Travelogue 2010

In late July/early August, Wendy and I took a brief holiday into South Africa and Swaziland. It was a relaxing, though at times challenging, ten days. For those interested, here are a few pictures and a day by day account of our travels.

Day 1: It is winter, the dry season here, in this part of southern Africa. Everything is brown and dusty. Rain has not fallen for over two months. Fire in the veld is a constant threat, and beautiful views are marred or obscured by the ever present smoke. Smoke from farmers and homeowners burning fire breaks; smoke from the widefires that often appear to have consumed whole mountains; and smoke brought on the wind from further east where the sugar cane fields are burnt in preparation for harvet.

At the end of our first day we stayed at a guest house in the shadow of the Drakensburg. We hiked on the high veld, and enjoyed the vistas of the mountains. In this area a few wild animals still roam free including the Africa's largest antelope, the elusive eland. Our host was a gentle farmer, and the eland must have known this as one has taken to browsing on his trees. We were treated to the presense of a bull eland, not twenty metres away.

The fuel that feeds the fires.

Day 2 & 3: A bit of a break in the smoke and a beautiful morning view of the high veld. It was the last time we saw the horizon clearly on our trip.

Morning sun on the Drakensburg.

The second day we traveled east and north through beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful landscapes. The big hills of the high veld covered in grass, I though beautiful; the hills strewn with rocks and acacia trees, or covered in bush veld, I recoiled from.

Wendy had chosen a guest house just into Mpumalanga province to stay for out second night. The owner was an artist and teacher who works in warmed glass. Wendy's intent was to take a class the next day and since two warm bodies were required I found myself learning about working in warm glass. (Despite all the reference to warm it was quite cool there on the high veld.)

The next day, after a wonderful hike in the surrounding hills, was spent in a chilly, warm glass studio. I managed to squeeze a few creative juices out of my cranium and came up with what looks like a child's drawing. Wendy on the other hand was captivated by the possibilities of the medium. Before we left, she had booked us back in for another two days on the return trip.

An example of warm glass artistry.

Day 4: Day four took us though mountain plantation tree farms, mostly pine forests on our way to Swaziland. Miles and miles and miles of plantation forest. We stopped at one private plantation (there was an art studio there that Wendy wanted to check out), and I spent some time chatting with the owner. A pine tree comes to harvest maturity in 40 years, about half the time as in Canada. Tree farming (he called himself "just a farmer") is a long term prospect.

His family were harvesting about 240 hectors per year. Somewhere back 40-45 years ago someone in the family - father or grandfather - decided on tree farming and began the transformation of what was maybe marginal pasture/ranch land, into forest. Forty years at 240 hectors a year is nearly 10,000 hectars or 100 square kilometers of plantation forest.

By far the biggest players are the forest company plantations and like the smaller private plantations, what they fear during the dry season is fire, fire that can wipe out years of planting and nurturing and investing in a harvest 40 years in the making. In 2007 one wild fire destroyed something in the range of 23,000 hectares just across the border in Swaziland.

Swaziland was a most interesting contrast with Lesotho. We arrived in the mountainous western part of the country, leaving the plantation forests of South Africa for the plantation forests in Swaziland; forests that provide industry, jobs, and income; forests that are conspicuously absent from the mountains of Lesotho other than a few small, small lots.

That night we spent in a novel abode, a traditional bee hive hut upgraded for us tourists with a cement floor and modern bath room facilities attached. Part of the enjoyment was watching a group of Swazi women completing the rethatching of one of the huts. The traditional family hut was apparently much small than the tourist version where we spent a night.

A bee hive hut under renovation.

Another delight at this stop was seeing some different widelife. Wendy had a tough time believing a crocodile was not a plactic or cement creation. It lay absolutely still, nary blinking an eye, blending into the grass.

A still life??

We also had a view of one of the most dangerous animals in Africa1. Boring they are, lounging in a pool with maybe their eyes and ears joining their noses above the water line. But when agitated, hippos apparently "can outrun a human" and "the bellowing of the bull hippo measures an ear-splitting 115 decibels, sounding like the roar of a lion."2

Hippos: exciting, they were not.

Day 5: The plantation forests were not the only notable difference between the Kingdom of Swaziland and Lesotho. The tourist and craft industry is much more highly developed in Swaziland. I especially enjoyed the locations where a number of crafts were highlighted at a single location with artisans on site showcasing their craftsmanship. Baobab Batik and Swazi Candles were highlights in terms of watching the artists demonstrate their craft. Then there were the carvers and their giraffes.

The carved giraffes are ubiquitous in craft markets here in Africa, but in Swaziland I had opportunity to watch the men who craft them. I marveled as, with just a hatchet, the craftsman hewed out the one on the left in the picture below. A single chisel takes the giraffe to the next level (on the right). Then it is sandpaper, and more sandpaper, next painting each spot on by hand, and then polishing with what I think was floor wax.

Simple tools of the trade.

The finished product.

Day 6: Day 5 had ended with Wendy taking me on a drive on the wild side. She had booked our accommodation deep within one of the Swazi game parks in the east of the kingdom. When driving in game parks and watching for animals their comes a time when one start seeing animals in odd rocks and tree stumps. On the way in I was seeing rhinos in the rocks. On our way out a glance to our left and I thought, "Oh, more rhino rocks." But we stopped anyways, and backed up for a closer look.

Rhino rocks, they had both been lying down when we first saw them.

Up close and personal with a rhino rock.

Day 6 continued through more of eastern Swaziland and I was again impressed with the diversification. In the west were forest plantations. Then we had passed though fields of pineapples, and now in the east we were passing though miles of sugar cane plantations; commercial farming on a big scale. The contrast with Lesotho continued to be so evident. Unlike Lesotho, Swaziland appears to have an economy built on more than government services, and subsistance farming. Yes it is still a poor country, but there is a vibrancy I sensed that Lesotho does not have. It seems that the forestry, tourism and craft industries, as well as the commercial farming add enough to the economy to bring a bit more optimism and joy, ... and money, the Swazi GDP per capita at $4400 USD is more than twice the Lesotho per capita GDP of $1700.3

KFC is another ubiquitous icon in Southern Africa, and the Swazis show some of their zest in their advertizing for the Colonel's chicken.

A unique and eye catching bill board.

While we enjoyed out morning motoring through Swaziland, I found the afternoon in South Africa dispiriting. Yes, we travelled through prosperous plantations of oranges, avocadoes, bananas, nuts and sugar cane, but the lingering image was the endless miles of housing in what was an apartheid era homeland.

I don't know why the bananas are bagged on the tree.

The map showed a few towns scattered along our route but the reality was miles of housing, endlessly strung out over marginal land. Some of the homes were quite nice, but after traversing the lush plantations I could not help thinking about the past when people were forced to move from their land, land that offered at least subsistance farming, to this distant, heavily populated, and seemingly inhospitable tract that seemed to go on and on and on.

We spent the night just beyond the homelands area. It was reinvigorating to be away from the congestion. We were high on a hill side, away from the lights and housing, though our view was obscured by the smoke. The stars were bright in the dark sky and in our host I found some one who was finally able to point out the southern cross constellation and how to use it to approximate the direction south.

Which came first, the termite or the tree?

Day 7: The next morning we were heading back the direction we had come but some distance to the west. What a difference thirty kilometres can make.

The former homelands are located in the low veld on the edge of the northermost reach of the Drakensburg escarpment. The return drive was up on the escarpment. Here the land had more value. The endless miles of housing were replaced by endless miles of plantation pine forest interspersed with small settlements. At times I could have imagined myself driving through the lodgepole pine forests of the Alberta foothills. The imagery was reinforced later when the wiff of a pulp mill, (as in Hinton, AB) assailed our nostrils.

High on the escarpment.

The low veld is obscured in the haze.

Alberta's foothills??

We ended that day in the area of Nelspuit, the provincial capital of Mpumalanga. We spent the night at a delightful guest house on a small private game reserve. where we had kudo, nyala, and wildebeast wandering near our cabin. The owner has a most remarkable house. He chose to build his house around the granite boulders on his property rather than blast or bulldoze them away. These were massive boulders, up to two stories high, incorporated into the architecture of the house. The main entry opened into a narrow corridor between two massive granite megaliths. He was a game guide and hunter. The corridor opened, and his hunting trophies, mounted on a massive granite wall, left a spectacular impression - notwithstanding one's view of game hunting.

Day 8: By this time I was getting a bit weary of travel, so Day 8 involved a short trip into Nelspuit. I had picked up a side wall puncture somewhere along the way. It was a slow leak, but the tire needed replacing. So, while Wendy did some shopping at a modern, upscale mall, I hung out at a tire shop. I confess. Between getting the tire fixed and joining Wendy at our prearranged meeting spot I managed to hit the mall's South African equivalent to Mountain Equipment Co-op.

The afternoon was spent at Sudwala caves, apparently the oldest know cave system in the world. Our guide led us 600 meters undergrown into a cave system that once held 3000 (yes, three thousand) Swazi men, women and children AND their 500 cattle. They had used the caverns as a safe refuge during an ongoing conflict between two brothers vying for the kingship of the Swazi people.

Our guide showing the ingenious torch used by the cave refugees.

The branches of a certain bush were pounded to form a tuft

which when dipped in beeswax or animal fat made a great torch.

The Scream??

In the cave we met Dr. Adam Sheeva, a family physician from High River, Alberta. He had left South Africa many years ago, and while back to visit family he came upon us fellow Albertans ... in a cave. And, we with a little luck we could have met another Albertan. Upon arriving back home we learned that a friend from Red Deer had traveled almost the same route as us through Swaziland and Mpumalanga a few days earlier than us.

That evening it was back to the cabin with the kudo, nyala and wildebeest.

Day 9 & 10: Wendy was in her element the next two days as we were back, surrounded by quiet hills, in an tranquil valley, with a nearby warm-glass art studio to indulge her creative energies. She thinks maybe she has found her calling for her retirement years, whenever that might be.

Day 11: A long day of driving, but we arrived safely back home, grateful that the actual driving part of our trip was uneventful but for the slow leaking side wall puncture. As for me, I have had enough driving for a while. Yes, to see and experience all the things we did requires putting on many miles, but after this trip and the earlier trip to Katse, I was ready to put up my feet and leave the roads to others.

~ Benno ~

1 http://goafrica.about.com/od/africasafariguide/tp/dangerousanimals.htm

2 http://didyouknow.org/animals/hippo/

3 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Doctor, Doctor

Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,

an undeserved curse does not come to rest.*

One Mosotho has commented on his countryman in comparision to citizens of New Zealand. If a New Zealander sees his neighbor buy a new car he will redouble his efforts to keep up with his neighbor until he can buy an even nicer new car. If a Mosotho sees his neighbor with a new car, in jealousy he will sneak in at night and break the windows, smash the headlights, and slash the tires. Another form of the story is that if a Mosotho woman sees her neighbor with a nice new outfit, she will wait for an opportunity to find it on the clothes line, when she will then take a knife or sissors and cut it into stips. Jealousy, a consuming passion that destroys rather than builds up. Even jealousy about who one has as friends.

We have a Mosotho friend. Others are jealous, among other things, that she has friends who are makhooa (white). One of her work mates would subtly abuse her at work, pushing her, stepping on her feet, any little thing to make her day less pleasant. When this did not get whatever result the work mate was desiring she turned to a sangoma, a traditional diviner or doctor, to place a curse on our friend. Our friend responded by continuing to rest in Jesus, and placing her trust in Him.

After many months circumstances have resulted in our friend being blessed in her career, and her agitator being dismissed from her job. The traditional doctor has apparently advised the jealous workmate that our friend must have hired an even more powerful doctor. The traditional doctor's strongest curses had no affect, our friend was healthy and prospering when the traditional doctor expectd her to be gravely ill.

For me the best part of the story is our friend's response. While she is rejoicing in her 'doctor' and his protection, she is also praying that her antagonist would recognize the power and protection of this 'doctor', and take Him as her 'doctor', too.

How great is your goodness [O Lord],

which you have stored up for those who fear you,

which you bestow in the sight of men

on those who take refuge in you.

In the shelter of your presence you hide them

from the intrigues of men;

in your dwelling you keep them safe

from accusing tongues.

Psalm 31:19,20

~ Benno ~

* Proverbs 26:2

Mariha

Mariha - winter. Mariha is getting its last bite of the season in. We have been having very nice weather, but a cold front blew in early this week, winter's last blast. We had just returned from a short trip to South Africa and Swaziland where it was even warmer. We arrived home to a forecast that said cold was on the way.

Now, our nice coal heater had left us. Its owners had returned from the U.S., and with three little children, including a three month old baby, they needed it more in their new house than we. So we would be using electic heaters for the last few weeks of winter. With the cold front forecast I headed out to stock up on electricity units. Ah, my surprize and dismay to learn that while we were on vacation the electricity company had been advertizing forthcoming upgrades to its vending system and that no electricity would be sold from Aug. 6-8. Just back from vacation we had enough units to easily cover a week or more of regular use, but electric heaters eat a lot of electricity. We would be able to use them only sparingly until we could but more units. It would be a cold few days, but rather an extra layer or two than to be without hot water or lights.

A day or so later, the folks who had taken their coal heater kindly lent us a propane heater. Ah, welcome heat, though I knew my propane tank was low. On the coldest morning of the last four weeks it all came together. We had went out to buy electicity units, but the new system was down. Now, on that cold morning the propane ran out. Aeeii, it was a cold morning in the house. Staying snuggled under that extra blanket was where I would have liked to stay. BUT we did have hot water, and still enough electricity units for the basics for another few days. As well, the local corner store was open early so I was able to pick up propane. In addition, I am sure the new vending system will be up later today. We will be warmer and more comfortable soon enough.

This brief experience has again reminded me of how blessed we have been here. For most of the winter we had the coal heater which made our house so comfortable. I was also reminded of what is normal for our Basotho friends. Every morning they get up to no heat, very often no electric lights, and no hot water. In a cold house they get up and light a candle or lamp. Next is to light a paraffin heater to warm water to bathe. This is the routine for each of our girls in the Mustard Seed program, and sometimes there is no parrafin to heat the water. Yes, my life is so comfortable and I have so much to be grateful for, ... even in mariha.

For those interested, I will post a travelogue on our trip in the next week or so.

~ Benno ~

Mountain Passes and other Engineering Marvels

In July the Mustard Seed took our girls who last year successfully completed their school grade on a trip into the mountains. The trip was to visit a couple of sites that are part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. This water project transfers water from the Orange/Senqu River basin to the Vaal River basin, an inter-basin transfer that provides water demanding Gauteng Province - the industrial and population heartland of South Africa, including Johannesburg - with a additional water source. Along the way the water generates hydro-electricity for Lesotho. The project is considered a remarkable engineering feat, but it is something that many local Basotho never get to see. So on a Monday morning we loaded up our girls and headed for the hills.

The three scholars.

Our first stop was Katse Dam, until last year, the tallest concrete dam in all of Africa, though now second to a recently completed dam in Ethiopia. To arrive at the dam meant traversing a mountain pass. What I keep forgetting is that "mountain pass" has a different meaning in Lesotho. It is not a road through or between mountains, it is a road over the mountains.

Twisting and turning, snaking up grades in first gear, we arrived at a hair pin turn just before the final climb to the summit. It was an engineering feat. Before the road was built, the turn would have been air. On a tiny spur of the mountain the engineers had build castle sized retaining walls to hold enough rock and rubble to construct a turn out over what once had been air. This first pass was the worst (or most spectacular, depending on one's frame of reference).

The "pass" is just left of centre on the ridge line.

We topped out at 3090 metres with two other passes at 2650, and 2510 metres.

The top.

Looking down from the top of the pass.

It was a cold and windy day, with snow flurries (in July), so the tour of the dam was chilly until we got "inside". I didn't know that a concrete dam would have tunnels, pretty big tunnels, and I found it just a bit disconcerting wandering around "inside" a dam that was holding back billions of litres of water. "Don't these tunnels weaken the stucture?", was what I was thinking.

The dam face through snow flurries.

Our chaperone, with her six week old baby on her back.

Looking down the spillway.

The next day we were off to the power plant a considerable distance from the dam. (The water travels 45 kms via tunnel. We had to take the road). This road was not the twisting, snaking, ordeal of the previous day. After that drive, this was a pleasure. I was able to reach speeds of 80, 90, even 100 kms per hour. Ah ... , but I had to temper my exuberance and consider the others that I shared the road with - cars, taxis, slow moving trucks, pedestrians, fellows pushing wheelbarrows, cows, sheep, ox drawn carts.

The girls enjoyed the power station the most. Maybe it was the crazy ride in the back of open pick-up into the bowels of the earth to reach the power plant. The power plant is buried deep in the Clarens sandstone. The crazy ride took us some 600-700 metres into the mountain. By the standards of some of the giant hydro-electric projects in Canada it was small, but it was remarkable that the whole project was under ground.

We finished off the tour with a stop at a historic site. While I found this quite interesting the girls found it less exciting. Then it was back home. Two days, six hundred kilometres of paved road, and over 10 hours of driving. I was beat, but iI do admit I am looking forward to a future trip we hope to take into the mountains. That trip will take us over mountain passes that exceed 3200 metres.

A traditional kitchen.

4000+ year old San rock paintings.

The other 'guy' on the trip.

This is the little fellow who was born in a school classroom.

~ Benno ~

Mustard Seed Happenings

It is past due to provide a couple of updates on what the Mustard Seed is doing. The last few months have been relatively quiet really. The school year is up and running, and our focus has been on implementing some plans that we had developed earlier. Things will get busier in the next couple of months as we will be winding up the society's fiscal year, and begin the process of planning for the next school year. But here is a bit of information on some of our recent activities.

Cherish Camp: This was a four day workshop we held at the beginning of April. Eight of our girls attended, actually seven of our girls. The eighth was someone from the community who was invited by one of our girls who was so excited about what she learned the first day she had to bring a friend, who has become a Mustard Seed associate.

Girls here face very similar challenges to girls anywhere I guess. They too have needs for acceptance and belonging, and they too have hormones and all that that entails. The focus of the camp was to invite the girls to accept themselves for the special creation they are in God's eyes, that they are valued and loved and complete in him, and that He has a plan for good in their lives. The workshop then invited them to make choices that would build positively on the special creation they are. It was a timely topic.

A number of our girls are struggling, like adolescents anywhere, to discover who they are and what they want. Then there are peer pressures, some good, but too many encouraging them to follow I life of living for the moment. But in the context of Lesotho, living for the moment, even briefly, often has life-long consequences from which it is difficult to recover - extreme poverty, abuse, illness, disease, and no hope for a future. Second chances are hard to come by, here. Our desire is to see our girls develop a dream for their future, a dream that will help them made better choices. One girl wants to be a lawyer, and I have been inviting her to picture herself in her robes before a magistrate. A more concrete dream that hopefully will better enable her to assess whether her choices are helping her move towards that dream or getting in the way of her dream.

Rapt attention for the facilitator, Ruth.

Food, part of any workshop, ...

... as is fun.

With their completion certificates.

One four day workshop is only a start however, and recently we got the girls together for a Cherish Day. Under the guidance of 'M'e Lerato, one of our Masotho board members, they talked about what they had learned at the workshop, how they were applying what they learned, and the challenges they faced in making wise choices. They had fun, but were also serious about seeking to encourage and support each other to choose wisely.

Maths Tutoring: A second major activity we are implementing is providing the girls with extra help with their Maths (here it is 'maths', not 'math'). It has been hit and miss to fit the tutoring sessions into their lives, but we are making progress, and now during the winter school break we are holding what we are calling Maths Camps.

One of Wendy's former students is working with a number of girls for four hours a day for four days, reviewing what they learned in the first half of the school year, and introducing them to some of the topics they will cover in the final months of the year. I am not sure how Maths is taught in the schools here, but most students struggle. It has been encouraging to see a girl, with some tutoring, increase her Maths marks from failing to passing grades and to see her joy and building confidence.

Meanwhile, God continues to provide and invite me to continue to trust him one step at a time. At the house we are currently in, and can stay in for another few months, we have been able to adapt space in one of the outside rooms into a classroom/meeting space. What a blessing this is. Our home is in a somewhat central location and this makes it much easier for the girls to get to this classroom than to the space we had used for a while. I continue to marvel at how God continues to provide what we need.

Ausi Moselentja: We still have not started building a little house for Ausi Moselentja and her family. Through some past work of 'M'e Lerato, Ausi is now living in an outside room at a near neighbor's, a room where she can have her three younger siblings with her, and where she can also cook. Now the family is not spread about with various neighbors with the place to cook at yet a another neighbor. I am having to trust that the roadblocks in getting started on the building of the house is in God's hand and in time, the right time, we will be able to move forward.

Ausi Moselentja continues to be source of inspiration. She has so little materially, she has so much in terms of responsibility, yet just knowing that there is some one thinking of her brings a huge smile to her face. If anyone has nothing it is she, and being able to bring a bit of encouragement and support into her life is good for the soul.

Thanks for your thoughts, and for those of you who pray for the Mustard Seed, thanks for your prayers. I also want to thank God for those who continue to provide funds now and then. Each day we have the resources we need to continue to serve girls here in Lesotho.

~ Benno ~

Learning Sesotho and Other Things

Trying to learn Sesotho has given me is a much greater appreciation for individuals who master languages other than their birth language. I also marvel at language itself, how it is that we communicate in such a highly complex manner. Each language is different, how ideas are crafted differ, yet speakers in whatever language converse; sharing ideas, conveying needs and perspectives, and telling stories.

My Sesotho lessons now include translating a Sesotho language news article. Since I am just a beginner, I don't always understand the headlines, which are often cryptic attention grabbers and not necessarily proper grammatically, so I never know what I will learn, not just about language but about culture. In a recent article I came face to face with the complexity of numbers in Sesotho. Numbers one to ten are quite straightforward but after that ... after that even Basotho are know to prefer English terminology. The article referenced ages. Here is my best attempt at a literal translation of one phrase containing a number. "A man whose years of tens they are two, of units they are two," - in other words, a twenty two year old man. The rest of the story turned out to be another example of a custom I have referenced before, where a man/youth who wants a wife, just takes one.

In this article the twenty two year old man had seized "a girl whose years they are ten and of units they are four" to be his wife. The most troubling aspect of this story was that although it is against the "law of Lerotholi" (the royal law of Lesotho) to seize a girl so young, her parents' involvment of the police (what the news article was reporting) was to seek assistance to obtain the payment of "cows, they are six", which in that village was the customary payment for so seizing and violating an unmarried girl. This payment would be in addition to the bride price that the man's parents would subsequently negotiate with the girl's parents.

More and more I am hearing and learning of this practice, and those I talk with continue to add to my understanding that this is not a random, infrequently occurring practice, but rather a common continuing practice in many parts of Lesotho. If a man/youth fancies a girl he simply seizes her and takes her home to his parents, and he has himself a wife.

What I am also learning as I work on translating news article is that news here is not a lot different than news back in Canada. News here too, tends to focus on the troubling side of human experience, not about positive events. News tends to more often record the depths of man's selfish and violent actions, and here, the often equally violent response of 'village justice'.

So learning Sesotho is becoming a mixed experience for me. I marvel at the fabric of language, man's ability to communicate. Yet, in gaining some ability to understand another language I am saddened. Despite all that language offers humanity in terms of communicating and in reconciling differences, evil incarnate remains in our midst. Sadly, irrespective of our culture and language, a common response of mankind to differences it seems, is too often abuse, violence, and selfish actions.

Oh, that the Prince of peace might reign in hearts.

~ Benno ~

July Snow Showers

Snow!! In Africa!! I have now experienced it.

I realize that for for those of you in Alberta, Canada who have been having snow in May, the last thing you may want to hear of is more snow. But it was a novel experience to stand outside in the cold and take in a snow flurry, something I had not experienced in over three years now.

We have been having frosty nights. A day or so back I was wistfully thinking how much nicer a real windshield scraper would be rather than the bank card I was trying to scrape frost off the windshield/screen with. The forecast for last night was cold-cold, as in -7 to -8. Still I was surprized when I went out this morning (15 June 2010) and noticed a few flakes of snow on the vehicles. We had had a brief flurry during the night, the only remnants being on the roof of the vehicles where it had not melted. Ahh, but more was to come.

The wind grew bitter and the clouds closed in, as I was hanging out some laundry. Then at about 8:30 a full fledged snow squall broke. There were now more than a few flakes on the vehicles and the grass was turning white.

It was bona fida snow. :-) I quickly got the camera to record the proof, and enjoyed a few minutes being out in the cold AND snow. I took a walk down town. It was empty. Folks it seemed were staying home and indoors where there was a bit of warmth.

Alas, it did not last long. Within a couple hours the snow had melted away, and now the sun is shining. There is no forecast of any further snow, though the cold weather, with -5 to -7, is forecast to remain for a few more days.

So now I have experienced snow in every month of the year but July; August through May in Alberta and June in Lesotho. In July I will be taking a trip into the mountains with road passes above 3,000 metres, so I may yet experience snow in every month of the year.

There was one other blast of cold from the past this morning. Having hung out the laundry before the snow flurry I went out to shake the snow off the clothes once the flurry had passed. The clothes were stiff and frozen. The advent of clothes dryers had made this experience a thing of the past for most of us, and to say I remember those days ... well, I guess that dates me a bit, eh?

Keep warm all. :-)

~ Benno ~