Monday, December 8, 2008

As planned today we did very little to nothing. After all the craziness of the past few days, today we decided to just relax and enjoy something we rarely get to do—nothing.

Of course, I wake up at 7:30a. I can’t sleep in even when I’m on the other side of the planet in a different time zone! So I get up, pad around, eat a little, read. A couple of hours later the maid comes down from upstairs to ask if we need anything. She’s very sweet. We don’t really need much, but she brings me a portable fan (it’s been bloody hot the past couple of nights). Liza is woken by the talking. About half an hour later, Roger is also.

I know Gareth is coming over at some point, but we’re not sure when. When he does arrive, Liza is instantly in tune with his energy. Gareth goes almost non-stop and Liza is very similar. They’re bound by this, their silly humor and love of food. Roger and I are adamant that we’re going to stay in and relax today.

We all agree to have brekkie (breakfast) and drive down to the strip. We walk along the sidewalk and pick for breakfast the same restaurant where we ate after the Lion’s Head climb. They recognize us. Unfortunately it’s past breakfast time and being a Monday, they’re not serving brunch. I get a chicken and lime mayo sandwich and a lite mocha frappe. Afterward we walk back and grab some frozen yogurt while Gareth hits the Pick and Pay to shop for the dinner he’s going to cook us tonight. It’s hot out and on the way back to the car I tell everyone that this is why some people say in very hot weather, “Man, it’s Africa hot today!”

Back at home I decide to read and end up falling asleep. Roger is blogging. Mid-nap Liza wakes me to say she and Gareth are going shopping. They’re gone for a few hours and Roger and I check email and other computer things the whole time.

Gareth has invited his cousin, also named Liza, for dinner. Cousin Liza and Gareth make dinner. They make a yummy salad with avocado, a smoked trout, cottage cheese, capers and rocket appetizer (YUM!), and a spaghetti Bolognese. It’s all very yummy. We eat on the patio overlooking they bay.

Today the weather is odd. It is smoggy or foggy or something all day. Later in the day we smell smoke and apparently there is a fire somewhere. As it gets near 4p the wind picks up and by dinnertime it is strong gusts that are making very loud noises outside and through the house.

So now I’m blogging in my room. I need the quiet and lack of distraction in order to write. Liza and Roger tend to do it together, but don’t get very far. They are still playing catch up on their blogs. Gareth, who is staying with us tonight and maybe for the rest of his time in Cape Town, is probably watching TV.

Our issue right now is that there are a lot of things we want to do and not enough days in which to do them. We’ve had so much input regarding what we should do or not do, when we should do it, how much we can do in a day, what things we can do together, that we’ve basically ended up almost paralyzed in our plans. If it’s not windy in the morning, I think we’re going to take the cable car up the Table Mountains, then I don’t know what else we’ll do. Whatever it is, it’ll require us to get up early and it’s 11:10p right now. I’m off to bed. G’night.