Day 473 - A special month indeed.

Dit is die maand Oktober! Die mooiste, mooiste maand!
Dan is die dag so helder, so groen is elke aand,
so blou en sonder wolke die hemel heerlik bo,
so blomtuin vol van kleure die asvaal ou Karoo...

So writes one of our most famous Afrikaans poets, C Louis Leipold. This interesting link will tell you a little more about him. The poem talks about how beautiful the month of October is in our part of the world, with bright cloudless days and carpets of flowers creating natural gardens in an area that is normally seen as semi desert...

This year October in South Africa has not disappointed. I can't remember when last we've had such magnificent displays of wild flowers - amongst all the gloom and doom of the world, I am experiencing this as a special gift from above!

The focus of my post today is on all the amazing little detours I've walked since my last post though, and I think the flowers deserve a post dedicated, in pictures, all to themselves!

So where to begin...

My Thursday hikes have been few and far between because we've been away quite a bit but here are some of the pictures I took at Cape Point last week.

Earlier this week we spent two nights at a game reserve in the northern part of the country, compliments of my very special friend, Di. This was the sunrise on the first morning...

After the game reserve, we headed down to Ladismith where my husband did 80 kilometers on his mountain bike in the annual Seweweekspoort Mountain Bike Challenge. This is the start of the race - set in one of the most spectacular parts of our country.

This little flower below is known as the Chinese Lantern (Nymania Capensis). At this time of the year it adds colour to the otherwise rather bleak landscape along the main routes leading from Cape Town to Oudshoorn, situated in the Little Karoo. Impossible to drive past without taking a picture! To read more - click here.

Finally, two of the highlights of the last couple of weeks. The first was meeting Sonja van Rhyn and all her amazing friends. I recently wrote about Sonja and the fact that she was diagnosed with MSA just over a year ago. We celebrated global MSA awareness day by joining Sonja for a walk along the beachfront in her hometown and later that evening people all over the world lit candles - again to raise awareness. I have been touched by this amazing woman and the special people in her life.

I share these two pictures with you here but will be doing a post dedicated to Sonja, in the near future.





Photo: Laurette van der Merwe



Last but not least - we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary earlier this month.

What more can I say - cheers to the next 30!



Day 12 - Exploring the countryside

Our trip to Ladismith (http://www.ladismith.org.za/) this weekend was everything I expected it to be and so much more. There is an energy in that beautiful part of our country that one simply can't ignore. I experience it as a vibrant, yet peaceful feeling that makes me want to stay there for much longer than we normally have time for.

This time we stayed on a farm about 12km from the town and our main reason for going up there was because of the 80km Seweweekspoort mountainbike race held there every year. My roll is that of supporter and photographer, my husband is the one who gets on the bike!

He bikes and I hike. That works for me! His biking takes me all over the world and I certainly don't have a problem with that! In Melbourne I volunteered to help at the 'Around the Bay in a Day' cycle race and in New Zealand I drove the campervan around Lake Taupo while he took part in the race that circled the lake.

A pity my love for photography was still somewhat dormant at that stage, if I think of all the amazing shots I could have taken! I do have a few snapshots though, come to think of it, I'll have to go dig around for one or two to post.

Here are some of the weekend's encounters..

Only in Africa!

Our lunch stop in Greyton - lamb shank was good!

Our Abbey - enjoying farm life!

We met these two in Montagu - tired or bored, not sure!

Thinking back about this wonderful weekend we had also makes me a little sad this morning. One of my brother's childhood friends is lying in hospital today, fighting for his life. He celebrated his 39th birthday a few days ago and it seems as if the battle he has been waging with cancer is about to defeat him.

A few weeks ago he had surgery in the USA and there was tremendous hope that the treatment he received there, that our doctors were unable to offer him here at home, would give him time and healing. That wasn't to be though.

It just seems so sad and unfair. A young man with three small children and a future that is ebbing away. We all have our own journeys but his is taking him to places that he certainly could not have wished for.

I also can't help thinking about how his journey is affecting so many close to him and in fact shaping theirs. It just brought home to me how our journeys are intertwined and connected, whether we wish for it to be, or not.

My prayers are with this young family today and I hope that God fills them with love, acceptance and understanding - things that must be difficult to feel when someone close to you is having to endure such incredible suffering .