There’s a thorn bush in South Africa called “stay-a-while” aptly named because once you brush against it, its prickly spikes grab hold and don’t easily let go. I heard about the plant on an early morning hike several days ago in the Karoo National Park (photo). The Karoo is largest ecosystem in South Africa, a vast and unforgiving stretch of land North of Cape Town and home to a fascinating diversity of wildlife. I stopped in the Karoo with several colleagues that had attended a New Testament conference near Cape Town with me. I flew to the conference and took the opportunity to see the countryside with them by car on the way back. We hiked in the Karoo in the early morning moonlight with the call of baboons in the distance. The stars in the Southern hemisphere, Alpha Centauri, Orion Nebula, the Milky Way, were all glistening as we set out that morning.

The NT conference was held in a town called Stellenbosch. It’s really beautiful, small and quaint, reminds me a bit of Winter Park, Fl. with cozy sidewalk restaurants and unique shops. The participants of the conference were from all parts of South Africa, other regions in greater Africa as well as Australia. I enjoyed the company of Scotsman trained in Edinburgh, now the principal of a bible college on in Western South Africa, an eastern European priest who studied at the Vatican and others. The keynote speaker was ironically from Barnard College at Columbia in New York. She stayed in a guesthouse and missed the college dormitory experience. A group of opera singers stayed in my dorm and although they didn’t keep unruly hours, it was a bit surprising to wake up and fall asleep with Motzart and other arias at full tilt. One day I went to borrow an iron on the other side of the dormatory complex and bumped into a student who said she had heard an American staying there.

We went to the 5:30am Easter service at the Anglican Church this morning. Today is the Day of Firstfruits on the biblical calendar and the later part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Several of my neighbors counted the first “omer” together last night. They’ve decided to tie a ribbon on the fence posts around our complex for each of the 49 days leading to Shavuot (Pentecost). I’ll send a picture when there's a few more on the fence. Happy Easter! Happy Day of Firstfruits! Happy Feast of Unleavened Bread! Happy first day of counting the omer!