Slàinte to wildflowers and an aural rainbow

What you want to know this week 

The #6 best  places in the Western Cape to see wildflowers

#1 West Coast National Park, south of Saldanha 
#2 Cederberg Wilderness Area, between Clanwilliam and Citrusdal
#3 Piketberg
#4 !Khwa ttu Nature Reserve, Yzerfontein 
#5 Darling
#6 Biedouw Valley 

Waterblommetjie Festival

If you want to attend a waterblommetjie festival or learn how to cook the best waterblommetjiebredie, make your way on 7 September to Rhebokskloof wine estate outside Paarl. More information here.

And don't miss Ali van Wyk's  food article in today's edition, and his waterblommejie bredie. The story is part of a waterblommetjie shootout with his friend Rupert Koopman. Apparently Rupert uses cloves and fenugreek. At the bottom of the photo Ali writes: Check his sorrels. He has the unfair advantage because he's a botanist.

Find

This week we're singing the praises of two South African whiskies. And we're letting a whisky-soaked Scot (discovered by Ali van Wyk on YouTube) do it for us. 

If you are a whisky lover and you have not yet discovered Ralfy, do it now. Glasgow funeral director Ralfy Mitchell has tasted, discussed and rated more than 1,000 whiskies on YouTube. The nice thing about him is that he is fiercely independent and unconnected to the whisky industry. He also has an aversion to industrial processes such as the practice of darkening whisky with caramel. The man is a character. Sometimes you think he might be a bit tired of tasting, if you understand what I mean.

It's interesting to see what he makes of the few South African whiskies he has tasted. For example, check out his discussions of Three Ships 10-year-old single malt and Bain's Cape Mountain Whisky – a single grain. He's excited about both, and while he can't put his finger on an exotic kind of fruitiness or floral aromas, all Capies immediately think it's the fynbos in the water.

South Africans who love whisky have long known about the good work of Andy Watts, the master distiller of Three Ships and Bain's at the James Sedgwick Whisky Distillery in Wellington. It's striking how excited Ralfy was about the 10-year-old Three Ships, comparing it to whiskies that cost four to five times more. Where else can you get a 10-year-old single malt for less than R500?

Here's Ralfy on the 10-year-old Three Ships

Trend

Container housing units

These compact homes fall under the umbrella of sustainable and affordable architecture, and they come in new seductive styles – complete like a toy town and in colours not seen in architecture recently. #iwantone

New specialised wall bricks, a ground-breaking discovery in the building industry, are used to make the interior and exterior of these structures possible. Take a look at these designs

Retirement havens

South Africans flock to Mauritius to retire, and the primary reason is its favourable tax regime. The island nation offers a low and straightforward tax structure, with no capital gains, inheritance or wealth tax. This particularly appeals to retirees looking to preserve their savings and investments while enjoying a high quality of life.

#5 other countries where South Africans can retire without buying property

#1 Portugal
#2 Costa Rica
#3 Panama
#4 Thailand
#5 Spain

Quotes of the week

Quotes and extracts from the teller of regional tales and the undisputed master of short stories (and Vrye Weekblad reader) Abraham de Vries, who died last week at the age of 87 in Durbanville.

• “Telling stories is as normal as breathing. I don't know a writer apart from Hennie Aucamp (he's in Isidingo, man) who isn't obsessed with 7de laan. It's an excellent story, it's female friendly – the women are the strongest characters – and it takes place in a dream of a South Africa."
• “One thing you must never forget: the whole idea of ​​the innocent, rural, ordinary, religious people … it is a completely false image of the people in the countryside. There's nothing that happens in the city that doesn't happen in the countryside." (Die Burger, February 3, 2017)
• “It's an old saying in our parts: if you have to lie, at least lie so that people can believe you." (The Citizen, November 18, 2000)
• “We don't always realise it, but we live in a miracle." (Volksblad, March 14, 2017)
• “The surest way to fall is to watch your feet leaving tracks as you walk. I still write, I still walk. Hopefully, I'm still leaving tracks." (Rapport, February 2, 2007)

The last word 

with Deborah Steinmair

The international language of cats

• Mandarin: Miāo
• Hindi: Miyaanu 
• Spanish: Miau
• Arabic:  Miaaaw!
• English: Meow!
• French: Miaou!
• German: Miau!
• Italian: Miao!
• Japanese: Nyah!
• Russian: Myau!

How do foreign dogs bark? 

• Afrikaans: Blaf
• French: Aboiement
• Mandarin: Wāng Wāng
• Swahili: Ng'ombe
• Spanish: Guau, guau
• Arabic: Hau, hau – How, how
• Hebrew: Hav-hav
• Japanese: Wan-wan
• Kurdish: Hau-hau

♦ VWB ♦

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION: Go to the bottom of this page to share your opinion. We look forward to hearing from you.