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.