(Dan’s comment are in italicized)

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for over five weeks already…and I’ve not written a thing! I’d forgotten how much work, and time, it takes to set up house; but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We had arranged to buy some furniture from the previous house owners and they’d agreed to leave enough towels, bedsheets, crockery, cutlery etc. to make the house functional. Thus, we arrived tired but with high-hopes for a cup of tea, a shower, and a good night’s sleep.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

We went to bed that night without a hot drink, without a shower, and we slept on a bed without bedsheets because our full-time housekeeper (whom we’d been paying for four months before our arrival) had, in our absence, decided to sell much of the stuff we’d bought. Her comment upon confrontation was, “I didn’t know it was yours” to which I replied, “I believe that you didn’t know it was ours…but you knew it wasn’t yours!” I had to smile, though, as I kept thinking The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry (Robert Burns) and thought that the quote (and experience) goes a long way to explaining my personality and why I tend to go with the flow rather than planning my life.

To cut a long story short, the housekeeper no longer works here (we have someone who comes in twice a week instead of a live-in), we’ve spent too much money making the house functional and comfortable, and we’ve had our first encounter with the S. African police. Enough said.

After surviving that fiasco, for some unknown reason we decided to paint every wall and ceiling of this house. I’m sure my Psych friends will say it’s because we were taking control of what we could; I think it’s because Dan and I are gluttons for punishment where houses are concerned. Whatever the reason, after much hard work, we have a fresh, clean house. To my delight, we’ve found some websites where people sell things they don’t want anymore (an African Craigslist of sorts) and we’ve found some used-goods stores so I’m a happy camper!

The rest of this post will be photos of our house so if this is of no interest to you, go to the next post (which is of our time in a game park). Writing about your time travelling in Africa is very different to writing about your day-to-day living experiences. I mean seriously, how interesting is knowing that we went to the store to buy groceries and I petted the neighbour’s dog? Our first month has been so focused on the house that it’s just been the type of mundane living that everyone experiences, no matter where you are. But, because we view our blog as a personal journal, here goes…

Firstly, we didn’t think the house was that big until we started painting. We painted every day, all day until our bodies hurt and we were a bit grumpy! It was my birthday in the middle of all of the painting and we ignored it. Heads-up, Dan, I expect something spectacular on my birthday next year!! Noted.

This entrance hallway is big enough for a piano recital (Brian, Jer) or a PEO meeting (Megan). I think we should turn it into a bowling lane for those days where we have nothing better to do.

Our living room is very comfortable…we lit the fire last night (it’s autumn here so the mornings and evenings are cold) and it warmed the place up beautifully. I’ve also found another store I love; quite out-of-character for me, it’s a fabric factory (my sister would be so proud)! We’ve had the navy couch and barstools re-upholstered. Africa has the habit of making you find personality quirks hidden in the depths of your soul.

The living room is open to the kitchen…

Please note all the cookbooks on the shelf; it will come as no surprise to anyone that we inherited those from the previous owners as even Africa can’t find a personality quirk in the depths of my soul that makes me the slightest bit interested in cooking! There is one book that is titled “The Complete Guide to Cooking”; if this is true, I don’t know why we need all the other ones.

It’s quite common here that the kitchen includes a prep sink, but that the regular kitchen sink is in an area off the kitchen…

I think in bygone times, this would have been called a butler’s pantry. Notice the lovely espresso machine I found at a garage sale! I have always wanted one. For most people, it makes sense to have these separated so that the kitchen always looks clean and tidy. For me, however, it make no difference at all as a kitchen has to be used in order to become dirty or untidy…!!! No comment, or I’ll be sleeping in the doghouse tonight.

Washing machines are different here…probably more in line with the size of UK washing machines. We’ve been so spoiled with the huge US washing machines that the African ones looked like something out of a dollhouse when we first arrived here. Like everything else in life, however, it’s a matter of perspective and now that we’ve shifted ours slightly, it’s starting to look quite normal. We do not have a clothes dryer, so laundry has to be done in small batches, in the morning, on a sunny day. We should note here that we’ve had an inordinate amount of rain since our arrival; it seems as though the weather is changing worldwide.

Moving on to our den and dining room…

To give you an idea of how rooms come together in our reality, the dining room dresser was bought from the previous owners (we just painted and cleaned it), the dining table and chairs came from a used-furniture store, the den chairs came from a garage sale, the rug from the fabric factory, the coffee table was brought in from outside, the big storage pouffe/ottoman was here and we tore off re-upholstery until we came to one we can live with for a while, and the artwork was either brought from the US or given to us by our friends here, Pete and Marie. As an aside, I must give a shout-out to Pete and Marie; we met them in a bird hide/blind in a game park two years ago and they have been instrumental in making this move successful, and their help, advice and donations have been priceless to us.

I love the office space and plan to sit here and finish writing the African reading program I started 20 years ago. Again, no comment.

The half-bathroom downstairs was inspired by a piece of artwork left behind by the previous house owners…

…inspiration can come from the weirdest of places. This bathroom pulled together artwork from the hallway, mirror from the kitchen, shelves from the office, and other artwork brought from the US. Voila!

The only other rooms downstairs are the housekeeper’s bedroom and bathroom that now sit empty-ish. We’ll turn it into a guest bedroom one day but, for now, it sits waiting its turn…

At least it’s been painted!

Painting the stairwell was a laugh-and-a-half…especially for Dan who alternated between being balanced precariously on a stepladder and painting with a roller or brush taped to the handle of a broom! I guess this is what you get for deciding to do all the painting yourselves and on a budget. We had zero tools when we arrived here, and compared to my shop in Tucson, we still have essentially zero tools.

At least we can now, once more, display some of the batiks I bought during my travels over 40 years ago.

The master suite in this house is huge, with the master bathroom being bigger than our master bedroom in the US. Although it’s a waste of space, it’s a gloriously luxurious waste of space; as long as I make sure to use the master bathroom throughout the day, I get my daily steps in just by drinking enough water…!

The master bedroom is big too…

There’s plenty of room in the bedroom for multiple dressers and chests of drawers but they’re not needed because of the ample storage in the walk-in closet and dressing room! We are spoiled, indeed…

Of more interest to me than the wardrobe section is the patio area that is shared by the master bedroom and guest room…

This patio overlooks the pool and is a great place to relax, nap, sunbathe, and dry laundry.

The guest room is coming along and is almost ready for guests (hint, hint!)

If you don’t get enough steps by going to the bathroom, we’re currently using the third upstairs bedroom as an exercise room (though, to date, we’ve not used it).

Apparently, both the treadmill and rowing machine are really good ones so if anyone reading this would like to try them out, reservations are free and can be made directly by contacting me. Having moved all of those items upstairs should count for me having used that exercise room, at least in my book. Sadly, I’m thinking of moving the exercise room downstairs to the housekeeper’s room in the future but, for now, shhhhh…!

The backyard is beautiful, too, and although it’s too cold to use the swimming pool, it’s lovely to look at.

As time goes on, we’ll do some work in the back garden. For now, it’s green and lush and makes us happy.

The front yard and entryway need a bit of work that, in time, we’ll get done.

For those of you who have made it this far, thank you. For those of you who thought we’d be living in a hut (Ted) and so a visit was out of the question, hopefully this has persuaded you otherwise. South Africa is different to most other African countries in that you can get anything you need/want here. There are unsafe places, places you’d visit only in daylight hours, and there’s crime; but it’s beautiful and has so much diversity, culture, and amazing nature. In other words, it’s a lot like the UK and US in terms of freedom, ease of living, and travel opportunities.

So why are we here? We can afford a lifestyle here that is out of our reach in the UK and US. Also, we love the African people and believe that experiencing different cultures makes us better-grounded, more well-rounded people. But, perhaps most importantly, we love the animals and neither of us has ever felt so awe-inspired, humbled, and perspective-driven as we feel every time we see one of the magnificent beasts. There’s a type of magic on this continent; a magic that trickles into your bones and soul. You never get over the loss of a child, but if any place can help with that pain, it’s here in Africa in the presence of the animals. An acquaintance asked me recently what we were running away from; the answer is that we’re not running away from anything, we’re running toward something…hopefully, it’s toward healing!