News letter
Christmas
A time of reflection – The Baby born amid the busyness of the people preparing for the census, no comfortable lodgings – yet the birth signified the beginning of the most awesome event in human history – His story was being unfolded – His birth gave us hope and life everlasting.
May the blessing of Christ be among you all at this time and may that continue through out the New Year.
Today – 19th December 2011 – I can not believe that we have already been here in Graaff-Reinet and running the Guest House for 5 years.
It seems like yesterday that we walked into the kitchen to start our first breakfast and now – well we have probably fried, poached, scrambled and messed up just short of 10000 eggs, grilled at least 200kg of bacon, loads of mushrooms and tomatoes, baked many cheese scones, flapjacks and muffins and made countless numbers of cups of tea and coffee.
Quite mind boggling when one considers we only serve breakfast!
The Christmas rush has started and many a weary traveler from Gauteng is arriving heading for the coast – Cars loaded to the hilt with everything needed for fun in the sun.
Today we are anxiously waiting for the rain, with dark clouds building up and the thunder rolling, but alas, no rain to speak of. The weather has been most unpredictable – so much so a few nights ago we had to grab our winter woolies as the temperatures dropped to around 5 deg…….
So much is happening in Graaffies and the last few months have been no exception.
We have had all manner of new events – Christmas fares, Children activities in the Camdeboo National park, a New enterprise “Noah’s Arc” which is a petting farm on the outskirts of town, They have a young Zebra, a hand reared jackal, horses, Pot bellied piglets, chickens, ducks, exotic birds – tea garden – a real hand on place for children and parents to have loads of fun.
Camdeboo National park
The tented camp is nearing completion – this will be a great asset to the Park and to Graaff-Reinet. The veldt is looking fantastic with sightings of Eland, Springbok, Kudu, Red Hartebeest, Blue Wildebeest and Steenbok. The Buffalo have also been seen on the odd accession, much to the thrill of the visitors.
One of our guests spotted a Lynx – she was walking next to the road going up to the Valley of Desolation – and on several occasions in the early evening we have heard the jackals calling.
For the birders
Any visiting “Twitchers” who would like to go on a walk with our local birding “fundis” please let us know and arrangements can be made – there is always someone who is more than willing to share the birding experience with you.
The Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni) have returned and can be seen close to the SAPS College drifting in the thermals. An errant African Harrier-Hawk (Gymnogene) (Polyboroides typus) regularly patrols the suburb – beware chicks
On the Ngweba you can still find the African Spoonbills (Piatalea alba) with quite a number of Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus) on the waters edge and of course the Blacksmith Lapwing (Vanellus armatus).
In the late afternoon the call of the African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) can be clearly heard across the stillness of the water.
Sightings of the Blue Cranes (Anthropoides paradiseus), Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius), Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori) and Karoo Korhaan (Eupodotis vigorsii) have been reported in the park with the tiny Three-banded Plover (Charadrius tricollaris) seen darting around the waters edge.
Our garden has also received its fair share of birds, with the Pintailed Whydah (Vidua macroura) ruling the feeder tray, but with the ever persistent Rock Pigeon (Columba guinea) not giving in. The Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Halcyon albiventris) has also often sat in the old pear tree and called.
Wouldn’t it be nice?
If whenever we messed up our lives we could simply press “Crtl-Alt-Delete” and start all over
Overheard
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you,
but when you take him on a car ride; he sticks his head out the window?
