The Main and Litearra Launch...

I went to the launch of two of Washington's newest businesses recently: The Main and Litearra.

The Main is a new collaborative working space located above the Cherry Ghost Coffee Shop in downtown Washington, Indiana. Here people from different backgrounds can escape home or the office and work in a quiet, relaxed atmosphere. Such a space allows for network opportunities and less distractions - and also readily-available coffee! It certainly is an attractive new venture in Washington, Indiana!

The other business that launched was Litearra Communications, a copy-writing and proof-reading company based here in Washington - but with clients around the globe. It aims to provide clear, concise copy and editing work that meets a company's needs and appeals to a greater target audience.

These two companies are certainly welcome additions to Washington's ever-growing portfolio of emerging businesses!

 Noticeboard at The Main.

Dan Maley and Dave Colbert launched the two businesses.

I Went to Tristan...

My grandfather, Allan Bryant Crawford, was born in 1912 and died in 2007. His many titles included engineer, meteorologist, cartographer, surveyor, postage stamp designer, author, and explorer. One of his areas of expertise was the Island of Tristan da Cunha in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. He first went to Tristan in 1937 with the Norwegian Scientific Expedition as their official surveyor, and he produced the first map of Tristan da Cunha for the British Admiralty, which is still in use to this day.

He was the leading authority on Tristan for almost seventy years and he wrote several books on Tristan over the decades. I was very excited to recently receive my third first-edition copy of his book, I Went to Tristan, published in 1941. I plan on giving a copy to Riaan and Eliza when they are a little bit older. :)

As a postscript, Candace and I followed in my grandfather's footsteps and visited Tristan da Cunha back in 2013. You can read about our adventures in this post and the following several blog posts from that visit!

 Basic map of Tristan da Cunha on the inside of the front cover.

The Norwegian Scientific Expedition in Cape Town prior to departure for Tristan. My grandfather is standing at the right.

Colours of Autumn...

From mid-October onwards, most of the trees in our area began to change colour as the temperatures dropped and became more seasonable. The leaves changed their hues from green to yellow and orange, brilliant red and maroon. They then turned a dull brown and began to drop off - all within the space of a month or so! The seasons are certainly changing!

The highest leaves often turn red before the other leaves of a tree. They look like tongues of fire!

Another Hobbit Breakfast...

Thorin Oakenshield, in J.R.R. Tolkien's classic book The Hobbit says, "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." This is a quote that resonates with us, and we try to have a Hobbit breakfast at least once or twice a year. We had a spontaneous Hobbit breakfast as a family earlier in October. We enjoyed a yummy meal and read Tolkien quotes together. It was lovely!

 Candace reads Tolkien quotes while Riaan plays with Gandalf.

Our delicious breakfast. Yum!

Pretty flowers...

We had an extremely long summer and flowering plants continued to grow well into autumn. We planted some sedum (at left) in our back garden and were pleased to see it flower late in September. There were also other pretty flowers in full bloom into October, like this pretty aster plant below. :)

A bumblebee enjoys the late summer flowers.

Farewell, Granny...

My Mom left for Cape Town on Monday, 23rd September. Thankfully, her flight was in the afternoon and so we had a leisurely morning before leaving home just after 10h00 and driving up to Indianapolis International Airport. Candace and Eliza joined Riaan and I on the journey this time, and that was very nice - especially for the sad drive home after saying our goodbyes.

We ate Chick-fil-A for lunch at the airport -although Mom was too nervous to eat - and then said our sad farewells at just after 13h30. We have loved hosting Mom here in southern Indiana and we would gladly host her - and any of our family and friends - again! Thanks for taking the time to visit us here, Mom - we had a wonderful time and it meant a lot having you visit us again!

 Mom saying farewell to our cute Rusty.

 Eliza with her Granny.

Family selfie at Indianapolis International Airport.

Mom's Final Sunday...

We walked to Harvest for the service on this final Sunday of Mom's visit this year. We enjoyed the message by Jeff and being able to hear my friend Dan's testimony. It was all about discipleship, mentoring, fellowship and community - all very important factors in the Christian walk.

We then walked back home and shortly thereafter drove to Jeff and Allyson's house south-east of Washington, where we had a lovely lunch and time of fellowship. It was also very special as Jeff and Allyson (and all of us) surrounded Mom and prayed over her for safe travels over the coming days.

We were back home soon after 16h00 and then had family pop in to visit in the evening. We then prepared the kiddos for bed and Mom enjoyed reading Riaan his bedtime stories and playing with Eliza late into the night.

 Riaan loves the piano.

 Colouring at Jeff and Allyson's place.

 Praying over Mom.

 Sweet Riaan ready for bed.

Brave Eliza in her pretty dress.

Granny with the Kiddos...

A final photo of Mom on the swing with her two beautiful South African-American grandchildren. :)

Sweet memories. :)

Final Saturday...

Mom's final Saturday in Indiana was a fun, full day. The day started with me waking up early and watching South Africa's opening game (vs New Zealand) of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. Although the Springboks lost 23-13 to the All Blacks, there were plenty of positives that gave me hope for South Africa's campaign moving forward. Mom and I then went for a great 25 km (16 mile) cycle around the surrounding areas. There was a bit of everything on this bike ride - smooth roads, gravel sections, steep climbs and fast downhills - and it made for a fun final cycle together for this trip. Candace and the kiddos stayed home and Riaan and Eliza had fun playing in the sandpit while we were out cycling. 

Once home, I made a fire in our fire pit and we had a lovely family braai (barbecue) together. We enjoyed chops and sausages, toasted sarmies (toasted sandwiches done over the fire), potato salad and Simba Nik-Naks, one of South Africa's best-loved chip snacks. We had a relaxing afternoon doing various tasks and then in the evening we did do a quick trip to Wal-Mart to print photos and shop for various items. We ate popcorn and watched a war movie in the late evening to wrap up our final Saturday together for some time.

 Kiddos playing in the sandpit.

 Adding charcoal to the fire.

 Eliza and Granny relaxing by the fire.

 My little helper.

Meat on the braai - yum!

Checking the meat.

Waiting on the toasted sarmies...

 And they're done!

 No braai is complete without Nik-Naks!

Yummy lunch! :)

Harmonie State Park with Mom...

We took Mom to visit Harmonie State Park, on the banks of the Wabash River, on Friday, 20th September. Upon arriving at Indiana's furthest south-west state park, we went to a nice playground where the kiddos played and we had a picnic lunch.

We then drove to the campground entrance from where we walked to the lovely little Nature Centre. Here we enjoyed seeing the various displays, and we then took a relatively brief walk through the forest. We went to the Wabash River and looked across the river into Illinois, before driving home via Evansville. It was a great way to spend Mom's final Friday in Indiana for this trip!

 The round barn in southern Daviess County.

 Motorbikes - all with trailers - on I-64 heading west.

 Raised trailer home down by the Wabash River.

 Maple Hill Cemetery, near New Harmony.

 Blowing bubbles in the playground.

 Riaan and Granny enjoying the swings.

 Picnic time!

 Interesting tree in the campground.

 Preserved part of a tree trunk, showing the rings. It also has some toy cars inside!

 The Nature Centre at Harmonie.

 Little Free Library.

 The small one-roomed Nature Centre.

 Dove resting outside the bird watching window.

 Hummingbird in a tree.

 Tiger salamander.

 Eastern garter snake.

 Candace and Riaan playing a matching game.

 Hiking through the forest.

 Pretty flowers.

  A turtle suns itself on a log in one of the ponds.

 Driving through the lush vegetation.

 Family selfie on the banks of the Wabash River.

 Riaan peers through the binoculars and spies something on the far shore...

 A wreck of a small boat!

 A tree stump perched precariously on the edge. The rest of it has already fallen into the river.

 A school of tiny minnows swimming in the water.

 Large muscular black rat snake sunning itself on the road.

 Head of the black rat snake.

 Cool sundial near the park entrance.

 A double cab pickup with Crawford on the side!

 Tall grain silo on the drive towards Evansville.

City of Evansville emblazoned on the bridge.