The other side of the lens

We went camping at Yzerfontein this past long weekend and had an absolute blast. On Saturday we went searching for the last of the wild flowers and Henk took the opportunity to snap a few pics of me and the kids. I have almost NO photos of me and the kids together, so even though I despise being in front of the camera, it is nice to have these images and I think Henk did a great job of capturing us!
Might I just add that minutes after these were taken we not only saw a scorpion, but also a puff adder. Nothing like taking a walk on the wild side, heh.

Weekly Winners: 8 - 14 February

We were out exploring the wine estates again - it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it!! The following four shots were taken at Muratie wine estate.











En hierdie een is spesiaal vir jou, Karlien!

The flooding story

Yesterday I posted a pic of my (seemingly) angelic children. My sister made a comment about them flooding the house, which now has a few people curious. So this is what happened.

A few days into the new year, while my parents and two sisters were visiting, my sisters and I decided to host a dinner party in honour of my dad who turned 60 in October (Bloukous and I were unable to be with him for the occasion). The three of us created quite a riot in the kitchen, with every conceivable pot and roasting dish filled with bubbling and sizzling food of all colours, shapes and sizes and in varying degrees of readiness. At the same time we were consuming copious amounts of wine and generally creating 7 types of chaos whilst having an immense amount of fun.
Around 7 o'clock my son wondered into the kitchen and I mentioned, in passing, that they should probably start getting ready for their bath. My husband was in charge of the bath routine for the evening, so I didn't pay the matter any further attention.
Anyway, to make a long story short - about 45 minutes later, when my husband finally decided to go run that bath, he discovered that the bathroom was under water and that the water had started to run down the passage, into our bedroom where it soaked half the carpet (wall-to-wall carpets, yay). I heard the commotion and ran off to investigate, having no idea what was going on, only to step into a big puddle of water, lose my footing and spectacularly land on my ass (sorry, but to put it more mildly would not do the story justice). Fortunately, I narrowly escaped breaking my neck, coccyx and 43 other body parts. Apparently, my pair of angels ran off to run their own bath after their mom with her big mouth mentioned something about a bath, but did not follow up with any action. They turned the tap on as far as it would go and then disappeared, probably finding something more interesting to do (as they do). When the s@#$ hit the fan and I called them in for questioning, they ran like hell and hid under the bed. I couldn't help but laugh! Good thing I already had some wine!
I went back to the kitchen (much safer) while poor Henk and Bloukous' significant other mopped up the mess.
Moral of the story? If mother says it time for a bath, then mother must leave everything and go bath those kids - or face the consequences...

Photostory Friday and the wuss went up the mountain

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

I am scared of heights - no, let me clarify that. I am PETRIFIED of heights. I once had an anxiety attack on the balcony at St Paul's cathedral in London. Pathetic, I know.
Anyway. This past holiday, my family came to visit and we spent some time showing my youngest sister around Cape Town as she hasn't been since she was a toddler. We decided to just drive by the cable way going up Table Mountain as it is usually one heck of a mission to get up there during the Christmas period as it must be the #1 tourist attraction in Cape Town. I myself have never been up Table mountain due to said phobia.
When we got to the ticket office, suddenly, miraculously, there was no-one waiting in line to buy tickets! The day was quite cloudy, but then also, quite suddenly, the skies cleared and the mountain top was actually clear. My sisters both gave me the look - surely this must be a sign? I started shaking my head vigorously, muttering strange words and ridiculous excuses, but they paid me no mind. A few minutes later, my dad had bought both my sisters and I tickets.
And so we went. Not without cold sweats and short breaths, but after sitting down right in the middle of the cable car and refusing to look at the windows, I soon discovered that it was not too bad - in fact, not too bad at all!
And when we got up there, it was absolutely worth is. I will go up there every day if I could! The visibility was not great, but it was still an awesome sight too see and the atmosphere up there is something that has to be experienced. Silent and magical. It was a priceless experience and I am so glad that I got to share it with my two sisters.

Saw this little Dassie (sorry, only know the Afrikaans name, what on earth is a Dassie in English?), waiting around for something to eat.

My baby sister


And this is Bloukous, the other sister


Cape Town, through the approaching fog

Photostory Friday and passed out

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

For the first time in many years, we stayed home for the December holidays and invited both our families to spend time with us at our new home instead. Our first visitors arrived on the 15th December and the last ones left yesterday. We had an absolutely awesome time, entertaining and spending time with all of our loved ones. When the realisation set in that we were alone again for the first time in almost a month, we felt slightly depressed and wondered how we would fill our time. Shortly thereafter we also realised that we were exhausted! So after going to bed at midnight (at the earliest) for 26 days, we were all in bed by 9:30 last night.

And so life is back to the way that it used to be, with just the four of us. Oh, but how I miss everyone! Please come again soon!

Passed out

The surrogate family revisited

I did a post a while back about my surrogate family whom we were visiting this weekend. I enjoyed taking some pictures for them and found it quite a treat to work with models who actually do exactly as they are told! These are once again just a small sample of the vast amount of photographs I took.

Siblings


A kiss for our brother (whether he likes it or not!)


Elri


Anine

Weekly Winners: 5 - 11 October

My camera and I spent less time together than usual this week - maybe because we recently took two trips and suddenly my everyday environment seemed very uninspiring! I played around in Photoshop a little more than usual though (my husband bought me a brilliant book by Scott Kelby) - up until now I was a Lightroom girl.

Joubert was given a Build-your-own-house kit for his birthday and he and his dad tried their hand at building this morning. Well. Let's just say I'm glad they did not have to build my house.



Emma was very tired this morning while the boys were building this house and got all worked up when she couldn't participate.



Reflections of us


The daddy of the house

Wanted to take a few proper portraits of Joubert and Emma today, and sat all day planning how I would do it - needless to say they were less inclined to follow my plan and the results are not exactly what I had in mind...

At one stage, I got sick and tired of photographing flowers, but tried my hand again and remembered why I like flower pics so much!

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