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)

One of the first agapanthus' to flower

These are the first agapanthus to flower in my mom's garden. These are a dwarf blue variety. I have mostly the large variety in my garden, and they're not flowering yet; but when they are, I'll definitely be taking pics.

Germiston Gold... the rose

This rose bush is in my garden. I got it as a house warming gift in our previous house, and I kept it in a pot there. When we moved into this house last year, I transplanted it into the garden, and this year it's just flourished.
I only realised when I processed the photo, that the rose wasn't a really good specimen - it's been eaten a bit by bugs. Oops! Better do something about that soon or else I won't have any good roses left!

White lily

My mom has a few vases of these flowers in her house at the moment. I think they're such a simple and beautiful flower.

Blowing my trumpet

Another musically themed photo :). He looks like he's really concentrating.

Pretty weeds

These pretty flowers are actually weeds in our grass. I've officially lost the battle. As I see it, we might just have to replace the entire lawn, and that's expensive.
But I can't leave it anymore, I'm phoning some lawn people tomorrow to get a verdict.