And I Continue the Introduction to the Continuing Blog

Mari, Betsi and Santi are the 3 sisters who are involved in Hatched in Africa and AllSorts Embroidery designs. There is another sister and brother that I have not met. Both of them live in Johannesburg I believe and although they do talk on the phone they just don’t see each other as much as they would like to.

Mari (pronounced Marie) is the administrative one of the family. She is the one who keeps the finances in order and does all of the bookkeeping. When the ladies have a problem with their order, Mari is the “go to” person. Mari has a beautifully attended garden and her husband is fond of fuchsias. There are so many varieties, I was shocked! There are photos of the fuchsias in one of the albums at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SewAmusedPat/ I hope you have an opportunity to go over and see them. I didn’t realize how many colors, sizes and shapes of fuchsias were available. In Mari’s back yard there is a huge tree that provides shade to part of her back yard. When you look up it looks like an umbrella covering you. Mari is very proud of her garden and employs a gardener to keep up with all of it! I don’t see how he keeps it all as beautiful as it is.

On one trip to the states I had Mari and Santi at a friends house down in Southern California. We took them to a small farmers market in the area to find some veggies for dinner. We have a wider variety here than they do in South Africa and a lot of our veggies are year round here while they are seasonal in South Africa. We bought a flat of strawberries and I think that was most of what we had for dinner that night! Karen had made some “goop” a marshmallow mixture of some type that was the hit of the party! Santi still asks Karen if she’s made any when they talk!

Betsi is the quiet one of the family. I’ve spent time with Betsi here in the states and a little time with her in South Africa. I’m going to tell a story on Betsi here in a minute, but when I saw her for the first trip with the family, she hugged me and said that we always seem to end up in a van together! When Santi, Liese and Betsi have been in the states, before Peter because the official “tour director” I did have the opportunity to have that job at different parts of their tour of the states.

I played tour director here in California a few years ago with Liese and Betsi, we did a few trunk shows while traveling north to Oregon where I handed them off to Sherry in Newburg. On the trip up the coast, we crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge and Betsi had a small bottle of wine in the back seat of the van and she thought it was a good idea to toast the her first crossing of the bridge! AAAAARRRRRRRRRR! LOL

I think I’ve been more than lucky to spend time with the family both here and in South Africa. On a 5 week trip or the North East with Santi and Betsi we were heading down to Missouri where I was dropping them off for the next leg of their tour. At one point we crossed over the Mississippi River and Betsi commented at how big the river was. She said that one day she would love to see the Mississippi River… I told her we were crossing it at that point, but it was dark and late at night so she couldn’t see much. But she was still so excited! We stayed on the river that night and I noticed the next morning she was just standing there staring at the river.

It’s things like that I’ll remember, the first time they saw ….. that I was there to share in that experience. I was there the first time Cara saw Las Vegas… When Santi and Peter saw Sedona Arizona and Peter, in his shorts mind you, played for a bit in the snow just north of Sedona on one of our sight seeing trips. The funny part about some of these places is that it’s the first time I’d been there as well! I’ve lived just a few hours from Yosemite for years and I had never been there until I had Liese and Betsi for those days as we traveled up the coast!

It was that same trip where Liese and I tried tofu at a restaurant at the salad bar. We both decided that it wasn’t really for us. I don’t think either of us cared much how healthy it was for us! Betsi just sat there and laughed at us!

After the things that Mari showed me while I was in South Africa I really hope I’ll have the opportunity to show her more of America one of these days. Mari and I spent a day touring Middleburg and the surrounding areas including Botshabelo Historical Town, Museum and Nature Reserve. What a wonderful adventure we had that day. It was one of my first “tours” of my visit and Mari was there to take me. Botshabelo is a historical town and it has a lovely town square. I remember driving up through the town seeing a troop of monkeys, sitting in the shade of the trees in the courtyard in the heat of the afternoon. Mari stopped the van and although we could have gotten out for a closer view of the monkeys, we were both hesitant. They don’t call them wild animals for nothing you know. I was awe struck just seeing them sitting out there! They were grooming each other and some of the younger ones were up in the trees playing.

I think the best way to do the blog at this point is to go back through the original blog and expound on some of the places and days we spent together. At the time I was busy just trying more to keep notes than to go through what I was seeing and how I viewed it and memories from the day. I think I also want so share some of my feelings on those wonderful days. When I left California that day in February I had no idea what to expect once I arrived in South Africa and that’s kind of scary in itself!

I think I also want to go through some of the pictures I have here of visits by the team to the States and share more of those experiences with you all. I think this list has been such a part of my life for so many years now; I’d almost be lost with out and without all of you! So many friends I’ve made over the years through this list. Some I’ve only emailed with, some I’ve spoken to on the phone and some I’ve had the opportunity to meet in person because of the time I spend with Santi and her family here in the states. You don’t know what I’ve done to get to see her on the East Coast and I don’t think she does either LOL. I just know that it’s all been worth it over the years…

I think by now you have a good idea as to who these people are that we all love and adore so much.