Cherry Blossom Days.

I've spent a birthday in Hamburg, with Hümmel figurines around my breakfast plate. I've spent a birthday in San Gimignano, where I had pistachio gelato in the rain.

I am a spring baby, and it just felt wrong.

So last week we ambled off to Ceres and overnighted in a

three-little-bears cottage on a cherry farm.

The doorways are like tiny keyholes and to avoid the champagne cork effect, a tall man had to enter sideways in a bit of a crouch.

Did I mention that it was cold?

Heater, electric blankets and a roaring fire.

Oxtail and polenta for supper.

We awoke side by side, tucked into our little bear beds. Presents to unwrap, cherry blossoms and the calls of the coots on the lake. The nearest mountain was covered in snow.

Every time I went out - bejacketed/gloved/hatted, I vowed to bring long johns next time. The weaver nests caught my eye - such beautifully woven things they are. I tried to catch the yellow birds in flight, but my fingertips grew numb.

On the road there and back the mountainsides were covered in lichens so thick you could barely see the rock. Water gushes and trickles. 

The nitidas are covered in huge waxen flowers, soos bruide...

Fields of long creamy throated arum lilies.

Fields of yellow, fields of purple.

Fields of soft velvety green.

And a lost aquatic traveller, helped across the road...

A smashing party.

I felt honored last night to attend the birthday party of the art teacher. Him and his beautiful wife live in a cottage in the woods. You follow an overgrown pathway strung with fairy lights and in the distance, there's the sound of tinkling glasses and music. It feels like a delicious secret.

And talking about delicious... the art teacher had requested "man food". His wife obliged. There was a slow cooked Cassoulet with haricot beans, chorizo and pork belly. Clouds of mashed potato on the side. I had two man-size helpings. This woman knows her onions.

(Above, the sourcerer's nominee for best-dressed guest.)

A few enchanted hours with friends old and new, bathed in flickering flames and infinite goodwill.
 

Keepsake #5.

A few years ago, someone I don't know very well sent me this origami water lily. It travelled on the dashboard of a friend's car and arrived on my birthday. I'm still touched by the gesture - this is such a fragile thing for a man to make.

Parties and Wedding Bells.

The weekend passed in a swirl. MORE sushi at Minato. It was that good.
 

TWO birthday parties on one night. Mixed Doubles: fun to see who matched who. Ah... so the girl with the furry ears in the ladies room belongs to the guy at the bar, ditto furry ears. Behaving like naughty children in the parking lot. Dancing till 3h30 in the morning at the Kimberley Hotel.

Awoke on Saturday morn to fat plopping raindrops on the pool, but nary a cloud in the sky. Jakkals trou met Wolf se vrou. (The Afrikaans equivalent of a Monkey's Wedding - Jackal marries wife of Wolf.) And then off I zipped to the sleepy hamlet of Stanford, for the union of two lovely, gentle souls.

Where everything grows in lush abundance.
 

The Bride was what all brides should be. Angelic, ethereal, calm and graceful.
 

After the service, there was a procession across the green fields to the place of the party.

Many faces from long, long ago. Champagne and tiny gruyere tarts on the stoep, spilling onto the street. Then rooms leading into rooms, filled with beautiful things and chatter and laughter. Sweet potato and roast lamb with salsa verde. Chocolate cake. Conversations about typography and obscure music. Somewhere, hidden by clouds, a huge orange Harvest Moon. Rain on the tin roof.
 

Later on, my bed was high enough to warrant a step. A feather quilt and an almost dreamless sleep. A walk impeded by mud and breakfast with a favourite family. Home again, home again. Back to week days and crowds and traffic and of course, the morning visitor.
 

~ The Duchess Of Wisbeach ~

 The birthday treats continue... I was taken out to dinner last night by the two big P's and one small. (A special thank you to the Tall Drink Of Water for the restaurant recommendation.)

We just loved The Duchess Of Wisbeach. Casually flamboyant, it's ultra-styley without feeling too contrived. Black, white and dove-grey. Small china dogs on each table. FULL of happy diners.
 

 The grown-ups all had the Karoo Lamb Chops. Three to a plate! They came served with grilled baby eggplant + vine tomatoes and a velvety zesty mint sauce. Cooked to a tee. I had to send my compliments to the chef. Chef Amy is seriously good, she had her dishes flying out of that little kitchen hot and fast. She sent me a nod and a shy smile.

It was a relief when the Duke gave us permission to eat our chops with our hands. Miss Pucci has no qualms - she eats everything with her fingers. Messily, but with great delicacy. Then she dips her hand in the water glass for a quick rinse. The table looked like the scene of utter carnage what with all those bones.
 

 
The dessert. Well. I'm lost for words. Baked apricot pudding with toffee sauce and creamy banana ice cream. It vanished in two minutes flat.
 

 A goblet of Grappa was taken for the constitution.
 

 
In the Ladies Room, a gold-framed fax page reads in a hasty scribble:

You are a lousy lover,

a careless husband and a bad father 

and you can cook yourself an egg tomorrow night.
 

 ❤ Thanks to R, C and the munchkin. ❤
The Duchess Of Wisbeach: Wisbeach Rd, Sea Point, 
021 434 1525

The Annex.

 A perfect Kalk Bay day. My pre-birthday treat of lunch at The Annex. We shared a steak sandwich with caponata and mushroom sauce plus the shiitake mushroom risotto. When I tasted the risotto I said to my friend: 'there's something going on here!' It was obvious that they'd used homemade stock and then they'd hidden baby carrots, peas and mangetout in between the mushrooms. Cunning! The portions were hale and hearty - a good thing, as we were eating for three. :-)

We were surrounded by a low hedge of lavender and mint full of lazy bees and sheltered by a huge umbrella pine. This has to be the best spot to sit and drink a glass of wine and solve the problems of the world.

Thanks D.
 

The Annex. Main Rd, Kalk Bay (behind the bookshop)
021 788 2453 

A Schooner named Coral.

 That's her, circa 1926. A gaff-rigged schooner built in England in 1902, the mistress of her captain for the last twenty years. A pleasure vessel. A day tripper. The Captain: Ozzie Osbourne in casual Friday form. The Birthday Girl: a Polish beauty dressed in black.
 

 The crowd: mostly architects, eating crostini with salmon, lemon & capers. Carpaccio with roasted peppers and artichokes. All garnished with fat mulberries and Sweet William petals.

Overheard snippets of conversation about Kenyan houseboys and difficult vegan children.
 

 We didn't leave the marina. Sunday promises a sail proper. November, a long cruise. Crew needed. I have offered my services as cook. Only half in jest.