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 ...

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Weekly Winners :

I always seem to be late with Weekly Winners! Being Mother's Day yesterday .. and Happy Mother's Day to all mommies/grannies out there ... we sat, with friends, at a Mother's Day picnic/concert on a beautiful autumn day .. chilling!! Something we needed to to ... we've had so much emotional strain this week we really needed it .... and I didn't take my camera along :( ... so NO PHOTOS :(

... no .. didn't find this guy at the picnic .. he was in the braai coal bag when hubby put in his hand to get a handful for a braai last Sunday !!! He's one of those awful/large/furry/spine-chilling-down-your-back-giving-you-goosebumps .. rain spider !


.. they really do give me the creeps ...

... from spiders to a delicate pink azalea ... much better to look at ...

... a pink jelly bean .. like a rose between the thorns ...

... red twirls of ribbon on a special boy's birthday prezzie ...

Bradley's 7 th birthday party was held at a ten pin bowling alley .. I don't think any of the children had ever played before and all had a 'ball' ... Jeanette's photos are far better than mine ...

... yessss ... skittles going down ... perfect bowling stance .. I would think !! (I have never played before either!)

... Bradley and Connor watching .. watching ... watching .. as Connor's ball rolled .. slowly .. slowly ... slowly down ...

... another roll of the ball .. this time Papa waiting ... waiting .. waiting .. for the ball to hit ... or miss the skittles ...


... maybe pointing helps ..

... grrrr ... being a tiger is easier than rolling that heavy ball down that lane ...

The Birthday boy !!!

For more Weekly Winners visit Lotus at sarcasticmom.com

Weekly Winners :

A mix of photos this week .... as I seem to do every week :) !


From autumn shades in a fruit basket ..

... to two Grey Louries against a dark stormy sky one evening ..

.. to more autumn colours of one of the plectranthus plants in my garden ...

... "er, excuse me ... don't photograph us beautiful creatures from underneath (thro' windows).."

... "that's better ... from above .. but I'm keeping my beedy eye on you .. " (see the little black dot of his right eye!!)

.. and from triangles on wings ...

.. to circles ...

.. GO Bradley .. GO ...

.. how l..o..w can you go ?...

... " not fair .. I can't do it like that :( "

Promise ... no influence here !!! ... Yesterday, I was sitting in the garden while the boys were playing .. Bradley plonked himself on one of the logs and sat in the meditating pose ...

me .. "what are you doing?

Brad ... meditating

me .. where did you learn that?

Brad .. Master Yoda !!

me .. who is Master Yoda?

Brad .. He's in Star Wars .. meditating makes him strong !"

What can I say ... go Bradley go ... !! or should I say .. om .. om ... om !!

... and bless his little socks .. Connor tried too .. :) !!

For more Weekly Winners go to Lotus' blog here

Catching a butterfly !

First ....

..... creep up ... s-l-o-w-l-y .. there's the butterfly on the pavement near the grass peeping through the bricks ...

... then .. cover him with net making sure there's space for him to fly into it ...

.... then .... call for help ....

... your 'assistant' will help you close the net so that the little butterfly doesn't fly away ...

... then .... you tell everyone that you have caught a butterfly !!!!!

... then ... your 'assistant' needs Mommy's help here too ... to get the butterfly into the cup ...

Look ... I got him ...

... and that's how you catch a butterfly !!!!

Weekly Winners : 20 - 26 Sept

"Incy Wincy spider climbing up/down the spout/wall ....."

These 'rain spiders' give me the absolute creeps !!! I hate/dislike/can't bear them with a passion!

They always appear in the rainy season. This is a youngster!!!! The other day we had a short shower of rain, which was only enough to make things even more dusty looking than they are - it needed to rain harder and longer to wash all the dust off everything !! - and this young fellow decided to see what the outside world looked like in our garage. He has since disappeared ... back to where he came from .... next time we see him he will be much larger, with a round body and furry legs ....

.... once one was quite happy in Elaine's car, unbeknown to her, and gave the car wash lady such a fright ... she screamed in terror and turned rather pale !!! We all wonder how long he had been in there .... and all the places he had visited while travelling around in her car ... university, friends houses, nightclubs etc !!!!

... a few years ago, I was checking the post box for mail and my fingers prodded the soft, warm furry body of one !!! eeeeww !!!

Much more pleasant .... flowers in my garden ... again .... like the palm tree flower ...

... a sad looking daffodil which didn't have the strength to lift it's weary head ... I have never had much success with daffodils and this one decided to join the ranks of it's unsuccessful counterparts ...

Didn't have much success with the anemones either ... planted a huge handful and only a few decided to show their pretty faces ... when spring turns to summer quickly with sudden hot days they don't have much chance ....

Indigenous .... indigenous .... indigenous .... "plant indigenous" is always drummed into our heads at garden centres ... there is a reason .... !!!!

... and finally .. from my garden is the Brunfelsia calycina ... otherwise known as the Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow ...

I have five bushes in the garden some are young and smallish ...

... and two are larger and covered in sweet fragrant blossoms at the moment ... these by the window have always been drastically trimmed otherwise we wouldn't see out the window!! Last year my gardener, Samuel, in his wisdom, decided to trim them, whilst I was out, and cut off all the new growth and buds !! I cried !!! This year ... NO ONE has touched them except me !!

I know I have featured them in a previous post, but we are going on holiday for two weeks and by the time we come home the flowers will be dying and falling off :( . They do have odd flowers during the summer but never such a show as in spring/early summer.

More flowers .... and dirty toes ... !!

Jackie waiting for her 'friend' next door to come and sniff and bark at the wall ... she sits for ages there - on one of the stumps from the conifers we felled recently - waiting ... waiting ... waiting ..

Now ... what would a Weekly Winners be without our little 'wild child' ....


This is my last contribution for the next two weeks ... hubby and I are 'going overseas' to Ireland for a holiday .. should be good .... green and wet !!! See you when we get back ....

For more Weekly Winners go to Sarcastic mom - Lotus