A Cape Town computer teacher’s rumblings

Today was our school’s 138th birthday!  

In 1871, six Irish nuns braved the weather and environment from Dublin to establish a Dominican convent school, Springfield in Cape Town.  They bought a farm estate in Wynberg, Cape Town for  £800. 

Our school traditionally celebrates with an Open air Mass.  Archbishop Henry retires at the end of this year so this might be his last officiating Mass.  This year,  because of the heat, we allowed the Grade 1 and 2′s a chance to stay cool in their classes as temperatures were predicted to rise as high as 40°C.  The Mass was beautiful and our Grade 3 – 12 girls were able to huddle beneath the shade of the large trees and palms in the senior school gardens.  Symbolic items were blessed at the alter: bowls of fruit, books, soil, water, building materials, sports equipment amongst others.

Special hymns were sung by the Junior and senior choirs and Chamber choir and a small orchestra including drums played and sang stirring music.   The Archbishop’s homily was brief but as poignant as always.  We had tea, iced water, juices, cakes and sandwiches in the Arbor afterwards, and were able to congratulate theSpringfield family – nuns, past pupils and our senior school colleagues on the school’s birthday.

Teaching was easier for me than for most of my staff as I have a delightfully air conditioned lab.   Teachers were popping in for a “breather” just to cool down!  In a normal teaching day we might even have sent the girls home – but it was a short day!  My Grade 4′s whom I see on a Friday are writing, illustrating and recording on their wiki pages about their school history – so today was a useful day for them to add material to share with their colleagues in Australia, the UK and the USA!  Their ongoing wiki pages are here!

I decided that the coolest place in Cape Town would be our National Gardens.  Kirstenbosch is situated under Table Mountain.  I enjoyed watching the guinea-fowls pecking around me at eye level – until I felt that I might be completely devoured by ants.  I shared interesting observations with foreign visitors on the orange breasted sun birds which were feeding on nectar of fynbos near the art gallery.  I examined once more the art work of a friend, Joe Hurter, who had two oil paintings on display.

I then wandered slowly down through the indigenous and medicinal herbs exhibit to my favourite place at the moment in the gardens, Colonel Bird’s bath at the Dell.  It is an exquisite spring of fresh water created in the shape of a bird.  LHS Image from http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1213759307027240706pWkNDK

Colonel Bird’s Bath was build around 1811 by Colonel Christopher Bird, who was the Deputy Colonial Secretary of the Cape at the time.   It is bird-shaped (of course) and is fed by four crystal-clear, icy natural springs. The surrounds built in local stone and brick are a wonderful sanctuary for artists, lovers, loners (as I was this afternoon) and visiting tourists.  The shady habitat is filled with ferns, tree ferns, plectranthus, impatiens and Mackaya bella amongst others.  What cool delicious water!   I even found a secret hideaway under the fountain below the bath and had I been more suitably dressed, would gladly have wriggled into that unique spot. 

Cape Town and surrounds have been plagued by arsonists in the past few months and the raging fires in the Paarl area near Cape Town have added a pall of smoke to the air this week.  The heat wave will hopefully have cooled a little when two of my family members ride the Cape Argus Cycle tour on Sunday.  

Craig (son) and Mike (husband) will face a gruelling 109kms in this “hotazhell” heat with about 35,00 others! …. but that’s another blog entry!