Away we go

The sun is shining in preparation for our weekend away. We’re all going – my mother and father, sister and the delicious now 2-year old nephews and G. Unfortunately N, my sister’s partner has to go to Ghana for work which is crap, so she’s not coming. We’re going off into the countryside, in the mountains where we’ll celebrate my father’s upcoming 70th and the babies 2nd birthdays last week.

It’s shining now, but the forecast is rain for much of the weekend. It doesn’t matter though, we’re going to a house up in the mountains where the air is fresh and there are donkeys. The baby boys have galoshes which they love to the point of wanting to wear them instead of slippers in the morning and after their bath, to bed.

The baby boys are bliss-inducing. They turned two last week, can you believe? It seems like yesterday that my sister was on the verge of popping. They’re intelligent, engaging, funny, highly verbal and interested in everything. Delicious. Such fun having them to stay all week. It’s been a whirl of animal noises, fish fingers, giggles and running around after The Siamese Princess who is, I fear, not as impressed as I.

And then, away we go tomorrow. Into those faraway hills. Yipeee!

Just to show you how big they are - a picture of them at the aquarium, above, which they loved.

MI(tm)A

That is Missing In (too much) Action. Some of it good, some of it boring-old-admin. I'm going to bullet point, because I need to be quick. Just some of the things that have kept me away, which each deserve a full story and not just a bullet-point:

• A night on a farm in a house that had no books, but waking to only birds


• Being offered rabbit stew on Easter weekend (oy vey)


• Working my little, um, well, okay, ever-expanding butt off on Other Work, between doing the same on Real Work


• Getting sorted for Spain! Off to the embassy now to organise G's visa


• The Wedding - I wasn't all that into it, then I was. There's something about a story that mirrors the fairytales we read as children that gives it an air of magic. As long as you keep the sharp edge of real life out of it


• Watching The Wedding at my mother with eight women, average age about 67, eating cucumber sandwiches and chocolate cake


• An afternoon at the market meeting The Farmer and his helper, a young law student with a twinkle in his eye and a melting smile gave me hope for this country's future

And more, but I must rush, or I won't have time to brush my teeth before going to charm the Spaniards. Ole!

A magical place

I met a baby pig (4 days old, black) and a baby rabbit (2 days old, grey, eyes still closed) on Tuesday afternoon. They snuffled and wriggled and made us fall completely in love with them. We went to a farm, after work. And there, on the hill, live a whole menagerie, including the li’l pig (and his brothers and sisters) and the li’l rabbit (and her, presumably numerous knowing bunny’s reputations, brothers and sisters), with a cow, a sheep, multiple other pigs (pink, black, and a combination), several chickens and a whole bunch of dogs of all sizes. And some humans, many of the smaller variety (the lovely man who runs it, takes in abandoned children, see here.)

It is right there, in the middle of The City Beneath the Mountain, in Tamboerskloof, a wealthy suburb, this farm. Really. Apparently the very pretty cow (she’s one of those blessed with a beautiful toffee-coloured coat and long, luscious eyelashes) is often found wandering around, four blocks down in the busy streets of the city. I’m sure she goes down just for a browse of the shops, and maybe a chocolate croissant from Jardine. I would, if I were her.

Apparently people bring their food waste, and city children, to feed the animals (they eat the food, not the children) and interact, a li’l piece of the country, on everybody’s doorstep. There is a real risk, unfortunately, that all these creatures living harmoniously together may be kicked off. There’s a legal wrangle going on between government (backed, I would imagine, by some real estate agents rubbing their hands in glee, their eyes glinting with greed) and Andre, the lovely man.

It’d be a great pity if a place doing such amazing things were to disappear, wouldn’t it? Where would Lovely Brown Cow go for her croissants?