Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Spring into Summer...
So the seasons are opposite to North America down here in the southern hemisphere. So, it is now coming into Spring. Well I guess it's Spring...the weather is generally pretty clear and sunny and warm year round and Winter here is actually sort of like Spring/early summer in Canada. the days are warm/hot and the nights get down around freezing. But, anyway, it is Spring and a couple of weeks ago, I flew into Cape Town coming back from the UK to spend a weekend with my sister, Jackie, my niece, Sahara, and Jesse James the Jack Russell. It's a very popular time to be in the West of SA...it is wild flower season. So we went up the west coast to Clan William. Our normal little guest house has been sold and isn't there anymore, but we found a very nice little B&B place to stay on a farm just outside of Clan William. It is an orange grove farm, and very very nice. Here I am feeding Sahara. The room was all in purple, but nice.
Clan William is a tiny farm area and there is an absolutely stunning dam.
We stayed over at the Guest Farm then went over to Mijaliesville (?) to the famous padstall (farm stall) on Saturday. The padstall is a huge attraction for some reason...I think it's just great marketing. It's basically a building with a restaurant in it. You eat basically whatever they are cooking that day. It is very Afrikaans...the teenager serving us was of good farm stock (pretty tall, and built like a brick s#%t house) and spoke little English. Lunch wasw stew of some sort...and I figured, be adventurous. Turns out it was offal stew. Anyone know what that is? yeah, I didn't either. Turns out it is sheep stomach. Ummm, yeah. With a few bones left in the mix for good measure. The big draw for the padstall are the huge fields of wild flowers.
From there we went down down and across to Darling. It's an arty little village that is basically famous for a cross dresser named Pieter Dyrk Uys, who is like the South African Dame Edna. Back in the day Dame Edna was a scathing satiric commentary on the apartheid regime. Anyway, we stayed in this huge guest house/bed and breakfast that was absolutely beautiful. And we managed to take some fantastic pictures of Sahara, who looks like a princess in this shot:
The next day, we went to Langabaan, a coastal town that is very touristy. We saw tons of flowers on the way, like a carpet of colour.
Overall, fantastic weekend away.
Clan William is a tiny farm area and there is an absolutely stunning dam.
Here is the padstall:
The weather was overcast on Saturday and it also rained so the flowers weren't as great as we had hoped. Still, very cool to see wild daisies blanketing the fields beside the road.
From there we went down down and across to Darling. It's an arty little village that is basically famous for a cross dresser named Pieter Dyrk Uys, who is like the South African Dame Edna. Back in the day Dame Edna was a scathing satiric commentary on the apartheid regime. Anyway, we stayed in this huge guest house/bed and breakfast that was absolutely beautiful. And we managed to take some fantastic pictures of Sahara, who looks like a princess in this shot:
The next day, we went to Langabaan, a coastal town that is very touristy. We saw tons of flowers on the way, like a carpet of colour.
Overall, fantastic weekend away.
London Calling...
So it has been a busy but not terribly exciting 6 weeks since I last blogged. I haven't done anything particularly interesting personally. I did get to London twice though for work. It's nice to get away but it's always a whirlwind. There is a new person doing my job with another partner and he's serious madman...constant movement and activity all the time. So it was tons of meetings over a couple of days but got lots done. On a side note, because I'm an idiot, I have yet again lost something i really need...my wallet. Nothing like losing everything you have in one fell swoop in another country while travelling, while not residing in the country where everything is registered...birth certificate, driver's licence, bank cards, credit cards etc. What a nightmare. I live in a country with a fairly high crime rate and I lose my wallet in London!! Ass-hat! (ie head up my ass as in clueless). And the worst is, i was only at work, on a private charter bus then at a venue for a private party. I have a feeling i put it down and it is waiting for me to claim it. Brutal!
But London in spring is still pretty good. Contrary to common belief, it didn't rain at all when we were there. Not a bad life at all!
But London in spring is still pretty good. Contrary to common belief, it didn't rain at all when we were there. Not a bad life at all!
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