10 days into our return to South Africa and it is hard to imagine we ever left. It was lovely to bump into the same smiley faces on the streets and in the shops. Everyone is astounded at how much “Nonkululeko” has grown and I am amazed at how they all remember us so well.

The house we are renting for 6 weeks before we move onto the boat is a gorgeous house – perfect for our needs. It has a double garage which JC has turned into a fully functioning work shop and is able to get lots of work done at home in peace and out of that wind which Hout Bay is famous for. There is a large empty room beside the double garage where we have stored all of our sailing gear and extra bits and bobs. The living space upstairs is all on 1 level with a convenient gate at the top of the staircase (the owners must have either dogs or children). The kitchen has all mod con appliances and the furniture is lovely, but the best feature of all is the massive horse-shoe shaped terrace with awesome views over the bay and Chapman’s Peak mountain. Really impressive at all times of the day and night. And all of this within walking distance of the shops.

Saoirse is now getting a lot more demanding than she was, so I have been proactively seeking out parent and baby groups and other things to occupy our time. My week looks like this:

Mondays: “Kindermusik”, baby stimulation through songs and dancing.

Tuesday: swimming lessons and a mother and baby group.

Wednesdays and Thursdays: we have enrolled Saoirse into a child care group from 8am to 12.30. There are about 10 other children and they play games, sing, do art and all sorts of things. On her first Wednesday, JC and I went to collect her and cautiously peeked into the playground to see if she was OK. She was furiously rocking on a rocking horse surrounded by children laughing wildly - in fact she didn’t even blink when she saw us coming, so I guess she did not miss us too much! We are delighted that she is enjoying this time with the other kids and it also allows me 2 mornings off a week to do “errands” for JC into Cape Town or just to get washing etc done at home. These are also the mornings I plan to check and write emails.

Fridays: The local library has a story telling hour for toddlers.

Saturdays: are free but am looking at options.

Sundays: I will still go to the Catholic Church AFTER mass and listen to my Malawian choir. They are so welcoming and were delighted to see Saoirse and I again. After the singing we head to the park near us for the weekly Sunday market.

As far as evenings go, JC comes home around 6.30 and we eat dinner shortly after that. We will watch a DVD and are both so tired that we fall into bed before 10 pm! It gets bright here very early so we are generally awake by 6.30ish. Every morning I do my aqua aerobics class at 8.30 while Beauty from the gym minds Saoirse. Sunday nights are curry nights in the yacht club and they also show films on the big screen. For the next few weeks I am choosing the films so am starting tonight with one of my all time favourites “Harold and Maude”. The following week my choice is “Hot Fuzz”. It is a nice thing for us to do as it gets us out of the house and there are always many people delighted to mind Saoirse while we eat our curry.

Our English friends Gillie and Peter are still here but are training hard for a triathlon so I don’t see them as much as I would like. I have met a lovely Australian called Beverley with an English husband and baby boy of 11 months old and they live 1 street away. It is nice to have a friend with a baby of similar age to compare notes and hang out with. They are interesting people and are an NGO running a soap making business in Kayelitsha, the massive township by Cape Town, helping to teach businees skills to the local community. It is now the biggest soap making factory in South Africa. They are enthusiastic about what they are doing and I can certainly vouch for their soap.

Saoirse turned 1 on 17th October. Thanks to those who sent emails and text messages. We did not have a birthday party – we had just arrived and I guess we did not really know anyone to invite to it. I guess we will have to celebrate it when we get home (both USA and Ireland)! In the meantime, spring has arrived here and the weather is just beautiful. Days are warming up and sunny with temperatures of about 20 degrees plus but nights are still chilly enough around 12 degrees. It will get warmer from here on in. I will write more soon. Take care all of you and thanks for reading!

By the way there are hundreds of new pictures up in the Saoirse, Travel, and Jackie and JC folder of the little one, our trip to Ibiza and my 40th bday. Many more coming as jc gets a chance to upload them all. To see the latest images regardless of category once you get to the photos page towards the top right there is text that says: Top Images New Images. Click the one that says new imaes and it will display all the stuff jc just uploaded.