21/52 2016

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2016 ( 2 years 10 months)

Autumn is perfect for walks in our neighborhood - cold but not too cold. The backs of your little necks get damp with sweat from  woollen neck warmers and running and your hair starts to curl up with the moisture. The crunchy leaves padding the pavements are so tempting and satisfying to crush in small still-dimpled hands and under no longer tiny feet. You become collectors, picking up sticks, or stones another day, mostly feathers, all handed to me like hidden treasures or newly discovered specimens which I must guard and protect, and return on demand even days later.

You're strong and able, and walk and run the whole way home. I love seeing you walk these roads we walked so often as newborns in prams or carriers. It's such an obvious indicator of growth, just as we've seen houses change, knocked down, and rebuilt along the way. This letting go and running ahead shows a confidence as well, in your surroundings and self.

This particular route is not much in terms of walks, we have to go on a busy road for the last part home, but walks are good, the fresh air, the observations. And it is home, it is where we are, I like being here with you.

5/52 2016

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2016 ( 2 years 6 months), on top of Table Mountain

We're in Cape Town for our annual family holiday. I love bringing you two here as you make us completely embrace the this beautiful city. Our days were filled with riding bikes on the Seapoint promenade, hanging out on different beaches, exploring the Company gardens, going up Table Mountain where we followed fairy paths and looked for dassies (dissies), visiting different playgrounds, swimming in the public pools, trying different restaurants, eating dinner on the beach with sand in your toes watching the still-sweltering sun slowly slide down the sky, and dipping in cool waves while gripping tightly onto my hand. You sleep soundly at night, sharing a double bed, little bodies resting up for our busy days, and little minds swirling with new experiences and reference points and conversation snippets, little eyes visiting a dream world of new tastes and smells and sights, all absorbed with wide-eyed wonder. Cheska and Francie Sugar join us for the second week. We hire a van and drive around the city altogether in a cloud of giddiness and exhaustion as we continue our daily adventures. With happy minds and happy hearts, we're already planning our return.

50/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (27 months), Millstream

We went to a farm in Dullstroom for a week. I love that when you go away, normal routines slip away and the days seem to take on a rhythm of their own. I also love the way different family members just naturally take on different roles - bed time stories with Chessie, mealtimes with Francie Sugar, and driving with Human. k and we would start our mornings with you at the kitchen counter nibbling on rusks and helping prepare breakfast. After breakfast we would make our way to see the horses, which Anna named Angelpie Snowflake and Florence named Bow (as in take a bow) Snowflake. We would then go for a swim and meander back home for some home made apple pies (Anna with crea, Florence without). Our afternoon naps with us all on one bed would usually be accompanied by thunderstorms and incessant rain on the tin roof. Following a late lunch we would go for a walk in the hills, or around the dam, with you two snuggling up in the carriers.Evenings ran later as you helped papa with the fire, naps ran longer, and bathtime was an eventful affair joined by whoever was staying at that time (Kimmy, then granny nanny, and Chessie). In between you made mud pies and found fairies, you saw a rainbow and went on a row boat. It was a good week. 

A note on horse riding: Although you were nervous of patting the horses,  after the first day of visiting themAnna you said right away, and determinedly, that you were going to ride by yourself the next morning. Which you did. Florence, you started off riding with papa and the said half way through you would ride alone. Which you did. The pride in your faces made me beam as we walked along side you around the lawn. You then asked to go riding every morning! One morning papa and I went for a ride by ourselves while you stayed with Chessie and Human. I was misty and the horses were frisky and we galloped across the grasslands passed zebra and springbok and blesbok. It was magical and I cant wait until we can all go riding like that together. 

38/52

A portrait of my babes once a week in 2015 (25 months)

My bush babies on the back of the Landrover.

Hello there, I've missed you

Hello lovely readers - if there are any of you still here. Sorry for the silence. I can't believe I have been away from here for almost two months! I have missed it and will now attempt to play catch up with my weekly portrait posts. (You know how the longer you leave something, the harder it is... Yip, that's where I am right now so I need to just jump in).

I blame it (mostly) on the fact that I have been working on Rock-a-Baby, a fair from moms and babes which took place in Braamfontein at the end of September. Putting this fair together was a full time job, done so with babes on hips and during nap times and night times and basically any free time I could find. I'm pleased to say the fair was a success (people actually came and bought stuff!) and was worth all the effort we put in to it. Here are some pics of the day, taken by Lauren Kim Photography. Follow us on Facebook for more photos and updates.

I say IKEA

It is always a sad day when you have to leave behind your beloved IKEA furniture. Furniture grows on you. It's part of your nest. In London I left behind a toolbox (which I passed on to a beloved Londoner) and a bookshelf that I roped an old-friend-from-way-back into carrying from the IKEA store to my apartment on the tube in peak traffic. Luckily I managed to fit a vintage looking (although mass produced) bowl and a blue frame into my bags as I set off to America. And then, a couple of years later I had to say goodbye to a bed, large bookshelf, dining table (whose assembly caused that belly-aching laugh) and many other odds and ends as there was no way their value could justify the shipping cost back to South Africa.

So you can imagine my delight when I found out that there is a way to get IKEA to South Africa without the exorbitant shipping costs that has prevented the idea thus far. Nevada furniture imports IKEA furniture to South Africa. They put orders in once a month and shipping costs are shared. It is a pretty easy system to submit your order.

I did some rough estimates on costing and it works out at about double the price of the item in IKEA. However, it still works out as a great deal for cool furniture.

 {All images from IKEA}

Small town and curious objects

A few weekends ago, the husband, our friend Willem, and I set out on a road trip to Rosendal, a tiny town in the Free State. It's an anual weekend away organised by some friends of ours. The trip, we had been told, would take three hours. Six hours later we arrived at our destination. I have to confess though, that this was due to misdirection, more than mis-information. A banquet took place on the Saturday night, and all we were all tasked with the mission of heading into town and buying an item of "clothing" (clothing here being loosely defined), for another banquet-attendee to wear. This gave us a great excuse to explore the town. Since the town is literally two blocks and a scattering of buildings, with not a tarred road in sight, this task was completed between a scrumptious breakfast on a sunny porch and a late afternoon lunch on a goose-down farm.

Small towns are quite bizarre. They are at once familiar and other wordly, a slow-down of life where locals debate politics over a two-hour coffee, where vintage stores smell like decaying lace of a long-forgotten wedding dress, where normal questions like "What time do you close?" are met with a look of confusion. Stray cats, handsome cockerels, an art gallery filled with gems and trash, a museum of old brands, the odd treasure amongst broken chairs, musty coats and hats and gloves, and old-fashioned prams with creepy dolls...

You know exactly what I am talking about because you have been there. Some small town in the middle of nowhere, where you stroll along dusty streets and life seems a lot simpler.

Happy Women's Day!

{via here}

To all my South African readers, happy Women's Day to you! 

I feel very blessed to come from a family over-flowing with women (the possible cause for my father being grey beyond his years), so most day's feel like women's day in our household. However, if any of them are reading this, thank-you for being a part of who I am today. To my niece for holding my heart in her perfect little hand, to my gran who never fails to inspire me with her grace and strength, to my sisters who are my best friends, and my mom who is our light and rock. A big thank-you also to my lovely lady friends all around the world, and of course let's not forget the reason behind today's public holiday - the women who helped shaped our country. 

Kiss My Face

{source}

Last week Cup of Jo did a post on natural sunscreens, emphasising the dangers of regular sunscreens. Being a fair skinned lass living under the hot African sun, I wear sunscreen every single day, come rain or shine, so this really hit home. Joanna recommended Josie Maran's sun protection lotion which is available at Sephora but unfortunately neither Sephora, nor Josie Maran, ship to South Africa.

On the look out for an option available to me here, I came across Kiss my Face at my local health shop, HealthWorks. This lotion rubs in nicely (you do not feel like you are wearing white some natural remedy on your face) and comes in SPF 30 and SPF 50 (perfect for those beach vacations). 

So for all of you who have similar concerns but still don't want to get sun damage, give it a try!

Package Project

My package is already to be sent to Vivien Dumpangol of Life Less Ordinary (read all about the Package Project here). My aim was to keep it local and handmade.

The Package

A felt bookmark by the Heartfelt Project

Chalkboard gift tags from The Selection

Keyring by Heartfelt Projects

Carry bag from the Johannesburg Art Fair

Set of 6 Beaded chameleon napkins rings made by a street vendor

 

Set of local South African stamps (because I found out that Vivien loves stamps from around the world)

South African-inspired notebook from Mr Price

Hadeda brooch by (multi-instrumentalist!) Brownyn Clacherty

A little note written on stationery from The Letter Press Company

The package packed and ready to be shipped across the world to Malaysia!