Shine Bright Like a Diamond

Life is on that downhill slide to the end of the year when most of South Africa shuts down. Not like the same sense as the USA shut down, cause that is just silly. Our shut down just involves, sun, sand and sea...and a bit of wine. OK probably a lot of wine, but we …

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Flying North for the Winter

Most birds tend to emigrate south for warmer climates, but Mandi has always been someone who doesn’t adhere to the ‘norm’ or to what people expect from her. I think that is what bonds us – we never felt the need to be ‘normal’. I still remember when I met Mandi over 20 years ago …

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It’s Just a Jump To The Left

This week kicked off on Monday with a safety talk put on by Hout Bay Neighbourhood Watch. The speaker was my friend Kelee Arrowsmith of Advanced Conflict Training. Www.advancedconflict.com/ Advanced Conflict Training Kelee is amazing and I recommend you attend one of her courses if you live in Cape Town. Wednesday morning the book club …

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Rosemary: Quite Contrary

When I posted my blog earlier in the week, I had completely neglected to mention the drama we had that morning. We were woken by the phone at 7am, it was our neighbour across the street who asked us about the car parked outside our gate. She drives a big van and sometimes struggles to …

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Snips & snails & puppy-dog tails

This last week has been full of surprises and both good and bad events. Saturday we had been planning on going to a tweet up at Burrata in The Old Biscuit Mill. I've heard good things about their food, but I was also keen on seeing some of my twitter friends whom I had not …

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Working Title

Some people say that climate influences everything. I think add in a beach in the vicinity and that at least doubles that feeling of a relaxed pace when in Cape Town. Move south along the coast from Cape Town a wee bit and you reach our little village, Hout Bay. It is like any other …

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Mirror, mirror, on the Wall

This week flew by what with sleepless nights thanks to our puppy. Friday came round so fast, and then Norm advised me he was not willing to leave Navajo alone so he wasn't coming out with me. We had planned for ages to go to Pure Restaurant at Hout Bay Manor as they were having …

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The Kindness of Strangers

The same as the weather is a standard topic of conversation in the UK, crime is always an area of common ground when making small talk in South Africa. It is rife and you don't have to go 6 degrees of separation to find a person who has been a victim, almost everyone you talk …

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Leader of the Pack

Last week I had my 1st day alone with Navajo for an entire day, we have now moved over to feeding all of the dogs the raw diet the breeder had used for Navajo and her dogs. It seems a great idea but the actuality of having to handle everything from kidneys to sheep’s ears …

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New Member of the Family

Our project had a go live this week so I worked a lot of overtime. By Friday I was exhausted and luckily finished early. The weather has been glorious so I snuggled up in my sunny bedroom and had a snooze in the sun. Norm went out to get sushi for Lily and I and …

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