Oh .. why bother !

The annual fee for our mailbox comes at this time of the year and there is always an increase ...
... it's not normally large but at least there is a discount if one pays early .. which I usually do ...

The other day, on opening the account .. in large letters ... it reads thus ...


... yay .. a saving .. especially at this time of the year when there's the usual Christmas goodies to buy ... any saving is welcome ...

... but this is ridiculous ... !!!!!!!

I paid it on Friday and .......Woo .. Hoo ... I got a whole R2.00 discount !!!! It's not even going to buy a loaf of bread !!!

Weekly Winners : 15 - 21 Nov

Jeanette had Connor's 'artwork' of magnets as her first photo .... so I'll do the same ...

... his handprint on the window !!!

A week today ... I shall be in Somerset West visiting my Mum ... a kind-of-a reunion ... a happy and sad one ...

... a happy one .... my eldest brother, Richard and his wife Pauline, are coming for a holiday to celebrate their birthdays (P's 60th! and his birthday a few days later) ...

... having moved to England from Zimbabwe about 8 years ago, this will be their first visit back ... ...... they have never been to the Cape .. ever!! I am going to meet up with them there and we will all invade Ian (my younger brother) and his wife .. so that we can all visit our Mum together ...

.... the sad one .... she is in Frail Care now .. ... we all need to go ...

My Mum loved flowers ... she would have loved the smell of those gardenias (above)

.. the tiny miniature white agapanthus bursting open ...

... pretty shades of pinks of the daisy bushes ...

... reaching up to the cloudy sky wishing the sun would shine ....

... and the smell of lavender. I used to always put a bowl of lavender in her room when Mum came for a visit ...

... just to add ... some leaves from a ground cover under the garden bench she used to love to sit on ...

... which has a stoney ditch close by ...

What's this ... with it's pretty colours ...

.. and reflecting dish ...


... and blue glass with handpainted patterns? ... a Hubbly Bubbly - made in Egypt

Do you see the chocolate eclairs in the background? ... just had to make them for C before she goes back to Colombia !!!!!!

For more Weekly Winners visit Lotus' sarcasticmom

Skywatch Friday :

Sky.... clouds .... water ....



... add a bird or two .... a couple of fishing boats .... a fisherman ....

Perfect !!

Bantry Bay, Co. Cork (on our recent Ireland holiday) - for more skies across the globe .. go to Skywatch

I wish ... I could tell my Mum...

... that we went to Wimbledon ...

Hubby and I spent a few days in London before coming home from our wonderful holiday in Ireland. We had the morning spare before catching the flight home .. so decided to catch a tube train to Wimbledon ...

We grew up with tennis ... my Mum had always played ... ever since I can remember .. and I started playing when I was very young. I think I must have been about 6 or 7 yo when I started tennis lessons .. was always in the school tennis teams right through to the end of High School.

Watching Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships have always been a highlight on TV every year ... for as long as I can remember!!!!!! I remember my Mum and Dad, on their one-and-only trip to London many years ago, saying they got as far as the gates of Wimbledon and couldn't afford to go inside.

I wish I could tell my Mum that I did !

Hubby and I went inside ..... marvelled at the fantastically laid out and presented museum with memorabilia spanning the many years of tennis in Wimbledon. This record book below is dated 1874 at the top of the page ....

.... ooohing .. and aaahing .. at all the displays depicting a bygone era ....

... I remember playing with white balls like those !!!!

.. and several years ago, watching John McEnroe cursing and swearing at umpires and lines people ... and playing powerful tennis with all his other counterparts - this is an awesome display of the change room as it was in his day with a hologrammed McEnroe chatting as if he is standing right there ... with you !


There is tennis gear from bygone days to modern ... the golden threaded-emblemed gear of Roger Federer ...

I wish I could tell my Mum that I was a few inches away from THE men's single trophy ...

... and THE women's trophy ...

... and I wish I could tell my Mum ....

... that I stood in the 'Centre Court 360' ..... a glass enclosed platform with a 360 degree view of the whole of the Centre Court ....

I will be seeing my Mum in 10 days time .. she is now in Frail Care and in 'her own little world' ...

....I wish I could tell her......

Wordless Wednesday :

For more Wordless Wednesday 's go here and here

"It's a long long way to Tipperary ....la la la la ..la la"

... but we got there !!!

In the centre of the town of Cahir ...

.. Cahir Castle was built in 1142 by Conor O'Brien, Prince of Thomond ...

...on an island in the River Suir ...


Peeking through the thick, rock castle wall ....

... shall we go inside ? .... 'rat-a-tat-tat' ... .. open drawbridge ... friends ... not foe ...

.. ooops .. cannons at the ready ... !!!

... drawbridge still up .. we are friends ... not foe !!!

... hope you're fit ... the steps are steep and very very narrow ...

.. and not too tall ... the doors are rather low ... !!

.... into the Great Hall which was rebuilt in 1840 ...

... look out through one of the windows ... is the enemy surrounding the castle ?.. oh no ... 'bad person' in the black ... flat against wall at bottom .. !

Phew ... 'bad person' gone .. we can relax ... and enjoy the view of the town of Cahir ..

.. and the surrounding parklands ...

... pretty, isn't it ?
Oh yes ..... if you still have the energy .. you can go on a parkland stroll or a longer hike along the hiking trails ....

.. you won't get lost ...

Weekly Winners : 8 - 14 Nov

A week with ...

... rain ... and hail ...
.. which fortunately didn't do much damage to the plants ..


We had sunshine ...


... with Erin .. "cheeeeeese" .... or is it ... "pleeeeese can I swim .. "!!

Having a pool net, which is the most difficult thing to put back on, we don't open it up very often .. only if we really really really want to swim ....

.... the garden spray is the next best option ....

.... just a drop at a time ... !!!!!!!

M .. I .. C .. K .. E .. Y ...... M .. O .. U .. S .. E .... !!!!

"Oh ... cruel world !!!! Why do I have to have this on .... "?

Aaaargh .... let us swim !!!!

..... if I do this .... will my Grwanny let me swim ... ?

.. or if I take my clothes off .... ?


For more Weekly Winners go to sarcastic mom - Lotus