Better Day

Yesterday I headed back out to Imire for fieldwork with the local university. I found it stimulating to be with other academics and we had a successful day of fieldwork remote sensing the extent of lantana invasion in the bush. On the drive out we had interesting conversations about everything from the stranded Zimbabwean MPs who went shopping in China to who is the real Baba Jukwa and the water crisis in Harare. I thrive on that and it was good to get the support of other intellectual institutes for my work.

The countryside was looking lovely, on the road out there were lots of erythrina or lucky bean trees in scarlet bloom against the deep ochre of the winter dry grasses. The bauhinia orchid like trees were also in full bloom. The vistas out at Imire were also stunning with the blue Wedza Mountains in the backdrop. I enjoyed being outdoors and out of the office.

When I got back into town I visited a friend with two small children who is a writer in her own right. We chatted about writing and the new fad of dystopia in fiction. I miss the creative arts group she runs that meets in the week but looking forward to a photography weekend coming up soon. As you may have seen I've got back into writing again and enjoying poetry at the moment.

After watching the Germany/France World Cup game I went out with friends to a rather Rhodie establishment, 167 where they were celebrating the American 4th of July. The live band playing was really good and enjoyed watching others play pool and the Columbia/Brazil match. From there we went on to Tristan's which is a bit more cosmopolitan and saw some other friends.

Slept in late this morning and am now enjoying sitting in my pajamas watching the BBC series Miranda on tv. Although I enjoy busy weekends it is nice to chill at times. This evening supposed to be watching Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet with friends but forgot there is also football. Will see which wins. There is a house party after, will see what time the other ends. As an aside on the topic of football, I've been pondering why in life there have to be winners and losers and why we promote this. Just a thought from my musings.

There is a ladies' retreat at the end of July out at Tree of Life that I would like to go to and I might take up an art class on Tuesday evenings with a friend.

 

Social Life in Harare

This past weekend turned out being a highly social one with a number of engagements at different places. I ended my week at a BirdLife Zimbabwe meeting discussing plans for water bird counts around the country for Wetlands International. My new job will involve trying to conduct one of these out in Wedza. The chairman leading the meeting had a pedantic British accent and to stress how something had been last minute used the interesting expression of "like a murder in a television drama" or something to that effect.

After BirdLife, I joined my Mum at the International School TGIF social in a lovely garden belonging to one of the staff at H.I.S.. I loved the interesting collection of textured foliage in the garden and saw vulturine guinea fowl for the first time ever. From the social I then dropped my Mum at home and proceeded to meet up with friends at the usually popular wine bar, Blue@2 in Avondale. We seemed to have picked the wrong evening though as it was surprisingly quiet. We opted to go to the Reps Theatre Members Pub where one of my friend's boyfriend, Kevin Hanson, a well known local thespian was singing and playing sax. My one friend has never met him and as prank she decided to go up to him and pretend to be an ardent admirer who disconcertingly knew that he loved Winnie the Pooh, that he lived in Monavale and that she was his biggest fan. He managed to handle it well but admitted it did unnerve him. It was very funny to watch. As punishment we were all coerced into joining in the karaoke much to my horror.

On Saturday I met up with friends who are teachers and were on half term break for coffee at The Cottage. I love the landscaping of the gardens there and it has a quaint rustic feel which adds to the charm. After coffee I then had lunch with Polish friends and we watched the Polish speed skating teams compete in the Sochi Olympics. I then went on to a braai or barbecue at my friend Lucy's. She and her parents had decked the garden out with an eclectic assortment of lamps and candles which made for a very romantic atmosphere around the bonfire which we braaied on.


On Sunday we had baptisms at the Base Church followed by a family fun day. I spent time with the Smith Family whose daughter Amy has just come back after a second round of major surgery to straighten her spine. See Amy's page on http://amysmithtrust.org/ Amy is my hero and is one of the bravest people I know, even though she's only ten.

In the evening I had a meeting to discuss the Harare wetland cause and then went to go watch the closing of the Sochi Olympics with a friend.

Next weekend will be busy too, with the launch of the new BirdLife Zimbabwe website ( see http://www.birdlifezimbabwe.org/), a farewell party for one of the US marines, a book illusrating course in Glen Lorne and then a tea party. I do well when I'm out and about though.