BLUSHING BRIDE (aka LADY IN RED)

To my mind a June bride somehow seems more beautiful – and Eurika was no exception when she took the vow to marry Corné Steyn on 21 June this year. He writes that she was “so very beautiful and that everything was perfect”.

I had met them when they stayed with me some time ago and felt very privileged to have shared their story, the tale of two lives coming together to meld into one as man and wife.

Gauteng seems a million miles away from the West Coast and I simply couldn’t get away (it wa school holidays too, so things at the B&B were hectic). I would have loved to have been party to their commitment: to make each other happy, never to change the way they are and to love one another unconditionally. All I could do from afar was to ask God to bless this union and I know He will. Congratulations to two beautiful people.

REALLY A CASE OF AMAZING GRACE

Mark and Simona Bament stayed with me for three nights in August 2007 and during that time they confided in me their desire to have children. Her biological clock was ticking away and it was becoming more pressing by the day.
As is so often the case, the minute Simona returned to work – with the Italian Consulate – she found herself indeed in a state of grace: preggies.
Being already booked and therefore not able to host their stay this year, I referred them to a friend, but they took the trouble to detour and join me for coffee on Sunday morning en route home.
Simona tells me that due date is in two weeks’ time. Judging from these pics I’d put my hard-earned moola on sooner than that. If it’s a girl then she will be called Aurora, a boy Tiago (means James – like in Santiago, St James).
Thanks for sharing these last minutes of freedom with me and the readers, Mark and Simona, and for your message, “it has been a pleasure to see you again yesterday!” She concluded her email with, “Tanti baci (many kisses, in Italian)”.
An update in two weeks’ time, folks.

SNOW CLAD CEDERBERG

At the best of times I reckon I’ve got the greatest workstation in the world. If I’m not gazing down onto waterbirds in the rock pools below then I am looking at the cavorting of Heaviside’s dolphins at play in the bay. In fact, it makes for difficult concentration, especially when out of the corner of my eye I spot this magnificent sight: to the east the Cederberg, wrapped in a blanket of snow.
This wilderness reserve is a rock climber’s delight. The mere names of the formations – Wolfberg Cracks, Maltese Cross and Stadsaal Caves – tell a story, one of the climbers who ventured there and discovered a treasure trove of fynbos, a geological wonder.
This is the view I have today across Britannia Bay and Golden Mile and, you know what? My work for the day has just been stowed away!

A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS

Often I have said to prospective purchasers of property in this area, “The West Coast doesn’t grow on you; you have got to fall madly in love with it the first time you see it” - and this is precisely what happened to Marcello Pogglioni.
During his annual holiday here in the height of the summer and windy season Marcello lost his heart to this stark but beautiful countryside. Of course the safety and security of life as it should be lived and the inherent friendliness of all whom he met during that time did much to convince him that there is life after Gauteng and so he purchased a piece of land in a new development called Kompanjeskloof. Backed by granite boulders that are synonymous with the West Coast and fronted by wrap-around views of Stompneusbaai and Shell Bay, the foundations have just been laid to what is going to be his dream home.
Plans are afoot to allow for solar energy and wind power and Marcello’s already thinking organic gardening and wise usage of ‘grey’ water. He even purchased a bag of seeds from Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden’s Seed Bank and intends to scatter them before next year’s winter rains in the fallow land directly behind his new home. His original order for 2 kg of wild flower seeds was soon tempered to a mere 100 grams when he learned that the price per kilogram is R1 000,00. “I’m scared I’ll sneeze while scattering them,” he quipped.
Next springtime I hope to be able to share the rewards of his not inconsiderable investment with you as gazania and mesembryanthemums show their true colours. Watch this space!

Saying thanks to my first guests

I'd like very much to offer Dale Simpson, Nicola Fellows and Lars Timmerman a free night's accommodation at Dolphin B&B+S/C, but I have not been able to track them down.
They were the first guests to overnight here 10 years ago and I've often wondered what it was that made them ask over breakfast, "Are we your first visitors?" I didn't burn the toast nor did I scramble what should have been fried eggs so was it perhaps the sheen of perspiration on my brow as I scuttled about?
Unless I can trace them I guess the question will remain unanswered. So if anyone out there knows how to get in touch with these elusive three, I'd really appreciate hearing from them.

Long Distance Love

Dan and Natasha are conducting l'amour from city-to-city, Durbs to Cape Town to be precise - and they spent the recent long weekend stoking up the fires of their romance here in Britannia Bay. As if it needs firing. Catch the smiles of happiness on their dials over a glass of Cabernet from one of the local wineries.

She's with a wellness/spa centre and Dan's into imports/exports so it is possible that they could keep their respective careers and switch cities so as to be closer to each other. I wait for a turn of events that might make this possible and they have my good wishes.

Easter bunny regulars

Robin and Sylvia Gibbs honoured me with their sixth stay (fifth Easter – and the biggest egg I’ve seen in a long time). They had a glorious sighting of a school of some 200 dusky dolphins on Monday morning. Avid walkers, they trailed through Groot Paternoster Private Nature Reserve, marvelling at the eight charming Table Mountain sandstone houses there. Serious money that! Their daughter, Margaret, is married to one of South Africa’s top birders, Trevor Hardaker, and Sylvia and Robin have become quite adept at IDing new avifaunal species. I know this to be a fact because I heard Sylvia shouting, “I’ve just seen a Ruddy Turnstone!” By the way, for a whole new experience I urge you to visit http://www.zestforbirds.co.za/ as well as its many links.