A-Camping We Did Go!

I realise that this is a little late, by a day or so, but I have made it extra long, so hopefully you will forgive me!

We have just come back from a long weekend caravan trip! A return trip to Fynbos Farm, where we went for our first caravan trip after we bought our beloved Gemsquash, three years ago now. In fact, that was my very first ever caravan trip!

So, for the last three years, we have been saying 'We really must go there again, it was such a super place........', every time we drove past the turnoff. And, now we have been there twice, but, I am happy to go back every month for a week or so!

So, off we set on Thursday morning. I have mentioned the wind farm near Hopefield before now and as we got closer, we saw what appeared to be a black blob thing on one of the blades.

See the black blob on the blade?

Have a closer look.

People in there!!!

It is people! In a basket thing! Working on the blade and hanging miles above the earth suspended by little bits of wire and string! Doesn't it make the hairs on the back of your neck rise? It does mine!

Heaven in Hopefield!

On Friday we headed back to Brackenfell to fetch Hyacinth. We nearly didn't go actually as on Thursday night we had a storm. When I say 'storm', I really mean 'STORM'. Or should that read 'STORM'.

The wind woke us both, and then Alfie abandoned his bed and clambered onto ours as he was worried about the rattling and banging of the roof. So were we, but we stayed strong for him! A smattering of drops in between the howling and crashing was all we got in the way of rain, as  I think the wind simply blew most of it back up into the clouds! So we lay in bed just after 3 and discussed the merits of ice-cream vs coffee, and also whether it would be clever to tow a caravan if the winds were that strong and we were giving a really wide area to blow onto.

But, by Friday morning proper (by that I mean the sun had risen and the birds were up), it looked good to go, and after Rob had a quick look on 'windguru', we loaded Alfie into the car and headed south. (I think!)

On the way, we passed a lovely farm dam between Hopefield and Malmesbury, and there must have been ten or so flamingos in the water, flapping their wings and showing the pink underfeathers, so I said to Rob that I would like to stop on the way back and take a photo or two. (Were they there on the way back?? You guessed it. All gone.)

Eggcitement on the Corner!

Now, if you read the title this week, you will think that here is another food post! Yes and no! It's more about the circle of life and the changing of the seasons and growing up.........and a bit about food too. But it all ties in as you will see.

All grown up!

I have written many times about Pieta the goose who lives on the corner. She raised the orphaned Egyptian geese and keeps her garden clear of weeds (and intruders!) Every day we look for the special 'dissels' or thistles that she loves to eat and we give them to her as we walk past with Alfie. She has become so used to our gifts that she gets quite excited when we call her and she knows that we always have a treat for her. Sometimes she comes over to our gate and then I let her in to find her own treats that grow between the stones.

Pieta and me, weeding!

Braais, bugs and breakfast!

Today is 'Heritage Day' aka 'National Braai Day'. As I write this I can smell braai fires wafting round the village, and our wors and steak is defrosting in the kitchen! It is a perfect day, calm and still with a small nip in the air that tells us that although spring is here, winter is still lurking round corners and in shady areas! I started off the morning in socks and slippers and a fleecy top but after much exertion with a broom on the veranda, I went to change. Half an hour later I was back in the fleece but am being extremely brave about the socks and slippers bit! In fact, I am wearing my Birkenstocks, remember the ones that did the world tour a while ago?

Statice and bokbaaivygies.

And my garden is a picture! Statice is mixed with vygies, geraniums are tumbling over rocks as they have finally had a chance to grow because the veld is green and the bokkies have alternate fynbos to eat. Come summer they will be pruning my geraniums to within an inch of their lives!

Waterblommetjies!

In 1979 a young Afrikaans singer called Sonja Heroldt, released a song called 'Waterblommetjies', written by Anton Goosen. The first two lines of the song  go 'Waterblommetjies in die Boland, Waterblommetjies in die kaap', which roughly translated means, 'Little water flowers in the land above the coastal plain, Little water flowers in the Cape' which doesn't have the same ring somehow! However, the song was an instant hit, it is hauntingly beautiful and it is a song that is still played today. It has been recorded by many Afrikaans singers and it takes me right back to when my children were small!  (Find  it on You-tube and listen to it.)

The Waterblommetjie flower

The song then goes on to sing the praises of a particular bredie or stew that is made from the flowers of the Waterblommetjie or Cape pond weed! The plant is endemic to our part of the world and is widely used to add to the flavour and bulk of the dish. They flower in winter and spring and grow in ponds that traditionally dry up in summer. The bulb then dies down and remains dormant until the winter rains arrive and then they grow again!

Food Glorious Food!

I seem to spend a great deal of time thinking (and talking) about food! And I feel that a holiday must be filled with 'edible memories'! In Dubai, as it was still quite hot during the day (up to 40 deg!), it was impossible to sit outside, so the fantastic lunches that Catherine and I enjoyed were eaten inside air-conditioned restaurants and delis. And I enjoyed every one! Too much! From Lebanese to Italian to Japanese to local, the presentation, quality and taste was such that I could feel the weight settle round my hips!

Our meal in Abu Dhabi!

But that was ok, because I knew that I would be doing more walking in Madrid and therefore I would lose it again!! Ever hopeful, that's me!

Bread (and Butter) Money!

We have a tiny shop here, it used to be part of the original farm, a separate room like a dormitory where the young men would sleep when they came visiting, and a few years ago it was turned into a little shop rightly called 'Die Winkeltjie', or The Little Shop! When we first arrived here, the shop was dark and a bit of a mess, tins of dog food stood side by side with tins of baked beans and condensed milk, and the fresh milk jostled for space with margarine and fishing bait in the 'fridge. Magazines, buckets and spades (for the holiday makers), bread, potato crisps, sweets and chocolates were haphazardly arranged on the shelves with tomatoes and apples, and the 'shopkeeper' had a television attached to the wall which blared out all day. Having said that, you could buy basically anything you needed, and it saved a trip to town for necessities like biltong or ice cream on a Saturday afternoon!

Die Winkeltjie.

It has recently been taken over by new owners and the difference is like night and day! They hauled everything out, removed the television, washed and painted the walls, had a sale of all the old bits and pieces that had been there for years, replaced the old shelves, and re-stocked the entire shop. Suddenly I noticed not only a fireplace and a chimney, but windows too! They now stock ready-made home-made meals, and serve coffee with home-made cakes and best of all, they have made a little wooden house tucked out of harm's way for the stray tabby that has made the shop her home! Our Dopey looks suspiciously like her, could there be a family thread there I wonder?

Friends and Neighbours!

I was listening to the radio the other morning and the presenter was saying that he had just moved into a 'leafy suburb' in Cape Town, and therefore would probably never meet his neighbours! I thought about what he had said and realised that neighbours differ from city to town to village! When we lived in 'The Big Smoke' aka Johannesburg, we lived in a high-walled-several-unit complex, where we did know our neighbours to a certain extent, especially if the power went off or the water supply suddenly dribbled to a halt, then people would meet in the road to make sure that it wasn't just them! The talk then turned to the weather before everybody returned to close their doors against getting too personal! Many of the larger complexes have more units than we have houses in our entire village! Then you 'recognise' your neighbours by sound, i.e. they play Barry Manilow while you are trying to watch rugby on Saturday afternoons! People back in 'The Big Smoke' who live in streets with seperate houses demarcated by electric fences and gates and 6 ft high walls sometimes never see their neighbours, robbers could arrive and empty the house and nobody would give it a thought beyond, 'Oh, I didn't know that they were moving!' Once, long ago when I was teaching, my whole class and I sat and watched a car being ramped up into a large truck that we presumed was taking it to a nearby garage to be fixed. Except that it wasn't broken, because soon a parent returned to find that her car had been stolen!And we watched it happen! Probably waved to the driver!

Then, there are Weskus neighbours!