Amble on St James Cat Walk

Sunday proved to be the most spectacular day.  Spring has arrived in all its glory.  I wandered the neighbourhood, admiring all the lovely flowers that have burst into glorious colour.  Here is one example:

Vygies simply can't help themselves.  They are so incredibly vivid and flower so copiously.  Here is another one:

I posted a daisy on Project 365.

Yesterday's hike was along the Muizenberg - St James catwalk.  This is a much favoured amble on a Monday morning.  On Project 365 is a lovely picture of the St James changing huts reflected in the St James pool.  What was particularly enjoyable about the walk on Monday, is that one of the walkers had a book which has been produced about the history of buildings along Muizenberg Main Road.  It was interesting to hear about some of our local heritage.  Here is another of what is becoming one of my favourite pictures:

These benches are enjoyed by many.  When one looks at the views that seem to go on forever, and the incredible blues of the sea, it is little wonder why.

Last night I went to photography club.  It is wonderful to see what people are doing with their cameras.  We are very fortunate to have international award winners in our club, so one can learn an incredible amount about photography just by seeing what they have done.

Mozart in the Methodist Church in Simonstown

Cleone and I attended a concert in the Methodist Church in Simonstown last night.  The conductor was a man by the name of Steve van der Merwe.  He is a doctor.  I couldn't help thinking to myself - 'I hope he delivers babies'.  I could just imagine them popping out like peas in a pod.  He is an excellent conductor.  The church was packed with people.  The music was superb.  There is something about a live orchestra that makes the music that much more beautiful.  I think it has to do with the very vivid perception of complete and utter harmony, and a group of people working together to make something incredibly beautiful.  The instruments and their gleaming wood and brass, and in this case a flute of gold, is a feast for the eye.  I did not take a photograph out of deference to the members of the orchestra.

Afterwards, we crossed the street to Cleone's Rose Vine Cottage, and had a peaceful glass of ginger beer whilst looking out across False Bay and the Simonstown harbour.  The bay was as still as a mill pond.  Another lost opportunity for a photograph.  I was so enjoying the peace and the scenery and the company, that I didn't fetch my camera from the car.

I did post a picture of yachts taken on my way into Simonstown.

Today is another perfect Cape Town day.  It is warm and balmy, not a breath of wind.  It is from now on until the start of the new year that driving in Fish Hoek, particularly over a weekend, becomes somewhat unpleasant.  It is not yet holiday season, but with Heritage day yesterday, and the very evident arrival of Summer, it is probably that all 'Kaapenaars', will have dug themselves out of bed, put kids and dogs, boom boxes and picnic boxes into the boot of the car and will be on their way to the coast.  

So today will be a walking day.  With so many gorgeous displays of spring flowers in gardens in an around the neighbourhood, I figure walking Bolle down the road with my camera will give me much on which to feast my eye.

National Heritage Day

It is quite scary how quickly time skitters and fritters away.  I last posted early, early on Tuesday morning.  

I spent the day with Bev on Tuesday.  We had a really lovely day.  Here is a picture of her pool, and the view that she has from her verandah out across the sea of Camps Bay:

I caught the train to Claremont.  Bev picked me up there.  We did some shopping, and then went through to her house.  Bev then dropped me off at Cape Town station where the trains were delayed :(.  I finally got back to Fish Hoek a bit late for knitting club, but walked up anyway and had a lovely time with a group of about 20 other beaverish knitters.  I posted a picture of Devil's Peak, as seen from Bev's house on Project 365.

Wednesday and Thursday were spent exploring work options.  I am making some headway in that regard, which is good news. Other pursuits on these two days were working on Christmas gifts which I am planning for friends.

Friday was another hiking day.  We hiked up through Newlands Forest:

I posted a picture of  beautiful waterfall that we saw on our journey on Project 365.  


I spent the afternoon with Cleone.  Cleone is a friend of mine from Toastmasters.  We went to her cottage in Glencairn, and then onto her cottage in Simonstown.  We haven't spent time together in ages, so it was good to catch up.  I am seeing her again later today.

And today is National Heritage Day.  I am about to go and do some shopping, and then resume the activities of Wednesday and Thursday.  I also aim to tuck in some gardening, which is an ongoing daily joy.

A little bit of happiness:  My blogs are now viewed in 10 countries.  Not bad for a l'il ol' South African chick :).

Hiking through farmlands in Constantia

Today's hike was through farmlands in Constantia.  Here are pictures of some of my fellow hikers:

Something of a surprise was to stumble upon a community of pear trees, simply bursting with blooms:

Afterwards, a lovely light lunch of fried camembert, with apple chutney and toast, with a good cup of coffee, and then home.

In the evening, computer club, where Elfi gave a lovely presentation of web-sites that she has stumbled upon in her journeys around the net.  Some were informative, some fun and some anachronistic.

A self indulgent day

It is very cold and wet.  That is ok.  Our dams will be a little fuller than they would be without it.  So today has become a self-indulgent day:  reading; scrabbling; catching up with light household chores.  Not much in the way of pictures today.  Here is one of some violas growing under a tree outside my back door:

I have posted one of a caterpillar on Project 365.

Coffee with friends

This morning I went through to Kommetjie to meet with friends for coffee.  We have a lot in common, so there was a constant buzz of friendly banter and loads of laughs.  We have a lot in common, these friends and I, so we could laugh both at and with each other.

Then I came home and spent some time in the garden.  Here is a marigold which sits amongst the veggies which are still from my first planting:

And some Zim creeper:

This afternoon I did some more origami.  I have posted my efforts on Project 365.

Hike up the Ridge

Today's hike started in Glencairn with the intention of going up the mountain to the Ridge behind Elsie's Peak.  What is so special about this hike is that from the Beacon at the top of the ridge, one has a 360 view of the Peninsula, into Fish Hoek across to Gordon's Bay and Hangklip, into Simonstown and across Noordhoek Beach to Kommetjie.  Between these coastlines, there are hectares of mountainside with many different species of Cape fynbos.

Below are pictures of the three different perspectives of the coast:

Fish Hoek, across to Strandfontein with the mountains as a backdrop

Noordhoek beach, with Kommetjie nestled in the left hand corner

Boulders and Miller's point on the way out of Simonstown going towards Cape Point

Some of the mountainside on our way up

Here is a picture of some of my fellow hikers sitting at the beacon on top of the Ridge, with Noordhoek beach behind them:

Today is a cause for celebration.  One year ago today, I made and actioned a decision which changed my life completely.  When I look back over the past year, slowly but surely I have confronted my fears and overcome them.  It is fitting that the views of the hike reflected a clear day when one can see forever.

A Pollyanna Moment

Do you remember those special knitting projects that I was doing before going to Korea?  They are gifts for family members.  Here is how I planned the giving of the gifts:

A getting together, either on Muizenberg beach:

or at Knead:

It was going to be a Chinese Auction.

Here is the reality:

Packing them all into a box and finding a way to get them to Stellenbosh.

Today I am going to finalise the sewing up, pack them, each with their personalised little gift tags that I made, and then put them in a box for sending.  Here is the picture of the gift tags:

I think they are rather fun

Anyone know of anyone who is going that way soon that might want to drop the box off for me?

Spring is in the air, there are flowers everywhere

Today has been such a lovely day.  It started with playing down scrabble and word games, followed by a quick chat with Isy where we shared a giggle or two.  

Despite the fact that Cordelia now only works for me once a fortnight, she comes here anyway on the day when she would have worked for me.  Her daughter goes to school in Fish Hoek.  She has not yet found alternative employment, so comes here for a safe haven between dropping Patience off at school and collecting her at midday.

During the morning, Bolle and I went to the beach.  It is a perfect spring day - warm, without being hot, wind-free and low humidity.  The beach had recently been cleaned, so there were long stretches of sand with waves lapping gently on the shore.  For years, Bolle has been outstanding at fetching her ball when I toss it.  It is only recently that she is learning to give it back to me in order to throw it again.  What she actually wants is to play tug of war with it, so we do that a bit, and then I ask her to drop it, and she does, albeit unwillingly.  I love watching the expressions in her eyes as she goes through the process of realising that the only way to get it thrown again is to let go of it.

Afterwards I returned to Noordhoek Farm Village to retake yesterday's pictures of the flowers there.  Yesterday was wet and cold and most of the pictures that I took were blurred, or the lighting was bad.  I forgot to use my flash.

I have uploaded pictures to Project 365.  I noticed that the sequence of pictures was a bit out so I sorted that out, but have not extrapolated the changes through to this blog.  Sorry if some of the posts are a bit wrong in this regard.  I may, when I have time, revisit posts over the last few days and 'fix' the links.

Bev called and we had a brief chat and shared a laugh.  We are planning some hiking in the near future when both of us are free at the same time.

Later today, I am going to visit another friend of mine.  We are working on the possibility of some part time work for me.  However it turns out, I am learning a lot, and enjoying the process.

A quick picture to brighten this post:

Another member of the protea family, seen at Noordhoek Farm Village

Healing the Soul

Today, we hiked along the River Walk in the North West part of Silvermine Reserve.  It was an estimated 6km, with an elevation of 150m.  Except for the safe warmth of a really good friend [she knows who she is], there is nothing quite like the combination of nature, exercise, and the banter of fellow hikers to soothe a wounded soul.  It was quite dark along the river bed, and during the latter part of the hike it poured.  Here is a photograph of a waterfall which we passed:

Here are some pictures of some of my fellow hikers:

Afterwards, some of us went through to Noordhoek Farm Village, where we stopped off for coffee at The Toad.  Wrapping one's hands around a warm cuppa when one is still dripping water from one's hair is such a good feeling!

On the way home, I stopped to take pictures of the wall art in front of Live Art Farm.  I chose one of these as my picture for the day on Project 365.

The Return of the Trog Monster

Sometimes very sad things happen.  Those very sad things make one return to a former time, a former place.  That happened to me yesterday.  It caused The Trog Monster to return.  I really thought that he was out of my life forever.  Clearly he is not.

After a sleepless night, I cancelled this morning's hike so that I could get some rest, and then attended an interview.  My driving confidence has waned somewhat, now that I no longer drive to town or the Northern Suburbs regularly.  I left FH at 12h15 for a meeting at 14h00.  I was 20 minutes late, after getting lost about three times.  Fortunately for me, the people that I was meeting with were tolerant and understanding.  I so appreciated that.

The next few days will be spent actively evicting that awful monster again.  It shouldn't take as long now, as I have worked through the issues once, and I know what drives him away.  So roll on tomorrow, another day of hiking [if the weather comes right, and it stops raining].  If no hiking, then I will meet up with friends and have a girlie day.  That should be fun.

Green Beanie

I am disappointed about the hike that I was going to go on.  It got cancelled at the last minute.  Oh, well, life goes on.  I have three hikes to look forward to next week.

Last night I finally got around to picking my beans.  They are positively huge!  Everyone said that when they got big like that, they were tough.  That is absolutely not true.  I picked them, took a piccie of them, and ate two for supper, which I assure you were enough.  Freshly picked out of the garden, they remained crunchy and juicy.  And when the plants wither, which they will do as we move into summer, they will form wonderful green compost to be plowed back into the soil.  The green compost was why I planted them in the first place.  The bean harvest is actually a bonus.  I really am ever so pleased with my gardening experiments.

Today, in lieu of the cancelled hike, I got stuck into the garden.  Bolle loves it when I do that as the two of us are outside spending time together, and there is always some ball throwing going on.  She blessed me with a very rare photograph of her.

And something to pep up this post.  Here are some of the freesias that are growing in the window boxes against the fence:

These are a wonderful sight as we move into the warmth of spring, before the onslaught of the really hot summer days.

Next week is going to be pretty full, so I doubt that I will post daily.  Despite some very sad events, as I sit here, contemplating life, there is so much to be thankful for.

The thief of time

Who is this thief that steals my time?  I used to worry about the Trog Monster.  Now I worry about the Time Thief. 

Yesterday, whilst exploring new work opportunities, I spent some time back in Century City.  I repeated that long haul along the M5, across the Koeberg Interchange, and down the N1.  I must admit, once the interchange is complete, that intersection will be much improved.  

This morning we hiked through Klaasenbosch.  I had absolutely no clue that such a beautiful place existed right in the middle of the suburbs.  One can wander for kilometres through lovely greenery, following a multitude of horse trails just below Kirstenbosch.  This is something that is definitely repeatable.  Thank you, Walter for suggesting it, and for providing the leadership support that I needed.  I learn a lot from you.

I posted two pictures on Project 365;  Quiet Time and Stealth.  I took the first picture on Wednesday, when I went to do the UIF thing.  I tucked another trip in on Thursday in some time that I had available during the exploration that I was doing.  The one that I took on Wednesday didn't come out so well, and it is such a short and pretty drive to Simonstown along Main Road, past the beach, that it seemed worth it.

I posted another picture on Project 365 which shows another variation of Tree Lace.  I was quite pressed to take photographs in Klaasenbosch, as I was ostensibly leading the hike, and we had one or two members who were obviously interested in setting quite a pace.  I will go back and take more sometime when I take a more leisurely pace through some of the most beautiful countryside that I have seen in a long time.  Here are two of the pictures that I did take whilst hiking through Klaasenbosch, just so that you have an idea of how green and beautiful this walk is:

Start of Hike

En route

Isy, it is most definitely time for another holiday in Cape Town.  I have learnt so much about trails in and around this area, and would so love to share it all with you.

Tomorrow, I will spend some time in the garden.  I really do need to harvest those beans.  And I note with sorrow that the snails have discovered my pea plants.  I doubt very much that I will have much in the way of a pea harvest.  Although what is very gratifying is to see the start of the summer veggies emerging.  They certainly have taken their time.  Given that fact that this was an experiment to see when the optimal starting time for summer planting is, I am delighted to see some emerging at all.  The fact that they are starting to appear has given me incentive to plant more.  I will record the time for next year, so that I plant at a more appropriate time.

Accidents happen

On Monday, we went hiking at Groot Constantia.  What makes hiking so pleasurable these days, is not only the lovely company, and that open clean feeling that one gets by walking in nature, and that delight that one's body takes in exercise.  Right now, everything is coming into flower.  I posted a lovely picture of Clivia which is flowering in abundance in and around Groot Constantia.

Here is a fun picture of me, standing inside a tree:

This tree fascinates me.  It is completely hollow inside, yet it continues to grow and to leaf as if it was still a sturdy tree.  Another example of nature triumphing over adversity.

Yesterday, we went to Lion's Head.  It was Walter's turn to lift.  We had an accident just before the turn-off to Signal Hill.  No one was hurt.  The car was still functional, just badly dented.  Walter insisted that we hiked anyway, which we did.  It was a lovely, hot summer's day.  Most of us managed to raise a sweat.  I posted a picture of a canopy of trees under which we took a brief breather before the final stint back to the cars.  In the afternoon, I went with Walter to find reputable panel beaters to repair the car.

When I started this blog, I was focused very much on organic gardening.  Nothing about me imagined the sheer wealth that awaited me as slowly but surely I became involved in hiking.  The magic of nature, fresh air, healthy activity and excellent company is so much more than I anticipated.

For the record, the garden is still producing.  I will harvest the final broad beans from the first planting back in April, and post a piccie in the next blog.  They are large, very large, and still juicy and succulent.

New Friends and New Skills

A lot has happened since last post.

On Thursday evening, I went to Computer Club with Helen.  It was a most insightful session.  Based on questions from members, and answers from a really knowledgeable person, I learnt an amazing amount.  I may have been in IT for 30 years as a Business Analyst.  That has not taught me all I need to know about running a business from home in IT terms.  What also struck me was that people with no IT background at all are dealing with things that are so very foreign to them.  For the lay person, the PC world is fraught with difficulties.  I have every intention of joining soon. 

Thinking back on some of the things that I have done over the past few months, attending my photography course with Peter Haarhoff has to have been one of the best choices I made.  I attended a free Macro Workshop on Saturday morning.  Despite having attended the course, I learnt a lot, some things that I had forgotten, and some new things that arose from questions that people asked.

On Saturday afternoon, I was granted a rare treat from someone whom I met at the U3A meeting on Thursday morning:  a tour of the rare indigenous species that are being nurtured in the Silvermine Wetlands.  I realised that I have so much to learn.  We had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, and for future walks, I now know what to look out for.  Some were not in flower now, but I know where to find them when they do come into flower.  I have never seen a salmon pink vygie before.  Here are some of them:

I have posted a picture of a Red Cone Bush on Project 365.

This morning I spent with someone whom I met at Computer Club.  We explored options for my going into business for myself.  It was an enlightening morning, with more exploratory sessions in future.

And, my piece de resistance!  My first Origami attempt, which can also be seen on Project 365.  I know that they are made out of recycled paper.  These were practice ones.  They remain very pretty.

And one final little happiness.... My best scrabble score moved out of the 400s into the 500s.  Am very pleased with self :).

Another day in Paradise

As I typed in the heading for today's post, I had to smile to myself.  There were many people in the company where I used to work who were not happy.  The greeting of the day was always.... 'Hi, another day in paradise', said with a skeptical grimace.  What delight it is to type it in and know it to be a truth.

I woke up really early, and was treated to a long on line chat with Dani, who is seven hours ahead of me in terms of Korea and South Africa.  Having missed most of the night, I set the alarm for 07h30 and returned to bed.

When I got up, I did all the daily start-up chores, and then walked down to Fish Hoek station to catch a train to Muizenberg for the monthly U3A meeting.  Today's presentation was done by a lady from Friends of Silvermine, who is part of the Flora Documentation Group.  It was fascinating.  She grouped the various flora into interesting facets of pollination, symbiosis, plants that mimic others, and plants with interesting eating habits, like carnivorous ones.  What a treat to learn more about the rich flora in our unique floral kingdom.

Afterwards, I started to amble home, with the full intention of catching the train either in St James or in Kalk Bay.  I was so enjoying the walk, taking photographs along the way, that I eventually walked all the way home.

The views, as always were spectacular, even with a very cold wind starting up, and rain developing as I neared Clovelly.  What saddened me very much, was the impact that the roadworks seems to be having on Kalk Bay.  The traffic did not flow.  All the way along the road, which used to be a thriving network of fascinating small arty shops, selling trinkets, antiques, art, clothes and food, there are now several empty windows with 'To Let' notices in them.  Almost all the surviving shops are advertising sales.  I stopped to chat with one or two of the shop assistants and vendors.  Many shook their heads with dismay as the loss of trade.  I understand that weekends, when the roadworks stop, that Kalk Bay again thrives.  

As I entered Fish Hoek, I noticed, again, several 'To Let' signs.  Some admittedly are new shop spaces.  Some are not.  A lovely little dress shop at the entrance of Fish Hoek has closed.

Yesterday, I was terribly disappointed to note that my favourite Fruit and Vegetable shop at Valyland has closed.  It was there, and bustling a month ago.  Now it has gone.

Is this the sign of the times?  What hope for economic recovery in the near future?

Some photographs with a cheery note to round off this post:

False Bay seen from the Train

Bird of Paradise

Protea

Indian Hawthorne

I had to include lots of flowers to celebrate our first day of Spring for 2011.

Scene in Kalk Bay