A late lie-in was rudely upset by Bernd advising George, in his foghorn voice, that there was a porcupine in the garden! Of course we sniggered at the misidentification of a possible hedgehog. When Bernd followed up shortly after, with a more insistent “There IS a porcupine in our garden” George arose and took his camera. My goodness, the vocal excitement outside soon had all the women, clad in their pyjamas out too… despite a most secure property, there in the shrubbery was a large male porcupine.
Leon, the neighbour was dressed in his protection armour as he had first become aware of the porcupine in his garden during a sleepless night, thanks to the strange noises and thumping occurring. Come a morning time search, muddy marks on the concrete wall eventually led Leon and wife Goggie, to believe the porcupine had scaled an over 6 foot barrier into the Wortmann property. It had! Never mind that Khaya, the bull terrier had slept through the nocturnal visitation of this “gconde” – Xhosa for porcupine.
With Holly advising officers from the Cape Department of Nature Conservation of our extraordinary find… Bernd, George, Wayne and Leon, who had abandoned his protective garb second to none due to all the ribbing… slowly moved upon the porcupine to entrap him in a net. The elusive fellow positively bristled and trundled off at speed to take refuge in an old dog kennel which George promptly barricaded up in readiness for CNR.
The officers duly arrived with their cage and after perusing the location they began moving the kennel only to have Spike make a bolt straight up the compost heap and over the wall, back into Leon & Goggie’s garden. Eventually a successful capture was made and we were left with a wonderful memory of a marauding porcupine come down from the Helderberg in search of food within suburbia…
Wild and woolly weather descends down the mountain, bringing grey drizzly days and winds that moan like sick cows as they whistle round the house and batter doors and windows in ghostly manner. Holly blithely told us we were well protected by the Helderberg and this was nothing compared to what the rest of Somerset West would be receiving… These cold fronts and storm clouds appear in ominous fashion over the Helderberg and Hottentots Holland Mountains creating an awe inspiring spectacle for those of us down in the hollow of the grand amphitheatre. The unexpected pleasure of a break in weather brought a beautiful day for our drive out to Betty’s Bay for lunch with Brian and Marianne Alexander. Taking a mountain road that hugs the False Bay coastline towards Hangklip is a route as good, if not better than The Great Ocean Road in Australia. Howman relative Brian and his wife Marianne (who is the youngest of the four sisters in the family crossing three generations of friendship we mentioned in last months blog) have recently completed building their holiday house and enjoy entertaining family and friends over weekends out there and we were delighted to be recipients of their hospitality.
With the Alexander’s in the beautiful setting of Betty’s Bay.
With Holly at school madly caught up in art work being readied for Eisteddfod, we found ourselves jobs around the house. Lea got stuck into de-cluttering and re-organising her sister’s studio while George taught himself a new metal working skill with Holly’s help making a chameleon to adorn a shabby guest room door as requested by his sister-in-law. This successful project, secretly implemented in Bernd’s absence along with the newly painted purple door fortunately met with his approval gave rise to a second commission of a tree frog climbing the drain pipe outside holly’s bedroom. We won’t be around to gauge Bernd’s reaction on this one but we have decided that after 26 years of marriage to a wacky artist he has mellowed.
The weekend Bernd was home with us the two men enjoyed quality time together making a shadow board to eliminate George’s sniping about the state of the workshop and widely scattered tools.
Any orders for your doors?
A delighted frog lady
Taking a vehicle that brother John required driven to his farm Scholtzkloof outside Prince Albert in the Karoo, enabled George to spend a few days with his family before John, a geologist, disappeared once more into Central Africa.
John and Judy’s homestead Scholtzkloof lies in a picturesque valley below the Swartberg mountains.
Five weeks in the Cape slipped away all too easily leaving many friends unseen. Our picnic tea in the gardens of the Children’s Red Cross Hospital was thwarted by rain that we had to take refuge in the near deserted hospital canteen, no wonder, the coffee was shocking and reminded us of that bitterly strong stuff – just looking at it, that the Railways served up in bygone days! Anyway, we were here to visit our very brave little great nephew Chad and ‘catch up’ with our special niece Sally & husband Adrian, during their dedicated and daily cross over of caring for their son, in hospital. Chad, coming up 3, in July was born with club feet and as the weeks after his birth progressed he was found to have scoliosis and kyphosis. Last year, this condition was found to have progressed at such a rapid rate that doctors were very concerned that should it continue at this rate, his lungs would be crushed and the resulting strain lead to heart failure. Normally the medical profession wait until the patient is around 5 to fuse the spine but they could not do that with a two year old as it would stunt growth in Chad’s upper body. Growth rods used to control scoliosis were considered long and hard due to the severity of the kyphosis and the added complication of Chad’s muscle disorder. After many last minute postponements our Chad underwent the successful insertion of a growth rod into his spine in late April. When he was finally up and about and allowed home, with a much needed family weekend away, he caught a ‘super-bug’ and was rushed back into the ICU, attached to a ventilator and a tracheotomy performed. Two weeks later we visited Chad and it was hard to believe the terrible adversities he had been through and will continue to deal with in his little life as his courage and personality shines through- the dearest little solemn old soul. A world renowned children’s hospital in our minds and yet we were most taken aback, to say the very least – on visiting and left there filled with admiration for Chad’s parents coping with the stress and anxiety of their son, let alone other parents having to accept the dreary conditions of staying alongside their very sick children. Empty words – simply saying we were filled with enormous admiration for this family - but we are.
Our visit to the hospital - Hats off to Adrian’s Mum for her continuous support.
Cousin Bev and her husband Tom had us round to lunch in their Bishops Court home looking up at back of Table Mountain.
Holly had earmarked our last Saturday for a visit to the Slow Food Market in Stellenbosch, Lea flatly refused to be left behind and WOW! Was she glad she’d insisted on going as Boesman’s Crossing was a delightful market reminiscent of those in Europe albeit on a small scale. The cheery atmosphere within a huge courtyard had market vendors giving everyone a taste of their wares - well worth a visit.
Sunday lunch with Guy and Louise. We hadn't seen them in over 40 years!
Our niece, Talya Lea bravely went off to take her mother’s art classes on our last day enabling Holly to take us gadding… Rain pouring down, a mighty chill in the air due to snow on the Ceres mountains, we went into the splendid and historic University town of Stellenbosch to visit the Rupert Museum, magnificently set galleries within the spacious interior of Cape Dutch barns where we slowly savoured The Rodin Exhibition of sculptures along with other works of South African significance before driving slowly and steadily through the wet, oak lined streets of Stellenbosch with its wonderful traditional Cape Dutch buildings to view the remarkable outdoor bronzes of world renowned Dylan Lewis, exhibiting his massive sculptures of African animals in his hometown.
Augustus Rodin’s “The Kiss”
Dylan Lewis’s Buffalo outside the Groet Moederkerk in Stellenbosch.
Our BLOG is going up earlier than normal this month as we are leaving our computer in Bernd’s care until we return from Mozambique. Therefore, there will be no further write ups until we are safely in England bursting with all the news of our Durban sojourn and our remote bush camp exploits in Mozambique with Keith and Colleen and our ‘unknown’ bush baby grandchildren, at the end of August!
