Fond thoughts

Thinking of Dad and Mom, and all the family, today. I took this photo in December 2001, just before we left Cape Town. This photo has stood on our bedroom dresser ever since.

Dullstroom

Only 3 hours from Gauteng, en route to the Kruger National Park, Dullstroom is situated at 2100m above sea level

 Whether this neck of the woods is referred to as 'Trouteng' or as the 'fly-fishing suburb of Jo'burg', makes no difference. This quaint village, known for its high altitude fresh air was where Don and I spent the last 5 days. 

 

Dons' Olive Woolly Bugger didn't let him down ... over the 5 days he must have caught at least 20 trout. Many of the dams are a 'catch and release' allowing these silly things to be caught again on another day. 

... hhhmmmm ... a new floating line, a few new flies, or just simply a chat to the guys who all share the same passion?

The 5 F's - Flyfishing, Fireplaces, Fauna, Flora (I love the beautiful snow balls which are blooming in Dullstroom), Fresh air ...

Pool boat

I think this must be about 1972. Can anyone remember what the Rubber Duck inflatable boat was used for, other than playing in the pool?

Not only does the inflatable boat bring back memories, but so does the view from the pool to the house. And look, there's Liesl the miniature dachshund!

Do you also remember these funny prints, with the additional small print? I wonder whether anyone actually ever used the small prints ...

iPhone fans

I was in Sydney this week. On Thursday night I walked back to my hotel (after my favourite dinner of oysters and crab cakes -- yum) and noticed people camped outside the Apple store. Aha! The new iPhone 5! So here are some pics of overnight campers in the middle of the Sydney CBD. Not sure if you can see it in these pics but there was even a woman with a baby in a pram.

   

 

The next morning I left the hotel to walk to the Sydney office, about three blocks away. It was about 7.45 a.m. and the queue had now grown and was winding its way back along the city blocks.

 

The weird thing is that apparently the iPhone 5 is really not very good! But I suppose if you're a techie and an Apple fan, then what matters is having it on the very first day it's available.

Theatre Saturday

We have an annual subscription to the Melbourne Theatre Company, which means that Smuts and I go to eight plays over the course of the year. We like to go to a Saturday performance at 4 pm. This is the Southbank Theatre, at about 3.45 pm. The theatre is on the south bank of the Yarra River, hence the name! The Melbourne Recital Centre is next to it (second photo).

Yesterday we saw a play called called Top Girls, by a British playwright. This is the promotional blurb:

Marlene is out to celebrate her big promotion at work. And she’s earned it. It’s a just reward for years of dedicated service and hard work at the Top Girls Employment Agency. Nobody knows better than Marlene that today’s career woman has to be tough as nails to compete in the masculine corporate world. And if she’s had to make sacrifices along the way, then they’ve all been worth it.

Dancing through history, Caryl Churchill’s timeless masterpiece Top Girls asks all the difficult questions about women, career and corporate culture. 

As you can see from the poster, the 'dancing through history' refers to a range of characters from across the centuries. In the first act, women characters from history tell their stories in a kind of girls' get-together. There's medieval patient Griselda, a Japanese courtesan from 14th century Japan, a woman pope from the 16th century (no one knew she was a woman until she had a baby), a Scottish explorer from the Victorian era, and a brutish woman German soldier from the 15th century. No actual dancing, by the way.

During interval we like to have our craft beer (Smuts) and sparkling wine (me). You can see in this photo that we're inside the building with the white pipes! In the background you can see the Eureka Tower, the tallest building in Melbourne.

And here is the Southbank Theatre at about 6.30 pm, after the play. I love the white pipes when they are all lit up. It looks fabulous at night.

Dinner service

Here are some pictures of Ron and Yvette's lovely dinner service, which has made its way from Knysna to Bryanston to Melbourne. We'll think of the whole family every time we use it!

 

More old movies

We have had a few more of the old family 16 mm films converted into digital form. I'm expecting the DVDs any day in the mail, but while I'm waiting, the DVD man in Pretoria sent me some stills.

1. Who on earth is the woman and the baby in the top picture?
2. I bet this was the flight to Inhaca (an island in the Mozambique Channel, for anyone of a younger generation). How gloriously small! And how eager we look to get on board!
3. Bridesmaids at Bev's wedding. Aren't we gorgeous?
4. Who are these other children with us -- Tim and Angie Nash? Or Mark and Paul Sater?
5. Heidi and I, with Mom, in our little red dressing-gowns. I want one now.
6. I remember that box, that hill in our garden and that dry golden Jo'burg winter lawn.

7. My second birthday. Who do those bikinis belong to? Is this five-year-old Heidi?
8. Heidi and me in very elegant suits. Heidi in pearls. Did our Grandma Tina make these suits for us?
9. Fairies. Of course.
10. That's Heidi on the left of the picture, on her way to school at Bryanston Primary. Lovely school hats. Who is her taller companion?
11. Mom, Heidi and me in Grindelwald, Switzerland, October 1965.
12. Mom, Heidi and me in London, October 1965.

Once I receive the DVDs and see the pictures in context, I might be able to answer some of my questions. Until then, guesses from family members welcome!

Hello spring

It's a lovely sunny spring day -- a glorious 19 degrees. We know that there will be many cold days before summer comes, but today is a reminder that we are over the worst of winter. (Although there is still plenty of snow on the Victorian snowfields.)

In celebration of September, here are some flowers (and fruit) from our little garden today, to share with you. Wish you were here!

  

   

  

So much choice

JUNE - up until now there has been no rain which is just what we need. What colour should we paint the exterior with sooo many to choose from?

Eeeeekk, there is a mistake! We don't want a door leading into the garden from the bathroom!

Hard to imagine, a small courtyard will be built around the bathroom to ensure privacy and create an indoor-outdoor feel.

The kitchen is below the study - and we thought it was hard choosing an exterior colour. Choosing a kitchen must be one of the hardest things ever!

Puffing Billy

Puffing Billy is much loved steam train that runs (mainly tourists) along an old track up in the hills east of Melbourne. Every now and then, the Puffing Billy operators offer a 'Murder on the Puffing Billy' theme night, which is booked out for months ahead.

In March our friends Jennie and Geoff suggested that we make a group booking for wintry August. Well, here we are in August, and last night we all dressed up (a bit) in vaguely Agatha Christie-insipred clothes and headed up into the chilly hills.

The Puffing Billy railway was built in the early 1900s as part of a larger plan to open up remote areas. When it became too expensive to run (up in the hills), the government shut down the railway. Local steam enthusiasts saved Puffing Billy and since the 1950s, it has been run almost exclusively by volunteers. The little video clip is just for a bit of extra (audio) atmosphere.

We are on the train and it lurches along the narrow track through the frosty hills.

Then we arrive at the Packing Shed, which is where saplings and other plants from the hills were loaded onto the train in the early days.

While we're having dinner, the local (volunteer) amateur dramatic company puts on the murder mystery. Then we all have to ask questions and guess who killed the thoroughly unpleasant Lord Cedric. Was it his wife Lady Cecilia, who was upset that he was having if off with the French maid? Was it the vicar, who is actually the brutal gambler Lucky Luciano in disguise? Or was it the spurned mistress and ageing actress Fiona?

The mystery is solved (somewhat unsatisfactorily) and now we get back on the train for the final leg of our journey. I have enjoyed wearing my hat.

Back at Belgrave station, the light is yellow and the steam from the train creates shadowy, mysterious images. Now THIS is atmosphere ...

And this is my favourite photo of the night (even though you can't see my hat very well).