Share Your World – 2 April 2018

2018-04-05 | puppy1952

Here is my contribution to this week’s Share Your World from Cee

What was or is your favorite cartoon?

There was no television in South African when I was a child so we did not grow up watching cartoons. However, we did read comics! Harvey Comics were very popular in my day. My favourites were Wendy the Good Little Witch, Caper The Friendly, Little Dot and Little Lulu. Oh and of course Richie Rich the Poor Little Rich Boy.

Richie Rich

My uncle owned a cafe and we were allowed to sit at the tables and read the comics – so long as we didn’t damage them in any way!

Which cooking utensil (other than the usual pots and pans etc) would you miss the most?

The right knife is essential and if I forget to pack at least one of them for a self-catering holiday I would go in search of one to buy.

Would you dare to sleep in haunted house overnight?

Probably. I am not afraid of ghosts. I would find it interesting if I were told that my sleeping quarters were haunted and would want to research the story.

Casper_the_friendly_ghost_4604f42d4e883

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

I smiled a lot over The Easter Weekend but on Sunday I really appreciated that my grown-up grandsons still wanted to have an Egg Hunt. They threw themselves into it and competed to be the first to find their loot. The most obvious eggs eluded them until I told them they were cold or hot! It was great fun.

Just waiting to be discovered

Time for The Hunt already?

Some lovely loot

They’re here Jay!

Thanks Easter Bunny

Plettenberg Bay – Our Kids’ New Home

2018-04-05 | puppy1952

A new chapter began in the lives of our middle daughter and son-in-law when they moved from their small holding in Kokstad to a farm in Plettenberg Bay just before the Easter Weekend. Leaving was a huge wrench as they’d had a very happy 20 years there. But things change and there comes a time when opportunity demands you move on. Allan has a new business venture, Lauren starts a new teaching job at Plett Primary, Simon will complete his Grade seven there and Shan starts at Glenwood House in George next term.

For us it means that visiting each other becomes a whole lot easier. A two day road trip has now been reduced to five hours!

So with caravan in tow (we plan to go to Addo afterwards) we departed from Struisbaai at 8:30, popped in to an appointment in Bredasdorp at 9, had breakfast and hit the road at 10:15. We made two half-hour stops en route and arrived at Jubilee Farm at 3:30! The added bonus is that we take in the beautiful Garden Route to get there. It was such a stress free trip.

Of course we kept in touch as we travelled and Simon was at the farm gate to greet us when we arrived. He ran ahead toward the house where the rest of the family were waiting. And wow – what a difference. Their home in Kokstad was lovely but very much smaller with its three bedrooms, one bathroom, small lounge/dining room and a very tiny kitchen. There was an outside office/flat and laundry and the garden was stunning but now they have five enormous bedrooms, three bathrooms – two of them en suite, a huge kitchen, walk-in pantry, scullery and laundry. The living area is open plan and has panoramic view across the valley and the huge double garage has a door leading into the house.

Lounge, Dining Room and kitchen have flow to each other but are still separate

View

Right in front of the house is a small dam where Simon fishes regularly. There are also several other big dams on the farm one of which is just a short walk away. All of them are stocked with bass and blue gill.

Simon is in his element

Right in front of the house

Lauren and I took a walk so see what the guys were catching

At the big dam

Grandfather in Heaven

Simon’s Bass from the bigger dam

Doggie heaven

Lauren doesn’t know herself in her new kitchen. And I had a wonderful time making the salads and dessert for their 20th anniversary dinner. Earlier in the day we’d all gone into town to shop. Lauren got prawns from Robberg Fine Foods, cooked them in garlic butter and served them on a bed of Basmati rice. Delicious.

Lauren cooking prawns in her enormous new kitchen

IMG_4773-002

The anniversary dinner

Twenty Years of wedded bliss

Struisbaai Easter Weekend

2018-04-02 | puppy1952

Struisbaai at Easter time becomes a hub of activity. Our normally quiet little fishing village is suddenly alive with tourists and events. On a normal weekend it’s busy enough for the peace-loving locals but at Easter the town explodes and there’s traffic on the normally car-empty roads. The beach, which goes on for miles, is often empty of people on a normal day, but at on this weekend it’s the first place the visitors head to.

On Easter Saturday this is exactly what happened as it dawned bright and sunshiny after two days of cloud and rain.

The Earl, our grandson, Jay and friend, Ray were off to sea by 6:00 am. They should have gone yesterday so we could have fish for Good Friday but the rain prevented that so we had to have our Good Friday on Saturday.

Jay loves sharks! He cuddled this dogfish and gave it a kiss before releasing it back into the sea.

The rest of the household rose from their slumbers a lot later and we headed to The Shed for the Food Market. There were lots of goodies to eat but all we bought were some fresh veggies from the farmer’s stall. We decided it best to go for a proper brekkie at Shipwreck Coffee Shop instead.

My gorgeous girls at The Shed’s Food Market

Me buying fresh produce for the weekend

Traffic on the main road was bumper to bumper. The NSRI (National Sea Rescue Institute) were encouraging folk to part with R 10,00 to boost their coffers. In return you got a marshmallow egg and a chance to photograph them and their vehicles.

I gave them R10,00 – after all my men were out at sea!

Rescue Boat

On Standby

Josh and I walked to the area where the Land Rover Rally was happening. We spent some time admiring the landies both ancient and new. There were time trials too which were fun to watch.

Land Rover Rally

Registration Office

A very old land rover

Land Rover Passion starting young

This one is 71 years old – I was told.

Track Trial

After taking some interesting photographs we went for a long walk on the beach – well, I walked and took photographs and Josh ran on for about 3km. I thought I’d missed his return but soon after I turned around he caught up with me.

Somebody scrawled the date in the sand

And declared her love for Daddy and family

Abandoned Sandcastles

Busy Beach

Fishermen’s Paradise

Watch out for the jellyfish!

Most Beautiful Beach in the Country

Josh running in bottom right corner

Josh returning

We continued our walk along the boardwalk and as we approached the harbour, Lisa and Laurie waved to show they were there with the former’s friends, Margaret and Frans. Their kids were having fun on the beach. Spencer invited Josh to go out with him on the paddle skis. He dashed home to change into his costume while the adults went to Pelicans for a drink.

My girls and Margaret sharing a bottle of Pink

Josh on paddle ski

Josh and Spencer

While we were there we heard the whirring of a helicopter and observed it doing a practice rescue. That was fun too.

It was after three when we finally got back home and I started preparing for the fish supper. I baked a lemon meringue for the first time in my life – and this was a Banting version that I got from a recipe book written by a local of the Overberg, Madelè Burger. Her book is called “Hier’s Die Toortsie Weer” You can see her blog Here Her posts are mainly in Afrikaans but there are some in English too. I am pleased to report that it turned out pretty well. Not a crumb was left after our dinner. I also used her recipes to make a creamy eggplant dish and a butternut salad.

Busy in the kitchen

And it’s done!

Creamy Eggplant Dish

The fishermen returned at 5 pm, sunburned, tired but happy after catching enough fish to feed eight of us for dinner. There is nothing to beat eating fish fresh from the sea.

The Earl cleaning fish

Josh helping the Earl wrap potatoes for the Weber

Fish cooked and ready to serve

Rewards of a day at sea and on the beach – Weber cooked fish for eight!

Stream of consciousness Saturday – Bun

2018-03-31 | puppy1952

So it’s the Easter Weekend and the prompt for Stream of consciousness Saturday is bun.

It’s traditional on Good Friday to eat a Hot Cross Bun or two. Yep – I did. Well I had half a bun because I am on a low carbohydrate eating regime – have been for three years and it suits me very well. But hey – it was Good Friday and those traditions die hard. I regretted the indulgence five minutes later as the half a bun gave me a tummy ache. I thought the best thing to do was to get out for a walk to work off the effect. My darling daughter and I set off for the harbour and then continued along the board walk.

It did help a tiny bit but really carbs do not agree with me and I won’t give in to the urge again this weekend. Chocolate is a weakness – I do indulge in the odd piece of dark choccie. But on Sunday I will not be having any Easter Eggs. My family are visiting for the weekend so I have bought a clutch of eggs to hide in the garden – even though they’re all past the age of fantasy. The daughters are grown and the grandsons are just short of 20 and 21. However, if they want eggs they’re gonna have to search for them!

But the best thing about this holiday is having us all together. We planned to eat fish on Friday but it rained and the fishermen in the family reneged on the fishing trip so instead we put a chicken in the Weber and that was Good Friday dinner. Apologies to my late Catholic mother to whom we always donated a fish dinner on Good Friday! Today they are fishing – so I will make up for fish on Good Friday by having it on Good Saturday.

Father and Daughter 3

Josh, Lisa and Grandpa at the Weber

Gem Squash, Sweet Potato, Onion and Garlic

Family Good Friday Dinner – Laurie, Josh, Jay, Lisa and Grandpa

But back to bun – the grandboys needed no second invitation to polish off one or two and I’m sure they’ll all be gone by Easter Monday!

Thanks Gran – great buns!

Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge – 30 March 2018

2018-03-30 | puppy1952

It’s time for Cee’s Odd Ball Challenge again

This week I am submitting another photo of an odd place to plant your flowers!

Cee’s Black and White Challenge – Store Front and Building Signs

2018-03-29 | puppy1952

Here is my contribution to this week’s Black and White Challenge

The cutest police station ever

Enter a caption Fish Shop in Warner’s Bay Australia

Coffee Stop in the middle of nowhere – Australia

Tiny Library

Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge – Sunrise/Sunset

2018-03-29 | puppy1952

Here is my contribution to this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge

Sunrise – Rumbly Bay – Simonstown, Western Cape

Sunset Kruger National Park

Sunset Warner’s Bay, Central Coast, Australia

Sunset over Sydney, Australia

Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge – Alone

2018-03-28 | puppy1952

Here is my contribution to this week’s Fun Photo Challenge – Alone

Alone on a Desert Dune

A man, a tree and a rock alone in the desert

Alone in a hostile environment

Gemsbok (Oryx) alone in the Namib Desert

Cee’s Share Your World 26 April 2018

2018-03-27 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to this week’s Share your world from Cee

What is your favorite color of hair? You can name your hair color or a color that you just like.

I don’t have a favourite. Hair colour goes with complexion and I think that people look best when they choose a colour that suits them and not what is considered beautiful by the fashion world. Having said that, I think it’s fun to experiment with psychedelic colours. Pink or green hair can look great if you dress outlandishly too. Yes – why not? I think I might try it some day!

I think blond is very pretty but way too common and boring. I prefer rich colours – black, auburn, chestnut, titian. People who are blessed with colours like that are striking.

I used to colour my hair. One day my grandson said, “Gran all my friends grannies have grey hair.” When I told him I coloured mine out he was shocked. “You mean you really are old?” he exclaimed.
So when I retired I decided the time had come for me to become a real granny so now I grey and proud of it!

Before 2015 After 2015

List at least 5 things that you are good at.

I won’t claim to be good at anything really. However, I’ve reached a certain level of proficiency at the following:-

Blogging
Knitting
Identifying birds.
Teaching
Computers – well the grandkids did help.

What is your favorite animal or type of animal? (pets, dolphins, stuffed, wild cats, etc)

All animals excite me. I love wild animals and wild birds. I’m against zoos and wild animals being kept as pets.

Perhaps my favourite wild animal is The Elephant. I love the matriarchal system – Males have to leave the herd after a certain age and may only visit when invited! Elephant society works extremely well.

This mom is so protective of her baby

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

We had old friends from Cape Town visit us for three days last week. Jeff and Earl have been friends since they were five. They never had kids of their own but were always a huge support to us with ours and when the grandkids came to live with us they were always on hand to babysit and gave us enormous support. So – yes – I smiled a lot when they came to visit. We had an amazing time with them.