Friday, May 6, 2011

A Blog Award from Sarah!

Today, Sarah from ‘Walking in the Narrow Way’ left me a comment saying she had given me an award!

Thank you very much for this sweet award, Sarah!


For this particular award, I must thank the person who gave it to me, write seven things about myself and pass it on to seven other blogs, so here goes!


I love writing whether it is for school or for my blog. Anything to do with English I enjoy, like poetry and reading novels, one of my favourite being Pride and Prejudice!

I love playing Scrabble with my mom or Dad and card games with my sisters!

I have way too many guinea pigs, twelve of which are babies and another few that will be born soon!




I love my family and I am delighted that my mom is expecting baby number six!  They are the best family ever!



I enjoy photography and I especially love to take photographs of moving subjects!



I am passionate about horses and love to be around them whether on the ground or in the saddle.  I love to learn more about training them using natural methods and how to do things from ‘their point of view’, forming a strong bond while doing so.


And here I am at number seven already…I love to dress up in beautiful dresses, hats, jewelry and shoes, so whenever my sisters and I have a chance, we pretend we are young ladies from the old days when we wear gloves and have tea parties!



So now I must pass on this award to seven other blogs that I love, and I’d like to award:

Sherrin from the Drew Patch
Emily from Life with Emily
Mercy from My Weekly Photos
And Izi from My Pointe of View

Please hop over to these fantastic blogs and leave them some love!

Many blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My Granny's Cottage in Bain's Kloof

My mom had a lovely week with her mother in Bain’s Kloof, going for hikes, relaxing and listening to the birds singing. My granny stays in a tiny log cabin in the Bain’s Kloof Mountains near Wellington, Cape Town. Although only fynbos are her ‘flowers’, she manages to grow some veggies as she is a passionate gardener!

She has a mongoose that she calls ‘Monty’ and she feeds him and thus he has become quite tame. There is also a tortoise called ‘Speedy’ and many people laughed when they saw him because my granny had glued patchwork hearts on his shell so that she would know him whenever he came to visit her!

Her cottage is decorated in patchwork hearts, curtains, duvet covers and more! It is really beautiful and she has made a cute garden as well by growing plants in old boots and shoes and by putting out bird feeders to attract the birds!

It is quite an experience to walk into her cottage and I thought I would put some pictures of her cottage here on my blog.



The front of my granny’s cabin.


One of her little gardens (she has quite a few in different parts of her plot to follow the sun or shade).


Her braai (barbeque) area.


Her kitchen is so cute and she keeps it alive with bouquets of fynbos.


Her lounge with the stairs leading up to her bedroom in the attic.


My granny makes traditional jointed teddy bears for a living so don’t be surprised if you find bears in every nook and cranny in the house!


On my granny’s deck where she does her sewing and bear-making.


She managed to grow some Hubbard squash!


The beautiful Bain’s Mountains.  My granny’s cabin is built on a game park and there are several other cottages in the park.  Most people go there on holiday, but as my granny’s fiancĂ©e is the park manager, she stays there permanently.


So now you know where my mom was staying...

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Learning through Living - Life in Knysna

My sisters and I have had a very full life and we have learnt so much over the past few years. We have lived almost all over South Africa and if we haven’t lived in a certain place, we might well have visited it on our travels!


We have seen beautiful countryside, long stretches of ocean, busy towns and hectic cities! We have seen so much and sometimes we forget to take moving around the country as a blessing – we have learnt things most of our friends haven’t!


I decided to take you through our travels, showing places in beautiful South Africa that you might not have visited before. I want to show you crazy things we have done but enjoyed so much! So now sit back and enjoy looking at the heap of photographs I have to show you! I know it might or might not inspire you to step out of your front door and tour the beautiful countryside that you live in! But we learnt and we are learning about life and the world around us through living!

Each week I will show you a different place we’ve lived in.

This week I would like to show you Knysna – a holiday-type town where my dad got a permanent post at the local primary school. God also miraculously provided us with a huge house belonging to the school for very little rent!



We had huge grounds to play on and I also started my first ‘mini garden’!  The only disadvantage was that the house was freezing cold in the winter months, but cool in the hot summer weather.


Gabrielle was ‘my baby’ and I did everything for her!  I sometimes put her in the pouch and carried her around the garden till she fell asleep.


A beautiful family picture


Me and my new puppy, Jemma, getting ready to go on a ‘doggie walk’ around Leisure Island.


Nancy waiting for the ‘doggie walk’ to begin.


Beth waiting for time to go by, by playing on the fence.


We went on lots of outings to the Knysna Forest and explored many old churches and places.


We sometimes took our new puppy, Jemma, on these outings to let her get some exercise – Labradors are always full of energy and we found that out the hard way!


We got two new kittens, Tom and Jerry – here Jerry sleeps in an old ice-cream carton!


For Christmas my parents bought us a pool.


I used to swim with Gabrielle in the pool!


Cooling down by eating ice-cold watermelon!


“This is yummy!” Gabrielle


Beth celebrated her third birthday in Knysna and I was put ‘in charge’ of snacks.


Beth eating her chocolate cake.


We visited the Beach of ‘Noetzie’ which is just outside of Knysna where there are many old castles!


Mom and her little girls on the beach


Nancy and I built a huge sand-castle


Nancy and I with our completed castle!

Gabrielle wearing a rather worried expression playing in the sand.


Nancy celebrated her eighth birthday...



Lots of presents for the sweetest little Nancy girl...she has her own beautiful blog now called ‘Homemaker in Training’ and I’d love for you to take a look!


Sweetest sisters!


Mom with her two little girls on Mother’s Day


Gabrielle and Mom smelling the roses.


I celebrated my eleventh birthday...


We all dressed up in pretty clothes and colours.


We sometimes went to the park.. Gabrielle and I on the swing bridge.


“Hello, I see you!”


Beth on the see-saw.


All the girls playing on the see-saw!


We joined the homeschooling group and on one of the outings we visited the Featherbed Game Reserve on the Knysna Heads.



Going on a hike was part of the fun and the scenery was breathtaking.


View from the top.


Looking onto Leisure Isle and in the distance, Thesen Isle where all the white houses are.


Gabrielle with Mommy on the day of her dedication.


Isn’t she just too cute for words?


Jemma loved to swim so whenever we had the chance we took her with to the beach or to the river!


Nancy, our little ballerina, with her teacher.

So that is Knysna and after two years we moved to Fish Hoek - but, don’t let me run away with myself...more in the next post!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne