Tag Archives: South Africa

My children have done their fair share toward turning me grey.  Nagging them to eat.  Breaking up fights over nothing.  Despairing that they can turn a room to a nuclear fall out zone in 0.3 seconds.  Those parenting moments can age one considerably.  On the flip side among innumerable joys, they present opportunities to play.  They tear dust covers from forgotten …

  As towns go, Knysna stands heads and shoulders above others, but it’s still a town, during peak season it is a crowded busy town.  Traffic jams can make visitors feel like they’re back in rush hour traffic.  In choosing Nieu Wherry Meadow as our accommodation, Cliff secured a space with access to forests, rivers and beaches without the mayhem of Knysna …

Tsitsikamma in the Eastern Cape is about more than trees and sneaky elephants.  Storms River Mouth exudes a spirit of adventure, from rocks and caves befitting a famous 5 adventure to Tolkeinesque forest where trees breathe magic.  This is an unspoiled parallel universe hidden in nature’s skirt folds.  Thrill seekers hike with paddles to kayak on the river.  I wasn’t even brave …

This evening Somerset West is eerie, the air is so thick with smoke you can taste it.  Unrelenting wind blows ash and grit into your eyes.  Tonight is our last night before heading home, right now I would prefer to be anywhere other than here.  I spent the day with my eldest son Heath, we played Putt Putt in Strand …

Majestic giant mammals draw visitors to Addo Elephant Park, yet like Elephants who never forget, what my children will remember most is mice and Red-necked francolins (we called them bush chickens).  At Spekboom tented camp we stayed in tents 4 & 5.  Tent 5 was fantastic, the game fence is about 1 m from the tent with a good view …

Like a child stepping from reality to imagination, a part of me is always looking for escape, seeking a path to secret spaces.  Cradock in the Eastern Cape unlocked a wormhole in time, leading to a place of anti-pace.  Buildings made to last, stand firm while the world around them fragments and re-groups in ever changing structures. Away from the …

I’m not the only one who likes likes to play in the kitchen,  when Cliff finds the time to cook or bake what he makes is generally pretty awesome.  Now and then he makes corn dogs which are great kids food (and we enjoy them too).  Here is his recipe. Dad and Fjord’s corn dogs (makes approx 28) 1 cup …

Our chicks are about 2 months old now.  They are so tame and sweet the Black Australorp Angel looks like a hen and Lucky looks like it may become a rooster.  Does anyone know a bit about chickens and chicks who can confirm this?  We’re pretty much just going by the size of the comb.  Actually we were told that …

I can never begin to say how proud I am of my mother.  Not only has she been the best mother but she is a marvelous creative spirit.  Sadly her artistic genes did not make it into my DNA but she taught me to look at the world differently.  When we are in a vast expanse of space she will …

Hiking is one of the first things that Cliff and I had in common and it is so good to get out, stretch legs and commune with nature.  With children however we have had a few hiking blunders.  This time we took a child not fully recovered from a viral infection on a hike which took us 6 hours.  (The …