sunny time

The smell of suntan lotion. The fading sound of waves crashing. Toes pressing into hot sand. The sun on my cheeks. Hair still wet after an icy dip. Drifting off into a nap. This pretty much describes my favourite summer feeling and daily holiday beach routine. Holiday bliss.

It’s always a joy instilling this feeling into the curation of our annual summer edition, finding and gathering scenes that say and feel like summer. This issue is filled with many.

That permanent holiday feeling is evoked by the Fagans’ iconic Camps Bay home Die Es (p46), the curvy shapes and porthole windows of a ‘Cape Med’ villa in St James (p138), the blue-tiled floors and nautical spirit of a Bakoven holiday flat (p226), the blue daybed and National Geographics in a traveler’s city apartment (see p214), café society and Capri yellow via my new local, Café Sofi (p92), childhood nostalgia, corner-store vibes and sweet jars at the counter of Kloof Street’s Kiosk (p86), afternoon light and sundowners around the fountain at The Nellie (p102), hot cobbled streets, colourful umbrellas and ice cream in Portofino (p44), and sundowners at magical Peponi in Lamu (p 24). These are just some of my own sights and favourite moments that have made their way into this edition. Flip through for many more… (See our ‘WOOF’ feature in the 4th edition of Dog and Leisure, featuring hot shirtless men and their dogs, at the beach.)

And for a beautiful love letter to summer, read our end note (p264) – one of my favourite holiday memories, set in Infanta, so perfectly captured by a friend in the form of a short story.

And as another friend very wisely pointed out at my birthday picnic on Bakoven Beach this year: ‘Charl, you only have a few summers left at Bakoven in this lifetime, so you’d better make the most of it.’ I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry. But now I swear by these words. To the beach it is.

So, you know where to find me this summer. On my rock, at my favourite beach, on a striped blue towel, sporting my favourite pair of yellow sunnies, with a summer read. Oh, and an ice-cold Fanta Orange in hand. Happy summer holidays 🙂

*And see you again after the holidays, for Volume 20!