Awaking dreams

I've been dreaming of South America for a long time now and more so recently. I feed these dreams with the scrumptious words of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende and Pablo Neruda whenever I can lay my hands on them... and something about this photo just sings into that little corner of longing and desire in my heart. If I had to explain it I suppose I would have to say it has something to do with the decorative curves of the elegant wall pot and the vivid green, red and yellow of the plant, the tap hanging there in mid-air above as if it just all happened by chance... the lazy siesta lighting...

Sunset over Silversands

Okay, so I'm not that good at posting a photo a day per se, but I still try to post one for every day of the week... at least. As you may notice today has two posts and so do a few of the other days. As a rule the first picture of the two always belongs in the previous day's category and the second one to the day of the actual post. In this case: Sunday which equals random, or in other words, any picture worth posting. This is the sunset over Silversands beach. In the background you see a tiny bit of the famous sand dune to the right and to the left some interesting mountain formations that I always think look somewhat like faces...

Lovers walk and sometimes even cycle

Please excuse all the cuteness and talk of love, but some photos just have to be taken... like this one :)! Anyway, I've also been wondering if every town has a Loverswalk? I know there was one in Rondebosch, close to UCT's upper campus and then there's this one. Any others?

Soccer on the move

According to my daily formula Friday's photo is supposed to represent FUN in some form or another. So, I decided to post this one of a few young men playing soccer on the green, green grass of Khayelitsha. What isn't obvious from the photo, but what we as Capetonians know quite well, is that many of these soccer crazy bafanas practice their game of choice right on the very border of the N2 (one of the four big highways that span our beautiful country). In this case the game is taking place a mere stone's throw away from Cape Town International Airport. I thought it quite appropriate in the light of Bafana Bafana's almost-win against Spain last night as well as the ever-growing build-up to 2010. What makes this photo even more fun is the fact that I had to insert a soccer ball of my own (yes, there it is!), as the real one is sadly out of frame (sigh... hopefully my photographic skills improve as I go along) and also that this photo was taken on the move yet again (like last Friday's), only this time out of a moving car.

Sandokan the brave

While turning her beautiful little purple-and-yellow face to the shy winter sun, this deceptively delicate little flower didn't even suspect the danger lurking in the shadows behind...

A waterfall I've known all my life

Disa Kloof waterfall: in its full glory after the rains...

Fighting off cabin fever

Unsurprisingly, our little coastal town's weather has been far from desirable for the past few days. In an effort to fight off the impending cabin fever and release the burgeoning mass of pent-up energy, Morne and I decided to brave the beach for just a few sunset moments... This is him giving it his all.

M hearts N

There's a legendary tree in the Harold Porter Botanical Garden in Betty's Bay that bears the criss-cross pattern of many-a manefestation of love. Its branches have spread across the path providing a cosy seat from which to scribble away. In the spirit of young love we made a contribution of our own...

Happy Father's Day!

In the spirit of celebrating our super dads today I decided to post a picture of my uncle Nico flanked by his three beautiful daughters Nikola (front), Larel (middle) and Tanee (back). We enjoyed a fabulous home-made Father's day lunch with our three guests of honour: Oupa Andre, Pappa (my dad hehe) and Oom Nico.

Global storming

For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated with - for want of the correct name let's just call them - snow-globes. On the odd visit to expensive gift-shops as a little girl I would always escape my mother's hawk-like gaze in search of these sparkling little treasures of magic and wonder for the guilty pleasure of caressing the smooth, cool contours if only for a moment. Gazing into the depths of the crystal ball, I would shake ever so slightly and imagine myself to be part of that cosily glittering world. Despite this deep fascination, only twice in my young life did one of these wondrous globes fall into my possession: once with some serious twisting of parental arms for a quaint Christmas scene contained within a plastic dome and the other when my aunt Madi returned from Germany with a beautiful mermaid caught in a Hamburg harbour blizzard. Sadly neither survived the journey to the present moment, but the almost-forgotten flames have been rekindled with my brother, Imar's return from England yesterday. This perfectly spherical, crystal-clear glass globe contains an unmistakable miniature of one of the Stonehenge rock constructions that swirls in snow-flakes and specks of glitter with every shake. And... what is it about snow-globes that draws me in so? The shininess? The smoothness? The quaint and fantastic scenic representations? Perhaps. But more than anything I think it has something to do with an undying hunger for magic and adventure these tiny snowstorms seem to spark with every flick of the wrist.

Don't forget to smile!

Taking a page out of Allison (Zooey Deschanel) from Yes Man's book yet again, I decided to experiment with photography on the move during a sunset cycle with my mom this evening. What these photographs lack in technique, quality and aesthetics (especially when left to the merciless hands of amateurs) is made up for in the large amounts of fun you have desperately trying to stay astride a bicycle mid-aim-and-shoot while enjoying the scenery and salty air.

First impressions

Sandokan, my new kitten, met our family dog, Mulder for the very first time today. Mulder lives at home with my parents and kitsie sorbitskie has been residing in my flat with me for the past two weeks. I came home for the university's mid-year break today and brought my little darling along. Spotting the big dog through the glass door every now and then, Sandokan has been all bravado: huffing puffing and pawing away. Mulder on the other hand hardly spares Sandokan the slightest of glances... he's an old man now and way beyond wasting heart-beats on insignificant strangers a tenth of his size!

A note on Mulder: despite being one of the finest specimens of German Shepherd around, Mulder is particularly camera-shy. Being afraid of lightning, crackers, that lovely pop wine bottles make when you open them and various other loud noises, we have a sneaky suspicion that Mully might be mistaking a camera for a firearm. However, whatever exposure he's had has not been from our side (we're peace-lovers, man!), so we're guessing it might be a nasty experience or two as a free-roaming neighbourhood alpha-male in his younger days or perhaps some unpleasant hunting memory he may harbour from his sojourn in the Natal midlands a few years ago. Either way, the effect has been what you see above, a quick getaway caught in an awkward pose on camera.