Everyday Life

Women fishing in the Thamalakane River.

We stopped at the Old Bridge Backpackers yesterday for lunch. Out by the old bridge, we saw three or four women seine for fish. We saw them though one of the gaps between the bridge supports. We could tell that the water was not deep - never more than about knee deep anywhere. Seems like a hard way to put food on the table.

Down by the River

The Thamalakane river just down from the house.

Sunday was a rest and recover day for us. It rained pretty steadily all morning and was cool (in the 70's) and pleasant. I discovered that we could actually watch Netflix on the computer. Apparently, Netflix is clever enough to stream a very low resolution version of the show so our wifi could handle it.

However, time marches on and dog-walking time approached. We knew this from the restlessness and incessant whining and barking. So off to the river we went, led by three happy dogs.

On the Road to the Boteti River

Saturday, we packed a light lunch and took a drive to the east. We headed out of Maun on the A3 toward Francistown. Of course we never got anywhere near that far, but we wanted to see how the scenery changed as we went away from the Okavango delta region. As you can see, the potholes are a constant of life on the road here.

The Morning Chorus

This is our first attempt at posting a video so this will be little rough. I shot this on the iPhone and dowloaded it to the computer into my photo software. Of course, that program does nothing for videos except catalog them, so I opened it in iMovie and down-sampled it to 720p, low quality to get the size to something I can upload from here. The video quality is bad and, frankly, not the point.

This video is here for the sounds. I wanted to share with you the sounds we wake to every morning. Including the radio from next door. The birds are wonderful.

On my browser, I see a still image in addition to the video and I don't know why. Ignore the man behind the curtain (at least until I get this figured out).

A Night at the Movies

At the Motsana Center where we like to go for a post-breakfast Coke and tea before we start the day, there are other activities to enjoy. On Thursdays (at least this week and next), there is a kind of dinner theater. The owner, the standing fellow in the distance, rearranges the furniture to face the stage area off to the left and pulls down the projection screen. Then using his DVD player, we watch the weekly movie. This week it was The Bridge of Spies. It was very good and a welcome relief from the inability to watch Netflix on the slow network connections available here.

Driving home in the dark was an entirely different experience. There are no street lights and very few houses have lights you can see from the road. The dense vegetation also limits the reach of any domestic outdoor lights. Last night it was cloudy so there was no starlight or moon to guide us. It was just bloody dark!

All the roads looked different when viewed only from the car headlights. One stretch has a multitude of color-coded reflectors (with colors indicating side roads, passing/no-passing, etc.) embedded in the road making it feel like we were landing a plane. When this guidance disappeared, it suddenly got almost cave dark. Distances seems longer. We were convinced at least three times that we'd passed our road.

But in the end, after a nice evening out, we got home safely to our little retreat.

Exchange Rate

We've found a morning routine of going to the Piano Cafe at Motsana for a tea and a Coke after breakfast at home. We have, over the space of 2-2.5 hours, a bottle of still water, two Coke Lites, a fresh, warm bran muffin with butter and two jars of jam, and a pot of tea for one. Total cost after converting to US: $5.61. Think about that.

A Few Birds

The Pied Kingfisher.

We headed to the Old Backpackers for such yesterday and had a really good bacon cheese burger with fries. Nice and juicy! While there, we saw our friend the Pied Kingfisher again posing for us. But the real show of the day was viewed from Glen's front porch.

On Roads

Yesterday we drove back out to Shorobe for another look about. A couple new things I noticed this time around.

An Afternoon at the Thamalakane River Lodge

A rain squall coming in from the delta.

We stopped for lunch at the Thamalakane River Lodge yesterday. There are great scenic views of the river and the fields beyond here and the food is reasonable as well. This time we tried the pizza with the chicken and the home-made peri-peri sauce. Oh my! Between us we had three slices of pizza, two bottles of water and two Coke-Lites and were still on fire. We got a box for the remainder to try for dinner. On the way home we stopped for more grapes to try to take the edge off if it. We were at least partially successful and the pizza is now all gone (along with the lining to my digestive tract).

After lunch we settled in for some birds watching. We weren't the only ones have a lunch with a kick to it.

Lunch at the French Connection

Yesterday we had lunch at the very pleasant cafe, The French Connection. It is located near the airport (city center, if you will) and shaded by a canopy and overhead screens to make an outside seating area.

A Soft Afternoon

We had a bit of a soft day today with cooler temperatures and, after lunch, some rain. With the change in reflectance that comes with wetting things down, I decided to try a little infrared photography. Here is Glen's front yard in infrared. It is quite different when you examine a scene in a part of the spectrum that we don't normally see.

With some adjustments, I found that softening and darkening the background allowed the tree rendered with white leaves in the center to standout more and give the image more of a three-dimensional feel. Darkening the walkway a bit balanced with the dark tree trunk and the metal bench on the right. On the whole, I find it a pleasing image. Even simple scenes, when viewed in a new way, can be interesting.

Everything By Truck

Whatever you like.

Lake Ngami

On the shore of Lake Ngami.

This morning we got up early and headed south to Lake Ngami. This is a lake that depends on water from the Okavango, and especially flood years, to have water in it. Rumor has it that there are lots of birds at times. So we loaded up the car with all out food and toys and went to see for ourselves.

Slow Weekend

The Carmine Bee Eater.

This weekend was a slow one for us. We are finding our routine and really enjoying the slower pace of things. Saturday we had a brief rain storm that resulted in having no power. After about 45 minutes, we loaded up and went to one of our favorite haunts: Motsana. This is a small shopping center just out of town. There's a travel agency (Glen's), a small gym of sorts, a couple shops and cafe. There is in addition, one end set up as a stage so there is community theater there several times a year (but not while we are here).

There we net a woman, Nicole, from Toronto, and had a delightful conversation about all sorts of things. After a light lunch and some exploring we headed back home and found the power back on. Sunday was quite laid back with only quick trip to the store. Monday was more interesting. We went to Lake Ngami.

A Local Cemetery

We went for a ride today in new directions and took a road by mistake. As is often the case, the mistake revealed a new adventure. We found a cemetery! Many, if not all, of the gravesites are covered with metal frames that support green awnings. One blog we found suggests that this is to simply keep the sun off of the departed.

Notice that the plot markers are rectangular signs (they seem to be metal) painted in large block letters. They are each the same: Name, birth, death, and internment dates, followed by a line that says "Rest in Peace."

Elizabeth has also learned that Saturday is the only day of the week for burials. This, no doubt, is related to the many young men we saw walking today wearing suits. It certainly must be connected to  the recording of the burial date on the marker.

The African Elephant

On our trip to the edge of the Moremi Game Reserve, one of the splendid animals we saw was the African Elephant. I present him here for your enjoyment.

Alongside the Road

Yesterday we took a short trip to Shorobe, a small village near the end of the tarred road on the way to Moremi. Along the way, we saw a curious thing that we don't really understand. I've searched the web as best I can, but it's no help.

Follow Us!

We have so few readers that I feel compelled to note that some of the entries are going unread :(. And these are the ones with some cool animal photos. I just want to remind everyone that you can learn about all the posts as they go live by following me on twitter @StevenWhisnant. With the hashtag #NoBetterLife4us, you can see what we've posted. To avoid the potential headaches of all the naughty people on the intertubes flooding a comment section, we have chosen to use Twitter as our comment section. Simply put your thoughts down and include our hashtag.

I've also added a bit to the right to allow you to subscribe to the blog by email if you are Twitter-averse.

Either way, we're glad you enjoy the posts.

Flying Over the Okavango Delta

Yesterday, we stopped at Mack Air for reasons quite unrelated, casually asked about the availability for scenic flights over the Okavango Delta, and the next thing we know they are making arrangements. So, at 3:30 we were waiting in the air conditioned lobby ready to go. We showed our passports, bought our tickets, and walked across the street to the airport. All quite laid back here.

No Guts, No Glory

This afternoon Steve and I flew over the Okavango Delta in a Cessna smaller than our car, with a bush pilot young enough to be our grandson, and an aging guy in the rear seat who looked and smelled a little bit like a water buffalo.

No guts, no glory!

Thank goddess for panty liners.

Out By the Old Bridge

A portion of the old bridge across the Thamalakane river.

At one end of the "Old Bridge" is the Old Bridge Backpackers. It is a bar with food, a campsite for those traveling cheaply, and it seems to organize trips as well. All open air with some tables attached to (no legs) living trees, it's a bar with a thatched roof playing 60's music. What a trip! We felt like we had transported back 50 years to the time of hippies and dropped out ourselves.

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.

A Few Moremi Birds

Red-billed hornbill.

We saw many more birds than I could reasonably photograph, so here are a few of the better images. Above is a Red-Billed Hornbill wandering along near the road. There are very common here.

More below the fold.

Large Moremi Wildlife

The Tsessebe Antelope, one of the uglier critters I've seen lately.

Not all the creatures we saw fit into the category of majestic or handsome. The Tsessbe Antelope is one of them. Face covered with sand from trying to ward of the flies, and just generally not a pretty face underneath.

So, let me tell you about the flies. OMG! There were places along the road where opening a window was scary. The flies were so numerous that the swifts were thickly swarming about scooping them up as fast as possible.

Moremi Game Reserve

The main road through the southern end of Moremi.

Today is a little R&R after our trek to the southern end of the Moremi Game Reserve. It is unlike any place in South Africa we've visited. The road is more of a path in many places, and as you see above can be quite deep sand. Four-wheel drive is must. We have intermittent rain as we drove along and there were places with nice mud puddles to navigate.

To maintain my sanity and yours, I'll be posting several entries about this trip.

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.

Clearing Out the Unnecessary Bits

Yesterday we began the process of selling off all the things in our lives that are not needed. In the same way that a sculptor removes all the marble that isn't the statue envisioned, we are getting rid of all the bits that aren't part of the life we are moving toward.

The estate sale went well yesterday and we hope to do even better today. We had a good crowd and made some money. Along the way we may have generated some interest in our house. Lots of people liked our carriage house. If you buy the house, we throw it in for free.

By Tuesday, one way or the other, our house (and carriage house) will be very nearly empty. We're hoping it is by sales not donations, but it will happen one way or the other.

Then on Thursday, we drive to Dulles to start our adventure in Botswana. I'll keep you posted.

A Bit of a Snow Storm

Our back deck, Saturday morning about 7:30.

So it has been snowing here - sometimes more, somethings less - since about 9:30 yesterday morning. I tried to keep about half of the back deck cleared most of the day so we could get out to feed the birds and basically just get out. What you see on the table above started accumulating about 2:-00-3:00 in the afternoon when we got tired of cleaning it off.

I did run the snow blower yesterday afternoon about 2:30 or so to keep things from getting crazy. Clearly I failed in that aim. I cannot now tell that I did anything in the driveway and it is deeper than it was when I plowed yesterday.

It is still (time now is 9:30 AM) snowing pretty hard out - big flakes and lots of them. I shoveled about a foot or a little more off the back deck this morning and after about an hour and a half, I had nearly two more inches.

I sitting here trying to work up the gumption to run the blower again and knock the top off of the driveway and sidewalks. We're told that it will be nearly 40 F tomorrow and it will all be ok. Eventually.

In just over a month, I will be in Maun, Botswana where it is in the low 90's every day. Anyone for seasons? Looking forward to it.

After Lemon Tree Passage

Kangaroos grazing near Pebbly Beach.

South of Sydney is Murramarang Naional Park which contains Pebbly Beach. Located at this site are a series of "shacks", small holiday cabins where you can stay near the beach. Near the beach where the kangaroos graze! We have booked a couple nights towards the end of November to stay in one of the shacks and just be at the beach, and enjoy the kangaroos.

A Few Details

I have a Rokinon 14 mm lens for my Nikon D800E that I have found very useful for photographing churches, cathedrals, and other architectures of interest. Extra care is required since the lens is manual focus. Since we have all gotten used to autofocus, it is a real effort to handle a manual focus lens. Especially when using the lens in places that are not brightly lit.

For a "normal" lens, focusing is not all that hard, but for a wide angle lens it is a bit tricky since the variation in focus is slow with a turn in the focus ring. So much is in focus, or nearly so, it is hard to tell what you are doing through the viewfinder. So let's change the game and simplify the process.

Filling in the Details

A Google map's eye view.

We have booked the second stop on our Australian tour: Lemon Tree Passage. It is in New South Wales located about a 45 minute drive from Newcastle and a couple hours from Sydney. Two dogs and a cat are waiting for us.

This visit is for a half a month and looks like a perfect place to walk the dogs, enjoy the beaches, and with a little luck, see some koalas in the wild. Ah... to be at the beach in November!

About Stockholm

I write this from the airport, having finished a breakfast sandwich and some coffee that would have powered the entire 7th Fleet for a week. The instant caffeine headache is slowly subsiding. It seems like a good time to post a few thoughts on our first visit to Sweden.

Waiting for the tram on Strandvägen.

Biskvi!

Steve has been encouraging me to contribute to our blog. Fossilized Catholics such as myself can't imagine anyone being interested in our mundanity, but I've compromised by agreeing to write about my favorite topic -- yummy, interesting, special food treats.

Meet, the biskvi. The biskvi is a Scandinavian Christmastime treat we discovered by serendipity in Cafe Kladdakan, a cozy coffee shop in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. Biskvi is composed of a chewy almond macaroon base with buttercream filling, clothed in chocolate that crackles when you bite into it. Loosen your stays, ladies, the combination of textures and flavors will make you swoon.

Speaking of swooning, biskvi are also called Sarah Bernhardt Cookies, but most of the US recipes I found lean more toward marshmallow than buttercream. Here's a recipe that sounds right to me.

I'm not kidding you when I say this is the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

Stockholm Stadshus

Stockholm City Hall from the "inside.".The building is an open rectangle.

The Stockholm Stadshus (City Hall) is an impressive structure. Outside, it has a great tower in one corner and sits directly across the lake from our hotel. Inside, however, it is a special place.

The LogInn Hotel

MS Kronprinsesse Märtha, a cruiseship ordered in 1928 was built by the "International Ship-building and Engineering Co" in Danzig. It was delivered in the summer of 1929 to Stavanger, Norway.

The MS Kronprinsesse Märtha.

Vasa!

In the early 17th Century, Sweden was at war with Poland. King of Sweden, Gustavus Adolphus, decided to build a ship that was to be a game changer. Very few ships at this time had two decks of guns. He wanted that. He wanted a heavily armed ship that was fast. As you can tell by trying to push your hand through water palm-first or to the side with all fingers following in a line, a narrower ship is going to be easier to move through the water faster.

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.

Gamla Stan

The Christmas Market in the Stortorget Square in Gamla Stan.

Old Town is a fun place. Lots of old but well maintained buildings and delightful stores. Above is a view of the annual Christmas Market. Although we've been told (repeatedly) on the web that the Stockholm has some of the best markets, it didn't seem to be anything special. Compared to Vienna, it is small. The selection on Gamla Stan is very good, not extensive. Lots of toys and candy. Some choices of mulled wine and sausages, but these are more limited. Of course, compared to the gigantic "market" in Hyde Park, London, this is a backwater. The one in London is what it would look like in the US if we did such a thing - overdone, extensive, exhausting, wonderful, impressive, and expensive.

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.

Beverly Street on a Saturday Night

Beverly Street on a Saturday night.

Just a little bit to add to the earlier post about the beginning of the holiday season. It seems we are getting carriage rides in town this December. As you can see above, the horse-drawn carriage is about to negotiate a turn. A delightful evening out.

Strangeness Abounds

I have been very careful to avoid politically charged posts so far. I'm at my limit.

The number of crazy things that are getting put out on the intertubes these days is just astounding. It is difficult to believe that real people in the US are saying these things in public. Perhaps it is really true that we have been invaded by the body snatchers and these aren't people who spout this shit. Maybe all these shows and movies about zombies are trying to tell us something. Maybe I should just take the hint.

'Tis the Season

Now that a) I have at least an interim solution to the image exporting issue, and b) it is now officially Christmas season, it is time for a post on enjoying the sights of the season.

A Time of Family and Friends

Every year we gather many friends with our family to enjoy the community in which we live. We gather for one of Elizabeth's fantastic signature meals and find that, just like Babette's Feast, it transforms us all as we eat and talk. We had about 20 people for our Thanksgiving meal, some were new friends. We all had a great time.

To top this off, on Friday we had another special meal, just with our family to capture the spirit of Babette's Feast. We followed as best we could (no turtle soup, no 1860 vintage wine, etc.) the spirit of the meal. Lots of wine and great food (again). Even with only five of us around the table, we found that openness and communion that all great meals generate. So, this year, we had two magical feasts to celebrate the season of thankfulness.

I hope your celebration were as transformative.

Normally, I would be posting photos of our turkey and some of the folks. However, I upgraded to El Capitan this week and now I can only export images from my photo software that are tinted green with pink highlights. Not good. Hopefully, this will get sorted out soon.

Farmer's Market

This weekend, we are visiting our friends in Arkansas to end our long fostering of their two cats, Patsy  (Cline) and Buddy (Holly). This morning we visited the farmer's market in downtown Fayetteville and found it quite a pleasant experience.

We Get Fog

Nikon 1 V3 -- 18.5 mm,  ISO 160, 1/125 s,  f/1.8

After a recent rain, the sky began to clear about sunset. It was warm. The water soaked ground made a place where lots of pockets of ground fog were generated. And this made for an interesting display of textures across the fields.

Staunton Train Station

Took some time the other day to wander a bit about the Staunton train station to get a few shots. I took my trusty Nikon 1 V3 with the 18.5 mm lens (equivalent field of view to a 50 lens on a FF camera). I was in a B&W kind of mood so I converted all this to B&W using the Nik software.

Birds of Prey

Back in June we did a house sit in Warboys, Cambridgeshire. It was a tiny village that didn't even have a pub. Well, OK, it had a pub but not one I would go in.

What was easy to find was places that rescued birds of prey. I took my Nikon D800E and my

Nikon - AF-S NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR Lens to attempt to photograph these birds while roosting (pretty good) and flying (pretty bad). My back hurt for days afterwards.

Below the fold is a selection of some of the photos from visits to two different places.

Hooning

In case you don't know (and I certainly didn't) the word hoon has the following definition from Wikipedia:

Hoon is a term used in Australia and New Zealand, to refer to anyone who engages in loutish, anti-social behaviours. In particular, it is used to refer to one who drives a car or boat in a manner which is anti-social by the standards of contemporary society, i.e. too fast, too noisily or too dangerously.

The Toowoomba Chronicle reports that this is a problem on at least one street in town. For a full appreciation of what this is like, head over to the Chronicle and watch the video linked there for a really outlandish demonstration of wasting tire rubber and making noise.