Joburg Lost Gail
My friend Gail Wilson died today. Gail had been very sick for a couple of months and she knew this day was coming; a small group of those closest to her knew, too. But [...]
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 [...]
Grieving for Jon, Ten Years Later
For the past couple of months, I've been thinking about what to write in my blog for the ten-year anniversary of Jon's death. Jon died a decade ago tomorrow. Jon hanging out with the [...]
Farewell From the Melville Cat
From the Melville Cat: Good day, friends. I have sad news: This will be my final blog post. I am writing to you from Beyond. I don't know where I've gone, exactly. But all [...]
Feeling South Africa’s Pain
Back in the olden days, I often used this blog as a vessel for my grief and sadness. I went through a lot of tangible pain in the early 2Summers years -- losing a [...]
For Meruschka (a.k.a. MzansiGirl)
Dear Meruschka, Soon after I heard the news last night, I started making a list of all the adventures we've had over the years. The list was longer than I realized. You at the [...]
19 December
I woke up feeling sad this morning. This was no real surprise as the last few months have been difficult for me. But I'd been feeling better for the past couple of weeks, so when [...]
Remembering Henrike
Warning: This post contains graphic language. Three days ago there was a terrorist attack in Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast), in a resort town called Grand Bassam not far from the capital city of Abidjan. [...]
Something I’m Afraid Of
A few weeks ago, 2Summers was featured in a post called "Top 10 African Travel Blog Posts" in the Where Lions Roam blog. It was a nice feature and I was pleased to be included. [...]
Confession: I’m an Artist
Last Friday, an artist named Amanda Palmer performed a show in Joburg at the Sheds @1Fox. Confession #1: I had no idea who Amanda Palmer was until a few days ago. Confession #2: I [...]
An Update From the Real Me
My blog lives a double life. Most of the time it's a fun, informative guide to living and traveling in Joburg and surrounds. But other times it's a personal account of what's happening in my actual life. A few years ago, when [...]
Remembering Things in the Land That Grows Rocks
Amidst all the excitement of the #MeetSouthAfrica trip, I nearly forgot that I was going to Lesotho. One of my newest Instagram connections, @nuttywheat, recently referred to Lesotho as "the land that grows rocks". It's a [...]