July/August.

A little bit of catching up is in order since I haven't posted since mid-July...so here goes:

During the June-July School Holidays we had the great joy of meeting up with an "old" friend!
My friend Cathy and I ended up having our first babies 3 months apart to the day and while Abigail and Tamsyn saw each other a fair amount up until the age of about 5 they hadn't seen each other for many years since. Cathy and her family recently moved to Canada but before their departure Tamsyn was able to come to Cape Town to spend time with her Grandparents and so the girls got together again. I had been a little concerned as at the age of almost 12 they could have been very different personalities, however, they got on like a house on fire! Anyone would have thought they had spent every day together!

"Old" friends!

On this particular day it was also Niave's first time ice-skating - on the big rink. Thank goodness for friends who are happy to hold the hand of small person while she finds her feet!

Another outing with Tamsyn was to Greenpoint Park on a wonderfully warm and sunny winters day.

It is nearly time for another school holiday but earlier in the term Abigail had to preserve something! We investigated various options and although her 1st choice was Biltong, the time frame didn't allow for that so we opted for jam instead. I was a little apprehensive, never having made jam before but I'm happy to say that it was relatively painless and really quite delicious...SO much better than store-bought, I am going to have to experiment with other fruits too!  

A couple of weekends ago we went for a walk in Tokai "forest" - it used to be a forest, now it is mostly fynbos but still lovely and almost more beautiful as with the pine trees removed other plants can actually grow. Even though we could see the snow on the mountains across the bay it turned into a lovely warm sunny day and the kids were stripping off their layers soon enough!

Having a rest!

 With the term winding down and it being the end of winter (haha), Niave took part in the Inter-schools Cross Country. True to form she came...second last!! It was a muddy, marshy track thanks to all the rain despite the beautiful sunny and even hot day that the event took place on. 

That lovely, hot sunny day was the calm before the storm as a few days later we were hit by a massive cold front. As a result of more than 30 hours non-stop rain there was major flooding all around the peninsula including my garden and the park over the road!

That brings us up to date...but now, ironing calls!