Slow Life

So there we were on Sunday, acting like the motorists that everyone hates, the (ahem) older couple driving  slowly along the side of the road while all the "stressed, no time, can't waste a second" types flashed past us.  We were driving out to a little country town called Riebeeck Kasteel to collect some belongings my husband had left behind at a guesthouse two weeks before while visiting there to cheer on a friend taking part in the Berg River Canoe Marathon.  Truth be told, La is a little like Queen Elizabeth I who is alleged to have slept in so many different beds the length and breadth of England - only in my husand's case he leaves items of clothing, his reading spectacles or books in hotels and guesthouses all over South Africa.

Anyway, the reason for the leisurely pace of the driving was to be able to stop whenever a beautiful scene presented itself and in the golden light of the late afternoon there was no shortage of subjects.

Grass so green and luscious you just wanted to lie down and roll around in it, which I pretty much did due to losing my footing on several occasions.  And, in the distance, the promise of golden canola fields in the near future.

An old red wagon gently rusting away in the mellow afternoon sun.  Who can say how many tons of  wine or table grapes it carried in its time?

The south western Cape is so green at the moment after the rains that you could be forgiven for thinking that this picture was taken anywhere else but South Africa.

In the distance lies the little town of Riebeeck Kasteel nestled at the foot of the Kasteelberg Mountains.  The quaint little village is surrounded by wheatlands, vineyards and olive groves and I also noticed orchards of trees covered in lacy pink blossoms.  An extremely popular annual olive festival turns the town into something very close to a Tuscan type village, if you can believe it.

The vines are still bare from their winter pruning but here and there the tender sap-green of a leaf or two can be detected.

As we were leaving the village these children saw me taking pictures and unlike most people who hastily move away to avoid having their pix taken,  these little kids couldn't run up fast enough to take a look at my photographs, offer advice and insist on having their portraits taken.  They even knew where and how they should pose for best effect - obviously experienced models!