Shepherd Wanted

This is South Africa, in the southwestern Cape area. The climate here is Mediterranean, so there are vineyards and fruit orchards.

A Canadian teacher at our school says his favorite fruit juice is Ceres. Mine too. Liquifruit is pretty good too. Ceres is made in South Africa in a valley of the same name, in a valley somewhere beyond those distant mountains pictured above.

South Africa is a spacious country, with blue skies and open fields. In Mid-January, when I drive from Cape Town to see my sister in Port Elizabeth, about 700km away on the East Coast, I'll probably be driving through this sort of landscape.

The vegetation in the foreground, unique to the Cape, is called fynbos. It literally means fine bush.

The mountains in the background are a uniquely beautiful orange and rustic gold folded type. Two areas where the folded mountains are most spectacular are the Hex River Valley and Seweweekspoort (literally 7 Weeks Gap).
Nestled between the mountains are beautiful vineyards and romantic Cape Dutch homesteads. My brother Casey (see www.caseyvdleek.com) makes his fortunes from painting these landscapes.

This picture was taken in winter, when the fields are green and the rest of the country is brown and dry. When I drive through here the fields will be tawny brown and wheat white, but the rest of the Garden Route will be green and gorgeous, and the beaches covered in colorful umbrellas and sunshine crowds.