Wedding Day, 20 Dec: the Bride is ready!

...And she is beautiful!



Instead of a veil, Rachel wore this headband and flower-hair piece - Theo's creation, which turned out so lovely and perfect with Rachel's short hair.

Okay, okay, this isn't a bride photo - it's me and Ellie. But it's such a nice photo of our dresses and the flowers (and the crazy earrings from Rachel!) that I couldn't resist.

Wedding Day, 20 Dec: preparations

Early afternoon on Saturday we gathered together in the Blacknall church parlor (and women's bathroom) to dress and get ready for the wedding ceremony. Though there were 4 bridesmaids and 1 bride, there were also about 8-10 other women (and 2 children: Lillian and Phillip) in the parlour helping to get ready! It was a bit of a madhouse at times. "Where's Mom?" and "I'm hungry...is there any food around?" and "Oh man this ribbon is hard to put on." and "Rachel, you look beautiful!" were frequent comments. From my side, it was a strange feeling to see my sister preparing for her wedding day in the same room of the same church as I and Katie had both done 7 1/2 years before.

Below is Mindy, Rachel's friend from Appalachian State U days, who was an amazing lifesaver on the "day of" - among other things, she did Rachel's make-up.



Rachel with Theo Roddy, who made the bouquets and Rachel's headpiece. SO lovely.

Ellie (and Monica reaching in from behind) helped Katie fix her hair.

Okay, Rachel, are you almost ready?!

Rehearsal Dinner, 19 Dec

Rachel and Craig held the rehearsal dinner at the Blacknall Church fellowship hall, and a big crowd of family and friends (100+) joined for a Hog Heaven dinner, the Newlywed game (the soon-to-be against their parents), remarks by bridal party and lots of talking and hugging.

The 19th was also Dad and Mom's 38th anniversary!


Hannah noted that Phillip very eagerly ate the hush puppies and seemed to demonstrate his southern roots in doing so. Not sure how he felt about the North Carolina barbeque (pulled pork) with cole slaw.

Hannah and Miner cousin Ruth with her 1st son John Thomas. Second son William is in the car seat in the background.

Jul with Ellie and Karen Friesen nee Mulle. We've grown up together (though at different phases of life) and it was like being with 2 more sisters again. Ellie is a sophomore at Wake Forest and Karen, now married to John, lives in Winnipeg.

Kate and I both shared a few memories about Rachel. Hey Craig, watch out, you're the youngest in the family now!

Hawkins Christmas Morning

A few photos from Christmas morning - at the Lake Gaston lakehouse we rented. We ate cinnamon rolls, sausage and coffee for breakfast, then opened stockings and a few presents, plus of course the new tradition of Rita's Gift Basket, which we do "raffle style" or "white elephant style" by picking numbers then selecting the gift out of the basket in turn.

Hannah carefully put up all the stockings on the railing and Rita took our photo (Katie, Kyle and Lillian were absent from the photo, and I'm holding Jack). Nice one, Matt. Is that a peace sign?

Cinnamon Rolls for Christmas

Since the Hawkins family is all together this week (in celebration of Rachel and Craig's wedding on Saturday) we decided to have Christmas Day together on Monday. In proper tradition, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, followed by stockings and some presents.

Jim and I were assigned to "potato dough cinnamon roll" duty - the famous Edna Ruth Byler recipe from More with Less that we do every year. (Okay so we begged Mom to let us do the honors and make them.) We made a batch of 100 and shared it with Mom; we did 36 cinnamon rolls and she did about 75 dinner rolls. For 13 adults and 3 children under age 3, we had plenty!






*More family reunion and wedding photos to come soon!

Back in Wheaton (and the snow)!!

Departed Cape Town on Monday evening and arrived Wheaton on Tuesday afternoon, 20,000 miles later (or something ridiculous) - yes, there's snow here!! And yes, it's cold!! We definitely had forgotten what this felt like.

So to reacclimate, Wednesday morning Jim shovelled the front walkway and we went for a walk around the neighborhood, Wheaton campus, and "downtown" Wheaton. Crossing streets and intersections, we had to hang on to each other and remind each other which way to look before crossing - right? left? where are the cars coming from?!



Below: So many Starbucks in this country! Here's the one in downtown Wheaton, a 10-minute walk away - amazingly strong coffee aroma in the air as we walked by. No we did not go in.



Below: Blanchard Hall, the original main building of Wheaton College. We stood on the lawn in front and threw a few snowballs around. Seemed a bit strange to see students still on campus (since UCT has been finished for a month) - but of course there are still 1 1/2 weeks of the semester left here.

So far we've had two nights of good sleep - no waking up at 2 am, although the first morning I woke up and thought, "Where am I? ... Oh, right!" I think we're slowly starting to get into it now...Mom G's cooking helps. Wow what a good meal we had last night.

Hair Cut

Yesterday after work (walking home as usual) I stopped at the hairdresser to get a much-needed haircut. I've been wanting to do this for a couple of weeks in anticipation of our Christmas trip and Rachel's wedding.

I went to "Step Ahead" first because I'd heard they have a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" deal going. Not sure how that could work but it does sound like a deal. Unfortunately I found out the deal is no longer going and since I don't qualify for a student discount ("But my husband's a student! And we're on a student budget!" to which to receptionist replied with a blank stare) I didn't have enough cash on me to pay their price, so I walked over instead to "No Name Hair Salon", which is where I went the last time. It does have a name but I don't recall it at the moment.

This little salon is squeezed between a frozen yogurt shop and an Indian takeaway restaurant, next to the Woolworth's grocery store (also on my way home). There are 2 employees - one is the woman who washed my hair and one is the woman who cut my hair. On the walls of the salon are several posters of modern haircuts and several 30-years+ large framed prints of children playing.

The woman washing my hair was particularly chatty that afternoon, especially when she discovered that I am American. Then she proceeded to talk enthusiastically about Obama. "Yes we all have high hopes for him. With the economy this way we hope he can fix it and help the world. That will be a challenge." Meanwhile I scrunched in my chair trying to tilt my neck better into the wash basin without getting the typical muscle cramps. Partway through the process she called out to a departing customer and they bantered back and forth in Afrikaans for a few minutes. The smell of my shampoo mingled with the incense stick burning on the receptionist desk.

When she finished I switched chairs for my cut. This woman was more brisk with me, confident and comfortable with scissors. Maybe too comfortable. I said I like my hair long but want some more layers - just a trim please, my sister's wedding is in two weeks. She nodded and started cutting. Within 15 minutes she was finished and had cut off between 2 - 4 inches (in places). "What do you think? See the layers?" she queried. "Oh, yes. Well." I replied. There are definitely layers but where did all my long hair go?

I thanked her and paid my 65 Rand (currently equal to $6), and walked out into the sunshine and wind. I walked home briskly and as soon as I came inside, I went to the mirror. Okay, this is it. Hope Rachel likes it!

*Sorry no photo on this one. I'm not quite "into" the haircut yet. And let's be honest, who takes a camera along to the hairdresser?

Normal Days

In case you think all we do here in Cape Town is drink wine, lounge on the beach, go for scenic drives and eat lots of good food...

...that's not entirely true!! Of course it's the beautiful or interesting photos that make it into blog posts. So here are some recent normal day activities that didn't get photographed and didn't 'earn' posts:

• Laundry on Mondays. We don't have a washer or dryer (most people here don't have dryers anyway) though our friends Mawethu and Lisa do have one that they graciously share with us and two other tenants in their building. At least one morning per week Jim goes to their flat for a few hours to do laundry (since Jul's at work) and then takes it home and hangs it on the clothesline at our building. We are very thankful for sunny weather now and clothes that actually dry!
• My recovery of back troubles means I try to do 2-3 walks per day (20-40 min each) plus all my ab exercises twice a day. Slow slowly strengthening. Usually Jim and I go for an early evening walk together around our neighborhood, admiring gardens as we can over the high walls and gates that every home has.
• Cooking together. As Jim has gotten more interested in cooking and baking (and as he has more free time these days) we often read & talk through recipes and prepare dinner together. And then Jim washes all the dishes! As usual with great efficiency and a flourish!
• Kirstenbosch Gardens picnics. We recently purchased an annual membership (thanks to a tourist's tip from my work) to these gardens and have been going 1-2 times/week - enjoying it before we fly back to the US winter! One afternoon last week we took fruit and water and laid in the sun. We listened to birds and watched barefoot kids running around on the grass. The week before we took pasta salad and a thermos ("flask") of tea and had an evening picnic. Gorgeous, quiet gardens overlooking the surrounding area and suburbs.

By the way, I've always hated the word "blog". How about "G-log" instead? Or just "glog" for short?

2 Way Travel - 2008 celebration lunch

Jul with 2 Way colleagues Mike and Heather. To celebrate the end of 2008 (and two long days of 'strategy sessions for 2009') we went out to Stellenbosch Winelands area for lunch and a wine & chocolate tasting. And Jim got to come along too! He's taking the photo.

That's Table Mountain in the distance. The "Winelands" are 30-45 min from the city. It's spring now so the vines are growing quickly and just beginning to show fruit.

Entrance to the farm where we did a tasting.

Fairview Winery and Cheesery (the Goatshed)

I'm not even sure if 'cheesery' is a real word, but... yes, those are goats. Living in a tower. And the farmers make Really Good cheese from their milk. Oh and they also make wine at this estate. The label is "Goats do Roam."

So along with Mawethu and Lisa, we spent a relaxing Saturday morning at the farm's cafe, drinking coffee, sampling cheese, and - even, wait for it - eating fresh bagels. This has got to be one of the few places on the continent that makes bagels (and cheese). And this now has got to be one of our new favorite spots. After brunch we went into the shop/tasting center, and there was literally a hoard of German tourists racing around sampling cheese and wine and loading up their shopping baskets. This winery is one of the Cape Winelands top attractions for tourists (for those of you not into 'chevin', they also do cow's milk cheese here).

Here's three of us in front of Fairview's famous Goatshed (tower) - our wonderful neighbors (down the block) Mawethu and Lisa! Wait, make that four of us - that's baby number 1 on the way for the Ncaca family.

This has NOT been staged.Those goats really DO live in that tower. Oh but to be honest, we did pose for the photo.

Welcome to Jack Robert!

As of Thursday morning 6 November - welcome to the newest member of the family:

JACK ROBERT WELTY

Way to go Mom (my older sister Katie) and Dad (brother in-law Kyle) and new big sister Lillian!

We sure are looking forward to meeting you at Christmas, Jack! Texas really feels SO FAR away from Cape Town right now.

p.s. thanks for the photos I stole off your blog, Kyle.

2 Way Travel - afternoon tour

Last week 2 Way Travel (yes that's where I - Jul - work) took a group of 60 interntional engineers on an afternoon 'tour' of five sites that we have a volunteering relationship with. The big group split up into five smaller groups and spent the afternoon at one of the five sites. (I had to stay and 'man' the office.)

Jim went along as the 2 Way guide to Izandla zeThemba, an organization in Gugulethu (one of the largest townships here) that offers counselling and services to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. They also make beads and jewellery to raise funds. Below is Thandeka, the coordinator, giving an introduction to the group. (Sorry Jim is behind the camera in all these photos.)

After the time at the site, the group had snacks of "amagwinya" (fried bread - SO good) and spent time talking with some of the full-time volunteers a zeThemba.

Kalk Bay scenes

One of our favorite bookshops (below)... and some other street scenes. Oops didn't look to the left and take any photos of the ocean and harbour!! (But we've posted those before)

A year ago this lot was empty, but now this cute 'girly' shop, "Anthology", has been built.

Lots of fun antique stores in this town. Hey, anybody need a big cast-iron pan?

Former church now converted to a theatre, where apparently "Theatre Sports" is a regular show. (I think it's an improv show.)