Another Week in Town

Monday I prowled the beach and played with the weekend photos. I had my short lens on in preparation for taking some pictures of the mosaics on the Pier. Not today, they were shooting a movie or commercial on the pier, I didn’t ask, and the placards on the cars said something about Kingdom Entertainment. I also took a photo of the building I have been staying in. It is a 22 story Apartment building, (no not staying at the top), and they are building a replica tower. I have been watching the process and have been amazed at some of the practices that have been used to do some of the tasks. Here is picture of pouring concrete! Concrete is brought in by crane, slowly dropped to conveyor, which is then sent to the structure, where it is either distributed by barrow or shovel. No concrete pumping trucks here! Uploading to Flickr and adding to blog, which on the slow Internet here…. takes a long time. I also did some laundry and grocery shopping; you know regular mundane daily tasks.

Tuesday, I had offered to help Brenda make a Caftan type top. Her last experience with making a garment from a pattern was very similar to most of us that took “Home Ec” with an exacting perfectionist instructor. YOU hated the piece and sewing!!! I suggested that she cut it out ahead of time and we would begin sewing it together. We got the bodice in place and the shoulders done before I left. During the day we stopped long enough to take her dog Lou, out for a walk and have lunch. I am going to have to remember her tuna salad; it had cheese, spiral noodles and green olives in it. Very tasty!!!

On Wednesday I met Brenda and her neighbor Verna on the Promenade for a walk. Verna has 2 Yorkies and Brenda has a Shar Pei. We walked the Promenade and stopped at one of the outdoor restaurants for a drink, (people and dogs) and then walked back along the beach. I left them on their end and walked back. On the walk back I spotted a Cormorant trying to take a nap on the rocks, but the crashing incoming tide kept waking him up. With the incoming tide the crabs were looking for high ground too. Then I spotted a Kingfisher, looking for lunch. I got a couple of good shots of him too. And as usual the waves.... and stash

Thursday was back at Brenda’s to finish her top. I forgot to take my camera…. Darn. She will be adding some embellishments to the bodice, but for all intents and purposes her top is done. I had fun helping her with this project and I let Brenda do all the work. I showed her how or what to do, but let her do it all. Not perfect, but I think she will make a few more things NOW and continue to learn and improve her techniques! As I told her this one is not perfect, but she can do like we all did, learn and improve as you go. For my assistance Brenda rewarded me with a fantastic Zebra x-stitch Bookmark and a small x-stitch Quilt Block, and since she paints too, a small landscape featuring the Umhlanga Rocks Lighthouse. I am sooooo lucky! I am already using the bookmark; I’m reading “The Appeal”, by Grisham. I am hoping it lasts until I get home, but probably not.

Today, (Friday), I am preparing for our weekend trip to Hluhluwe (Shish louie) Game Reserve Hluhluwe-Umflolzi Game Park and St Lucia Estuary Boat Tour St. Lucia Estuary Tours . Brenda and her husband Carl will be joining us. Carl and my DH have been to Hluhluwe, but Brenda and I have not! We are both so looking forward to the trip. It’s about 3 hours from Durban, so we will have a bit of a car ride and opportunity to see more of the countryside.

Yesterday and today the weather is a bit cloudy and very blustery. Huge whitecaps on the sea and the winds were really stirring up the dust on land. We did see about 3 rain drops too. Brenda lives on the 11th floor facing a very long stretch of sand and sea. So for some entertainment while we waited for lunch to arrive, (we ordered in) we watched a couple kite surfers sail up the coast.

More Later!!!