Kleinmond Old Harbour

When I was a boy, we used to come down to Kleinmond for the April holidays. What I liked about the place was that almost no-body knew about Kleinmond. It was really a kind-of sleepy-hollow. Nowadays the secret is out. People come from everywhere to spend time at this beautiful harbour town. To the degree that the streets get clogged with traffic and one have to stand in a queue of fifteen minutes just to get to the till at the supermarkets! Me and Annelie drove down to Kleinmond from MeerenBosch (about twenty minutes drive down the coast) to check things out. We settled down at a little restaurant at the old harbour and had a few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc and a plate of Sushi before we went back.

Soup in Swellendam

We traveled back to Cape Town today. Started off early in Bethlehem (just before six in the morning). Stopped for breakfast in Bloem and lunch in Graaff Reinette. We dropped Izak off at George. (He will be spending New Year with friends camping in the Baviaans Cloof). We then drove all the way back home (arriving at de Wijnlanden at just past ten in the evening). We did stop for great bowl of soup at this quaint little restaurant in Swellendam on the way.

Christmas in Bethlehem

We celebrated Christmas in the house that I grew up in (in a town called Bethlehem in the Free State). It was great to sit down for a hearty Christmas meal with my parents, wife and youngest son. We truely experienced the love of God in all the blessings. During this time, we also were thinking of the rest of our family (especially Ernst and Catherine in London) and all our friends all over the world. I thank the Lord for knowing all of you. May you all have a wonderful new year.

My parents at home

We are currently visiting my parents in the home that I grew up in. They have lived here for more than fifty years and cannot realy cope with the big house and the many stairs. We have known for some time that they will have to move to a more comfortable place, but we have tried to postpone this for as long as possible. The reality of their age have now forced us to make the decision and they will move to a comfortable two-bedroomed house in a retirement village next month.

Celebrating Izak's graduation

We had a dinner at Tokara's restaurant at the top of Helshoogte to celebrate Izak's graduation. The setting was just right, with the sun setting in the background over rolling vineyards and Table Mountain in the background. We looked back onto the lights of Stellenbosch almost as if experiencing Izak's new journey based on all that he has learned at Stellenbosch. The dinner was absolutely exquisite. I had a seared chicken salad with a curry sauce. We had a TJ Rose MCC with the starters and then for main their signature dish of Calamari tubes with shredded Lamb shank. The Vriesenhof Pinot Noir 2005 convinced me again that this is one of the best wines made in South Africa.

My brother; Ado

My younger and only brother is a brilliant professor in Bio-Physics. He is also a pilot, an accomplished horn player, an inventor and an entrepreneur. I am very proud of my brother and would love to spend more time with him, but he lives in Pretoria. He and his family spent a week in Hermanus to visit parents-in-law. I managed to see him this evening as we had to talk about arrangements for oupa and ouma's move to a retirement village. Time was too short, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

2 degrees and the sun is shining

I have just landed at Schipol (Amsterdam) and am waiting for the shuttle to the hotel. The air has a Northern Hemisphere chill to it, but the sun is friendly outside. I have an important meeting tomorrow and then back home again.

Thinus my friend

We celebrated Gretel's birthday tonight with a wonderful dinner at their house. The lamb and vegetables was ably supported by a great Matuba Cabernet. We talked till late and laughed a lot, but we were also touched by the importance of friends and how much we actually depend on each other. I ended up talking to Thinus about life and the world of business after the Chinese revolution. He recently got a new Nokia phone with great features, so I had to show him how easily I can publish a photo on my blog directly from the Ericsson K800 that I have. The joys of toys for boys...

Montagu's switching on of the lights

We are spending the weekend and a bit at the Spa in Montagu. When we arrived at the town at about 19h30, the whole town was in the streets. People were braai-ing in the street, kids were running around and a sort-of impromptu market was formed. One could feel the excitement. We had dinner at a very nice restaurant (the VIC) and asked the staff what was happening. They told us that once a year Montagu switches on the Christmas lights and then every-one come and celebrate in the streets. We were fortunate to experience this - totally by chance.

Anniversary

Me and my lovely wife celebrated our twenty -seven'th year together as husband and wife tonight. I booked a table for two at Steffany's and we had a wonderful dinner. The fact that we were placed on table 27 totally by "chance" was also special to us. Felt like a present from Him that is in control of everything.

Izak the chef

During Annelie's stay in Bloemfontein, we experimented with making food on our own. Izak showed that in addition to his many other skills, he is also a capable chef. He prepared a number of dishes: like this meatballs in sour cream and dill sauce... tasted great, especially with the Landskroon Tinta Barocca that I opened with it.

Table Mountain from the back

Annelie is in Bloemfontein with her family and me and Izak had lunch at the Snymans. As we drove back to de Wijnlanden, we once again realised how beautiful this part of the world is. We are truely blessed to live here and we feel and see the power of God in the creation.

Annelie and Marieke

We attended the silver wedding anniversary of our good friends Marieke and Dirk this morning. The festivities started at 07h00 and concluded with a spit roasted sheep for an early lunch. Even though we were very good friends, we did not attend the wedding 25 years ago, because Ernst was born just a few days before the wedding and it so happened that today is Ernst 25th birthday.