When Two Becomes Three

My sister and her husband became the parents to Rian Erasmus Fourie on Monday the 10th of March 2014. These photos are from a four-day visit I had the privilege of making to the brand new family during their first week together. It was beautiful to see how this life-changing experience created a new bond between husband and wife, between parent and child. I saw how a new mom learns what love means by caring for a helpless new-born: swaddling, breastfeeding, and learning that it is hard to put a baby to sleep and even harder to keep him awake to feed him! How a new dad grows into his new role by being in charge of laundry (lots of it!) and shopping and making tea (lots of it!). I saw little Rian’s first bath at home (in the kitchen zinc), his first outing snugly against his dad for a walk, and meeting his grandparents. I saw friends coming over to meet the young man, bringing meals and (always!) the celebratory bubbly. I saw a new chapter in history being written before my eyes, and for four days the everyday things of this new life were infused with eternal things and lasting meaning.

A boy or a girl? We'll have to wait and see....

An old saying I’ve heard somewhere on my travels reads like this: “If you have a few true friends, a family who loves you, a roof over your head and the prospect of a meal this evening, then you are a rich man.”

I think this sounds clichéd because it rings true.

And I also think it was on display a few weeks ago when my sister was treated to a baby shower for her firstborn which is due in March.

Almost fifty friends, family members and colleagues descended on Lust Bistro on the farm Vrede en Lust outside Franschhoek in a lively, chattering, loving crowd. At the end of it my lasting impression was not the small mountain of gifts that the new baby Fourie will no doubt enjoy, but that Elanie was indeed a woman of great wealth – in love and in friendship.

Image credits: Madre Steenkamp, Elanie Fourie and Nani Kornelius

Oep ve Koep in Paternoster

During the course of our West Coast holiday, we ventured to Paternoster late one morning to have lunch at Die Winkel op Paternoster, better known as Oep ve Koep. We’d read all about Chef Kobus van der Merwe, making a name for himself as a culinary forager, each morning collecting “veldkos” on the beach before serving his finds at lunch or supper. You will find various edible seaweeds, dune spinach and sea lettuce on his menu. The day we visited we tasted snoekkuite, soutslaai and summer ice plants ("vygies"). His food is beautifully presented, from the bread starter with bokkoms flavoured butter and syrupy naartjie to the oysters served on rocks. Edible flowers made the tomato consommé with lobster almost too pretty to eat. Our taste buds can testify to a very interesting culinary experience!!

You can like their Facebook page here.

The Lighthouse at Shelley Point

Part of our summer holidays was spent on the West Coast. It delivers the type of holiday where days are filled with walks on long stretches of beach, watching whales, dolphins and seals from the patio and counting the passing ships on the still ocean.

Within walking distance was the Shelly Point Lighthouse. I read somewhere that when the area was bought for development, the owner, who was a very keen Lighthouse enthusiast, decided to build one. After it was privately built, it later became an official lighthouse.

We took a stroll one morning hunting for pretty beach pebbles and shells on the sands of the lovely Shelly Bay Beach towards the lighthouse…