How beautiful it is to be a baby in South Africa. How I wish I had known how to be a mother like the mothers here. But I didn’t know.

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Hi, Lauren. Here are some seashells from the Indian Ocean I’m sending you. All of the following are from just one day’s catch!

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I have heard of people born, not for themselves, but for others, and Heaven Admin is one of them. He is like a science fiction hero who is unlike the others in his society. The people in his so society have to go to the gas station for fuel and get energy pumped in.  This super hero, however, gets fueled up by giving his energy to the pump.

First of all, who else in the world (more…)

I just love it when I can hang out clothes.

Here at the house at the beach there is a wonderful stone sink outside, and part of it is ribbed so that you can rub clothes on the ribbed part. It’s a marvelous invention because it gets stains out like you wouldn’t believe. Works far better than stain remover. Washing clothes in this stone sink is  like the old days when you would go to the river to wash clothes, (more…)

Of course, I have great empathy for the moneys here who live on their own. They don’t understand stealing. They are simply looking for food to eat, and they have to live by their wits.

Nevertheless, the  monkeys here in Palm Beach, South Africa, (more…)

Molly is so beautiful and has such a bright smile. What a lady! Just so you know, Molly is Uncle Arnand’s sister,  Prema’s daughter, and Santhan’s aunt.

Molly is beautiful, and her home is beautiful! You’ll see more shots of her condo as we go along.

Here is Mary. She is married to Johnson, Santhan’s other uncle.  So she is Santhan’s aunt too.

And here is Prema, Santhan’s grandmother, whom you will remember. Prema is very at home in the kitchen:

And here is a photo of Prema and me together:

And here are Molly and me together,  and take a good look at Molly’s kitchen:

Here is Mary’s daughter, me, and Mary:

Below: Left to right, Siva, Molly’s husband; Johnson, Santhan’s uncle, brother to Arnand; Daryl, Santhan’s younger brother; and Arnand who has been featured a lot in other blog entries! Sorry about the photo quality. Next time I will know how to  get a clearer shot.

Here are Trevin and Larissa. You met Larissa in Johannesburg. Trevin is Larissa’s fourteen-year old brother! He is so tall and wonderful. They are two of Uncle Arnand’s children.

Now you’ll see more pics of Molly and Siva’s condo:

Now, here is an unexpected bonus!

If you’ve been with Heavenletters™ for four years, you may remember a lovely lady who was my assistant all the way from South Africa. Now I’m in South Africa!!!  This is Nomvula (Denise) and her darling daughter Kaia. Who knew we would ever meet! Denise now performs as a Bollywood dancer! Life never ceases to amaze me. So happy to have met you, Denise, and Kaia.

How lovely Santhan’s family and friends are. So wonderful, welcoming, and gracious.

The sun on the Indian Ocean is so bright I cannot look at it. Waters would wash up in my heart and I could never get back to shore.

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I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

John Masefield, © 1901, All rights reserved.

Before we left Durban for the South Coast, Heaven Admin took me to the Indian Ocean in Durban, South Africa, and we walked barefoot in the sand. (more…)

A blog special. Warning: Read with caution:

For three weeks I have had a terrible cough. A wracking debilitating cough. I was a walking cough. I was nothing but a cough. I was a human cough. My identity was cough.

Despite the beauty of my arrival in South Africa, all the while, I was a cough. Day and night, I was a cough.  My coughing disturbed others’ sleep from miles away.

There was no cosmic hum. There was cough, cough, cough.

Heaven Admin spent fortunes on healthy vile-tasting potions with names too terrible to mention but guaranteed to heal accursed coughs. He administered these tinctures to me himself, spoon by spoon. He prayed for a cure.

Whatever he asked me, I responded: “Cough, cough, cough.”

I carried Kleenex close to my heart.

There were strangling coughs. There were gurgling coughs. There were successful coughs.

There were also days of laryngitis where no sound could escape my larynx except for cough, cough, cough.

There were days where only a tiny high-pitched voice could escape my larynx, and this high-pitched squeaking, while I was helpless, Heaven Admin would mimic with callous laughter.

I narrowly escaped being put back on a flight, any flight, just so Heaven Admin wouldn’t have to hear cough, cough, cough. I discovered that Heaven Admin does not have the patience of a saint as I had thought.

Heaven Admin, I have to ask you: “What did you have to complain about? I was the one with the cough.”

No one realizes what I have been through, but now there seems to be a breakthrough where whole moments go by without a cough.

Houston, we have arrived!

What a family Santhan is part of. I can only keep saying this.

Before we came to Uncle Arnand’s in Durban, we  stayed with Aunt Renuka, her son Tevin , daughter Lessera and another cousin, Kiki,. in Johannesburg. I’m so sorry we don’t have photos of Renuka and Tevin.

From the beginning, I felt I was on another planet. Relationships in South Africa are closer and warmer. Family goes deep. Renuka is not less of an aunt because she and Uncle Arnand are no longer married to each other. Not at all.  No one could have welcomed us more than Renuka. (more…)