Back to School

 

I'm trying to catch up with my photos, so here are the girls on their first day back at school for 2013.  Savannah's in Grade 6 with Mr Pedersen, Madison's a 3rd grader with Miss Wilson and little Sophs is at Noordhoek Montessori with Janis and Sophia.  Such lovely girls we have!

Preparing

We're gearing up for our annual drive up the coast this Christmas.  So much to organize, so many loose ends to tie up this side.  Boy, chilling at a campsite along the Garden Route couldn't have come any sooner!  We all need a break!

Reminded

Our fabulous domestic assistant, Lebo, has been off sick for the past 2 days and boy, have I been reminded how lucky I am to have her help each day.  Mundane cleaning has been something I haven't had to do for the last 18 months and I LOVE IT!  Although, it's taken me back to my time in Holland and I miss those days.  I miss my friend, Fiona.  I miss how different life was.  I miss our church branch in Wassenaar.  I miss deleukstetaartenshop.com (online cake shop).  I miss Bruna, a fabulous stationery store.  I miss Sligro, a huge specialized food shop--especially those Belgian chocolate chips.  I miss that little butchery in Voorschoten where we used to get such yummy pork ribs.  I miss the garden centres.  I miss this time of year with all the hype around Sinterklaas.  I miss the girls speaking Dutch.  I miss the flower season.  But, I don't miss the housework....

xx

It's that time of year again!

Time to get those nuts, cherries and mixed fruit on the baking table to create some yummy Christmas cakes once again.  It felt just like yesterday that I was doing just this with my sweet friend, Kerryann, and a day before that, that I was Christmas caking it with my friend, Rachel in 2009 and 2010.  Love to create memories like this with friends.

Bryn and the girls have been getting their camping groove on this past week.  Bryn desperately needed a camping escape, but time and responsibilities kept us home.  So that doesn't mean camping has to be cancelled, right?  Our garden is the perfect place to hear the owls and crickets and birds and still feel like you're miles away. So that's what they (B and Madison and Sophie) did

We're super excited about our trip up the coast this December.  New Years at Sodwana is going to be a blast.

I was so lucky to have 2 of my best friends come and stay with us for 3 nights this past month.  Melis and Nicola arrived on the Wed afternoon and the fun and activity didn't stop.  We went to Kamers Vol Geskenke in Somerset West and dined out and reminisced and caught up and chatted for hours.  I'm so blessed to have such awesome friends.  Melis--I'm going to need to steal some photos from you as I didn't even open my camera bag that weekend.  Gasp!

And what do you know...I'm back again!

Just wanted to share a photo I loved making. The valley was howling and the north wester (well, I think it was the north wester, at least) was screaming through Kalk Bay. That's when you know you have to drop what you're doing and head over to Kalkies in the crazy weather conditions to create a picture of an ordinary little harbour that looks less than ordinary on a day like this. The pier was locked...and yes, I even tried to break the rules to get onto it, until I saw what was happening a little further down that pier.
 
 I have always loved photography. I am learning how to do it now and couldn't be happier!

Wrap up

I sit at my kitchen table to compose a new post, and each entry, it seems, states that I'm back from a long blogging break! Well, this time's no different. And what's going to make me come back after this post? Not sure. I do still keep coming back, I suppose. As we near the close of 2012, I want to be able to do this tough year the justice it deserves. What an incredible time it's been to learn and change and stretch and grow. I'm really beginning to love the life I was born to live. And as this beautiful translucent flower allows itself to be nourished by its source for energy, I too, am learning to lean towards that which gives me strength and feeds my soul.

Hand written letters are a thing of the past. Social media has replaced envelopes, stamps, writing pads, punctuation, paragraphs and spelling with instant messaging, spell correction, smses, bbms, auto spell and email. The children of today haven't a clue how to spell, let alone structure a letter. So that's my aim--to preserve a part of my childhood through a mother's and daughter's book of letters sharing love, laughter, lessons and life. I love my role as mother to the 3 beautiful daughters in my life. What a privilege and blessing it is. I don't want to forget a thing and this will help us remember.

The idea of this book is to be pen pals while living under the same roof. I'll hide the book with a new letter in it under a girl's pillow and she'll reply and hide it somewhere where I'll find it. It's a place to ask questions, share ideas, jokes and experiences and an opportunity to express love and appreciation to a special little somebody.