Sometimes...

There, in the dove-grey nothingness is where you would normally find a handsome flank of Devil's Peak.

Sometimes, in the summer, but not that often, The Mountain disappears from view. Those are, mostly, my favourite days. It's not that I exist in a space of nothing but adoration for Table Mountain, but if I can't see it from my writing table, it most likely means that it's a moody, moisture-filled day, which the Cape winter is famous for. On those days I thrive. 

The Cape winter is no longer that far away. For that, I'm enormously grateful: Among other things I've stocked up on a pile of new and secondhand books, and some hearty soups, and I've recycled a laptop that is going to make it much easier for me to get enormous amounts of work, and studying, done at home. That will be while dramatic swathes of the winter storms march across my large-screen and in-my-face view over Woodstock, with Cape Town's city bowl not too far away to my right.

I woke to a post by a favourite blogger of mine: Marie Viljoen of 66 Square Feet (Plus) New York: One Woman, One Terrace, Twelve Seasons fame. Marie's a Capetonian living in New York with her husband, whom she calls The Frenchman. The post was about flying over Africa and into Cape Town, posted on Tuesday. Not that I'm going to meet her or anything (that'll come I sincerely hope), but I'm very excited that she's here on the peninsula, that she's close-by. Her blog inspires me daily, I've also learnt an enormous amount about blogging from her; among other things, her writing style and photography do it for me.

I've often used her and her blog as an example in the online journalism classes I teach at the university, the most recent example was her alternative take - the message in the flames - on the terrible fires that ravaged the Cape peninsula earlier this month. It impressed me that she blogged the fires from thousands of miles away, in New York, while incorporating quotes from brilliant sources as well as obtaining great photos. It was an eye-opener. Marie was also the main inspiration for me to begin and incorporate a food and culinary journalism module into the feature and review writing course that I teach the second years.