Another New Year to look forward to...

Thanks to Janet and Victor for hosting another memorable New Years Eve Party and for Paulet and Gavin and all their hard work. This year's theme was Mexican and I made a huge pot of chilli which was still warm when Gavin came by to pick us all up in the Kombi. He parked on our steep driveway, Ann and Michael climbed into the back seats and the van started sliding slowly downhill into the street, picking up speed as it went. Gavin had to place the pot of hot chilli on the floor of the van, jump into the  moving van and pull up the handbrake. It's a miracle there was not a hot pot of chilli spilled all over the van's carpets and that the van and Ann didn't end up in the bushes on the other side of the road! She really needed that Margarita when we got to the party. Once again we had the most amazing bonfire to sit around after midnight. By the time our local taxi arrived to cart us all home it was close to 3am!

Christmas and other celebrations

In November we flew to the Cape for 5 days to celebrate Neil's Dad's 80th birthday. We spent a week in Zebula in December and had a mini Christmas with Mom, Dad and Tracy. We then travelled back to the Cape for Christmas with the  Greenfield family. The London Greenfields joined us too. As usual Christmas lunch was a grand affair, with Charles' Grapefruit Martinis, Veal Tonello to start, Turduckens and Danie's Hamand  everyone's salads for mains, with Leonie's yuletide log and Christmas pudding with Syntyche's brandy sauce for dessert.  It's always a jam packed time, catching up with friends and family and cooking up a storm in the Perdeput kitchen. Luckily Esme is always on hand next door to supply blenders, salad bowls and extra crockery and cutlery. Ann and Michael, Carol and Jane also came to stay. So did Kili and Zambezi, Carol and Jane's Jack Russell pups, who are not very good at listening and ran off along the beach road chasing cars and bicycles whenever they were allowed off the leashes.

The Maizefield 25th Anniversary

After a few whiskeys one night at Pam and Richard's about a year ago, we worked out that this crazy group started visiting Maizefield Farm 25 years ago! Of course that called for a party, so we set aside the first weekend in December as a celebration! On Saturday night we held an 80s themed party, with 80s clothes, 80s dress, 80s food and plenty of time to reminisce. Max put together a photo presentation and we even had a chill room with old records and a turntable! In the early days, the farmhouse had no electricity and everyone just bunked down all over the place on old foam mattresses. Most of the time we spent down at the water; skiing, sailing and booze cruising! What happens at Maizefield stays at Maizefield, but lets just say we had a lot of fun! Girlfriends have come and gone, relationships have begun and ended, babies have been born, kids have grown up, people have emigrated, a few have come back and new faces are always welcome. There have been a few minor mishaps and accidents and hangovers too numerous to count. We have celebrated Christmases and Midmasses, New Years, Birthdays , Anniversaries, Halloweens, Easters and even Weddings here. In 1999 we spent the whole year planning the Millennium party. The barn was fixed up into a  party venue and christened the Millennium Dome. Some time after that Norman decided to sell and Tommy, Neil, Richard and Max became "plaas-einaars." We did "renovations", converted outbuildings, got electricity, put up an electric fence, added some cottages and extra bathrooms. We have tractors and chickens and geese and sheep and cows and a poor old farm dog called Rix. We once had a few horses and one day I'm going to get a pig! But it's really all about spending great times with wonderful people! Happy Anniversary everyone and see you on the Farm!

Ngwenya

In late November we swapped a timeshare for a week at Ngwenya at Kruger Park. Carol, Jane and Tracey joined us. It's a marvellous place and we were lucky to get a riverside chalet on hippo bend. We saw ellies and rhino from our balcony almost every day.We drove into the park most days and saw plenty of birds and animals. I got the Roberts Birds of Southern Africa App for my tablet as a birthday gift, which was fabulous. I even found time to update my lifelist. It will be sad to leave my old, signed copy of Newmans at home now after about 20 years of trusty service in the bush and beyond.