A Weekend on the Go

Shoo, not an as relaxing weekend as I was aiming for, but good none the less :)

Well, at least Friday was entirely relaxing. I spent the evening getting stuck into Dexter s05 (I've been waiting for a weekend to watch the whole thing - which I managed by the end of Sunday evening, so YAY!).

Saturday didn't exactly start out the way I had planned. I went on a neighbourhood walk (since I skipped an evening during the week - so can proudly say I'm still on my 4-times a week exercise routine), which was lovely. And then headed off to the vet with Coal and Rex in tow. Rexy was coming along to get his nails clipped, Coal was the real reason we were going. On Friday night I noticed a swelling under her tail ... and google told me it was likely to be a sign she was in heat, to indicate she was ready to mate. Which I thought was a bit weird since both she & Rex have been spayed/neutered. And since the swelling hadn't gone down by Saturday morning, I figured I'd rather be safe than sorry. The vet isn't too worried and says it's definitely not a tumor (my biggest worry), but he'll call me today after he's done some more research. He agreed that since she was spayed in June, this should definitely not be happening. Anyhoo, for now at least they're all fine and happy :)



Then in the afternoon I headed to Schwabing for a birthday lunch with some friends and in the evening at an impromptu braai with another group of friends. It turned out to be a lovely day, if not entirely restful.

On Sunday @scottjorton and I had made a plan to head out into nature for a walk and to take some photos. We ended up at Marievale Bird Sanctuary, which was an awesome way to spend the morning. I think we'll make a plan to go for longer another time because there are what look like some awesome old abandoned buildings that I'd love to go and photograph.

I made sure we were home in time so I could do a little house-hunting ... I haven't really quite figured out what the Property 2011 plan is yet, but I seem to have started looking for a place to buy to actually live in. But I expect it'll be a long slow process, so I'm not exactly set on any specific outcome.

After that, having eaten nothing but 3 woolies muffins all day, we headed to Luca's and polished off a House Salad and some pasta, which was absolutely delish :)

And then I cleaned the bunny hutch and finished watching Dexter. See, not nearly as relaxing as I thought it'd end up being - haha.

In other news, this is the week I'll be booking my Trans-Mongolian & China trip - eep! And tomorrow they announce the winner of the Getaway Magazine Dream Travel Job ... could everyone please keep their finger's crossed. Please.

Time to Sleep

Shoo, what a crazy busy week. I am looking forward to a (mostly) quiet weekend!

So I was out Monday & Tuesday evening and then again on Wednesday and Thursday evening. On Wednesday, I went and had dinner with @Kath_Forrest :) we had a lovely evening chatting and playing with her menagerie of animals. The real reason for my visit tho was to collect her single remaining fish. Poor thing is lonely and she decided she needed to re-home him because the birds mostly use the pond he lives in for bathing and keeping it clean has become a nightmare. So I volunteered to take him and let him live in my pond with my three. Sadly tho, us two couldn't catch him in his dirty pond in the dark :P So he's still there till we can make a new (day-time) plan.

And then last night was 27Dinner. I went with @Rubyletters and got to meet @HansHaupt. Also spent a lot of the evening chatting with @saulkza. Was good fun and as usual, the Metro Cafe food was delish. I thoroughly enjoyed the first speaker, Herman Singh from Standard Bank, but the second speaker, Sam Mensah, lost me completely.

For the sake of an update

Not much to write about today, but this has been an absolutely marvelous week so far :) (for reasons I'm not going into here).

Had our last SCM Dinner at Pebbles on Monday night and it was fab. From next week we're off to new The Blue House. Last night @Rubyletters & I headed out to watch @scottjorton & @mkmuerte at bowling, which was a complete waste since they finished their game about 10minutes after we arrived, so instead we went off to Ocean Basket for a quick bite of sushi, where the service was absolutely *awful*. Now seriously, I'm not a giant Ocean Basket fan generally. I tend to only go when I'm craving their platter for two ... and when I happen to have someone who'll go with me. So, I haven't been in more than a year! And after this experience I won't be going back anytime soon.

Jam-Packed

Showee, what a weekend. Jam-packed! It started on Friday night with a braai at @mkmuerte's with @Rubyletters, @scottjorton, @clairam and @obitadicta. And ended with me falling asleep on the couch while they played the most boring game of tetris I've ever seen (Guitar Hero).

On Saturday, @scottjorton came to pick me up just after 9am and we headed off to The Salvation Cafe for breakfast. Now, if you've been reading a while, you know i struggle eating breakfast out because, I dunno, they never quite serve what I want exactly (weird, I know, and I couldn't explain what I wanted if I tried either :p). But, I'd seriously recommend The Salvation Cafe for breakfast and I'm definitely going back there again :) I had their Mexican Spinach Burrito, which is *huge* and they don't skimp on the avo or halloumi!! I would *definitely* recommend it, it was absolutely divine. And they had "proper" fresh mint and ginger tea for me (I don't drink actual tea ... only hot water with real ingredients, if that makes *any* sense?). Truly, a delish breakfast in all, and in such a cute little spot :)

After that we headed off to Museum Africa (the actual expedition for our morning). Now we'd both heard it wasn't terribly impressive, museum-wise, but since we only had a morning, I figured it was still worth a visit. Allowing me to form my own opinion and all ... And I didn't think it was all that bad at all. I mean, it wasn't quite what I was looking for museum-wise (I'm more a fan of dinosaurs and what not), but I found it more impressive than the time I went back to the Cape Town Museum as an adult (in about 2002, I think). There, the displays just felt old and crusty and broken. Here it at least felt fairly new. They have a giant geology section (which I'll remember to take The Peeb to, if she ever comes up to visit again) and I especially enjoyed the photo-displays, which aren't really what I expect in a museum, honestly ... unless they're old historical photos. I really did enjoy the huge historical photo of the square outside Museum Africa ... fascinating :) But, the photo-displays were still fab because there were loads from China (I assume a specific exhibition they happened to have up - the place doesn't come with a map or have much on-site documentation, honestly). OMG, I'm going to be there in a few months! All should start getting booked in the next week or two, yikes.

After that we headed off to @clairam's for the rest of the day for her Surf 'n Turf House-Cooling ... where we enjoyed an afternoon with no rain (and even a bit of sunshine) and all ate plenty of ribs & prawns, so yummy!

and then, as if my weekend hadn't been fabulous and full enough, on Sunday, I woke up early and planned a double-feature movie day at Rosebank (that way I could enjoy lunch and shopping in between).

I started with Burlesque, which I thoroughly enjoyed! Gawd, if I could sing, it must be absolutely incredible to have as powerful a voice as Christina. And Cher, while well suited to the role, I thought, really had had a *lot* of work done. Sheesh, I'm not sure how she still sings since her top lip is clearly no longer able to move whatsoever. Sadly Eric Dane was pretty boring in his role (because, hello, usually I heart him alotalot!) but luckily, Cam Gigandet was fab to drool over instead tho.

I wandered around between shows and bought more photo frames for my photo-wall project. I only need 4 more frames to put up all the photos I've chosen so far (will end up being about 30 frames in total).

And then I went to watch Tron 3D. Hmph. I did a good job of picking two very opposite movies for my double feature, and had a decent break between watching them, but this movie really just didn't deliver for me (and again, would someone remind me, that I simply do not get the point of 3D and should stick to not bothering watching it :P). The storyline was pretty flat, and although I really did love the fact that they only filmed the "other" world in 3D, a nice touch, I thought. But that said, viewing normally filmed stuff thru 3D glasses is awful because you lose a fair bit of colour thru them :P (I took mine off). So yeah, overall, pretty fun, but other than that not much to recommend it.

Sheesh. Spent about 8.5hrs at Rosebank yesterday! So yeah, I think I may need an easy week this week to recover from my weekend - haha.

Thunder and Lightning

So the week has been crazy. Honestly I can't remember when last work felt this exhausting, like I had no time to breathe, for such a long stretch. It's been 2 weeks now and shows no signs of slowing down.

So last night I decided that regardless of any invites I had, I was staying in and having a relaxing night at home. I kinda think it's something I should do at least once a week :) And I did have a lovely evening, doing almost nothing, watching some series, reading my book.

And then at about 21h30 a gorgeous and gigantic storm hit us (thankfully not literally, but it was touch and go for a minute there). and so, I spent half an hour staring out my bedroom window, just watching the light show (which was spectacular!). I had a mild panic about the bunnies with the thunder & lightning, but i remind myself that they always seem fine and completely unphased, it's more me worrying about them than anything real. And they all sat cuddled up on the top-level of the hutch (and last night boy was I glad the hutch has 3 levels above ground, because I'm pretty certain the bottom must've flooded with the amount of rain that came down so quickly).

So, although I got to sleep quite late, I'm feeling quite calm and refreshed this morning :)

Sushi on Wednesday was fab - I had such a craving! And other than that not much is on the go. I have a crazy Saturday planned, but other than that not much on the cards for the weekend - which is how I like it after a busy week. And I definitely have these weird conflicting feelings of wanting to be on my own versus wanting to be with someone / around people. Anyway, I'm just figuring it out slowly ...

Oh, but wait. There is something I should put down here in writing. I have gymmed 4 times a week for the last 3 weeks. Perhaps you don't realise how significant that is, but I hate gymming (or really exercise in just about any form). Although to be fair, I am actually going to the gym twice a week and walking around the neighbourhood on the other two days. I really almost caved this week and skipped a day, but I keep reminding myself that unless I have a real reason (like watching a 5pm movie, which I suspect may happen next week), I really should just go. I am not looking forward to how the office move in February is going to affect my schedule since I'll suddenly be probably spending at least an additional half hour in traffic. Yuck. So best I make the most of it while everything is so nearby and convenient.

Museum Hunting

Oh yes, I should probably write something here ... this week has thankfully been calmer than last week. But still, life is a blur, speeding past.

I went to SCM Dinner on Monday night (yummy prawn curry!) and last night I went to DJMike & his girlf's for dinner. Tonight I'm going for sushi with @Nadgia and @saulkza. Now do you understand why I barely ever do grocery shopping and mostly have an empty fridge?!? Haha.

In other news, I've been doing ab it of research into museums in Gauteng. Can you believe I've never actually been to any (although, I did go to the Worker's Museum as part of our year-end function last year). I mean in Cape Town we went to the museum as kids all the time, I even went again as an adult with The Lying Pilot (and was hugely disappointed). But generally I quite like museums and love going when I'm in other countries, so should *definitely* go to some here!

But here's the thing, after a little research online, I found 6 I thought sounded interesting. And do you have any idea how many of those were ONLY open Monday - Friday during working hours. Hello, I'm at work then too! Sigh, I just don't understand. So, anyway, first up on my list is Museum Africa and the Transvaal Museum (seriously, can it really still be called that?). I'm also quite keen to go to the Sammy Marks Museum (apparently it's quite cool) and the Adler Museum of Medicine (but that one's only open on weekdays :P). There's also that Science Museum I've seen on my recent spate of Joburg CBD excursions, but I don't know which that is on any of the museum listing pages I found, but since I know where it is I figure I don't really need much more information about it.

So, do you have any other suggestions / recommendations for me?

.sigh.

Today was one of those mornings where I woke up wondering what on earth I was doing.I'm sure you know the ones. Where you feel like a giant fraud or fake, pretending you know how life works and what you're doing on a day-to-day basis. I always worry on mornings like that about actually having kids, someone I'm responsible and who is reliant on me ... if I don't know what the hell I'm doing, how on earth can they expect me to?

Sigh, it's worn off somewhat now. But I think it's brought on by one of those busy but not weekends. The ones where I just wish I knew how to slow time down and cram in more of everything, along with a lot more nothing. Luckily I've learnt I need the nothing times ... but sometimes I wish I didn't and was more motivated by all the crazy things I've set myself to do in life (so far). Which naturally leaves one wondering what the point of it all is.

But enough about that, back to the weekend. On Friday night I went for dinner at Kong Roast with @scottjorton. Was quite lovely. Have never been there before, but I really enjoyed my chili & raspberry martini and my Salmon Teriyaki (not quite F!sh, but still very good).

After dinner we headed off to Ball Breakers to meet up with @mkmuerte for a few games of pool. Now, to be honest, I can NOT even remember when last I played pool. Varen & I were always talking about going at some stage, but I don't think we ever did. The bulk of my pool-playing memories are from Stones in Cape Town, a long long time ago. Luckily I didn't completely suck ;) I even managed to sink 3 (of the same coloured) balls on a break once. Was *awesome*.

Saturday was filled with admin since it was my first Saturday in Joburg since 18Dec2010! Had to collect post (yes, still plenty being tossed in the bin for Varen :P) and get a new hay-bale for The Bundles. Went to a new place, Midfeeds, and must've caused some real amusement from all these serious horse-people who were loading up a billion bales into the backs of their bakkies & 4x4s when I rocked up there in my little c2, went scrambling up the hill with it and had an entire hay-bale loaded into the boot - haha. Must've been a sight. But I can't tell you how fabulous it was to have the bunny-hutch clean again :)

Later in the day, @Rubyletters popped round for a drink and a chat, which was lovely. And then I ordered in some Col'Cacchio's and settled in for a relaxing evening ... until I found out everyone was going to be at RR celebrating a friend's bday and decided to head out at 10pm ;) Was a pretty cool night considering I haven't been there in a very long time, but I didn't stay too late because I had to be up super early on Sunday morning.

I'd signed up for a Graffiti Photo Walk in the Joburg CBD, which started at 7:30am on Sunday morning. It was actually very awesome, and I do love being up early when there's no one around and it's like the world is cushioned by cloud and everything just seems cosier and safer. I'll admit I bailed on the Photo Walk after the Newtown portion - they were driving to the next location, and I decided that it was definitely time for some food and to get back into bed. And the weather was definitely encouraging me. It was lovely and rainy :)

Sunday was spent feeling like there were so many constructive things I should be doing: Heading to the Rosebank Market to buy some more photo frames, writing my entry for the Getaway Competition, sorting thru last year's photos for my #365 etc. etc. But instead I lazed the day away watching series and snoozing. Although I did eventually sort thru some photos and am all caught up to the end of 2010. I was also considering going to watch a movie, but seriously ... NO time or motivation. See, this is what I was talking about at the beginning of the post. Life somehow just snowballs and suddenly it's flying by so fast you can't get anything done because all you want to do is stop and catch your breathe for a moment. Sigh.

Life as a Blur

I had an entire blog post brewing in my head this morning ... unfortunately it was at 2am this morning so seems to have promptly been forgotten :P Overheating in the middle of the night is not ideal. Wasn't sure if I was sick or if it really was just the weather ... looking at the impending rain, I am hoping just the weather.

Has been a manic week, work-wise ... which has left me wanting to do very little socially just to give me a chance to catch my breath. But Monday night was SCM Dinner which was lovely as always :) On Tuesday I joined France and CollegeInstructor for a welcome-2011-catch-up drink at our local and on Wednesday I finally had an evening to myself :) And last night was Book Club.

On the plus side of 2011, I have a new title at work and I have gymmed 4 times every week this year (sounds way more impressive when you say it hat way, right?). anyway, I'm sure there was plenty more I was going to write, but since work is now less crazy than it's been the rest of the week, I simply don't have the time right now. But here are some Bunny pics since there have been none in ages!

Moxyland by Lauren Beukes

Art-school dropout Kendra brands herself for a nanotech marketing program; Lerato, an ambitious Aidsbaby, plots to defect from her corporate employers; Tendeka, a hot-headed activist, is becoming increasingly rabid; and rogueish blogger, Toby, discovers that the video games he plays for cash are much more – the narrators of Moxyland are on a collision course that will rewire their lives and the future of Cape Town. Moxyland crackles with bold and infectious ideas, connecting a ruthless corporate-apartheid government with video games, biotech attack dogs, slippery online identities, a township soccer school, shocking cellphones, addictive branding, and genetically modified art. A frighteningly persuasive high-tech fable for South Africa.

Well, as I mentioned previously, I got my hands on a signed copy of this gem while I was in Cape Town. And I loved it :) It was such a zany read ... in a peculiar set-in-the-future way it reminded me of Eastern Standard Tribe. Can't wait to get my hands on Zoo City now. Oh, and I *definitely* want a Moxy-doll too :)

> Follow Lauren Beukes on Twitter

Gone Camping

So, I went camping this weekend. And it was a blast. Haha. Didn't get too drenched by the rain at all! Thank goodness :)

So after work on Friday, @scottjorton came to pick me up, we fetched @ClaudeTschepen, met up with some more of their friends and then we were on our way. Off to Mountain Sanctuary Park for what I expected to be a very muddy weekend (Thankfully I was wrong!).

We arrived long after dark, but the Disco (common term for their new Landrover Discovery) was awesome and Breedts Nek Pass was pretty insane in some places! But all part of the adventure, right :)

I didn't even have to set up my own tent (the best!), and as soon as I was setting my bed up inside it, I was reminded of The Lares Trek last year, but at least I wasn't sharing my tent and it was no where near as cold!

We did nothing on the first night but have a very late braai for dinner, and get complained at for the noise levels - haha.

Saturday was very cool, we started the day with a long walk. Seriously, the place is stunning and the rock formations are so cool! We were super lucky to see just about every animal they had available there ... Baboons, Klipspringer (which we watched for ages!), Vervet monkeys and Warthogs (surprisingly no Dassies tho?). Thank goodness we packed lunch :) Wish I'd taken the camera, but it really looked like it might pour when we left the campsite, so there are not very many photos from the weekend at all :(

In the afternoon we went to put the Disco & the Hilux thru their paces and stirred up a fair amount of mud, good fun :)

Then it was back to the campsite for another braai, lots to drink and another noise-warning :) After which the 3 of us headed off into the mountain (@ClaudeTschepen without shoes!!). Crazy things we do, gorgeous view of the lights tho ... reminded me of looking across Lake Titicaca. Oh, and we saw loads of *awesome* shooting stars this weekend as well! Might've been some meteors tho, cause they lasted for ages and apparently there was a meteor shower last week (This annual celestial event is active from January 1st through January 10th and peaks on January 4th). Eventually when we got back to camp we decided to ditch the tents and sleep under the clouds/stars. It was actually awesome :) And it didn't rain and we didn't get blown away (apparently that's a real concern around 2am at this place!) - haha!

Sadly, I didn't get much sleep on either night due to complete discomfort :( Am so not accustomed to sleeping on a 0.5cm thick yoga mat :P But I did enjoy my sleeping bag more than in Peru, I think because I didn't feel frozen at all! Oh, and the showers at this places are so much better than I was expecting for a campsite (better than most Peruvian hotels, to be honest! Haha), good pressure and hothothot :)

Sunday was a very lazy morning, but we cooked up a full egg & bacon breakfast on the skottel and then we headed out to have a look at a cave we'd seen from the road the day before. Was pretty cool, got to see bats :)

We ended the weekend with a delish lunch at Van Gaalen Cheese Farm. By this time it was pouring with rain and I slept in the back the rest of the way home :)

An awesome weekend.

A Quiet Start

Mkay, the holiday posts are all over and there isn't too much to tell after a week back in Jozi.

I will say that I now definitely find myself in the curious spot of having two homes. Like, I always say I'm going home for Xmas ... Cape Town, with my family, the house I grew up in (okay well, since I was 11). But, when I leave, I'm also going home ... to my home, where I live, where all (okay, most) of my stuff is, where The Bundles are. To say it gets a little confusing sometimes would be fair.

the *most* exciting thing to happen this week was my discovery of a Getaway Magazine competition ... okay, that probably sounds *insane*. But wait till you see the prize, it's like they went out and created a competition especially for me!

Your job (if we can call it that) is to explore the best of Fair Trade travel in the south-east of our beautiful country (think Knysna, the Wild Coast, Drakensberg and much more!) take some great pictures and upload a short blog on your experiences once a day.

You'll need to have:

• A love for travel and travel writing
• A flair for photography
• Your own laptop and digital camera
• The freedom to hit the road for four weeks, starting 14 February 2011.

All your travel, food and accommodation costs will be covered, as well as your 3G connection and pocket money for the entire trip.

Hello! Pick me, pick me. I haven't entered yet, I need to have a think about it a bit first. In the mean time, I'm just trying to calm my brain down ... since I already warned my manager I might be gone for a month - hahaha! And no, doing this would NOT mean skipping Russia-Mongolia-China, doing both would mean 2011 would be The Best Year™. Ever. Omg, can you even imagine how awesome that would be?! I can barely breathe, I want to win this *so* much.

Other than that, I appear to be going camping this weekend. @scottjorton and @ClaudeTschepen bought themselves a landrover at the end of last year and decided that 2011 is the Year of the Tent. And yes, it'll no doubt be muddy ... wish me luck :) I haven't slept in a muddy tent since 2007!

Goodbye Pickle-Pie :(

Sigh. So a really very, very low point of my trip to Cape Town was having my lovely 12 year-old Border Collie, Pickle, put down. I won't lie, it sucked. Alotalot.

I have known it was coming for a whole year now, pretty much since around the time Fizzy was put down. We thought he'd outlive her, but he got Cancer and was gone rather suddenly. Pixie-sticks has had serious hip problems since around that time, like as in the vet was amazed that she was such a happy and excitable girl with the bone-deterioration she had. Like she ignored it completely. And she had bad days and plenty of other problems too (never ideal when a dog is allergic to fleas!), but she was still always very happy.

She was on a bunch of medication and the vet said it might cause problems for her and sadly it seems that her kidneys gave up after Xmas and there wasn't really a choice :(

Urgh, it's a whole week later, and I'm still crying while I write this. *sob* Will miss you, my puppy-girl.

All About the Giving

It's a strange thing, I'll be honest. And I have *no* idea exactly when it happened, but I completely agree with that old adage "It's better to give than receive". These days I'm not terribly fussed about what I get for Xmas but, I just can NOT wait for my fandamily to open the gifts I bought for them!

This year was a *giant* lesson in restraint. On top of the xmas gifts, I also had gifts for each of them from Peru! Oh, and there was that minor matter of ordering The. Best. Gift. Ever. for The Peeb and Button back on the 27th of October and then waiting for it to arrive by post.

Thank goodness Daddio arrived early at The Cottage and our xmas morning didn't deviate much from tradition at all (post divorce and all).

Admitedly I couldn't wait till xmas morning for the Peru presents, so I made them open those on xmas eve, when we were all finally together :) I got Daddio some Pisco. And then on New Years, I taught him how to make proper Pisco Sours, which were divine! I got Mom a gorgeous colourful cushion cover. Seriously, I so wanted to keep it for myself! And the Peeb got a tradition Peruvian Chullo from Alpaca wool :) And a knitted monkey finger-pupper, for novelty value. Haha.

So, you still wondering what The Best Gift Ever was? I had a 1000 piece puzzle made for them from a photo I took of their kitty Panda. Poor boy, was knocked over by a car in Sept at barely a year old. The Peeb was near devastated. But, the puzzle came out *brilliantly* and was worth every cent. She adored it (as I knew she would) :) And with the help of a few friends, she got it finished in a mere 3 days!


Daddio got a few of the JD Robb books missing from his near-complete collection. And (as is practically tradition!) a Jeep shirt. I got Mom an awesome metal Elephant (she has a thing for them) and some placemats. Might sound boring, I know, but they are very funky (and look perfect on her dining room table) and she was using magazines before :P

And me... well I got some awesome stuff :) I got cash from Daddio & my grandparents (perfect!). I also got one of the Bunny Suicide books from Dad - haha. I got the most awesome "Glad to be a Girl" girl from Mom :) (it's supposed to be holding a pot plant) And exactly what I asked for from The Peeb: Justin Bonello's Cooked in Africa. Bliss :)

It was a truly awesome day. We followed our own personal family traditions to a tee: The rest of the family came down to the Cottage for the day, we ate and ate and ate a delish cold lunch, had a very boozy trifle for dessert and took our family photo. Perfect :)

Twenty-Eleven

Oh hello there 2011. I am SO not ready to meet you! But while I recover from the reeling discovery that you've arrived anyway, let's reflect on my little jaunt down to Cape Town, shall we? Fabulous.

As is tradition over our Summer Christmas time, as much time as possible was spent at The Beach Cottage. Bliss, I tell ya! Sadly tho, for all the days I was in Cape Town, the weather was pretty useless and un-summery. It was windy as all hell. So not a lot of time actually spent on the beach. But hey, that's what Beach Cottages are for, the view, the sound and the smell but sheltered from the howling gales! Haha.

Still, it was fabulous despite the weather and I think I saw more animals than ever before while there! We had a fabulous humpback whale sighting (our cottage looks onto False Bay). This was obviously a juvenile with it's mom (not that we saw her properly, but we assumed) and he was having the *best* time. As they swam across our view, he just kept jumping up and breaching, continuously. Honestly, he must've done it like 15 times at least! It was awesome :)

I had the best Cape Clawless Sea-Otter experience of my life! I was down taking our border-collie Pickle for a walk on the beach and the otter popped out of the water just in front of me! And he kept swimming out and coming back onto the rocks along the shore in front of me. Seriously, it was unbelievable! (these photos were taken by Mom from up at the house - I *wish* I'd had my camera with me!!)

We had 9 Egyptian geese before Xmas day (think the wind got a bit much for them!). It was the mom, dad and 7 babies (now young adults) we'd seen last year :) And there were 2 pairs of Oyster Catchers this year! Although, I found one of their babies sitting in the rocks ... hope he survived!

We had our usual Baboon invasions. And even had a little Mongoose visit our stoep where we sat watching him watching us for a good 15 minutes. And the Scorpion count for the whole holiday was THREE! That's more than I remember in ages.

Oh, and the *most* import animal of all I saw, was by far The Peeb's new leetle kitty, Nama. Oh. My. Word. She is the cutest thing. I almost brought her home with me :) I heart her!I ate out (excessively) and caught up with friends and family.
So, on the Monday night, I had dinner with The Divine Miss M and EvilBob and The Fat Cactus (the original one!), one of my all time favourite Cape Town spots! And it didn't disappoint :)

On Tuesday, Mom came up from the cottage for the day so we had lunch together at Mugg & Bean. That evening I met up with Jam for Wine & Pizza night at Oblivion.

On Wednesday I took my gran to Kirstenbosch for lunch (and a good walk around). I adore the Living Wall (part of the Untamed exhibition) they've got up there at the moment :) That's a "slightly overcast" Kirstenbosch in the photo - haha. Felt all Lord-of-the-Rings-y :)

Then I went for sundowners with Interviewing For a Husband at Rick's Cafe, just off Kloof street. There wasn't much sun to speak of, so the spot was irrelevant, but looks pretty cool still. That was followed by a late dinner with Daddio at a new Thai spot called Rock.

On Thursday I had lunch with The Bunny Farmer at Peddlars and then headed off to drink at The Brass Bell with EvilBob and Bokkie. Sheesh, what a hassle with Main Road only a one way now! Brass Bell is a lovely spot, but wow did the service that day ever SUCK! Then I had a very disappointing (food and service-wise) dinner at Bertha's with Mom.

To end off the holiday, we had our second now-annual Grand-Girl's (all the girl cousins) dinner on Saturday evening at Bacini's in Kloof street. I had a divine pizza! Ricotta, roasted brinjal, spinach and sun-dried tomato, which I added bacon to. Sublime :)

And a quick breakfast at the Airport Wimpy before my departure on Sunday morning with Daddio, Mom and The Peeb.I read books.
So, I followed Xmas tradition and stuck with Daddio's JDRobb novels, but this year I only got thru 3. And sadly it is getting trickier to go in the right order ... Oh well.



16. Portrait in Death
18. Divided in Death
20. Survivor in Death

Oh, and on my flight home, I started my newly purchased book, Moxyland. I found a signed copy while in Cape Town - score!

* This book is part of the In Death series: Naked in Death (1995), Glory in Death (1995), Immortal in Death (1996), Rapture in Death (1996), Ceremony in Death (1997), Vengeance in Death (1997), Holiday in Death (1998), ~Midnight in Death (1998), Conspiracy in Death (1999), Loyalty in Death (1999), Witness in Death (2000), Judgment in Death (2000), Betrayal in Death (2001), ~Interlude in Death (2001), Seduction in Death (2001), Reunion in Death (2002), Purity in Death (2002), Portrait in Death (2003), Imitation in Death (2003), Divided in Death (2004), Visions in Death (2004), Survivor in Death (2005), Origin in Death (2005), Memory in Death (2006), ~Haunted in Death (2006), Born in Death (2006), Innocent in Death (2007), Creation in Death (2007), ~Eternity in Death (2007), Strangers in Death (2008), Salvation in Death (2008), ~Ritual in Death (2008), Promises in Death (2009), Kindred in Death (2009), ~Missing in Death (2009), Fantasy in Death (2010), Indulgence in Death (2010), ~Possession in Death (2010) ~ included in Anthologies

I found photos.
I went thru a lot of albums and had negatives reprinted and came home with a pile of old family photos for my Project Photo Wall. It is going to be *awesome* :) Hahahaha, but now I need to buy more frames. And, I've realised, I need to find someone with an eye for mounting, actually ... ah well, something else to add to the busy-list for 2011.

So yeah, an awesome holiday by any standard. I also watched plenty of Series with Daddio on his giant fancy-ass big screen tv: Un. Be. Leivable. I was almost converted to justifying the expense! But I figured Holiday 2011 is a far more important use of my cash right now ;) Oh, and another highlight was sipping on a freshly made Pisco Sour with Daddio - I taught him how to make them with the Peruvian Pisco I bought him in Peru. Present swap will have to be another post tho ... haha.

Oh, and I used Airport Parking Services while I was away, and was definitely impressed. Although the nice job they did cleaning my car has already been ruined by all the rain we've had ;) Haha. I think I'd use them again.

Hangman by Faye Kellerman

When LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker reluctantly agrees to do a big favour for old friend Teresa McLaughlin, he knows that his involvement will bring her sociopathic husband, Chris Donatti, back into his life. With lives hanging in the balance, Decker and his team need to find answers fast, with Donatti on the loose, no one is ever safe...

Okay, so this book took me ages to get into ... there's a lot of stuff going on in the beginning, but it doesn't really grip you until about midway thru. Unfortunately I think there actually may be too many sub-plots and storylines in this one. Certainly I felt that way at the end when Kellerman was trying to tie up all the loose ends. And the story they play up in the blurb (above) is barely even relevant in the end. Not the best Kellerman book I've read. I think I still definitely prefer Jonathan.