KwaZulu Natal
Weekly photo challenge: Scale
Weekly photo challenge: Descent
Weekly photo challenge: Dreamy
Hashtagging happiness
So there I was, bouncing around like a buoy, gasping and spluttering, my backside finding every sharp edge of the jagged rocks as the ferocious undercurrent threw me around and all I could think was that this could really ruin my great run of #100happydays
In case you don’t know, 100happydays is a 100 day challenge to look for something in each day that makes you happy, take a photo of it and post it on Twitter (my personal choice), Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr or even here on your blog. Check it out here and give it a try. Remember to include #100happydays in each post.
Anyway, back to my story … as I inhaled another litre of salty sea water through my nostrils, wondering if there was anything left of the bottom of my swimsuit that was being fiercely grazed on the rocks, a giant of a man yanked me up by my arm, pinching that soft skin on the underneath and muttered “Hey wena …”and some other stuff I didn’t understand and probably wouldn’t want to either, and then he was gone.
I wish I’d got his picture for a happydays post, before he disappeared, for if not for him, I’d be around 86 short.
Here are a few of my first 14 days of hashtagging happiness.
Visiting the butterfly farm at MacBanana
Holidays in KZN mean I get to spend time with cousins, aunties and uncles. A lot of visiting, eating, drinking and being merry.
Fun time at Ushaka with great friends.
Leaving work for the last time for two weeks – vacation time!
Beating Joburg traffic blues with the Gautrain
A early but slow start to Sunday 12 January, watching BBC Click in my pyjamas while drinking coffee
Zoo Lake on Saturday morning
On 10 January, the first of my 100 days of happiness, the moon was high in the sky over the city on a still, warm, summer night.
She sells sea shells … and a whole lot of other stuff too
Everywhere you go on the coast someone is making or selling something in order to make a living. Early every morning you can see men and woman carrying heavy loads of wares to sell down at the beach and lugging it all up steep hills at the end of the day.
This post is a tribute to all of these people who think creatively and work so hard trying to put food on the tables of their families.
A woman selling wares at Uvongo Beach
A curio made from wire and sea beads by a Zimbabwean man at Margate beach front
Women selling bananas and avocados at Margate
A man makes fun and interesting sand art hoping for small donations
Almost life size sand art
Vaalies go home
Gauteng holiday makers are, not so affectionately, known at the coast as Vaalies (from the name of the inland province previously known as Transvaal).
You know when a Vaalie’s holiday is nearing its end when you see them filling up bottles with sea water for their domestic workers back home. The water is consumed unfiltered in the belief that it cleanses the system.
The day before we left for the coast, Dora placed two empty 2 litre cold drink bottles by my half packed luggage as a reminder to bring her sea water back. So, on the last day of our holiday, I dutifully trotted off down to the beach to fill up. With my head down and skirt flapping in the ferocious wind, exposing my (fortunately well covered by a swimsuit) bottom, I completed my task in a very un-lady like fashion. I noticed that the water was remarkably clear so, worried that Dora might suspect I cheated and filled the bottles with tap water and a little salt, I threw in a handful of sea sand for good measure.
Baptism by the sea
Earlier, I was sitting out on the balcony enjoying the cool evening breeze, when I heard beautiful, harmonious choral sounds coming from below. A small group of worshippers had gathered for a baptism in the tidal pool. We got to enjoy their singing throughout the ceremony, until the sun went down.
Far from the madding crowd(s)
Thick, threatening clouds are rolling in from the east as I sit overlooking the Indian Ocean on Kwazulu Natal’s south coast. Except for the wind, the weather has been spectacular since we arrived here on Monday.
It has taken me a while to wind down and get my mind out of that crazy Jo’burg-on-the-go mentality but I’m getting there.
The days have been filled with exploring the area, cooling down in the tidal pool and taking walks on the beach and to the lagoon. I’m even finding time to catch up on my favourite blogs!
At night the restless sea tumbling onto the shore below my window puts me to sleep.
Weekly Photo Challenge : Purple
Jacquie, Just Doing Life 