A Karoo Wedding and the parties continue...

On Boxing day we set out from Durbs via a night in Queenstown and a long lunch in Graaf Reniet to Victoria West,literally in the middle of no-where, for a wedding. A few nights on Dombietersfontein Farm,home of Gawie and Madeliene- the most social farmers in the hele Karoo;primed us for the parties to come. Thursday night involved a great group of old friends and all their kids, many of whom had not seen each other for ages, descend on the ill prepared and overwhelmed Merino Restaurant for dinner. No one complained about waiting for their orders though, because it was such fun to catch up with old friends, as the noise level in the place crescendoed. On Friday morning at 7am a golf tournament at the Victoria West Country Club got underway. The sand fairways - tee off on your little piece of mat, please - and oiled greens, did not deter the contestants! Meanwhile, the old Art Deco Apollo Theatre in the main street opened its doors at 10 am to show movies and serve popcorn and sandwich lunches. By 4 pm every BnB in town was abuzz with guests primping and dolling up for the big event. Mandy looked gorgeous and Tommy relaxed. The reception in the town hall was fabulous,with a great jazz trio for entertainment; followed by Tommy's own dance mix.We finally rolled out of town and off to the farm at about 2am.
After some sleep; we started all over again with a picnic by the pool on the farm all day and a huge party all night.In bed by 3am again! Thanks Tommy and Mandy for a really great weekend and all of us wish you a happy and exciting marriage.If the wedding was anything to go by you will be jolling with us for many,many years to come. Arriving in the Western Cape with Paul and Nikki in tow, we felt we just had to keep up the same level of socialising and spent 10 glorious days eating, drinking, entertaining,cooking, visiting, wine tasting and partying! We did throw in some great beach walks too and enjoyed the perfect, rather windless weather. To everyone who shared the SA summer with us in any way....thank you!

Christmas in SA

There is no place I'd rather be in all the world than Christmas time in SA.We spent November bouncing between the Farm, Johannesburg, Zebula and Middlepunt. We rejoined the Trout Club in Dullstroom that we had been members of before we left SA in 2000. Going back after all these years rekindled so many great memories.All I did was loose a few flies in the reeds but Neil did catch some fish; which were duly smoked and turned into pate. Golf is also progressing again but needs to find its way higher up the list of priorities in 2012!December is great because all our working friends are suddenly free to play.We spent a few days in the Berg with Rob and Jill before heading down to Southbroom for two weeks of coastal bliss. We rented the same house as last year with the Ratners and the Nortjes. Out the garden gate and less than 10 metres walk onto the beach!!We cooked up a storm every evening and even made fresh pasta from scratch. Of course it is wonderful to have Florence and Penelope to prep and cook and clean and everything;but if you want to stay in Florence's good books, don't mislay any house keys!
We dashed up to Durban for a family Christmas at the Short's.Their hospitality amidst house renovations was amazing and they were able to seat 22 of us for lunch in their new open plan living space.It was so nice for me to be with all the family.