Mar 2, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
There’s some great stuff happening in our neck of the woods! The gift heard ’round the world should finally arrive this afternoon, and I’m looking forward to posting pictures and sharing the backstory of how the Lord came through when it finally gets here! In the meantime this Travelling Tuesday I thought I’d share a few shots from our visit with our dear friends, the Youngs, who are in town from Scotland right now.
Rob is originally from South Africa, Brenda is originally from Scotland, and they ministered here in South Africa for many moons before the Lord called them to Scotland, to plant a church (the church that Mark and I were a part of!) They’re a great couple! They did a bit of our premarital counseling and were kind of like surrogate grandparents for the Bear when we lived in Edinburgh. 🙂 We miss them very much!
We went out to visit them in Pringle Bay on Friday and a few lovely shots were of course captured along the way! Pringle Bay is not too far down the road, and it boasts a beautiful and interesting rock feature that I am sorry to say I didn’t get pictures of, called Hangklip, which translated from Afrikaans I think basically means “Hanging Rock.” It’s a big rock face that basically looks like it’s going to fall in the sea. Alas! I wasn’t thinking of you, was I?
However, Hangklip kind of looks like the mountain in the background in this picture but bigger. (Forgive me?)
It was kind of windy, the sand was blowing a little, and the water was WAY chilly, so we decided against the bear going for a swim. We only let him get in up to his knees, and just briefly. It was not enough! Hero Hubs tried to console him…
But for a while he was kind of inconsolable. He likes to swim.
You can just tell Rob & Brenda are great from this shot. Don’t you want to be their friend, too?
Eventually the Bear cheered up. (Yay!)
And I saved my favourite shot for last. As always. I think this could be in a magazine!
HH’s shirt is wet because the Bear managed from that brief stint in the water to splash…and his shorts got wet. 🙂
The days are obviously still warm and sunny in our neck of the woods. Albeit wi-n-n-ndy. It was great to see Rob & Brenda. And another slice of South Africa! Hope you enjoyed it, and that you’re enjoying your adventure this Tuesday!
xCC
Feb 23, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is going well. I thought I’d share some shots with you from a part of the world I miss very much: my beloved North Carolina! When Hero Hubby and I were back there raising ministry support a couple years ago, some wonderful ministry partners offered their beach place in Nags Head to us, so that we could visit a few churches and try to raise more ministry support there. Thank you, that was a blessing!
Nags Head is in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a 200 mile long string of narrow barrier islands just off the coast. The OBX are where the Wright Brothers’ first flight took place in December of 1903! Hope you enjoy, and that you get to visit the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina sometime, too!
Here’s a warm North Carolina summer sunset for you…
This is the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla. I think it’s so pretty! It’s one of my favourites.
Jockey’s Ridge is the largest natural sand dune system in the eastern United States! And lots of fun to roll down.
That’s a slice of life in a neck of the woods I miss very much! Happy Tuesday, and enjoy the adventure you have today!
Feb 16, 2010 | Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Before the Bear came into our lives, we enjoyed a lot more beer. I kid, I kid. But we did visit Beer. Hopefully that’s why you’re here…to see shots of Beer. The rhyming is contagious, isn’t it? Sorry. We were in the US raising support for ministry in Scotland and two of our very good friends were planning on gettin’ hitched in the south of England. We prayed about whether we were supposed to go, felt like we should only consider it if we could find flights for thus and such…and flights for thus and such we found! I am so glad we were able to be there. It was an awesome wedding of two awesome people who are so dear to us. They’re now happily married with a little girl (who was born just after we left Scotland…we’re really looking forward to meeting her!)
We flew in to London and took a wee trip down to the south west of England for the wedding. We took a few days and saw some gorgeous sights and had some memorable moments along the way…but you’re here for Beer! Sorry.
So this in me in Beer! In case you haven’t caught on, Beer is a village in the south west of England. If my face looks chubby, it will be explained, posthaste…
Take a closer look at these beautiful cliffs!
Hero Hubs took some beautiful shots of me on the beach. Not that I was particularly beautiful…the beach was! And the photo composition.
Wasn’t that great? You know what else is great? Me. Well I was great. In the photo I was great, with child. You can perhaps tell here:
That one feels like it should be a CD cover or something. The Brotha’s got soul.
Beer also has beautiful boats!
Do you love their colours? I do.
And now, I shall provide proof that there is indeed a village in south west England called Beer. In case you haven’t googled it already.
I don’t know what a Luggers Club is…perhaps lugging beer back and forth? Well you’ll be glad to know Beer has one.
In case you’re still not convinced, and you think it’s just a Beer-Luggers Club, I will now share with you the invitation I personally received to the Beer Social Club. Ahem.
Must be easy to be social with so much Beer.
Well friends, I hope you enjoyed having a beer together. And in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t have a beer in Beer. I was great with child, remember! 😉
Happy Trails! And may the road rise to meet you wherever your journey takes you next!
Feb 9, 2010 | Stories, Travel..ling Tuesdays
Happy Tuesday! I hope your week is going well so far. In our neck of the woods, more specifically in the Cape region, there are lots of fires going on… Apparently in at least seven different places at the moment. Don’t worry, none of them are very near us, and we live on a harbour, so I think we’re safe. But I was hoping to catch a few shots for you that might demonstrate the strange haziness floating around today.
Most of the fires burning right now are regular occurrences in this area. They clear the bush and open up seeds that give new fynbos the opportunity to grow. They do unfortunately also destroy homes and businesses in the process. (Some of our friends lost everything they owned, except their car and fortunately their dog, a few years ago when a fire on the nearby mountains sent an ember or two in the direction of their thatched roof.)
You’ve probably heard it pointed out before that some of the most amazing trees — like the ginormous sequoias on the west coast in the US, are the result of forest fires. The pods their seeds are held inside only open under immense pressure — the heat of a forest fire. I think that speaks volumes about life in general, but this is Travelling Tuesday, so I’ll keep it light and leave you to think about it. Â On to the pictures.
You may recall the picture from our balcony, which I shared just after we moved in… (click here to see it — sorry, I couldn’t find it in my photo library!) This is the view from our balcony today:
You may also remember a picture of a fisherman, where you can see the mountains on the Cape peninsula in the distance:
This is the same spot today… The mountains have disappeared!
On my way to grab these TT shots to share with you, I discovered a guinea fowl Mom and Pops with their wee chicks and had to take photos. If you’re not familiar with guinea fowl, they’re a bit of a ninnymuggins type of bird (but don’t think I’m getting too proud — sheep are not very bright and the Lord compares us with sheep all the time!) They only fly for short distances, have a really awkward run, and are notoriously good at running out into the road to do damage to your car. If you want to try to eat one, you put it in a stewing pot with a brick, and let it stew and stew for ages. Then you take the guinea fowl out of the pot and eat the brick.
They’re not so pretty when they’re all growed up, but they are adorable as little chicks:
I rather like polka dots, so despite the funny blue heads, I still think the grown-ups are pretty. But mostly if admired from a distance. I kinda felt like this one was telling me to go away!
But they’re so cute I needed a few more shots!
Fire and fowl… That’s a slice of life ’round these parts today. 🙂 I hope things are well with you, and that the road rises to meet you wherever your journey takes you next!
Feb 2, 2010 | Travel..ling Tuesdays
Since it sounds like a lot of you folks are experiencing some chilly temps, and many of you have just enjoyed a good snowfall, I thought perhaps this week to warm you up we’d travel to beautiful Corsica…although I’ve never been there. Corsica is a lovely wee island in the Mediterranean. I suppose it’s French but you shouldn’t say that to a Corsican. It’s the official birthplace of Napolean Bonaparte, and Mark visited on holiday a year before we met, in 2004. We happened across the album the other day, and the pictures were just too beautiful not too share! I had trouble narrowing them down, so I think there are twelve. Perhaps you’ll really get warmed up.
I really liked this one, although it wasn’t one of Hero Hubby’s faves.
HH’s comment: I ate wild boar there.
How gorgeous is this spot?
HH’s comment: Grain de Sable. That means the grain of sand.
This one is so warm and fuzzy to me.
HH: Pretty…?? It is just north of the famous Calanqes de Piana. Famous is a relative term.
Can you tell I’m asking him for comments and he doesn’t really have any? 🙂 This picture makes me want to be a tourist for a while. But I kind of always feel like a tourist these days anyway.
HH: Little roadside cafe. On my way into the mountains of Corsica.
This one reminds me a little of Edinburgh Castle at sunset. But only a little.
HH: The beautiful town of Bonifacio, on the southern coast of Corsica. If you see one thing in the Mediterranean, see this. Did I say it’s beautiful?
Wow! That time I got two complete sentences! This is another one of those photos that just makes it hard to be where you are…sorry. Too pretty not to share!
HH: Cap Pertustato from Ile Cavallo. Taken specifically because of the beautiful colour of the water.
I should mention here that I can’t upload these in as high a quality as I would like to, because we pay for data instead of having unlimited internet in these parts! Just pretend it’s a lot brighter, because really it is. If you hold your cursor over this next photo, you should be able to see the long and complicated title HH gave it, which I couldn’t be bothered to retype. It’s getting late!
HH: I took a walk up a river valley called Gorges Spelunca to take a refreshing swim in the swimming pools here. The bridge is called Ponte Zaglia, and it’s a Genoese bridge which dates back to the 14th century.
So there. He made me type it all anyway. Here’s another pic to help you warm up…
HH: Plage de Virghio. The beautiful scene belies the fact that the pathway that runs behind the trees of this idyllic beach poses some land mine threatage…human feces. [Me: What??] There are no toilets! So people go poo in the bushes!! Sorry to spoil the idyllic picture.
Moving swiftly on…gross, Mark! Moving swiftly on…we’re getting to the favourites I have saved for last, of course! I hope you’re still with me. This one is picture-postcard-perfect to me.
HH: The view from the old town of Calvi, just below the Citadel. You’re looking across Golfe de Calvi towards the mountains of northern Corsica.
Did you love that one? I feel like I’m in Japan looking at this one…
HH: An early morning departure…no. An early morning photograph of the cloud inversion from Col de Bavella. I drove through these clouds descending the winding twisty road from the Col to Solenzara on the east coast. One of the most beautiful mountain passes I’ve had the pleasure of driving. I was particularly enjoying this last day of my car rental. 🙂
Gosh my fingers are tired from that caption, Mr. Dickens! Here’s my very favourite…
HH: One of my favourite photographs of all time. I was strolling around the old town of Bastia and saw this bell with the backdrop of the very blue Mediterranean, and as I was lining up the photograph this yacht came sailing into the picture. All I had to do was press the button!
Welp, happy Tuesday! I hope you enjoyed those, that you warmed up a bit if necessary, and that the road rises to meet you wherever your journey takes you next!
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