Up to date

A lot of things have been happening since I posted anything of value on this blog so I doubt that anyone is reading anything here!!! (Make a comment and prove me wrong and I will start writing more often. ;-)

Anyway, a quick summary of what we have been up to would be:

Free State, wedding, holiday, Christmas, summer, New Year, Labrador puppy, mom (mamma) and birthdays!

So, we went up to a BIG wedding in the Free State in December. The Free State is vast and flat and consists of mostly farmland with small towns dotted around the countryside, but it was nothing like I had imagined. It was green and lush and also a lot colder than I expected.

The reason for going was that Rene’s cousin Via got married to her (husband) Dani. The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome and it was a great party. And when I say it was big I mean BIG: +/- 260 guests.

There is also a tradition in the Free State that is reason enough not to get married (if you are the groom); the grooms speech. This is the usual thank you speech, but with all your friends at the front heckling you and making comments the whole time. I got away lightly at my wedding!

In the Free State

We also met Rene’s father’s family again who were friendly and fantastic hosts!

Christmas, New Year and the summer holiday has come and gone. I think we had a very nice holiday even though we did miss family and friends in Sweden and in the UK. The best thing with celebrating in SA is that we get to celebrate twice; 24 December is celebrated in Sweden and 25 December is the main day in SA. We still only get one set of gifts...

Then on Yew Years Eve my mom (Lena) came to visit us for 3 weeks. It was great to have her here and to show her our new house and spend some time together. We didn’t tour the country but kept it local and went to Worcester and Onrus/Hermanus.

Mamma visiting SA

We also got a dog during my moms stay: a Labrador puppy called “Alfie”. The name comes from Alfred or Alfredsson who is a great Swedish ice hockey player in Ottawa Senators. Our good friend Fraser was the one who first suggested the name and we liked it. (Fraser is a huge Ottawa Senators fan). Here are some photos from when we picked him up.

First day with Alfie

Alfie is very cute and likes to bounce and bite and chew and dig. He is also (sometimes) a brave dog who likes to play with other much bigger dogs, like the Great Danes on the farm in Worcester. He also liked to play with Nala,Craig and Lil’s dog, who is a huge Ridge Back, and a very kind dog.

More of Alfie

I/we would also like to say congratulations to James and Jill who have had a baby boy!

Last but not least a big “Happy Birthday” to every one who has recently had their birthday.

The weekend they arrived

Last weekend was great!
Nothing beats old friends company, good food and a glass of wine or two. I and a couple of others (no names mentioned ;-) probably also had too many glasses of wine, if there is such a thing. Things never got out of hand, and I felt fine on Saturday morning, until I moved!
Ouch!
But things slowly improved even if it was a very "quiet" group that did the wine tasting tour in and around Slanghoek outside Worcester.

[photo]

The golf, on Worcester GC, on Sunday was won by the Knysna boys (Dewald and Pete) who had practiced a lot before this event.

I think we should also keep the golf as well as the general get together as yearly tradition! I am already looking forward to next year, but without the headache.

My cousin Tom and his school-friend Alexander, arrived on Sunday. We picked them up on Monday after they had stayed a night at the Big Blue Backpackers in Cape Town. (Monday was a Public Holiday in SA)

Tom and Alex started their work practice at Scentpac (http://www.scentpac.co.za) on Tuesday. It will be interesting for them to work in a South African factory. The staff is almost 100%
female with only 2 guys working there. It is now 50% more men at the factory. I think Tom and Alex have already received a few proposals of marriage from women who wants to escape to Sweden! :-)

This weekend we are going to visit Table Mountain if the weather is
nice and also go to Onrus (http://www.fallingrain.com/world/SF/1/Onrus.html (it is outside Hermanus)) and I hope we will be able to spot some whales. It is whale season at the moment here in SA so the chance is big. http://cybercapetown.com/WhaleWatching/

Tom and Alex want to go shark diving but I don't know if there will be time for that this weekend... I will stay on land and have no desire to get up close with the sharks.

We will also try to squeeze in another braai or two!

I caught a shark!

We went to the Beach House in Onrus, outside Hermanus this weekend.
We had a nice time and Barbara, Rene, Julie and Lil went to the Arabella spa for treatments. This was Barbara's birthday gift from last year. They all liked it and say that they can recommend it. I would personally like to try the beautiful golf course again!

I went crayfishing with Joggie and his friends on Saturday morning when the girls went to the spa. The weather was beautiful and calm but I still got a bit "sea sick"... Well I didn't get sick but I didn't feel that great. Perhaps the red wine and Cognac from dinner the night before was part of the problem?! However, I did feel better after a while and "pulled" some nets and i happened to catch a Pyjama shark! It was quite small (45-50cm) stripy and still alive and we did put it back in to the water. That was much more fun than catching the crayfish, if you ask me!

We also did some house hunting on the way home to Cape Town, but more about that later!