20 March 2008

at the Botanical Gardens






The neighborhood we stay in boarders the Botanical Gardens. One of the perks is that residents get a key to the back gate and can go any time they want! So the kids and I have packed our school books and our journals a few times and meandered down the wooded paths in search of solitude. In the chaos of the city, I think this is one of God's blessings to us here in Johannesburg. We always find creatures we never knew existed. This tiny hummingbird was darting in and out of flowers so quickly, I looked pretty silly trying to capture it on film - and then I got home and realized it isn't a hummingbird but some kind of insect.. a moth or a butterfly?

This guy and the members of his large family were all over the grounds yesterday. They are huge - at least 4 or 5 inches long... but not very good hoppers. They just kind of bounce away when we come near... which is kind of funny considering they look so ferocious.
And for those of you who know us well, Harrison has always wanted a tortoise. More than a dog, more than a horse, he wants a large tortoise. Now, he feels that this gift is just for him. In the gardens live at least four large turtles. Their boundaries are vast so we don't always see them, but there they live, within walking distance from our home. He has given three of them names and we now bring sliced apples whenever we venture through the gates... just in case we come across one of them (which is usually our mission now, even more than peace, or rather, as a preemptive to peace). This one, I think, is Koru.


7 comments:

  1. Oh how I love and miss you guys,, I cant wait to see you again, to be reconnected with part my my SPLICE family once again!

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  2. the darth maul bug is fantastically ferocious looking! I love that you are doing this blog with pictures of your life over there... I'm sending you something soon... :)

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  3. miss you!!!!!!

    that bug is insane!!!!

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  4. Actually, they mummingbird/moth is a Hummingbird Moth as we found out when we found one hovering around our mess of yellow flowers in front of our house here in Sicily. As for the other, I never cease to be amazed at God's sense of humor.

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  5. Oops......not a mummingbird, a hummingbird

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  6. That's the first thing I thought of too! The Darth Maul bug. Ewwww.

    Julie was jumping up and down last night at rehearsal while chanting..."Whooo misses Trace DiCocco?" we would all answer..."We do, we do!"

    We DO!!!

    Love you!

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  7. a hummingbird moth! Who would have guessed.
    Jami... I miss you guys too. today was especially hard at church. I miss Mars Hill. I miss worship.
    Darth Maul bug... it was HUGE and there were SO many of them. We went back TWO days later and didn't see a one! Creepy.

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