of the lovely Tartine in San Francisco. We shared a mushroom and mozzarella croissant with some scrambled eggs, and then another croissant with jam for dessert. 

Swoon. It was too good for words. My face hurt when we left because I was smiling so much. 

After breakfast, we walked down the main road and window shopped. We ended with a walk along the pier, looking at the boats and chatting to a fisherman here and there. 

And this little house? This place, dear friends, is the the result of good fortune smiling upon us once more, because this is the house we are moving into next week. A colleague of Brendan's at the University has to leave suddenly for England to care for an ailing family member and has offered to rent her darling Victorian house to us. It has a wonderful sunny courtyard, a spare bedroom (book your tickets, folks), and a new kitchen. And there is a bathtub!! We haven't had one of those for 3 years. We are feeling so happy and fortunate and thrilled. Update addresses and such will follow, along with a virtual tour next week.

So life is great. We are embracing life in the Mother City in a big way, and there is no sight of decreased excitement in the near future. The weeks ahead will bring driving lessons for me (should be good for a comical blog post), settling into work life, a new sweet little baby niece, a visit from Brendan's parents, and lots and lots more guava yogurt for yours truly. Man, I just can't get enough of the stuff.