The dahlia’s comeback as a cut flower I am not a big fan of flowers that are too showy — unless they are peonies. Peonies can never be anything but breathtaking; but I digress.  I used to think dahlias are just too theatrical, too high maintenance. Now I find single dahlias completely irresistible. Dahlias sort […]

Summers in the Cape Winelands can be hot, really hot. It is hell if you are not on holiday. For some reason, the weather is always pleasant when you are covered in SP50 and wearing sandals and a sunhat. Sun-deprived tourists flock to Cape Town and the Winelands during summer. What is not to enjoy: […]

Happiness is rarely what you think it is I recently did a road trip with two cousins, one from upcountry and the other visiting from New Zealand. It was late-winter, a little rainy, with some snow on the mountains. We had driven through the Little Karoo and turned towards the coast. Unhappy with our accommodation, […]

When you are travelling, coffee is where you find it – whether it is sipping steaming black coffee from a flask in an endless landscape of horizons, or drinking a flat white from a takeaway cup. I love this photograph of a coffee-shop cat helping herself to some cream after we had finished our breakfast. […]