Charlie's Bird
living the dream with Charlie and Thandi and chirping all the way back to the nest.Archive for October, 2009
Friday’s fun
Wow, so today I got to welcome William, Tessa and Emily into the world, and there is still another babe on its way. Its been rather hectic, but good. I do enjoy this whole Happy Birthday thing, its such an amazing privilege to be a part of such a special day! I just wish that babies came during office hours!
Last night was cooking club, as I mentioned. We were served a bacon, avo and roasted onion salad, served with a creamy chilli dressing. This was followed by deboned lamb loin, roasted with a pistachio and herb crust, served with lemony roast potatoes and fresh green beans. Pudding was a rather heavenly chocolate moussey ice cream – divine, I loved it! Charlie did the wine duty last night, and he looked after his wife well, with some Boekenhoutskloof Chocolate Block inter alia.
Anyway, its back to work for me, babies wait for noone!
Of spinning & cooking
Busy couple of days, hope you all enjoyed the pictures! I am really enjoying a bit of photography, think I might go and do a course (when I have time – hmm..).
Last night I took Charlie to his first spinning class. Bear in mind that I last went spinning in 2001, so I was like a wergin again. I thought it was great fun, however, at about 5 minutes in, once we’d done an easy warm up and the instructor had said, “up, 3 minutes, we’re climbing” , I looked over to see his face have that look of ‘ is she out of her fuckin’ head, this is not fun, only pain, agony and craziness!’ ‘oh my goodness this is great exercise!’ I think by halfway through, he was keen to leave, but the boy has staying power, and sat through all the agony. Well done, my handsome man, we won’t forget your gel seat next time!
Tonight is cooking club, I’ll regale you with recipes tomorrow!
Pictures from the Cape
The mindblowing Baviaanskloof.
Tortoise mania, we must have seen about 30 of the things in the Baviaans, even some sneaky (well not so sneaky, it was in the middle of the road) tortoise acti
on!
Sunset on Sederkloof Farm, Baviaanskloof
The Mighty Meiringspoort, on the way to Prince Albert.
The Swartberg Pass from Prince Albert.
Stormy seas off Scarborough, Western Cape
Friendship and shoes
So , you haven’t gone mad, today is tuesday, and I said I would talk about friends on wednesday, but I couldn’t put pictures onto the computer, some issue about the card not being read, so I’m hoping for pictures tomorrow. So today, I’m going to talk about friends, the old CT friends.
Now friendship to me is a bit like a pair of shoes. At first, they look lovely, get worn on special occasions, with the matching handbag and accessories. The soles are in good nick and the uppers are beautiful, with no scuff marks or scratches. But after some time, they start to wear in, don’t give you blisters anymore, get a whole lot more comfy. There are a few scuff marks, the sole might get a bit trashed, you stop matching them with other bits, and wear them simply because they are your favourite, and they work for you. They may even be a bit smelly too, but you don’t even mind that. They’re your shoes, you love them. And even when you get some new shoes, and the old ones sit at the back of the cupboard, you know they’re there, still pop them on occasionally, and remember why they’re your favourite.
My time in CT was like checking the back of the cupboard out, hauling out the old shoes, slipping them on, and finding your toes doen’t get squashed, your feet aren’t sore anymore, and the fit is perfect. And you do miss those old shoes…
So in a round about way, you CT peeps of mine are all a bit smelly and might have lost some sparkles, but I love you all, and miss you! I wish I could bring you home, where some new shoes are being worn in, and I could put you all in the same cupboard and have the perfect set of shoes for all occasions!
How we have grown!
Post not from the Cape
I’m home. Mixed feelings about that, it was great to see my old friends, (there will be a post about them to come) wonderful to be out of the practice for a few days, but man, I miss my home when I am not there!
It was nice (and I do mean in a Mrs Jones down at the nursery school kinda nice) in CT, but within 10 minutes of arriving in the metropole, I was well reminded why I don’t live there anymore. The traffic is Horrendous, there is a lot of 2010 preparation going on at the moment and everywhere you turn, there are road works, arghh!!!!! Traffic is my worst irritation ever! Shopping was good, eating was good, friends amazing , conference reasonable.
The conference was an international one, with 6500 delegates!!! There were 8 parrallel sessions at any one time, so it was really intense, and one had to be selective about what one went to. I went to some really good talks, and it was nice to know that we are on the right track in most of the things we do. There was a fascinating talk I went to on the Fetal origins of Adult disease, it was amazing, the research they have done regarding cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and how your in utero environment can influence that.
Eating in CT was good, we had meals at Colcacchio’s (disappointing let down – usually one of the best pizza’s ever, but having the tummy issues might have been the issue there), Carné (fabulous steak and game), Baccini’s (good pizza), Willoughby’s (outstanding sushi – compred to the swill they sell us here, in another league), Laborie (excellent lunch, axcept they forgot my dessert!) and there were multiple trips to Melissa’s (best deli ever, great food, good deli stuff, even good kitchen stuff!) We also had some great meals at friends’ homes. J&P’s I have told you all about; we also had a wonderful evening at A&MJ’s. A was also at school with me, and she is the cellarmaster for Bergkelder, so she always comes with delicious wine!!! MJ popped some yummy lamb and boerie on the braai, and we had a lovely evening catching up. We were due to catch up with another couple, M&J, but their daughter, the sneaky weasel, developed chicken pox, and since I am a pox free person, we had to give that a skip, and chat over the garden fence…
Shopping, well, lets just say its just as well wwe went in Charlie’s truck! we bought some new garden furniture, now we just need the pool that goes with it(!), a paper maché kudu head (I’ll post a picture) some kitchen stuff,more wine (just what we need) some books (cause you can never have too few), and I got some clothes, yay for big city shopping!
Tommorrow the pictures will come, and wednesday we’ll reminisce the friendships… (lets just say, I wish I could transplant some of them here)
Posts from the Cape 2
While it is lovely to be here, catching up with old friends, checking out my old haunts, I remember all those reasons why I don’t live here anymore, its just too much! Too many people, too much traffic, too much choice! Argh, I am turning into a small town girl!
I’ve managed to see some old friends, even an old school friend, who I haven’t seen since matric, who is an OBGYN in Taiwan, amazing, and she hasn’t changed at all! Caught up with my friend L and her wonderful family today, so wonderful! She had made a delicious chocolate nut cake for tea, wow, tragically didn’t manage to get the recipe (we were talking so much, I forgot!) Such special times!
Posts from the Cape
Sorry, my friends, I was out of contact for a couple of days. But now I am back!
Thursday was a fairly revolting day. I had so much of work to do before I left, and then had to prepare, pack, see my parents, and catch up with my goddaughter and her mum, who were briefly in my part of the world. Little H is getting super cute! Her mum and I have been friends ever since our parents decided that since we lived around the corner from one another, we should play together, and then we stayed friends all the way through school, stayed in contact while I was at university, and then I was her bridesmaid when she married, and shortly after I moved back home, delivered H myself, and became her godmom. They have since moved away, so we have los touch a bit, but it was nice to catch up again.
Friday, at the crack of dawn, Charlie and I packed the car, and set off for the Baviaanskloof. We travelled through the wilderness area (4×4 area only), which is spectacular. The scenery, the road (built by Bain), the animals, the peace, the lack of cell phone reception – breathtaking. We made our way to Sedarkloof Lodge, which is where we went on honeymoon, and settled in, as the only guests. The hosts, Alice & Thys Cilliers feel like family, and took wonderful care of us. We went on a game drive, and then after an outdoor shower (for Charlie) and an indoor bath (for me) we were whisked off to their secret open air spot for dinner – wow, it is a spectacular spot, and settling around a good ‘geselsie vuur’ with a a good red wine (Beyerskloof Pinotage) and the full moon beaming down, was just magic. Saturday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, their farm manager took us for a walk up one of the kloofs on the farm to see the enormous old Willowmore Cedar trees, they are so old and so large that one cannot even get your arms around them, amazing. It got good and hot on the walk (10km’s!), so we popped back to the lodge for a swim in the freezing pool, and a glorious afternoon sleep. After another game drive, it was a fantastic dinner for us, with such a good ‘kuier’, aided, no doubt, by plenty more Beyerskloof.
Sunday, after a good breakfast, we headed off through the rest of the Baviaanskloof, through Willowmore and De Rust, via the awesome Meiringspoort to Prince Albert. We stopped there briefly, bought some cheese (fabulous cheese if you ever get there from Gay’s Guernsey Dairy – esp the Regal), and then it was down the even more awe inspiring Swartberg pass to Oudtshoorn. There are no words to describe the beauty of the scenery, the engineering of the road and the sheer bloody mindedness of Bains, who built it. Pictures will follow.
We arrived in CT after a rather long time, some frustration with the western cape roads and drivers, but sdafe and sound. My friend, J and her husband P, who is an amazing illustrator, (check out the link on this page to The Western Nostril) invited us to dinner at thier beautiful home in Glencairn, Simonstown. What a wonderful catch up we had, Donzil was there too and we laughed until tears almost ran (or bladders nearly leaked!), drank some delicious wine, the name of which I have tragically forgotten (J, please leave the name in the comments, so I can have it again!) and ate the most delicious meal she had prepared. We started with a delicious asian prawn salad, on a bed of sprouts and rocket, with a delicious chilli dressing, followed by grilled salmon on cool potato salad with asparagus on the side. Pudding was creme caramel, with blueberries, followed by a cheese platter, and rounded off with coffee and chocolates – we rolled back to our apartmjent, to sleep very soundly, with full tummies. Thanks J, awesome! And Donzil, I love the Mrs Incredible pen!
Today the conference began…
Charlie's Bird 