The annual barrage of cold fronts has started to hit our exposed peninsula and camping gear has now been stowed until September.  Before we threw the tarpaulin over the camping trailer and tied it fast for the winter, we had one final camping trip of the season at Champagne on the  River near Greyton.  After one sunny warm day spent beside the river, swimming and fishing, the weather caught up with us.  High winds and torrential rains ensued.   We took refuge at Searle’s Trading Post in Greyton a few kilometres away for some of the time, eating country breakfasts and lingering over cups of tea, and had a wet visit to the Saturday market.

We decided to cut the trip short by a day and spent our final (and soggiest) afternoon cooking potjiekos and dumplings huddled under a narrow awning.  There was a moment just before sunset, when the rain stopped, the sun came out and we were rewarded for our steadfastness by a beautiful rainbow and the opportunity to take the raft out onto the river for sundowners.

We poled our way to Ash Island and then pulled our way back to our tethering in the dark.

We slept warm and dry in our trusty trailer tent and packed up in the morning in the rain.

On reflection, I think that I have become something of a wimpy camper since I’ve been back in Africa.  In England we thought nothing of wet weather camping, and our tent was just a flimsy nylon thing without outside awnings.  I have memories of mud that looked like chocolate mousse and sucked at your wellies, and Piper falling right out of her wellies into it at the Green Man Festival in Wales a few years back.  It may have looked gorgeous, but it smelled vile.  It was one of our best ever camping trips regardless.

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In other news, faces with sad clown make-up have been showing up in my sketchbook lately.

An artist friend shared this with me, and it’s definitely worth passing on.  Watch it.

Sell me a spoon, wooden-spoon and feather-duster man, I want to stand in your presence a while.

I always like seeing you, any one of you (there are many wooden-spoon and feather-duster men in Cape Town)

There’s something beautiful about you, wooden-spoon and feather-duster man. You have a special gentle quality.

Perhaps it’s because of the way the feathers bob and flutter as you walk.

My first term of illustration is over, it was fun, and hard.  Next term beckons from the other side of Easter & the school holidays.

Some pencil sketch ideas for birthday cards for my Etsy shop.

We spent the weekend in our wonderful camping trailer at Petervale Farm, near Ceres.  Bushveld hideaways were built and we floated in the dam taking in the wide open sky.

It was all finished off nicely with a bacon and egg breakfast.

At first we thought the fire was behind Genadendal, but as we got closer we saw that it was behind Greyton, in the Greyton Nature Reserve area.

In fact it was just behind Zebra Moon Hiker’s Lodge where we were staying!

The wind came up and died down again and again, and we had a braai in the back garden at Zebra Moon, and watched the fire move up the  mountain and across the front of it.

After the children had been put to bed and we sat around our little kuier-vuur outside, a figure with a head torch made its way across the garden.  It turned out to be Nina,  an old friend who had just spent 4 hours beating the fire on the mountain.

Then we saw a flare up at the end of Park Street, close to many houses.  Nina called it in, took her bicycle and headed down to the fire.  From my bedroom window I saw two small fire trucks make their way to the blaze.

We slept soundly, restoring out bodies after sleepless nights for some, long haul aeroplane trips for others, and working day and night for others still.  Nina and the rest of the fire fighters were out there keeping us safe.

We woke in the morning to a black mountain, burnt out and smouldering and to best friends, here together, for one night only.

Breakfast at Searle’s Trading Post was long and relaxed.

And after a walk around the village we finally had our planned walk into the nature reserve.  We walked through the still green path, through the blackened and charred fynbos, and walked deep into the kloof where the fire had not reached and everything was still green and cool.

We’re finally working in colour in my illustration class.  Suddenly I’m enjoying class much more.

Some say that glass is actually a fluid, others say that’s tosh.  Today I’m siding with the former opinion as it fits in nicely with this week’s Illustration Friday theme.

I’ve just downloaded Inkscape, and am learning how to use it.