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A year after his last visit, it was time
for Bruce to return to South Africa to see Mom and the
rest of the family. This is his account of the visit.
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I stayed with Jackie this time, in her
new, very peaceful home because, since my last visit,
Mom had moved into a retirement home called "Blessings"
and couldn't accommodate me. During my stay, I was lucky
enough to be invited, for a second time, to visit Des
and Jenny's holiday home in Marloth Park.
After an unfortunate experience with British
Airways when we flew from Boston to London last October,
followed by a really good experience with Emirates in
February this year when we went to India, I wasn't looking
forward to returning to British Airways for this trip.
My fears were unfounded. Neither of the flights were cancelled
or delayed and the whole experience was good.
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I really enjoyed the
starter I chose on the plane; Italian burrata, roasted pepper
caponata, figs and truffle honey. |
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I got several hours
of sleep and enjoyed the early morning views of Johannesburg,
with several landmark buildings that I recognised, as we
approached the airport. |
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A visit to South Africa
wouldn't be the same if Jackie didn't have a new home! I
was going to be staying here this time and it all looked
very comfortable. |
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Mom seems to have found
her favourite chair when she visits - you may notice that
the furniture gets moved around frequently! |
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A crested barbet intrigued
me. It came and tapped on the glass window panes every day. |
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A family gathering to
celebrate Mom's birthday. |
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Mom jumped slightly
when the music started and the staff at the restaurant gathered
around to sing for her. She declined an invitation to dance
with one of the waiters, saying that she would love to,
but might not be able to walk afterwards! |
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A visit to "Blessings"
- Mom's new home. |
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I joined Mom for lunch
at Blessings on a couple of occasions. I was impressed by
the food and its presentation, all freshly cooked and lovingly
served by the owner and manager, Andrea. |
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An evening out with Marc,
Claire, Kylie, Cameron, Jackie, Mom and Gail. |
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Departing for our visit
to Marloth Park with Des, Mom and Jackie. |
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After a leisurely drive
and several stops along the way (including Millie's!), we
arrived late in the afternoon. It was lovely to be back
here for my second visit and to know that we had a four
night stay to look forward to. |
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It was lovely to see
bush babies putting on a show for us on all but one evening. |
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Des had stocked up on
"boskos" (bush food) to feed to the animals, who
are struggling to get adequate food, because there is no
grass to eat. I was told that this is because there are
too many animals and no natural predators, leading to over-grazing
and exacerbated by a halt on culling because of visitor
objections. Sadly this means that many animals will starve,
so I hope that a solution will be found soon. |
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Des and I went on a
couple of long walks during our stay. Here, we looked through
the elephant-proof fence to the Kruger National Park on
the other side of the Crocodile River. |
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Jackie was tasked with
making a mosiac top for the outdoor work surface. She was
glad to accept her mission. I was very impressed by examples
of her work all around the property, including the piece
above the braai area. |
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One evening, we went
for a drive to a point overlooking the river, so that Mom
and Jackie could also see the view. We hoped to see the
full moon rising, which we did, but only briefly because
of the clouds. |
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Des's latest project
- a recently completed raised deck, which reaches out to
the boundary of the property, from where there are clear
views of the sugar cane fields beyond. Here he is putting
the finishing touches to it - installing lights along the
walkway. |
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One day, Des drove us
past Gail's property in a different part of Marloth Park.
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The weather was so good
that we were able to eat all of our meals outdoors. |
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The finished project.
The new lights looked really good. |
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Des spotted a genet
from the verandah after dinner. To the best of my knowledge,
it is my first ever sighting of one. The photos aren't brilliant,
but I was really pleased to see it. |
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Jackie's was making good
progress with her project. |
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Mom probably won't thank
me for this photo because of the curlers in her hair, but
I had to get a photo of her enjoying Jenny's delicious home-made
cake! |
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Des and I went on a
much longer walk on another day. We encountered a small
group of giraffes and approached slowly so as not to scare
them. Des says they can do a lot of damage if they decide
to kick somebody! |
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A stretch of the walk
required crossing quite a deep gulley, but we both managed
it with relative ease. |
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A couple of cosmetic
changes, but getting there! |
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The bush babies were
especially cute tonight. |
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This is as far as Jackie
could get. Sadly, she ran out of the background mosaic tiles,
so she couldn't complete it on this visit. As to suggestions
that she didn't bring enough tiles with her on purpose,
so that she would have to be invited back... well, I couldn't
possibly comment! |
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Our lunch stop on the
way back to Benoni was at Kumi Restaurant, Schoemanskloof. |
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My second lunch with
Mom at Blessings. Chicken and flat bread stuffed with a
vegetable curry. It was really tasty and once again, beautifully
presented. |
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Des and Jenny invited
Mom, Jackie and I to join them for dinner one evening, towards
the end of my visit. It was a very happy occasion and afterwards
we had a good laugh as we watched a few very old film clips
from our childhood, which I had got digitised from Uncle
Les's 8mm cine films a few year ago. They can be found here...
(opens in a new tab). |
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It was time to go home.
It was good to see everybody, including Linda, who hadn't
been very well and therefore didn't feature in any of my
photos. |
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