From the birds and the bees, to family trees.: Snow, glorious snow!

Snow, glorious snow!
22 September 2012

Okay, so I live in sunny South Africa and I absolutely love the heat. Is there anything better than summertime in the Cape? Beautiful, magnificent, glorious days. Sunshine, barefoot, kids swimming, ice-creams, smell of a braai, Oros cooldrink, shorts and t-shirts, cricket on the TV, the smell of sunblock, salads, xmas beetles, mozzies, costumes, wet towels, beautiful light, walks on the beach.

So, quite obviously, snow is an extreme rarity. And not one that I am accustomed to. It is something that I look at wistfully on TV, especially in movies around Christmas time. I would love to experience snowflakes on my face, making a snow angel, snow ball fights and building a snowman.

Now, as luck would have it, my mom’s house, Muisnes, in Tulbagh is only about 40 minutes away from the snow capital of good old SA – Ceres. And most specifically, the Matroosberge mountain range. Every year, there is an absolute influx of people from all over the Peninsula, driving up to the mountains in Ceres, to experience the snow first hand.

And then unexpectedly, one year, when we were visiting Muisnes, the weather became obligingly freezing cold. As in fre-e-e-e-ezing cold. So, we decided to make a day of it. The snow party, consisted of Mom, Daya, Luke, Amber, Cole and me. We bundled ourselves up into just about all of our clothes. Long johns, vests (more than one), two pairs of socks, long pants, long sleeved shirts, sweaters, jackets, scarves, gloves, beanies and hats. We all looked like the Michelin man.

We undertook the trek to Ceres and my jaw literally dropped. Never in my life had I seen anything like it. The higher we went, the thicker the snow became. We were all delighted! It was also my children’s first time, so we were all snow virgins. Such fun! We peeled out of the bakkie, en masse, delighted beyond belief. We had found a little spot, that wasn’t too filled with other snow tourists and the fun began. We had snowballs fights, built numerous snowmen, attempted snow angels (a bit difficult, at the snow was not that thick, predictably my boys made snow cones and we just took in the wonder of it all. And then my every wish came true. We had fresh snow falling, coating all with a dusting of fine icing sugar. Utterly magical!

We had about 10 minutes of pleasure, before Cole started crying – he doesn’t do cold. So we plopped him back in the bakkie, put dry clothes on him and layered him generously with all that we had. And to provide him with entertainment, we pelted the bakkie with snowballs whilst he was inside. He simply loved it. And after he was happy and slightly warmer again, we were free to romp in the snow once more.

But here’s the thing. Something rather peculiar, is the fact that my beloved Daya’s internal thermometer is broken. Well, perhaps it’s not so much broken. I actually don’t think he was ever issued with one. So whereas the rest of us looked like the Michelin man, Daya showed extreme caution, and wore a pair of long pants for the occasion. But he still could not bring himself to wear a long sleeved shirt. And as always, he was wearing a pair of slops – which is actually practically dressing up for him. He is known to wear a pair of PT shorts and a T-shirt, regardless of the weather. And he doesn’t really do shoes either. He has a board meeting in Joburg and Germany once a year respectively and for those occasions, he dons a suit – but that’s about it.

And while we were all suffering from hypothermia, despite our layers of clothes, Daya was showing signs of heat exhaustion. He made a dash for the privacy of the bakkie (quite thoughtful of him) and flung off his offending jeans, only to replace them with a much loved pair of PT shorts. Bloody ridiculous!!! And now we had a situation, where fellow tourists, were no longer taking photos of the snow and the landscape dotted with snowmen, but rather of the PT shorts and T-shirt wearing Yeti alongside us. I suppose part of Daya’s thermometer lies in his beard. If one of the guys in ZZ Top ever needs a body double, Daya is their man.

It all started off very civil, with Daya sporting a jean-pant, t-shirt and slops

A delighted Berry - spot the Yeti in the back

Exploring

Our goggly-eyed snowman - quite the masterpiece

Daya, Mom and Berry

Everyone bundled up warm - well, everyone except for Daya

Mom, kneeling down, pretending she's knee-deep in the snow. All she actually got for her trouble though, was wet knees.

Ready, Aim , Fire!!! We had impecable launch control

Boys romping in the snow

Mom and her Berry-Belle

The abominable snowman, building a snowman

Fellow tourists, stopping to take pics of our Daya

Mom proudly showing off our masterpiece

Do you smell carrots?

Mom and I - making huge fashion statements with our pink hats. Okay, they're from the dress-up room, but still - we're looking sooo hot! Or is that cool?