Zoë Scholtz

Mom and Dad instilled a love for camping in me as a child. Trips to the South Coast, visits to Cape Town, and the Drakensberg were just some of the places we frequented. Everyone was expected to help and we each had a clearly defined task. I became proficient at wielding a rubber mallet, folding tents into bags, and earned a degree in tripping over guy ropes and tent pegs.  Aside from the obvious aspects, camping taught me useful life skills such as how to adapt and make a plan when things go wrong; magically being able to fit awkward shapes into impossibly small spaces; and the importance of planning in advance. It was also during these holidays that I grew to love the outdoors.  Whilst dad loved camping, he was adamant there should always be functioning facilities, I was thus accustomed to communal ablutions, flushing toilets, electrified campsites, and running water. Little did I know that such luxuries would all become optional extras when my husband and I started with our...

Times are tough, global economies are struggling, unemployment levels are high and most of us are battling to make ends meet. Yet, in the midst of all of this, hubby and I found ourselves in the somewhat bizarre situation where our homemade apricot jam and peach chutney were in high demand. In fact, we couldn’t produce stock fast enough to keep up with the orders. Weird? You bet. Hard work? Absolutely. Was it worth it? Yes. (Although it's probably safer to ask this question once we’ve had a few months to recover.) To rewind a little, some six years ago “we” (meaning the hubby) decided it would be a super idea to plant some fruit trees in our backyard. With somewhat limited space in our garden, we settled on a tiny peach tree and an even smaller apricot tree. In 2020 both these trees made their presence felt [you can read more about that insanity here: The Fruit Situation ]. In a valiant attempt to avoid a repeat performance of 2020 we planned ahead in 2021. One thing led ...

Where it all started I have always loved photographs and was under the impression that if I bought myself a fancy camera the logical outcome would be great pictures. In 2010 I had saved up enough money to buy myself a brand new DSLR camera (that was the good news) but other than being able to switch it on, I had no idea how to use it (the bad news). To my dismay, I realised that there were an awful lot of buttons, dials, and switches that I had no idea what to do with, and so I opened up the user manual. After trawling through the first few pages my head started to hurt. There were all these fancy words, descriptions of things I had never heard of: f-stops, focal points, and depth of field - it felt like I needed a user guide for the user guide! Feeling more than a little intimidated I snapped the user manual shut and phoned a friend of mine, he was a photographer in his spare time, and I knew he would help me. He advised that the best way to learn was 'to do' and recommended I...

Season of 2020 Remember the time of plenty Now so empty It was the time of 2020 Winter was cold and without song Summer was lonely, just as long  Oh for the day it does not hurt anymore World history we try back to claw When the night time brings the darkness Pray to sleep the night away  But find the morning stress Always finds a way to stay I find it hard to face the day But still, I try anyway ~ Andy _____________________________________________________________________       Andrew Crawshay-Hall (Andy) is an accountant by profession, and an artist at heart. He has two daughters, one a teacher and, the other a doctor of art. When he is not running he loves spending time with his three grandchildren.  Andy is an avid runner and completed eight Comrades Marathons, before being forced to retire in 2012, as a result of a knee operation. At the time, doctors predicted he would never run again. Always eager to meet new people, Andy joined the Irene Athletics C...

I’ve been through my fair share of Renovation Trauma. Shortly after I bought my first little two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in 2006, I began to appreciate that owning a home was a never-ending story. There always seemed to be a list of things that needed to be maintained, changed, or fixed. In fact, it was bad enough when I lived alone, back then I only had my own crazy ideas to deal with (and budget for). Then I got married, and instead of one crazy idea-generating brain, we had two! As an aside, no one warns you of this reality before you tie the proverbial knot. Gerhard and I tackled a DIY bathroom renovation at the first home we bought together. The end result was quite spectacular (and I'm happy to report that we managed not to kill each other), but the process was excruciating – at the time it felt as if we lived at the hardware store. We spent an inordinate amount of time buying bags of tile glue, grout, or some weirdly shaped plumbing tool I’d never heard of. We l...