GOT YOU COVERED!

The patio roof is a new construction and Zak Mkhize, who stayed here over the weekend 20 November, was the first guest to see it complete.
At 05:30 the rains came down - what a welcome respite for our arid West Coast - and with this extension Zak was able to enjoy breakfast in the fresh morning air.
The lekker thing about this is now I don't have the worry of 'do I lay the table inside or out' and once the drop-down canvas blinds are installed, there will be optimum use made of the patio come the cold winter months. Watch this space ...

PASSING THE BUCK

... in this case it passed me by. I was aware of the Cape Grysbok ewe that lives in the shrubbery in front of my house, but it hasn't been seen for a long time, no doubt because of the development going on in Britannia Bay and which has its terrain shrinking rapidly. So the joy of seeing it on the eve of my birthday is quite the best pressie I could wish for. I know it's a 'she' because of a quite distended midriff, which could well mean she preggies. Now wouldn't that be exciting!

Then I had another lovely surprise ... a Barn Owl landed on the roof in the middle of the day. It clearly doesn't know it's supposed to be sleeping. See! Want wildlife? Come visit the West Coast.

PROOST!

A retired KLM air hostess, Yvonne Platteel just can't stay away from South Africa and manages to fit in a visit every two years or so. This was her third stay at Dolphin B&B+S/C and on this occasion she travelled with Loes Van der Heijden who also hails from Zoetemeer in The Netherlands.
They brought with them very welcome, albeit short-lived, rain which soon gave way to sunny skies and warm days, pleasant enough for them to enjoy their sundowners on the deck before dinner which they shared with me - and a bottle of very delectable Argentinian Medoc wine.
Now I'm being ever so nicely badgered to come and visit them in Holland and know what? I might just do that one of these fine days.

A PHOTO SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS

When they booked in on Friday I had little idea of the interesting talks that were to follow over breakfast. Certainly there was an element of déjá vu for me in recalling the Shell Photo Gallery, the Shell Press Pix competition, meeting the World Press Photo team in Amsterdam and bringing the 1984 exhibition South Africa the next year.
A South African at heart - it was here that Brent gained a degree in journalism and sharpened his teeth photographing apartheid issues - he lives in New York with partner, Byba Septikova from Yugoslavia, and travels extensively to the core of conflict to capture on film the crux of the crisis, be it health-related issues or perhaps even the plight of the rhino - something he will be working on while here on a short assignment.
Both are employed by National Geographic, Byba on the technological side where she sifts through thousands of visuals of both Brent's and fellow-photojournalists to match them to whatever theme has been decreed for that month's magazine.
His more recent awards include a gold award from China International photographic awards, as well as from the National Press Photographers Association, Graphis and American Photography. He also received the 2009 ASME magazine publishers award for photojournalism for his work in the Democratic Republic of Congo published in National Geographic magazine.
With these accolades tucked into his camera bag I was particularly chuffed when he agreed to take a pic of me in my new kitchen (see previous Blog). (I wonder whether instead of his using my simple fixed-lens digital camera a Leica would have made a big difference to how I looked?)

TUIS BEGIN IN DIE KOMBUIS

Why do I do it to myself? Revamp my kitchen, that is. Not content with renovating the B&B en suite (although Clever Dick I did that done whilst I was away in Southeast Asia so all I had to do was sign the cheque when I got home).
Cutesy, cottagey - that was the trend w-a-y back in 1998; now it's pure passé. And so I called for Field Family Cupboards to make miracles happen - and they did. Dale and his team of merrymen moved in - lock, stock and smokin' barrel - the Monday morning and by Tuesday arvie (I kid you not!) they packed up, having created the most marvellous, practical, boootiful kitchen a gal could want.
Now I've just got to learn how to cook!

I MIGHT HAVE MET THEM IN ‘DIE HEL’ BUT THEY WERE HEAVENLY GUESTS

I was sitting having coffee with Pieter Mostert at the Shoppe in Gamkaskloof (unaffectionately known as "Die Hel") when a voice claimed, "Jy moet daardie mal tannie wees wat hier op haar eie in ‘n klein, gewone karretjie ingery het". That was my introduction to Gert Haywood who, with Anet, was "kuieiring" in the ‘Kloof (as it is more affectionately known). (Dit was toe eke!)
From that led their booking in at my B&B for two nights middle August with a view to seeing fields and fields of "blomme" but, sadly, hot, easterly winds resulted in an aborted spring flower display this year.
Having said that, they did report good spreads of "reënblommetjies" ((Dimorphotheca pluvialis) in West Coast National Park plus the bonus of two southern right whales off Plankiesbaai in Postberg so their trip was not without rewards.
These two will tie the knot on November 20th to coincide with Gert’s Big Six-O celebration and pics of The Event will follow in due course. For now, it’s go well and good luck in the planning of the first step of the rest of your life.

MY ASIAN ADVENTURE

I’ve dreamed about visiting China for many years and this determined woman (aka Moi) made it happen in April this year. From Hong Kong to Yangshou to Shanghai to X’ian and finally Beijing and The Great Wall (that’s where I’m standing, not quite believing I’m actually there!).

The next month took me through Vietnam from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and then across into Cambodia from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap – and if it wasn’t for the Red Shirts I would have visited Thailand too, but that’s for another time.

You can read at your leisure the story of my adventure and I hope you enjoy sharing with me 60 days spent in search of the true Southeast Asia … and I believe I found it. Go to my website www.dolphinza.com and click on the links page or you can click on http://www.o5demo.com/asianadventure.pdf