Here are my answers to this weeks share your world from Cee

What is your favorite outdoor activity?

I enjoy a long daily walk with my camera – sometimes I take photographs sometimes not.  In the summer I swim too.

Birdwatching is another activity I am very into so of course I’m looking for birds on my daily walks but I also enjoy going on organised birding excursions.

My new hobby is gardening and so that is another thing I enjoy doing outdoors.

In a car would you rather drive or be a passenger?

Now that I’m retired I’m with my husban 24/7 and hardly ever drive as he prefers to be in the driver’s seat!  He has not faith in my driving skills whatsoever.  I used to drive a lot on my own or transporting others.   I don’t mind driving and in the past I often had to transport children to and from outings and functions.  I was always relieved when I managed to get my passengers there and back without mishap.  My own driving skills were fine – it was the other idiot on the road that worried me.

If you could have three wishes granted for you alone, what would they be?

• The garden in perfect shape – no weeds, the lawn green, everything blooming.
• The building extensions over and done with.
• A world cruise booked and payed for.

What inspired you or what did you appreciate this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

It was Heritage Day in South Africa on 24 September.  A day for us to appreciate our  beginnings.

We are a rainbow nation and our people have descended from a variety of amazing backgrounds.   Each group embraces, preserves and celebrates its unique culture.

We also celebrate our natural heritage.  We are fortunate enough to have a country full of beautiful ecosystems, amazing flora and incredible wildlife.

During the month of September museums and galleries have put on special exhibitions, there has been a week of free entry into national parks and much has been done to showcase different aspects of South Africa’s diverse heritage.

My daughter, Laurie,  and her friend Cara, came up to visit us for the weekend.  They were keen to visit the shipwreck museum in Bredasdorp so we went there on Saturday afternoon and were reminded of the many ancient sailing ships that went down on the Agulhas Coast during the age of discovery.   What a lot of lives were lost during the quests to find better lives in new far flung lands.   Some of course survived and there were many interesting stories about them too.

In a large shed there were also exhibits of old ox wagons and coaches.   We certainly have come a long way since those days.

Here are my answers to this week’s Share Your World from Cee

Would you want $200,000 right now or $250,000 in a year? It’s safe to assume all money is tax free.

In South Africa $200,000 would convert to R3m and that would be a fair amount to play around with.  I’d take it  with both hands and say thank you very much, I won’t wait for more later as I believe in living in the moment in case I don’t make it till tomorrow.   I would make sure I put the funds to good use!

Is it more important to love or be loved? 

Not an easy one this but I’d say to be loved is very important.  The first love you experience is from your parents as a child and then you learn to love others.   I also believe that you can love somebody who doesn’t love you and that’s fine but don’t waste too much time on that love – it should be reciprocal. If your love is rejected – move on and give it where it is more deserved.

List things that represent abundance to you.

• A table laden with healthy food
• At said table a family of happy relatives – children, grandchildren, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews etc.
• A boatload of freshly caught fish
• A landscape of wildlife with plenty to eat
• A dawn chorus of birds

Abundance Indeed!

What inspired you this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

Spring is here in the southern hemisphere and taking walks and seeing the beauty in the spring flowers fills me with peace and happiness.  It inspires me to plant more in the garden and to appreciate all that life has to offer here in the pretty little village that I live in.

Cape Francolin just loving a dust bath on a perfect spring day

Here are my answers to  Cee’s Share Your World 31 July 2017

If you had to have your vision corrected would you rather: glasses or contacts? Or what do you use if you need to have your vision corrected?

I had excellent vision until my early 40s and then strange things seemed to happen.   A child at school would show me her work and I would get irritated because she put it right in front of my face and I would pull back in order to read it. They all started this and I realised it wasn’t them it was me.  I was becoming long sighted!  So I bought a pair of those glasses you get from pharmacies and used them for reading only.  But after a few years I realised that I needed a proper eye test.  “My eyes are fine,” I told the optometrist ” I just need reading glasses.”  But she showed me that I actually needed ‘varifocals’ because I could not see properly at all!  My ego was deflated but once I got the varifocals it changed my life!  I did not have to take my specs on and off and I could see properly all the time.  I loved my specs.  I have no desire to wear contact lenses. Spectacles rock!

Difficult question – I will have to say – BOTH.  When I was a kid I adored cats but my mother wasn’t so keen on them – however, she allowed me to have a cat until I developed an allergy to them – my eyes streamed and my nose ran.   We always had dogs and I loved my dogs.  Later in life I had both and I tended not to react to my own cats.   My favourite dog ever was a black cross spaniel type dog that was my constant companion and went running with me every day.  I just had to mention the word ‘takkies’ (sneakers) and the would bark and wag her tail in excitement.  When she became old I had to stop her running with me but still her tail would wag and she looked so sad when I refused to let her come with me.   It was so sad to have to let her go when her kidneys failed.

We had one more dog after that and then settled for cats.   The cats, Shadow and Mia, are still with my daughter and she has adopted another but now that we’re retired and travel often, we don’t keep pets.  We just keep dog biscuits for the ones who visit.

Mia and Shadow

If you were to buy a new house/apartment what is the top three items on your wish list?

This not going to happen ever again.  I lived in my last home for 30 years.   Our current home was our holiday house and we’re getting it into shape to suit our final years.   I’ve written posts about this from time to time.  Right now we’re working on the garden.   But to answer the question – Kitchen with accessible cupboards for my old age – drawers come to mind!   Plenty of cupboard space.   Pretty garden.

What inspired you this past week?  Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination. 

Willie inspired me this week.  He has some great ideas about what we should do with our garden. He’d already helped with some of it but more needs to be done! We had a long chat, looked at some pictures on the internet and planned what we would do in a ‘dead’ part of the back garden as well as what we do in the front.  Today we went shopping for paving, pots and stone and also had a truck load of soil delivered.  Soon the landscaping and further designing of the garden will begin!

Our Garden before we started the revamp

Part of the front garden where Willie designed and planted our rockery.

The other half of the back garden where the Milkwood has been tamed.

Great questions from Cee’s Share Your World this week.  Here are my answers.

How do you like to spend a rainy day?

Where I live we have a Mediterranean Climate which means warm dry summers and cool, wet winters.   So when it rains – it’s usually cold.  That’s when I love to cosy up in front of a fire, drink hot chocolate and read.  Right now I’m grateful for the rain that has fallen this season but we really need a lot more!  I feel guilty when I enjoy the sunny days that pop up too frequently – like today.

In most parts of the rest of the country the rain comes in summer and is accompanied by thunder and lightening.  These storms usually occur in the afternoon, cool everything down and then out comes the sun again.   If you’re out having a picnic, you simply shelter in your car for half an hour or so then carry on with the fun when it clears.

Storm brewing in the Kgalagadi Sky

After the storm at Nossob Camp

List at least five favorite treats. (They do not have to be sugary).

• Lindt  Dark chocolate with mint
• Greek Yogurt flavoured with chocolate chips in it
• Chocolate Cheesecake
• Croissant al Cioccolato – the type I ate almost every day when I was in Italy!
• Hot chocolate

Did I mention that I love chocolate?   I follow a Banting/Paleo type diet.  Chocolate is very restricted!

Where’s your favorite place to take out-of-town guests?

I love taking out of town guests around.   If I had to choose a career other than teaching I’d choose Tour Guiding.

The Western Cape is a stunningly beautiful place and I can list many places that I could take you to see.  Everyone wants to take the cable car up table mountain and I’ve been up countless times with guests but usually let them do that on their own as it does not require a guide.  I choose where to take my guests depending on their interests.  My favourite place to take Nature lovers is False Bay Ecology Park.  Dirt roads wind around a wagon wheel of the old sewage works’ settling ponds.   The birdlife is amazing especially the flamingos.

One of the old settling ponds

Purple Swamphen

Greater Flamingos taking off

Where we live now at the southern most point of Africa it is compulsory to go to said southern most point and climbing to the top of the Cape Agulhas lighthouse is another must do.

Grandson and friends at the southern most point of Africa

At the top of the lighthouse

You are trapped in an elevator, who would you want to be trapped with?

Before I read Cee’s answer the first thing that came to mind was – Macgyver or someone with similar skills.  My husband comes a close second as he is pretty much like Macgyver himself.

But if it weren’t a good practical man along with me in that feted lift (elevator) then I would be happy to have someone who was interesting – like Sir David Attenborough.  He would at least keep me entertained for hours – and I just love his voice.

This is a my favourite David Attenborough quote:  I like animals. I like natural history. The travel bit is not the important bit. The travel bit is what you have to do in order to go and look at animals.

Optional Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for technology.  It was just not possible for my siblings and me to go to Australia for my aunt’s funeral.  On Friday we were able to be part of her Celebration of Life service because my cousins live streamed it to a closed Facebook Page.   It was so worth rising at the rude hour of 3:00 am to be part of this final farewell to a very  much loved aunt. It was the most beautiful mass celebrated by a priest who knew her well.   How amazing it was to be able to see and hear my cousin, Wayne, give his heart-felt eulogy . I wrote an email to my aunt just before she died and my cousins asked me if it could be read at her service.  Of course I was honoured and her grandson, Jack,  read it gently and beautifully to the congregation.   At one point  during the service the priest asked everyone to turn to the camera, to wave and say Hello South Africa!  It was almost as good as being there in the flesh.  Just Awesome. RIP My Darling Aunt