It was, of course, American Thanksgiving today. But, it didn't feel like it, because today was just another day here in South Africa.
Tracy and I went to the end-of-year function for the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies (CRSES) today. The venue was the Muratie estate just outside Stellenbosch. The estate has an extremely interesting history, involving the earliest Europeans in the Western Cape, freed slaves, and long walks for true love.
The main course was lamb shank, and dinner was served in the old fermentation vats, square cement tanks whose walls bear the stains from wines of years past.
Tracy and I sat at a small table with Wikus, Heidi, Mark, and Eve. But all the rest of the folks from the CRSES were there, too: Riaan and Jeanne Marie, James, Duncan, Tom and his friend whose name I forget, Jos, and Salim.
I took only a few photos, due to the low light conditions. I chose to shoot in RAW format for the first time, because I knew I would need to adjust the white balance and the exposure quite severely. I'm glad I did. The results turned out better than if I had shot .jpg.
--Matt
