This is amazing!

I just got back from a lovely walk on the beach in balmy sunshine! It is so warm I didn't need a jacket and here it is, the middle of January, our worst month! I have the doors open, and the heat off! I'm loving it! Of course, I know it won't last but I am certainly making the most of it. Even the birds are fooled! They were all out chirping away - poor things are in for a shock in a day or two. And the plants are being fooled as well! My iris are up and even some primroses are trying and this sun and warmth is really going to screw them up.

With the low tides during the day at the moment, the beach is a wonderful place to walk. I think it's about a mile and a half of beach walking out to the sand island and back. It's littered with clams and clam shells and flocks of Canadian geese lined the water's edge. They look identical to the Egyptian geese in South Africa - and are as noisy and messy! But it's fun to see them and lots of other water birds along the shore. Of course, seagulls predominate but there are also the golden eyes and mergansers, plus the big blue herons. I didn't see any today, but often the bald eagles are out fishing too, or hanging out in the trees along the shoreline. Really a beautiful place and so peaceful. Although the sounds of the water are not the crashing surf sounds of Clansthal, the gentle lapping and swish is very soothing and stress relieving and I always feel so much better after walking there - but during the winter I seldom get the chance, as we don't get days like these very often.

The site has a bit of a new look! We have more of a call to action on the front page so hope that will help with the sales. Ryan put it on stumbleupon yesterday and we got 1000 visitors - but not enough orders. Check it out and click the thumbs up button, and make us a favorite! It's all part of the viral marketing and it appears to be working - even though our "campaign" on SU is done, we are still getting a lot of hits and people are joining us on twitter and becoming fans on the mymixednuts facebook page!

I am starting to put together the next project - mostly in my head at the moment! I was walking and working at the beach! It's for Dockside, getting the magazine online as a flip page magazine and also the complete website with forums, blogs etc. A much bigger site than originally planned so will most likely use the same people in India but plan to put it out to bid on elance so they know they have to be competitive. I don't think it will be quite as complex as the nut site, but I am sure there will be challenges with it, too.

Yesterday was a huge hurdle for me - I actually went into the backend of the web site and made changes to the coding - and they worked! I was scared that I might screw something up but it all worked although there was one change I made that turned the site into a mess! But I before I made any changes, and as I went along, I copied and pasted the code into word, so with the big screw up, I quickly deleted everything and replaces with the old code I had saved, then went back in and found what I had done wrong, and next time, it worked! Whew! Fortunately, I did all this before we had all the 1000 visitors!

Weekend at Clan

Clansthal is one of my favorite places on this planet. I have been going there since I was 16 and it holds so many wonderful memories. The cottage is a classic South Coast bungalow, with a wrap-around verandah and red tiled roof. It is on an acre of land and the lawn runs right down to the sand, with just a buffer of indigenous plants to shield it a bit from the wind. It's been in the Lea family since the mid-50's I believe.

Pix here

Rosemary invited me down and Zoze came too. Rosemary had to go to a 60th birthday party (very big here) so she could only come down late afternoon but John was going down at lunch time so we met him there. The weather people had been predicting a cold front coming through (thye've been saying that for days!) and it was chilly in Hillcrest when we left - I was actually wearing a sweat shirt and closed shoes! But when we got to the beach, it was stunning! Clear and warm - not hot.

Amos, the caretaker, lives on the property in his own quarters. This is still a bit of colonialism - he does everything in the house, makes sure it's ready and clean, cooks, cleans up, puts out drinks on verandah in the evening, has the coffee ready in the morning. Lovely! He has been with the Leas for eons and has AIDS, but is fortunate to be on antiretrovirals and looks very well. Initially, the government didn't have the drugs available to the local people, so John and Rosemary paid for his medication for a long time but now he is on government-provided meds. John speaks fluent Zulu, including all the click sounds, and he and Amos have these long conversations - I catch some of it but I have been gone from here for too long to really get the drift.

First thing Zoze and I did, was go down to the annex - it has three bedrooms and a bathroom separate from the house - where we sleep, and then took the dogs down on the beach. Cleo, the rottweiler is a puppy, just nine months old, and Brutus the jack Russel is about six. Cleo is so big and clumsy and she grabs Brutus by his tail and lifts him up and sort of tosses him around. But he doesn't mind and they play and rough house all the time. They love the sea and head straight in. When we went to the swimming area they went running in and Brutus actually surfs the small waves! It is just the funniest thing. We were in stitches. The beach is loaded with shells and I found several cowries - one really big one. I haven't seen that many for years.

Again in this area, we found the beaches to be much cleaner than when I was here before. One thing attributing to that, is you have to pay for plastic bags so there are very few thrown out now. But unfortunately, the Indian fishermen almost always leave trash on the beach which is often quite disgusting old bait, sometimes with hooks and lines which is so dangerous. We almost had a problem with Cleo getting hold of one, but fortunately although she got it hooked into her upper lip, the barb hadn't gone in and as I kneeled on her (the only way I could keep her down, we were able to get the mess out!). But overall, the beaches are wonderful, lined with rocky outcroppings with lovely tidepools. The sea was quite rough so we didn't swim.

Rosemary got down to the cottage around 4:30 and we went for another walk, much to the dogs joy. And then we went out to an Italian place in Scottburgh, a few clicks south. The others had pizza, and because I am not allowed dairy at the moment, I had the most delicious grilled calamari.

I slept pretty well with the sound of the surf lulling me, but woke up with a sore throat and cold - Zoze has had it for the last week so now I have it. Anyway, after a hot cuppa that we had lounging around on Rosemary's bed, I felt much better and we went for a long walk on the beach. When we got back, Amos had breakfast ready - a huge breakfast! What a pleasure!

John and Rosemary's daughters came down and had invited numerous friends - the party kept growing and growing! Michelle has three littles ones, Kelly is almost three and the twins are about 18 months - and each twin has her own nanny! Huge amounts of food were prepared - a big braai! John cooked a big filet (in the oven not on the braai) that was to die for - and I don't eat much red meat!

By the time lunch was over, there was time for quick walk on the beach before we left, so we could get home before dark. When we drove off, the party was still in full swing and probably went on till dark.