Xmas at Brendan and Eva

Xmas with Eva and Brendan is always so special.  It feels like I'm amongst family.  The food was out of this world and the company was wonderful.  As usual, mum's potato baked was in great demand. I also made chocolate mousse this year which went down very well.

Dinner around the table

 

Just a sample of the amazing food.

Eva hand painted these table settings.  Beautiful.

Xmas decorations

Such lovely, lovely people.

Making the most of the beautiful pool and warm weather.

Such a perfect house for parties!

The queen of the leaps. What amazing technique.

Coral, Fire and Ice at the Opera House

I went to the Opera House to see a presentation by National Geographic underwater photographer, David Doubilet.  His work was absolutely sublime.  So nice to share this with some lovely friends: Brendan, Eva and Ella, Chris, Chrisèl, Lauren and Sue.  A wonderful and inspiring afternoon...

   

... followed by a lovely and fun walk at dusk in The Botanical Gardens with Chrisèl ...

... and finished off with indescribably good Belgian Waffles and iced dark chocolate at the Lindt Chocolate Cafe.   The closest I've come to heaven in quite a while!

David Doubilet at The Opera House

I went to a presentation at The Opera House by National Geographic photographer, David Doubilet.  He's one of the world's greatest underwater photographers and his work is absolutely sublime.  I particularly loved his photos taken half under the water and half above the water.

With me at the presentation were Brendan, Eva, Ella, Chris, Chrisèl, Lauren and Sue.  A wonderful afternoon.  Photos here.

Here are some of my favourite photos that David and his wife (also a photographer) have taken.

Volleyball on Camps Bay beach

Brendan and Eva were in Cape Town at the same time as me, so we organised a big game of volleyball on Camps Bay beach.  All the old volleyball crowd came, and Russell and Heather joined us too.  So much fun!!  I impressed everyone with my power serve, great to find out I haven't lost it even after over 10 years of non use.

Photo-shoot for Eva

I helped Eva to take some photos for her blog of her dinner party table.  It was quite stressful due to time constraints with the light and with guests arriving.  Not sure they were totally to Eva's taste, but I quite liked how some of them came out.  I got to stay for the dinner party - succulent Mexican food with the most delicious lamb I've tasted in a long time.