Another day in paradise

Something funny doesn't happen everyday for me to write about. Observing the little details and events on the farm sitting on the stoep (traditional veranda) and watching the peculiar behavior of our peacock trying to charm the alpacas was the entertainment of a lazy Saturday morning. This is a wonderful time of the year, right after harvest the swimming pool is sparkling blue and inviting and one can enjoy a hearty breakfast on the stoep watching animals.

Life is bearable -- it is those moments I realize why so many guests come to see and feel South Africa. I felt like a tourist myself today having a sundowner with Vanessa's Vasecco. Cheers to all readers of my silly blog and friends. I wish you could all share this moment.

The harvest festival is on Saturday and Sunday this week. We did a whole day clean up work and finished plastering the new door to the winestore. A few barrels for decoration and generous amounts of whitewash and all looks much brighter again.

Heatwave continues ;-)

It's all for a good cause. This was a photo shoot in our brandy cellar and in the vineyards for a breast cancer awareness campaign. Lunch and dinner is still served fully dressed despite the heat wave :-)

Today we pressed our last red grapes, which are cabernet sauvignon. "All done and dusted" Sydney said, which is his favourite expression.

I learned something today. When setting in the new wine store door I couldn't close the doors completely. After hours trying to set them right it suddenly occured to me they weren't the wrong way round but simply a mirror copy of the ones I had given to a local company to manufacture some years ago. Albi Bum the genius mechanic and Landrover whizz kid quickly cut and rewelded them and now the doors are closed. What a relief after hours in Wellington's sun!

Thirst and lost golfbags

Scary moments when the wine store was open all night because we couldn't finish the fitting of the new barn door in time in the face of very many and very "thirsty" farm labourers. ;-) So today I finally could install the new padlock and reconnect the alarm.

In the cellar the cold stabilisation is under way which is a part of the wine-making process to chill the wine to about freezing to be able to filter out the cream of tartar which are the crystals sometimes found at the bottom of a bottle of wine. These crystals are not harmful. They just don't look pretty. We are also preparing the cold room to become the new brandy store.

My good friends the Sauers from Germany arrived while their golf bag did another round of travelling the world. Finally, after a good night cap (definitely the last drink before bed time ;-)) a miracle happened and the bag ended up arriving before midnight. Another South African visitor made happy. Well done Emirates Airline!

The famous potjie kos (South African national cooking pot) chef Andries Krogman arrived today with his wife Karin to celebrate their third wedding anniversary on Oude Wellington. He is well known for his cooking classes on the Afrikaans TV channel Kyknet with his program "Maak'n Las" as well as a local celebrity.

As you can see I am "obsessed" with arched doors and when it became necessary to replace the wine store doors (since they were totally rotten) I decided to replace them with arched doors. The cost is almost the same, but they look so much more authentic and pretty, I think. Any comments?