Caracal

Early on Monday morning I was riding with a friend along jeep track on Sir Lowry's Pass when we saw what looked like some kind of strange dog. As we approached slowly the creature stopped and stared at us for a few seconds before sprinting off into the bush. We couldn't believe what we'd just seen, it was a wild Caracal cat with a rabbit in its mouth. He was obviously off for a hearty breakfast.

What an awesome privilege!

Bible Study

This morning we had the first meeting of our revamped Men's Bible Study in Chris Nissen. After the disappointment of the group falling apart last year I was really encouraged in the last couple of weeks by the number of men who said they would be coming to the group. Well today I was even more encouraged as seven men rocked-up and two others wanted to but were unable to (one was at the clinic and the other is in Caledon with family).

Weekend

We've generally been at home and chillin' out this weekend although we did pop to the aquarium for the morning on Saturday when we renewed our membership (this is our fourth year of membership) and had a great time wandering around. Joel was particularly excited as he'd taken his Shark puppet to "help" with the puppet show, which he did by attacking Nemo! Joel was also pleased to note that his shark and octopus puppets are exactly the same as the ones used by the aquarium. They've revamped quite a lot of the aquarium and it's looking very good. They're also changing a few of the exhibits so we look forward to some more changes there.

Simpsonized!

I've been Simpsonized!
















Join the fun at: Simpsonize Me

Gossip & Nonsense

Until recently CNP was exposed to the world, but as the builders get closer and closer to the land immediately surrounding the community so the developers see a need to build a wall around CNP. Initially the wall was just to be at the front but now it has been decided that it will completely enclose the community. The residents of CNP seem happy with this but we're not so sure that they've really given any thought to the long term implications of the wall and the inconvenience of no longer being able to duck out from their own back yards.

"Personal Touch"

I saw this logo for the accountancy firm on my way home a few nights ago and was left wondering just what kind of "touch" one might get from a chartered accountant.

Any suggestions should be submitted via the comments link below ;-)

See more of this kind of nonsense at The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

News Flash - Government Health Warning

Enough said.

Bits & Bobs

This week is our first week of back to normal routine since the beginning of December. The summer holiday really changed things and disrupted the usual flow so it's good to get back into a routine that works. Things are a bit different this year as Eli is in nursery five mornings a week and Joel now finishes at 1pm and has some extra mural activities so sometimes doesn't get home until 2pm. On those days we enjoy a quiet lunch together as Eli is in bed, it's great occasionally not to have the usual noise levels that accompany boys!

It's good to be back in Chris Nissen, catching up with friends and starting to visit folk again. By all accounts Christmas and New Year were unusually quiet in the community. Sadly this doesn't seem to have extended to the usual infighting between certain characters.

Returning To Normal - Slowly

We arrived back to glorious sunshine, the temperature was about 30°C with only a light breeze so we had a very pleasant welcome home. HUGE thanks to Richard & Sal who took the boys off our hands for an hour on Friday morning, without their help packing would have been a nightmare!

Time To Pack - Again!

Our Christmas break with family has just about finished, we fly home to Somerset West tonight. We're looking forward to being home and in our own space again but we'll miss family and friends who've been really good to us during our visit. The boys have coped brilliantly, especially as it's not always easy to smile and be happy when you get dragged here, there & everywhere and so many strangers want to spend time with you. When you've invaded other people's space and invariably cluttered it up or at the least increased the decibel level for a few hours/days then it's probably a relief to see the back of us. We've been blessed in our time back in Blighty and hope we were a blessing to all we met up with and spent time with. As ever we're really grateful to Susan in Wimbledon for allowing us to invade her wonderful home for two days of sanity and relaxation! Thanks too to Rhoda & Ethan for a lovely afternoon, Ethan was a star putting up with our invasion.

Natural History Museum

Today we decided to make the most of a lovely gift and have a family day out in London. We had a lot of fun visiting the Natural History Museum. Joel was especially thrilled with the train journey to London followed by two different tube trains. We managed to see quite a lot but the dinosaurs and the creepy crawlies were the biggest hits of the day! Joel was especially taken by a giant scorpion which moved, we must have spent almost half an hour watching it. We arrived home tired but having had a fantastic day full of memories for the future. It's so great when we can do this kind of thing. Thank you!