No, not a robin. That’s not the first sign of spring here at the farm. For me, the first sign is the returning geese.

Earlier this week I saw two geese on our pond. They were there again this morning and I can hear other geese honking from our neighbor’s pond. It was the first I’d seen or heard of them since sometime late last fall. I’m not actually sure where they returned from – the north, or the south, but every year we have 2-10 geese who return and make our pond (and our neighbor’s) home. Inevitably, they appear in the late winter time frame, when the weather is still raw, and there is definitely the chance of more snow and freezing weather.

Right now, there are two geese on the pond. In addition to swimming and floating around, they are in the nearby field eating grass or grain. Somewhere around here, they have a private home that is out of sight. And there, they will have goslings before long. In the next couple of months (probably April), I will see mom, followed by 4-6 goslings, followed by dad, walking into the pond.

One year, three pair of geese had goslings. I think I counted 22 total geese hanging out on our pond.

It’s very cute. But, it also shows how nature works. One day you will see the proud parents with 6 goslings. The next day, maybe 5. A few days later, 3 or 4. It’s a tough world, the pond at Rohan Farm. There are foxes and coyotes in the neighborhood, along with a couple of mean snapping turtles in the pond. The geese do their best to protect the goslings, but inevitably a few are lost, and happily, several survive.

Next winter, when February is dragging on, I know that at least two of them will show back up and help me realize that spring is not that far away.

*****

Addendum:

⁃ A version of this blog first appeared as a Facebook post in February, 2009. I recently came across the post, and found it to be as relevant today, as it was when first published.

They say that death comes in threes, but last week I was hit with a four pack. Classmate, local running friend, friend from a local winery, and a coworker. Boom. All came out of the blue, and all died before their time, or what I thought was their time. Of course death has no timetable, but we often seem to forget that.

The time I’d last seen any of the four varied from a few days, to a couple months, to a few years, to a lifetime ago. And yet, memories of each of them flooded my mind. I think the time proximity of their deaths accentuated the memory blast. It seemed almost over the top for a bit, and then settled back into levelness.

Today, I was at the funeral service for one of them. My mind wandered during the ceremony and I spent the time thinking about all four. I wasn’t seeking answers so much, as I was thinking about the shortness of life. Their lives, my family’s lives, my life.

It was raining while driving back from the funeral. My friend Joe and I discussed the suddenness of our friend’s death and how much we would miss him. We also discussed the future and what it held for each of us. I suppose it’s a common enough story to have those discussions when you reach a certain age. We always know that death is somewhere in the future, but when it appears so suddenly for others, it makes you think a bit more about life, or at least it has for me.

John, Kyle, Jane and Vish – I will do my best to remember you and remember your names. I hope to honor you by showing love to my family and friends, and living my life to the fullest.

Things are failing quickly in Zimbabwe.  The country we spent 17 days visiting last October, is coming apart at the seams. Inflation, riots, crime, censorship, and lack of fuel are all taking their toll.  The government of Emmerson Mnangagwa appears no better than that of Mugabe and may be worse. With the government’s ruthless actions, the people are becoming more and more restless.

We are trying to stay in touch with our friends in Harare, but it is difficult. Internet connectivity to Zim has been cut a couple of times by the government. The same goes for voice communications.  In the emails we have received, they don’t paint a pretty picture.  

Inflation is rampant, particularly for fuel and necessities.  Gas is now over $12 a gallon, if you can find it.  Many people are waiting in line for a day or more, trying to get fuel and hoping the station doesn’t run out, which frequently happens.  Our friends were also cautioned about driving unnecessarily, as cars are sometimes stopped by people who think that if you are driving, you have gas, and therefore you are rich.

Crime has increased at both the small and large level.  Last week, thieves attempted to steal the whole transformer from where our friends get their electricity.  Someone heard them and alerted their new “Neighborhood Crime Watch” and the thieves ran off.  However, all the parts were lying on the ground, with oil everywhere. They must now guard the parts, as the power company hasn’t yet come to fix it.  In the interim, they are without power, except for a generator they run for part of each day, but it’s difficult to find diesel fuel for the generator. They were also without electricity for thirteen days over Christmas, due to stolen copper wires from the transformer to their home.

Here is part of a recent email from them, as I think it conveys the situation better than I can:

“I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like this since arriving here in late 1972.  There was a civil war going on then but I never really felt unsafe.  Perhaps being younger and not having children made me more full of bravado…

Today, for the first time, I feel a little frightened.  It is because the people who are angry today and shouting out slogans and threats such as “no mercy will be shown” are targeting anyone they come across, anyone in a mobile car, anyone on the streets and I gather even people in their homes.  They are targeting some of the wealthier areas and also the poorer ones, like xxx near us.  They sent out messages which have been passed around on Whatsapp yesterday telling everyone to keep their children at home as they don’t want them to be hurt and they say they are going to attack the xxx School today, along with other places.  They say they are furious with the government and the police and the army and they will not stop until the whole Country is at a standstill.  

Who “they” are we have no idea.  We don’t know who has rallied them together but we have seen quite a lot of videos, sent around yesterday of crowds stoning ordinary vehicles.  One woman sent a video of “my son being stoned”.  I don’t know if he was black or white but it doesn’t seem to make any difference.  If you are driving, it means you have petrol and if you have managed to get petrol, you probably have some American dollars!  Or you have paid for it with a foreign card.  Or you are a member of government.  They will not consider that you might have sat all night and day in a queue and been lucky enough to get to the front before the fuel station ran out.  You would not have a chance to explain!

The steady rain today seems to exacerbate the feeling of doom and gloom but of course this is silly because it is a good thing.  One reason is that we need more rain this season not just for the crops but to replenish the underground water and boreholes that some of us are lucky enough to have.  The other reason is that we are hoping it might deter the demonstrators from getting out of hand and doing unnecessary damage.  So far we have seen that they have burnt down a police station and have set fire to an out-of-town toll gate.  

This morning we saw a video of looting in a high-density township.  Some brave person continued to video while hundreds of people ran to the closed Supermarket and were seen to run back down the street with ploughs and big drums of stuff, maybe soap powder or paint or flour?  It was endless, with people shouting and shoving and screaming.  What good this will do if it is part of a demonstration I don’t know but of course some people are so very poor and starving that they will take any opportunity.  I think this is why we feel nervous as we have more than so many people have. But we are pretty hard up when compared with the people who are milking this Country dry.

I might add that the unruly demonstrations have been superceeded by something much worse in the form of the brutality by the police and army who appear to be indiscriminately breaking into houses and beating and torturing the inhabitants and arresting hundreds.  We have already heard terrible stories, and how some of these people are children and young girls.  The government is excusing this saying the people arrested are the perpetrators of violent demonstrations but most of them are totally innocent.”

Our friends have kept their sense of humor.  They recently read my blog about the three day beef daube (stew) I made, that requires a bottle of wine for the stew.  They commented “We hope you enjoyed your 3-day “stew”!!!  We are now down to the last bottle of red wine and it is definitely NOT going in the cooking”.

Cath and I are so sad at this turn of events. Zimbabwe is a beautiful country and has much to offer. We hope to return there in the future to see our friends, the beauty of the country, and of course the animals.

I fear that under Mnangagwa, things are only going to get worse. He is trying to get help from Putin and additional help from the Chinese, which should concern us. He has also travelled to Davos to appeal to the countries attending the summit there. It would not surprise me to see another coup, but for now, he controls the Army and they are responding to him and his wishes. That’s part of the reason things are getting so ugly. Here in the States we don’t pay much attention to events in African nations, but we should.

______

Addendum:

1. Thanks to our friend for letting us extract from their email for this blog. We have kept their name anonymous for security reasons.

2. If you want a more strategic look at Zimbabwe’s issues and how their economy is in shambles, try this link: https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/theres-little-zimbabwe-can-do-reverse-its-economic-rot – it’s a pretty good analysis. Thanks To Marty Hanratty for the link.

The thaw started yesterday, while the rain started last night. By this morning, the yard, fields and barn area are turning into a muddy mess. The delivery driver thinking our driveway was an address on Swains road made an honest mistake. Her decision to turn the truck and goose neck trailer around in our back yard was not. The driver buried the back tires pretty quickly and just after that is when I got the call from Cathy.

My neighbor Mike called earlier that morning to ask a favor. A tractor was being delivered to his house, and due to the weather, was delayed. Would I mind meeting the driver at his house and backing the tractor off the trailer? No problem. It’s raining a bit, but what are neighbors for?

The driver calls me mid-morning to say she will be here shortly, and I say great, I’ll meet you at Mike’s house. I drive over there and wait. And Wait. Then, I get a call from Cathy – “There’s @#@%&@ truck and trailer stuck in our @$^*&&@ back yard!”

I drive home, and sure enough, there’s the truck, trailer, and Mike’s tractor all sitting in the back yard. The yard is torn up and the truck rear tires are about 8 inches deep in mud. Cathy is visibly pissed (Note to self: check later on why Cathy is barefoot, and carrying her winter boots in her hands.), and the driver, Barb as it turns out, is saying she will pay for any and all damages. For some reason, she thought our house was my neighbor’s, even though we have different house numbers, and live on different streets.

Cath goes inside, and Barb and I proceed to get better acquainted. Her F250 has 4 wheel drive, but can’t seem to get moving. We decide to offload the tractor, and maybe with the lesser weight, the truck can get unstuck. The rain is coming down heavier now. She puts the back ramp of the trailer down, and I back the tractor off and park it. We try and move the truck and still no good. We unhook the trailer, and still no good. The 4 wheel drive doesn’t appear to be engaging. I come back to Barb’s truck to talk with her, and she’s crying in the cab. I say “hey, don’t worry, this’ll work out”. She answers back that she’s had some bad times lately. She buried her 85 year old father last week in Georgia. My brain flashes to my folks, Cathy’s mom, and you know, when it gets down to it, we are all just people. I tell her I’m sorry, and “it’ll be OK, we’ll figure this out.”

I look at her 4 wheel drive switch and something doesn’t look right. I call my local truck guy and we discuss. Finally, I send him a photo. Sorry, it’s not 4 wheel, it’s 2 wheel drive with rear differential lock. Crap.

OK. I get my F250 with 4 wheel drive and my 15 foot chain. We hook up, put it in low and I get her truck to move. The problem is I’ve only got a narrow gap to make it through a gate. It’s close, but no cigar. I stop. I look at the gate. I curse. I look some more. Finally, I go over to Barb. “We are going to need a professional. Let’s go inside and get warm.”

We go inside and shed our wet jackets. Cath has started a fire and we all settle in. I call Aaron’s towing and they are going to get the boss out in a couple of hours. We have lunch, Barb has a pick-up she’s suppose to do in Baltimore today, but that’s looking doubtful. She gives me the other key for Mike’s new tractor, and I sign that it’s arrived.

Time passes.

Cathy and Barb compare stories of taking care of their dying parents with home hospice. Barb, with her father, and Cathy, with her mom. The day has taken a couple of interesting turns, and is way off from what was expected this morning.

More time passes. The rain stops.

Finally, around 3:30PM, the tow truck arrives. It’s Conner, the owner of Aaron’s towing. We talk, and he takes a look. He’s a pro, you can just tell. He gets Barb’s truck pulled out fairly easy, but the 33 foot long trailer is a problem. It’s in the middle of the yard, and legs are buried in the mud that use to be our yard.

After a couple of false starts, Conner, the genius, figures out a way to get the front end of the trailer to the driveway, without tearing up the yard much worse. His plan works and miraculously, the goose neck is over the drive. Barb backs her truck up, we connect the trailer, and then Conner drives the truck and trailer free. Fifteen minutes later, after tearing up some more ground by our barn, Conner gets the truck and 33 foot trailer out the gate, and up the drive. As he passes me, he yells “Drive my truck up the drive! I’ll meet you at the road.” What? Never mind. I jump in his tow truck, tell Barb to get in the passenger seat and we drive up the drive and onto Enon School Road, where Conner has parked the truck on the side of the road. It’s now about 5:30PM.

It’s time to pay. Conner tells us the final price and Barb is going to pay. Except there’s a problem with her business card. It’s not the right type, or there’s not the right approval, or something else that I don’t quite understand. I try to call Mike (you remember Mike, it was his tractor that was on the trailer), but we have a bad connection. He says he will be there soon. A half hour later, Barb pulls out her personal credit card and gives it to Conner. About this time, Mike pulls up, ready to pay if needed. I tell him it’s OK.

By now, Conner’s internet isn’t working so well and the card info won’t transfer. Finally, Conner Says to Barb, follow me to Warrenton, and we’ll process the card there. She agrees, and they drive off. I look at Mike and say “I need a drink. Want to come to the house?” He agrees, and we proceed home. It’s 6:30PM and the day I never saw coming is finally over.

____________

Addendum:

If you ever need towing help in the Fauquier area, or the 66 corridor, I can’t recommend Aaron’s Towing enough. You can reach them at 540.253.7799.

I was one of the first to arrive. I was handed a peeler, offered a beer, and told to head outside. Three or four people were already there, including my buddy Magoo. The pile on the table was huge, and the guys had already started, some with knives, some with peelers. I took a breath, grabbed my first horseradish root, and started peeling. Jim’s 2018 horseradish making party was underway…

Jim has been making horseradish sauce since the ‘90s. Before marrying his wife Janis, he ground horseradish with her Uncle George, an old Croatian from Pittsburgh. The uncle claimed to have a secret sauce and vowed he would not share the secret with Jim until he married into the family, which Jim did in 1999. It turns out Uncle George’s secret was to drink a lot while preparing the roots.

Jim started hosting his horseradish parties in 2004, and over time, it grew in size. I’d been invited for a couple of years, but always had a conflict and couldn’t make it. This year when I received the invite, I cleared my calendar and vowed I wouldn’t miss it. The date finally arrived last November, and I left home early to ensure I’d arrive on time.

Jim met me at the door and offered a beer. As I was a first-timer, he walked me through the steps required to make horseradish and told me some of the history of the party. He also encouraged me to work all of the stations, so I would understand the process. Originally he only used horseradish he grew at home, but the party became so large, he now supplements it with horseradish roots ordered through his local grocery.

After grabbing the peeler, I went outside, where the first two steps in the process were taking place. I started by peeling as much of the skin off a horseradish root as possible, and also digging out any small brown spots. After finishing, I handed the root to a cutter.

The cutter’s job is to remove any larger brown spots remaining, and to cut the root into smaller chunks. Now with all his years of experience in making horseradish, Jim had acquired a wide range of tools to help with this task, and the team was using most of them. There were large knives, saws, small axes, and other devices I’ve since forgotten. In the past, they have also used power tools, chisels and hammers. This year’s addition was a Khashoggi-style bone saw. The thing is, the horseradish root is tough as hell, and oddly shaped – a 4 inch kitchen knife isn’t going to get the job done. While smiling, Jim told me blood has been lost in the past, but so far, no fingers (just a few finger tips that were added to the grind).

Next, the horseradish chunks are brought indoors. The large chunks are cut into smaller cubes, and everything is washed in the sink. From there, it’s loaded into the food processor. Prior to this step, the horseradish root doesn’t have any of that eye-watering aroma we associate with horseradish sauce. That’s about to change.

The food processor step is something of a right of passage, and all newcomers are required to work it. After putting the lid on the blender, you pulse the processor a few times, turning the horseradish into a fine grind. Newbies are then encouraged to take the lid off and do a “quality control” check by smelling the horseradish and ensuring it’s OK. When I completed my first QC check, my eyes watered, my sinuses cleared, and I think there was a burn in the back of my throat. There were laughs all around of course.

The processed horseradish is then dumped into a bowl and left to rest for five minutes or so. White wine and a bit of vinegar are then added. You want just enough to moisten the ground horseradish, but not enough to make it liquidy. The white vinegar is added as a fixer to keep the grind from turning brown and to help stop the chemical reaction that occurs during the grinding. Jim adds the wine to spike the taste.

Next, you have a choice. The horseradish is ready to “can” now, or you can add some sour cream. If using the sour cream, you add just enough to mix in, but you don’t want any liquid in the bottom of the bowl. I think over the course of the day, maybe 20% of the grind had sour cream added, with the rest just using vinegar and wine.

The final step is filling the canning jars and putting lids on them. We filled three or four cases of half-pint jars (24 jars to a case) and probably another case or two of quarter-pint jars. I’m told the creamed horseradish lasts a couple of weeks, and the wine cured a couple of months, if kept in the fridge. We didn’t seal the jars with a water bath or pressure cooker, although that can be done, allowing you to keep it longer.

While all of this processing was going on, the group continued to gather until there were probably 25 or so guys and the party was at a dull roar. Some people were helping to make the horseradish, while many were just standing around, talking, drinking an adult beverage, and having a good time. The event is also a potluck and almost everyone brought a dish to pass. The food items are also known as horseradish delivery devices. There were several traditional foods you think of with horseradish, such as beef, sausages, mashed potatoes, bloody Mary’s and so on, but there were also some nontraditional ones like cheese, apple pie and horseradish infused pickles. From my personal taste testing, I can tell you fresh horseradish sauce is similar to bacon – almost everything is better with it.

I finally had to leave and drive home. As I gathered up my jars of sauce, I thanked Jim for the great afternoon. He knows I enjoy cooking, and asked if I wanted to take a couple of horseradish plants home. Of course I said yes and we went to his garden and dug up a couple of tops. I’m looking forward to growing some of my own horseradish next year.

__________________

Addendum:

1. Jim told me a great story about Billy Horseradish, a distance cousin of Johnny Appleseed’s. Instead of apples, Billy went around the countryside handing out horseradish tops, but It never caught on the same way apples did. Jim promised if I came back next year, he’d share the entire legend of Billy Horseradish. In the meantime, he did recite the Billy Horseradish prayer (sung to the tune of the Johnny Appleseed Prayer):

Oh the Lord is good to me;

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need;

The bread and the fish and the horseradish;

The Lord is good to me.

The internet is surprisingly sparse on information about Billy Horseradish, so I’m really looking forward to next year’s party. ;-).

2. Janis’ uncle came to a couple of the early parties and Jim used to call him during later parties to let him join in on a bit of what he started. Uncle George died last year two months shy of his 100th birthday. Jim gave him his last jar shortly after his 99th birthday and George pronounced it the best ever.

3. Jim explained to me the reason the party is guys only is a reaction to his wife Janis’ lady craft nights– the women got together, made crafts and drank some amount of wine. Jim was expelled from the house on craft night…

****

Special thanks to Jim Overdahl for hosting the party, reviewing this blog for accuracy (so that’s what the vinegar is for!), and providing some of the photos.

Yep. It’s almost Christmas. Last weekend, Cath and I went to Ford’s Theater to attend the play “A Christmas Carol”. This is the 5th or 6th year in a row that we’ve watched it at Ford’s, and it never fails to put me in the Christmas spirit. This wonderful story of redemption can soften even the grinchiest of hearts.

Redemption is a theme running through many of our favorite Christmas stories or movies. This is particularly true in “A Christmas Carol” and “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”, which are remarkably similar tales.

After the Grinch’s Christmas attack on Whoville, who doesn’t love his redemption and rebirth?

“He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.

Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more!”

And we all know how Scrooge acts after the visit of the three ghosts. At the end of “A Christmas Carol”, Scrooge tell us –

“I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future! The Spirit of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven and the Christmas Time be praised for this!”

While the stories of Scrooge and the Grinch are secular Christmas tales, their stories certainly fit the theme of redemption that runs throughout Christianity. Maybe that’s why both stories resonate so strongly with me. There is always hope for us as we go through life, no matter our mistakes and issues from the past. There is always hope.

My wish is that all of you find your Christmas and Holiday spirit this year. Maybe each of us can take a few minutes from our busy lives of work, responsibility and worry to celebrate the holiday and our fellow man. Dickens tells us at the end of “A Christmas Carol” –

“…he [Scrooge] knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us and all of us. As Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, Every One!”

May that be said of all of us. Merry Christmas friends….

****

Addendum: While attending Ottawa High School back in the day, I was a part of a choral reading group called Voices. There were about 10 of us, and we would recite various poems or stories with both choral and solo parts. We performed at various hospitals, old folk homes, and the like. The two poems I remember to this day are “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Elliot, and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss. One of my solo lines in the latter was –

If I can’t find a reindeer, I’ll make one instead!

So he called his dog, Max. Then he took some red thread,

And he tied a big horn on the top of his head.

THEN He loaded some bags And some old empty sacks,

On a ramshackle sleigh And he hitched up old Max.

Funny what stays with you…..

“Oh my God!”

“What, are you OK?”

“Oh my God! I just saw a whale!” called Cathy.

I turned towards her and saw the splash of something big hitting the water. I’d missed it. No wait! There it went again! The whale breached three more times, before disappearing. It was our first evening in Hermanus, on the Western Cape, and we’d just gone for a casual walk. The breaching whale was a perfect introduction to Hermanus.

That morning, we’d said goodby to Marty, Magoo, Bill and Jim, who we’d been traveling around Southern Africa with for the last month. We added on three days at the end of the trip for just Cathy and I, and we were going to Hermanus for some whale watching. We left Cape Town around noon in our rental car, and stopped for lunch at a neat little place called The Thirsty Oyster in Gordon’s Bay. We arrived in Hermanus in the late afternoon and that’s when we had that first whale sighting.

Hermanus is known for the best land based whale watching in the world. Every year in August or September, the Southern Right Whale travels from the waters of Antarctica to calve in Walker Bay, off of Hermanus. They stay in the area for a couple of months raising their calves, mating, and then traveling back to Antarctica. By the end of November, most of the whales are gone.

The first full day, we saw perhaps 15 whales. The best was off of Sievers Point where we spied two that were doing some kind of dance together. We watched the choreography for an hour as evening was setting. Were they playing, or getting to know each other, or mating? We don’t know. We do know that it was beautiful to watch.

The following day was even better. In the morning as we watched from Gearing’s Point, four whales with their calves paraded past where we were standing on the cliffs. They are huge animals – I’m guessing the mothers were over forty feet long. They took their time, before finally moving on.

After watching them for so long, we were hungry and walked to The Bistro, a restaurant near our lodge. As we were drinking our beers and eating our cauliflower soups with blue cheese, there was a commotion in the cove opposite the restaurant. The same four pair of whales entered the cove, and the calves started playing together. They were slapping their tails on the water, or learning to slap their tails, as some did it better than others. Some people think that the the tail slapping is a form of communications, but no one knows for sure. We watched them through out lunch. We talked with several locals, including the owner of the restaurant – everyone was enjoying the show. They said the whale watching this year was the best they’d seen in four years.

We finally left when the whales had moved on. We were walking back to our room when the four pair had one last surprise for us – they’d moved on to Fick’s Pool, directly across from our lodge and the calves were again playing together. We crossed the road and walked out on the rocks for a better view and continued to watch them for another hour. They finally left.

That night, we had a final dinner at a nearby restaurant, The Heritage Cottage. It was perhaps our best meal in town, with Cathy having mussels in a garlic cream sauce, while I went with the Kudu filet. I wasn’t sure when I’d be able to have kudu again, and didn’t want to pass up one last opportunity. The local Pinotage/Cab blend went pretty well with the meal.

The next morning, we packed and said our goodbyes at the lodge. We drove to Gearing’s Point one last time to see if there were any whales. The weather had cooled, and it was cloudy that morning. We left our car to scan the Bay for whales. After five minutes of watching, we saw none and decided to drive on to the airport in Cape Town. It was time to start our journey home.

*******************

********

This is the tenth (and final) in a series of short blogs about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

Cape Town (ninth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/cape-town/

Wine Safari – Stellenbosch (eighth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/06/wine-safari-stellenbosch/

Rra Dinare Safari Camp (seventh blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/rra-dinare-safari-camp-in-botswana/

He was Young and Made a Mistake (Sixth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/he-was-young-and-made-a-mistake-sable-valley-in-botswana/

Vic Falls – The Smoke that Thunders (5th Blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/the-smoke-that-thunders/

First Safari Camp, at The Hide (Fourth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/first-safari-camp/

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink/

Arriving in Cape Town was a bit of a disconnect at first, after all of the safari camps and countryside we’d been visiting. It was the first big city we were in since Harare at the start of October. The two days of wine tasting we’d just finished in Stellenbosch may have slowed us down a bit as well.

Our AirBnB was right on the edge of the Waterfront, and the views of the lights that first night were captivating. The Ferris wheel was in the center of it all. We had three days planned in Cape Town, including The Waterfront, Table Mountain, and The Cape of Good Hope.

Table Mountain is right in Cape Town. The cable car only takes five minutes to get to the top, but with the crowds, we waited in line for an hour before it was our turn. We could have walked, but age or laziness got the better of us. At the top, the views are stupendous and in every direction. Out to the Atlantic Ocean, of Cape Town itself, and Robben Island where Mandela was imprisoned for so long. The day was hot and after walking the trails for two hours around the perimeter of the mountain, we had a beer at the little cafe there at the top. The crowds didn’t seem so bad now. We eventually took the cable car down and made it back to our penthouse.

That night, Cath and I walked to the Waterfront and wandered among the shops, bars and restaurants. It was a fun area. We eventually stopped and had dinner at a place right on the water called Life Grand Cafe. It was our kind of place – Barrel aged Negronis, a great wine list, and all kinds of seafood. After an appetizer of roasted avocado and tomato ‘ceviche’, we had a Chenin Blanc with our Pernod lobster tail and line fish.

On the walk back to our room we crossed the waterfront and there was the Ferris Wheel. Cath said “let’s go”, and so we did. It was probably the first Ferris wheel we’d been on together since we were 17 and 16. Up we went and circled around. The lights of the harbor, the ships, and the restaurants all intermingled with the lights of the city. We were above everything and feeling young….

The next day, we drove to the Cape of Good Hope and toured, saw penguins, and again faced the crowds. It was worth the trip, and the view, but our group elected to have our picnic lunch, and as it turned out, our last meal together, away from the crowd and on the coast by ourselves. We found a piece of boat wreck and pulled out our cheese, charcuterie and wine. The meal was fine and we talked and laughed with the easy going banter that comes from spending a lot of time together.

There was a bit more time as a group, including Hashing with the Cape Town Hash, who hosted us with grilled tuna and lagers after the trail. A bit of wandering around town the next day with some shopping, and suddenly it was the last morning.

After thirty days together, our group was breaking up. Jim and Bill were flying home later that day. Dave would leave in two days, and Marty in three. Cathy and I were taking a few more days to go up the coast to Hermanus, and hopefully, see whales.

We had a last drink together, and posed for a couple more group photos. Someone commented that, “for all the drinking we’ve done, it’s good that no one had to pull themselves across the floor with their lips.” There was more than a bit of laughter at that. Hugs and handshakes all around, and promises to have a party in January to compare photos, and maybe drink a couple of South African wines.

And then it was time. I knew I would see most of these people in the next few weeks, but it was still a sad parting. We had thirty days of adventures, animals, good food and drink, and shared memories. Good friends and good times that I won’t forget.

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This is the ninth in a series of short blogs about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

Wine Safari – Stellenbosch (eighth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/06/wine-safari-stellenbosch/

Rra Dinare Safari Camp (seventh blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/rra-dinare-safari-camp-in-botswana/

He was Young and Made a Mistake (Sixth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/he-was-young-and-made-a-mistake-sable-valley-in-botswana/

Vic Falls – The Smoke that Thunders (5th Blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/the-smoke-that-thunders/

First Safari Camp, at The Hide (Fourth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/first-safari-camp/

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/

The band at The Sir Thomas Brewery in Stellenbosch kicked in to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)” as the waiter served our food. We’d stopped in for lunch and palate cleansers after tasting several wines at vineyards in South Africa.

Flying in from Botswana, we’d arrived in Stellenbosch the evening before. Our safaris in Zimbabwe and Botswana were great for animal viewing, but in South Africa we were going on a different kind of safari – we were hunting wines. During our travels through Zimbabwe and Botswana, we had South African wines with dinner just about every night. Most were quite good, and we were eager to taste them at their source.

On the first day, our driver, Jonathon, picked us up at about 10AM from our AirBnB and drove us to the first winery, Tokara. Hundred mile views greeted us as we walked in. The wines were OK, the brandy even better. People were relaxing, and getting in the spirit of the day. The next winery, Warwick, was excellent, and in retrospect, had some of the best wines we tasted. We found out they shipped to a distributor in the States, and Magoo and I ordered a case to split. The day was shaping up quite nicely.

Soon it was time for lunch, and we opted for the Sir Thomas Brewery after all of the wines we’d tasted. We weren’t disappointed, as they had good lagers and wood fired pizza. The crowd was about 1/3 tourist and 2/3 locals. The tourists had come for the beer, the locals for the beer AND the band. In addition to Pink Floyd, they played Van Halen and Dire Straits among other music. They were surprisingly good. It was strange listening to “Another Brick in the Wall” in South Africa, although not as strange as I thought at first. We later heard a band play the same song in Cape Town, which spiked my interest and made me go “hmmmmm…..” Doing some research after returning home, I discovered that the song was banned in South Africa in 1980, after black school children sang it as a form of protest against the inferior apartheid era education they were receiving. “We don’t need no education, We dont need no thought control...”. I love the fact that you can discover history in a brewpub.

We eventually left the brewery, and after one more winery, were done tasting for the day. After relaxing at our AirBnB, we ended up at The Fat Butcher for dinner- more nice wines, including Waterford, a vineyard we intended to taste the next day.

I should talk for just a moment about wine tasting in general. It appears to me that there are three kinds of tasters – those genuinely interested in tasting a variety of wines to form an opinion about a region, or Vineyard; those who are interested in wine, but also want to have a good time, talk and have a leisurely afternoon; and those who are along for the ride. They may not even be huge wine fans, but they enjoy the day, the company, and the moving party. I think in our group of six, we had all three types, which is fine, but it also effects the pace of tasting. That is, the pace slackens as the day goes on.

With that in mind, Magoo and I decided to start tasting earlier the next day, in order to visit a couple of extra vineyards. We’d then go back and pick up the rest of the crew at 11. While the others were just getting up, or lounging around, Jonathan picked the two of us up at 9:00AM and we checked in to Waterford as they opened at 9:30. We followed that up with Dornier, which was right next door. There were excellent wines at both, although I was dumping half of each taste. Tasting wine can be a bit daunting when you start that early.

After we gathered the others at 11, it was on to three more wineries with plenty of fruit of the vine. We also combined various food with the wines we were tasting, and while I’d like to tell you we were doing so to be prudent in our alcohol consumption, the real reason is that it all just tasted so damned good together. For lunch, we had a cheeseboard and charcuterie plate with our tasting. Later, the Wagner brothers did a set of Port and chocolate pairings at one of the vineyards, and at the last winery of the day, we all tasted six cheeses with accompanying wines. It was a full day.

In the late afternoon, we were on the road to Cape Town and city life. It had been a great couple of days in Stellenbosch. The Chenin Blancs, Sauv Blancs, and Bordeaux Blends were concensus favorites. We were divided on the Pinotages. One thing I know for sure is that I will look for more wines from South Africa in the States.

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Addendum: Here are my ranking of the wineries. You can find wines from most of these vineyards in the U.S.

1. Waterford – excellent

2. Warwick – excellent

3. Dornier – Very Good

4. Neil Ellis – Very Good

5. Muratie – Good; also had a nice port

6. Fairview – Good (with excellent cheeses)

7. Tokara – OK, with excellent views, and a nice 10 year old brandy

8. Slaley – Not nearly as good as any of the others

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This is the eighth in a series of short blogs about our trip to Africa in September and October of 2018. I’m not trying to be exact in detail, rather, I’m trying to give a bit of the spirit or feeling of the various parts of the trip. Read at your leisure. Or not.

Related Blogs about the trip to Africa:

Rra Dinare Safari Camp (seventh blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/rra-dinare-safari-camp-in-botswana/

He was Young and Made a Mistake (Sixth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/23/he-was-young-and-made-a-mistake-sable-valley-in-botswana/

Vic Falls – The Smoke that Thunders (5th Blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/18/the-smoke-that-thunders/

First Safari Camp, at The Hide (Fourth blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/15/first-safari-camp/

Fishing and Elephants (Third blog about the trip) https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/fishing-and-elephants/

The Drive to Lake Kariba (Second Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/the-drive-to-lake-kariba/

Harare (First Blog about the trip) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/02/harare-zimbabwe/

Zimbabwe (Just prior to departure) – https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/20/zimbabwe/

Pink Gins (The Genesis)- https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/pink-gins/