Red Rose

Can't resist posting this one too. I like it. I took this in my mom's garden this evening too. I really struggle to take photos of red flowers, they end up having this shine/glare to the edges of the petals, and I have no idea how to stop it. There wasn't even any sun shining on this flower today.

Bradley's marigold

Bradley planted marigold seeds at our house and my mom's house a while ago. This is the first one to flower. They're such an easy seed to grow, which makes them ideal for kids to plant.

Wild Iris

Don't have the energy for a story around this one, have a tummy bug. Back to usual programming tomorrow hopefully.

Stone face

My mom has a tower of flat stones that she's placed next to a pot in her garden. I took this photo this afternoon, and then realised this evening when I framed it that it looked like a man's face. Hee hee, OK, it is a bit abstract, but I can see him!

"She sells sea shells...

... on the sea shore"

Well, not really. My mom picks up sea shells every time they go to the coast on holiday, and she has now got a basket full of them on a table. Bradley used to love rifling through them when he was younger, and today he was very excitedly showing me all the hermit crab shells that he could find in the basket (when we went to Ballito last year he got great pleasure out of chasing and catching the hermit crabs).

Playground horse

I took Bradley and Connor to Lifestyle this afternoon, so I could get bird seed (well, that was the excuse, but I actually wanted a cappucino and Bradley needed to get rid of some energy). Amazingly, I didn't buy any plants!!

Oh my hat!!

What is it with babies and sunhats? He has it on for less than 2 minutes and then realises that it's there. Oh well, just as well he had loads of sunscreen on :)

Horse shoes and other things

Bradley went horse-riding today, and I took these photos while I watched him ride (which was brilliant today btw, he did a rising trot perfectly and she made him do lots of standing in the stirrups to make his legs stronger).

Another great example of recycling on the farm... Horse shoes are used as hooks for the reins.


Baby chicks. The mother hen was close by and scraping the soil for the chicks to find food.

Shetland pony. Not sure about his name. There are 2 of them that wander around the paddocks and arena. They're not tethered or fenced in at all. In fact, not many of the animals there are, and that's one of the reasons I like the place so much.

Street dressed in purple

Joburg is beautiful at this time of the year, when the jacaranda trees are in flower. Throughout Pretoria and Jo'burg, especially in the older suburbs, jacaranda trees line the streets. It's a sight that's going to eventually disappear though, because the trees are invasive aliens, and nurseries aren't allowed to sell them anymore (and people are being encouraged not to replace them).



I took this photo on a road in Hurlingham on the way home from Sandton this evening. I love this street; I take this route to work most mornings now, but it's blocked off in the afternoons and they only allow residents on it then (which is why there is no traffic in the photo). The security guard thought it was very funny that I just wanted to take a photo of the road, so he let me through the barrier.

Black swans... again... but not in the water this time

Leanne and I went to the office pond this afternoon to see if we could find the goslings (I discovered that they are not ducks, but in fact egyptian geese!), but they were nowhere to be seen. The swans were hanging around like usual though, and this one decided that he'd be safer walking behind the agapanthus (he was checking me out to see whether I had any bread), and he didn't want to come closer.

They're quite ungainly creatures out of the water - completely top heavy!




His partner was trying very hard to sleep (or at least that's what it looked like - hopefully it hasn't hurt it's leg)