The Penguins at Boulders

Mom and I took one afternoon while in Cape Town to visit relatives in Kalk Bay, an area that has been much featured on this blog. We took a detour a few towns onwards to check out the jackass penguin colony. These particular penguins are called "jackass" because they make the cry of a donkey. In addition to that, they have managed to lower the value of the real estate in the area due to their noisiness and fishy feces.

The Government has also taken measures to interfere with the colony as the penguins destroy all the plant life along this portion of the coast line. By fencing off areas of the flora and fynbos they've created an insurance policy to ensure the area stays ecologically sustainable. Thus, we watched the penguins from a wooden platform/boardwalk built over-top of the plants and penguins. These little guys are the most photogenic ever - I'm not sure it would be possible to take a poor photo of them.

Mom in Cape Town

As I've already mentioned, I had an awesome visit with my mother in South Africa. Especially, it was nice to see so much family together with her. Mom's the only Coetzee aunt for my cousins and so she's quite revered. We spent several afternoons and evenings of her Cape Town visit to get together with various grouping of cousins.

Pictured up top: Mother Daughter splendor, Cape Town at night from Lion's Head perspective, and a wonderful photo mom took of some Calla Lilies

Below:
Mom with her great-nephew Presley, Jonathan's son
Dinner Party for Mom at my place: L-R Martin, Robyn, Me, Mom, Jonathan, Presley & Genneth
My friend Maya - the one who's working with me on writing/publishing children's books.
Robyn with me
Checking out Robyn's wedding venue, a wine cellar in Paarl
Mom at Kirstenbosch gardens with her niece, Georgia
Mom with her great-neice Rebecca, Georgia's daughter

Winter Days at the Farm

Once I returned to South Africa after 5 weeks away, I was greeted my mother at the airport who was already here. Two days later, mom and I drove up to the Karoo to visit my Gran and Uncle Dene and Aunt Patty on their farm. I experienced the coldest South African weather yet, temperatures of -2 Celcius, about 28 F, without central heating! Brrrr, it was freezing, especially in an old farm house with stone floors designed for hot, summer days. The weather limited our activities to being bound up by cloth and visiting in Gran's cottage where at least there was a small heater.

The winter landscapes of the Karoo were just heavenly because of the cold. The "Sneeuberg" mountains in the distance were appropriately named for once, as sneeu means snow & berg means mountain. The fields were covered in a delicate, glistening frost in the morning & the colors of the area, golds and purples, looked just divine in the soft winter light.

When the weather is so cold & your housebound with little to do, the days are centered entirely around the meals & eating. Mom & I took a day to make pumpkin fritters and later she baked a cake for Gran, 3 months in advance of her birthday, just for fun! As you look through the photos, also notice Katrina holding my foot. Katrina is my grand-mother's caregiver by day & my mom did something special by asking her to give us foot treatments, something she does regularly for my Gran. So with woolie hats on our heads, we sat outside soaking up the strong morning sun & had our nails cut to the most superb pedicure scenery I've ever imagined!

By our last day, the weather had warmed up enough for Dene, Mom & me to go on a hike by the kloof (cliff) and have a braai (bbq) by the river. As usual, it was a tearful goodbye for Mom & Gran. This annual trip my mother makes to see her mother is always marked by never knowing if it will be the last. The whispery winter drive away at dawn was filled with tears, buffered by the beautiful running ostriches & guinea fowl on the road side, taking in the quiet of Sunday.

Istanbul in a Nutshell

**I had an incredibly difficult time narrowing down my assortment of Istanbul photographs and so decided to create an album on Picasa instead. Click here to see a "sampling" of the sumptuous decor and architecture of the city: http://picasaweb.google.com/sbrinklee/IstanbulWithKarlijn#


Istanbul, Turkey was a total dream and was completely random. When booking my flights from America back to South Africa I finagled a free 3.5 day layover in Istanbul from Chicago enroute to Cape Town. My good friend Karlijn, who I met in Cape Town, had recently returned to her native Holland and was able to pop over for a quick visit along with me!

We made a good traveling pair, similar budgets, similar pacing, similar interests. We took advantage of being in Sultanhumet, the nexus of the ancient Istanbul, just a minutes walk from several of the major sites. We toured 1-2 major places a day and spent the rest of the time walking the cobbled, winding streets, poking around in shops with fancy textiles we couldn't afford, drinking cay (pronounced chai, for tea), nibbling on rice pudding or chocolate pistachio baklava, and perusing the spectacular assortment of bazaars.

Some of the major places we visited were (in order as shown in the photos):
1) the Ayasofya - built as a church in 537 AD during the Byzantine Empire, it was later taken over as part of the Ottoman Empire and converted to a mosque. Therefore, many of the Christian symbols were erased of covered over as part of the transition. Several earthquakes over a couple dozen centuries have required many makeovers and rehabs for this site. It now functions solely as a museum and has a long way to go to being restored to its "former" glory. Still, it is a mammoth space to behold and be held within. It is overpoweringly spacious and worn and oozes with spiritual breath.

2) The Cistern of Philoxenos - a subterranean reservoir in built before 475 AD. Made up of 224 columns, this place drips with water & classical music.

3) The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque - was completed in 1617 and is still used as a mosque today. From a distance, the exterior seems so out of this world it's almost fake - like a scene out of Disney World. However, on closer inspection, Disney is no rival and there is no such thing as "camp" regarding this elegantly designed structure. It is stunningly beautiful, with incredible attention to all detail. Thoroughly, in and out, it is a masterpiece of intricacy, color, line, and pattern.

4) The Topkapi Palace - the residence of the Ottoman Sultans, starting from 1465 and onwards. It is an incredible space - gargantuan, with a massive, college-campus feeling from the spread of the buildings and grounds. Every major room was housed in a separate building, connected by a string of pathways and covered terraces. There was a special room for the library, great structures for the kitchens, a circumcision room even. Intricately laid pebble mosaic floors create a carpet from one building to the next. As you gaze at the exterior walls, blue, red, and green tiles lead your eyes upwards to the phenomanal arched walkway ceilings. It is a feast for the eye.

5) the Grand Bazaar & the Eyptian Spice Market - on 2 separate days we tackled these attractions. Like a modern-day mall, many of the stalls in these markets are covered, with window and glass doors and permanent fixtures. Vendors go on for what seems like miles, with pile after pile of a lot of the same: turkish delight, spices, scarves, glass lanterns, mosaic tiles, hand-woven rugs, olives, cheeses, cherries, cashews & hazelnuts, hand-made leather shoes. Take Christmas and multiply it by 10 - it was exhausting with all the haggling, nagging men pulling at our sleeves, trying to tell us how much better their wares were from the next Joe!

The one part we felt we missed on was the culture - the people. Karlijn worked in Ethiopia for a year & with my 10 months in SA under my belt, we decided it would be hard to travel a new culture in the world for more than 3-5 days and to not do "something" more connected to the place (ie non-touristy). My time working with people, learning the nuiances of other cultures has been incredibly defining in my travels of the past year. I hadn't realized it, but over these 10 months, there has been a travel shift in me. I may still have wonderlust, but at the same time little desire to hop around from one country to the next, when one can spend so much time revelling in the nooks and crannies of just one place.

But, minus the people connection, it was a special time in an exquisite place with a wonderful friend. We really couldn't have done any better in 3.5 days if we had to do it all over!

My was heart was well over "Knee High" by the Fourth of July

Does it get any better than this? No flags, just warm, warm hearts and a bonfire to match. This 4th of July was spent amongst my best of friends, Britt & Kim at Kim's family farm near Huntington, Indiana. Enjoy the cheer!

Plus Special: Dress Up in Aunts' Evening Wear

5 Sweet Summer Days Chicago

Oh, man, to describe the homecoming! From the Korean dinner simmering on Robert's stove at first arrival TO making ice cream in Kim's old pot TO watching vegan Britt eat a hamburger with glee TO playing croquet and eating mulberries in Hulmboldt Park like it's never changed TO communal fires and city skeeters TO bumping into old friends by coincidence at a restaurant TO my brother only being 3 hrs drive away TO finding the grace of flatland at the Heiney family farm....Chicago holds a lot in the palm of its hand. Boy do I miss it. And girl, am I glad I got to go back for a swarm of delights and wonders.

Only 2 years after leaving, people change, people stay the same, people marry, mess up, impregnate, lose weight, gain hair, grow businesses, develop works of art, nest further into their homes, change their paint color and become all the wiser. The pity was it was only for 5 days, short, sweet and packed into the most retrievable part of my memory.