Wordless Wednesday :

Twelve Apostles Hotel - Cape Town

For more Wordless Wednesday go here and here

Weekly Winners :

Connor and Jackie ... togetherness ...

A boy and a dog ....

.. a boy giving a dog a love/a squeeze ...

.... a boy telling the dog he loves her ...

... a boy giving the dog a kiss !!!!

... then 'the boy' gets hold of camera and takes photo of his granny ... (would have been legs and feet if granny hadn't crouched :) )!!!!

Connor and I (photos above !) were in the back garden having fed the birds and not long after Connor had put the apple there, it was nibbled on by a few birds ... amongst them was this Black Collared Barbet ...

Jeanette's birthday was yesterday. I made my 'speciality chocolate cake' without the usual smarties !!!! Ohhh nooo !!! ... but sprinkled it with teeny tiny stars instead ... stars for a 'star daughter' ...

Fortunately I had made the cake earlier that morning as the power went out in the afternoon and had to cook camping style !!!! (which by the way, we don't DO camping - these are for emergency use ONLY!) We have two gas bottles with cooker tops for cooking when the electricity goes off .. which used to be frequent .. very frequent .. but we are now cut off less frequently, fortunately ... but it just happen to go off when I was cooking our dinner .. Jeanette's birthday dinner!

Sooo .. out came the gas stuff. Bryan offered his Mom's Wonder Bag to help with the cooking process - dashed home to fetch it and returned with this amazing bag ...

I had heard of them years ago but had never actually seen one. I had heard how good they were for slow cooking. It's hard to believe anything could cook in it but it does! Whatever you are cooking has to be boiled first (soup, casseroles, etc) then pop the pot into the bag ... pop the lid/cover/hat on .... tie it nice and tight ... and it cooks .... s l o w l y ....!!

It works !!!! It's amazing !!! I must get one !!!!

And here's the birthday girl ...

.. blowing out her candles ...

... and finally, must add Bradley, with chocolate smeared lips and sporting his new haircut !!!!

For more Weekly Winners visit Lotus' blog

Skywatch Friday :

With Wimbledon on the go at the moment and having watched some the history making mammoth game between 'David and Goliath' with a game went to an unbelievable 68-70 !!!! .. thought I'd post a 'London sky' from our trip to England and Ireland last year ...

For more spectacular skies around the world visit Skywatch

Wordless Wednesday :

Kylemore Abbey

For more Wordless Wednesday pics go here and here

Father's Day lunch at Mo-Zam-Bik

Adding to Jeanette's post yesterday of our most enjoyable and special family Father's Day lunch at a new Mozambican restaurant ...

.. where our children ... Bryan included .. spoilt their Dads (and me!) .... to the most delicious food ... Mozambique style ...

... peri peri sauce in it's 'unique' bottle and roasted peanuts wrapped in brown paper on each table .....

.... although we had wine ... the Mozambican beer was more of hit !!!

... our family ....

Jeanette and Lance ...

Carl with his 'little' sister Elaine (who organised the whole the thing ... thanks so much, sweetie pie :)

Carl and Nicole ..

.... with Erin ..

..." hey ... that's my ice cream ... !!! "

... yummmmm !!

Boys will be boys .... I wonder how secure that boat is on that wall ? ... Connor testing it ... !!!!

Definitely a winner ... Mo-Zam-Bik Restaurant at Trinity Centre, Randpark Ridge

Weekly Winners :

I must be feeling better ... there are lots of photos this week ... !!!!!!

.. from buzzing bees in warm winter sunshine ..

... sipping nectar ....

... and gathering pollen from Hypoestes aristata (Ribbon Bush) ...

... one bright white Namaqualand daisy ...

... an orange clivia sparkling in the sunlight ..

... all this/the above/warm winter days ... before the heavy frost appeared ....

.... not just ordinary frost ... but 'black frost' ....

.... touching the leaves and flowers, turning them black overnight ....

..... and brown ...

... and droopy and withered ...

... and sad ...

But we were warm inside the other evening ... watching our boys - Bafana Bafana - play soccer against Uruguay .... sadly they lost :(

Zakumi and Bradley seeing eye to eye ...

... with Connor preferring to cuddle the soccer mascot Zakumi, which stands at OR Tambo International Airport, here in Johannesburg ...

.. where Jeanette, the boys and I went on our first time jaunt on the newly launched Gautrain which runs from Sandton to the airport ...

Had to add these last two photos of Jeanette and her two sons while we waited for the train to take us back to Sandton .... a first world experience .. and so exciting for the boys, their first train ride ...

For more Weekly Winners visit Lotus' blog

Skywatch Friday :

Not particularly a 'genuine' skywatch post, but there is a little bit of sky in each photo! - pale wintry ... very cold ... in fact freezing temperatures!!!)



Yesterday I went with Jeanette and the boys on our new express 'Gautrain', in Johannesburg, which was launched a few weeks ago ..

The initial stage is open .. from Sandton to OR Tambo International Airport and as it's school holidays at the moment and Jeanette had taken a few days off work, we decided to take the boys on their first train trip (they had never been on any sort of train before) ..

... they were in awe .. at the speed .. the view from the window ...

... the whole experience !!!!

For spectacular skies around the world visit Skywatch

Needing a little help from my friends ...

... still ... but I am getting there !!!


Been to a couple of sessions with the clinical psychologist .. she says I'm doing fine .. better than most .... really really really looking forward to our holiday in August .... where are we going?

Mauritius !!!!!