Friday, September 22, 2006

Hello everyone,

We have had a busy week and the days are already slipping by far too quickly. The callas are obviously coming to the end of their blooming season. The inverted cones still standing have browning edges and are looking bedraggled. The street venders aren't hawking voluptuous armloads of blooms at intersections any more. The callas have been replaced by greenhouse roses, beaded-wire flowers, and boxes of strawberries.

We left the Research Centre mid-afternoon since the day was sunny and clear and the temperature was actually comfortable. Ishmail had told Edward about some garden centres relatively near by -- a couple of regular "everyday" nurseries, and a couple that specialized in indigenous plants. One was on Main Rd. in Wynberg, just beyond our by-now-familiar Wynberg Pharmacy.

It seemed like a great afternoon for a ride. It was about 3:30 when we left -- still plenty of daylight. It was maybe 4 or slightly after when we went by the first closed nursery. Two more followed in short order. Obviously we haven't gotten the finer points of shopping schedules under our belts!

Ah, well... It was still a lovely day for a drive once we got beyond the busy crush of city traffic and as we headed down the western coast toward the Cape of Good Hope. We were only hoping to get part way there, since we are planning a trip to Cape Point on Monday. We were heading toward the picturesque town of Fish Hoek and driving along the coast looking out over False Bay. As we approached St. James, the coast road drew even with the water and we could easily look out over the waves crashing toward the rocks. We pulled over for a while to sit and watch and my eye was caught by something near the surface of the water. I thought I had seen something, but I could just as easily have imagined it. Then as I watched some more, 2 jets of water spewed up from the blowholes of a pair of whales swimming together. A mother and calf, perhaps?

The period from July to November is when the southern right whales come up from the cold waters of Antarctica to breed and calve in the warmer water off the southern coast of Africa. September and October are the peak months to spot the whales, which can be viewed without even setting foot on a boat. They can be spotted from land as they crest the surface of the water. As we watched, we saw first a backfin and then a whole flipper held up out of the water -- the whale must have been rolling over!

St. James seems to be a small seaside resort town. Lots of beachfront homes with a hotel and various accommodations being offered and a short stretch of antique and furniture shops mixed with art galleries to attract the tourists. A number of restaurants were there to tempt -- requisite seafood restaurants, at least 3 Italian restautants, an Indian restaurant and a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar. I was ready for seafood. There was Kalky's offering "the best fish and chips" or the tonier Harbor House with glassed in walls overlooking the bay. I thought that I'd really like to have a great view over the bay looking out the 2nd story through the restaurant's vista over the water. Unfortunately, one has to be able to climb the steps to get to the restaurant on the 2nd floor. So we ended up at Kalky's after all and it was terrific! They were doing a brisk business and it's not hard to see why!

The place is quite open and laid back. The selection is varied; the portions are generous and the prices are very reasonable. What did we have? An order of fried linefish and chips (the linefish of the day was yellowtail [tuna]), an order of crayfish and chips, and a Greek salad. Edward reports that the crayfish were the "biggest damned crayfish HE'd ever eaten." I do have to spoil the fun here and tell you that the crayfish were a pair of split and fried rock lobsters. Quite a delight -- we polished off every morsel!

Marcia