Sunday, October 12, 2008

30 August 2008

30 August 2008

Well, apparently the Cape is having one of the worst storms in 7 years. Guess when Jesse and I were last here together? [Yes, winter 7 years ago.] 

This morning, we picked up Ouma at 10 am in her car and drove her to Voëlklip [a part of Hermanus where she used to live] and back. We stopped at various places--just past the old harbor, Voëlklip beach, Kammebaai, Kwaaiwater and 1 or 2 others. At the first stop, we saw a whale or two spy hopping and tail flapping--pretty good view of it! But, no whales after that--one guy trying to surf though!

Voëlklip beach. That's the lifeguard house on the left.

You can see how windy it was here--look at that spray!

Then, lunch at the cottage and, while Ouma napped in her old room, I took photos of birds in the rain. Quite a few visitors--guinea fowl, francolins, weavers, shrike...

Guineafowl in the neighborhood

A weaver bird in the rain

Diana then gave Ouma a lesson on computers and we then took Ouma back to frail care [we were staying at my grandmother's cottage and she now lives in an onsite assisted living building].

For dinner, the Kotzes [Anne and Diana] and us went over to Joe and Neil's house for dinner, though Joe and Neil weren't there [it's a long story how I'm related to Joe, but I am]. Leanne, her boyfriend and Laura were, and Sally (50) came over with her boyfriend (29) [Laura and Leanne are Joe's kids, and Sally is my dad's cousin.] Mom and dad called me on my [rental] cell phone while were there there--there's a hurricane [Gustav] heading to New Orleans again and Roger and Betty [my grandfather and his wife] are evacuating. And Roger no longer has hurricane insurance.

[Roger and Betty survived Hurricane Katrina... their house had ~4 feet of water in it at one point, but they ripped everything out and rebuilt with money from their insurance company. However, then their insurance rates went up so much that Roger decided to cancel his policy. Thankfully, hurricane Gustav didn't prove to be as much of a menace as was being predicted at one point, so apart from losing their entire crop of pecans, Roger and Betty did just fine]

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