good times at rusty gate farm

the weekend away was awesome.   in fact i am feeling a bit flat and sad today because it is all over (tired as well, i suppose because i stayed up until close to 1 to watch rory mcillroy win the us open (brilliant)).   little sister had a lovely 50th birthday weekend with her family, a bonus being that matthew caught the bus down from kimberley on friday (a long way for 2 nights but great to have him there).  quite a mission to get him back to the bus stop in worcester yesterday in time - but all ended well and thank goodness the bus was 15 minutes late or he would have missed it by 5 minutes.

too much eating and drinking (we over-ate, over-drank and over-shopped) so had to bring back lots of stuff (rather that than run out, i suppose - after all - "thirst is a dangerous thing").  quite embarrassing all the bottles that we left behind though, but it was a full -4- day celebration.  on thursday night nic and gareth made us pizza's.  nic had bought raw bread dough from coimbra in claremont and they made wonderful thin crisp bases - lovely decorative and imaginative toppings as well (a tad too much chilli on one for some).  here are a couple of pictures:-

kitchen (huge, this was just one half)

pizza

this was where we spent most of our time - tom had a fire burning all day and night.

"the cowshed" had a lovely verandah - with this view:-

on friday matthew, david and lucie arrived and we had set the birthday table on the verandah.  thank goodness for the fire as the weather was very chilly and the big dining hall was a bit big and cold and impersonal.

tom braaied 2 fillets and a sirloin and we made a divine pepper sauce with green peppercorns, brandy and cream, baby potatoes and green beans with garlic butter - mmmmmm.......(sorry i never seem to have my camera on hand when food is served).  we had speeches and tears, nic and kelly sang a song together, kelly did a dance (a born performer):-

Ah home, let me go home
Home is wherever I'm with you.
Oh home, let go me home
this is a cute version of the song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L60QLKLxSg4

i did video nic and kelly singing it but it needs to be edited and the light is not very good.

we all ended up dancing around the snooker and foozball tables until the early hours (i seem to remember a few tots of tequila as well):-

in between we had walks, old brown sherry, more walks, champagne, magazines, chats, wine, more food - the dam was not too far away and dave, tom and amy were the only ones brave enough to use the foefie slide* (don't you love that word "foefie").  kelly spent time kayaking and caroline was great on the pulley to haul the foefie slide back across the water.  boys had trial runs followed by a swim in the freezing pool and boulle on the lawn

plunge pool for the brave

 

amy giving the foefie slide thumbs up

very brave

50-year-old, nic and amy

mom, 50-year-old, amy

swing with a view

50-year-old, kelly and lesley

matt and nic

 

hayley and gareth

trampoline

kitesurfer and kayaker

brothers

rusty gate farm is between greyton and villiersdorp.  the cottages are lovely.  there was a mountain bike race on in greyton on the weekend and the other cottages were all occupied but we never heard or saw anyone else.

perfect place to celebrate with a very special sister.

foefie slide - a rope or cable with a suspended handle or pulley by means of which one may slide between two points. from Afrikaans meaning "stunt" or "trick" (quite funny my granny always used to ask my brother "did you foefie in your pants?"

that is all from me - take a look at first born son, gareth's take on the weekend

http://primalbeer.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/my-luvvies-50th-weekend/

he writes a mean story, i hope i am not going to be in trouble for passing on his blog to my followers - he has been known to use rude words, he has very definite likes and dislikes and pulls no punches - take him or leave him.  i am his mom, and even if i wasn't, i'd take him!!!