This morning reminded me of Scotland, in that the weather changes every half hour or less. It was pouring before breakfast and sunny when I finished eating. Since I am always behind the camera, I made a self-portrait of a fresh, raring-to-go me. After faxing a form for our Victoria Falls trip in the office, I asked Nazeema for a suggestion of an activity for the day. She told me about "The Tea Bag Company" near Hout Bay (where we took the boat to seal island). I changed my Switch Flops for Shape-Ups and hiked to the Waterfront to get the Blue Route Bus. Yeah, I know it looks red but it has a Blue Route sign on it! I took the steps to the top but sat in the covered part. |
| very rainy for a while |
Used teabags are dried, emptied, and ironed flat.
Each artist then paints a design of her own and the bags are dried further, sanded, and laquered. If they are to be used as trivets, they are coated with resin. There are coasters (rt), cards (lower lt), wall hangings (ctr), crosses, trinket boxes, notebooks, small serving trays, and many other products.
The drying process is pictured below.
Those of you who know about my interest in doors that
tell stories will have noticed the absence, but here is a lion's head door knocker at the shop. That is appropriate for an African shop, don't you think? Knowing that all profits would go to this community made it a little easier to purchase souvenirs here. And it began pouring when we were ready to catch the next Blue Bus, so we had to spend a little more time (and $) waiting for clear skies!
Driving through Hout Bay, we began to see the end of Table Mtn where the Upper Cable Station is (at upper right of the picture at right). Confused yet?
Got off the bus again at Camps Bay, a very popular beach town. I enjoyed an early (4:30) dinner of fish, spinach, and potatoes. And,Yes, I got some funny looks when I took a picture of my food! Every building in Camps Bay is stark white, which contrasts beautifully with the mountains and the (currently) blue Sky.
I had to walk thru the craft shops to get back to my B&B and was enthralled with this man's wooden inlays of Afr. animals.Here he is burning the grass & rock shadows into the design. Beautiful work and less expensive than you might think!
In the main mall, I passed a Croc store with the largest collection of Crocs I have ever seen in one place! A riot of color!As I trudged wearily home, Table Mountain now wore its "tablecloth" of thick, white cloud with gorgeous blue sky above it. I asked the owner of the B&B to take this picture of an exhausted me to compare with the fresh shot in the morning. After all of this walking I have been doing so far, if my buns and calves are not toned up, I will turn in my Skechers "Shape-Ups for a refund!!!!!
