And so the end of three weeks of leave eventually has to draw to a close .... but not without a short trip away from home first. We have just managed to get ourselves booked in at "Die Klein Wynhuisies" (the little wine houses). These are small cottages on a farm just outside of Riebeek Kasteel. (Kasteel = castle.)
We booked at the cottages for the evenings of 2 and 3 May. We will leave home very early on Friday morning and will return on Sunday evening - in time for me to get ready to go back to work next Monday. And while we are in Riebeek Kasteel, this small town will be celebrating its annual olive festival.
"Riebeek Kasteel is situated about 75km NNE of Cape Town, on the slopes of the Kasteelberg (Castle Mountain), a 946m high solitary rock of Table Mountain sandstone, sentinal amidst the rolling wheatfields and vineyards of the Swartland (black country). The tranquil village of Riebeek Kasteel was named after Jan van Riebeeck and the Kasteelberg. The name Riebeek Kasteel appears for the first time in the journal of the surgeon, Pieter van Meerhof, in 1661 while he was on a discovery expedition."
(The link takes you to a bit of information about the area - but the accommodation advertised is not where we will be staying.)
"Riebeek West is situated 4km from Riebeek Kasteel, in the direction of Moorreesburg and is closely linked with Riebeek Kasteel. Riebeek West, like Riebeek Kasteel used to be a district of the Swartland congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church at Malmesbury, but later became independent. Riebeek West is noted for the fact that two of South Africa's major political figures were born here. General Smuts was born on the farm Bovenplaas in the 1870 and Dr DF Malan on the farm Allesverloren."
A weekend of wine, olives and fireplaces lies ahead!
.... yes, it is getting much cooler here now, winter is on its way.
About this WORLD BLOGS mission I am on:This is not an easy task! There are just too many interesting blogs out there.
I have come across a heap of blogs I am not sure how to categorise yet. I would like to spend more time reading them and have added them to my blogroll, for now.
Eventually all the blogs I am currently reading will be moved to the WORLD BLOGS page and the blogroll will contain a list of new blogs (not categorised yet) and daily reads.
The difficult part of creating the list of WORLD BLOGS is that in some countries there are just too many blogs to choose from. And then there are only one or two blogs in other countries and none in quite a few places. And in some cases you cannot tell in which countries the blogs are being written. In most cases "USA" would be a good guess, but I would hate to make assumptions ....
Most importantly, Jonathon Delacour has set up a PayPal account to keep the Burningbird burning. Unfortunately South Africans cannot pay into PayPal accounts or open PayPal accounts. (What's wrong with our money, huh?!) However, please click on the image below and make a contribition if you are a fan of the Burningbird. She deserves it!
2.
The Dude sent this updated picture of Charlie to me via email. (The Dude says. "There I was sitting at the desk and it just sort of happened.")
There's nothing quite like stealing someone else's good idea
and making it work for you.
Oscar Jr. is creating a list of blogs from around the world where he feels he will get news first hand, rather than through the traditional media.
Yes!
I want to create a list of worldwide bloggers too, but with a different purpose.
My interest is more the
daily life and culture in countries
I am not likely to ever visit.
I am searching for blogs around the world that tell about life in the country of the blogger. Blogs with lots of photos are preferred - but not always that easy to find.
More to irritate myself than anyone else, I got the colours, allignment and font sizes all mixed up here in this post. Please don't try this at home or in a PowerPoint presentation!
While I feel no need to defend my point of view with regard to some of the things said about the poster, I want to make one thing clear: It was not supposed to be read as a pro-Mugabe message.
While I can see why people are reading it as being pro-Mugabe, I think the comment here should clear up that it was not meant that way.
What's up with this? The real one is here .... Can one stop/prevent this from happening?
******
FOR THE RECORD:
NAMES:
English:African penguin
Afrikaans:Brilpikkewyn
Latin:Spheniscus demersus - Spheniscus is a diminutive of the Greek word spen, meaning a wedge, which refers to their streamlined swimming shape, and demersus is a Latin word meaning plunging.
Other Common Names:Jackass penguin (as their call resembles a donkey's bray), Black-footed penguin
A letter in yesterday's Cape Argus, in response to the front page picture (see Thursday's blog entry):
Do you think Razek al-Kazem al-Khafaji ("Face of War", April 2) may write as follows to President Bush?
"Thank you, President Bush for rescuing my family from our "opressor". We should be grateful we can now get medication and aid, but unfortunately coalition forces killed my family - 15 in all. Did you see the picture of my dead infant?
"Then again, you may be celebrating the rescue of Jenny Lynch, a single member of your armed forces."
Pamela Small
Plumstead
From another letter:
"I would like a pro-war (not anti-Iraq) advocate to give me one good reason why any human being should be put through this."
Mrs M Davids
Strandfontein
Try as we might, South Africans cannot help having opinions about this war.
It is on the front pages of all our newspapers. It is the first news item on all our news bulletins. It is in front of the American Embassy as I drive to work. (See pictures here.) Newspaper posters on our lamp posts announce war updates. After normal television transmissions, we are bombarded with CNN and BBC news. The car next to me at the traffic lights is blasting "Give Peace a Chance". (Would John Lennon ever have guessed?) "Letters to the Editor" are about the war.
It is in our faces. All the time.
And as citizens of the world, we have a right to have opinions on this war.
// 
