Desiree-Rose's Journals

A newsletter in July … we thought we might give this month a skip … expecting a cold and wintry month with really not much to report … that was until the month got started ….. and now just look! a whole stack of fun and interesting things happened. The very first weekend we had a visit from Desirée’s son Vaughn and wife Tamlyn …. and what a lovely long weekend we spent. They were passing through, the long way, to the Grahamstown Festival. And now they have both experienced this beautiful part of the Cape and fallen in love with it, we know they will be back again. Our weekend with them included a visit to the Sedgefield Saturday morning farmers’ market (on the international visitors map you know!), a midday picnic on the top of the cliffs at Herolds Bay after Vaughn and Tams had climbed to the top of the cliff from the beach, (please note only V & T climbed; the other two drove up to meet them at the top), a visit to the Groot Brak Shoe Factory and the De Dekke Antique Shop. A quick visit into the forest and the Big Tree and lunch at the Meade Street Emporium (very classy joint) – V & T managed to spend quite large amount on posters as well as an Italian wrought iron garden table and chairs, which fortunately fitted into their car for transporting back home. A lovely weekend with a lot of catching up. Our list of new friends is swelling a little and we have enjoyed some good tea times together as well as attending 2 or 3 Emmaus meetings. The Botanical Gardens are looking really beautiful as is the Garden Route Dam with its absolutely perfect reflections of the mountains and vegetation. We have enjoyed several lovely walks there as well as on the beaches. We have attended several talks at the U3A (Univ. Third Age), one of particular interest was a slide presentation on India and Kashmir. The A.R.P&P (Ass. Retired and Pensioned Persons) had a Winterfest Luncheon that was very enjoyable. We have also joined the Library and one of us has all but exhausted one shelf – she is starting at one end and hopes to make her way across to the other side; she did however decide to skip the Afrikaans section as it may take a little longer to get through. Oh! and just in case you are wondering, she also has books on reserve. With our movie club card special, i.e. R7.00 on a Tuesday we have seen more movies than ever before, but we are still rather fussy and only pick the good ones. This month’s highlight was Madagascar. We are still trying out one or two cell groups – haven’t really settled on one yet, but we have found a rather nice Bible Study group that meets on a Wednesday morning and we’ll probably settle into that routine. The third weekend of the month was fun once again when Rose’s daughter Sharon paid us a flying visit. We of course love showing off, and took her straight from the airport up to our favourite picnic joint on the top of Herolds Bay, thence for a quick visit to Carmel and Victoria Bay, then up along the cliff top to view the Map of Africa and Wilderness Beach, up and down the Outeniqua Mountain – still blackened by the recent fires, a lovely Sunday lunch at a really old-fashioned hotel, one of those that still serves you at the table which is laid with real white linen. Back to the airport after a really wonderful weekend and with Sharon in love with George and promising to return – real soon. In amongst all this fun, we have volunteered to collect “day old” foods and breads from 4 different outlets and deliver it to the kitchens on a Friday and Saturday mornings. This service is for a group called LIFE, an organisation funded by an American woman who is undertaking to feed 2000 children a day. It is a very small effort on our part, but fits into a large well-organized team. Much too cold for camping this month, but the travel bug having bitten we could not miss our few days away.

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