It's been a mild winter

Bowie and the horses, two wine farms, lekker walks and a birthday

When we got back on Sunday, after our outing to Citrusdal, there were two invites waiting on my phone. For Tuesday, a public holiday in South Africa: Youth Day.

The first invite was a bit cryptic: “Bring Mensch und Hund” [Bring human and dog]. Intriguingly vague, delightful.

For the evening invite: “Eet jy skaapboud wat op die rooster gebraai is?” [Do you eat leg of lamb that has been braai’d?] Deboned, I learnt later. Another delight, and a new treat for me.

I packed Bowie into the car, and we drove to the F&M, who live on the other side of the valley. They needed a translator for a meeting with a cantankerous neighbour (he was a real Koos, the neighbour).

Afterwards, we had a nice walk around their smallholding, looking at plants, talking farming and admiring the view. On one side, they look down a kloof to Aurora, on the other side they can see the West Coast. Speaking German, a rare and welcome occurrence for me these days. Sitting in the shade of some trees, drinking home-made lime cordial and rooibos tea.

Bowie was confused by the cat, who ‘growled’ at him. He did, however, have a nice play with Foxy, though Bowie was being a bit of a randy teenager. On our walk, Bowie got spoilt with treats by M.R., so nice. So much action, Bowie was lekker moeg when we got back to the cottage, falling asleep under the table.

I could feel some burn on my face, it being one of those beautiful June days that we can get in the Cape.

Around 5 pm I walked over to my neighbours, who had kindly invited me for a skaapboud braai. A.S. was already waiting for us. He was ready to put the meat on the braai, and I hadn’t yet taken a photo. It was quite a chunk of meat, which he slow-grilled to perfection. And a lekker marinade as well. Add to that delicious braai broodjies and coleslaw, it was lip lek lekker (lip-licking nice). They can make lekker food, C&A. It’s always a nice treat and a nice gesêlsie.

Bowie was quite quiet, he was still moeg. When we got home, he got some treats and fell asleep almost immediately. Toby was also quiet, lying indoors; it may have been too cold outside for him.

Wednesday was a purposely quiet. In the morning, Bowie and I walked past the horse pasture. He sat down, looking for the horses, but we couldn’t see anything.

We took another walk in the afternoon. I needed a kop skoonmaak [clear my head], as I was overthinking the planning of trips to see the Namaqualand flowers. I’ve already got a fee days booked at the end of July. It’s warm, though, the flowers may be early. Patience, young man, patience.

We walked a slightly different route, and I could see the horses. They saw us and trotted over. Bowie was a little apprehensive, sitting down next to me, not moving closer. I didn’t want to frighten the horses; they might run off and get injured.

The horses came up to the gate. I approached slowly, Bowie staying next to me. The horses stayed calm, as did Bowie. Love was in the air! Bowie jumped up a few times to try and lick their faces, as he does with me. The horses, not used to this behaviour, shied a little, but did not walk away. It was a real privilege watching this interaction between Bowie and the horses. beautiful!

On Thursday, we went for a walk on the Dennegeur plaas, where farmer Gert explained a bit more of the pruning process to me. The pear trees are already showing new buds and can thus be pruned. The bigger buds will produce both a blossom and a new leaf, and these buds are maximised through pruning. Brunches with only the smaller buds, which will be only a leaf, are removed. This increases the amount of sunshine getting to the ripening fruit later.

A further process of trimming and training occurs later. The ‘tussen boome’, the cross-pollination trees that are a different variety, will also be cut back at that time.

The last apples are still being harvested here on the Bo-Berg and the first peach trees are already blossoming. Peach and nectarine trees have a pink blossom, pears a white blossom and apples are pink and white.

Afterwards, Bowie and I went for a nice walk through the orchards and along the veld, with a nice view down to Goedverwacht in the valley below. Bowie went for his obligatory swim.

Friday was a busy day with a visit to the dorp first thing to get some groceries and a quick visit to the pharmacy. I was finished in the dorp by about 09:30 and, as it was too early for lunch, I drove a few miles down the N7 to the Org de Rac wine estate. I checked in at the wine tasting room to let them know that I would be taking Bowie for a walk through the vineyards. They remembered us from our previous visit. Bowie said Hello and got some nice cuddles before we had a nice long walk.

I had a nice pot of rooibos tea before leaving, letting the sun bronze me and enjoying the view. A beautiful day, this winter has been too mild thus far (except for the big storm in May).

I had planned to go to the Nieuwedrift Wine Estate for lunch, which was only another 2 km down the road. Another beautiful estate and a good lunch, which I have written up as a Langsie Pad Substack. Bowie had a great time with one of the farm collies, aptly named Merlot.

They would playfight, run off, come back and cooldown in the fountain. They even played hide-&-seek in some bushes, to the great amusement of fellow visitors.

Bowie was quite tired by the time that we left the farm and fell asleep soon after getting into the car. I can see another playdate coming!

After Friday’s mild over-indulgence, Bowie and I went for a long walk on Saturday morning. Amongst others, I found a flowering daisy that I have not seen previously. Will the flower season be early this year, much like the previous few years? On the neighbouring farm, some of the early peaches are already in full bloom.

We saw the horses again, one of them getting close enough to smell my hand. I stepped back for a while and Bowie interacting with the horse; he seems to think it’s a big toy and wants to take the horse home.

It was a young lady’s birthday here next door and Bowie and I were invited to a kerrie hoender [curried chicken] braai for lunch. It’s the first time I’ve had curried chicken on a braai and it was scrumptious. About two ossewa [ox wagon] of family also arrived, which made the birthday bash quite jovial. Three sisters and their children as well as the parents of C.S. came for the kuier. It was quite lekker though A.S., Bowie, and I got a bit peopled out, with Bowie having a snooze in the flower bed. “Kaalgat in die daisies”, as A.S. described it. That said, Toby was indoors lying on his blanket, not much lus for socializing.

I had planned to see a local rugby match here on the Bo-Berg and left before luch was served. When we returned, there was a bakkie of hoender en slaai [chicken and salad] waiting for me, as well as freshly made lemon meringue pie. Yoh, te lekker!

I found out a few weeks ago that there’s actually a small rugby ground here in Piket-Bo-Berg and I knew that it was a home match on Saturday. However, even better, it was a local derby with both teams from the Bo-Berg. The Zebras, from our side of the valley and thus my team, were playing against the Moutain Eagles.

This type of rugby is different, not quite so serious. No ‘action replays, so you have to stay focussed while listening to the running commentary around you. “Hier kom hy nou!” “Moet nie so baie skop nie!” “Ek het mos gesê hy gaan score!” I enjoyed it, as did Bowie who got a lot of attention from the children. The score was 16:7 to the Zebras at half-time.

Shortly after the break, one of the Zebra got a nasty injury with an unfortunate hit on the knee. That hurt! The sun was setting and I wanted to get out before the scramble. It was 19:7 when we left to return to the cottage.

The early peaches are starting to blossom, maybe a little early. We didn’t see the horses on our Sunday morning walk.