Dark Chocolate & Pink Petals

For our birthday Cathy had organised a braai for a few of her friends who happened to be in Cape Town. It turned out to be rainy and cold that evening and Cathy had been so excited and looking forward to her friends coming that she had not made alternative plans in case of bad weather. But Joel came to the rescue and the braai soon became a delicious chicken stew with roasted vegetables and garlic bread. Later on Cathy brought out the chocolate cake which was certainly a delight to the eyes, all wrapped up in its warm coat of glistening dark brown and its baroque hat of pink and cerise petals. But it was a good, fooling 'cover up' as it turned out to be a very ordinary sponge cake on the inside and no delight to the palate. But it's only the next morning that we really discovered the 'cover up' as strangely enough, after wine, the cake the previous evening had been rather good!
It was a lovely evening with much laughter, good music, excited chatting, good wine, yellow flowers, sweet-worded cards, a licky dog, a delicious meal and pleasing presents. Cathy wore one of the tops that I gave her and had much fun opening all her other presents. When everyone had left we sat around and reflected on our wonderful evening. It was also Tony and my 14th wedding anniversary and the evening felt, privately to both of us only, that it had also been a celebration of 14 years of love and togetherness and adventures and fun.

Why I want to be there and not here

Mountains that have existed for centuries before us, reminding us of our brief visit to this plane, ever-changing clouds that seem to tumble over the tops, leaving you wondering whether it's going to be windy, cold, rainy or hot and forcing you to be ever prepared for a change. Streets lined with old houses, apartment blocks, trees, little alleyways, squirrels, 'bergies', steps, always interesting at every turn. Lovely places to stop and have a coffee with a view. And of course, a dog and a cat ! ! !

Beautiful old and historically interesting buildings in the city, bookshops galore, new and old, to browse in and the ever-present view of the mostly cloudy mountains wherever you turn.

Busy, vibey, coffee-smelling places and delicatessens, with packed shelves of tempting imported groceries that you wouldn't know what to do with if you bought them, but where you can park your tired butt after long walks in the city.

Interesting streets and walkways and steps and markets and shops and, and, and, so much more to discover continuously, feeling free and alive wherever you go, being able to explore and walk and live.

And last but definitely not least, which needs no comment.

And all those things are why I want to be there and not here.

Benches

I have always been attracted to benches especially the ones that are positioned just right so that you can sit and look out at something glorious, or sit and ponder and philosophise, or sit and ponder or just sit.

I have my fill in Cape Town as there are benches everywhere and they are all positioned just right. Some of these are in Sea Point, yes, you guessed, another of my favourite places. A rather seedy, mixed part of Cape Town on the Atlantic Seaboard (as they call it), with a large community of Jewish people and a multi-cultural feel to it with many people coming from North Africa and elsewhere. It has a long, long promenade where residents and others, walk their dogs, walk themselves, jog, beg, look, sit, or just sit in their cars and look out. A lonely bench beckons to me to come and sit and share its views of people

and the ocean. After a long walk I am more than ready to accept its invitation and another person has the same idea. We sit in silence and look out, Cathy, me and the bench.

Beers & a Trip up the Mountain

We packed a couple of beers each and chips and chocolate and headed off to Signal Hill to see the sun set over Camps Bay way. It was windy and cold when all three of us went but we found a spot with a bit less wind where we were able to munch our chips before they flew away. It was so cold and unpleasant waiting for the sun to go down, which seemed to be taking longer than normal, that we wanted to press a heavenly 'fast forward' so that we could get back to the comfort of our car. But not being able to find this elusive 'fast forward' button we briskly walked back to our car out of the wind and cold. So much for our spiritual experience.

In May though, when Cath and I went up, it was a lovely windless sun set and these 'photos were taken then. The road up the mountain was bumper to bumper with Capetonians enjoying their life and tourists awe-struck at one of the most beautiful cities in the world. People gathered and found good spots from which to see our planet's orange ball giving us night and dark and coolness while giving day and warmth and light to another part of our mysterious world. As the sun went down people became quieter and watched as it slowly sank into the ocean leaving a strip of orange brilliance where it had just been.

Crashing Waves at Kalk Bay

Kalk Bay is another of my favourite places in Cape Town (I have many) and it has hot, mouth-watering, fresh, crispy fish and chips, another of my favourite things in Cape town (I have many). It is a small fishing village and its name comes from the lime kilns that were there in the early days. It has bric-a-brac shops, art shops, antique shops, book shops, and it's a place where a lazy walk through the main street going from shop to shop can take hours, or a brisk 15 minute walk will take you from one end of the street to the other. Coffee shops are quaint and small and packed tight on a weekend where Capetonians meet to have a Sunday morning brunch.

There is a restaurant there, which is one of my favourites in Cape Town (I have many) which is right on the sea and rocks, and the waves, on a windy day, come crashing onto the rocks and splash heavily onto the restaurant windows, making one almost duck as they come. It's a beautiful place where one can have an expensive meal or just have a beer and watch the ocean. In winter there is a little coal fire which is lit making the atmosphere warm, alive, vibrant and exciting. (Speaking of alive and vibrant and exciting, what I love about how I feel in Cape Town is exactly that, alive, vibrant and excited). Cathy took me here when I came on my own in May and she treated me to mussels to start and seafood spaghetti after. I still remember the mussels, they were big, fresh, cooked just right, juicy and topped with a sauce that only a good chef knows how to make. The meal was delectable and the company of my daughter was fun, positive, happy and interesting, as it always is.

On our trip now, we all three went driving to Kalk Bay for fish and chips and then after, a cold beer at this restaurant and Tony was enthralled with the beautiful spot and the atmosphere of the little town. We sat and sipped and watched the ocean and the mountains in the background. What a beautiful place and what a beautiful drive to get there, down Boyes Drive with a high view of the sea and mountains over Muizenberg. There is a lovely train ride from Cape Town city to Kalk Bay and Tony and I meant to ride it but ran out of time. We intend to go back there many times, God willing.

Shopping for Birthday Presents

Cathy and I had made a plan that we would spend a day together shopping for our birthday presents from each other and we were both looking forward to it and feeling rather excited at the prospect of buying and receiving nice things. We gleefully drove to the V & A Waterfront which is one of my favourite places. It's a place where boats get fixed, boats get chartered, boats get shown off, boats get longed for, boats get scrubbed until they gleam, boats bob up and down playfully. But it's not only a place for boats, it's also a great place for humans to spend lots of money, shopping, eating, drinking, taking boat and helicopter rides, being seen, listening to music played by different buskers. It's vibey, alive, interesting, regenerating. AND...it's got loads of fabulous shops ! ! ! After first getting ourselves a take-away coffee and finding a spot among the crowd to sip it, we meandered towards the shopping mall and had great fun looking, feeling, trying, debating, laughing, and finally choosing. Cathy decided on two tops from me and I fell in love with a small day bag from her. Lovely things. We were very chuffed with ourselves and our presents and decided to have a nice lunch somewhere. We chose a beautiful place overlooking the Waterfront and had a glass of champagne and tapas. All too soon it was time to go home to an eager walk-longing dog and two loving men waiting for us. What a lovely day to remember.

Used Books, Coffee & a Flower Seller

On a cloudless, windless, rainless day Cathy took us to Rondebosch, which forms part of the Southern Suburbs, to a used book warehouse she had heard of, as she knows that Tony is partial to 'previously-loved' books. It turned out that there was a load of crappy books for Tony, but I managed to find a thriller by an author I love and Cathy bought a smoothie recipe book. A little disappointed for Tony, we walked away and decided to go and have a coffee in a lovely little coffee shop that Cathy had already spotted a while before. There we relaxed over our coffees, took in all the details of a well decorated coffee shop made especially cosy and welcoming with a spot outside to sit when the elements are occupied elsewhere. Cath and I looked longingly at the cake display, patted our tums and turned wisely back to our coffees feeling slightly disenchanted. We watched the people walk by and enjoyed the flower seller sitting reading her newspaper. Flower sellers are everywhere in CT and it makes me think that peoples' homes must be full of flowers, otherwise why would there be flower sellers everywhere? This is a profound question, do ponder over it!

A Walk in the Park & Wine in the Mountains

The next morning, Cathy, Nala and I set off for Nala's usual morning walk in her favourite (mine too) park. It's very funny to watch them both as they really look alike, two beauties with long, wind-blown hair, and Nala in front pulling Cathy with all her might to get to a much awaited pee, Cathy bravely striding out behind her holding onto the lead with both hands. The de Waal Park is leafy and green with child, dog (and poo) -friendly lawns and hordes of benches where one can sit and watch dogs chasing squirrels which they never catch, but what the hell, they live in hope (the dogs). People are friendly and smile and dogs have sensuous, butt-smelling encounters with each other. All is well.

It rained a lot for the first few days and on a day where the skies cleared and showed their infinity, Joel treated us to a lunch and wine-tasting experience. We drove through beautiful wine country, magical, great expanses of wine growing farms nestled between mountains.

We stopped at an imposing manor house with huge doors and outsized spaces with a dining area the size of a ballroom. The lunch was from the Gods and the wine from the angels accompanying them. As we regaled ourselves, looking over verdant valleys and daunting mountains, after wine, I thought I was in heaven. There was almost heavenly music playing. Amazing what a bit of alcohol can do! We continued tasting more wine sitting outside in cool gardens to try to soothe our wine-red faces.

And after all that magic and wine, Tony had a fat asthma attack in the car coming home!

Vroom vroom, we get to Cape Town

The storm that was brewing finally brewed and we could see sheets of dark grey rain falling over parched farms for many miles, but not a drop hit us. And then the most beautiful rainbow appeared starting from the ground and getting lost in the sky somewhere, a good omen, I thought.

Driving through the Karoo was quite overwhelmingly beautiful. Miles and miles of quiet, barren and desolate splendour.

It felt as if the Karoo had decided to show it's magnificence only to us and to share it's colours and storms and rainbows only with us making our Karoo experience even more impressive and leaving us feeling unbelievably thankful.

Of course the only 'photo of Tony driving that I took had to be when the one and only car that we saw in four hours, came past! We had taken a very quiet road where there was hardly any traffic.

After a stop for breakfast in a freezing cold place and another stop for coffee further along, we finally found our way into Cape Town, got a bit lost in the city, but were able to get our bearings after a quick chat and directions from Joel. It was great to finally get there knowing that we have two and a half months to be with family, to enjoy, explore, have fun, get to know everything and just chill.

Cathy and Joel were outside as we drove up and made us feel very welcome, Nala was also very excited to have visitors and wiggled all over us licking any part that got near her mouth, wagging her rump. Cathy made some tea, or was it coffee, I don't remember, I was too excited, almost as much as Nala but I didn't lick anyone although I had to hold myself back a few times. She (Cathy) showed Tony around their lovely house, as I'd seen it during my previous visit.

They then showed us to our room and bathroom and there we were able to unpack gratefully and start 'settling in'. We soon made our little room comfy and cosy and put all our things away in the cupboard that they had cleared for us. It felt good to know that my kid was around and that we would be able to giggle, go out for coffees and chat and chat and chat. We do that very well! It also felt good to get to know Joel a bit better as we have not really had that much time to do that.

Joel and Cath then decided that as they had taken me to Camps Bay with Kentucky fried chicken and beers when I came last, that it had become tradition, and later on, after a bit of a rest and lots more chatting, we headed off to see the sun set in Camps Bay with a big bag of chicken and a couple of beers each. Elation, elation, elation.

We set off on our adventure

I am going to try and record our trip to CT because it was so magic, we felt so free, we will remember it always. I didn't take many 'photos, it seemed too much trouble to always have a camera on me and I kind of regret it now but maybe a thousand words are better than a picture!

We woke up very early, 4 am, we didn't even have a cuppatea but watered plants, took a couple of pictures, checked the flat and set off to a sun-rising, bird-singing, glorious morning, both feeling elated and already looking forward to our first stop for a coffee.

After bacon and eggs and hot steaming coffee, feeling sleepy but contented, we carried on, Tony driving and enjoying it, and me trying my best to keep awake so as not to miss anything, relishing the time to just be and look and observe.

We arrived at a beautiful farm in the Karoo called Rooidam Cottages, and were welcomed by the farmer and his wife who showed us our little self-catering cottage nestled in an oasis of orchards, blue gums, chickens and sheep, surrounded by stillness and starkness.

After a shower and a quick preparation for the next morning, we poured ourselves a stiff whiskey and sat outside on the veranda imbibing the vastness and the sounds of a world settling for the night. The farmer's wife came to chat with us and to share her love of God and the bible with us, while we were probably reeking of whiskey and eating jungle oats for dinner. Funny how it all seemed quite natural at the time, maybe God approves of whiskey drinkers after all.

We awoke to a fanfare of bird calls and an old dog, not Tony, sitting outside waiting to greet us. The sun was just coming up, painting the sky in orange, and, being part of this moment I felt happy and filled with contentment and knew that all was well.

We left early again and watched the earth awake as we drove. A vast space where there the sun rises on one side a storm brews on the other and we, tiny specks of humanity, in the middle, privileged to be part of it.

A new destination

Yaaaaaay, I've just created a blog. What a good girl I am. Don't know yet who shall be the proud recipients of my blog address (I think I wrote it down, but maybe I didn't and will never be able to find it again !) Hope I remember to write on it sometimes. Need to get to know how to use it and how to attach 'photos and so on, great fun. Just taught myself and here is Cape Town city bowl.

Back in Jo'burg, after Cape Town, feels old, boring, melancholic, depressing. I know I need a change I have been here too long. I need freedom. I need the wind. I need the sea. I need the mountains. Things that I have never known before for longer than a holiday, I now want in my life. Not to mention being closer to my beloved child. I am excited and full of eagerness to start a life in a different place. I feel it calling me, beckoning me. This new destination feels alive and vibrant, health-filled and creative, with new lessons to learn. As Tony says, we have passed the exams in this classroom, let us go to the next class. My arms are wide open to receive the abundance of the universe.