We drove up to our plot this last Monday knowing full well that we were going to encounter some wintery weather.
Snow lay all along the Langeberge and everything was wet, dark and cold.
Extra blankets meant that on Monday night we were snug and cosy while the storm raged outside with dramatic thunder, lightening and plenty of rain.
In the morning, the world was squelch and mud.
63 mm in twelve hours.
John was not able to do any varnishing or painting and so digging holes for trees became his mission for the time we were there. The holes were incredibly easy to dig, compared to the usual concrete hardness of that soil and the holes filled up with water immediately.
All five water tanks were overflowing with water. Insanely, we bought and installed another two water tanks. I suppose we would have to live another full lifetime to recoup these costs through any water savings but we hate to see the water going to waste and our land is too flat to warrant the trouble and expense of an earthen dam. This summer we will be able to water our trees from the tanks whenever we visit them.
We had a very sociable week especially as Thursday was a public holiday. We sneakily invited people to meals at their own homes because ours was too cold and primitive to receive guests. In exchange for taking along supper, we used the convenience of their appliances and left the dirty dishes behind!! In fact, without sun for our solar heated water, the conditions for washing dishes were so poor that we brought a box of dirty cutlery and crockery back to Cape Town for cleaning.
We had planned to stay for the weekend but weather predictions for Saturday induced an early return to avoid poor traveling conditions.
The Canola Festival takes place this weekend and you can see why.
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