THE HOLIDAY - The Bus Trip

What an amazing 2 weeks of holiday with the family! The break in routine was good for all of us. Chatting and catching up over many cups of tea, listening to the chatter and laughter of the grandkids, watching them scuttle about … Why, I even managed a simple one-on-one soccer game with the boys. We managed to go on a top-less bus tour of the city, getting on and off at different interesting places; the Company Gardens was a MUST; to feed the squirrels and pidgeons and have a cuppa tea.

Next stop for us was the Castle; history standing in the middle of the city! The boys were fascinated by the HUGE doors, spikes an all; that could be shut when danger approached … and the high, thick walls

Up the mountain to the Cable Station …. wow, it was cold and windy sitting in the top of the bus with no cover (%) What a glorious view; you don't even have to go to the top of Table Mountain to see the whole city at your feet. It was a clear day, so we could see 'forever'.

Once we went over Kloof Neck and descended to Camps Bay, the protection of the mountains gave us some relief from the wind, and we could enjoy the sunny day.

Our next hop-off was Sea Point! It was lunchtime; of course we had to have … Fish & Chips. We took our hot, delicious smelling parcel and made for the Promenade to find a bench for our picnic lunch. Very relaxing; sitting and watching people do what they do on the Sea Point Promenade. Walking the dogs, sometimes stopping to play ball or throw a frisbee … jogging …. relaxing while the kids run about …. some using the excersize equipment. It is never still, young and old enjoy that space.

Well, back onto the bus we go, back to the Waterfront. On the way we check out the Childrens Train track in Moullie Point. The kids had been on that a few days before when we visited the Green Point Urban Park. More about that day next. This was one of the highlights of the holiday, as I had been wanting to take that Daytrip for ages. Sharing it with the family made it just extra special : )

50 Summer Crafts for Kids

Soon I will have the grandkids here for a holiday .... getting together some ideas for art & craft projects to do together. I cannot believe how much info there is on the web .... Blog Moms, well done! I am so excited by the variety of activities shared. The following link is just one of the sites I went to, and boy, I am just blown away by all the lovely stuff we can do. I am gathering whatever materials I can ; crayons, paints, paper, cardboard, ribbons, lace and whatever else my rummaging unearths. I will be posting our creations as proof of our fun times!

50 More Summer Crafts for Kids


Here's to a ton of fun!

RECYCLE & REUSE

So much of what we have ends up on the rubbish dump or in landfill. Space is an issue, as well as the fact that some of the substances, specially packaging, is a long-term problem if just discarded. MUCH of it can be reused, re-fashioned or recycled. Take for example, this hanging I made for a glass inset of a door in my home .... Friend helped me by supplying their bottle tops and other containers. Easy to make, functional, and a good reminder to RECYCLE. 

SO HOW DID I DO IT?

I used not only bottle tops, as you can see, but bits of containers as well as beads and other plastic shapes etc. Gut, or fishing line, was the thread. To make the holes to thread together, I heated up a big needle, which I then poked through where I wanted the line to go. With the bigger pieces, I varied it to 2 or more holes, so that the beading becomes more decorative. You can use any such sharp, thin tool. The gut was threaded through, making use of beads in between and as decoration & spacers. Cut-up drinking straws are also good spacers. The more colorful, the more I loved it! You could concentrate on one or two colors if that takes your fancy ... 

To attach to the door, I screwed in tiny hooks and hung each strand individually. The result is that you can hang one or more on one hook, for a fuller or denser finish, as you can see below.

I hope you found this informative and will try one of your own individual creations. Let me know if you do and tell me where to find your pictures...
Have a great, creative recycling day!

MORE OF GREEN POINT GARDENS

Beauty in nature and exercise can be enjoyed together in the Biodiversity Garden in Green Point. What a pleasure!

Just the place to take visitors to. That's the thing I love so much about Cape Town; the places you get to enjoy when you take your visitors to see it. There are a couple of new places I would like to go to and others I would like to revisit. 

Love this photo of the dam with 'fish-on-sticks'

with the Stadium in the background

The Gardens in Green Point is child-friendly, wheelchair/pram friendly, with lots of seating and interesting things to keep you busy on the walk. 

'SMELL THE ROSES' or INDIGENOUS PLANTS...  Will be posting own pics soon.

Biodiversity Garden featured in Biodiversity Blog

READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Biodiversity Blog: Something new in Green Point Park: ttt What's this, lurking behind the bushes? There's something new behind the grysbokkie... Aha! - it's the new water wheel. It will be s...

Biodiversity Blog: Biodiversity Garden

Biodiversity Blog: Biodiversity Garden - Signage Upgrade

There's been much activity on the signage front in the Biodiversity Garden. Some new additions, an improved fixing method and new graphics ...

EVER HEARD OF 'PEPPER NUTS'?

a Friend to knit with: pepper nuts: Good morning! Good afternoon! Good evening! Good day! Wanted to share a recipe with you where you will either love me for or not. They ar...

BAKE A CAKE!

Today was the day. The weekend is upon us, and the pantry needs to be filled. A Chocolate Cake is on the cards!
This Chocolate Cake is very special. I have never had much success with chocolate cake .... always comes out too dry. This is a different recipe, and even if I have to say so myself ... it is divine! Soft, chocolatey, yum-yummie.
Try it and see how you find it ... I promise, you will LOVE it!

This recipe for Chocolate Slab Cake with buttermilk icing is large enough to satisfy a crowd - serve as is or with ice cream or creme fraiche

Ingredients

500ml Sugar
500ml Self-Raising Flour
2ml Salt
250g Margarine
250ml Water
100ml Cocoa Powder
3 Eggs - beaten

125ml Buttermilk
5ml Vanilla Essence
5ml Bicarbonate of Soda

Topping:
250g Icing Sugar
100ml Cocoa Powder
60ml Melted Butter
75ml Buttermilk

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 180 C
Grease & flour a large pan or oven roasting dish & line with baking parchment

(I used 2x square glass baking dishes, just sprayed with cooking spray)

Sift flour, bicarb & salt in a large mixing bowl
Mix in the sugar
Heat margarine, water and cocoa to boiling point in saucepan
Beat eggs together, add buttermilk and vanilla
Pour hot butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well
Add the egg mixture and mix until smooth

Pour into prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes

Topping:
Mix all together well
Pour over hot cake in pan
Leave to cool completely then cut into squares

ENJOY !! : )

SHAPE COLLAGE CREATION

Hi, here is one of the collages I made with the new Shape Photo program. It is of our train trip to Simontown.
Next, a heart shape?? Watch this space : )

A pity the name 'Shape Collage.com' is in the middle of the pic. Would have been better at the bottom, is anywhere.

Shape Collage - Automatic Photo Collage Maker

Shape Collage - Automatic Photo Collage Maker: Shape Collage is a photo collage maker software program. Automatically create picture collages in a variety of shapes with just a few mouse clicks. Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

ON THE TRAIN TO SIMONSTOWN

THE DAY WAS SUNNY, THE BEACHES WERE FULL

ALL ALONG THE COASTLINE FROM

MUIZENBERG TO SIMONSTOWN

A WALK IN THE PARK

SPENT A DAY IN GOVERNMENT GARDENS

IN CAPE TOWN

FEEDING THE BIRDS & SQUIRRELS

THE CHILDREN LOVED IT!

A DAY IN SIMONSTOWN

TOOK A TRAIN TRIP TO SIMONSTOWN

Old buildings, Old cars

Look how colorful! & the ice cream was divine ...

HOLIDAY in SALDHANA

WENT TO SALDHANA FOR A FEW DAYS IN DECEMBER,

VISITING FRIENDS AND WALKING ON THE BEACH

RELAXING AND RECHARGING FOR THE NEW YEAR

See what else we did in the holidays ...

PROGRESS WITH JOURNAL

This is a collection of pics I will be using in my journal .... a collage of things that I love and am writing about; for instance, the heart of candles. It was Earth Hour at 8.30 PM, 26 March 2011. We duly switched off all lights and I decided to do something worthy of photographing with candles. I came up with my heart-shaped little flames. I think it is a good reminder for me to conserve, conserve, conserve : )

The sandcastles; built on Blouberg Beach by Nicole and the boyz. Dan and I 'helped', and what a magnificent structure it turned out to be. Love it cos it reminds me of that day on the beach with the grandkids, frolicking in the freezing waves; one of which nearly swallowed them up. The water suddenly lost it's charm!! Home for something hot to drink ...

Next time they visit, I'm sure they will once again want to play in the sea; the scary moment forgotten ... life goes on.

The wall hanging consists of a huge frame with strings and sometimes gut, threaded with shells, small bits of driftwood, big and small beads, miniature frames and the odd guinea-fowl feather. The frame originally held an ancient tapestry, brown with age ... held no appeal for me, so after taking out the tapestry, I sprayed the frame gold and started my 'masterpiece'. It has changed a few times, updating the design and using new beads etc, moving with us from house to house.

My ideal garden is low-maintenance ... plants, stones, paving, gravel; that's what I'm talking about! The strip which is our 'back yard' is all of 2m wide, the only sunshine peeping in for about an hour or so at midday. Not an ideal grass-growing area. Even herbs and veggies struggle to do well there ... the only option is my personal favourite; gravel with a small bedding for plants. The half-moon shaped brickwork is in imitation of the 'Sun Paving' of the driveway, done by 'yours truly'; lots of back-work, scuffed knuckles and broken nails! The sleeper that edges the bedding is the cat's favourite scratch post : )

Let me see what else is in my collection of fave pics I will be writing about in my journal ...

Aahh! I remember the big photo frame that Nicole helped me with. We 'scrapbooked' the collection of family photos ... She is very creative and we spent a happy hour or two making that.

The small frame with the first 3 grandkids in, I did by myself. Something different from the normal, plain 'photos in a frame' look!

The last items today is a pair of Mosaic Tables. This is the first time that I attempted this art form. I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the putting together of the colours and lines. Next time I will attempt something with a bit more curve and shades ...

For a person not fond of storytelling, I am finding the journalling quite thought-provoking and find myself digging up memories ... some funny, some important; nevertheless, some day in the future, it will be a collection of ME left behind for my family to keep ^v^

Who else is writing a life-journal? Let me know what special thoughts you are including : )

Catching up ...

It's raining outside and another day for writing, reading and other indoorsy stuff. A good day to catch up with unanswered post and neglected journals and scrapbooking. I could of course, play sudoku alllll day, but that would not accomplish much. I am rather addicted to it though : )

I have been reading other blogs, some very interesting and relevant to my situation; caring for a parent with dementia. I never thought other people felt the things I am feeling; guilt mostly ... It seems to be the most common downfall. Privacy and taking time off/away, is another huge issue. I will keep reading these, written by people living in the same situation as myself. I appreciate that my situation is in some ways not as severe as theirs, but it makes me feel more sane to know that the feelings I have are quite normal :-l

O no, gotta go

xx till next time

WEEKEND EASY COOKING

One thing nobody wants to do on the weekend is to slave over the stove all day ...

But we need to eat : ) so the solution is to pick easy dishes, maybe that the family can get involved in preparing!

I had some cooked snoek left over from the other day, so decided to make a Seafood Pasta, just adding some mussels to make it go further.

I fried a chopped onion, added garlic, a touch of chilli, chopped dill and seasoning. I then added a drained tin of mussels and the left-over flaked snoek. On the side, I made a white sauce and cooked the pasta. Mix seafood with white sauce and add cooked pasta. Garnish and serve.

Quick, easy, TASTY. A glass of wine on the side, good company .... mmmmmm. That's what I'm talking about : )

What is your favourite recipe for the weekend?

What? Four seasons in 1 day ...

Can't believe it!! Barely an hour ago, it was raining cats an dogs; now the sun is shining ... of course no guarantee that the rain won't be back today! One of those 'four seasons in 1 day' cases.

No problem, I'm happy with rain or sunshine.

There are of course much worse things that can happen in a persons life. We are grateful for every minute of our lives. We might not have much, but love what we have!

Happy day, everyone : )

Mwaa xx

RAIN RAIN RAIN !!

Rain at last! I could almost hear the plants sigh of relief : )

Of course, along with the rain comes the cold .... brrr .... NOW it feels like Winter. Although this morning showed off some blue skies, the dark clouds soon moved in, and as I write, the patter of rain can be heard on the windows. Yes, another day of rain ahead .... so got to think of things to do indoors. What better to do with the time than to catch up with unwritten blogs, email replies to friends and indoor chores and crafts.

I am busy compiling a journal of sorts; of my life, loves and tales. Something to leave for my family to enjoy looking at, one day when I'm either not here or too senile to remember all these details ... Now that my mom has dementia, there is no way to hear all the wonderful memories that she might have enthralled us with, all the recipes she made as she went along, all the family history... That's what inspires me to get this project under way. Put on pages colors, patterns, pictures, words and ideas that make us each unique. I found a book in the local library that gave me some brilliant ideas of just what is possible. It is called: The Decorated Page : )

I am not a terribly artistic person, although I have a good eye for proportion and color, so these ideas appeal to me. Some pages are literally just soaked in tea LOL

Just up my alley!! That said; I think it is time for a cuppa tea : ) ciao for now ....

WHATS WITH THE WEATHER??

July is the middle of our winter months here in the Southern Hemisphere ... supposed to be. But this year, instead of our normal rainy days and icy air, we are experiencing what is called an 'Indian Summer'; weeks of warm sunny weather. It is very enjoyable, I must say, but soooo unseasonal! The tree in the yard that always loses its leaves and stands naked till September, is now proudly showing off fresh, lime-green baby leaves. Forever to be confused...

On the other hand, futher up the coast, where it is supposed to be sunny, dry weather, it is freezing, raining and snowing! Maybe we will experience 'late rains'. As I speak, clouds have gathered and look ominous ... so this may be the turning point. No standing with the hose today, quenching the gardens thirst. We have been warned to get out the winter woolies and to wrap up warmly when venturing outside. At last, maybe I will still be able to use my winter coat. Better go and take it out of its Coat Bag and shake it out!

I wonder what I will be able to do with Willow today, as we normally enjoy walking up and down the driveway and sitting on a blanket on the driveway in the warm sun ...