Some Things You've Just Got to Do

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About three years ago I gave up mowing the yard. The mower died one last time, and we hired a landscaping service to do it for us. I've enjoyed the leisure since then. Today, while pet-sitting, we needed to mow the lawn at our host house. The yard here is very small and it didn't take long, but the memories of all those years came flooding back.

I used to see good things about the effort of mowing. The engine noise creates a sonic envelope around you that gives you isolation from the world to think. The effort and attention to the task keep you from drifting too far afield. Not a bad way to spend a few hours on a Saturday (or Monday). But, like many other tasks in life, I've reached the point where this is less fun that it used to be. Nowadays, the work feels like it out weighs the good. I don't know. Perhaps the next time will be more fun.

Our Current Residence

View from the front gate.

Thought everyone would like to see a little about accommodations. We are staying in a delightful bungalow walking distance from the Thamalakane River. Like every other place here, there is a fence and a gate with a padlock.

Beautiful Bee Eater

The Little Bee Eater.

I spotted the Lilac Breasted Roller in South Africa in 1999, and until today, it was the most beautiful bird I've ever seen. The Little Bee Eater in Moremi Game Reserve has knocked the LBR right off of it's perch! Check out the Maybelline sparkly blue eyeshadow this gal is sporting! We saw approximately two dozen Little Bee Eaters flitting around beside the road and this one posed for Steve. What a thrill!

Guest for Dinner!

We were surprised by a guest for dinner. All was fine until Emma tried to actually have him/her for dinner! I swept him out the front door. He was not well.

Doing About the Neighborhood

Terry on the prowl. 

Today was spent learning our way about town and visiting some easy places. This morning we headed out for the Okavango River Lodge, which is, however, on the Thamalakane River. No accounting for naming conventions, I guess.

Thamalakane River

Chloe investigates...inquiring minds want to know.

On Saturday evening, we took Chloe, Emma, and Terri down to the Thamalakane River for a walk. This is just a couple minutes from Glen's house. We're told that most of what you see as grass now is actually river in the winter. There are birds around, and I'll get some of them on the blog later. There are also some suggestions that  more sinister creatures are lurking in the water. We saw a mighty large disturbance in the water's surface - could have been a croc.

We Have Arrived

After an uneventful drive to Reston, we met up with Anna and Seth for bite of dinner at the Cafesano and headed to the hotel for some rest. By 3:15 Friday morning we were showering and organizing for the shuttle trip to Dulles.

You see, we thought we were flying South African Airlines. Way down in small type a the bottom of the page it said some thing about Jet Blue. Turns out that we cross listed with Jet Blue. But of course, JB can't (won't?) check out luggage all the way to Maun only to Johannesburg. We're told we have to get the luggage and go though customs and security again before boarding our flight to Maun. Whatever. It is 4:30 in the morning and we have no choice.

The flight to JFK was uneventful and short. JFK was anything but. When we walked off of the plane there was no person or sign to tell us our gate for the next flight. The ticket says gate B20, but there are no signs for any gets at all. I asked a gate attendant and she said we wanted terminal four and to take the train.

We managed to find the train but there were no indications of what airline was at a what terminal. We took the train to terminal 4 and things got a little clearer. With some help we found the elevator up to the ticket level (because of course, you are just starting over, right?). Next comes security in a line with a bunch of New Yorkers. We got the easy screening (TSA pre-check) at Dulles because of our Global Travel screening, but here we had to slog through the barefoot and belles line with everyone else. Then the hike to the gate. So far so good.

Fortunately for us, there was a call that everyone who had been ticketed through another airline needed to come to the desk to get a new boarding pass. Fine. While there I asked if our luggage could be checked on to Maun and after a few minutes one of the attendants notices there did not have enough time in Johannesburg to take care of business on the ground, so she started the process. By the time we boarding, she had it done and we got on the plane without that worry.

Johannesburg was much nicer than JFK, but the walk to the gate as a long one. From the gate we took a bus for what seemed to 20 miles or so across the tarmac to the plane. Once on the plane we both crashed and slept to two  hours to the spacious Maun airport. In case you missed that little bit of sarcasm there, let me be clear. Think bus station. Our luggage made it just fine.

Once we met with Glen, the owner of the house we're sitting, all went swimmingly. He's a delightful fellow and we got along great. Yesterday evening, we took the dogs (Chloe, Emma, and Terry) for their walk down to the river. I'll have pictures soon for all the above. We also met Losiento, the resident cat.

This morning (Sunday) Glen took us to the monthly farmers market for breakfast. Was the first one of the season so the market part of slim but the breakfast was good and we met everyone because Glen knows everyone.

We are no engaged in a serious sit on the porch with Losiento, Chloe, and Terry (Emma is in the house on the cool tile). Although we can hear the traffic on the street, we are surrounded by the sounds of birds in the trees and we can barely see any neighbors. Going to be the best month of March ever!

Next Stop...

Now that we've had a monster estate sale, made a little money, and cleaning out nearly all the chaff, we have a pretty darned empty house. In part to simplify the final stages of preparing the house for sale (yeah, that's the reason I'm going with today), we are going to be gone for a month. Where, you may ask?

Botswana. We are headed to Maun, Botswana for most of the month of March. Highs in the 90's and wildlife to see.

And an interesting mix of old and new. Stay tuned. Getting there takes a while: elapsed travel time 30 hours. Hope to start posting once we are there and mostly in the right timezone mentally.

Boxing Day Update

Katla on the prowl.

On Christmas and Boxing Days we had some down time and enjoyed the cats we are sitting. One cat, Katla, is, oddly enough, allowed outside. Above is Katla prowling her domain.

Exploring Stockholm

View of Gamla Stan (Old Town) from Södermalm.  Please note that this was taken near mid-day.

Stockholm is a beautiful city. In spite of the fact that the winters are dark and (typically) cold, people have been living here a long time - since at least the 6th Century BC. Wikipedia claims that the name first appeared in print about 1252. Today, Stockholm is a large city (about 2.2 million in the metro area), the largest in the Nordic region.

Stockholm at Christmas

St. George and the Dragon at the Storkyrkan.

The plan is to spend Christmas break in Stockholm (taking care of a kitty). Days are short: sun up by 9-ish and sun down by about 16:00. Then there are those Swedes - they have a different word for everything (to quote Steve Martin).

Livin' for free

Living in East Finchley, UK.

Thanks to the internet, there are ways to find places to live without cost. Well, without paying money at least.

We discovered in about mid-2013 that web sites exist for just this sort of thing. Thanks to clever folks who had a great idea, there is now a way to connect people who have home, and often pets, that need to be watched while they are away with folks who are interested in helping them out. So if you are responsible, clean, and enjoy pets, that is made to order.