#South Africa

A fellow Melville blogger, Chuck V., recently referred to me as “the Melville American”. I was flattered; it’s fun to think of myself as THE Melville American. (Although I suspect all the other Melville Americans – and there are many others – might object.)

Yesterday there was a festival in Melville called Fête de la Musique. Fête de la Musique, a free festival that brings music to public spaces and gives exposure to both professional and amateur musicians, takes place in more than 100 countries. This was the first fête to hit Melville.

From the Melville Cat:

This afternoon I was sitting on the roof of the Lucky 5 Star, as I often do.

This is me, Smokey, on the roof.

I saw a lot of churches in Troyeville.

The first Dutch Reformed Church in Johannesburg.

The first Spiritualist Church in South Africa. I love the architecture. If you’d like to learn about the Spiritualist Church, read here. A different congregation meets here now though.

On our way to the Bushfire Festival last month, my friends and I spent the night on South Africa’s Wild Frontier. This is the name given by the South African tourist industry to the corner of Mpumalanga province that borders Swaziland, Mozambique, and Kruger National Park. The landscape does indeed have a wildness about it.

Jon died six months ago today.

I started out writing one of my typical “grief posts”. I’ve developed a formula for those: wax lyrical about my grief process and what this day means to me; throw in a few dreamy lines about how much I miss Jon; illustrate my personal and spiritual growth; blah, blah, blah. Press “Publish”, sit back in my chair, and try to feel better about myself. I actually wrote half a post along these lines, then decided it was drivel and deleted it.