This is Chez Ntemba one of the clubs just off Long Street, the centre of Cape Town's vibrant night life. Long Street has had some bad press lately because of flagrant and persistent drug dealing - something that our police seem unable to stop. This club must have drawn inspiration from Helen Martins of the Owl House fame as well as from Beezy Bailey.
In 1716 Sheikh Noorul Mubeen was banished from Indonesia by the colonial Dutch government for being a trouble maker and sent to the Cape where he was imprisoned on Robben Island. He escaped and hid on Table Mountain near the present site of Oudekraal, which is on the coastal road between Camps Bay and Llandudno. When he died, he was buried here, and his burial place became a shrine or kramat for followers of the Islam faith. Eventually this building was built over the grave. Shaded by old gum trees, anyone can visit the kramat, which is just off Victoria Road and quite close to the smart Twelve Apostles Hotel but be aware that it is a holy place of quiet contemplation. There are other graves here too - one belonging to his wife or one of his followers, and the other to Sheikh Sayed Jaffer. I and many other Capetonians are extremely grateful for the presence of these graves because they have prevented greedy property developers from building inappropriate luxury houses and hotels here. 
In front of the kramat building, enclosed by this rustic wooden fence, a spring of sweet, clear water wells up, and Muslims come from far and wide to collect its water. Springs are particularly significant in the Muslim faith as their holiest place is the Well of Zamzam in Mecca, Saudi Arabia where Abraham's son Ishmael, who was thirsty and crying for water, struck the soil and miraculously, water gushed out. Millions of pilgrims visit this well each year while performing the Hajj in order to drink its water.
Saturday was Heritage Day and for a few years now, it has also been known as National Braai Day. A braai is a unique South African word that means "cook over fire" - from Afrikaans. Barbecue is about the closest one can get to its meaning. We spent the weekend at Cape Agulhas and managed to braai some boerewors in the wind on the southern tip of Africa.
Breakfast en route to Cape Agulhas at Dave's Country Kitchen at the Red Windmill - a lovely old farmhouse just on the other side of Napier. Great food and a happy, child and pet-friendly ambience. About an hour and a half outside Cape Town. This is going to be a regular stop-over from now on ...
The Runciman Building in Simon's Town was built in 1785, but was given its present "facelift" in 1899. Don't ride past it because inside, behind the yellow brollies, lies the best patisserie in the whole of the Cape Peninsula - The Sweetest Thing.
I tried the Pear and Frangipani tart and was hooked. Now I can't wait to go back on the weekend to try a Botstock as they only make those then.
Our hike this morning took us from Simonstown up onto the mountain to Swartkops Peak and along the spine of Table Mountain and down to Smitswinkel Bay - a most spectacular five and a half hours. On the way we passed the famous Swartkops Spiderhead population - the only one left of these beautiful spiderheads - Serruria hirsuta. 
They are listed as Critically Endangered on the internationally endorsed IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria in the Red List of South African plants. The genus Serruria belongs to the protea family and was named in honour of J. Serrurier who was Professor of Botany at the University of Utrecht in the early eighteenth century. The most famous one is the Blushing Bride, Serruria florida from Franschhoek.
On the banks of the Liesbeek River in the Two Rivers Urban Park that has recently been created in Observatory, you look across to the sprawling buildings of Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital. It was named after Cornelius Valk who established a farm on the land in 1720. It then became a "lunatic asylum" in 1891 and today it the main teaching hospital for the University of Cape Town's Department of Psychiatry and is also a specialised training centre for psychiatric nursing.
The South African Jewish Museum in the Company's Garden, Cape Town is one of our finest museums. We went there to view the temporary exhibition entitled "Zapiro: Jiving with Madiba. Jonathan Shapiro's Mandela" and what a pleasure. With the anniversary of Steve Biko's death in detention on 12 September 1977 three days ago, and in the aftermath of an excellent lecture by Sir Sydney Kentridge (one of the lawyers who represented the Biko family at the subsequent inquest) it was a wonderful way to remember those dark days, yet feel uplifted that there were, and still are, dissenting voices of the calibre of Zapiro in South Africa. This is a great exhibition and everyone should go and see it. In this photo is the original Madiba puppet used for ZA News.
The Irma Stern Museum in Rosebank - close to the University of Cape Town - is one of Cape Town's hidden gems. The museum and art gallery is actually the house where Irma Stern, one of South Africa's great artists, lived and worked. Curated by the University of Cape Town and the Trustees of the Irma Stern Estate, it contains a wealth of information and works of the famous artist, and also has regular temporary exhibitions which are always most interesting. It also has an unexpected, lovely garden to sit and relax and contemplate art in.
I drive past this rather dilapidated graveyard in Parish Road, Constantia often, and always notice the decapitated angel. Today, a rather cold, wet and miserable day, I got out and wandered through the cemetery and took at look at the angel on which is inscribed:
This delightful house is the home of the Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory in Observatory, on the banks of the Liesbeek River. Several rare and endangered species grow wild in front of the house which is on a remnant of "Peninsula Shale Renosterveld" vegetation. 
The Blue Peacock Moraea (Moraea aristata) that does well in cultivation but is almost extinct in the wild and only occurs naturally here.
This morning we walked in the Koeberg Nature Reserve just west of Cape Town. One of the wondrous things we saw was this little Silver Arrowhead butterfly (Phasis thero) sitting in a wild rosemary bush or Kapokkie as it is locally known (Eriocephalus racemosus).
Its back to winter again for the meantime with a grey and choppy sea. Business as usual for the fishing boats at Kalk Bay harbour. Picutresque they may be, but the life of a fisherman is hard as this interesting blog by Jeremy Jowell depicts.
Today was the opening of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. I hope they have as much fun as we did last year with the Soccer World Cup. This is Prof. Tait, Warden of Smuts Residence at the University of Cape Town, hauling out the Smut's vuvuzela to lend some support to our team! Here is a video clip of our team's send-off in Johannesburg earlier this week. Go Bokke!
Shopping can be tiring and Constantia Village Shops have convenient seats.
A hot summer's day today in Cape Town - and someone had the bright idea to go to Kirstenbosch to have a birthday party in the cool, shady garden. Happy Birthday! In the background is the building housing the temporary display, Untamed, that I have visited once before.
The shops at the Cape Quarter Lifestyle Village shopping centre in Green Point (near the new soccer stadium) are all rather upmarket. I think the word "lifestyle" is the giveaway. Its quite fun to walk around though.
This is the famous Spotty Dog in Main Road, Retreat. The original Spotty Dog was a roadhouse, built in 1938, that sold hot dogs inside the dog's body. A kennel was added, but it all disappeared and eventually a truck destroyed Spotty. By public demand, a new Spotty Dog was consructed and is still there, even though his puppy had to be moved becuase of vandalism.
Walking up the mountain above Kalk Bay this hazy morning we passed the Kalk Bay Shark Spotter who said he had not seen any sharks but pointed out plenty of Southern Right Whales.
A bleak, stormy day with traffic jams, endless roadworks and bad bad driving all around. Not feeling very spring-like this 2 September.
Perspective: "The art and the science of so delineating objects that they shall seem to grow smaller as they recede from the eye" ...
Cape Town Time