Diving the Indian Ocean

Early the morning after the wedding, we piled into the little car and headed east to Sodwana Bay for some diving.


(Link to Google Maps)

It was an easy drive with lots to look at.










Sodwana Bay is a place that I grew up going to for summer vacation - which was Christmas and New Year's - with family friends. This was a VERY remote place in those days. Just some campsites with concrete bathrooms. We had to take all our food, water, and living needs. There was no diving at that time, because there was no power or infrastructure. We used to drive up the beach a couple bays and pick a spot with no kids, and just hang out all day.

Well, not so much anymore!
This is a diving mecca with all these different outfits taking people out... there are lodges and hotels, and POWER, water you can drink, a/c in the cabin, my own bathroom with my room, TV!


At the Sodwana Bay Lodge, you are assigned a porter/caretaker/person who is responsible for the stuff you rent. This is George, he wouldn't let us do any of our own prep! Which was weird for us because our first day of training was about setting up your gear, and why you need to do everything twice! George knew what he was doing, and by day 2 we were letting him boss us around.


You go out with a Dive Master (ours was Dennis) who ensures your safety on the boat


in the water


and makes sure you are enjoying the best spots at the dive sites.

(We spent our dives on 2-mile reef, and Dennis took us to a different spot each day)

And wow, what incredible diving it is.

A Truly Amazing Wedding

I'm not a big wedding fan. I find all the schmultzy love love disingenuous. I started thinking that people should get married after living together for 10 years. At that point, you can safely say you are going to love this person "forever" because you've seen them at their lowest low... and they have seen you. I thought - now that's a wedding I want to attend.

I got the opportunity this month.

The bride (my maternal cousin) and groom have been in a relationship for 11 years. They have traveled the world together, lived in a single bed at my aunt and uncles, lived in foreign countries, and made a life together.

Here are my Aunt (my Mom's sister) and Uncle.


Their wedding was the epitome of what a wedding is... the coming together of friends and family to witness the formalization of their commitment to one another; and it was a lavish affair!


(Tables set with Johnny Walker Black)

If you think about it, their community has been waiting for a long time to have this celebration, and its like they had been saving up!

The location was serene, the food was the BEST wedding food I have EVER had! (the main course was a BRAAI! with chops, ribs, and mielie meal with gravy!; the desserts were FUDGE, pavlova, and chocolate cake! yummmmm!), and the people were ecstatic.

Since the groom's family is religious, the wedding was a very traditional Jewish wedding.


My aunt had gotten everyone together to make patches of love for the couple, and then sewn them together to make the underside of the chuppah (in this photo, you can see the bride looking up at it... I love this photo).


The bridesmaids were wearing saris, and wow, that was spectacular! What a brilliant idea!


This is the maid-of-honor, the bride's younger sister looking beautiful in her sari.



The highlight of the night for me were the speeches delivered by my two cousins. When I left South Africa, these ladies were small children. They were amazing children, and since my Mom and Aunt are close, we spent a lot of time with them. Hearing their speeches at the wedding made me realize that they have grown up into even MORE amazing adults! and I very much miss being a part of their lives.

The younger wove a story and some anecdotes about the couple into a piece of prose. She explained who the bride and groom are with perfectly chosen adjectives that demonstrated that they are gracious people who are very giving, and have a bond in how much they care for others. She then went for the low punch of taking on the question of the night: why were they finally getting married when it had never mattered before? and her answer, because it was a nice thing to do for their community.
I have never heard such a well constructed speech! every word chosen deliberately.

And then... the bride! wow! talk about taking it on!

The bride is an audiologist and speech therapist who has chosen to work at a hospital that caters to the poorer populations. This was a conscious choice so that she can make a difference in people's lives. The first thing she said when she stood up is "I am going to take this opportunity of you as my captive audience to speak to you about the importance of living at this time in South Africa!" And then she appealed to her family and friends to remember that they are in control of making a difference in how the new South Africa evolves.
And unlike me (who would have been direct and probably come off as BOSSY!), she was graceful, clear, and convincing in her appeal.

Two truly amazing women!

One last thing of note... This wedding connected the one side of my family to the other. I am now related to myself on both sides =)

My maternal cousin is also my paternal step-cousin in-law in-law
Or
My maternal cousin in-law is also my paternal step-cousin in-law
Or
My paternal uncle is also the grandfather of my (blue)step-cousins...
(seriously freaked the kid out when I told him that!)

The Perfect Vacation

Before I give specifics on each of our stops, I wanted to run through the itinerary and give mention to some folks.

When I started planning this trip, I did some research online. I quickly realized that I didn't have time to figure things out on my own, and so I did just one more search - a travel agent.
I found Megan Phillips at African Rainbow Tours and figured if they had an online presence they would be ok working with someone in a different country via email. It took a couple tries to work out when, how long, and in what order we would do all of the stops, and Megan was very responsive and easy to work with. We didn't realize realize how important the decision to use a travel agent would be, until we started on our trip. Everything was made easier by the fact that we had "vouchers" from an agent... but more importantly, the locations that Megan recommended were incredibly amazing! We highly recommend her services, advice, and assistance.

Megan hooked us up with a car from Europecar. It was a Toyota Yaris and served us very well for the two plus weeks of driving around.

Of course, the first couple of days were about an amazing wedding (more on that later) and we stayed at my Maternal-aunt and uncle's. Right after the wedding, still hazy from jetlag, we headed east to the ocean.

Our first stop was Sodwana Bay Lodge. We stayed here because they have a dive center and we thought it would be easiest to have the diving and lodging in one place. It was definitely easy, and the lodge was amazing. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner here. They had a varied menu and all the food was excellent. We stayed in a bungalow and it had every convenience - air conditioner, mosquito net, fridge, bathroom en suite (yay!), and a big deck.













The diving operation at Sodwana Lodge was magnificent! Every dive went out with a dive master who looked after the divers and acted as tour guide. The team was very organized and you were assigned a person to help you with your gear (will post more about all this later). Bottom line - would use Sodwana Lodge diving team without hesitation!

Or next stop was Phophonyane Falls Ecolodge. For some reason, we were the only people with a booking the 2 nights of our stay. We had the dining all, paths, and grounds to ourselves. This is a very interesting place with very comfortable accommodations, delicious food, and amazing views. This lodge was Megan's recommendation. Thank you, Megan!
It rained the day we were here, which was perfect because we were here for a day of rest.

...and then we headed north. The big reason I looked for a travel agent was because we wanted to do a walking safari in the game reserve, and I had a hard time figuring out how to do that from so far away. Megan hooked us up!!
She put us in the Rhino Post Safari Lodge for one night, and their Plains Camp for three. This was such an amazing experience, there are no words big and full enough.
The lodge is built with incredibly creative architectural details, in the perfect location on a river, with all the comforts you could want.. including a large soaking tub and outdoor shower. Again, we were the only people staying at the lodge and the camp (we were joined by a man and his mom our last night at the camp), and so the rangers and facilities were at our beck and call.
The lodge was very African themed, but the camp was like taking a step back into the past and ending up at a colonial explorer camp. Wow! was this place incredible!
Rhino Post has a concession in the middle of the Kruger National Park northeast of Skukuza which means that you are not on a contrived, stocked, private park... but part of the large preserved landmass of Kruger. I highly recommend Rhino Post and Plains Camp, and see if you can get a reservation when the ranger Bernard is scheduled to lead the walking tours. He is so knowledgeable, entertaining, and runs a tight ship at camp.

Our stay was supposed to end at a bed & breakfast in Johannesburg (The Space), but compared to all the other places we had been, it was just wrong. so we canceled our last night and went back to my aunt and uncles. This is the only place that I booked myself, and I shouldn't have! I should have asked Megan to help with this reservation too.

So, those are all the places we stayed. If you're looking to do a similar type of trip, I would recommend Megan, Phophanyane, and Rhino Post. I noticed that Rhino Post is part of a chain of lodges, Isibindi, and there is one in the Sodwana area. If (or... WHEN) I go back, I would try that accommodation instead (Thonga Beach Lodge).

Cookies 2009

Baking cookies each year at the holidays became a tradition for me many years ago. Even though I don't live close enough to partner in crime to do cookies with her, we wanted to continue the tradition by making a cookie swap. Last year was a solo attempt in a small loft kitchen. This year I had help, and baked for two days in the kitchen of my home. Here are the results. Ready to be packed up tomorrow for shipping.

Out of Place

Somewhere east of Skakuza... maybe here, our Ranger looks in the side mirror and says:

"Here comes a funny car with lots of cameras!"

and low and behold, we are passed by the Google Maps car* taking "Street View" pictures of the Kruger National Park.

I can't wait for those to be loaded to see if we are in it!

Do you think they can hit "pause" and watch the lions for an hour?

(* same car, different location)

View 6: The Space

B&B in Melville
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View 5: Plains Camp

The most perfect location for an African wilderness experience.
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View 4: Rhino Post Safari Lodge

Wow!!

Amazing architecture, people, and experience!

4 days late since no service at Rhino Post - SMILE!
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Good morning!!

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View 3: Phophanyane Falls, Swaziland

This is a place for rest and contemplation.
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Sodwana Bay

Wow!

Sitting on my bed in the lodge, with a/c, my own bathroom, and a bag of biltong.
I used to come here as a kid. We only had what we brought. There was nothing here. Now its a nature preserve, diving mecca, and full service accommodations.

Had two incredible dives today. Saw so many different varieties of fish. Of note on the register of sightings where two sea turtles and lots of moray eels. Just wait until you see these pics.

The second dive was on very rough seas. I was pretty surprised we got out. Once you get under, its calm and serene. Had to imagine the surface chaos.

The lodge is a couple miles before you get to the beach, so we got a ride over with the staff. The park and campground entrance are the same as they were when I was a kid.

Its funny, the last time I was here, the divers were just getting into diving here, and I thought - yikes! There goes the neighborhood. Now that I known what diving is all about, I realize, its a good thing. There people care about the preservation of the ocean.

We have another day of diving then its off to Swaziland.
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Headed east from Piet Retief

South African Economic Stimulus Package.
Improving roads everywhere...

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35,000 ft

Somewhere over Africa.
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Thinking about...

I feel really bad for Tiger Woods. We all have bumps on the way, but when you are that famous, they become giant mountains. It's not fair that the media expects famous people to be perfect all the time.

What is it?

I am going to double ask this question because the people who are confirmed as my friends haven't been able to give me an answer, and I'm hoping maybe the greater Google searchable virtual inter connection of everyone can help me out.

Clues:
- they are Korean
- it is the patriarch who is working on this project.
- its a dried plant of some kind, like tea leaves
- I didn't notice anything that used to be growing (outside) and is now gone - ie they grew a lot of oregano and now they are drying it.
- its one consistency; no twigs, blooms, buds, and its very fine.

What the ! is this?!

The Late Colonel John Carlyle

Last night I went to my first funeral.

It was the reenactment of the funeral of Col John Carlyle.
John Carlyle was a respected trader (of slaves and guns) and helped establish the town of Alexandria, VA.

We paid our respects to the family, and learned of the ghosts that still live at the house.



Apparently, there are energy orbs that show up in photographs of the front yard.
I took a bunch of pictures, but didn't see any light that came from something that was not a lamp.







After our tour of some haunted Alexandria spots, we went back to the house to join behind the coffin, family, militia, bagpipes and drummer to form a procession down Fairfax from the house to the cemetery. There the coffin was placed on top of the actual gravesite of John Carlyle. The paster read the same words, and the militia set off a three-musket salute.

What an incredible evening.

Act 2: On The Road

We are in the middle of day 3 on the road. Spent night 1 in AZ and night 2 in NM as planned. Have been arriving at the KOA's just at sunset. After a couple days of taking things from the car/trailer to the cabins, the system is becoming honed.

The animals seem to be doing ok in the car. They have all chosen a spot, and even after looking around every morning for another one, they end up in the same spot as the day before. Max in his crate, Molly behind the passenger seat with her head buried, and the 2 dogs on the passenger seat. The extra person is in the back with the cats.

The trip has been uneventful so far. Only two instances of a dog getting a slap from the aggressive male cat! My theory is that he feels threatened by the dogs, and so slaps them when they get too close. He does not hiss or meow, just the smackdown! Of course, the dogs yelp and cry out, probably more out of fear and surprise than pain. I've had my fair share of those slaps, so I know they are not too bad.

The other reaction worth noting is Mr Puppy. This is a 10-year-old dog. He usually whines and shakes in the car, so the vet suggested Xanax to remove the anxiety. Well, he's not anxious. Instead, he behaves like a two-year-old child.

"I want I want"; and when you say "no", you get a temper tantrum in the form of whining.
He is also running around jumping, wagging his tail so hard his whole back-end swishes, and acting like he's been at the fair all day eating ice-cream and cotton candy.

The two female animals just sleep and stay out of the way.

The humans are being entertained by podcasts, music, and an old MINI Takes the States journal; and being attentive to the needs of the zoo.

Such is the journey so far.
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Act 1 Scene 3: Last Night

Empty Apartment
















Empty Storage

One more night, and then its onto the road!

Act 1 Scene 2: Packed

So, the movers came and packed all the stuff, the loaded everything onto the truck and drove it away. I cannot believe the efficiency. Two people packed up all my stuff and took it away in about 8 hours.

Then a man came and loaded up my car :-(
That was hard.
It is good for my car not to gain all the miles, but its really hard to watch it being taken away.

Now, sleeping on camping gear on the floor, looking at emptiness, the cats are looking and sniffing...

Just gotta get through tomorrow and then can start the big drive!

Act 1 Scene 1: Packing

The cats are isolated in the bathroom while movers pack stuff.

They are on edge.

This is a dark photo, but you can still see their expressions of concern.

Act I: Preparation

At the request of a lot of people, I'm going to give you a daily blow-by-blow of my adventure across the country.

(If you see this post as Notes on my Facebook page, click through on the "view original post" link to get here for the full stories)

A friend of mine happens to be moving too, and so we decided to pool our "accommodation allowance" and get a place together. We have also timed our trip so that we can take the drive together. He has 2 dogs and I have 2 cats, so we figure that having two people will make the odds of success better.

The movers arrive to pack and load tomorrow. They are also taking my car. They were very clear that there are some things they shouldn't take - open bottles of oil, things that might explode, and things that cannot be replaced.

I am running around right now, going through everything one last time to make sure that the things I am taking are separate from everything else. To keep the animals secure during pack and load, they are going to have to spend some QT in the bathroom (I'm not looking forward to this, nor will they, but they don't know about it yet! mwah ha ha ha... the alternative is crates, think they would choice the bathroom too with those options?). After the movers leave, there will be NOTHING in this space. It will be a big empty box again. Good thing I won't have to stay very long before the drive starts.

So that you can follow along, here's the itinerary:

Sat: Williams, AZ
Sun: Tucumcari, NM
Mon: Chetocah, OK
Tues: Nashville, TN
Wed: Natural Bridge, VA

Thursday Night.... NEW HOUSE!

I hope you enjoy the ride with us.

Changes, transitions, the future

Do you know this?
I went to college in the Hudson Valley of New York. I loved it. I was very sad to leave and after a few months in my new state of Arizona, desperately wanted to go back.

Over the years in Arizona, I was jealous of people who got to leave. I had a minor opportunity to move to Washington DC at one point, but the opportunities weren't enough to motivate Greg to consider leaving too.

Well, I'm not tied to those string anymore.

A couple months ago, my boss made a joke at a meeting that I should take the lead on an opportunity in DC. At the time I said no - I'm not impulsive.
After some time went by, I started thinking, "why not?"
After many months of meetings, travels, trips, discussions, negotiations...

I am moving!

After the first domino was knocked over, the others are falling in line...
Accomodations in the DC Metro area have been obtained, movers have been secured, packing has begun, and driving dates determined.

The next couple of weeks are going to be NUTS!
I'm headed to Toronto to visit with my cousins, completing paperwork on new living arrangements, and then coordinating for the packing and moving of my personal goods across the country. The month will end with a direct journey mostly on I-40 to start living in my new home in Virginia on October 1.

How exciting is that?

Creating something new from something forever.

Now that it is September, I see in front of me a very interesting, exciting experience on the horizon.

My dad is one of three kids - he's the middle with an older brother and younger sister.
My uncle's oldest daughter (M) lives in England, and my aunt's oldest daughter (K) lives in Toronto.
Somehow, I think its because M was planning a trip to the US, we got this idea to all visit K for Rosh Hashanah. I didn't agonize or ponder and plan this, I just booked a ticket. But because there was all this other turmoil in my months of August and September, I didn't really think about it.
Now that things have calmed down, I realize that I am going to get a long weekend away from work, visiting with two of my cousins.
And I am REALLY excited!
I don't really have close relationships with my extended family - by that I mean as close as those with my immediate family.
Over the past couple months, I have gotten to know K over Facebook. My memories of her are very faded because when we all lived in the same country, I would spend time with her brother - him being closer to my age. K was out of reach because she was older.
I don't really remember M much from childhood either. She was younger, and has a brother my age, so again, it was with him that I would spend my time. But... when my youngest brother had his barmitzvah several years ago, M and I found ourselves sharing a room... and wow! I had a great time! She is kindred. I cannot wait to find out what she thinks of life and the world these days.

In fact, I can't wait to hear more from both of these fine ladies!

yes, I'll see Toronto, meet some very nice people (I can tell from Facebook that K has a circle of real friends), and celebrate a Holiday. But mostly, I look forward to sitting around with K and M and talking about stuff!

How exciting to kindle adult relationships with family!

A fantasy realized

Over a year ago, I went to Thailand. Remember that?

One of the things we did there, was snorkel. It was a most amazing experience because there were so many fish. I was frustrated by the fact that the fish could swim down, and I couldn't. I wanted to see where they were going, and the undisturbed places under rocks.

A couple months ago, when I was thinking... what do *I* want to do? I decided to get certified to scuba dive.

Today, I finished my Advanced Open Water diver certification.
I got my Open Water a couple months ago, but that only resulted in a couple dives, and not necessarily confidence. Its taken a long time to do the AOW dives because of my travel schedule and circumstances.

We did the following specialties: underwater naturalist, deep dive, night dive, peak-performance buoyancy, and navigation. We tried to do the navigation last week, but the waves were too rough, so finished that up today at the Casino Point dive park on Catalina Island.

I've been diving at Casino Point once before, but today was great!
We saw a 4 foot Sheephead called Oscar, a baby bat ray, tons of Garibaldi, bass, and gobi's... and two fricking HUGE black seabass... these things must have been over 6 feet long, and weighing over 300 pounds each... HUGE!

The most amazing thing about today, is I finally got to a place where I knew what to do, I knew I knew, and it all came naturally. I felt like a diver, not a student. I went up, down, I looked up, I looked down, I hovered around... my buddy kept playing jokes... banging into me like a cat, playing peekaboo around kelp, and we were just being silly.

It is such a feeling of freedom. A fantasy realized.

Bring on the WARM WATER!

I know you've been wondering...

Now that I have an iPhone, and since I've had a Blackberry for about 6 years, I know you've been wondering what I think of them in comparison to each other.

I have had a "blueberry", 8700, and I've had a Curve 8300 for over 2 years now.

I have never used the phone function on the Blackberry because I've not wanted two phones. So I've always used my personal cell as my mobile contact for work and personal calls. I added my personal email to my Blackberry a couple years ago, and I have the AIM and Y!Messenger applications on the Blackberry. A couple weeks ago, my company switched over to Microsoft Exchange so I added my work email to my iPhone. I decided to compare the two by leaving one behind for a day and just working off of the other. Here's my conclusion.

The iPhone is more fun. The Google maps is quicker and triangulates better so that it shows me where I actually am. The BB is often off a couple hundred feet. The applications on the iPhone are addictive and I would choose it any day for my personal life.

The Blackberry is a better tool. The email, IM, and SMS are all in the same view so you don't need to switch between applications to stay in touch. There is no delay when accessing your contact list to send a message - in any format (mail, IM, or SMS). These are the two most frustrating things about the iPhone - switching between applications and the way it hangs up because it needs to connect through the Internet to the exchange server for my work contacts. If you exit the IM applications, they are no longer running, and therefore, you are not available unless you are actively in a chat. Yes, the applications I loaded said they "push"; but they push to email... and if you are in mail and get an IM, you have to close mail, navigate to the IM app, and load it. My Blackberry shows me my email, Y! and AIM chats, and Blackberry messenger chats all in the same view.
These limitations make the iPhone frustrating to use as a work tool. Perhaps if I only had the iPhone I wouldn't notice the differences in a way that matters. Since I have the Blackberry, I will have to say, that I would chose to stick with it for work.

Even though I was really hoping to give up one of these devices so that I didn't have to walk around all day with both, I can't do it. I guess I just have to make sure I have a big enough purse and two back pockets.

The Checklist

I have figured out that the Biological Clock has a checklist, and as you get older, things start getting checked off.

After 20: hair turns grey - check
After 25: gain weight from air - check
After 30: forget things - check
After 40: lose focus on things that are close...... this one is now a "check"

So, I got some glasses.





















I am not ashamed to say that I am a total copycat.
My friend Meg came over with a pair of Prodesign and I just thought they were super cool.
I found a place close by that carries them and got my own pair!
They are two-tone.... can you see the the blue on the inside?
Its the color of my favorite eyes.

Confessions

I know, I know, I suck at updating my blog.
I have a confession to make... I have been cheating on you with Facebook.
I have been letting the convenience of the short "What's on your Mind?" take precedence over the energy of writing on this here blog.

So for the blog readers, here are two strange things I noticed today:

1. I went through a traffic light that was working, and also had an officer directing the traffic through the interchange in accordance with the light. Now what is up with that?! I didn't know who/what to follow!

2. When I walk these puppies, people on the street ask me if they are twins.
hmmm...
First, dogs don't have two puppies (that often), they usually have a LITTER. So are they twins? no, they are probably quadruplets!
Second, why not ask if they are related? What difference does it make if a dog is a twin? Just because I have two?

Probably just a lisa'ism, but the use of the "twin" term just irks me.

later...

PantyRaid

OMG!! I'm so excited!!
My brothers first music available on iTunes!
I'm so proud of him! Go take a listen...
PantyRaid is his collaboration with Ooah...
Can't wait until we see something by Party Marty solo!

Facebook Phenomenon

Something funny...
You put up a Status Update/What's On Your Mind? post that's somewhat obscure.
either a reference to a movie, a song, or something that people involved in your day-to-day would know.
Now on Facebook, you have all these Friends who are people you haven't seen in 20 years! or you met once at a party...
and they want to show that they are "in the know"... so they respond to your post.

I think its really funny to read through these for everyone I get updates on.
There are the people in the know, and the people who think they are in the know!

There was a particularly entertaining string coming from one of my cousins for a while.
He posted something that (I'm not In The Know) could be from Monty Python's Holy Grail, or it could be from the Facebook game Knighthood. And then his friends started responding.
Some people made comments to England, some to the Python's, some had equally entertaining responses that could or could not have been accurate.

Anyway - an interesting Facebook Phenomenon that I thought I'd comment on.