Busy week, busy weekend

Hi friends I trust you have all had a good week, busy I am sure but a good one nevertheless. Our week has been interesting and as always busy, busy, busy. There is always something to do or see apart from the normal day to day routine. As usual we are continuing with our various projects around the house, it is so much fun seeing how things are evolving and taking shape. I have baked biscuits (cookies) using a new recipe which turned out absolutely gorgeous, done all the mending that seems to pile up, chased after Max who took advantage of the gate opening to take flight and run about one kilometer with me following him in the car before I could actually catch him, I was not impressed to say the least. We furthered Gemma and Kiko's outings into the garden now letting them come and go for a couple of hours a day, Gemma seems to be very content to meander around the garden but Kiko is far more curious and will run around chasing butterflies, blades of grass and even rain drops, thankfully when I call her she usually comes in for a quick 'hi mom' and patters off again, although today her adventure came to an abrupt end when I happened to look out only to see her climbing the wooden post of the fence and from there onto a very unsturdy bush on the other side of the fence. When I called her she looked around and lost her balance so carried on climbing which had me running out in the rain barefoot and with wet hair to coax her back into our yard, it only took about two minutes thankfully - and here I was thinking she would be content to stay in the yard and not climb trees hahaha. We even managed, both energy wise and weather permitting, a walk with the dogs down to our little beach. Yesterday we went into Stellenbosch to collect something and took advantage of the outing to have a have a look around, it is such a pretty town with the most beautiful buildings. Stellenbosch is one of the few towns that have not modernized everything, but have rather kept the 'old' look and feel whilst at the same time and keeping it modern. We took Jelly Bean into a shop Called 'Oom Samie se Winkel' (direct translation from Afrikaans would be Uncle Sammy's Shop) that has been there for decades and is a bit of an institution. It is a traditional South African 'Trading Store' selling all manner of things from herbs, sweets, books, tobacco, liquor, kitchenware, vinyl records and jewellary. I was last there in about 1983 and can honestly say it has hardly changed at all, so for old times sake we bought a brown packet of 'old time' sweets which you select, they weigh it and charge you accordingly, hmmm surprisingly there are none left.

Yesterday was quite a day all round, Princess participated in a big Interschools Athletics Meet where she came second in hurdles (her favourite event), 4th in the Sprint and 4th in the Relay. The girl who beat her by a margin in Hurdles has been to S.A. Nationals twice so we are very, very proud of her, the next Meet is scheduled for the 28th of this month and it is just sad for me that we can't be there to watch her. You go Princess with those long legs and you diligence you can do it. It was also our youngest Grandsons 4th Birthday so we were able to Skype with him and his brother in the afternoon, they are so cute with their British accents and always have so much to tell us. Yesterday we were shown his gifts, his brothers spider collection and the garden. What absolutely had us rolling with laughter was when Grandpa unwrapped on of the toffees we had bought but first showed it to the boys, J the oldest turned around to his mom, completely serious and said "can Grandpa send that through this (the iPad) to us please?" that was just the cutest thing, apparently the other day his Dad purchased something through the Internet and he was very concerned and curious to know how Daddy was going to get the item out of the computer, oh the sweet innocence of children.

Tomorrow we are off up the West Coast to see the 'Flowers'. It is something I have always wanted to see and never had the opportunity and now is the time. It is about a two hours drive from us, and once a year from the end of August to mid September the fields come alive as all the wild flowers come into bloom at the same time. From what I have read and seen it is just a mass of colour as far as one can see, so to that end I have my camera on charge, will be making some 'pad kos' which is a South African term of food for the road. We are planning to set off fairly early so as to be in the National Park when the sun is at its best and then to just meander through and hopefully take lots and lots of photos. It is also the one part of South Africa I have not been to so much excitement here on my part while dear Hubby is under his car servicing it. Amazingly after a week of cold and rain the weather forecast for that area is sun with no rain and very little cloud cover for the whole of tomorrow and Sunday, then back to the rain for the week. I am actually becoming quite adept at being flexible when it comes to my 'washing schedule', it is very difficult to plan ahead so from being someone who washed towels on such and such a day, and linen on another etc, I now find myself washing the biggest loads when it is the sunniest.

Well folks I should probably make my darling Husband a good cup of coffee as I think he is just about finished and then super guy that he is, we are having take away Pizza for supper so no cooking tonight yaaaaay. Have a lovely weekend, hopefully take time to unwind from the stress of the week and as always be safe please wherever you are.

Oom Samie se Winkel