As I write this, I’m sitting in my aunt’s house in chilly Sleepy Hollow, New York. But let me backtrack a couple of weeks to a summer day in Johannesburg, South Africa, when I was typing away in my home office and a skinny black kitten walked through the open glass door. She crept right up to Trixie’s food bowl, meowed a couple of times, and began eating voraciously.
I let her eat for a minute or two – she was clearly starving – then I put her back out on the deck and closed the door.
I’m not sure why I bothered trying to eject her. I already knew from previous experience that when a determined feline decides to join your household in Joburg, there is little you can do to stop it. And this cat was clearly determined.
So now we have a new cat. Her name is Brixton – we call her Brixie – and she’s five or six months old. She’s a classic tuxedo – black with white paws, white neck and chest, and a dainty white mustache. She loves rolling around on the floor, sleeping, and pooping prolifically in her litter box.
Trixie, Brixie’s unwilling older housemate, is not crazy about this new arrangement. But she’s slowly coming around, and Brixie is smart enough to give Trixie her space.
I’ve been dragging my feet on publishing this post, probably because this is the first new cat to come into my life since the departure of Smokey, the Melville Cat, more than two years ago. The Melville Cat always wrote his own posts, but Trixie never took to blogging and I doubt Brixie will, either. (Neither Trixie nor Brixie have the same regal sense of entitlement that the Melville Cat had.) Nonetheless, I think it’s important for Brixie to be formally introduced to the 2Summers world.
I’m sure Brixie will make occasional appearances on the blog in the future. And the Melville Cat’s Instagram handle lives on with occasional posts by Trixie, and now Brixie. Please follow them.
The blog will be on hiatus for the rest of December as the Blogitects enjoy a holiday in the U.S. (Trixie and Brixie will be well cared for back in Joburg.) Happy holidays!
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
In 2020, I published a blog post with tips for Americans living in South Africa who wanted to vote in the U.S. presidential election. I thought about simply resharing that post this year. But then I realized: 1) I want to write a U.S. election post that will be fun and informative for everyone, not just other Americans; and 2) Believe it or not, the U.S. presidential election stakes are even higher in 2024 than they were in 2020. So I’m introducing you to some really cool Americans in Joburg – one who I’ve known forever and two who I just met – and tell you a bit about who they are, why they live here, and why they vote.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.