Blustery day, summer on the way

The sun shone brightly today but the blustery southeaster was bothersome. Our usual Saturday morning gathering - today at the Blue Water Cafe, Imhoff Farm - was in a delightful setting, with endless views across the Noordhoek valley. A large flock of flamingos could be seen in the distance at the sewage farm (sounds a whole lot worse than it really is!) and the expanse of Wildevoelvlei reflected the blue and cloudless sky. But the poor birds had a hard time of it.

A number of herons were trying to make nests in the tall gum trees nearby, carrying sticks in their beaks as they attempted to fly into the headwind and sometimes flapping on the spot during stronger gusts. Crows constantly harassed them, no doubt on the lookout for eggs or an early chick. To raise the tone of the company, a juvenile gymnogene swooped down from its perch in a nearby pine tree, where it would have remained unnoticed had it not joined the action. A lone peacock shrieked its raucous cry from the field where four handsome horses grazed and galloped and rolled in the long grass. Two young girls arrived with bridles and managed to catch three of them without trouble, but the fourth had other ideas and gave a great display of running away, reminiscent of a time when horses galloped across the plains in wild herds. It too succumbed to domesticity and was led away to take some unlucky person on a beach ride. Probably had oats for breakfast!

The afternoon was spent in couch potato mode - something quite unusual for me, as I don't like watching much TV - due to the still unpleasant wind outside, but I eventually answered the call of the sea and wandered down to the rocks to sit on a bench and watch the surfers at a small but nicely formed Outer Kom. 

Then it was back to the couch to watch some documentaries and I almost missed a lovely sunset!