Normal Service Will Be Resumed......................!

As I write this, the wind is howling and making the roof rattle! We have had some fierce wind in the last few days, the kind that fills your eyes with dust and your house with, well........dust!
But, we are heading away from the howling and walking with heads down and eyes closed for a while because we are going away with Hyacinth for a week or two.

A month or so ago we decided to take a break before the school holidays began because once that happens, we stay here! So Rob did some searching and googling and we found a lovely spot near Riebeek Kasteel, on the river and pet friendly! And, wait for it, for 'mature campers only' and that means no children under eighteen!!! Perfect! And they had space for us, so that is our first port of call.

And it may be our only port of call at this stage! None of the other camp sites emailed back to Rob! So, we may just arrive to find that there is no room for us! Never mind, we shall simply play it by ear.

Because we are away for a longer time than our usual mid-week few days, we asked a friend to come and house sit for us so that Basil especially will have some company! She is an animal lover and so I feel happy and relieved that she is keeping an eye on things. I have already told her that she may or may not see Dill, but we showed her a photo of him so she will recognise him in case he arrives in a rush one evening!

We packed the van today and tomorrow morning we shall borrow a neighbour or two to help us push it out of its shelter! Once we have hooked it up, put Alfie in the car and made sure that Basil is not stowing away, we shall head for the hills!

So, there will be no new reading material here for a couple of weeks.

But, I shall take lots of photos and normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

Thali Thali!

When Rob is away (as he is at the moment), I tend to not bother too much with cooking. I may grab a chunk of cheese and stand at the kitchen sink staring out of the window, or if I have avocados I whip up a batch of soup at least once a day!! I haven't made it for breakfast yet.......but I wonder what it is like poured over Corn Flakes?

The entrance off the R27.

So, when my neighbour Emma invited me to breakfast on Friday morning, I was thrilled to say the least. The choice was either the nursery at St Helena Bay (always yummy), or Thali Thali, a privately owned Cape West Coast game and fynbos reserve. I have never been to Thali Thali, so we didn't bother to toss the coin! Situated on the R27 just near Langebaan, Rob and I must have driven past the entrance hundreds (well maybe not) of times and each time we have said 'We really must go there one day and see what it's like!', like a mantra!

Goosy Goosy Gander!

It seems just the other day when I wrote about Pieta and the excitement of the goslings struggling out of the eggs.

Newly hatched and tiny!

And now look at them!

Swimming lessons with mum standing by!

Jacobsbaai Junkers!

Do you ever have one of those days where you begin one task and then get side tracked to do four or five different things that you hadn't bargained on doing but were glad you did in the end? And never completed what you were doing in the first place? And if you are still with me after that ramble, well done!

We had one of those days on Friday.

Backtracking a tad, my sense of direction has never been a strong point. In fact, when I drove to Knysna, Rob fixed little strips of paper to the Garmin with 'left          straight      right' and arrows to show me what was where! So, when the lady said 'In. Five. Hundred. Metres. Turn. Left.' in that stilting way she has, I knew exactly which way to go. This stems from my years of teaching Grade 1 and Grade 2 children and standing in front of them saying 'Start at the left side of the page' and holding out my right arm!

So, back to Friday. I decided to clear a piece of garden that has been bugging me for a while. The moles have had a party there and half the plants were dying through lack of soil round the roots. I got stuck in. Let the side tracking begin!

Rob does a Marine Weather Broadcast every lunchtime on the radio, giving the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, cloud cover, sea state, rain, and wind strength and direction. Now, when he goes away, it is my job to take down the information and relay it to the man in Napier, so I have to know what is what. Rob has a fancy instrument for the temperature, pressure and humidity and for the rest it's stare out and have a look!!

Rob's fancy weather station!