Home Again

Morning view from my front porch.







Clothing optional beach.








Beach closed.









My neighbors across the valley.









.. In Johannesburg I spent a half day as a tourist. Went 700 ft. down into an inactive gold mine, saw a live pour of molten gold, and wandered around the gold museum. An amusement park has grown up around the mine, and the Apartheid Museum is across one street and a casino across another. I could have spent another full day in that neighborhood, but had to catch a plane home.

The trip home was a marathon. Eighteen and a half hours on the plane, including a stop in Dakkar where we weren't allowed to get off. The people in the seats next to me did get off in Dakkar and I thought I'd have a little extra room for the last eight hours, but 2 teenage boys from Gambia got on to take their place. They asked for my help a couple times, to work the interactive video and to fill out immigration and customs forms, but they slept most of the way to Washington. After an hour in line at customs, had just enough time for a cup of coffee before the flight from Washington to Syracuse. The sight of my daughter at the airport was the high point of my trip.

It's been a little difficult adjusting to the 6 hour time difference. I woke up at 3 AM today and didn't really get back to sleep till I had to get up at 6. I'll try and skip my afternoon siesta today and see if I can stay up a little later and sleep in till 6 tomorrow.

Yesterday I got my pictures developed. Yes, old fashioned film. Here are a couple from one roll. I'm still not quite sure how to put on captions, but maybe they will magically appear.