A bit of bull

Wire sculptures top a cottage in this Muizenberg street.

Ancient technology

My sculptor son Etienne has just completed one of a series of museum models of water-lifting technology, developed by an Arabian engineer many centuries ago. This one - a beautiful piece of work - is bound for the UAE.

Reflections

The sunset last night, reflected in my pool, was particularly colourful. There's snow on the mountains nearby but a North wind that comes to us via the Kalahari tempered the chill and we only needed summer clothes.

Langezandt street

A typical street in the "village" showing the deliberately casual character that the developers created, and that is so popular with the overstressed city dwellers who find it so serene, by contrast, to live here.

Skyline on a protea farm

One of South Africa's most beautiful flowers.

Thatch

How a thatched roof should look from the "ceiling side." This one was so very neatly done that I wished I could find the thatcher and pat him on the back - it's one of our skills that is rapidly being lost.

The simple lifestyle

This development, Langezandt, at Struisbaai, markets a simple and peaceful lifestyle and controls both buildings and layout to ensure that their character reflects this. Judging by the popularity of the project, this simplicity is much sought after by city dwellers under perpetual pressure. Some of the owners come from aas far afield as Zambia, Ireland, England and Belgium but most are from South African cities. They have as a key characteristic a very compact and almost Spartan layout, based on the typical homes of the fisher folk of days gone by.

The ugliest buildings ever?

These two buildings in Struisbaai - both belonging to Estate Agents - have to take the prize for the ugliest buildings... Perhaps it works on the principle that any publicity, good or bad, is memorable.

Pumpkin Patch

This pumpkin, on display at the local pub at Baardskeerdersbos pub, is the biggest I've yet seen. In case you're wondering, a literal translation of Baardskeerdersbos would be "Beard-shavers-forest." Its hardly surprising that most people abbreviate this to "B-Bos."

Mushrooms in winter

I think it's too hot for them in summer. These were a stone's throw from the Southernmost point of Africa, Cape Agulhas, where I spent a few days without access to Internet (followed by a few days in CT while I had cataracts removed.) Nice to be back!