In case you have not noticed, I love music. However, as with mankind, not all music is equal. For no specific reason at all, I do not like Whitney Houston. It is just something about her music. It has me changing radio stations. I would rather sit through twenty-five minutes of Mongolian Throat Singing, than spend one minute of Whitney singing: I will always love you-oooo-oh-ooooou! Oh, yeaaaaaah! Which is such a pity because everyone’s favourite Blond Bombshell, Dolly Parton, wrote the song. So, then what made me choose a Whitney Houston song as a title for this Cape Crawl?

The song, A Moment in Time, was recorded by Miss H in 1988, for the Summer Olympics that was held in South Korea. The chorus goes like this:

“I want one moment in time, When I’m more that I thought I could be, when all of my dreams are a heartbeat away, and the answers are all up to me.”

Clearly the lyrics were meant for youthful, fit athletes competing against the best, and not at a ME sitting in a small town watching a house being built in another small town. But, you see, that is exactly it! There are times that I feel like an airplane sitting in a holding pattern over Heathrow Airport. Just sitting and waiting and waiting and sitting. But, even the most patient of pilots need to take care of mundane things, like buying groceries.

Colin and I set off on Saturday, to get groceries. We needed a change of scenery from either Kleinmond or Hermanus, so off to Caledon we went. What was meant to be a routine trip into town, turned into delectable little moments in time. And we reminded ourselves how very fortunate we are. We passed fields of crops and took turns spotting the crop spraying planes landing and taking off from a makeshift air strip in the middle of a farmland. We passed the chap in his white bakkie, the one who drives around the farm where we live, as he was rounding up sheep. We tried to guess what crops were in which fields. We saw the tractor convention gathering on a hill. We were pleased to see that “our” farm had the biggest, greenest tractor. We passed cows with very young calves in tow. We patiently waited for guinea fowl to cross the road, only to get to the other side and turn around to cross the road they just crossed. And do you know what was so special about it all? All this activity took place on the farmland where we live! Do you realize, Colin asked, that we have this very small window of opportunity to be part of the scene we are observing. How lucky we are, he said. And he is correct. Here we have just a very small moment in time. It is an experience which we will never have again. We took the time to savour it. It is our valley, and it will forever be part of our story.

This brings me to another delectable moment in time.

The Cup Cake!

Cup cakes were invented by Amelia Simmons in 1796. She included into her recipe book named “American Cookery”, a light cake to bake in a small cup. The actual word “cupcake” was officially used in 1828, by the same author in another recipe book. The Brits, of course, would never use a teacup for a cake, and decided to rather call this little bit of sugary heaven a fairy cake. Either way, everybody likes them. Our younger son made an unexpected trip down to the Cape. He was down for work but was able to move his return flight out to spend some time with us. The Sunday morning, we took a drive out to Betty’s Bay to show him how the house is progressing. No visit to B’Bay, is complete without a stop at our favourite coffee shop: Coffee@Clarence. We spent so much time over coffee and cupcakes that there was not much time to look at the house. It was a very quick visit. We had to get to the cheese stall so he could buy his stash, and then the farm stall for his biscuit supply. Oh, my. The pressure!

But, to get back to our moments in time. Not many people have the opportunity to do what we are doing. Oh, yes, it comes with challenges. But it also comes with these moments of magic. The unexpected glimpse of a whale as we drive along the coast, or the protests of a penguin disturbed in his nest. Spotting a rainbow over the sea and pulling off the road so we can look at it a little longer.  Sitting in the warm, comfy car, eating lickey cones and watching the cold, stormy winter waves crashing onto rocks. This morning again, I had to patiently wait for my favourite ladies – that is the herd of dairy cows, on the Karweiderskraal Road, to make their way to the barn for milking, only to be held up a few minutes later by delinquent a flock of sheep. Nope. No way were they going to stick to the side of the road. They had things to do, places to be, right there in the middle of the road to nowhere. Our little spot where we live is so dark at night, you can lie in bed and count stars. This week, we had the most amazing moon rising over the mountain. It had Colin and me behaving quite juvenile as we were leaping and hopping on a moon shadow. (If you can guess the song, leave your answer in the comments section!) We both stopped in our tracks when an owl flew past and settled on a branch of one of the big trees. Lucky me! For once I saw it first.

So yes, Here we are. Tussen die boom en die bas. Flying in a holding pattern. Waiting for that dream that is a heartbeat away. We are racing with destiny, and we are doing it in a time and place very few people will ever experience, and how blessed we are, that we can share the journey with each other….and of course, Domino.