Friday; Saturday

Friday we went to the top of Signal Hill (from which you can see Robben Island), and then took the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain. It was cloudy, which was actually really cool, since we went up through the clouds, and then on top it was sunny and clear again, and it was really neat to be looking out over the clouds:



One of the things I love about flying is being up amongst and then above the clouds. As Anne of Green Gables would say, there's so much scope for the imagination up there.



In the afternoon wolverine_nun and her daughter K took us down to the water front, where we wandered around the quays, ate ice cream, watched ships come in and out, and saw neat buildings:



This one is made out of old coke crates, and has a necklace with 3 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze medals, celebrating SA's haul in the recent Olympics.

In the evening, I went with Kaede to a nearby town for an Audivi concert:



They sang a number of 13th-18th C songs on angelic and demonic topics. I absolutely love genuine medieval music, and it's so rare that I get a chance to hear it.

Saturday was the event. Relaxed, laid back, absolutely amazing lunch by Thomas Tanner, two fun tournaments to watch, lots of people at their very first event, and, of course, the joy of getting to hold court and reward such deserving people, both new and old friends. Many people were worried about the idea of us making three pelicans at one event, and to do it at an event so far away from the rest of the order. But what I saw instead was three pelicans who got to see their dearest friends recognized too, pelicans who were recognized in the comfort and pleasance of their own home, surrounded by their own people, forever knowing that these people witnessed this momentous occasion. This is the first time a peer was made in South Africa. It isn't the same for the stalwarts of your group to head up to the mainland of the kingdom and come back with this fancy, shiny recognition. What is it, really? And what is it like? Now, the entire group has seen first-hand what it is, they have heard the words of the other peers of this kingdom and beyond speaking of the worth of the candidates. Now that it's over, I'm convinced we did it the right way.

Unfortunately, I only got four pictures, all of them of Gwen in her adorable garb:



My mom made the purple overtunic for Gwen's birthday.

Things wrapped up by 16:30, then we had two hours downtime before a braai at Katherine and Thomas's, with the traditional Yule gift exchange. A most excellent event.

Cape Town Day 5: lazy day

Or morning, at least.

I'm really glad that I only made plans for the afternoon, because we've been all go go go and especially after the event and braai last night, not to mention not being able to roll over and beg Joel to get up with Gwen occasional mornings, I'm getting pretty exhausted. Of course, Gwen woke up at 6:20am (earlier in the trip she'd been doing 7:00-7:30 regularly!), but luckily let me lie in bed moaning about how tired I was for 20 minutes while she played in the bedroom, before I had to get up and feed her.

We spent a quiet morning at home, and it continues to be so much fun to watch her explore and discover all the fun things in this house. This morning I got a sign that we're soon in for lots more trouble: in the span of less than 10 minutes, she (a) figured out how to climb onto the little plastic kiddie chair, (b) pushed it across the room to where a tall light-fixture stood, (c) climbed up on the chair, and (d) grabbed for the top of the lamp. Clever, clever girl. You could just see the synapses firing and the neurons connecting as she pieced it all together.

I'd hoped to get a good nap out of her, and even though it was a bit of a struggle (the curtains in our room only block out some light, so she doesn't have her usual trigger of darkness = sleep, which has made naps at the house here difficult), she played in her crib for awhile and eventually drifted off early enough to get a 2+ hour nap in before Ameline and her mother-in-law, Mary, came to pick us up. I also got an hour's nap on the couch. Bliss. The four of us then went to one of the weekend craft markets, so I could do some Christmas shopping! We had lunch there; Gwen got a pancake blackcurrant jam:



Someone commented as Gwen ate it that she thought I'd cut it up before giving it to her, but my response was along the lines of "That's way too much work!". I don't keep a knife and fork on hand to do that. Besides, Gwen's got to learn how to do this someday, why not start practicing now?

Gwen sported her new pacifier:



which cause lots and lots of people to comment on it, to us and to each other. It's rather strange how having a baby turns you into public property, in a sense, especially when it is a cutely or unusually dressed baby. Also in the above picture, you can see Gwen's new buddy. There was a stand selling these handmade dolls, and I realized that I've been buying presents for nieces, nephews, cousins, babies of friends, etc., but nothing for Gwen, and I figured she needed a good keepsake from our trip. I showed her one, and she sort of looked at it, then I showed her this one, and she reached out her arms for it, and gave it this big hug when I gave it to her, so I knew I had the right one. :)

Afterwards we went to the Rhodes Memorial which has a little cafe behind it, where we had tea and scones. There was also a playground where Gwen got to play. But nearly as much fun as the playground, if not more, were the stairs coming down the memorial:



So much fun.

Unfortunately, the rest of the afternoon, once we got home, wasn't quite so nice. She had a screaming meltdown (only the 2nd or 3rd time this has ever happened) which, as they do, seemed to last interminably, before she finally chilled down enough for me to take her out of bed. We sat outside for a bit and had some juice, and she calmed down enough for me to keep her awake long enough to have dinner, a bath, and then go to bed around 6:45. This time she went to bed MUCH easier, and this also means that now it's only 8:30 and I can go to bed myself soon! Just need to scrounge a few more leftover mushroom pasties. :)