Swap Movement: Joburg’s Clothes Swap Phenomenon
I've developed a great interest in clothes, as most of you know, especially locally designed and thrifted clothes. And clothes-swapping -- the act of exchanging clothing items with others, rather than buying new or second-hand clothes -- is like thrifting on steroids....
A Special Tour in Bulte (Noordgesig): Sign Up Now
Regular readers will know that I've written a couple of posts about Noordgesig -- affectionately called Bulte, which means "Hills" in Afrikaans -- lately (see here and here). Last year I befriended Lavinia and Fabian Otto, who live in Noordgesig, and they've been...
Ezemvelo: Great Hiking Close to Joburg
Those of you who follow me on Instagram may have noticed I've been hiking a lot lately. I've always loved to hike. But for some reason -- maybe because I now have a car that can take me to any hiking trail in South Africa -- I've started wanting to hike a lot more. So...
Tuesday Night at the Sawubona Music Jam
Last Tuesday I put on my big-girl pants -- or, more accurately, my young-girl pants -- and stayed out past midnight to attend the Sawubona Music Jam in Chiwelo, Soweto. I've known about the Sawubona Music Jam, which happens every Tuesday night, for years. But as a...
The Blogitects Do Limpopo: Marakele National Park
I am way behind in publishing this final installment of the Blogitects' December Limpopo roadtrip. (Read the first three installments here, here, and here.) Marakele National Park was our last stop on the journey and Thorsten and I were both running out of steam at...
Early Saturday Morning at the Pretoria Boeremark
A couple of Saturdays ago, my friends Fiver and Stuart and I woke up at before 5:00 a.m. and drove an hour north to the Pretoria Boeremark in Silverton. I've been meaning to check out this market -- probably the largest open-air market in Gauteng -- for ages, but it...
Matric Farewell: Party of the Year in Bulte
When I moved to South Africa I was very confused by the word matric. "My daughter is in matric," someone would say, or, "My son is studying for matric exams," and I would smile and nod, wondering what they meant. Eventually I figured out that matric is short for...
The Blogitects Do Limpopo: Leshiba Wilderness
Leshiba Wilderness was the third stop on the Blogitects' Limpopo road trip. Read about our first and second stops. Like last week, I don't know how to start writing this post because I don't know how to describe our stay at Leshiba Wilderness. I don't even know how to...
The Blogitects Do Limpopo: Mapungubwe National Park
Mapungubwe National Park was the second stop on the Blogitects' Limpopo road trip. Read about our first and third stops. I've been procrastinating on this post about Mapungubwe National Park because I don't know where to start. Mapungubwe, which is at the far northern...
The Blogitects Do Limpopo: Magoebaskloof
Magoebaskloof was the first stop on the Blogitects’ Limpopo road trip. Read about our second and third stops. As I mentioned in my previous post, Thorsten and I (a.k.a. the Blogitects) took a 10-day road trip through Limpopo in the second half of December. I've...
Two Months in a Suzuki Jimny: My Review
Happy New Year! Thorsten and I recently returned to Joburg after an incredible 10-day road trip through Limpopo province. I have many stories to tell about that trip, but before I get into that I want to write a quick review of my first two months driving Greylene, my...
Joburg’s Best Christmas Lights: Moray Drive, Bryanston
Christmas lights and decorations aren't a big thing in Joburg. A huge percentage of the city's houses are behind high walls, and a huge percentage of the city's residents leave town for the Christmas/summer holidays. So most Joburgers don't bother with outdoor...
A Very Sad Goodbye to Brixton the Cat
I was ambivalent about writing this post. The last time I wrote about Brixton -- a cat named after a suburb -- was in December 2022, a few weeks after she walked into our lives. Now I'm writing to memorialize her, just a year later, and a part of me feels like it's a...
A Stance Car Park-Off at FNB Stadium
Some of you might remember a post I wrote last year about bicycle spinning and stance in Soweto. The bicycle stance subculture, which is the art of transforming regular bikes into flamboyant showpieces that ride very close to the ground, stemmed from the car stance...
Heather Mason
I’m an American writer/blogger/photographer living a quirky life in Johannesburg. Follow along as I explore Johannesburg, South Africa, and the rest of the world.