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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Under Construction

I am finally 'getting it'! Blog designing is not rocket science once you learn to play around a bit. I enjoy making use of Blogger's basics and getting it to do what I want! One of which is the Navbar I've finally figured out how to do. So go ahead and start clicking to be redirected to specific areas on my blog. Watch this space as I'll be upgrading it it soon now that I've figured out how to get it there!

I'm still busy with the Blog Design course "Bling up your Blog" at the Little Light Studio. What fun! I love this creative site. Kayla Aimee and Wilna are really talented and artsy and explain everything so well - so go one and click on their button which you'll find in the left side-bar of my blog.

Do pop in again to see how my blog changes as it is still Under Construction!

This weekend we went away to Buffalo Thorn Lodge in the Pilanesberg near Sun City. This was our second visit and we really enjoyed it. The accommodation was superb and the kids had fun with their cousins. The highlight was finding a pride of 5 lionesses having their lunch! They had caught a Wildebees, we estimate around 2 hours before we saw them, and were devouring the last of it. They weren’t too keen on the vehicle and the one dragged the carcass further into the long grass where they could eat in peace. Fortunately we could still see them when they stood up.

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One thing we decided after our visit is that we are so spoiled at Olifants being able to drive around when we choose and also the landscape there is so beautiful , nothing can compare in our humble opinion.

The weather lately has been cold and wet to say the least! We have had such a lot of rain, so unusual for late April. At Buffalo Thorn, getting there was quite a feat! Take  a look at the car!

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We literally drove sideways in parts! The mud got into the rims of the wheels and the car shuddered all the way home each time we exceeded 90km/hr! So now we’ll have to have the tyres removed and cleaned out. At least we got some real mud on the “Rangey” which normally only sees city driving with the odd pothole here and there!

Today is a public holiday and Leon’s sister, Denise is visiting from the USA so his mom and Denise are coming to us for lunch. The weather is still cold and wet – real comfort food weather! So I think we’ll have a roast chicken with potatoes & veg (which Leon has offered to cook! Yay!!) and I’ll follow it up with good old-fashioned South African Malva Pudding

 

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Hives!

Poor Reece has been ill in bed since Monday. He started with a sore throat on Sunday, then got slightly worse by Monday, so I kept him at home. He then developed a cough and runny nose. This morning, his 3rd day at home, he had earache and then wammo - hives! He looked really weird! At first I thought - fleas!! So off came all the bedlinen and into the wash and new clean ones put on all the beds. But then the 'flea bites' got bigger, seemed to appear closer together and for weir welts. He was so itchy. His skin had red patches with raised welts and his face and neck were very red. Even his eyes swelled up and were red. Then he started shivering, only to tell me that he wasn't cold, he was scared! Poor liitl guy was really worried about himself!
I got hold of our friend, Piet, a Paediatrician, and he told me it's a reaction to sinus or the virus he has. So he gave me a prescription for 4 different meds he has to take. By this afternoon he was looking so much better and the hives were only visible on his legs a bit by this evening. Thank goodness that's over! Even I've been 'itching' all day from just looking at him!

A little sparkle of light....

Hi there again. You may have noticed a few changes going on at my blog of late. I'm taking a course at the Little Light Studio on blog design. I have already learnt so many shortcuts! I used to design my blog with such difficulty and, I have now discovered, the very l--o---n---g-- way round! This site is fabulous! Wilna (ex pat South African) & Kayla Aimee have started this website for giving various classes relating to Blog design, scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking etc. There are quite a few free lessons too which is an added bonus! So do pop in over there & take a peek at this awesome website!

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

It’s been a while…

Hi there! It seems time has simply slipped by and I have not blogged in 3 months! I really have to get my act together!

Well April is upon us and so is Autumn. Today there seems to be a crisp nip in the air. If you're in the sun it's a glorious day though. Bright blue skies and sunshine are abundant!

We've spent 2 weekends at Olifants since our trip in December/ January. Both were fabulous! In Feb we spent the weekend there with my son's best friend & his family. We had a mid-term break from school, so we had a good long weekend to enjoy in the bush.

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Grey Roller

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Fondly called “Ronald” by the kids. They were horrified by the lack of dental hygiene!

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The boys looking for pretty rocks on the road.

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Two lionesses keeping hungry eyes on a giraffe. {The giraffe lived to see another day}.

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Croc on the banks of the Olifants river

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Ellie on the banks of the river.

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Lazy lionesses in a dry riverbed

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Reflections on the water at Hide dam

Our second visit this year was with Leon’s brother, Graham & his family. We tried out different routes this time, hoping to find some lions. We heard them, others saw them, but we missed out [this time!}. The weather wasn’t perfect, it rained a bit and there was a bit of wind. So I think this played a part in not much game being about.

We drove down towards Rhino plains this time and enjoyed the Candelabra trees- so unusual! The farm was also full of spider webs inhabited by these Golden Orb spiders. Which are apparently {and thankfully} not harmful to humans. We drove through a good few webs and had these not-too-friendly looking creatures land upon us in the cruiser! Eek! Rozanne & Graham were horrified to see me grab one by the legs and throw it out the car. Afterwards I thought it may not have been such a wise decision! LOL!

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Candelabra trees

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We also managed to spot 4 cheetahs , though they were around 20m in from the road and hidden behind some shrubbery. Had it not been that another car had been there and they showed them to us, we probably would have driven straight past. We could see them when they moved and at one stage the one stood up. Well we got to see their spots and I got one okay-ish photo.

This is a HUGE Kudu bull we came across, but being so shy he kept to safer ground behind the bush, so I only managed to snap this one shot which wasn’t too bad.

The Kudu lilies down at Moolman’s airstrip were beautiful and seem to favour this area as there were quite a few large bushes.

Well that’s about all from the bushveld for now.

Here’s a layout I recently did of Reece & Ethan hanging off the roll-bars in the landcruiser. I love their happy faces here.  I did this for the Sprague Challenge over at Jessica Sprague

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I’ve subscribed to JS for ages now and always enjoy reading her (almost daily) newsletters. I’ve also been trying to do one of the photography courses there by Candice Stringham, but each time, either we’re away on holiday at the time it’s offered, or like last time, with the time difference, by the time I got to apply, the class was full! So I am determined to be there for the next one!

I was so excited recently when I got the wonderful news that she was looking for new Creative team members. So I simply had to try…. I would love to be a part of the Spraground Team!

Here are the other the layouts I entered:

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This one is a new one I did specifically for the CT Search. Love the camera angle. {I just happened to be sitting behind them}. Reece loves driving the cruiser at Olifants, and it’s perfect as it is so safe and quiet for him to drive on the roads.

Here are the other 2 layouts:

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This was from our trip last year in April to Cape Town.

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This one is of Reece in June last year. He looked so cute with his shirt pulled out and his tie half down, that I had to snap a photo when he got back from school. He always gets back from school looking like he’s been playing a rugby match all morning! Often full of dirt on his white shirt and his shirt out, shoes often off and remnants of his lunch somewhere on his face.

So that’s where I’m at at the moment. My daily photos haven’t been kept up, but I’ve decided to take what I can and try to keep up as much as possible. Some weeks are better than others, but that’s my Life365.

April is birthday month in our house, so I’ll post some pics on my next post. This one is already getting to be far too long and I need to go fetch the kids shortly. Chat soon…