New week means new adventures

Good afternoon friends I trust this beautiful day finds you well and ready for this weeks adventures. Well, as I predicted we certainly had a busy weekend but it was a lovely one. On Saturday bright and early we left for our day trip up the West Coast (some of us were brighter than others haha) and took a route through Stellenbosch, Malmesbury and Darling. A very nice drive on a gorgeous clear day, even though we left Betty's Bay in the grip of a very strong South Easter (more about that later) and stopped in Malmesbury at a quaint little coffee shop where we had coffee and a light meal, then on to the flowers. We passed a few small patches of flowers on the way with nothing spectacular, when we arrived at the National Park entrance there was quite a long queue so after a little while we were in and with eyes looking everywhere we meandered through. I was a little surprised and to be truthful disappointed as it seems we were a bit late in the season and the displays were few and quite sparse although the few we did see were really gorgeous. Just before entering a section of the Park which is only open during the flower show we stopped just above Langebaan Lagoon and had our lunch looking out over the lagoon which was the most incredible colour and the water absolutely crystal clear, it almost felt like being in some other country. Then into the flower part of the park which is where we saw the biggest displays and were also really blessed to see some Zebra, I saw a Bontebok but was unable to get a photo of him then the cherry on the cake, I spotted a big Eland just lying down in the field amidst some of the flowers, he was about 90+ meters away but taking a chance I got a really beautiful photo of him which totally made my day. One of the things that really saddened and angered me was that there are signs everywhere telling visitors to stay in the car and not walk on the flowers and yet most people were not only walking ON the flowers but lying on them to take pictures, aarrgghhhh do they not realize that they kill the flowers by doing that?

We drove home through Cape Town so essentially travelled a big circle and only got home very late in the afternoon to a raging South Easter, and when I say raging believe me it was raging. Just trying to get in the front door was a gymnastic feat. Later during the evening we heard quite a commotion on the deck and on investigation discovered that our garden table and chairs, all plastic, had been blown over and up against the railing of the deck. This in itself was surprising but even more so was the fact that even the legs of the table had been blown loose and were lying with everything else up against the rails. Eventually at about 11 pm we fought our way outside and managed to stack up the furniture safely against a wall where it remained, being used to the commotion by now we didn't give much thought to further noises but on Sunday morning when we went out, the wind by then a mere breeze, we discovered that a big plastic dog bed had blown clear across from one side of the deck to the railings and Max's little plastic food bowl is still missing, by now it's probably in the ocean or Cape Town. Now I know why everyone here has heavy wooden deck furniture !! As I've said before, never a dull moment in this house - oh that's not all, whilst I was putting up Friday's Blog I had to go and chase 'Houdini' not once but twice because he 'escaped', frustration does not even come close to what we are feeling. Yesterday we had him on a very long tether and discovered he now does not look for holes in the fence he simply climbs over everything Hubby has erected #headinhands, which means more work now needed on the fence to take it higher than he can climb.

Yesterday and today have been beautiful down here in terms of the weather and for the first time I can imagine that Spring is on its way, maybe, although even after warm days the evenings are cold. Yesterday when I spoke to my little Princess she was telling me how excited she is about her visit which is in three weeks, so I am busy looking for places to take her shell collecting and Grandpa will be taking her fishing as well. In the meantime I am on a mission to find Silver Jewellary Wire as I want to attempt making some jewellary using some of the gorgeous shells that we've found.

Folks I wish for you a good week, filled with blessings and more happy moments than challenges. I would like to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading these Blogs and for your words of encouragement and feedback that you send, it means so much to me. Right now I am going to make a big mug of coffee and try entice my husband out of the office for a break. Until next time stay positive and always stay safe.


Langebaan Lagoon



Eland resting in the flowers



Flower field