The End of 2Summers

09 April 2011

Gotcha!

This is not the end of 2Summers the blog. But it is the end of 2Summers the season.

Autumn on the Melville Koppies. I took this photo on a walk with Joe this afternoon, right before sunset. I love the sound of the grass swishing in the breeze.

I named my blog 2Summers because I moved here in August, as summer was ending in D.C. and about to begin in Joburg. I’ve essentially lived one 10-month-long summer, although summer here wasn’t really like summer back home. (It was much cooler in Joburg.)

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Sunrise, Sunset

13 March 2011

I’m melancholy. Bad things are happening everywhere and I feel overwhelmed by life. But it’s nice to know that no matter what, the sun keeps rising and setting.

One of the advantages to my current 9-5 schedule is that I’m sometimes awake early enough to see the sunrise. I caught this one last week in our backyard. Even those ugly industrial buildings (I think they’re part of Johannesburg Hospital) look beautiful at that time of day.
Two nights ago, Joe and I looked outside and everything was bathed in a crazy pink-orange glow. The light lasted for about a minute; then it was dark. Joe had just enough time to shoot this frame looking up at our aloe tree.
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Hiking Joburg's Main Drag

23 February 2011

Joe and I took a walk through Joburg’s Central Business District – starting at the Carlton Centre and then east on Main Street to the Magistrates Court.

A view of downtown from Gandhi Square. The Carlton Centre is the building to the left of the Daily Sun sign. You wouldn’t know from this picture but it’s the tallest building in Africa at 223 meters.

There’s a rejuvenation story here although it’s not the same story as Arts on Main, which is a few blocks east. This section of Main Street houses banks, government agencies, and, above all else, international mining companies. It’s where Big Business lives.

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Sunday's Main Event

21 February 2011

Yesterday afternoon Joe and I drove to a gritty downtown neighborhood dotted with auto body shops and Chinese takeout joints. We followed the signs to “Arts on Main,” parked just off Main Street under a concrete overpass, and followed an old mining rail track into a warehouse.

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Melville Pizza: Think Thin

17 February 2011

South Africa is not known for pizza, and you certainly won’t find authentic New York- or Chicago-style pies here. (I recently saw a Facebook photo of someone eating Ray’s Pizza in New York. It looked so delicious – I nearly wept.)

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Melville's Grassy Summer Wonderland

03 February 2011

I’ve mentioned the Melville Koppies, a nature reserve and National Heritage Site behind our house, in previous posts. But until now I haven’t had the chance to give this natural wonder the attention it deserves.

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