No need to worry about being clamped here!

A clever Capetonian vandal, Upper Church street, close to Rafiki's, Cape Town.

Pony Petting

There is a farm with two really cute Shetland ponies and one slightly skinny black horse. It's right next to the road, and the very first time I traveled that way I developed a ridiculous and incurable fascination. So much so, that one day we gave in to the urge to stop and take a closer look... and, yes, they are even cuter than you can imagine from the confines of a speeding car. The cutest part is that they seem to sense people coming along and start trotting to the fence with their heavy bellies swaying from side to side to greet you! Next time I will take some carrots!

Cocktails

When was the last time you had the pleasure of an evening out underneath the stretching arms of a tree, among fairy lights and ivy, enjoying deliciously long apple-flavoured cocktails in the company of... well, a cock? Now, now! I'm not being crude, just stating the facts, as you can see in the photo above... Oh, not sure what it is? Well, the little blurry orange and red blotch in the middle of the picture, is in fact, The Trumpet Tree's (one of Stellenbosch's finest and most special establishments) resident rooster. He is huge, rather arrogant and walks among the tables sparing no one even as much as a side-ways glance. And once his strutting is done, he unceremoniously shakes his feathers, finds a quiet spot and settles down for the night. A suitably quaint addition to a restaurant/bar as ethereally charming as The Trumpet Tree. Want to check it out for yourself? Make your way down the historically-rich Dorp Street, keep your eyes peeled for a rather unobtrusive entrance with an orange sign overhead reading The Trumpet Tree. It's across the BP garage and right next door to the highly acclaimed Oom Samie se Winkel. Definitely worth the effort if you're looking for something alternative, aesthetically pleasing and 'gesellig' with the added bonus of good food at good prices. Also an excellent choice for a romantic evening with the one you love or the one you'd like to love.

Isochronous - it's a real word, okay?

I don't remember the last time I heard such beautiful music... especially coming from the conventional rock band istruments of four seemingly ordinary young men in t-shirts and jeans! That was my first reaction to and lasting impression of Jo-burg based band, Isochronous when they graced Bohemia (Stellenbosch) with a FREE show last week. Eyes closed, goose bumps shivering up and down my arms and back, senses stripped to the barest bones, I stood there... in awe of the musical doors this band must be opening in South Africa. To my reasonably out of practice, if not untrained, ear they could very well be the bastard son of Muse and Placebo, brought up in an orphanage run by the likes of The Decemberists, The Shins and The Mars Volta. As for the name... It is a real word. You don't believe me, go check it out. http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isochronous.

J-Bay

It was the very last weekend of the holiday and the first of the annual J-Bay Billabong Pro... And because some things just have to be done, we decided to go on a camping trip to South Africa's very own surf mecca. As Murphy would have it, the first day or two of our precious weekend was characterised by pleasant weather (good) and a disappointingly flat ocean (bad, very bad), so we spent some time in the Billabong factory shop where I almost fainted from hyperventilation while rummaging through the cheap bikini box... which ended up yielding nothing, but a few bonding moments with random girls going through the same process. My disappointment in the shop was made up for by a treasure of magnificent shells acquired during a looooong walk on the beach later that afternoon and family-bonding time over a braai, some whiskey and red wine later that evening. On our last day we awoke to a chilly ocean wind, gathering clouds... and close to perfect waves. Awesome. We watched as much surfing as we possibly could in the few hours we had left, an absolutely exhilarating experience, as usual! The two lower photos above are typical depictions of J-Bay. The beach-front aloes standing proud and tall with their fiery fingers stretched skywards form part of that special J-bay magic and of course those long and languid tubes round it off perfectly. As for the other two photographs... Imar and Tamara fitted right in, looking like a real sun-kissed surfer pair on the Supertubes boardwalk. And us four young 'uns left mom and dad to hold the campsite fort, as our last night ended in a tentative exploration of J-bay's social scene. We visited a quaint establishment called Wax Cafe, which turned out to be lots of fun. We were even entertained by a random African dope white boy duo (I forget their name) doing some catchy, fun rhymes like: "Animals, animals! We love animals! Trees, trees! We love trees!" and "Naartjie! Naartjie" (I think that was the name of their afro-haired DJ). All in all a grrrrrreat weekend I treasure in my golden box of memories!

More of the Moon

So, the last time I posted something I was in the midst of my monthly full-moon euphoria... but then sadly something went horribly wrong with my camera connection and I couldn't download or post any photos. So to pick up where I left off, here are two more photos from those gorgeous and rare clear winter evenings. Like I mentioned in my last post, I discovered the Night Landscape setting on my camera and it has seriously changed my life!

Good news everybody!

Hello!

Just a little notification... I've decided to keep the blog up and running even though the June holiday is over. So, keep an eye open for some new pics within the next 24 hours or so!

xx