Retiring in Struisbaai – Boks Vs Japs and “No, I don’t have empty nest syndrome”

2015-09-24 | puppy1952

Saturday 19 September 2015

Weekends in Struisbaai are just an extension of the week and sometimes I don’t even know what day it is. But I listen to the radio more than I ever did before and was alerted to the fact that there is a Rugby World Cup on the go and that the Bokke were playing Japan today. After our usual chores and faffing about we decided to go for a walk on the windy beach at about 3ish today. We spotted several fans dressed in green in preparation for the game later in the evening. Of course we planned to watch but the scenes on the beach got our attention first. We complain about the wind and weather but for some the conditions are perfect for their sport. It’s just an attitude of mind isn’t it.

It was a perfect day for windsurfing

Wow – what a jump

After our walk we decided to drive to a fish shop in Agulhas and get Sushi for supper – what were we thinking!

Earl, who won Springbok colours for Fishing in 1971 and 1972 didn’t even have a green tracksuit top or any other green garment having left them all in Cape Town so I made him wear the only green thing I could find in the house.

Earl settled in my pretty “Bok” scarf watching the game

Earl tucking into Japanes sushi on the night of the Big Game

Earl tucking into Japanese sushi on the night of the Big Game – no wonder we lost! We should have eaten Boerewors!

We were devastated to lose but hey – the Japs played brilliantly and I was secretly happy for the underdogs.

I woke up this morning at the disgracefully late hour of a quarter to eight. There was nothing urgent awaiting my attention and I felt deliciously guilty languishing a few minutes longer. Earl stirred and said, Why are you awake so early? How funny is that!

I got to thinking that I am living this decadent life and not doing anything worthy. What, I thought, should I do about this. I can’t go on just doing exactly as I please. I no longer have people relying on me. For most of my life I’ve been somebody’s daughter, sister, niece, mother, wife, teacher, friend. All these roles involved seeing to it that everybody’s needs were met. Those years of looking after the very young and the very old are now over. No aged relatives require my attention. No very small children need me to care for them. My own children are well over 30, the two older grandchildren are entering their final school years and the others live far away. Suddenly I don’t have any responsibilities! —— No – I don’t have empty nest syndrome. After all it is I who left the nest. And no – I don’t want to do anything worthy – I like this decadent lifestyle that I’m living. For the time being anyway!

After gym and a gloriously long shower, I opened the window to behold a beautiful sunny day. “Let’s go to the beach for brekkie”, I suggested to the lazy beloved. He readily agreed and soon we found ourselves at Pelican Harbour Cafe ordering bacon and eggs and coffee.

One can never get tired of this view

Our lovely waitress serving us excellent coffee

The Alfresco breakfast was great as food eaten outdoors always is.

After breakfast we went to the local school to buy tickets for their upcoming concert. It was break and the kids were in the playground. It’s a tiny independent school with classes from Nursery and Grade R to Grade 7. It is duel medium and as there are no more than 50 kids in the school they combine the grade so there are about five classes in all. The teachers were having tea and we tentatively knocked and asked if we could buy tickets. They were delighted and one of the staff took us to the small office to oblige our request. I asked if they had a volunteer programme and she immediately called the principal who said she’d love to take my details. I emphasised that I wouldn’t commit to anything regular but if they needed a relief teacher or somebody to help with reading I’d be happy to help. So much for dismissing my guilt about doing something worthy!

Retirement in Struisbaai – The Agricultural Show in Bredasdorp

2015-09-17 | puppy1952

Today I was up at 7:15 and did a session of gym. Earl thought the world has come to an end or something – and staggered through to the lounge where I have my gym set up – and said – What the heck are you doing at this unearthly hour?! (hahaha I used to get up at 5:30 when I was teaching!) I said – “Well you want to go to the Agricultural Show in Bredasdorp later on and I know you will be rushing me so I’m getting ready now! He thought I’d truly lost it. But I missed doing a session yesterday so thought I’d better get one in today.

Earl cooked brekkie and then we set off for The Agricultural Show and got there at about 10:30. I thought – this is going to be boring – but actually it was great! It wasn’t only tractors and farm tools. I loved the animals – cute miniature horses were the best and the most amazingly attractive goats! Don’t laugh!

An adorable miniature horse with an old granny going gaga over it

Isn’t the baby toooo adorable

Can’t remember what these are called but they’re so cute

Donkey and foal

This is where your milk comes from!

Fascinating Llamas – remind me of Dr Doolittle’s push-me-pull-yous

Couldn’t resist a piccie of the peacocks

We also went to the 4X4 and camping stalls and bought a gazebo type tent – almost a cross between a gazebo and tent.

We got a tent like this one

We also got some good ideas about be vegetable gardening in different types of containers. Stored those away for the future.

Good idea – veggies planted in drain pipes

Another good idea

We were amused at a convoy of old tractors passing by and compared them to the unbelievable modern farming equipment used today! WOW the new tractors and combine harvesters etc are HUGE.

Earl wanted to check out solar panels and that kind of thing and my bag got fuller and fuller of pamphlets and business cards.

Deep interest in the solar panels

There were also clothing and jewellery stalls which Earl tried to drag me past but he was sweet enough to buy me a very nice necklace

Some nice boots here

My sweet husband bought me this pretty necklace

We found ourselves in the shearing shed where they were talking about wool in Afrikaans and there was a woman spinning which fascinated me. She allowed me to take a photograph of her and then I went to browse the products while Earl watched a champion shearer shear a huge male sheep. I missed that (so no photos) because I got into conversation with the spinner who had the loveliest range of wool and cotton yarns – Nurturing Fibres

Turned out we actually know the spinners mom!

As you know I am now into knitting and crochet and there is limited variety of yarns here in Struisbaai! She gave me three free balls to try and asked me to persuade the Hekel tannie I take classes with to order from her. I bought another three balls of her organic cotton yarn and plan to make some place mats for the braai room table.

At lunch time we found a stall selling waterblommetjie bredie which I’ve never had but always wanted to try. Do you remember the TV show Nommer Asseblief? It was often mentioned in that show.

Earl looking horrified at the size of the portion

It was delicious! And if I can ever lay my hands on waterblommetjies I will make it myself!

The four hours we spent at the show flew by and we were well pleased with all we purchased – lemon infused olives, droerwors from the “hectic biltong” stall, a lovely necklace, my yarn and the tent.

Retiring in Struisbaai – Starting a Garden

2015-09-12 | puppy1952

Our Struisbaai house has always been one where we went for the odd weekend or school holiday. It holds many memories and has been through a number of changes but one thing that has never changed is the garden – or more accurately, the lack thereof. It is a secluded garden with a scruffy lawn and a the main feature a large, protected, milkwood tree which may not be removed or trimmed without the supervision of a conservation officer. Now while it was a holiday house, this did not matter as we were just grateful to have a garden with a braai area that was not visible to the passing parade. But now that we reside here permanently we feel that we should make an effort and get some sort of garden established.

The neighbours gum trees are overhanging the scruffy rockery which is full of dead leaves

I have this ‘big idea’ to start a vegetable garden. Now I know nothing about gardening. My garden in Cape Town is not exactly a show piece. It is tiny and just passes for neat with many bare patches that should have a few more plants than it currently boasts. I have a garden service in to do the lawn and edges and to sweep up the leaves. The pool is a chore that is left to my daughter and grandsons.

But now that I’m retired I have this urge to grow things, to make something of the expanse of nothing on my beach-side plot. So why not turn it into a self-sufficient sort of holding. Why not grow some vegetables? I suggest this to the man of the house. He looks somewhat horrified. What? Yes – why don’t we grow some veggies and maybe a few herbs and indigenous flowers? He looks at me as if I’ve taken leave of my senses. Retirement has driven me insane. Perhaps he should send me back to school. But instead he humours me and on a brief trip back to Cape Town drops in at Stodels in Kenilworth and purchases 6 containers suitable for growing vegetables in.

Now I’ve mentioned the milkwood tree. It’s huge and dominates our front garden. But the birds love it and we love birds. My darling husband also brings home a glazed, cement birdbath. Yay – this will attract the feathered friends. We place the bath beside the braai which is in front of the tree and also put a feeder with a perching rock on the shelf next to the braai. We can put seed on this for the birds. These features already improve the look of the garden.

Glazed cement bird bath

On Friday we get stuck into starting the garden. I decide to start small. We employ a labourer to help with the heavy lifting, chopping and cutting. A visit to Tolbos Nursery ends with the acquisition of flowers for the nursery and the hardware shops provides the garden tools, compost and fertiliser.

An afternoon of toiling and tilling results in aching backs, a cut on Earl’s hand where the saw fell when he released it from its place in the garage and a slightly neater looking plot! We’ve plant a rockery and one of the containers is sporting some butter lettuce.

Sawing the branches was quite a chore

Looking neater

The rockery

The birds are already excited. The rockery’s hollows hold fresh water and they seem to appreciate this greatly. I counted four robins – one a juvenile – several wagtails, some grey-headed sparrows, one yellow bishop and lots and lots of white-eyes and doves.

Robin loves the rockery

Grey-headed sparrow perching on a the stone in the bird feeder

Sunbirds visit our garden too but this one was very funny. She thought she’d found a friend and had a jolly good chat to her.

Kokstad visits Struisbaai

2015-09-07 | puppy1952

I have often blogged about our Kokstad Clan as we frequently venture to KZN to visit them and to indulge in some of our favourite activities. There are one or two good game parks there, the fly fishing is excellent and there is some wonderful birdlife – not to mention the very warm and friendly people to whom we are related!

Barbara and Andrew have been part of my life ever since I met Earl when they gathered me into the bosom of the family without hesitation. There are many happy memories of holidays spent on their farm Brooklyn where they still live. Their first three children fitted in with the ages of our first two and their younger two with our youngest and all eight got on very well together.

Their visits to Cape Town are rare so when they announced they were coming down to visit Barbara’s brother and do the Flowers, we were thrilled. They spent a few days with us here in Struisbaai and we had a wonderful time.

It was a lovely day on Thursday so after an “Earlie” breakfast we took a drive to Brandvlei. The birding en route was productive and we marvelled at all the water that was lying around after the recent rains.

Three banded plover

There were hundreds of spur-wing geese

Flying over the temporary water

My favourite photogenic duck – Yellow-billed duck

Black-winged stilt looking his best

Such long legs

Red-billed teal joined in the fun

Red-knobbed coots

We liked this picturesque cottage

With farm geese in front

Barbara’s more into flowers than birds

The wind was quite chilly at Brandvlei but we took a walk down the beautiful beach

White-fronted flowers were racing up and down the shoreline

White-fronted plovers were racing up and down the shoreline

The gulls always pose beautifully

Barbara and Andrew

Something on the rocks got Earl’s attention

It was good to let the wind blow through our hair

We then made our way back the same way before heading to Arniston.

Earl was intrigued to see a pond boiling with carp – where had they come from?

Some locals took the opportunity to catch them with their hands!

Nice one!

Bokmakierie captured our attention

This heron probably got lucky

Special to see white-faced ducks

Fishermen in the rough sea at Arniston

Beautiful beach – but tide too high to explore the cave

We had lunch at the hotel and then made our way home.

This Denham’s bustard was one of the highlights

On Friday I showed Barbara our village and all it’s special little shops. We were having a really good time but the men missed us and at lunch time rang for us to return. We then took a drive to Agulhas and had coffee and cheesecake at Potpourri!

It was delicious

It was a short but very pleasant trip and we will be seeing them again in the Christmas holidays! That would make it the third time this year!

Struisbaai – finally settling into our retirement home

2015-09-06 | puppy1952

We were supposed to move semi-permanently to Struisbaai in March this year but Life happened and we found ourselves on several adventures before we could take the first step.

So this is a catch up of what has been happening since we returned from our Namibian Trip.

On 25 July we came up for our first stint to Struisbaai, dropped in at Toyota Bredasdorp where we traded in my beloved Volkswagen Caravelle and took ownership of a brand new Toyota Avanza.

I shall miss my bus which has transported family and friends, school-kids and grandkids on many amazing trips in the utmost comfort. But after 10 years and a Land Rover to take her place we decided to get a smaller run around for Struisbaai and surrounds and leave the Landy for towing boat and caravan.

We’ve learned to cook for two, to not worry about what the rest of the family were doing and to simply enjoy each other’s company. Because we both had kids when we met we’ve never lived alone together and we have not had the luxury of empty nest syndrome either! It has been blissfully peaceful.

So what do we do all day? Well – the house needs maintenance and Earl is busy with that. He is also drawing plans for our extension and once the building begins he will be busy supervising that.

For years I have been up before 6 every morning and thought I would never get out of the habit but now we sleep in until 8 most days and what luxury that is!

My day begins with a 45 minute workout – I have a mini gym in the lounge – amazing what you can do in a small space. Earl has set up my TRX I have kettle bells, a skipping rope and a pilates ball and I use the passage for shuttles. Then after my shower we have a leisurely breakfast. There is of course the housework, laundry and shopping to do and we can take as long as we like over that.

Many years ago I used to knit, sew and crochet and do crafty things and I am slowly taking it up again. So I listen to the radio of podcasts and knit! It doesn’t make for interesting blogging but it’s what I do for many hours!

Struisbaai is a lovely little place and there is the beach and lovely birding drives and walks too too. We are not bored.

The harbour

A gull on the beach

A dog made friends with Earl

The Pelican Harbour Cafe serves a good breakfast and sitting outside in the winter sun is sooo pleasant

Earl chatting to a local fisherman

We have been back to Cape Town a couple of times for a funeral and business appointments but we are now here till November.

Visiting the Kids in Kokstad – Getting There

2015-04-23 | puppy1952

Yes – another trip! We certainly are enjoying our adventurous retirement. We saw our rural kids in Struisbaai and Cape Town in December/January. Our last visit to them in Kokstad was a year ago so really another visit was due. We also had the excuse of our brother-in-law, Andrew’s 80th coming up in May so after less than two weeks at home after our Kgalagadi trip we departed Cape Town yet again.

Our new home is going to be Struisbaai but we haven’t had time to move there yet! Therefore we decided to stop there for two nights to see that everything was still in order at the house and to check what needed to be done there. Earl sorted out the garden, I checked the inventory and we decided that a new Convection Oven should be added to the kitchen equipment.

Of course we also checked out the birdlife in the area.

Cape bulbul

Common Waxbill

Common Fiscal

African Pipit

Female Southern Black Korhaan

A visit to the harbour is compulsory and on the Sunday the day was clear and beautiful and the stingrays were having the time of their lives

On Monday 13 April we made our way to Great Brak to visit Diane and Carey. What a piece of paradise they have found. Carey was just out of hospital after a back operation but he was up and about and keen to show us everything. On Tuesday Diane and I took a very steep walk to the river planning to get a ride back with Earl but the pet calf followed us so we had to walk her back! It was a steep climb but I certainly needed the exercise.

First bird we saw – swee waxbill

Diane’s fishpond is a source of delight to the cat

He fell in trying to get a catch then swam to the edge without suffering too much trauma

Very pretty walk

Even the calf enjoyed it

But, boy was it steep to get back

Although it was only a day and a night with Carey and Diane we had an amazing time and are so impressed with what they have done with their place. Carey custom builds campervans and has set up an amazing workshop on the plot. Diane has taken to the country life like she was born to it. Next time we will stay for longer.

Struisbaai with three Generations – Exploring the Agulhas Coast Rock Pools

2014-12-20 | puppy1952

Earl was up at an indecent hour and went off to fish on Abrie’s boat. Lauren, Shannon, the boys and I were out of the house by 7:30 as we were to meet Professor Gavin Marneveldt for a rock pool excursion. His talk yesterday had peaked our interest and we were looking forward to exploring the rock pools with more informed eyes. It was overcast and cool and there was a splash of rain as we drove to Stinkbaai, just next to the Agulahs Camp Site. It was a good day to have something different to do. While we waited we explored on our own, watched the competitors in the Cape Agulhas Classic ride past and observed a family of francolin.

The Cape Agulhas Classic riders were also up bright and early

Crabs having a feast on a fish head in one of the rock pools

Southern Most Fracolin on an early morning walk

Southern Most Cape Francolin on an early morning walk

There was an excellent turn-out to the rockpool excursion – just a pity more didn’t pitch up to Professor Marneveldt’s lecture yesterday – reason being, I think, because there were quite a few young children. This morning they all had an amazing time.

We started at the Littorina zone on the upper shore. This region is named after the small snails that inhabit this zone. Littorina spp. has the ability to survive the severe conditions of heat stress and water loss of the upper shore.

Because of the overcast conditions the periwinkles were out in their hundreds instead of hiding beneath the rocks

We worked our way to the other zones, upper balanoid, lower balanoid and cochlear and found all kinds of interesting creatures and plants in the pools. Ninety nine percent of life on earth is in the sea.

Brain seaweed

This limpet has a huge appetite and lives on micro organisms and algaes that live on the rocks

sea sponge in cochlear zone

The kids were thrilled to find an octopus

Marine Explorers of Stinkbaai

View toward Agulhas lighthouse

Chiton found in high tide zone

sea urchin found in cochlear zone

Brittlestar on Shannon’s hand

sea cucumber

After spending a few hours enjoying the rock pools we decided to pop into Potpourri for breakfast. Grandpa’s fishing excursion ended early without much fish being caught.

Checking the menu at Potpourri

Rock pooling is hungry work so a healthy breakfast went down well

When we got home the three boys went to the beach, Lauren, Lisa and I got stuck into cleaning house while Allan trimmed the tree – what a transformation!

After the chores we were all ready for the beach. The wind had blown away the clouds and the waves were superb for boogy board and body surfing.

The tourists have arrived and the beach is more crowded than a week ago!

Warming up for a swim

Bat and Ball with Simon and Jay

Si has a good eye for the ball

Catching a wave

Go Josh!

What a stunning day it turned out to be. Tomorrow is our last day and we are all feeling a little low – “why are we letting the house out?” is the lament from the young ones.

Well kids, Cape Town is cool too you know. And now that Granny and Grandpa are pensioners every cent counts. We have had a brilliant 10 days and there is always next year!

Watch this space for further reports on our family holiday! The new title will be “Kokstad Kids in Cape Town”

Struisbaai Gathering of Three Generations – A relatively quiet day

2014-12-19 | puppy1952

Lauren brought coffee in bright and early this morning. “We’re still on farm time,” she said. It will take a while to get into holiday mode. With everyone sharing sleeping quarters it is difficult to sleep in and soon the entire menagerie of grandchildren were gathered in our room.

What time is it?

I love you Grandpa!

Before the hijinks began we rallied the troops and headed for the beach. It was overcast but there was not a breath of wind and the sea was as calm as a millpond.

The harbour – I never tire of it

The beach in the early morning

Lauren and Shan braving going in for a swim

I was the first to plunge into the deliciously calm and clear water – there were no waves; just some gentle swells. It was chilly at first but we all stayed in for ages as it was just so pleasant. Grandpa who is more of a fisherman than a bather came in too but was ever watchful and overprotective, admonishing us for drifting away from the group. Of course this just set the young ones off on an ever increasing mission to scare him silly!

We headed home eventually and Lauren whipped up a wonderful champagne breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, kidneys and toast) for 11 just in time for niece/cousin Peta-Ann and her hubby’s arrival from Gansbaai.

She is a chip off her Cheffing father’s block

Cousin Reunion

After breakfast I checked FaceBook and felt a twinge of jealousy to see my friend, Julian’s post about birds he was seeing in Robertson! Earl was impressed with the bass caught too!

Earl and me drooling over Julian's Face Book photographs - birding and fishing in Pat Busch Nature Reserve Robertson - So jealous

Earl and me drooling over Julian’s photographs – birding and fishing in Pat Busch Nature Reserve Robertson – So jealous

Peta Ann has not been too Struisbaai in more than five years and barely recognised the house and the town! We took her on a little shopping excursion to show her how it had all changed since its earlier days of one co-0p grocery store, a shell shop and a fish shop!

Shopping in the metropolis of Struisbaai!

The girls and me testing out the quality of the coffee in The Nursery Coffee Shop - It passed with flying colours

The girls and me tested the quality of the coffee in The Nursery Coffee Shop – It passed with flying colours

Peta Ann and Eugene left at 2:30 and Earl, Lauren, the boys and I went to a talk – Close Encounters of the Marine Kind with at the Sanparks boardroom in Agulhas.

Prof Gavin Maneveldt (Department of Biodiversity & Conservation Biology,University of the Western Cape) was amazing. We were the only people there and seeing that we had our grandchildren he geared his talk to their level. He allowed the boys to ask questions and engaged with them beautifully. It was a fascinating presentation and will culminate with a guided outing to the rock pools tomorrow morning. What a pity that more people did not respond to this invitation. We didn’t expect it to be so immensely informative. More on this tomorrow after our field trip.

Struisbaai Gathering of Three Generations – Birding with the Locals

2014-12-18 | puppy1952

I love the early mornings but up at quarter to five stretches it a bit when you’re on holiday! No just kidding when it comes to birding it’s definitely the best time of the day. Earl and I met up with 10 other crazy people and had a wonderful birding excursion led by Dr Wim de Klerk. We discovered that this outing was happening on a notice of events for the month of December displayed in the mall.

Arthur and Wally kindly offered to accommodate us in the former’s vehicle and we explored the edges of bodies of water and the salt pans using the car as a hide and getting out when appropriate.

This Agulhas National Park hosts a variety of habitat types and great biodiversity as far as birds are concerned. The patches of renosterveld host large numbers of Black Harriers and we saw them flying and two perched in a tree. Agulhas Long-billed Lark is a special for this area and we managed to see him briefly too. We also saw a number of marsh harriers. One of our target birds was the African Snipe and were delighted to find that too.

The Spotted Eagle owl greeted us at our meeting place

Many Spurwinged geese flew overhead – they are plentiful in this area

Kittlitz plovers were wading on the edges of the water and also further away

Kittlitz’s plovers were wading on the edges of the water and also further away

Our Fellow Birders

We had to get quite deep into the veld

Some young black-shouldered kites were still being cared for by their parents

Some young black-shouldered kites on the nest. Their parents were about still finding food for them.

Some curlew sandpipers

Purple Swamphen

African Snipe

Pelicans on the salt pan – Kelp gulls in the foreground

There were hundreds of Lesser flamingos - quite unusual to see so many

There were hundreds of Lesser flamingos – quite unusual to have them in this area

The vulnerable Denham’s bustard made an appearance

Wally is a really fun guy and I just loved his hat with its Ostrich Plume

Earl and I were really welcomed by this group of people. We will definitely get in touch again when we start spending more time in Struisbaai. Thanks to all, especially Emerentia (organiser) Arthur (driver) and Wim (leader) for including us on this wonderful outing.

We called it a day at 11 and Earl and I went to the Aviator’s Restaurant for breakfast. An ex-pilot runs it and has an old plane that he intends mounting on the roof! He also has a flying school and takes people on scenic flights. Struisbaai certainly is a unique place with something for everybody.

Struisbaai Gathering of Three Generations – Swimming, Shopping and Fishing

2014-12-17 | puppy1952

A perfect fishing day dawned again. Earl, Allan and Lauren got up at a very rude hour and quietly slunk off to sea, the latter two having dosed on sea-sick medication the night before!

My rising time, though not as bad mannered as theirs, might have seemed a little extreme to some. The young ones groaned when I cheerfully encouraged them to join me on the beach for a walk and swim. “Meet me there,” I called and left them to dawdle over bowls of Otees and debate as to whether or not it was worth the effort.

Once again it was a blissful morning made better that the masses had not yet arrived. I left my camera behind and regretted it when I spotted a rock kestrel on top of a “Christmas Tree” and then an oystercatcher on the shore line. By the time I was on my return lap down the beach, Simon and Josh appeared to look after my towel and glasses while I went in for a dip. Heavenly – the sea was calm and clear with hardly a ripple. A mom and daughter started chatting to me and asked if I were local. It was their first visit and they were delighted that they’d decided to camp here this year.

Struisbaai is indeed an idyllic place for a holiday. It’s off the beaten track and still a fairly well-kept secret although it’s grown tremendously since my introduction to it in 1982.

It was about quarter past nine when the boys and I returned home with croissants from OK Grocer’s bakery for breakfast(This has got to stop before I gain a ton!) An hour later the fisherfolk pulled in. Lauren had the biggest and best fish!

Lauren’s Fish

The females of the family decided to bond before lunch and how better to do that than to go shopping! Yes in Struisbaai! A new clothing store, Beach Bliss, opened just a week ago and is superbly stocked for men, women and children.

Beach Bliss

Wanien is the owner and there is something for everybody

What do you think, Gran?

This one …..

Or this?

We got quite a few items for Shannon – Christmas presents – so she’ll have to wait to wear them! Lisa and Lauren also got one or two things and I bought a beach bag.

We were almost done when Earl phoned to find out where we were. Not to be outdone we got him some new stuff too – from another lovely shop in the mall.

Earl in his new shorts and shirt

All that shopping is thirsty work so we stopped at Cafe dul Sud for coffee/milkshakes.

Two Strawberry milkshakes, one chocolate a Cappuccino and black for me please!

The girls headed home while Earl and I went to chat to our friends Lynn and Glyn who have a gift shop, Due South, in the mall. We also popped into the nursery coffee shop to get a Christmas loaf for tea.

Friendly Girl in the nursery/coffee shop

Nursery

Coffee shop

South Bound – a wonderful place to browse

We’ve been looking for a suitable bird feeder and found one a quaint little craft shop which sells all kinds of locally made stuff.

We love it’s name and the notice outside – Not made in China – Buy from your own people.

What a surprise to arrive home to the smell of fresh fish frying in the pan. Lauren has taken on the mantle from her dad! It was delicious – the young ones had the nerve to say – Even better than yours, Grandpa! Well equally as good anyway!

What a super star – She caught it – She cooked it

The beach was our next port of call – after 3:30 to avoid the harmful UV rays. And wow – the water was divine – I usually don’t stay in for more than 10 minutes but I just didn’t want to get out this afternoon and the kids were even worse.

The sea was extra blue today

Kites were flying

It’s amazing, Gran!

Shannon got busy with my bird stickers when we got back and they are a-ma-zing. Thanks you Leah for a wonderful gift.

Difficult to photograph but this one came out quite well!

So ended another lousy day in Africa! Tomorrow Earl and I are making an early start to go bird watching with a local expert. Watch this space!

Struisbaai Gathering of Three Generations Day 6

2014-12-16 | puppy1952

Abrie suggested a cure for my hand – sleep with an “Asyn Lap” and when you wake up all the bruising and swelling will have disappeared. Well I thought it was worth a try so Earl bound me up in a crepe bandage and poured brown vinegar over it and finally my hand was taped into a plastic bag. But in the middle of the night I woke up with an excruciating itch under the bandage which I ripped off to scratch. My hand looked pickled and I washed off the vinegar and went straight back to sleep! Admittedly the swelling has reduced and there is no bruising but it is not completely better yet!

Here are some pictures that Joshua took last night.

Laurie

Simon learning the art of tablet photography from an expert

Simon learning the art of phone photography from an expert

The Gang

Fooling around

Cuzzies

Shan and Annie

Chilled

This morning early Grandpa and I gathered the grandkids and headed to the beach. There was much moaning about the ridiculously early hour but they forced themselves and were glad of it later! As far as I am concerned the best time to be on the beach is early in the morning before it gets too hot or too windy.

Looking out to perfection on from the boardwalk

Miles of soft sand

A jellyfish being devoured by sea snails

Into the cool, blue sea

Chilly at first

The kids stayed in for ages

Simon

Walking back

Fishing boat returning

We returned at quarter to ten for a lovely breakfast and then chilled till later when the kids returned to the beach. Jay and Shan are a bit too sunburned for my liking! Earl did some chores around the house, I chilled doing very little for most of the days and Allan cooked an awesome curry for dinner. Laurie and Annie left for Cape Town just after 6 but they will join us at home next Monday – the house will be bursting at the seams till the New Year! What a pleasure to have everyone together – family bonding at its best.

Struisbaai Gathering of Three Generations – Day 3

2014-12-13 | puppy1952

Yes – Today dawned bright and still, heralding good fishing conditions. Earl, Lauren, Jay, Josh and Simon were on the sea by 7 o’clock and were lucky enough to spot dolphins and flying fish! I could be persuaded to board a boat to see that! The fishing was not too shabby either. Grandpa got a lovely red roman and the others were happy to get a few silver fish. The bad news – they were all sea-sick except for Jay and Gramps! But they did not suffer long and were back on land by 9:30.

Red Roman

Some of the silver fish

Jay, Simon, Lauren and Josh (looking a bit green about the gills)

After the fishing excursion the wind got up but the kids went off to the beach and spent some time there. Lolz, Annie and I went down for a while but were soon blown back home.

For lunch we enjoyed Earlie’s fabulous fried fish and later in the day the kids headed back to the beach for a swim.

Master Chef of Struisbaai

Finger food

We had a little mishap with a little sugarbird today. It flew against a closed window and stunned itself. Jay picked it up with a dish towel and rubbed it a bit. It just lay in a stupor but slowly started to flick its wings and eventually flew onto some washing hanging on the line. Eventually it felt strong enough to take shelter at the top of the milkwood tree. I do hope its headache is over soon! We must put those lovely stickers I received as a gift onto those windows soon.