Brace yourselves!

The palm trees are taking a bit of strain from the wind over the last few days - gusts of 100km/h have been recorded - and the cotton wool cloud that has blanketed the valley for much of the time must be making the people living in its shadow think they're living under the low skies of Europe right now. The areas affected by the wind vary so much that when there's no wind at home, 100m up the road you can barely stand against it, and a while later, it's been reversed. Nature sure likes play games with us! 

The sand down at Fish Hoek beach is transforming the kid's playground to its former state of a sandpit, the astroturf having disappeared from view, and more sand in the carpark than on the beach. I'm sure a good few windscreens have been nicely sandblasted. Huge jellyfish have washed up with the tides and been left stranded - an ignominious end to a beautiful sea creature.

The garden is drying out faster than I can water it, and plants are dying before my very eyes even though I have moved them out of the sun and into as sheltered a spot as I can. Most of my flowering plants are in pots so that I can shift them according to the seasons and the wind. I really struggle with gardening, having no green fingers whatsoever! I suppose I'll get it all figured out by the time I'm ready for Shady Pines, and then I'll only be able to have an indoor plant in my little room with kettle!

In the meantime, I'll keep adding to my collection of aloes and other indestructibles!