Jane & Paolo's Wedding in Pantelleria

Wedding season arrived upon us in 2008 and kick off the season of weddings, we heading to the tiny island of Pantelleria for the wedding of jane and paolo. Let me tell you it took us a very very long time to get there, all as a result of a delay at Heathrow Terminal 3 - we ended up spending 2 hours on the runway, which then resulted in us missing our connection to palermo.

As a result we landed in munich, only to take a train to stuttgart to get another flight to palermo the following day. so unintentionally we saw a bit of Germany along the way and in one day flew from stuttgart to palermo to pantelleria and where we so glad when we finally arrived and to be greeted by paolo's dad..



















The night before the wedding we had dinner at Casa Roncaglia, Paolo's family home on the island. what a beautiful place and the view from the house even better.



















Jane looked stunning in her grecian dress and the speeches by the parents and by each other were very moving. Paolo's mom's speech was truly heart warming and there was many a person in the crowd that needed a Kleenex. The wedding celebrations took place at Hotel Mursia (more of this in my next blog.. need to go cook dinner).

Old Friends in London

So finally, I took 4 days off and heading on vacation. 4 days is 27% of my total annual leave days - can you believe that.. give me higher taxes, more holidays, free healthcare (even if its the NHS) anyday!!!!

We kicked off our vacation over the July 4th - Independence Day weekend here in the USA en route to Jane and Paolo's wedding (next blog posting) and flew to London first for a night over to catch up with old friends. We managed to spend the evening with Alex, Kaunteya, Taira and Mike. Mike arranged tickets (actually our own box) to watch George Benson. The golden oldie was excellent and brought back many childhood memories. sadly Mike had to work and could only join us for dinner.. Indian food of course as this is London's speciality. It was really good to be back in London and chill out with some friends.

I enjoy the oddities and anonymity of London - the ability to be a "bag person" or trolley person in the case and hang out where ever you want for the day and not be bothered.. Well in London, you have to be a relatively rich bag person!!! (with a good umbrella).

We also made it Laduree to sample some Parisian macaroons and proper cappacino and criossants for breakfast... all in all our 18 hour stop over was well spent and thoroughly enjoyed..

The Red Hat Ladies....companionship in America...

During our trip round San Diego with the Jarvis, we came across a group of women who are part of the Red Hat society.. Thy had decided to head down to San Diego for a day trip and we picked them up in Old Town (the so called Spanish old town when the Spanish first set up shop in San Diego).

It started in 2001 when a woman called Sue Ellen Cooper decided to buy herself a red fedora hat. She then read a poem called Warning and related to the poem so much that she decided to buy a deep purple dress as outlined in the poem. She then bought a few friends red hats and over time women in the fifties wearing red hats grew in number. This is what the founder has to say:

"The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next."

- Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Mother

Given that life is constrained by rules, the Red Hat Society does not have any rules.. in fact it forbids them.. The rule it does have however is that if you are under 50 and want to join in, you have to wear a pink hat until you read your birthday (50) at which point you can don the red hats and purple outfits... Versace take a tip or two, there is a whole new market you can target..

Nothing like some unknown tidbits for you to start your day....

Queen Bea arrives in San Deigo

We have a new fan or should I say that Don Don (John) has a new fan and an ever growing ego. Queen Bea came to visit and it
wonderful to have her company (and that of her parents) for the weekend..

We ate lots, went to places (old favorites - Tartine and new discoveries -missions) and got to hang out with Queen Bea. She is getting so cute and turning from a baby that still clutches onto my breast to one that has developed an excellent method of ordering Don Don around to the point that he does whatever she says - I wish I could do that.. Now Bea all you need to learn by the next visit is "Don Don, clean up please" and "Don Don, computer games are a time suck"

Thanks to the Jarvis we headed out to visit our first mission and this mission is the first mission built north of the Border. Known as San Diego De Alcala, it was founded on July 16th, 1769 and is located in area that is now aptly referred to as Mission Valley - to fellow San Diegans, note that this not just the place where the shopping mall is!!


As you can see Beatrice and John hung out alot. He taught her how to play computer games, stick her fingers in her nose, wear his shoes, and she taught him her game of "Don, sit"


These two had a lot of fun together. I have no idea what makes John so interesting... it must be all the toys that he has... We both still mimic BiBi's (as she refers to herself) facial expressions when she says no... and hot... What is also great to see is the heathly appetite that Beatrice has. She loves fruit and vegetables and olives and blueberries... she is so easy to cook for..

Sarah and I did manage to sneak out for a bit on the Saturday to head to Nordstroms to check our wedding dresses. Sarah is great at convincing old saleswomen to allow us to try on dresses without an appointment.. We did try on a few and I realised that I need to lose all the weight I have put on (6kg as of today) since arriving in the US in order to look remotely decent in one of these dresses... liposuction and spanx here we come!

Brett & Amira come to Visit

At least a month ago (my blogging is abysmal), we had Brett & Amira Clarence visit us. Brett and I know each other from UCT - from the days of Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall - student residences on Upper Campus. Brett married Amira about 2 years ago - they live in Atlanta and Amira is from Khazakstan... see I am not the only South African who ventured out to super sized America.

I missed Brett's wedding and I was super glad to hear that he was heading over to California to travel on vacation and enjoy Yosemite and the beautiful coastline that California has to offer. The last time I saw Brett was in London when he was over for business and this was my first meeting of his wife, so I was super excited. We took them around and our first stop was Torrey Pines Nature Reserve.. Below is the view from Highway 101 as we approach Torrey Pines. I use this as a good advertisement to get all our friends to come visit us.. The nature beuaty on this end of the world is enticing.. andwe have summer all year round - really we do...

Torrey Pines at this point in time was a busy spot as the US Open (Golf) was starting within a week and there were many tourists who had already arrived. Trying to spot Mr Woods however was more difficult than trying to sight a tiger in the Indian Jungle. (very corny, I know)

We did however manage to get a photo of the four of us, thanks to modern technology. Brett, I will be sending you and Amira some photos in the mail shortly. It was good to spend the weekend catching up with old friends, discussing the election (note only one of us has the right to vote in this crowd) and getting updates about old friends. As part of parcel of our tourist routine, I did take them to La Jolla on the Sunday..

Now we all know that Brett (especially the UCT crowd) that Brett tends to be the crazy one amongst us. so he dons a pair of swimming trunks and heads down to swim from La Jolla Cove to La Jolla Shores, in freezing water, after having swum for an hour in the PAC pool... Thankfully Amira is the sane one and hung out with me reading the newspaper and catching up on our past lifes.

We hope you guys come again... soon!!!