I have not posted for a week as I have been away from home – not that this usually stops me – but I had a full program of activities to attend to so my usual blogging took a back seat!

I avoid returning to The City as much as possible but when you have to apply for travel documents to Cape Town you must go!  Although that was the main reason for going we also used the opportunity to catch up with friends and family.  As luck would have it there were a few things that I could attend that I otherwise would have missed!  And as much as we love living away from The City we really miss our friends and family.  Leaving the place that was home all of your life is like emigrating to another country so catching up with everybody was awesome.  I got to bond with Chantal and Jeremy, Tony and Sharon, Aunt Violetta and Aunt Dottie, Mary, Hanny, Pat and Tony, Heather and Peter, my brother Michael and his wife, Moira, Earl’ s sister Carol and her hubby, Vere as well as his nephew Greg and of course our daughters and grandsons.

Our grandsons, Jay and Josh, really love sashimi so on the evening we slept over at their house we purchased some fresh yellow-tail,  Earl prepared it and I made their favourite salad.  It was a beautiful evening so Josh set the table outdoors and we had a very special evening with our boys.

Bonding with friends is always special.   On Friday we went to see where one of my very dearest friends has settled after many years of house hopping.  I love her new location at West Beach.  After enjoying our visit with her she took us to lunch where we enjoyed the views of our beautiful bay and mountain.

Our lovely friends, Pat and Tony, accommodated us in their spare room for most of our week in Cape Town and treated us to Sushi on Friday night.

Many years ago some friends and I formed a breakfast club which met more or less monthly to ensure we did not lose touch.  What a stunning group it turned out to be.  It’s probably the thing I miss most about not living in Cape Town. I was touched that when I communicated that I would be in town for the weekend everybody made the effort to attend breakfast club in my honour.  I had my youngest daughter join us and we had an amazing catch up.

As luck would have it the The Cape Town branch of the  Old Girls’ Guild of my college, Grahamstown Training College, met on for tea on Saturday afternoon.   Even though the college was closed down in 1975 (I graduated in 1973) the OGG continues.   GTC was the best teaching training institution in the country, founded by Mother Cecil and run by the St Peter’s Community for many years.   Teachers from this college were the very best and whenever any of us meet another no matter from which year there is an instant bond!   We now range in age from 63 to well in the nineties.  It was therefore not surprising to have a pretty good turnout to the tea at Veronica’s house on Saturday.

Sunday was Mother’s Day!   We all met at The Earl’s sister for a lunch time braai.  My daughters and grandsons spoiled me with lovey gifts and we invited Jeff and Annaline, the girls’ god parents and boys’ extra set of grandparents to join us.

And so after a wonderful Cape Town catch-up we left on Sunday afternoon and arrived back in Struisbaai at around 6 o’ clock.  It was good to be home!