Happy Thanksgiving

 As you might guess, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in South Africa but we did find a turkey and are going to have a traditional dinner also with pecan pie!!!  Impossible to find pumpkin for a pie here.
The following photos are somewhat random.
This is a four-generation picture of the Sabisa family from the Dundee Branch.  Because the Church is so new here, it is unusual to have multiple generations in the Church.  Many are the first of their families to join.  The Sabisas are very strong members and real leaders in Dundee.

 Of course, I must include some wildlife pictures.  This is a Cape White-Eye taking a morning bath at a bubbler.

 Thabile Dlamini, after finishing her PEF online application.  Always a time to celebrate.  It is supposed to be quite a simple process but believe me, it is anything but easy.  With computers you can never be sure of what will happen and something usually does.  But we keep at it and eventually have success.

We actually can see the ocean from our flat on a clear day.  Between the two hills, you can see a faint blue line.  That is the Indian Ocean.  It is usually not clear enough to see it.

 Our Ladysmith PEF Workshop class.  Khulisile, Nomvuzo, and Sibahle.  These girls are all so sharp and did so well in the classes.  They will surely be good students at college.  We already are wondering what their lives will be like 10 years from now.  We want so much for them to have what we have.  Though Americans are aware of how blessed we are, it is not really driven home until you see it otherwise first hand.

 Two young men from Isandhlwana who came running when we offered them some sweets.  They were thrilled with a treat.  It was a school day and they spoke very little English, so not sure why they were not attending.

 Isandhlwana the site of a huge battle between the Zulus and British.  It is kind of like the Battle of Little Bighorn.  The British invaded Zululand on trumped up charges and grossly underestimated the Zulu's resolve.  About 1300 of their soldiers lost their lives as a result.  They were attacked by 25-30,000 warriors.  The white cairns mark the places where, after almost a year, the British were able to come back and bury the dead.  Of course the Zulus won that battle but lost the war.  Interestingly, the memorial is run by and a little town that is nearby consists of, all Zulus.

 Our PEF Workshop class at Dundee. Back row L-R Canute Nhlengethwa,  Angela, Sabisa, Sphesilhe Hlatshwayo, Simphiwe Ntsele, Bongokuhle Limba.  Front L-R Belinda Sabisa, Siphiwe Sabisa, Gabisile Mbhele, Busisiwe Sikhakhane and Charmaine Ntuli.

We just love the look of the roofs made of reeds.  We see them even on very expensive houses.  Notice the cap of cement on the top to seal the seam and make it leak proof.

Southern Bishops.  They are usually so skittish that they fly the moment we slow down but these let us get a picture.

 Just had to have a picture of this sign.  The cow looks like it got stuck trying to get over the gate

 A better shot of a Grey Heron in a field just as we were leaving a gas station.

 Wheelbarrows are the most common mode of transport in so many of the rural areas.  He has water barrels in it and is headed to get water.  Where, you might ask?

 In his case and for others of the area, to the fire truck, which was filling their containers.  This was taken just outside Ladysmith in Roosboom, a very poor township.  Might see this in the US when there is a natural disaster or something, but very day-to-day here.

 Calving season in the spring of South Africa-November.  I think these calves have it pretty easy compared to springtime in eastern Oregon.  They obviously have a  lot of Brahma in them from the looks of their floppy ears.

 A reconstructed building at Rorke's Drift where, after annihilating the British Army, 4,000 Zulus attacked 100 British Soldiers.  The Zulus were going against the orders of their king but were anxious to dip their spears in blood--a sign of valor. The battle started at 4:30PM and lasted all night.  The British prevailed losing only 17 men.  Eleven Victoria Crosses were won here.  Watch the movie Zulu starring Michael Caine for a  somewhat inaccurate but interesting movie about the battle.

 A Zulu warrior shield and British helmet from the war.

 Outside the museum at Rorke's Drift they piled stones to recreate the sacks of corn the defenders piled up for protection.  This lizard lives in them.  We have seen them around Pinetown but they always scamper off at first sight of us.  This one must be somewhat used to people.  It is a Southern Tree Agama but also lives in rocks.  Males have this blue head during the breeding season



A closer view. Wouldn't my grandsons love to catch one of these.  They are about 1 foot long

Can you guess what these are?  Email your answers.  No prize, but bragging rights to the first person answering correctly.

 Guinea Fowl are quite common but kind of hard to photograph.  This one wanted its picture taken as it held the pose and then ran off.

 Just a photo trying give everyone an idea of the landscape in western KwaZulu-Natal.  It is so green and pretty at this time of year

 Two colors of purple.

Little League in South Africa--Practicing pitching for cricket.

 The Elders live just across the street from the school that the Dundee Branch uses for church.  Elder Gondo from Zimbabwe was using a mirror, placed to let a car entering see other cars coming from the side,  to tie his tie before church.  I tried to get a candid shot but he saw me.  A parcel of land is in the process of being approved and the Dundee Branch should have a real chapel before too long.

Dundee and Environs

We have been travelling to the west side of the province of KwaZulu-Natal for some time now teaching PEF Workshops in Ladysmith and Dundee.  This massive old tree is at the Lapha Bed and Breakfast where we stay in Dundee.

This is a Grey Heron much like our Great Blue Heron in the States.

In western KwaZulu-Natal in the open grasslands we often see these magnificent birds flying over the fields.  The males tails are so long that they look like a kite in their flight patterns during the breeding season.  The tail slows them down a lot and makes them more susceptible to predation by hawks, hence the name Widow bird.  It should be widower bird though as the female is the one left.  Sometimes the price of vanity is quite high.  The tail feathers are lost after the breeding season.

We took a different route home from Dundee off the freeway and experienced a part of South Africa that is much like Swaziland.  Lots of really rural rondevals.  Click on this and see how many people, goats, and chickens you can find--the cows in the background are too easy.

A view of where the mountains of the eastern part of the province separate the drier western part.  You can see the clouds hanging over the distant mountains.  South Africa is a really beautiful country.

A Southern Bald Ibis.  Very colorful bird but hard to say it is handsome!  They prefer burned or heavily grazed fields.

Aloes with their huge flower stalks.  Again notice the clouds flowing over the mountains.

A typical one-way bridge in rural South Africa.  One must stop and wait for your turn.  This one is over the Tugela River, a river that originally formed one of the boundaries of Zululand.

A mix of the modern, the huge power lines, and the not-so-modern.  There are only foot trails to many houses that are scattered for miles along the route from Pomeroy to Greytown.  Some, it appears, have electricity but most do not and water is collected from spigots located in places where they come and tote it home.

This view is interesting in that it is taken from the road that climbs the mountains of the divide that I have mentioned.  Just about 5 miles from here we were in heavy fog and rain the rest of the way, about 130 miles, home.  Also plantations of pulp forests.  Kind of like going from eastern Oregon over the Cascades into the Willamette Valley.  Notice the large green patch in the middle left  of the picture.  These people live in poverty but the government builds soccer fields like this in the townships.  Often the Chinese government pays for such projects to get favored status with South Africa!

This is out of order as to our trip.  It is near Colenso and is a memorial to British Soldiers killed in the war between the Boers and Great Britain arounf 1902.  It is just along the roadside.

A Sacred Ibis so named because the ancient Egyptians venerated them.  The legend is that at the beginning of spring winged serpents would fly from Arabia toward Egypt and these birds would fly to meet them and kill them at the border thereby protecting the people.

A Southern Bishop taken at the Lapha B&B bird feeder.

A Greater Double-Collared Sunbird also taken at Lapha B&B.  Amazingly beautiful bird.  I wake early in the mornings and on this day was rewarded with seeing some really pretty birds.

We finished our workshops at Ladysmith on this trip but have one more in Dundee.  We are so blessed to work with the people in South Africa.  We will post pictures of our classes next time and wish there were words to describe them.  They are just wonderful and so fun to get to know.

11-11-11

We have Family Home Evening on Monday evenings with three other couple missionaries.  It so happened that our turn was on Halloween.  So, the treat was the famous donuts.  Because of the milk here and maybe the vanilla essence, they tasted a little different but they were very very good.  Sister Gunderson shared them with neighbors, the mission office staff, and even the apartment building staff.  So we did hand out treats for Halloween. Just not the traditional way.  We also were given an awesome treat.  If you haven't heard Tara sent us a card of a slide show and used it to announce our 23rd grandchild was due May 1st!  A great treat-though almost 7 months before we get home!

Check out the long narrow sign below the name of the store.  In the market for some of that?  We were pretty sure that it did not literally mean that it had been used, but perhaps made from recycled paper.  Sister Gunderson went in and looked at it. It was almost see-through thin with what looked like wood fibers in it.  Still it is cheap though.  May have to try it!???  We see many, many funny signs but either do not have a camera or cannot stop to photograph it.

On our way to Ladysmith last weekend we spotted this Secretary Bird strutting through a field.  They are named so because the long feathers in the back of the head are reminiscent of old-time secretaries with quill pens behind the ear.

Also on our way and near Colenso we rounded a corner and there was a flock of Ostriches really close to the road.  The dark on is a male.  They were only behind a standard barbed-wire fence so it must not take much to keep them in.  We saw about 15 more as we traveled the next couple of miles.

Springboks near Newcastle.  These are one of the few species of antelope that we see outside game reserves.  We have seen then crossing the road and jumping fences.  They are aptly named.

While at a traffic stop for road construction, I spotted this old outpost from the British-Boer Wars.  Not a very hospitable place to be stationed.

Last time we were in Newcastle we stayed in the Newcastle Inn a pretty regular motel and not that nice.  Not hardly any motels or hotels in the countryside but there are lots of Bed and Breakfasts.  We stayed in the Avalon Guest House which was very nice and actually cost less than the motel.  This is a garden area outside our back door.

One of the lounging areas in the Avalon.  Sister G Was trying to figure a way to get some of this type of decor home to Oregon.

Two of the staff at breakfast.  We were treated so well and had one of the best omelettes ever.  This is pretty hard to take but all a part of the sacrifice missionary couples must make.

Prickly pear cactus blooms.  This is an invasive species from North America and causes lots of problems for livestock.  The African honey bees really like it though.

On our way home we saw a rather large herd of Cape Buffalo and had to stop for pictures.  By the time we got closer most had dropped behind a ride and were out of sight.  In the background are zebra and hartebeests.

Just as the Jacrandas are fading these trees are blooming.  We have no idea what they are but they are brilliant and really stand out.  We see them mostly around Pietermaritzburg.

This photo is for Bill Winn.  They were falling these trees along a railroad track and to keep the limbs and bole from falling on the track or the highway they took all the limbs off, then the top went, then they took sections off the trunk.  So Bill, tell Brandon if the winter is a little slow in Burns, it is spring/summer here and he could likely find work.