Skywatch Friday :

Hermanus, Western Cape, South Africa
We live inland - Jo'burg to be precise .. it's time to go to the sea again .. to feel the sand between the toes !!

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Wordless Wednesday :

Link up here to see Wordless Wednesday - which I will do later in the day when they catch up to us

Skywatch :

Skywatch breakfast, anyone?

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Skywatch Friday : Stone-man forever ...

looking skyward ... Naturally weathered sandstone rocks along the cliff path in Hermanus.

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Fire in Hermanus - Jan 2008

I seemed to have got imaginations stirring with my photo of the chimney. Sadly there was no romantic, mediaval, or goblins tale to tell.

It was a devastating fire that swept along the mountain range in Hermanus last year. We happened to arrive for a family visit on that very same day. Burning cinders were carried by the wind and set fire to this once beautiful old thatched roof home. By the time we got there, the owners were standing, bewildered, next to their smouldering shell of a home. I think, if I remember, they were out at work at the time but lost everything in the blaze. (The mountain is in the background)

Jeanette - I took you there when we were visiting last month and all that was left was the empty stand, the fence and the gate. I took a photo of the gate and posted it in a previous Weekly Winners - 14-20 Dec

Below - Jeanette again - this is the house that was boarded up and you took a photo of the window. This house is a block away from the first one and on the sea front. It also was a beautiful old thatched roof home. There was also no-one in the house at the time of the fire.

The next photo is across the road which runs in front of the house pictured above.

The mountain ablaze - photo taken from my brother and sister in law's home - the fire vehicles are visible at the top of the mountain ..

This is at the foothills of the mountain - not one modern house was touched by the blaze even though the fire swept passed their garden walls and fences. This wooden fence didn't stand a chance. On our recent visit last month, we drove along this road passed this house, and noticed that a large brick wall has now been built. (pity about the reflection on car window which was closed because of the smell of smoke)

Firefighters on the mountainside
The fire still burned into the night - (photo taken from SIL's home with full zoom lens)

A year later - when we were there last month - it was so nice to see that the fynbos (indigenous vegetation) has recovered well. There are still vast areas of blackened bushes but in-between the new growth is visible - green with pretty little flowers. On the way to the church, where we had my father-in-law's memorial service, I noticed a bunch of red poppies growing amongst the blackened bushes - and I didn't have my camera!

Wordless Wednesday :

Ooops - keep forgetting to do the link ...

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Wordless Wednesday :

Come and sit a while ..
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Generations

Three generations - my hubby, Peter, with his Mum (Granny Marie) and Jeanette

Jeanette and my Mom (Granny Sylvia)

Just have to add this one - my neice's little one having fun with his Granny's sliding mirrored cupboard doors !!

Mirror, mirror on the wall .....

Hermanus - Western Cape

Sharing more photos of Hermanus ... just a few !!!

Jeanette

Paw prints in the sand

Windswept sand dunes

She sells sea shells ......

A windswept beach - tried to get the sand being blown by the wind - not very successfully! But those footprints are weird! It looks like they are 'inside out' !!

Weathered sandstone

Man and sky

A small table tucked into a corner of a sea front restaurant

Weekly Winners : 14 - 20 Dec

Peter and I recently went down to Hermanus for his Dad's memorial service. We went down by car - takes about 14 hours - we left early hours on Tuesday morning, travelling through the day, and arrived in the early evening ... a looong trip. Jeanette came too but flew down by plane. Very difficult to choose a photo as I too, took lots of photos but these are different to Jeanette's - except the 'Sparkles on the sea' - it was too 'wow' not to miss!

Sunrise over the Free State

Vines of steel

Sparkles on the sea

Seagull on watch

Man and his best friend

Ripples of sand

Sun, sea and sand

Sunrise in the Karoo

Jeanette getting down to her subject!

More Weekly Winner on Lotus' blog