After six weeks in San Diego, which covered the High Holy days, it’s back to work. We are in Africa, the most southern part, after a long but efficient set of flights. One can only marvel and wonder in awe of the ability of these ‘birds of steel’ to take to the air laden with tons of weight. We are even more humbled as the pilots are able to land at destinations thousands of miles distant without getting lost. Contrast this with our propensity to lose ourselves frequently and in relatively simple circumstances.
Life, as we all know, is filled with blessings and contains challenges, too. During the period at ‘home’, we learned of friends and family who have been struck down with illness or who need some degree of medical assistance. This again stresses the concept of how precious the gift of life is. No matter how much we think about it, appreciate it at times or express our thanks for it, there is little doubt that we take life for granted much of the time. If not, would we ever be angry, upset or jealous?
People warned us of the dangers in the jungles and countryside. Added to the risks of dangerous cliffs, animals, weather, serpents and numerous other pitfalls, we now have muggers and malaria with which to concern ourselves. The list is, of course, endless. We accept these warnings with humility and are always on guard to try and deal with whatever confronts us. However, we refer back to the previous paragraph and think of a comment made by Mannie Edelstein in San Diego recently. “Carpe diem”—Seize the day, seize the moment. That really has been our credo over the last few years as we pursue an adventure that reveals much of the glory of the Master’s beautiful world. Besides the physical effort required that results in incredible ‘highs’ and witnessing of sheer beauty, we don’t underestimate the freedom we enjoy and the varied and interesting citizens of the world that we meet. There are many facets to this incredible journey.
On our last afternoon with our granddaughter, Ellie, she let us down badly. We were hoping she would be in a bad mood, throw a couple of tantrums (which she never does) and at least give us a tiny reason to set off feeling ‘not-too-bad’. It wasn’t meant to be. She couldn’t have been sweeter, cuter and more adorable. “Where are you going, Gaga-Papa?” the two-and-half year old child asked, sensing we would be leaving on a trip. “We’re going to visit Granny Ruth,” we answered. “Can I come with you?” she replied. Who said adventuring was easy!
Try and pronounce this destination. Mpumalanga. The Blyderivier Canyon is situate in this region. A former colleague and mentor, Johan Meiring, wondered why we had visited South Africa previously without passing through this spectacular area. Well, Johan, if nothing else we continue to learn. We are undertaking a three-day hike over two-days as our editor is feeling rather frisky. Perhaps we should rephrase that although we like the concept very much indeed and encourage these ‘initiatives’. We intend to hike 35 kilometers with a stopover in a hut. We understand it’s a little primitive so we are going ‘native’, whatever that means.
When we reach the endpoint and return to the metropolis of Graskop N’H, we’ll let you know the result. Graskop, literally grass head, is the closest town to this natural wonder. For our American born friends, your lesson today is to try and pronounce the place names mentioned above.
Cheers,
Jenni and Jeffrey
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