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All posts by Mary

Dec 30
1

2022 – Ho Ho Ho!! Merry Christmas Y’all

By | Canada, Musings, Our Travels | No Comments

I have written so few family updates this year I am embarrassed it is the end of another year in Canada and our life is a mystery to so many people we love around the world. It is no joke that the years fly by faster as you get older, and especially as kids get bigger, taller, busier and full of the joys of teenagedom. I’m not sure how we’ve arrived at this stage already, but we now have a teenager in the house, and another not very far off! So let me give you a recap of what has been a very eventful year, with some wonderful highs and thankfully not too many lows.

After 2 full years in Canada we were finally able to get back to South Africa in March this year! It was chaotic and joyful, full of laughter at all the things we’ve all been through in the last 2 years, but also full of tears – catching up after 2 emotionally hard years of missing our people back home in SA. Three weeks wasn’t close to enough time to see everyone we love, even though we tried our best to zoom around the country fitting in breakfasts, lunches and dinners with all our peeps. Leaving was even harder this time than it was when we left in February 2020 – I think I ‘ugly-cried’ solidly for 2 hours in the plane after saying good-bye to the family. My teary-ness at every opportunity is something I’m having to embrace as I rocket into middle-age. Not only do I cry for sad things, but I am also now incredibly capable of crying at any and all events, much to my children’s chagrin. So, with that said, I’m now going to drink a glass of wine while I write about my children’s considerable talents and have a good cry about how lucky I am. Read More

Oct 28
1

A Day in the Life

By | Canada, Musings | 4 Comments

5:22am – I wish I could explain the sound, but unless you have a cat, and have been woken in the night to the sound of everything they have eaten for the last week being extricated from their stomach, you just wouldn’t understand my wake-up call. It was rough.
I waited a few minutes while listening to the harmonious sound of Poppy (our cat) laying booby-traps on the landing outside our bedroom doors, before deciding I could roll over and get another hours sleep. That thought lasted about 30 seconds before I heard the same gut-wrenching-melodies right next to our bed, on our brand new carpet. I made the least graceful dive ever attempted, let’s call it a botched-up front-tuck, from the bed, landing next to Poppy on what I hoped was not the present she had just left for us. I scared her sufficiently enough to have her flee from the bedroom and continue her exploits on the stairs. I was now suitably awake enough to drag myself from the warm comfort of bed, carefully and slowly navigate my way between landmines outside the room to find a small light, and begin cleaning up.
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Oct 20
1

Where in the World are the Wuths Now?

By | Canada, Musings | One Comment

We’re still right where we left you – Canada. I’m not sure if you should be surprised. Our intention was to get here and stick it out until the kids finished high school, but that’s a good long while of living in one place, so I understand if you didn’t think us capable of it. I mean Covid has definitely helped with that. We’ve been locked into this place since we got here so there’s been little chance of galivanting abroad – but we did manage a 3-week trip through Canada over the summer holidays. More on that to follow in a later post.

I’m going to start by filling you in on me for a change – Mama-bear – because it’s normally not about Moms, is it? So, I’m going to take the time to fill you in on where I’m at. Read More

Oct 16
1

Update in the Life of the Wuths

By | Canada, Musings | No Comments

“Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.

Be honest and frank anyway.”

 

I read this quote recently, and it stayed with me. It stayed with me because it stirred things up, things that I have been grappling with for the last few months. I have never been afraid of letting my vulnerability shine through, of showing people who I am. I write and I share our life, and in doing I hope to inspire people to do things that may seem scary or different, I hope to show them that living differently can be done. I want people to see our craziness and laugh at our poor choices, all the while realising that they are not alone, that everyone has their moments, we all have our failings. I love sharing the crazy things we do as a family and splicing in the beautiful moments on the way.

Over the years though, as social media has got heavier, and the world has been so inundated with perfection, people constantly bombarded from all sides, I’ve wrestled with my sharing, worrying that I might also be falling into the category of only showing the good – despite this not being my intention. I have been overwhelmed by content myself, sick of the adverts and perfectly curated snaps, and I found myself stepping back. Day by day my appetite for taking it all in faded. Until I found myself here. Not missing it, not wanting to know, and finding how much happier I am not swiping up… up… up…
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Jun 12
0

Relocation in the Time of Covid

By | Canada, Musings, Uncategorized | No Comments

Three months in, and it dawned on me that I haven’t documented our most recent travel very well. In fact, I have been less than forthcoming on most of our travel for the better part of 18 months. Appalling when this is primarily a ‘what are the Wuths up to now?’  blog. So, I am going to assume here that most people know we have made a rather sudden leap across half the planet and are now residing in Canada. A beautiful little seaside town (not that different from the one we left behind in sunny South Africa in fact) called Victoria, on the south-eastern tip of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Not to be mistaken with actual Vancouver, on the mainland, which is a 2-hour ferry ride away. Yes, that’s right, we have gone and holed ourselves up on an island, on arguably the most tectonically unstable piece of ground in the world, ripe for the ultimate in earth-shattering quakes to rock the planet in centuries. Because that’s how we roll. So I guess you could say we were ready, on some level, to be shaken out our boots. What we were not ready for however, was Covid 19.

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Jan 19
1

Malawi – Utter Beauty, tangled with the Raw Truths of Africa

By | Hikes, Our Travels, Parks | One Comment

The unsettling reality of Africa, when you look behind the beautiful façade, managed to take hold of me as we wound our way through Malawi. It had been gnawing at my ankles for the 4 months we’d been on the road, most of the depressing things falling under the heading “governments are not about the greater good”. But the disparity between the ‘tourist’ version and the ‘real’ version of Malawi was hard to stomach. It’s not exclusive to Malawi though, it is true of most African countries, I think I had just reached my quota. I want to paint a fair picture of Malawi, because it is without a doubt one of the most magical places we have visited. But I can’t completely ignore the emotions that were stirred up while we were there. So this is my shot at an honest account. Read More

Feb 13
1

Tanzania – Made Me Appreciate All We Have Back Home

By | Family Travel Tips, Our Travels, Parks | No Comments

I’ve been delaying writing about Tanzania for a few reasons. One, it’s been an absolutely non stop ride since we left there, and I feel like I’m only getting on top of life again now. And two, I am struggling to paint a happy picture of the place, and I didn’t want to let our brief experience taint anyone else’s travel plans. It wasn’t all bad, but let me explain… Read More

Dec 07
0

Rwanda – A Country of a Thousand Hills

By | Hikes, Our Travels | One Comment

As you trundle over the growing hills and across the Rwandan border, the countryside changes dramatically around you. The dry, flatter land of Tanzania gives way to rolling green hills, so fertile with rich volcanic soil that crops of all description bulge in size along the sides of the road. The biggest change is that everything is green. A change I welcomed with open arms. Read More

Nov 25
1

Rwanda, and the Power of Unity

By | Our Travels | 3 Comments

I’ve wanted to write about Rwanda since the moment we set foot in the country. It is nothing like I imagined it to be. This may be because I was 12 when the genocide happened, and in the back of my growing mind I filed Rwanda away as a war-torn African country with starving people and useless government. It is a poor excuse, and I feel embarrassed to admit it, but I knew little of the area, what it had to offer, and the history of what happened 24 years ago. It is going to be difficult to give you a full run down of events here, but I will try my best, because to understand the country now, you must know where it has been, and what it has overcome. So for those of you, who like me, did not know, here is a summary… Read More