These are scenes of pavement cafes and restaurants along the main street of Franschhoek - called Huguenot Street. If they look a little empty it's because most had finished munching - it was about three in the afternoon and a Thursday. On the weekend, if you don't make a reservation, the chances of finding lunch anywhere are slim and diners are known to linger until four in the afternoon! It's that popular. We had lunch at La Petite Ferme, just a little way out the village, perched on the mountainside looking out over the valley. No photographs of the sublime views, I'm afraid, as elderly ladies, I've learned, like to eat and run. Time is, I suspect, too short to linger...
The weekend fun continues... Sameera has very kindly given me a "Thoughtful Blog Reader" award. Thank you, Sameera!
She said, "I felt an award should be there to celebrate not the writers alone, but the readers as well. Reading is not a passive process as most people think it to be; it takes great depth ofmind to understand the true essence of what the writer wants to convey". The award is "for those people who have constantly motivated me with their opinions till now, each in their unique way."
As with all bloggy awards, the idea is to pass this on. I, however, have a slight problem with this... I know there are many who read my blog and think about what I've said but they don't leave comments, which means I don't really know who my most thoughtful readers might be. So, here's what I'll do - I'm passing this award on to each and every one of you who reads my blog. Thank you for taking the time to stop by, thank you to those who add a few words and thank you to all the readers of this blog for sharing my blogging journey with me. This one is for all of you. Please put the award up on your blog and please, in keeping with the spirit of the award, pass it on.
STOP PRESS!!! STOP PRESS!!! STOP PRESS!!!
And now.... THE BREAKING NEWS!!!
We have babies...!!! Yes, spring is definitely here! The guinea fowl, who've been displaying the most bizarre mating behaviour are finally starting to see the er... fruits of their um... labour...
This particular family of guinea fowl have nested in my neighbour's garden and the shots are taken kneeling on the composter, hanging over the garden wall with a 300mm zoom lens! I'm guessing the chicks must be about a week old. In another two weeks or so they should be big enough to flutter and flap their way over the six foot wall and into our garden where there's always a feast waiting.
27 comments:
How lovely to dine in the shade of that awning.What a picturesque place Franschhoek is;you sure know how to lure people to your beautiful country,don't you ;)
Wow!That's really sweet of you to pas the award on,that too to ALL of your readers.That makes me wonder,do I take it too?Ha ha!
Those chicks are sooooo cute!!!Babies in any form are so innocent and lovable.Loads of love and blessings to these new borns :)
Well, given I've blogged a fair bit about the "bad" in SA, I figured it was time to provide some balance, Sameera! :-)
And yes, do take the award too ;-)
I will send love and blessings over the wall to the fluffballs!
Given your love for vanilla, I'd like to invite you to taste some wine when you next visit Franschhoek.
I have a small winery and we pride ourselves in our cellar tours. My favourite demonstration for VIPs is to get visitors to taste the difference between wine from an American oak barrel and from a French oak barrel. The American oak gives the wine a strong vanila nose and pallet, which I'm sure you'd love.
Hope to see you soon.
Dieter from Lynx Wines
Weeeeee! I'm a winner!
:-)
Great pictures. I wish there were more food festivals around these parts. There are a couple, but nothing huge.
Congrats on the babies! :-)
Thanks for the trip.
I really like the colorful close-up pics. One can easily imagine how lovely it would be to have a meal there.
Cheese is peering over my shoulder, and he was so set on the g. fowl being chipmunks, that even when I enlarged the last pic, wonderfully beautifully clear, he still insisted well if it didn't have the beak. ;) Very cute fluffy BIRDS you have there, enjoy them.
Dieter, thanks for the offer and I'd love to take you up on it, just one small problem, I don't drink wine (or any alcohol). But you're wine with the hint of vanilla sounds fantastic.
Hey, thanks, Onipar - pity the babies aren't in my garden, but I'm getting some great shots hanging over my neighbour's wall! ;-)
Well maybe one day you'll get to come for a meal, Taffiny :-)
Yep, those are definitely birds, not chipmunks - though I can understand Cheese's confusion! :-) Colouring is pretty much the same!
second cafe from the bottom, looks perfect for me, kind of place I would love :).
Lovely pictures. It looks so sunny and warm there, and those chicks are so cute.
Today, London has been grey-skied, damp and rather gloomy – perfect for staying indoors.
Yeah, that's the one that appealed to me the most too, Rambler :-) - and let me tell you the cakes looked really good!
Thanks, Mellifluous!
I'll send you some blue skies and sunshine - but your weather sounds perfect for fires, duvets, books and hot chocolate! Not too bad that picture :-)
KKKKEEEEEEEEyOOOOOOttttt chicks! Send me one in a sock! One of my old birds shuffled off last week. True about the reading Vanilla. I've been quite remiss about posting recently because I don't have the time to give other blogs the time they deserve. Getting some kind of balance back, I think!
Vanilla, So nice of you to drop by and visit. I too love all things ...uhm...vanielje. I also loved the blue skies and happiness of your Franschhoek pics, I felt
like I was walking up the street for a moment with the monument at the end of it.
Congratulations on being a guineafowl granny!
Aww too much cuteness . . .likkle chickies . . love 'em. And I also lurve a long lunch, looks like you have the cafe society to satiate that urge! Lovely shots as usual. Hey! Tell Dieter to send the wine over here!
Congrats on the babies (so cute).
I like all the pictures, but please tell me that that is a plasitc lizard clinging to the doors in the fourth one.
What cute new life! Awesome! Love the recent village shots too ... inviting us all to go there! :-)
A chick in a sock, eh? That's a novel idea, Jon. Nice to see you back again, though - keep working on that balance! ;-)
Well, you've obviously walked down Huguenot Street at some time before, African Vanielje if you know there's a monument at the end of it. As a foodie I'm sure you appreciated the visit too! :-) Hope the pics didn't make you miss the blue skies of Africa too much!
The ickle chickies are ever so cute, Baino, I managed to get more ever-so-cute shots of them yesterday. And yes, we're big on cafe society life here - along with all sorts of other things! :-)
Go and take a look for Lynx Wines Franschhoek and have a chat to Dieter, I'm sure he'd be happy to break into the Aussie market! ;-)
Well, I just wish the babies were in my garden, Steve - sooner or later my neighbour is going to catch me hanging over his garden wall with a long lens and I somehow don't think that's going to look too good! :-)
No, not a plastic lizard, a stainless steel lizard... They seem to be appearing everywhere at the moment, I'm wondering if it's some kind of forerunner to a Draconian invasion, of the sort Atyllah was always warning us of... ;-)
So, you're up for a visit then, Shameless? I think you might find one or two restaurants that could even rival some of Lyon's - and yes, I remember a wonderful meal I had in Lyon many years ago :-)
What a beautiful place, Vanilla! Not at all what I was imagining of Africa...
No one deserves this award more than you!
And the chicks - they couldn't be cuter than that! I want them all! :-) :-) :-)
Oooh they are so cute, and the award is lovely and I really liked the blue restaurant with the welcoming paintings. Franschhoek sounds like a great place, but what's the wine like? ;)
Don't worry, Vesper there are plenty of places here that don't look remotely African - they look European or American! :-)
The chicks left their garden today and I found them outside on my verge - which means they've been right around the block given that they live in the garden behind me! I'm not sure who was more worried about their safety, me or the mother guinea hen - I think it was probably me! ;-)
Franschhoek is a great place, V - well worth a visit. Wanna come? And the wine is very, very good (says she who doesn't drink the stuff!)
Aww...They are too cute, Vanilla. :)
Cute doesn't even begin to cover it, Jefferson! :-)
cute, cute, cute...here's my plan: put out some treats....create a hole big enough for the guinea fowl (esp babies!) to wander over to your garden....then when they safely made the journey from neighbor's yard to yours plug hole...I'm assuming they are 'wild life'??? if they domesticated critters and you'd be guilty of rustling if you pursued my plan then don't go there!
congrats on the thoughtful blogger award. yes, yes.
loverly pictues...only one more day of phoctober photo phun.... although I expect the momentum will continue!
I just love sitting outside on a restaurant's patio on a warm afternoon. It's always what I miss most about the summer months.
They are "wildlife" Kimy and idea is a fine one if it didn't mean making a hole in a wall! :-) But I don't think I'll have to, the guinea fowl and chicks have already started to wander and two days ago I found them on my verge - they had some food, put out by me and then wandered off again. Wildlife seems intent on doing its own thing! :-) thought it fries my nerves when they cross the road and its the time of day when people are coming home from work and inevitably driving too fast.
Rob, I agree, there is nothing better than sitting outside on a warm summer's day, lingering over a long lunch!
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