Christmas and the New Year.

The table is ready for the Christmas Eve family dinner of 2014. So good to be home again for Christmas.

Two Plum cobblers which turned out to be simply magnificent. Baked by my niece Amy.

Ah ha! In the BIG BLACK pot is Gammon. Hmmmmm! I love it. Cannot wait.

So now the table is fully set and ready to go!

Brother-in-law Charles and sister Lilla, Amy friend Theunis and my Sister-in-law Madelaine.

Chantal, Pete's girlfriend and Maddie dishing up for Christmas lunch..

Oh boy, but this looks scrumpchious. My Christmas day plate!

Gift 'crackers' and reading the contents. Always still fun.

How is this for an amazing Cheese Cake with Berries on the side. Awesome and stunning by Amy. 

My slice! Hmmmm! Ymmy.

'Boxing Day' at my sister Lilla with John and my cousin Sue from Blacksberg Virginia. I had seen Sue twice while in London too. So good to see her and John (SACS Old Boy) 'home' for a while.

Charles, nephew Dylan and Lilla my youngest sister.

Nephews Dylan and Oliver and the dreaded Soccer ball! Inside!

Jordan Morrison who I had seen in Virginia in February, back home in Hout Bay and my annual post Christmas visit. So good to see him before he completes his final half year at Virginia State before heading off for his first job in Washington DC in June 2015. yay Jordan.

So awesome to be walking the Sea Point Promenade with two wonderful friends; Danny Chen from Toyota in Tokyo and Ross (architect) McDonald. I have taught 3 Ross McDonalds from three different families, so I need to 'label' each one.

The ord brings back memories of my second Cabaret where I sang 'Imagine' by John Lennon. Scary, but magic it was.

Something I taught by word and deed for all my 38 years of teaching. Danny and Ross wanted me to stand there for this shot. Definitely not a 'selfie'!

So many amazing photographs on the sea wall of the Promenade giving us a magic view of our history of the shoreline. The first South Africans - San on the West Coast.

Slightly 'cut'. "Kom oor die see" is a reference to the USA warship Alibama which visited Cape Town in the 1800's: "Daar kom the Alibama, die Alibama die kom oor die see ee ee e...."

Selfie shadow in the gun sights pointing at the Rhino. A tragic reminder of the wanton slaughter of our precious Rhino's by unfeeling agents of the Asian nations who still believe the rubbish about Rhino horn. How totally pathetic, barbaric and another indicator of how pathetic our government is.

The Rhino sculpture beyond the gun sights!

The magnificent Tabel Cloth on the tip of Table Mountain with Lions Head proudly in the foreground. So magestic.

Now this is a 'selfie' with myself, Ross and Danny. We meet every December and do a supper together. Magic moment every year.

Trying to get into recycling after being part of it in the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

That is for sure!

New Years Day lunch. Seriously delicious thanks to Maddie and brother Michael.

Bit by bit I am creating a waterwise garden at my brothers home.

Some pots on the porch - Tamarillo, vygies and an abandoned Bougainvillia from Ferndale Nursey that I resurrected.

Now Baboon proof facia. I hope. Ready for the new owner.

The packing continues at Betty's Bay.

A brief cuppa with Aidan Sillifant after we both returned from our time away. Good to see him again. I stayed with his dad in Dubai. Both SACS men.

A SACS 'reunion' - Dan and Ben Defty, Grant (Cape Town) and Gavin Markey (Sydney)  and Mom Defty, a SACS teacher and of course SACS mom.

Finally I get to see the Oranjezicht Market Garden. Very impressive indeed.

While doing a conducted tour of one of Ross McDonald's latest architectural projects, I just had to take this shot of the Table Cloth from the Camps Bay side.

I have waited since May to meet up with David le Roux and his dad Philip to walk the Boomslang. So good to be with them again.

Having walked the Kings Park walkway in Perth, I was not sure this one could be as good. Boy was I wrong!

An engineering detail to save a tree in the Arboretum over which the Boomslang is constructed.

And there is my beautiful mountain. The edge of Table Mountain and Devils Peak beyond it from this magic walkway.

Spectacular view of the Gorges above Kirstenbosch. Just magnificent.

Very spectacular engineering.

A huge branch that just split off this giant Ceder and smached Pearsons grave stomne just missing some visitors. It will now be sawn into planks, seasoned and made into benches for the site.

One of the very special Kirstenbosch Eagle Owl chicks hiding under a Cycad.

It is so good to be back at SACS and to watch the 1st X1 at the Western Cape Cricket Festival. Behind them the Avenue of the Centurions where SACS players who score a century for the 1st X1 or take 5 wickets, get a tree named for them. One plaque is visible at the base of the second tree

The team in their 20/20 gear with the next batsmen awaiting their turn on the steps of the Robin Whiteford Players Pavilion.

I had to get this shot of the quad to show how the new Oaks are growing up. They are going to be magnificent.

The Hugo Mclaughlin tree in the quad. A White Stinkwood. It is growing very well indeed.

Marcus, Moritz , Julian and myself together for the first time since October 2013 and my last Matric History Class.

Magic lunch with Anton and Jono. Two very special SACS men. So very good to be with them again. These two magic friends will be together at UCT now after a year of Anton being at Maties. This was at Hudson's on Protea Road. Not a bad place at all. Hyeon Jung took me there for lunch a few days before and I must say that I really enjoy the food here.

And so it comes to an end. My Betty's Bay house vacated. Heartsore, but a new chapter.

My bedroom cleared out too awaiting the new owners.

My faithful companions for 357 days from Cape Town through the USA, Caribben, Mexico, Cnada, England, Germany, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Dubai, Bali, Australia and New Zealand and home again.

The journey done. My house sold and the new chapter slowly taking shape in bits and pieces. Working at the OBU office, doing a special project for Oxford Universoty Press and looking for a new abode. Not sure what form that will take yet.

I am also doing the Tour Guide course and exams soon and hope to get back into teaching soon again because I miss the interaction of education in and outside the classroom and with colleagues too much. It won't be at SACS as that door has shut, but will be perhaps at one of our rival schools or something completely different.