Now that she's back in the atmosphere, with drops of Jupiter in her hair hey hey

Picture one for this week was taken after work on friday as I decided to take my book down to the beach for the last glimmers of sunlight. Still amazed with the beautiful place that I live, the mountains are constantly changing with the light and the sea is something I can never take for granted. So despite sporadic downpours all weekend, I managed to spend the majority of my time outside enjoying nature.

Saturday's plans, being my indecisive self, were left completely up to my friend. He totally delivered by taking me to the World of Birds here in Hout Bay, a place I had been meaning to go to. Its an amazing bird sanctuary, but has pretty much any kind of animal you can think of. After a funny look from the lady examining my student card (hey, they didn't specify African student card, better believe I'm going to try for a discount) we headed straight for the monkeys. Ok so in Africa, they are pretty lax with the caging of animals. Everyone is free to saunter around with squirrel monkeys climbing all over you until your hearts content. So. Awesome. Later on I didn't appreciate the lack of barriers between us and the wildlife when owls kept sneaking up on me from behind corners/ perching over doors and seagulls pecking my feet. It was pretty cool to see the animals up close though, even if the did put the wallabies in with the tortoises and some of the penguins could use some lessons on taking baths.

Sunday was a long awaited trail run. Ever since I let my legs have a little rest the mountains out my window have been calling my name. Starting out, we ran into a fellow runner who was actually looking for a geo cache! So crazy, these things are everywhere! Helped in the search for a bit before heading up the trail starting at Suikerbossie. Headed up near Llandudno ravine and eventually made it up to the backside of Table Mountain to have lunch near the dams. Really nice to feel the legs working again, and had a beautiful day to be out in nature for a few hours. Another encounter with a hiker left us with some new trails to discover for another day, I swear I could live here for years and never find all the places to run! Thanks to all the rain, the waterfalls and dams have begun to fill and after eating I tested out one of the little brooks for its ice bath qualities. Such stunning views as well, will definitely have to run this one again and take a camera along.

The rest of the weekend was spent listening to the rain pour and drawing with my jumbo, chisel tip colorful sharpies. It was a great weekend.