Sugar and spice and all things nice

On Wednesday I took my mother off to the annual O Magazine Tea Party, which was held at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Newlands this year. It was a very genteel affair, complete with cucumber sandwiches (and plenty of other absolutely decadent tea-time treats), pretty outfits, hats (obligatory, and such fun), and lavish pink table-settings. We were treated to a performance by the lovely Lira (pictured at the top right), who got everyone to their feet and even made a few of us become part of the show ourselves... It was a great opportunity for women of all ages and races to bond over a cup of tea and to celebrate our common strength. I can't wait for next year.

Must be the clouds in my eyes...

Alright then, this will probably be our last cricket-related shot for a while. Today was semi-final day in the T20 World Cup, and it was New Zealand in action against Pakistan at Newlands. (South Africa sadly didn't make it to the semi-finals, after being beaten by India on Thursday evening. I'm still a little sore about that, so the less said the better...)

Paul managed to capture this unusual painting-like cloud formation while the rest of us had our eyes on the game this afternoon. (For those of you not familiar with cricket, the subject line of this post is a reference to Elton John's song "Daniel" - the New Zealand captain's name is Daniel Vettori, and he happens to be my favourite overseas cricketer to watch.)

Pakistan won today's game, and will be meeting India in the final on Monday - it promises to be an absolutely fantastic game, full of big hits and sneaky wickets.

Show me some love

We went to watch Air Supply live in concert last night, and I have to say, the years have been kind to these guys. They performed with absolute energy and charisma, and looked as though they were having as much fun as I imagine they had when they were just starting out 30 years ago. That's Graham Russell on the left (you'll notice that his feet aren't actually touching the ground...) and Russell Hitchcock on the right.

The best part of the evening? Right at the end, after the encore, Graham tossed his guitar pick to Paul. Both of us play guitar, and we've wanted to start a band for ages - maybe now that we have a "lucky pick" we'll actually be inspired enough to do something about that. Watch this space... :)