Spring is sprung…well, at least it is trying…

Well, typically spring weather is upon us here in the Cape. They say that if you don’t like the weather in Cape Town, just wait a few minutes and it will change for you…and this last week has sure proven that!

Last week it rained buckets…we even had hail, a pretty uncommon thing around here. It was cold…see-your-breath kind of cold…and Thandiswe was fascinated by the “chips of ice” falling out of the sky and quickly melting on the paving stones in the courtyard.

Saturday Hubby and I went out early to run some errands and it was chilly, so we wore long sleeves. Mistake! By noon we had our sleeves rolled up and by one we had arrived back home and changed into short sleeved summer-weight shirts. It became so hot, in fact, that I turned the air conditioner on for the first time this season. Hubby says it got up to 31˚C (88˚F) before the day was over…pretty fierce for a spring day!

Sunday was cold and heavy winds were blowing. In fact, the winds were so strong I asked Hubby to move my car out from under the tree that shades the driveway and move it to the other side, just in case the tree shed another limb. Last time we were soooo lucky! The limb broke and fell onto the windscreen and bonnet of my car, but it didn’t break off! When we examined it carefully, we found the limb suspended just a couple of inches above the car, the drooping leaves and twigs making it look like it was actually on the car. Hubby carefully backed Bertha out of danger and then proceeded to limber up his new chainsaw and remove the offending limb. Last night, however, the wind was fierce and I was afraid we wouldn’t be so lucky this time…my fears proved to be unfounded, but better safe than sorry, right? Mercedes' aren’t cheap to fix, even if you have insurance!

So, after the sweltering heat of Saturday, this morning it was frigid. We’ve put up heavy lined draperies on all the windows to the bedroom and Hubby’s retreat so the room stays fairly warm at night without a space heater, but when I opened the bedroom door this morning…whoooooweeee! Talk about cold!! I swear my toes turned into fat little blue icicles the second they hit the ceramic tile floor en route to the bathroom! Yow!

It has rained on and off today, but nothing remarkable until it was time for Thandiswe to change out her uniform and go home. Poor thing, she came into my room, wide eyed, pointing to the bedroom window and a brutal onslaught of hail. The wind was blowing it at nearly a 45 degree angle and it looked like blowing snow, it was so thick! From the bedroom window I could see two hadeda birds running to and fro, looking for shelter under the bushes and tree and finding none. They ran around on the lawn, looking bewildered and confused, and finally stalked off on their stilt-like legs into the shelter of the bushes against the garden wall.

The hail continued for about five minutes…a very long time when you are standing watching it and waiting for it to stop. The earth was too warm for the hail to accumulate, however, so we just watched it bounce off the lawn and the paving stones, surrounded by the roaring of the wind.

That was an hour ago. Now, a bright ray of sun is illuminating the very spot where the hadeda birds ran to and fro in a freezing deluge of hail. Yep…it’s springtime in Cape Town, all right.