Insulation Blues!

When we built our house at the end of 2006, Rob asked the builder to please make sure that we had the best insulation possible in the roof. We had 'Think Pink' in Jo'burg and it was fantastic, so we wanted to use the same thing here. With the chromadek (tin) roof and the high wooden ceiling, there was limited space to put insulation, so it had to be the best.

Yes, well. Our builder had other ideas and showed us the 'very latest' in roofing insulation. What did we know? He brought a piece of what looked like cooking foil, thin, silver and obviously cheap and cheerful. Now, remember that this is the same man who, after fiddling very unsuccessfully with the fireplace and chimney to stop the lounge filling with smoke when we lit a fire, declared that he knew exactly what the problem was.....it was our neighbour's roof.

We should have known better!!

Anyway, every summer the rooms upstairs become like ovens as the sun beats onto the tin roof, straight through the 'tin foil' and heats the air like a popcorn machine. In winter we have the opposite and once we leave the warmth of the lounge and the stove, every step we take up, is in direct proportion to the plunging of the temperature, so our bedroom is freezing.

The Intrepid Team ready to go!!

Knysna by the Sea!

What a wonderful week I have had! Last Sunday I packed the car and headed off to spend a week with my daughter. They are now 'home' again in Knysna after several years in the desert sand and heat! My drive there took me all day, through small towns, empty, straight roads and beautiful passes that were so twisty and turny that I thought that I may be driving up my own exhaust! Finally I drove into Knysna, triumphant, tired and thirsty. (A very good dry white wine sorted out that problem though and Stuart cooked a wonderful chicken for dinner!)

A layout of the Island, spot P 44, their house!!

At the moment they are staying on Thesen Island, so we went for some lovely early morning (yes, 6.30, gulp) walks. The bird life is stunning, but even though I was desperate to see a Knysna Lourie, and kept my eyes open everywhere we went, I was disappointed. One day!!!

Our first (but not last) breakfast. Look at the view of the Heads.

More Eggcitement on the Corner!

How many times have I begun a blog with the words...'this is not the blog that I had planned for today but life got in the way.....''?

Well, it's happened again!

Remember last month I mentioned that Pieta the goose had started laying eggs (and very tasty they were too)? Naturally they were not fertile, but Philip has geese at the nursery and they, too, were laying. The difference being that the nursery eggs were fertile, and plentiful! So he brought five eggs home and popped them under Pieta who happily sat, and sat, and sat!

Before the 'Summer Hut' was built.

Up until then we had had wonderful sunny weather, so much so, that Philip built a little 'summer hut' so Pieta was in the shade. Then the weather changed and the rain came lashing down! But Pieta was protected from the worst of it by her 'summer hut' and the roof that angled the rain away.

Curry and Rice x 1025!!

I never thought I would ever say this about Rob.....but on Thursday night he and a couple of guys pulled an 'all nighter'.

I am sure that I have mentioned our wonderful neighbour who cooks for a hobby and regularly feeds hundreds of street people in Worcester, where he lives and fixes people's teeth! To us he is known as 'Meals On Heels', or MOH for short, as, every second weekend when he is here in the village, he fires up his braai at 4 in the morning, and cooks, and cooks, and cooks! And when he has done all the cooking, he delivers plates of it to friends and neighbours! And if it happens to be raining, well, he simply drives his deliveries to everyone and then he is known as 'Meals On Wheels'!

Anyway, every year he cooks fund-raising curry and rice for 'Huis Wittekruin', the Retirement Village in Vredenburg.  (He does it for several Retirement Homes as well as Vredenburg.)This entails an all-night-cook-up and this year Rob and Daan offered their services. On Thursday afternoon Gene (MOH) arrived with a trailer filled to capacity with six black pots and twelve bags of wood. Now, when I say pots, I mean POTS. We have a black pot that we use for potjies and it is a number 1. His pots are number 25, big enough to cook a missionary! (Brand new, they cost R2905....each! Their capacity is 85 litres and they weigh 65 kg. Now work out how much curry they can produce!) These he then off-loaded at the cook-spot at 'Huis Wittekruin'  and gathered  the rest of the ingredients from meat to salt to spices to sugar to vegetables. Then it was home for a sleep. (Rob was not lucky enough to sleep, as we had the men here fitting insulation in our roof, but that is next week's blog!!)

Goodbye Winter............I think!

Last week we had some really foul weather. Huge rain, wind that cut through us like a knife, seas that pounded and crashed through the night, and if we were uncertain about winter having departed, we were reminded of it in no uncertain terms! We even had snow on the mountains inland and every B+B, camp site and Guesthouse was fully booked this weekend as everyone headed inland to freeze themselves daft by playing in the snow! And on Thursday, instead of staying in next to the fire, I had Hospice and Rob had a transfer from Cape Town to Wellington. He set off in rain and arrived home in rain. And in between? Yes, rain!

The Dutch Reform Church in Wellington, built in 1840.

But when we woke up yesterday morning, spring had arrived! A day early I might add! And Rob had to head off to Wellington to pick up the passengers and transfer them to Franschoek. So, I went along for the ride. My camera was charged and ready for me to capture the snow covered mountains, white and shimmering in the early morning light.