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?