a garden party

We had our open air tribute-to-spring movie party yesterday and even watched two films (Ratatouille for the kids, and My Blueberry Nights for the grown-ups)!

Everyone was sitting around the garden in the mild spring air and the moon was rising above us.
It's good to know summer will be back soon...

Thanks to all our friends for coming and making this a special night!

Party Planning

We're having a tribute-to-spring movie party this Saturday!
You can vote for your favorite film until Friday, 9 September 23:59pm in the side-bar...
See you there!

Buschbewohner

A few of the animals we saw on yesterday's game drive in Mokolodi. It is getting hot again and its very dry, so it's easier to spot the animals in the bush. I'm glad its getting warmer, but a little bit of humidity would also be nice (I can't believe I'm actually saying this because I didn't really like the humid climate in Singapore). But these days, it is so dry you can watch the water evaporate from the pool...

Underwater Love

Each year the Southern right whales come to Walker Bay to give birth and mate. To celebrate their arrival and the beginning of spring, Hermanus holds an annual Whale Festival in September. Because of the deep waters the whales come very close to the coast and so Hermanus prides itself to be the best land-based whale-watching spot in Africa.

Looking for the distinctive V-shaped fountain and the white marks on the head, you can see the gentle giants swaying in the waves. We spent hours sitting on the cliffs and watching the whales coming close to the surface, waving their flaps and jumping high out of the water.

Wouldn't it be great if we could actually see what's happening under water???

In Full Bloom

These days our garden is full of beautiful flowers! Some of them have been planted a while ago, some we put into the pots on the terrace.

I love the big red ones and the wonderful rose.

But the most spectacular is the blooming wall of our neighbour - the colors are just unbelievable and the smell is so good that I have to stop whenever I walk past it.

Dear spring (or is it summer already?), thanks for being such a colorful time of the year!

where the weather is fine

After a week of heavy rain and almost NO sunshine at all, I escaped to London for a couple of days.

Surprisingly (and contradictory to all the existing prejudices concerning British weather) it was sunny and kind of warm and it actually felt a lot more like spring than in Bavaria.

So we went for a lot of looong walks along the river Thames and around the neighbourhood, counted pianos in the fancy white townhouses, and enjoyed the afternoon sun in deckchairs in Hydepark.

Thanks for an awesome weekend to Herb and Miko and all the other lovely people!

The colors of spring

Right now, everything here is light green with yellow and white spots in between.
And even though the sky was really grey for a couple of days, the colors tell you that winter is finally over...

I just love spring.