About a month ago, Geoff and I spent a night at my Granny's house.. She lives in a beach house in Little Brak (between Mossel Bay and George). My late Grandpa had a very quirky sense of humor & named the house 'Little Dog Box' - as the town is called 'Kleinbrak' in Afrikaans and a 'brak' is a scruffy dog. (he also had a boat which he named 'Gaal Kat' - instead of 'kaalgat') :)
My Grandpa had a little Schnauzer dog called 'Towser'. He hated our dog, Stewie.
Because their surname is 'Purcocks', my grandparents ended up collecting a lot of chicken / cockerel related stuff: ornaments.. tea towels with cockerels on them.
Visiting my Gran's house always brings back loads of memories from when we were growing up & the house was kept as a beach house for holidays. It has many rooms, so everybody would pile in & the adults would consume unbelievable amounts of G&T's and red wine over cards & tile rummy...Pictionary and Monopoly and a number of other games. Our days were spent on the river: water skiing..tanning..swimming in waves off the Mosselbay point or Santos Beach. Evenings saw songs around the piano & my Gran's famous syncopation skills were much enjoyed! ...roasts & braais... games & stories.
There are signs of my whole life around this house. My gran still has the underwater tropical fish pastel artwork that I made for her one Christmas when I was about 12 years old. The reds have all faded, but the rest still looks ok.
The place I linger longest is the passage wall where my Gran has loads of photos up:
There are pictures of my Great Grandparents who I never met... pictures of the 6 cousins.. school year photos, Matric dance.. weddings & other occasions. All these memories make me very nostalgic!
There is a lovely little market that happens on the bank of the Great Brak river on the first Saturday of every month. There is always a lovely atmosphere...and one particular pancake stall which always has the most people queued outside it: and for good reason too: their pancakes are, quite honestly: the best! :)
