My Year of Meaningful (2011)

Even though I've had about 4 southern-hemisphere autumns in my life prior to now, it still sometimes confuses me when I'm sitting my ass in the month of March, yet going around with an enormous autumn-buzz.

It is now seriously autumn in Botswana. And I can't get over how excellent it is. As I harp on and on about everywhere I go at all times: THIS IS MY ABSOLUTELY FAVOURITE MOST FAVOURITE OF ALL FAVOURITES TIME OF YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It freaks me out how in love with nature I can be in this season. I even recently saw one of my old blogs from 2 years ago where I must have just had some freak attack of lovey-doveyness with fall, so much so that it incurred a severe case of verbal diarrhoea.

Lize told me that autumn here lasts about 3 days. Botswana is a country of extremes: summer and winter. Well, if I didn't know any better I'd say yesterday was day 1. An abso-slutely perfect, no *PERFECT* autumn day in Africa. While the possibility of a crappy 3-day-limitation (WTF?!) on my favourite season breaks my heart, it has also inspired me to live each of those 3 days to the fullest and not take them for granted.

Action plan (commenced yesterday):
* Long pants & t-shirt combo
* Winter Morning Tea for breakfast (freshly smuggled in from Ireland)
* Maximum efficiency at work. . . DAMN do I work well in autumn!
* Leaving the office ON TIME, if not EARLY to hang out on the back porch, take a walk, etc.
* Celing fan at night, no A/C
* ENERGY, ENERGY, ENERGY! That autumn adrenaline surging through the veins

Yesterday it was all there, 100%: the greyish sky, the hint of a storm, the wind in the trees, windows down A/C off in the car, my first day in the office where I actually WORKED MY ASS OFF and didn't sit in a pool of sweat. Came home an hour early because the guys were going to install the satellite dish (DOH!) and there was Mary out in the lawn... RAKING LEAVES!!!!.... wearing a wooly jumper. It was a vision of lovliness.

I sat in the hammock on the porch with BillyBob in my lap, played with my new amazing flip phone (ROCK) and chatted to the satellite guys. Then did some work on the laptop (guilt for leaving work early) and just took it all in. If there's only 2 days left, I gotta do this right.

I don't know what other randomness I had intended to write about here, but now I've forgotten because it's just to f'ing beautiful out there. The office window is open, and today I went out and got a hunk of meat grilled for me at the outdoor braai in our parking lot. The Batswana have this fabulous lunchtime tradition of going to the butcher (in our building), buying a hunk of raw meat (a "Russian" ((large bratworst-type sausage)) or a steak) and braaing it out in the parking lot. It was so funny, normally they each do it themselves and take turns over the fire, but today (OMG) WHITE GIRL was on the loose and so the butcher actually sent one of his staff out to turn my meat for me because obviously I would never have gotten near a fire before or ever seen a grill in my lifetime!?!?!?!
ROFLMAO

It was a good time. I kept telling him over and over again what great weather it was, and he just wanted to talk about meat. It was a serious Forrest-Gump-meets-Forrest-Gump moment. Whatever, I mean I guess he is a "professional Russian-maker" and that's his thing. Whilst my thing is this whole bloody bizarre concept of a 3-day season. Esh! To each his own.

Damn that new satellite we got!! In the last 16 hours I've already watched an episode of Nip Tuck, an episode of Prison Break, lots of Cricket World Cup highlights, a re-run of scrubs and about an hour of EuroNews! WT-friggin-F!?!?

I told Mary not to let us watch too much t.v. now that we have it. She offered to beat me with a wooden spoon if I wanted her to.