A delightful morning tea at Kelvin Grove with the Circle of Life legacy programme

On Tuesday, 12 May 2015, I joined my friends Glynnis and Max of the Pinelands Muse (our monthly community magazine) at another delightful event organised by the Children’s Hospital Trust: it was the annual morning tea for supporters, patrons, donors, and friends of the Circle of Life legacy programme.

An inspiring morning tea with Premier Helen Zille and the Children’s Hospital Trust

On 22 October 2013, I had a thoroughly inspiring tea with the Premier of the Western Cape Province, Helen Zille, at the elegant Southern Sun Cullinan Hotel on the Foreshore. Well, sort of. The tea with the Premier bit, I mean.

The function, which was organised by the Children’s Hospital Trust, was a delightful Morning Tea at which Premier Helen Zille was the keynote speaker. The topic of her talk was the valuable contribution of the ‘elders’ to the community.

Charon the Ferryman – and his spooky friend – are floating on the Black River

Two or three weeks ago, a blue-green boat with a strange cloaked figure sitting inside it suddenly appeared on the Black River, just north of the bridge where Raapenberg Road goes underneath Kromboom Parkway (or the M5).

Initially, I thought it was a fisherman, which struck me as rather peculiar: our urban rivers have become so severely polluted and toxic with chemicals in recent decades, that I’m not sure it would be safe to eat any of the fish living in those waters! When the figure was still in the same spot a day or two later, I realised it wasn’t in fact a live fisherman but some strange sort of artwork.

Looking back on an exciting year of being published!

Last year, I wrote and submitted a number of articles to the Pinelands Muse community magazine and the Reserve Force Volunteer magazine, as well as the Equestrian Express and the Sawubona in-flight magazine of South African Airways, our national carrier. In order to update my CV at the start of January, I compiled a list, which I thought I’d share with you, in case you are curious.

The Pinelands Muse leaps into its third year of publication

Since October 2010, a glossy community magazine has popped into our postbox towards the end of each month (I wrote about their first anniversary here). Known as the Pinelands Muse, or just affectionately as ‘The Muse’, it focuses on the comings and goings in the neighbourhoods of Pinelands and Thornton, and it is a wonderful treasure chest of information about the fascinating people who live here and their unusual or exciting occupations, hobbies and travels to near and far.

Flowering fynbos, veggie patches and quaint cottage gardens: The Rotary Anns’ annual Spring Garden Day in Pinelands

Once a year in springtime, five brave residents of Pinelands generously open their gardens to crowds of curious visitors, as part of a fund-raising event organised by the Rotary Anns of Pinelands. Since moving to Pinelands about eight years ago, we have attended several of these Spring Garden Days, and they have always been most enjoyable and inspirational

A new Centre to tackle Childhood Infectious Diseases at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital

On 22 August 2012, a ‘ground-breaking’ ceremony organised by the Children’s Hospital Trust (CHT) took place at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Rondebosch to celebrate the fact that they had raised enough funds to begin construction on a new Centre for Childhood Infections Diseases on the Hospital campus.

Giving 2011 a proper send-off: Festive season outings in and around Cape Town

As we had had so much fun exploring Cape Town and doing all manner of touristy things with mom-in-law and sis-in-law during their various visits in 2011 (for instance, have a look at this post), we were really excited when mom-in-law announced that she would love to visit us for Christmas and New Year. We…

In the footsteps – and hoofprints – of historic adventurers: The Ride Into the Unknown reaches Cape Town

On a typically hot summer’s afternoon, Saturday 14 January 2012, two intrepid adventurers on horseback trotted into town. Frankly, this is not the kind of thing that often happens in a sprawling urban metropolis like Cape Town. Barry Armitage and Joe Dawson, the main protagonists of a daring expedition known as The Ride – Into the Unknown, had ridden more than 2,000 km since they set off from the Dalton Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu Natal. They concluded their epic horseback journey at Oude Molen Stables in Cape Town.

The 2011 Christmas Lights in Adderley Street: Cape Town – Africa’s Greatest City

We took a drive through central Cape Town tonight to see the annual Christmas lights in Adderley Street. Our exploration coincided with an open-air concert and market in this street, which meant that it was blocked off at the Spin Street intersection (near the Company’s Gardens) and at the Strand Street intersection (near the Golden…