A lie in until 0830, that's most unusual for Christmas in the Hays / Salsbury household. But am enjoying the moment of silence amongst the woods thinking of you all rising extremely early, probably hourly from midnight. Ha ha morning Tommy, keep them on their toes, I don't want them going soft while I'm away.
Well here I am in such beautiful surroundings on Christmas morning sat in my tent opening the seven letters and cards from the most important people in my life. What lovely words, well mostly, some hilarious some causing the odd tear but overall making me feel very proud.
Hot homemade pancakes with maple syrup to start the day, couple of cups of coffee and were ready to relax. Kens on the Jamesons already, will he see the day out ? I go for a walk down by the lake, sit on a tree stump with the intention of updating the diary / blog. All too quickly I realise I've been sat for an hour watching the gentle breeze blowing the clouds around the snow capped peaks and have got nothing done, oh well there's always another day. A call from Heather to say that it's secret Santa time and we all have to receive our presents. An hour of hilarity and its back to preparing dinner.
Dinner is prepared in a Potjie ( South African cast iron pot ) coals placed around the base and on top of the lid. The meats, pork and beef, sit on a bed of onions and it cooks for about four hours to produce an absolutely delicious meal accompanied by sweet potatoes, cabbage, polenta, chorizo, potatoes, salad, etc etc etc covered with an onion gravy from the pot. Washed down with a Chilean red it was amazing. It was an exceptional day, very strange in many ways, no television or radio and totally departed from the commercialism of Christmas. Midnight arrived and we wished each other a Happy Christmas once again and to bed.
Anyway on that note I would like to wish my wife Lu,her family and my family a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS. It's times like this I realise how very special you all are and indeed how very lucky I am. So enjoy while I am away it's all back to normal next year, I'll think of a competition in the meantime ha ha love you all x x x
And to my friends, who are all very special as well, I wish you and your families a very Happy Christmas and look forward to catching up on return for a bit of a bash.
Boxing Day. A beautiful warm sunny day spent leisurely reading Dan Brown, until Heather disturbs the peace with " are you and Francois coming swimming" ha ha not likely it's blooming freezing.The Lake is fed from the slow melting snow covered peaks, crystal clear varying shades of blue. Anyway after several dips in the icy cold I felt very exhilarated, though the photos do show some strange facial expressions. By the way other than us three the rest were far too sensible. :) will I ever learn.
Till the next time,
Adios
Tony x
1. Pete n Kirsten, owners starting the Christmas meal
2. Me tending the fire ready for lunch
3. Santa and his helpers
4. Me receiving my pressie from Santa
5. The Potjie being prepared
6. The contents revealed, it was delicious
7. Happy Christmas from Concho and his mates
8. Me with Christmas dinner, cheers
9. A bit chilly !!
10. Ditto
11. This was a beautiful setting.
Now that Crimbo is out of the way we will hopefully be getting back to the photography x
hi ya tony first of all merry chrimbo from me and lynn your accounts and pictures second to nun as usual.stop lynn and co have kindley purchased me a very nice g 3 luminix camera for crimbo,i understand that you had some input to do with this i thank u very much now must fly cot to polish up on my picture taking ive alot to learn catch u laters bri
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