Hope you are not sick of sunrise strolls yet!

We woke up just before sunrise this morning (which is not as horrible as it may sound, because the sun is rising after 7am now) and decided a stroll in the fresh morning air would be good. Our tenant moved out of the cottage we renovated a while ago and we wanted to check on it.As we got around the corner from the cottage the sun peeped through the mist over the sea. This is such an interesting part of town, the mix of old and new is very evident, as you can see from the modern lamp post and tall building with old terrace cottages in between, and right nearby, an old streetlamp is also still working. Even the cars parked in the street mix old and new!

Through the golden mist we saw a large ship being brought into harbour by the tugs.

And this was our destination, this little row of cottages was built as officer's quarters in the mid 1800's, using sandstone from the quarry nearby. This later became Russell Road, which leads to the sea from the old Cape Road. The single story green one in the middle is ours. I had such fun renovating it, as soon as things settle down a bit here I will share some of those pictures with you. The street the cottages are in overhangs the cliffs formed by the old quarry.

Across Russel Road, there is a lot of urban decay. For example look at this old Art Deco building, they may have been Mansions in the '30s but they certainly aren't any more! The good news is that the Municipality is being quite pro-active in putting measures in place to reverse the trend, and upgrade the area, so let's hope we see some positive changes here soon.

On the way back we took lots of photos of the cute cottages in the area, to use as references for more paintings. (If you look at the latest post in my art blog in the section on BUILDINGS you will see a series of 6 small paintings done around here.) I really enjoyed doing them, and plan to do more as soon as i get more canvasses that size. We went past Croick Cottage but there were no signs of life so we decided to be merciful and not barge in demanding coffee....kind hey? Instead we took this pic of the moon on its way down between the lamp post and roof.

I have spent today sorting out all my paintings for the forthcoming exhibition....I have posted them over at arty farty musings, so even though you may live far away, you don't have to feel deprived! I wish I could post you some of the nice soup I plan to make for the opening, but maybe, knowing my legendary culinary skill for burning or wrecking everything I cook, you are actually lucky to be at a safe distance!!