Cape Storm

What an amazing weekend. There was wind, hail, rain, sunshine. There were waves, floods, brooding clouds, open fires and numerous glasses of brandy.

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While the subject matter for great photography was obviously all there, the weather and/or the light, together with a distinct lack of skill (perhaps exacerbated by the brandy?), made it difficult to translate it into pixels. Doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun trying though: here’s the flickr set with some stuff I did manage to get.

Also now up in the Stuff from June set – photos from Giraffe House.

Right to left

Safely down at the cottage, fire lit, coffee in hand, red wine just around the corner. We left a grey Cape Town behind and drove down through the Southern Cape countryside in beautiful sunshine, arriving just in time to see the incoming front at Agulhas:

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There are no blue skies out there anymore. The storm force winds and horizontal rain have chased them away and are playing together outside.
But hey, never mind… I’ve just spotted the brandy bottle.

Later today

The thing with my Windguru app is that it vigorously scaremongers*. Look a week ahead, and sometimes you’d be forgiven for believing that the Apocalypse was on the way. But, as the final judgment approaches, the weather app tones down its forecast, and while the sun might not shine, tomorrow is still only a day away.

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Not so with this one though, and although I do think we’ll still live to see another day, it does appear that things could get a little exciting later today. I love the way that you can see the North wind giving way between the 14h and 17th forecasts, and then the rain coming in as the centre of the deep Low passes and the frontal train hits.

Cape Town is bearing the brunt of this one. The rain is quite localised and further down the south coast looks damp and grey, but not Noah’s Ark territory. We’re going to take our chances down in Agulhas – hopefully getting there and getting the fire lit before the storm blows in there.

Stay safe and warm, local people.

* But for hour by hour forecasts from about 48 hours ahead, it’s terrifyingly accurate.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, in America

Way Home

We stopped in to visit some friends on the way back from Agulhas. This is the view from their place.

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I’m not sure that I could live the country life full time. I’m a city boy at heart. Having said that, waking up to something like this each morning could be very persuasive.
Thankfully, it’s not a decision that I have to deal with, since they didn’t ask me to move in.

Potjie Club

The first rule of Potjie Club is that there are no rules.

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Here’s the potjie that I’m currently making. (Yes, it’s posing for the photo, not actually being used yet.)
It’s got beef, chicken, stock, Hendo’s, a splash of brandy, some Milk  Stout, seventeen different sorts of vegetables and eleven types of herbs and spices in it. Ish.
None of these ingredients are measured in any way: there are no rules in Potjie Club. You just chuck in what you want, however much seems right, just like my Great Aunt used to do with her much ridiculed floury fudge.

The product of my creativity this evening is yet to be tested, but my track record and selection of quality ingredients suggest that is going to be fairly awesome. Hashtag HumbleBrag.