Yes, this is it , early Christmas tree. I'm going to the city of gold, Johannesburg, for a couple of days to have Christmas, {Heilig Abend} with family and this is the" twiggy" seaside cape tree for the before and after celebrations.

Twiggy, due to the bare , white branches to hang all the decoration gathered over the years.

The smallest, cutest vintage bauble, love the indented , decorative part.

So, I will not be getting near the Internet facilities over the next few days and with this I am at Liberty to first wish you a wonderful weekend and a peaceful, joyous Christmas. Festive Season Greetings, Frohe Weihnachten, to all my readers, family and friends especially the ones scattered around this one and only globe.

Just a few images of a summer take on the red and green that dominate the Christmas season in a traditional sense. It's lighter, tropical and also cheerful.

Cheerful Cherries , cherry tomatoes, and the 'cherry' on top a twin gooseberry, just to break the 'cheerieness'.

Smooth, delicate four piece band petals resting on thick thorny stems, alternative to roses? Well succulents need much less water...

Whats Summer without the typical hardy, tropical hibiscus? Cocktails and lounging around the water and chilling the Summertime.

What do you mean stuffed turkey, no its more like stuffed crayfish, oh, what a life. Luckily we adjusting to different takes on the tradition to suit our climate and environment.

Once you’ve had enough of being sandblasted by the notorious South Easter in the Cape , go to the Irma Stern Museum: http://www.irmastern.co.za/ and check out Clementina van der Walt’s: http://clementinaceramics.blogspot.com/ Ceramic Exhibition. A really tranquil and inspiring venue to experience the successful thought process of a solo ceramic artist show, making use of wall and floor space.

When these hanging vases greet you at the entrance I just knew there were more pleasant surprises around each corner.

The Incorporation of the vintage furniture , the retro style, it completes the journey of the vessels and gives them the dot on the exclamation mark.

And this is as much as I will reveal, as you have to experience this yourself and the exhibition runs until January, the 17th.

Another very talented ceramic artist on the other side of town for us, is Hennie Meyer at the Belville Art Gallery: http://www.artb.co.za/ inside the Library.

” Stripped”, no decoration just emphasis on clean lines, form and true shape. Interesting approach and this exhibition also runs until January the 21st. {Please check all details on Clemintina's blog; on my list}

Both very successful and talented ceramic artists and definitely a must see and have and enjoy.

The race is on and the beans have won hands down, the tomatoes still need more time for the blush. Here our lovely thin beans are getting steamed with the infusion of a lemongrass “ribbon”. Not too shabby and just the other post they were still only flowers.

False Bay from Cape Point through to Muizenberg and other places the ice cold ‘polar’ south Easter wind has been blowing, no, more like howling us around the bend for days on end. While everyone else is struggling with the heat, this must be the coldest place in summer in southern Africa. We call this our natural air conditioner, more like ‘Eisleben’ {ice living} to me.


Seriously though nearly virtually around the corner, the biodiversity is much less windy and a lot warmer.



Roses have zero success rates in my garden that’s why we go and admire them elsewhere.

A Rose farm, named the Chart: indulge in a little breakfast or other titbits and pick your own roses. Enjoy the view of the valley of the first vineyards in the Cape, the Constantia region and figure out how to become the next property tycoon to own one of these prestigious pieces of land. Better yet take time out and smell the roses. In the background typical Cape Dutch gables on this particular farmhouse.

Gone fishing…

Gone fishing:

I’ve always wanted to put that on my door. A number of people from the inland areas in South Africa will be doing just that, breaking away for their sea holidays especially to the West Coast.

The traditional crayfish/lobster season that has officially opened and here also on ceramic painted by me, the traditional “bokkom” {dried sardine- type fish that have been pickled and salted}

The very ice cold, deep blue sea, open blue skies with scorching temperatures, strandveld- type vegetation, typical fishermen- type cottages and you have a success story for hundreds and thousands of visitors. An inspired visitor’s guest book entry:

To make things even more tantalizing, a sea–anemone for girl{y} Friday. The people that live here are the lucky fish that can enjoy this all the time and so we gear up with weariness for the onslaught of the ‘inlanders’.

Take care by the sea and of the sea, nice weekend everyone.

UNFOLDING: the month of December, the ending of another year, the packages made with love.

Is snail mail dying out ? Well,I have relatives in Germany that dont have a PC let alone get near to one and as a child I've set the standard of all things handmade. {like making and drawing cards etc}

Throughout the year I've been collecting these wonderfully textured and colourful A4 pieces of paper not really wanting to cut up. But here goes, into some christmas cards and birthday cards with some printed photo images and away they go, hope I'm not too late again.

Wish I could be there and see their expressions of appreciations as they unfold their packages and that's what really will make snail mail and the post office here to stay?

1 Advent

Tradition prevails as we make way for the first Advent. It's really also an excuse for me to make the home more festive {and play}. The only difference is that its summer and still light into the early evening hours, but gemuetlich {cosy} none the less. I also make use of my "handmade" ceramic advent ring which allows me to use fresh summer flowers , that are now in abundance.

Here I'm trying something that is less traditional. 4 floating tea lights in one of my "handmade" bowls with,yep, you guessed it a supported floating flower.

Enjoy your Sunday evening and erster Advent.

Lots of flowers: {for girl{y} Friday}

I cannot help myself I'm hooked on flowers at the moment. Summer has definitely come this way and it was really the most fabulous day at the beach and that in Muizenberg. At the moment the camera is still 'driving' me, so here goes to some practice shots and bear with me while I'm hunting down resource material with a bit more substance to share as we are happy go lucky just like the season.

Just when you thought I'm only growing vegetables and fruit.

Enjoy the weekend and take time to smell the flowers.

Vegetable Progress Report: {from seeds of previous post not so long ago}

I’m seriously stalking our bean stalks. The anticipation of home grown beans is serious high maintenance. What? You thought growing them is work, no, it’s the waiting game. The race is on, who will be the first to the kitchen the tomatoes or the beans?

I’m always amazed how much ‘food’ one can really grow in a few square metres, limited direct sunlight due to the shadow of buildings, constant strong sea winds and controlled water supply. This is when my thoughts go in appreciation to people that tackle this on big scale {especially organically} and face the challenging natural elements like the recent floods again.

Radishes, so easy to grow and very versatile and to top it all, power punched full with all the necessary daily goodies your body needs fresh, raw and immediately, ever wondered why their storage life is non existent?

No excuses permissible grow your own “food” its simple and worth it, ten fold. Or is this a start of a new business plan?

Girl{y} Friday

Winding down for the weekend in a ' light hearted' manner.

Whats a girl gotta do if she cannot find anything in the clothing department ?

Could not resist getting more of these christmas baubles as they are enjoyable all year round.

The sunlight creates twinkly magic with this strange texture on the inside.

Create and enjoy some magic this weekend and any other day, of course.

Whether to mention the weather is reaching weathered proportions. Oh dear, this reminds me of serious English lessons from school days, the teacher would always blow the letter h wherever applicable.

Talking of which; it blew, yep, this place did not get the name Cape of Storms for no reason. In local news reports the wind reached gale force speed of 35 knots and people trying to walk in Cape Town City had to hold on to things of sturdy nature or each other.

Weathered by the sea air and driftwood niftily turned into a handle.

Detail of a rusted wheelbarrow, not much escapes the weathering effects of the elements at work.

Except tiles.

These are on a building in Kalk Bay where you will find the ‘potters shop’ [lovely ceramic gallery and supplies] . A historical scenery of that very spot. The use of just the blue is so simple and effective. A ‘painting’ on clay, now there is something that should be demanding more ‘investive’ attention.

Girl[y] Friday:


Warmer weather and longer sunlit days definitely prioritize more outdoor activities.
And with a new toy to study, everything will be standing still and run into near total neglect.

This GIRL, yes me, joined the semi-professional rank {no, not the navy}, its bye bye happy snappy days, hello DSLR Camera [digital single lens reflex] with all the bells and whistles, as in lenses.

Researching for a purchase of a camera is more daunting then figuring out the mechanics and its applications. How brand names play such a major role even on consumers with a tight budget is mind boggling and it surely does not end there either.

So watch the pictures progress as I venture into the unknown ‘depth of field’ passing the security of the auto mode button and shouting for much needed help of tons of useful hints and tips.

With shy exposure , my flower of the day, serious tomatoes in progress, the soldiers of beans and radishes surviving all battle tactics.

So here goes, shoot girl shoot.{ Directly quoted from my sister}

Have a wonderful weekend!

Girl{y} Friday

Also just returned from a lovely girl{y} treat, actually outing. Thanks to a constant reminder of Heather Moore from http://www.skinnylaminx.com/ and Wendren from http://thewrendesign.com/ for sharing this http://www.kamersvol.com/ geskenke with us. Interesting how similar the Afrikaans is to the German, in this case. Eine Kammer voll Geschenke, a room full of gifts/ pressie's.


You will have to make this an outing {only 2 days left} with family and friends as it is about 60 km from Cape Town. It really is worth the trip, avoid those shopping malls and enjoy the wine valley and get all those pressie's/gifts , mostly handmade and local, sorted for the season ahead. Just some images to get you going, indoors was a bit of a challenge as it got a bit' squashy' for taking pictures...

Sorry, just couldn't resist this, cupcakes de luxe.

Just loved the way old furniture, like the hanging doors, were made use of for display.

Anything works as a fountain

Shop till you drop?

Window display or more like window shopping?

So many ideas every where

Time to rest, nostalgically.

Enjoy your weekend...

Check this out : The kites [my photo] were 'flying' for 24 hours, high between all the other news breakers: so cheerful even if they are so 'devilish'...

Thanks for choosing my image. {Amongst fierce competition}

More fish, seals and frogs, they all agree what an awesome place to be flying.

A very worried scuba diver sharing the same airwaves with crocodile.

Still the smiling devil at full length

Just when you thought the kids will fly the kites, no, they prefer to be flying themselves, cannot blame them.

It really was a nice day for flying; a kite. Even the very tiny kites, they such fun, check their website http://www.tinykite.com/ Very novel idea to send to people and as promotional items.