Change In Plans

Greetings from Cape Town!

Like suburbanites the world over, I was sitting on the front porch drinking coffee and reading the Sunday newspapers this morning.  The waves were massive and messy, and there were no surfers or body boarders out, even though it was sunny.  Mid-winter in Cape Town is pretty sweet.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a giant flipper come out of the water about 250 meters off shore.  I grapped the binoculars (and Tallulah), and we watched a viagra right whale breach and flop back into the waves.  It is the beginning of calving season, and the whales are moving down toward Hermanus in large numbers. 

We saw the whale spout a few times, breach again, then wave a flipper and swim off toward Cape Point.  Unbelievable and amazing.  I tried to get a picture, but it just looks like foamy blue ocean.  Anyway, a photograph couldn’t capture the blueness of the sky, the rocky mountains behind me, the lushness of the mid-winter fynbos, or the kids playing happily on the beach.  The sighting will have to live on in the mind’s eye.

We have two sets of friends coming from New York this week for a visit.  For all of them, it is their first trip to South Africa.  I hope they see the same natural beauty that has kept us coming back to Cape Town for the last 20 years.

Greetings from rainy Cape Town!

About half an hour ago, I heard beautiful singing from the windows
outside my office.  I thought it must be a church group, or (unlikely)
related to Friday services at one of the local mosques.

I looked down to the street, and discovered a tiny protest rally under
way by the South African Communist Party.  About 12 singing protesters,
surrounded by roughly an equal number of police officers, all blocking the
entrance to the offices of a law firm.  I am slightly surprised to find 12
practicing communists outside of North Korea or Cuba, but in SA the
dialectic continues.

Two women held a printed banner reading “Socialism is the future.”   Next to them,
two men held a hand-printed banner reading (with less conviction)  “Socialism is a future.”

Many of the other protesters were holding up signs written on A4 sheets
of white printer paper.  I was too far away to read the handwriting on the signs, so the
purpose of the rally remains a mystery.  The singing sounds wonderful, though.

Earlier this morning, I ran into one of India’s long-standing friends and former
colleagues at a coffee shop.  Albie Sachs has been a playwright, a freedom fighter,
a constitutional scholar (and co-author), and one of the original justices on
the post-apartheid constitutional court.  I would normally describe him as
“a man in full,” but that would be ironic, because he lost an arm and an eye in
when the apartheid government tried to assassinate him in Mozambique in the 1970s.

Albie retired from the bench, but was completely up to speed on India’s new campaign for Safe
Spaces.  He is writing a movie script, and raising a 4-year-old son (Albie is 71).   Zola’s
Grade 6 Social Sciences class did oral reports on Albie’s life.

We chatted for a while about politics, and I realized that this was a little like having a conversation with
John Marshall back in 1805. Life in a young democracy can be frustrating and a little scary, but
it is never dull.

Greetings from Cape Town, where Spring is in the air.

I have been negligent about writing anything for the last several weeks, so
you have missed our trip to the U.S., my Mom’s birthday party, our three
weeks at the Beaverkill (just great for all concerned), a quick trip to London,
an Irish wedding, a long flight home, and re-immersion into our
South African lives (in progress).  Whew!

Not enough time to recount it all in excruciating detail.  Just a short
post on two achievements by India and Tallulah.

The “Run Outside” part of this post’s title is in honor of India completing
the Hout Bay Trail Challenge two weeks ago.  HBTC is generally considered
the toughest trail run in the country: about 36 kilometers (the route changes
year to year) and about 7,000 feet of climbing, all on narrow dirt and sand
tracks.

India started in the dark at 7am (she sent an SMS at 6:45 reading, “I am cold and
lonely and a little bit scared.  I hope someone adopts me.”).  She staggered across
the finish line at 3pm, completely shattered.  To make the “Challenge” more of a
challenge, the organizers added 6 kilometers and another 400-500 meters of
climbing to last year’s route.  The winning time was about 60 minutes slower than
last year’s winning time.

India is super tough, but she ended up exhausted and with huge respect for the HBTC.

The “Play” part of the post title is for Tallulah’s participation in the St. Cyprian’s School
140th Anniversary play this week. 

About 400 girls were on stage for the finale, but Tallulah shined like a very happy little star. 
She has been singing all of the numbers, and dancing around the house for weeks.
Watching with pride - sports, concerts, plays, ballet - is one of the greatest things about being a parent.