It's been a while I know... It's because we went away for 9 days!
We left on Friday the 21st September.
I spent the morning finishing off last minute packing, a bit of cleaning and then we waited for J to
come back from work so we could leave. I fetched my dad as he came
with us and then we loaded the car and trailer and finally at 3:40pm
we were off. What normally takes about 5 hours took us over 6 and a
half due to accidents and road works. We got to Wilderness just after
10pm. My Dad's brother, who lives in Wilderness-a pretty little Coastal
town, situated on lush, green hills. The forests are infested with
monkeys who bother the the residents with their unwanted visits.
The upside is the tranquility,
abundant bird life, amazing views from the hill tops, and of course
the seemingly never-ending white sandy beaches that stretch lazily
into the distance. Watching my kids play on the beach;
I love the colors: the turquoise of the sea,
next to the grey of the rock
the white of the sands
and then the green of the hills
the blue of the sky as you cast your eye upwards.
The pink and grey's of shoes, sand and shells...
The colors of the flowers growing on the dunes...
and then the green of the hills
the blue of the sky as you cast your eye upwards.
The pink and grey's of shoes, sand and shells...
The colors of the flowers growing on the dunes...
Getting back to the story...we arrived
at 10pm (long since dark) and were warmly greeted by my uncle. We
hadn't seen them in three years, so it's been lovely to spend a few
days with them again. He showed us to our cottage and bid us good
night. My dad had his own little cottage to stay in next to ours!
My Aunt had prepared a light meal for
us on our arrival. Cold meats, a salad, French baguette, cheese, and
strawberries. Perfect for 5 famished people after a long trip!
We stayed in the “Woodcutter's
Cottage” which is exactly that-a 100 year old wood cutter's
cottage. Creaky wooden floors, thin walls and a tin roof but so full
of charm and character.
My Uncle and Aunt have done a few alterations
to it, but nothing that takes away the charm and integrity of the
sweet little place. Basically updating the plumbing and electrics.
With a cozy lounge, dining room,
kitchen, bathroom and 2 bedrooms. One with twin beds and another with
a small en-suite shower, loo and basin. And then a small storage room
and a dressing room. Fully kitted out with everything a person could
need for self-catering.
A little home away from home.
Saturday, 22 September.
Needless to say, I never sleep well on
the first night away from home. It doesn't matter how tired I am, how
comfortable the bed, I just can never have a good night's rest on
that first night.
My poor husband got sick Friday morning
and by the time we got there, he couldn't talk. He spent all Saturday
and Sunday in bed! Literally. (A lovely start to our mini holiday!)
However, I tried to make the most of it and still have a nice time. I
knew he needed to just stay in bed and get better.
My Uncle has a lovely place. They have
the most gorgeous view from the little cottage we stayed in of the
mountains and forest. I loved waking up, opening the curtain and
window and having my first cup of coffee while sitting in bed looking
out at that view. Little sun birds came and sat on the Watsonia.
Double treat.
It's a simple and easy kind of life
there. Centered around nature. With gravel roads, neighbors who own
cows and horses. A Forest bordering their properties so that their
“other” neighbors, the monkeys and buck, often visit and
unfortunately eat a lot of their plants. This calls for some careful
and clever thinking, like netting around the veggie garden,and
chicken wire around some of the trees and bushes. They try and live a
green life. Recycling, growing a lot of their owns herbs and basic veg, my
aunt also takes her own cuttings of existing plants, with the result
she has her own little “nursery”. They have a compost heap and so
all the fruit and veg peels and tea bags get put to good use. Neighbors bring their horses to graze their lawns every now and then
which in turn saves them mowing the extra fields beyond their garden
lawns. It's a lovely life, natural and “countrified” and
something I can feel in every bone of my body. It is how I am meant
to live and I know, one day, I will have that kind of life again too.
I got to experience that kind of life growing up. Living in rural
areas where your next door neighbor is separated by wooden
fences and vast fields. Where your back garden leads out onto
rolling, green hills, streams, lakes, cows grazing in the fields and
gravel roads. Where all you hear is the sound of birds, sheep or
cows, or the clip-clop of horses hoofs down the dusty dirt roads.
I miss it so much. I guess I was meant
to be a farm girl, a country girl, it's somehow etched into every fiber of my being. One day I will live that life again: wearing a
half-apron, rose-painted gum boots, ground on my hands, earth-stained
jeans, kneeling in my veggie garden, or perhaps holding a basket of
home-grown sweet peas and natures abundance while throwing corn to
the chickens!
Then going inside (through the mud room
where I could dispose of my mud-covered wellies and wash hands) to
bake a loaf of bread and put on a fresh pot of coffee to enjoy with
my latest copy of “Country Living” before spending half the
morning working in the garden...
Getting back to Saturday. I left the
kids with my aunt and zipped off in the car to George Mall. (to do
the detested shopping.) One thing I hate doing when on holiday is
going shopping, I hate seeing malls, I hate that commercialized,
fake-ness at the best of times, even more so when on holiday! But it
had to be done. I went to one shop and then left as quickly as I
could. When I got back I made my family some lunch and then we all
(besides hubby) went for a walk on the beach. It was cold and windy
so we didn't stay too long. That evening my Aunt made us a delicious
meal which hubby managed to get up for. They had a cozy fire going as
it was rather cold.
Sunday, 23 September
Not so nice weather again. Just
spending time with family, pottering around the property, going for
walks, playing some cricket on the lawn, the kids playing with toys
my aunt hauled out from storage that I can remember playing with as a
child with my cousins!
A bit of reading, some crochet, lot's of eating and preparing food, talks and just general, happy and simple family time. Preparing meals in our little Cottage was a treat. I had a sweet little kitchen in which to work, with a double-barrel back door that opened out to the view of the back garden, forest and mountains.
And a variety of herbs right within my reach. I love the color of this pot!
A bit of reading, some crochet, lot's of eating and preparing food, talks and just general, happy and simple family time. Preparing meals in our little Cottage was a treat. I had a sweet little kitchen in which to work, with a double-barrel back door that opened out to the view of the back garden, forest and mountains.
And a variety of herbs right within my reach. I love the color of this pot! 
My Aunt has a beautiful garden that she obviously works very hard in. And such a good eye for color combinations. I love the blue and yellow and the purple and yellow together.
This amazing view is from the bottom of her property, overlooking this incredible valley.
The view from the end of the road is equally as lovely, the eye extending over the rolling hills.
Monday 24 September
The first bit of real warm weather and
sun! We made a bee-line for the beach for an hour. Not warm enough to
swim but a lovely time spent collecting drift wood and shells and
playing in the sand.
Hello! :)
when the tide receded, we would dash closer and grab shells, as the best ones were where this dip was! It had us laughing!
Hello! :)
when the tide receded, we would dash closer and grab shells, as the best ones were where this dip was! It had us laughing!
Hubby was finally feeling a bit better
and out of bed! We went off to a little place to have lunch and the
kids went on their first zip-line which was a lot of fun for them.
(I know, "lunch" for the kids was very "healthy" but one has to have a huge piece of chocolate cake every now and then!)
Une tasse de café parfaite
When I was little,we had a zip-line (or as we called it, a “poffie-slide” ) from a water tower in the forest. We also built one at the bottom of our driveway, going across the dirt road from tree to tree. When I think back, I was scared going down it back then! I doubt I would be able to do it now. It's funny how fearless you are when you are little and as you get older, that fearlessness lasts for a while until it slowly creeps back into your life the older you get! On the way back, we stopped at the beach, but hubby wasn't feeling well again, so he sat in the car and watched his grand prix on his computer, while the kids and I went for a long walk on the beach. It was lovely weather-sunny and a warm light wind. We collected so much driftwood and shells again. That evening we enjoyed our last meal together with my family. A nice braai (bbq)wine and chatting.
Tuesday morning we packed up, said our goodbyes and left for St Francis, a good 2-3 hours drive away. More on that tomorrow...
Une tasse de café parfaite
When I was little,we had a zip-line (or as we called it, a “poffie-slide” ) from a water tower in the forest. We also built one at the bottom of our driveway, going across the dirt road from tree to tree. When I think back, I was scared going down it back then! I doubt I would be able to do it now. It's funny how fearless you are when you are little and as you get older, that fearlessness lasts for a while until it slowly creeps back into your life the older you get! On the way back, we stopped at the beach, but hubby wasn't feeling well again, so he sat in the car and watched his grand prix on his computer, while the kids and I went for a long walk on the beach. It was lovely weather-sunny and a warm light wind. We collected so much driftwood and shells again. That evening we enjoyed our last meal together with my family. A nice braai (bbq)wine and chatting.
Tuesday morning we packed up, said our goodbyes and left for St Francis, a good 2-3 hours drive away. More on that tomorrow...
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