Scarcely had I finished writing the last post about how we left Chegutu and returned to Harare when we were presented with an excuse to head back to the parents’ house! I won’t go into the story, but we had all our devices stolen from our house (we slept through it). I start teaching an online course on Monday, so we have hastened to Chegutu where we can borrow laptops and be surrounded by a loving family in a safe place.

Chegutu is still the same paradise. The lawn is green thanks to tireless watering and we were welcomed by homemade lemon juice, tea, a roaring fire and a tasty meal. We’ve already been for a walk, played scrabble, had a round of garden golf and begun a potjie! And of course I’m excited to be back with my arachnid friends 🙂

Just wanted to share this small update. Thanks to everyone concerned for us – it’s been such a blessing seeing how everyone offered help and made our last few days so bright.
PS: Here are a few pics of our socially distant lunch with Scott and Clare, complete with a foraged salad from their wonderful garden. Hooray for friends like this 🙂

The world has been a little crazy lately! I’m sorry we didn’t keep up the posting, but in this post I’ll try to skim through the last three or four months as quickly as possible, then pretend we’ve caught up and share the happy news of the day.

In March a quick visit to the family turned into a looong stay, as the lockdown started just after we arrived at my parents house in Chegutu. We couldn’t have come up with a better plan if we tried. A little bubble of calm in the bush, isolated from the outside world, surrounded by loving family. I got really into spiders – check out my list: https://lockdownlist.wordpress.com/blog-2/. Work got really busy, and will continue to be busy until the end of August – I took on too much, and am really looking forward to some down time later in the year.

In due course we returned to our cosy little cottage, where we have remained. I did spend a week doing some research in the field in a remote area called Chivi. Seeing the lived reality of rural Zimbabweans, fighting for a life in the harsh dry landscape, living without so many of the conveniences we take for granted… it’s always shocking, saddening and somehow motivating – I really hope our little project helps lift even a few of these folks in some small way. I don’t want to try to describe Zim as a whole here, but the fact that I’m hearing ‘pakaipa’ (lit. ‘it is bad’) as a greeting and informal Zimbabwean motto gives you an idea.

So – there’s out catchup. Now on to the happy circumstances that reminded me that this blog existed! It’s a Sunday, and wow am I happy to have a break day. This week featured about 3x the hours logged in my work timer compared to last year’s average, and it was followed by me hosting a hackathon on Saturday. Waking up this morning with tea and a book in bed, watching our sermon from under our cosy blankets and wandering the garden with a podcast and my macro lens had me feeling suuuuper happy 🙂 And then: a new species of jumping spider! (New to me, and maybe to science). All that to set the scene – wondering how my day could get better, I remembered that 1) I hadn’t done any ‘making’ in a while and 2) Ellie had stalled on a big painting for lack of an easy way to hold the ‘canvas’ (aka a big hunk of plywood). In a delightful 2-for-1 deal I made a quick stand for the painting, and look how happy my beloved is 😀 😀 😀

It’s about time for another blog! We’re having a lovely lazy valentines at home, and I’ve run out of excuses to write up some recent activities 🙂 In no particular order:

Chegutu/Kadoma visit

Two weeks ago, we spent the weekend with my parents and brother in Chegutu. As with our visit earlier in the year, it was a lovely change of scenery and a luxury to spend time with those happy humans. But unlike the earlier trip, this one was almost busy!! We went birding at a nearby farm, visited a friends church, went round to the pastors house for a massive (seriously, massive, they’re used to 6 teenagers, I ate enough to feel sick) lunch and some amusing discussions. This is the family of our friend Elsa, who has moved back to Kadoma while looking for job options. It was lovely to catch up and meet her hospitable family 🙂

Home Improvement Projects

We’ve done a few home-improvement projects recently. Partly powered by my new, battery-powered jigsaw! It’s such fun 🙂 See Ellie’s cool stained paint board (I have a matching yellow tool rack) and the cool window seat Ellie made in the pics above!! Our art room is also nice and organised, and my 3D printer is set up and running (if there’s sunshine or electricity!). And I have a mostly complete fridge box, which was a fun group project with Simba and Masimba.

Lake Manyame trip

We spent a night with a friend in a cottage in Lake Manyame Recreational Park. It’s a small park, but has lovely woodland to explore and some fun birds for our year list. It was also great to somewhat spontaneously make plans and head off with Scott, who we haven’t seen in ages. The cottage was simple but sufficient, and at least one of us was excited by how many cool spiders it contained!!

That’s about it for now 🙂 Much love, J&E

Happy New Year! Can you believe that our first post was shared here back in 2018? Crazy 🙂
We’re back in Zim after a happy holiday, and this post will skim over the weeks since our last post. Here we go!

Christmas in Cape Town

After our hike, we stayed with family in Muizenberg over Christmas. Beach walks, Christmas cookies, visits with friends, good food, good family time, lots of rest!

Chegutu

We flew back to Zim on the 1st of Jan, and the next day traveled to Chegutu – a small town a few hours outside Harare where my folks have just moved. This is a big change for them, and it was great for us to see them in their new place and help set things up.

Chegutu is going to be an interesting place for them to live. The school is surrounded by bush, but that quickly gives way to the outskirts of Chegutu town. Electricity is tricky – the school turns on a generator at set times, and there is sometimes municipal power at night. But we helped set up solar, and the generator makes it possible to plan things like laundry and ironing.

Mom and Ellie have been busily sewing away, making curtains and mattress covers such. David braved the heat up in the ceiling to run wires while I hopped about on the roof pushing them through, so that we can use the solar panel to charge a battery and keep the WiFi on. Dad has been frantically getting into his new headmastership job as everyone gears up for the start of term. But mostly we’ve all been swimming – the pool next door is a life-saver in this heat 🙂

The areas is full of friendly people, but you can see that it’s a tough life here. Fields along the road sport drooping maize plants – the rain finally arrived this week, but it’s sporadic timing will mean bad harvests here (and in the rest of Zim). The town is full of hustle and bustle, as people try to make a living off whatever resources can be found. There is a ‘bendover’ market where second hand clothes can be found and haggled for, and a few shopping markets with the basics. But for anything fancy, I suspect my folks will end up heading into Harare to shop (and visit us!).

We visited a church on Sunday, increasing the size of the congregation substantially. I’m looking forward to seeing how my good parents integrate into the community here, and where the find places to serve.

Bugs and Such

Enough non-animal content. We’re on >100 birds already for the year, thanks to the surrounding forest. And I have a renewed interest in bugs! Here are some pictures to make you happy 🙂

Tomorrow we head back to our little cottage. And I should probably get back to work. So, for now, adieu 🙂

For years, I’ve been intending to do one of the multi-day hikes along the coast of South Africa. This year, plans finally came together thanks to our wonderful friend Claire, who organised for four of us to hike a part of the Tsitsikama trail – a gorgeous hike through the fynbos and afromontane forests of Knysna. Here’s how it went.

Preparations and Arrival

We had a day in Cape Town before embarking on our 7 hour road trip. This gave just enough time to complete several vital preparation steps: buying food, packing bags and, most important of all, picking the music for the drive. Claire did a stellar job at the latter, finding all the songs from our pasts that would maximize nostalgia and encourage sing-alongs.

After a smooth drive, we stopped by the reception to get our map and sign some indemnity forms, and then it was time for our first bit of hiking. It turns out that the first leg is easier than anticipated, with a choice of the 20 minute direct route or the slightly longer scenic route to the first hut we’d be staying in. We chose the scenic option, and were at our destination by 2pm. This worked out great – we’d had an hour of hiking to get used to our packs, and were left with some free time to explore our surroundings and swim in the lagoon 🙂

The huts are shared, and we had about 12 people total each night. Food was shared, marshmallows were toasted and copious amounts of tea/coffee were consumed thanks to Andumai’s nifty little gas stove. We turned in early (I don’t think we managed a late night the whole trip), looking forward to a full day 2.

Day 2 – the Long One

Day 2’s hike was 16km. It began with a steep ascent up to the top of a ridge, an early signal that this wouldn’t be as easy as the previous day’s stroll. But the effort was well worth it, as each step took us higher and revealed more and more stunning views of the sea and mountains around us.

The day stayed overcast, but we only got rained on as we neared our destination. It felt so good to breach the final hill, settle into the hut, change into warm clothes, loose the hiking shoes to free our aching feet, get a fire going and relax with some tea. As with the previous day, we had reached the hut with lots of time left in the day. Unlike the previous day, we mostly spent it napping and relaxing indoors since it was still grey and rainy, and we were pretty tired from a long trek 🙂

Day 3: The Return

The plan for day 3 was to hike the 7kms to a forest station where we’d meet a shuttle to take us back to the start and our parked car. To our delight, the entire hike was downhill along a shaded jeep track, and with our packs light and the favorable gradient we made excellent time, and could afford to chill and enjoy the forest whenever the mood took us, knowing this was our last chance to breathe in that rich sylvan air. I’ve been saying ‘forest’ like it was one thing, but this was no homogeneous woodland. In some places, creepers and thin trees crowded round and we waled through a tunnel of green. In others, the canopy would lift, giant Ironwoods pillars holding up the roof o a green cathedral, with the orange-red of the Cape Saffron trees colorful accents amid the browns and greys of the other trees. There were Eucalyptus stands, and Pine plantations, and fynbos mixed in the forest edges. Paradise, is what I’m getting at 🙂

So far, I’ve resisted talking about the birds. But there were birds!! And new ones for me, since this was a habitat I hadn’t explored before. Victorin’s Warblers called from the bushes (found them!) and Chorister Robin-Chats sang in the forest (didn’t find them). We got 15 new ones for the year list, 5 of which were lifers for me. But most exciting was… well, first some back-story. In 2014 began my search for this bird in earnest, looking desperately for it Mana Pools. I listened hopefully for it in the mountains of Makado. I heard it in the distance when hunting it in Hluhluwe-Impholozi park. I tracked its call to a birder with a cellphone in Unfurudzi Forest Area. Always it eluded me – the super-sneaky Narina Trogon.

Anyway, the Tsitsikama forest is known to be a good place to find them, but I had tried not to get my hopes too high for this trip. On day 2, I thought I heard one calling in the distance, too far away to find. Then, half-way through our hike on day 3, something (a bird of prey of some kind) flew into a tree near the road. As I searched for it, I noticed a silhouette in the middle of a bunch of leaves. There it was! A trogon, its camouflaged back to us, sitting there and pretending to be a bunch of foliage. Joyful celebration ensued 🙂

Day 3.2 – Santa?

Instead of driving all the way back to Cape Town, we (Claire) had come up with a brilliant idea – to stay one night in an AirBnB in Wilderness. Thence we headed by way of Spur, to relax into the comforts of civilization. It was nice, but the owner had something about Santa. And Monroe. And the colors red and white in general. See pictures for more.

Home

And that concludes our adventure. It was wonderful getting to spend so much time with some good friends, chatting or hiking in companionable silence, enjoying the wonders of creation together and taking some time out from the rest of the world. Now that we know what the trail holds, I suspect we’ll be back one day to explore it further. For now, it’s Christmas time at the Ker home, and we’ll be happily family-timing it for the rest of the year.

Thanks for coming along on our adventures! 2019 has been a blast 🙂 Love to you all, and see you in the new year!

Just a quick update to share some recent happenings.

We’ve had some happy activities on recently. Ellie has been making friends at an exercise class near us. We’ve walked around our neighborhood a little more, and are slowly figuring out what is nearby. We’ve had tennis and swimming and waffles and darts with friends. Carrot cake and birthday gatherings, banana bread and family dinners, Sunday lunches after church events. Lifegroups and coffee dates. In short, good food, friends, family, faith and feathered friends.

Did you notice the last thing I slipped into that list? We’ve had some exciting bird news recently. On Saturday, a pair of Spur-winged Lapwings were spotted by Lake Chivero. This is only the 7th record of them in Zimbabwe. We made plans with our friend Ken (pictured above) to head out on Tuesday in the hopes that they were still around.

After some winding dirt roads and a bit of a walk, we found the birds right where they were supposed to be! So very pleasing – God made it easy this time. After seeing some other cool birds, we drove back to Harare and spread the news. Later in the day came a suprise: the birds had chicks! It explained why the one on the other side of the river was rather stationary 🙂 this is an amazing record – they were only breeding as far south as Tanzania until a few years ago, when some moved into a Zambian swamp. So lucky to have seen them here so close to home.

Anyway, that’s all the news for now. Much love, J+E

The year is leaping by! And we continue to feel so blessed despite the troubles here. This last week saw the first rain arrive in Harare, and with it a little relief from the heat and a little hope for the nation’s farmers.

For us personally, the rain had a few extra benefits. The joy of the first thunderstorm. A good test of our cottage’s waterproofing. Some extra moisture for my beans. And some new birds! Jaap has a list of over 120 species that have been seen in the garden over the years, and it hasn’t been added to at all in the past year. And then, post storm, four new records! Especially fun was the Red-capped Robin-Chat (pictured above) who must have been blown all the way from the Eastern Highlands!

We’ve had some good friend time recently, building deeper relationships and slowly going through our friend list and making sure to see them individually rather than just in group settings. We’ve also broken in our house with a big Thursday dinner, various teas and a carpentry evening + dinner with our erstwhile neighbor Scott.

We’re beginning to understand our new neighborhood. We have a new food market to go to, new shops, a different location for Ellie’s exercise classes. As for our more immediate neighbors, I’m slowly learning their names. Some of them pictured here:

Despite appearances, we do also work 🙂 Happily, it doesn’t stop us seeing family, painting with Karen, meeting friends, chasing birds or photographing bugs. So, as you can see, the title of the blog tells the story. Life continues swell.

The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.… Psalm 24:1-2

Life continues wonderful 🙂 Jacaranda season is still in full swing, so even walks down to the shops involve treading a glorious purple carpet. The picture above is of a favorite route: from Clare’s house to the Bottanical Gardens, back via a food market filled with tasty goodies. We did said walk again this morning with Alex and Scott, with the stated aim of finding a White-Throated Robin-Chat for Alex. We found it as we arrived, and were treated to lots of other lovely feathered friends to boot.

For a friends birthday, we carpooled out to Domboshawa – a rock ‘gomo’ on the outskirts of Harare that is a popular sundown spot. Unlike many groups on the mountain, we packed more tea than alcohol 🙂 Lovely views, happy people, a friendly dog and a glorious sunset made for an excellent evening.

Now, about the title of this post! We have found a place to stay – a cottage on Sally (aunt) and Jaap (uncle)’s property in Chisipete. It’s a slightly different area, and will mean a 10km commute to church and friends, but has it’s own shops and things close by. The cottage is so happy (you’ll see more of it soon!) and it’s going to be so lovely being near family. We move in on Thursday, and you have no idea how excited Ellie and I are to finally be establishing a more permanent home!

Aside from the normal nesting plans (cooking things, what to paint on the walls, furniture, books etc) there are some extra arrangements to be made. As two people who work online, internet is a must – not so easy when their power is only on from 10pm-4am! So I’ve been busy making plans for solar and cobbling together a system to last us until I get paid and can buy batteries and panels proper. I present my electronic masterpiece:

We tested the system this week when our power went out, and it gave us a good few hours of connectivity. At least as an interim measure, this should treat us well. I think it’ll actually be good for us – a time limit on computer use means we’ll do more of the good non-screen things. For example, I’m going to be a farmer! Like good old HDT I have my bean-rows planned and am already dreaming of jars of smooth, speckled beans gracing our pantry shelves 🙂

Alongside the main house and our cottage, our new home features some indigenous woodland, a rondavel known as Oliva (Outdoor LIVing Area) and a wonderful music studio with a pair of grand pianos where various musicians come to practice or perform. There are a few other dwellings full of friendly people and a flock of guinea fowls that get on everyone’s nerves. There’s a veggie plot and some space where we’ll grow maize etc, and a stand of bamboo that I’ve got my eye on for bean trellises. In short, it looks like paradise and we can’t wait to find our place in it.

And now, some creatures for you. I’ll ask Ellie to add pictures of our actual friends in a post soon 🙂

PPS: Been thinking about restoration of nature a lot (working on projects around reforestation and agriculture). As I met with someone that I’m hoping to collaborate with, they brought up Romans 8:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Romans 8:18‭-‬23 NIV

Besides Potjie contests and procrastinating blogging, what else have we been up to? I’ll let my phone gallery tell the tales.

Last weekend, the family was invited to participate in a Potjie competition in Chegutu. For the unaware, this is the town where my parents will be moving at the end of the year! A chance to meet some of the community, make some friends…. And of course, and opportunity to show them who makes the best potjie around!

The competition was held in a lovely farm garden. We arrived early (this is serious business after all), after a long drive. But what’s this? We weren’t the first! One team had been there since 7:30! An indication that this was going to be a tough contest.

As more teams arrived, our suspicious were confirmed. My dad hadn’t over-prepared. In fact, he was probably only halfway up the over-the-topness scale! Fortunately, with the judging at 3pm, there was plenty of time to scope out and intimidate the competition 🙂

Besides meeting the friendly locals, we got to enjoy some of the local birdlife from the comfort of our chairs. Orioles, bushshrikes, robin-chats, brownbuls….

We ended up being beaten by the earlybirds, but much tasty potjie was had by all, and I suspect that my parents will have a happy place to live if the day was any indication. And we’ll get to visit them – a cheerful prospect indeed. And who knows? Maybe next year we’ll win the coveted ‘Potjie Champion’ aprons 😉