Little Hay Barn

Some more images taken at the gorgeous Arolela Guest Farm, in and around this delightful little hay barn.

Klasie

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of spending a weekend at Arolela Guest Farm in the Overberg. To say that it was a great getaway is a complete understatement! Stunning scenery, authentic farm activities for the kids, heart-warming hospitality - the list goes on.
Klasie is the donkey on the farm. I don't think Klasie quite realises that he is a donkey - given a chance I'm sure he would happily follow the kids into the house and pick a bed! Whenever someone gets close to his camp, he comes running, braying at the top of his lungs! He is a very entertaining and most endearing creature and it was a lot of fun to spend some time with him.

The day my lens died: Cape St Francis Lighthouse

Minutes after taking these pictures, I discovered that the autofocus on my 50mm lens was malfunctioning. Lens has since been sent in for repairs (fault was due to the fact that the kids dropped the camera, but I'm not getting into that!) and they are able to repair it. But like all things photography related, it's doesn't come cheap. Let's hope it works properly when I finally have it back!

I love milkshake

It's a huge struggle to get them and then they fall out

During the past two months, Joubert has lost all four of his front teeth. I love this phase in his life and find his toothless grin totally adorable!

Wheel of Excellence at the V&A Waterfront

What I'm looking at while the others are fishing

As you can see in my previous post, my family is somewhat into fishing. You will note though, the lack of photos of actual fish. Mmmm. That's why I rather stand around with my camera until I get bored and then go read a book.

Early morning fishing

Storms River Mouth

Back again?

I regularly check the stats for my other blog, but because it's been so long since I posted on this one, I haven't been monitoring the traffic for a really long time. So yesterday (while I was supposed to be attending to more pressing matters) I randomly checked Google Analytics and was very surprised to see that some people still come here. So to all those lovely folk, if you ever come here again, thank you for checking in. I think you may have inspired me to make a renewed effort to revive this blog.
I stopped blogging here for several reasons. I created a new site specifically for my business and it absorbed a lot of my time in the early stages. I then got into the habit of not doing regular posts on this blog. I also moved to the Cape which resulted in a whole new way of life and I felt less inclined to spend every waking moment in front of the computer. I run my own business and look after my two children with very little support. I don't have family close-by to help and don't have a nanny. My son struggles at school due to learning problems and this takes a lot of my time. And I need to have free time to spend with my family and with myself.
Starting a blog seemed like such an easy thing to do, but it can be a full-time job all by itself. I soon realised that a certain code exists in the blogging community and that you are expected to make certain contributions if you'd like to create a following. I tried this for a long time. But I just couldn't keep it up. I still read quite a number of blogs, but almost never leave comments. I know that this is frowned upon (yes, I'm a lurker), but I find it too time consuming. I read all my favourites in my reader and I don't click through to all the posts to leave a comment. That might make me a horrible blogger, but that is also why I don't expect you to comment here. Feel free to lurk - trust me, I understand :)

In honour of all those blogs that I read every day, I'll update my blog list within the next 24 hours to reveal those who entertain and inspire me.

And I suppose I can't finish off without a photo or two...

Texture

Flower at sunset

Portraits for me

I've been wanting to get canvasses done of Joubert and Emma for the house for ages, but I can't decide which photos to use. I hardly ever spend more than 10 minutes at a time photographing my own kids and I'm just never 100% happy with the result. And the more I look at the images, the less I like them.
So anyway - I took these about 2 weeks ago and jazzed them up with textures etc, but now Henk doesn't like the editing that much, he says it's too drab and needs more colour. But when I do more conventional editing on them, they seem too boring, so I guess it's back to the drawing board.