A trip to Johannesburg

 Hello Again

I'm back!!!   Had a lovely little visit with my sister,  Zennet and her husband Alwyn,  in Johannesburg.  It was just a day of business and a whole week of fun, fun, fun!!
They have a lovely home high up on a ridge with a really  wonderful view of the city and at night the sparkly lights stretch as  far as the eye can see!!!  Quite something for a country bumpkin  like me!!
We had a wonderful time shopping, eating, a cabaret show, 3D movies, lots of cappuccino's at quaint little coffee shops and lots of talking and laughter till late at night!!  It was just wonderful!!!!!!!

Sister Zennet and hubby Alwyn

On holiday in Zanzibar....

             And at a Dress-up party...

They have a really lovely garden with a lapa and a upper deck where the view is just amazing!!

                 On Top of the world...      
An ornamental rooster keeping a watchful eye over the valley....

 ..  A cupcake garland I made for her kitchen window....

In this photo you can see the stairs leading up to the pool area  and, then up to the lapa and then finally up to the top deck.

 I also made these buntings for the spare room just to add some color   and cheerfulness.

Unfortunately for me, my other sister Margaret, who lives just  around the corner from Zennet, was away on holiday with her  hubby, Heinie and my parents in the Kruger National Park!!!

And while I was away......

Brandy had her 5th birthday.......

            .... with a birthday message....

                         .......  Cake......

                  ...... and pressies!!!!

.....AND.. Little Miss J's books arrived for her 1st  semester of her 2nd year at varsity (wow) and that's an awful lot of  studying to be done for the 1st semester

.... And then there was a message for me.......

and before I knew it I was back home and back into the normal  routine of  "Life on a game farm".                                   
Home Sweet Home

Love Ye All
AMarie

 PS:  All these photo's were taken on my cell phone and I hope you  can forgive the poor quality!!!

Crazy Weather and Happy Hooker

Hello Friends

What a week this has been!!!!!  

Firstly, Hurricane Sandy!!  To each and every victim, you are in our prayers!!!  And after 9/11 !!!,  we know how strong the American people are, you can and will survive anything!!  I can only speak for myself, my friends and family, but we are so proud of your ability to get up and dust yourselves off with your heads held high, and immediately look forward and carry on with your lives, PROUDLY.  We commend you all, America!!!!

This last week my Mom & Dad came to visit.  Oh, how wonderful that was!!  We haven't seen them since early March this year so I really had an aching need to see them again.  We had a wonderful time but all too soon we had to say goodbye again!  I really miss them sooooo much already!  It also scares me to see how quickly the two of them are ageing!!!

This week was also the birthday of little Miss J!! She turned 20 on Nov 5th.  Oh, they do grow up far too quickly!!  But hey, I'm a really lucky girl!! I still have both my daughters living with us!!  Don't know what I'll do when they leave one day.  I think hubby and I will be two very lonely old people!  Still I count my blessing everyday for this wonderful family I love so much!

Other than that, I am still a happy "hooker"!  I crocheted a couple of headbands and a hat and now I am busy crocheting more hats for a outstanding order that I still have to make up.  When that is all done I think I want to crochet a couple of festive buntings ( saw them on Attic 24, thank you Lucy!!) for home and also for my sisters.  Got the most amazing cupcake bunting crochet pattern from my mom and I think it would be a perfect Xmas gift for someone.

Don't you find that the weather has changed dramatically.  With America, Venice, Hawaii,  India and even the east coast of South-Africa having so much rain that is causes flooding! and here we are,  praying for rain!!  Already last summer we had very little rain and now we are already into November and still we have not had a drop of rain.  Usually by now, everything is green and lush and there is a lot of grass for the game to eat.  Now all there is is sand, sand and more sand!  Even our borehole sucked up sand the other day and had to be replaced.  The water table is so low now that we can only pump water for a few hours a day and use it very sparingly.  All the waterholes on our farm have also dried up but luckily we have a small mud dam near our house and we pump water into it everyday for the animals.  They learnt very quickly where the new waterhole was.  But I have to  believe that the rains are just a little late this summer.
Just look at the pictures below.  This was a sand storm at lunchtime yesterday!!!

Anyway my lovelies, I had a wonderful visit with you.  Keep safe and go well  'till next time!!!!

Love 
Amarie