On the benefits of window screens

We've decided we like February without snow!

Here are some of the things we've been busy doing (that we remembered to photograph!)

John went to baraza leader training with the International Round Square team from his school.  He is going to be playing host and mentoring groups of younger students from other countries this year.

Kate is still riding at Chartwell and she loves to jump Jupita!

Michele now works with 20 fourth graders every Tuesday at Diepsloot to strengthen their English skills.  Here the children are checking out their first library book ever!

Jeff had a throat scope and was a very good patient.  Didn't even have to wear a gown!

In his free time, John still likes to prepare gourmet meals for us.  This was some amazing salmon!

Kate had sports day at her school today (which basically involves lots of running).  She won 1st place  for girls in her age bracket.  Go Kate!  Michele spent most of the day selling boerevors (she is the new PTA leader).

Jeff has traveled most of the month:  Angola and Nigeria and back to Angola.  This is a familiar early-morning scene:  Jeff heading out to the airport with Dooley (who is a professional driver and good friend to our family!)

The lobby at Jeff's accomodation in Luanda

We were able to celebrate Valentines on February 15th at Michele's favorite restaurant:  La Cucina di Ciro.  18 Happy Valentines and counting!!

Fun with animals, part 1!  The electricity was out a few weekends ago.  Jeff wasn't home.  Michele and the kids had a slumber party upstairs in Mom & Dad's room.  We kept all the windows wide open because it was HOT.  Well, around 3am, Michele woke up to see a stray cat right in her face!  Her scream woke up the kids and they found a flashlight and helped the cat find its way back out the window.  Needless to say, the windows were shut after that.

We celebrated Susan's 42nd birthday yesterday.

And Jenny's ??nd birthday a few weeks ago!  (with Joy, Ross, and Kate)

Today is CANSA's Cancer Awareness Day and lots of people are shaving heads at shopping malls to show solidarity with people fighting cancer.  If you're not inclined to shave your head, you can get your hair spray-painted instead, as John did.
 

And it's been awhile, so we thought it might be time for another car accident.  Can you believe that they have all occurred when Michele's been driving Jeff's company car (which is a rare event) and they have always been the other party's fault?  Accident 1 was recorded on this blog and occurred one of the first times Michele drove in Joburg.  Accident 2 occurred in a parking lot when Michele wasn't anywhere near the car:  the shopping center owner rounded a corner too tight and was honest enough to find Michele and tell what happened.  And this month's Accident 3 happened when Michele was taking kids to swim squad one Saturday morning.  She stopped with the rest of the traffic at a light but the driver of the new bakkie behind her (who was talking on a cell phone, shame) didn't.  His entire front end was ruined, leaking and steaming.  Undriveable.  

So there we stood (kids in swimming costumes) in the middle of busy Witkoppen Road surrounded by zooming cars, 3 tow truck drivers (who are called "vultures" here for a reason), road bikers who were swearing and threatening physical violence to the vultures for almost killing them in their haste to be first to the accident, and various "security" people who stopped to make sure we were okay.

It was then our third trip to the police station to file an accident report and Michele was ready with the response to the first question out of the officer's mouth:  "Yes!  I have my own black pen."
For those of you who enjoy Jeff's puns, he declared that it seems "Michele has had a crash course in dealing with the SAPS (SA Police Service)!"

Thank goodness for reinforced spare tyre cases!

  We have noticed as we're driving around that MOST cars have dings and dents from the wear and tear of Joburg traffic.  ...That's Africa, Baby!

 Fun with animals, part 2!  We were visiting with a friend in our foyer when we kept hearing a loud "whooshing" sound coming from the family room.  Jeff decided to check it out and found a pigeon furiously trying to get out.  Must've flown in a window in the hallway.  It took a few tries, but eventually Jeff was able to get the petrified pigeon out the sliding doors.  Then he gallantly cleaned up all the droppings the bird left for us on the furniture!  (Yuck).

But that's not all!  This is Swagger (pronounced "Swagga" in Kate's cute SA accent), a lovely cat (not the one mentioned above!) that has taken up residence in our back garden.  (...We were wondering where all the birds have gone...).   Kate hoped to keep Swagger forever and he seemed happy with the arrangement too - especially after she fed him.  Michele and Jeff were a bit surprised when he bopped up to their room one evening about 10:30pm with a look on his face like "I'm here, guys!  Aren't you happy to see me?"   It turns out that he had climbed in an open window.  (Yes.  At this point, we decided we do miss window screens).  After we sent Swagger outside, he started meowing mournfully outside the patio door, so we figured it was time to call his owner.  She responded, "That cat has given me so much trouble since he was fixed.  I haven't seen him for 4 weeks."  No wonder the poor thing was looking for a new home!   He really enjoyed sleeping on the patio chair below at night and watching Kate do her homework at the patio table during the day.  We haven't seen him for a few days and are pretty sure he's been reclaimed by his owner.  But we won't be surprised if we find Kate on the patio in the middle of the night with a bowl of warm milk, waiting.