Rustenburg - Rietvlei valley

The first pic is of a kingfisher between the branches. We were having lunch at a lovely pub with a magnificent view of the valley. See below.

This is a view of the valley where I had my 6.5 hectare plot and 440 sq m house when I lived in Rustenburg and worked for Rustenburg Platinum Mines in the 80's. The road that goes over the mountain goes to Swartruggens and Koster where I was born.

Kommetjie - mountian view

Babboon encounter on the mountain behind Kommetjie

On Saturday morning we went up the mountain behind the house. One of the lone babboon males was sitting on a rock. We went to the blockhouse to look at the view stretching from Hout Bay on the right for almost 270 degrees to the left. See below for a panoramic view.  Imagine this is all connected...

The view continues below:
see the blockhouse below

We were sitting in front of the blockhouse minding our business when we heard this loud bark right behind us. We both jumped up and almost out of our skins. A babboon was staring down at us from the roof of the blockhouse. We were intruding...

We didn't realise but there was a romantic encounter happening here. The female was on heat. Here is a photograph of her. This wasn't the end of the story.

We climbed down the mountain and as we turned into our street there was a couple fornicating in broad daylight. Quite an eventful morning. 2 days later and the grass has not recovered yet. You can still see the marks where they lay.

A view from the top of the mountain in Kommetjie

As You Like It; As You Write It

The As You Write It Creative Writing course run by Hugh Hodge and Paul Mason was very stimulating.  Even I, who never thought I would, wrote some passable poetry.  I will only publish some (of mine) if you are interested.  I did publish Emma's poetry that I thought was just amazing.

Hugh also runs poetry gigs in and around the Cape Peninsula, some on a weekly basis, others less often.

OTW - Patricia Schonstein KB Oct 2010

Patricia Schonstein, our Featured Poet at Kalk Bay Books on 13th October, 2010.

She read a beautiful extract from her book "The Master's Ruse" about whales and the way they see us. The write-up for the book is as follows: Set in a future time when the sea is biologically dead, in a country governed by a regime opposed to literature, The Master's Ruse is a surrealist narrative of an egeing author compromised by harsh laws governing literary freedom.

The novel is an allegorical masterclass and a memoir of authorship and conscience. It laments the desecration of the earth's fragile infrastructure and reflects on the crafting of fiction as a tool for peace.

For me it was a story within a story, with various different levels in Patricia's easily accessible style with vivid descriptions of poignant beauty and sadness about our fallability and humanity.

Open Mike

Neal Allen
Albert
Jenni Lean
Margaret Klapp
Lynne Harris
Lucille Dowkshas
Silke Heiss
Paul Mason
Lucretia
Lewis Watling
Oliver Price
Kathryn
Sonja Wilker

MC

Hugh Hodge

Have a look at the web album for other faces
http://picasaweb.google.com/sonja.wilker/OTWPatriciaSchonsteinKBOct2010

Look at other Poetry events in and around Cape Town
http://picasaweb.google.com/sonja.wilker/OTWPatriciaSchonsteinKBOct2010 

Look at other Poetry and other Literary Events & Workshops
http://as-you-write-it.blogspot.com

Patricia Schonstein launches latest book Banquet at Brabazan

Patricia Schonstein telling us about her latest book called Banquet at Brabazan.  A delightful story of illicit love, batrayal, living out your fantasy, creating magic in life.

The drama unfolds mostly in Long Street,Cape Town.

A rich feast of food, romance, surprising characters, both real and imagined, mild eroticism, art, poetry and music to tantalize the mind.

The novel skips along at a joyful pace.  Its like some chocolates.  You can't stop till its finished.

For more pictures of the launch see my web album at
Patricia Schonstein - Banquet at Brabazan launch

There were some rather strange characters there.... have a look for yourself. http://picasaweb.google.com/sonja.wilker/SpiritLatexAtBookLaunch  

Drakensberg

DRAKENSBERG HOLIDAY 2010  We arrived in a hail storm. Visibility was so bad we had to stop. The hail was the size of dog pellets. It was soon over and we could continute on our way. The rest of the week it rained, the wind blew, and the sun shone. No snow. On the web album there are pics of magnificent clouds. The one day we went for a short hike (they said it would take us 3 hours, but it took us about 4 hours) from Witsies Hoek Hotel. We climbed down a gorge on a chain ladder. I was a bit worried about this because of my still tricky rib, but it was fine. We crossed a number of streams, passed underneath huge rocks,  and passed two rather large waterfalls. The scenery is spectacular wherever you go. Aparently the winter is late because of all the rain they have had this year There thousands of huts scattered all over the mountainside. The best part of the holiday was the feeling of space, of being able to see far in the distance.

Sanddrif 2009

It is fabulous camping underneath these trees. They provide ample shade throughout the day. We had a lazy 10 days, eating, sleeping, reading, chatting, taking photos, going for a stroll or two, no hectic hiking in the blazing sun for us this year.

Thanks to everyone for making my birthday a memorable one this year. I was touched by the innovative and generous gifts you came up with. Much appreciated :)

Please check my web album for more pics here - http://picasaweb.google.com/sonja.wilker/Sanddrif2009

I see that you can now share albums, so if you wish to add your pics to mine, please feel free.


PS: This post should actually be before the Christmas one.

Trip to and from Pretoria for Christmas 2009

Hugh, Mario (my brother) and I went to my parents who live in Pretoria for Christmas. We left at 7 p.m. on the 23rd, drove through the night and arrived at midday in Pretoria. It is the last time I go up that time of the year.

It was a hair raising trip. These taxi drivers are lunatics. We would go up a blind rise and 3 to 5 of these guys with their minibusses and trailers would pass us plus 3 to five other cars and minibusses on a blind rise, over a double white line, to push in if something came over the rise. Pushing in was difficult because these taxi and trailers were following each other with less than half a car distance between them, not to mention car and trailer. No wonder they have such horrendous accidents. I thank our lucky stars that we got to Pretoria safe and sound.

My parents spoilt us. We ate too much, par for the course this time of year, and lazed around most of the time. I even caught catnaps after lunch,something I rarely do, but siesta seemed the best thing to do during these sweltering afternoons when the tummy is full. How quickly time passes when you are doing this, that, and the next thing. Before we knew it, it was time to come back home.

We had fabulous weather for travelling. It was overcast most of the time with long stretches where it was raining, in some places the windscreen wipers could not keep up with the deluge, and we had to slow down for safety's sake. Here is a pic of the one storm we could see sweeping across the countryside.

HOPE YOU ALL HAD A WONDERFUL FESTIVE SEASON, ARE ALL SAFE AND SOUND.

MAY 2010 BE THE BEST YEAR EVER, IN ALL WAYS.