Plus, even though it's winter time, this is the time of year, the lemons, oranges, etc fully ripen. The picture to the right is our very own little lemon tree. It was planted about 8 months ago and had over 100 lemons in its very first year of bearing fruit ... one of the branches even broke off under the weight of all those lemons. I was amazed. I've been giving loads of lemons away, but have decided I'm now going to have to bake a lemon meringue pie ... oh, and drink more G&T of course :).Anyway, it's a Wednesday evening and I'm sitting on the couch typing this with Gandalf lying only a few metres away. Tim left on Sunday, this time for a 5-week hitch and we miss him already! We had quite a nice long break as Tim was at home for almost 5 weeks ... I came home a few days after he did, but we still had a good month together, filled with catching up with friends in SA and from the UK (see Tim's previous post). We loved having everyone around and finally feeling there was enough time to catch up with friends around the corner as well. This was Tim's first month at home that wasn't interupted by the Coaching Course, ChallengerWorld or other big commitments.
I know Tim has already told you most of the news, but I thought I'd also add my notes on everything that's happened in the last few months.
First, there was our amazing holiday in Mauritius.... Tim mentioned it briefly but it really was stunning!! We're not really the relas and lie on the beach types but thought this would be a good forcing mechanism... It was, but we still managed to fit in a whole lot of extras including a daily game of tennis, beach volleyball, massages, good food, waterskiing and more.I LOVED the opportunity to waterski again ... even better since the water temperature was a good 18 degrees - no need for a wetsuit! It had been at least 7 years since my last time waterskiing and I was so proud that I was still able to get up on a single ski first time around. It brought back so many memories and I just had to phone my friend Fiona (with whom I used to go waterskiing in Canada) straight after ... May just flew by ... and June went even quicker! Tim spent June on the rig, returning to Cape Town on June 23, just in time for an Emerging Boks game with Sue and Nick Jermyn. I spent most of June in Aberdeen, and was home five days after Tim as I was on a workshop in England. I always love working in Aberdeen... but being in Scotland in summertime was even more special. As it's quite far up North, it really only got dark around 11PM and was light again by 3h30AM. I absolutely loved it! I'd work long hours, yet still be able to go for a run in day light. And waking up before 6AM with the day light pouring through the windows makes for a much better start to the day.
My last week in the UK was spent just outside Derby, England at an old priory converted into a hotel. Absolutely stunning! I managed to go for a short 5K jog every morning along narrow country lanes to the nearby little village. I do love England! The course was fantastic. I went with a colleague from Exceed to get certified in Insights, a personality profiling instrument that's based on Carl Jung's 8 personality types. I loved going in-depth into Jung's thinking and understanding the philosophy behind the Insights profiling system.
I managed to stop over in Holland for 4 hours on the way to Aberdeen to catch up with Gerrie, my best friend in high school and roommate in university, who I hadn't seen in 8 years ... and for 24 hours on the way back. In 24 hrs, I managed to see Pake & Beppe, Beppe, tante Liene, Hans & Marjan & kids and Dick & Janet, the boys, Annie and baby Froukje ... It was so nice to be able to see both Froukje and Annie in one go ... I tried to be there for Annie's birth last year but since she decided to make a very delayed entry into the world I missed her by a week...
July was amazing! Tim's birthday was the real highlight for both of us.
I had decided to get him a scooter, but getting it paid for, licensed and into the garage without him noticing wasn't the easiest job.
It was all worth it though. He was soooo surprised when his two presents were a set of keys and a helmet.... and there was a scooter with a pretty bow on it in the garage. We've since had a few fun trips on the scooter, the best one being when we went out to Kalk Bay on the scooter, had lunch at the Brass Bell, and walked around the antique shops ... it's fun to pretend to be tourists in your own city! (PS. for those of you who haven't met her, the person on the back of the scooter is Tim's mum.)
The afternoon of Tim's birthday we went out on a catamaran with the guys over from the UK and Tim's mum. Again, we wanted to do something special with the guys around and renting a catamaran seemed just the righ thing! It was only a 2-hr trip but we saw dolphins, seals, and even 2 or 3 Southern Right whales spouting on the horizon! Just amazing...
My birthday in Knysna was very special as well. The Knysna Oyster Festival is a special week on the Garden Route calendar. It happens every year and is filled with good food, wine, oysters, and sports activities. This was our first time though... We'd signed up for the half marathon, together with our friends Guy and Lois. Lois had arranged accommodation in Knysna and we all drove up together in my car. We went specifically for the Knysna half marathon which is quite a special event. We had to drag ourselves out of bed around 05h00 and drive to the parking area. There, we got into a proper mini taxi (yep... stereo on max volume, driving too fast, poor brakes...) to take us to the top of the mountain where we had to wait for 2 hours for the race to start. It was all part of the atmosphere though... We got there just before 6AM, still dark, cold, music going, fires everywhere, and a large tent set up where you could get hot coffee and breakfast. With over 7000 people in the half marathon, it was so busy at the start it took a good 6 minutes after the start gun had gone off before we even made it to the start line :).
The run was mostly downhill, not great on the knees, but great fun in every other way. This was on Saturday morning. In the afternoon, we had an amazing relaxed lunch - with lots of good wine - at a lovely place just outside Plet called Emily Moon ... we'll be back!! We headed back for Cape Town on Sunday after a quick but lovely visit with Ron & Barbara and John & June in Sedgefield. We arrived in Cape Town after a good 8 hours (2 hrs more than usual), all thanks to flash flooding due to 24hrs of uninterupted rain in Cape Town.
Since then, I've been very busy with work, mostly on Exceed projects but also with an increasing amount of CLC work. We did manage to fit in time to catch up with the Greens, the Holmes, 
and the Littlewoods... and of course a few nice walks with Gandalf in the forest and on the beach.
and the Littlewoods... and of course a few nice walks with Gandalf in the forest and on the beach. Gandalf gave us a bit of a scare being quite ill in June when I arrived back from the UK but after a few days of not eating and dropping a few KGs, I managed to get some medication down his throat (he doesn't enjoy anything that involves vet visits) and he got better almost instantly. He's since put on 4KGs and now weighs just over 40KGs. He's still a beautiful dog and slowly but surely growing out of his playful ways ... which our visitors are very grateful for :).
That's all from my side ... we promise to be more regular in our updates going forward and hope this finds you all happy ... and those in the Norther Hemisphere enjoying summertime and holidays!
x
ange
