Winter comes to Cape Town

Easter Sunday today. Last night, after two glorious sunny, but cool days, the rain began. It's always good to think that the dams are filling, the swimming pool in the house we rent too, and the cold is always a reminder that we are heading home soon. Six and a half weeks for me before I go to London to check up on Cameron.

Cameron is growing - latest pic from London

Tim and I were heading to Hermanus this weekend but were both too sick to be sociable. Such a pity because Nan, Daniel and the children are there, staying with friends, and we were looking forward to a good old reunion not only with my daughter and family but with John, Judy, Alan, Di, Mike, Louise, Catherine and Glynn.

The ailment is the common cold. I've been searching the internet to find out why we say we caught a cold - I always thought catching was a sign of excellence. You catch a ball, a thief, a fish for supper, perhaps a rabbit too, something to be proud of. Why would you want to catch a cold and where did that expression originate?

I found a definition at The Free Dictionary see Verb, item 20, meaning contract but nothing on the origin of the expression. Looking at all the definitions for the word catch, I was almost sorry I started this search. And I guess that just shows how Tim and I are spending our weekend, feeling under the weather, trawling the net!

Readers in other parts of the world may wonder why Friday and Monday are both observed as religious holidays in South Africa, a country of so many diverse people and beliefs. Why do South Africans deserve this four day weekend? Isn't one day enough to hunt for Easter eggs?

And this year, two days after Easter Monday, we have April 27 Freedom Day, a good day for a holiday being the anniversary of the first democratic elections in South Africa in April 1994.

But hold on, as if that isn't enough holiday-ing, May 1st falls on a Sunday so Monday May 2nd is another day off for the workers and guess how many South Africans get out of town on Thursday April 21st and begin work again on May 3rd?

Wait, I know it's a few weeks off, but I spy another holiday on Wed 18th May. "Election Day" for local government elections in all the provinces.

You can imagine how these "holidays" throw the Stanford Centre's Academic Schedule into turmoil. Students are having a ball!

Last week we drove up the West Coast Road to !Khwa ttu, the San Cultural and Educational Centre, to learn about the San language and lifestyle. We followed that up with the Pieter Dirk Uys show Desperate First Housewives at Evita se Perron, in Darling. Photos of the day here. Pieter Dirk Uys as always such a great entertainer!

Dinner with the Stantons begins again

Tim and I really look forward to our evenings with the students every quarter. We have four of them over to our house for snacks and drinks on Wednesdays and then walk down to the Wijnhuis restaurant for dinner.

There was a time when I would cook and we'd eat at home, but we changed to the restaurant because it is much more fun for the students to got out to eat. And I was running out of recipes!

Here are two photos from our first dinner on Wednesday. Camil Diaz brought her camera - thank you Camil!

Anne Sophie, Judee, Sherry and our amazing waiter, Ritesh

Sarrah, Camil and Tim

Tomorrow we're going to the San Cultural Village, !Khwa ttu, up the West Coast, close to Yzerfontein, with the students, to learn how the San people once lived when the Dutch came to the Cape in 1652. After that we drive on to Darling to watch Pieter Dirk Uys perform in his show Desperate First Ladies at Evita se Perron.

April news

Tim got back from his trip to the US minus his precious computer and his suitcase. Fortunatly the latter was not missing. It just missed the connection in Frankfurt and arrived 36 hours later. His computer has gone. Strange thing was that when he was back home in Inverness, my computers, stolen last July, turned up in Marin County. Is someone trying to tell us something?

We've had a spurt of sunny windless days and Saturday morning found me back on the slopes of Table Mountain, the first time since January 31st. Bliss!! I didn't venture off the beaten track as I love to do, but stayed on the level jeep track. Meanwhile Tim did the big loop, up the left side, through the indigenous forest to the contour path and a long walk at 300 metres above sea level until he joined the track back down again. Lucky him ... I hope to be able to do that soon.

The new "Spring" quarter has begun. I was at Orientation Lunch last week where, after lunch, students got to meet the faculty. See photos. We ended off this week with our first Sites of Memory class at Groote Constantia, followed by the Welcome Dinner at the Jonkershuis restaurant in the beautiful grounds of this wine estate founded in 1685.

We had four very special guests with us who we were lucky to meet last year when Grant Parker was the Stanford faculty in residence. Grant's mum and dad, Mavis and Dick Parker. And Marie and Dick van der Ross. Dick vd R's family had lived in Strawberry Lane, near Groote Constantia, a coloured community evicted by the Group Areas Act in the late 1960's. We stopped by the plaque commemorating the people who lived there, met our guests and heard a bit about the area from Dick vd R.

Strawberry Lane, Stanford students and guests Dick Parker, Marie van der Ross and Dick van der Ross. The plaque is on the left of the green fence and not up in the trees!

Here's a link to some photos of yesterday afternoon/evening.