Long live lazy long weekends!

There’s something so exciting about the moment when you realise a long weekend is looming. It’s not just the thought of ignoring your ridiculously early alarm so you can sleep in late and relax, giving your ‘work brain’ a rest for an extra day. There’s more to it than that. I find my excitement building for weeks before a public holiday (our next ones are roughly a month away and I have to hold myself back from doing a little jig each time my synapses spark with a happy reminder).

This past long weekend was no different. Here are a few snaps…

Thursday, 20 March – eve of the long weekend

We got things off to a silly start with some ‘doggie selfies’ in the evening after a long, tiring work week

Selfie with Bassie. She is not impressed

A selfie with both of them

Family selfie on the swing bench, Bassie’s favourite place

This one makes me laugh, looks like she is after her dad’s whisky

Friday, 21 March – the public holiday itself – Human Rights Day

We had a lazy day starting with a lie in and a quick Wimpy breakfast, then caught some sun at Kleinbaai, caught some mussels at ‘Mussel Beach’ near Bloubergstrand, brought them home to soak, went off to Hout Bay for lunch, watched the giant seals being fed fish mouth-to-mouth, had a ginormous two-tone ice-cream, stopped at GrandWest casino for a spot of fun on our way home and collected coal from the beach to light our first fire of the year

I used the beach time for more important things, like reading and burrowing toes in the sand

If you look carefully, you can just spot Clifton in the waves, ‘catching’ mussels

The mussels he caught were large and delicious

He’s actually enjoying the currywurst roll despite his facial expression

Ditto my chiproll drenched in vinegar and tomato sauce

And then this happened! Biggest bestest two-tone soft serve, for a whopping, 12 ronts

We even had the electric bus thing to ourselves at the casino

Saturday, 22 March – Saturday that felt like a Sunday

We breakfasted at the local nursery, acted like silly buggers by dancing around on the dunes near Sunset Beach, watched SA lose the T20 against Sri Lanka on TV, then took off our SA shirts and went to Woodbridge Island for our weekly chilli poppers. The evening was filled with me watching Glee (you know I love it… click here too for arb reference in a short story I wrote a while back) and Clifton cooking the most delicious Thai beef curry, so we could listen to the Bandstand of 702 (you know we love it) with tummies purring (but not too full, there was still space for a marshmallow or two from the fire…

It’s a hard job keeping Bertie away while toasting/roasting a marshmallow to perfection

Sunday, 23 March – second Sunday, what a treat

We took the doggies for a gallop/run/song-singing session at Kreeftebaai, then had a very long lunch with my parents at the Italian Club, then spent the afternoon wandering around the Waterfront and surrounds. And ended with a gorgeous sunset

Bertie leading his dad straight towards the sea birds

Bassie’s telltale ‘I’ve just been to the beach’ sandy nose

Dad and me at Italian Club (yes, that’s the ever-present coffee shake in front of me)

Boy and mum were also there

We ate and we ate! All this for 100 buckeroos

Pretending we live the high life at the Waterfront – though I have been on a catamaran, click here if you don’t recall

Beautiful sunset sky to end the lovely long weekend

 

There you have it 🙂 Was it lovely? Yes. Lazy? Indeed. Long enough? Sadly not. Oh well, a month and counting until the next one…

The Delaney-Andrews family does St Patrick’s day

If you looks at my brother-on-law Spec’s Facebook profile pic, (and another of my Argus-completing father-in-law) taken at a Halloween dress-up party they held last year, you might get the hint that we enjoy St Paddy’s day in our family (here they are, for your viewing pleasure):

Spec in the rather obvious hat

See? It fits the whole family

Some photos from our St Patrick’s evening in 2010, when we went to the Dros in Rock Cottage for an authentic meal, complete with shamrock tattoos and hearty pies

And while my family’s not alone in enjoying St Patrick’s Day, it is a little more special for us as my dad’s family tree does actually wind back to the river Slaney in Ireland (that’s where our surname ‘Delaney’ part comes from… and the fact that some say it translates to ‘River of Health’ may explain why my dad’s aged so well.)

We even found mugs with the crests of both our family names on when we were in Disney World a fistful of years ago:

Andrews and Delaney family crests

But I digress. You’re not here for a family history lesson. The more obvious reason to celebrate St Patrick’s day is that my dad’s name is Patrick. So all these fascinating facts add up to us always making a point of enjoying St Patrick’s Day. As we did yesterday…

While we were at work, mum and dad went to the Dubliner pub in town for Kilkenny and Guinness – not coloured green, thank goodness

We went over to their house for dins. Here’s Dad and me, singing ‘Happy St Patrick’s Day to you’ – excuse the very wide eyes, that’s my singing face

Mum created some delicious Irish coffees after supper

Mmm was delicious – you know I love coffee

Dad and boy enjoying their coffees

Mom and doggies watching TV together

Hope you had a great one too! 🙂 For more on the actual St Patrick and why his name day is celebrated (ridding Ireland of snakes, anyone?), click here.

Father-in-law does the Argus

If you’ve been bitten by the ‘healthy living’ bug lately, your interest was probably piqued by coverage of the Argus this past weekend.

We’re new to cycling ourselves, but couldn’t stop ourselves from focusing on race times and rituals for one Very Important reason this time around… See, my 70-year-old father-in-law, who has always been fit as a fiddle, went and entered himself into this year’s Argus. That’s 109 km. Along with 34,500-odd other cyclists. In the summer sun (we’ve not been afflicted by the Joburg flooding, nosirree). And have you guys SEEN Suikerbossie Hill? Not for those without stamina, that’s for sure.

Despite being told by almost everyone that it was a silly idea, especially as he’d just had surgery to remove his gall bladder after his last visit to us in Cape Town, we’re happy to say he did it! He finished! And if he hadn’t stopped to help (I quote) ‘some silly woman who had a puncture and didn’t even say thank you’, he would have saved 7 minutes, thus finishing the race within the 7-hour limit allocated.

We take our hats off to him.

Here are some photos of his stay with us:

Thursday, 6 March 2014: Dinner at Petiscos

Me and my favourite dad-in-law

Digging in to his delicious curry

Saturday, 9 March 2014: Pre-race preparations at home

Bertie eyeing me suspiciously while Grampa has his pre-race supper in the background

Me in weekend mode – reading with doggie on couch

The bike, waiting to have its official race stickers applied

Explaining to us about racers with their ‘fancy glasses’ and padded seats’

Sunday, 10 March 2014: The big day! The Argus itself

Lots of friends and family went to watch (we weren’t strong enough to fend off the wind and traffic ourselves alas, but cousin Janet of the jealousy-inducing house did)…

Captured by Janet, mid-race

Janet also video’d him setting off, click here to have a looksee…

Tired, but happy, when he finally got back home to us

The medal states the year for the first time (on the other side)

Proudly showing off his medal

Very bad lighting, but that’s us having celebratory burgers and milkshakes at Cattle Baron

Monday, 11 March 2014: Post-Argus dinner with my folks – dad-in-law cooked chicken and potatoes on our Weber.

The boys chatting and braai-ing chicken on the Weber

Bassie and granny having a hug

Chicken finally ready, with dad smiling sweetly in the middle

Tucking in to tucker

Bassie watching Granny cut some carrot cake

Smiling as we have coffee and cake

That’s all folks – tune in next year as he says he just might compete again, so as to complete the race in the allotted time!

Bertie’s fourth birthday

When you’re not feeling well, nothing raises your spirits more than having your beloved four-legged child wag happily at the sight of you and smother you in kisses. That’s been Bertie to a T these past few days. While Bassie’s always going to be special to me as she’s my first ever doggy child, it’s Bertie who has the most joyful personality.

He loves watching TV with us – anything where there’s a doggie character involved is a favourite, such as Eddie in Frasier and Diefenbaker in Due South. He also uses up lots of energy by running around the garden and on the beach, barking at everything he sees – trees, street lights, flies – singing us awake sometimes and playing ‘chase the dot’ with red laser pointers.

Who ever said a rescue dog was anything less than perfect clearly never met Bertie.

So with yesterday being his fourth birthday, we tried to incorporate all his favourite things into this weekend: A long run on the beach where he could greet the seagulls and get wet to his heart’s content, a special birthday cake eaten in his honour, and lots of love and attention. 🙂

Wonderful beach walk, you can just make out Bertie and his dad in the sea and Bassie veering to the dunes

Bassie and me on the way back from the beach walk – clearly, as the sandy little brown face shows

Birthday boy wearing the family birthday hat, teehee – moves so fast that he’s a blur in most photos

Birthday boy looking a little sad in front of his birthday sign

Proud parents, lol

A kiss for his dad

A lick for mom

Eyeing our little birthday cake

Hope your furry children bring you as much happiness as mine do to me 🙂