Life is good!

Hi to you all

Yes, I went shopping and I loved it!!! (doesn't matter if the basket is too small.. actually, correction!!! it will never be too small!!!!)

and I couldn't wait to do something, and this was so quick and easy...                

Before .....

And After..........

Tah-Dah !!!!!.......

I love the way yarn can transform something so simple and turn it into an eye-popping feature on your table.

Never will serviettes and condiments look the same......

(I loved my tah-dah moment)

Really LOOVED it!!!!  

Its been about 3 weeks since we had our first rain and really you cannot believe the difference it has made to our little world.  It almost feels like a new place and it even feels a little tropical (Ye, not really, after all, we do life on the fringes of the Kalahari Desert!) but we haven't had rain for so long, that we have forgotten what it use to be like.

A wonderful lazy summer day hide out to watch........

.....  dragonflies dance over the water.....

 ... the reflection of the clouds on the water....           

  ... new life starting .............

   ... tadpoles ...

 .... in various stages of life....

 ..... by the millions.....

 ....... weaver birds nesting .....

.....a gentle breeze blowing through the  leafy canopy...

and a promise of more ....

...wonderful,  wonderful, life creating juice...

  ... a strange sight in the desert, there aren't very many around...

..... a round stone washed open by the rain.....

and flowers popped up everywhere....

and lovely greenery every where....

even the not so real had a wash and looked clean and fresh??? really???  OK.. new!!!!

I love the gentle tinkle of a wind-chime....

A message to everyone....

A lovely cool, quiete place to ponder the wonders of nature...

 ....while a little nap is always in order...

And I am extremely happy to report that our newest edition to our donkey herd is doing much, much better...

   .....   Still very thin....

   .... but she'll get there... 

And so my friends, life is really really good and happy in my little corner of the world!!!!!!!!!!! and it's only 1 more day to Xmas.  

Still have a lot to do. tra-la-la-la-la...

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Xmas and I will see you soon.

Love

Amarie

It's raining!!!

Hi every one!!!

It's a very happy blogger greeting you today.   We've had wonderful glorious RAIN!!!!!!! and everything is wonderfully WET.  All the dust has been washed away and everything looks fresh and green.  Today it is still completely cloudy and hopefully we'll get more rain.

I would like to congratulate all the winners from the 2012 World Card Making Day Competition. http://www.papercraftsconnection.com/blog/2012/11/world-card-making-day-card-contest-winners.  

Here's the cards I made and entered.  Can't wait for next years competition!!!!
Birthday category.....

Hi There Category....

Love Category...

Thank you Category....

Christmas Category....

The other thing we did this week was to save a poor abused donkey.  We saw her next to the road when we went to town the other day and a couple of hours later on our return she was still standing in the exact same place, so we stopped and on closer inspection we were absolutely horrified at her condition.  We went home and fetched our truck and simply loaded her and took her home to the farm.  

While we had her on the truck we treated all her wounds and gave her a couple of shots, long acting penicillin, cortisone, multi-vitamins and dusted her coat for mange. 
It's nearly a week later and she's looking much better - still walking slowly - but I am sure she's glad not to be working or pulling a cart!!!  Still, no one has come to claim her and we are just letting her walk the farm with our donkeys.  
We started our little donkey saving thing a couple of years ago when we bought a white mommy and baby.  Mommy (that is her name) was also a working and abused donkey and we just let them loose on the game farm.  Bro-dad grew up and had a very happy donkey-hood and has never worked a day in his life.  Mommy retired and healed completely from all her wounds.
Bro-dad then mated with his mother and she had another baby - Feta - also white and very, very curious as you can see from this photo.  



When one of our rhino's were poached and the whole happy herd was scattered and running scared, Bro-dad rounded them all up and united the whole herd again.  He walked with them for a couple of months and it was absolutely amazing to see this bond between rhino's and Bro-dad.  
But, one winter when food was scarce, Bro-dad got a little too cheeky with a big bull and the rhino poked Bro-dad in the side and pulled his ribs out.  
RIP Bro-dad.  

But Bro-dad made sure there would be another baby donkey!!  Abby-Blue was born - not white but grey.  Then about six months ago we rescued another 3 abused donkeys.  Treated all their wounds and about 4 days later they joined Mommy, Feta and Abby-Blue and now we have a very happy RETIRED  herd of donkeys.  We named them, Charming - a very young stallion, Clover and Penny.  When Cara heals and can walk a little better, I am sure she will join as well.  We actually haven't seen her today but I am sure she's OK.

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!These photo's are disturbing!!!!!!!!

Thank you for visiting with me and next time I will show you what I bought from the wool shop, they are having a sale and I can't wait to fill my basket!!!!!!

Till next time my lovelies

Love
Amarie

Halloween

Hi There

How are you all doing??!!  

Just a quick update on our little leopard.  In spite of all our  effort's, she died the next day.  Our hearts are broken but really there wasn't  anything more we could have done.  She had a intestinal bacterial infection and because she was soooo small, she went down quickly.  She kept us so busy for three weeks - feeding every 2 hours, day & night - that we really miss her!!!!

But now I would like to share some of our Halloween photo's with you.  Halloween has never been a big holiday here in South-Africa and is only now starting to take off here. Thank Goodness! because we have celebrated Halloween for the last 6 years and we just have soooo much fun that we really look forward to the next one.  At least now, less people think we're weird!!!!!!
Family and friends come from far and spend a Halloween week-end with us.

   A really handsome Fairy...

                               
The Vampire Blood Bank....

                                     
                          
The Graveyard - bon-fire pit.....                          
                                                   
     A Halloween Tree...

with hex-bags, ghosts, voodoo dolls .....                                                    

                                               
 A Pirate and Red Indian...                                           

                                               
  A shortsighted Vampire ....    

                                           
    Really fun and..... 

    beautiful....

                                                         
People?????? Yes! Happy Halloween People!!     

Spiders and.....

cobwebs set the scene.....

We had so much fun!!!!!!  AND for supper we had green spaghetti with blood red bolognaise and for dessert .., trifle - the jello was filled with ants and spiders and a graveyard chocolate cake with dirt and tombstones.  Yum-Yum!!!
After supper we danced and told scary Tall-Tales around a big bon-fire!!!!  Soooooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On my next visit I will show you what I am busy with at the moment.  It should be done by then, so until next time, it's good-bye for now!!

See you soon!!!

Love 
Amarie

Leopard SOS

Hi Again 

It's been a few weeks since my last post and right now I am sitting here in my living room with a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.    

It's Tuesday 27th November and merely an hour and a bit before midnight and hubby and Miss M has rushed off to the vet with a sick baby leopard!  She's only 3 weeks old and has suddenly taken a turn.  Don't know why!!!  She weights 600 grams (400 g at birth) and was absolutely fine earlier on.  Poor baby!  (The baby leopard and Miss M - her heart is broken!!!!!! and hubby is completely stressed out!!)
We have been doing this, raising cubs, for more than 20 years and believe me, leopards are extremely difficult to hand raise.  
I also worry because this is such a dangerous road in the day and to travel it at night, well... only in extreme emergencies!!  It's a road full of pot-holes and in some places the road has turned into gravel,  it's no longer tar, and stray cattle and donkeys are everywhere.  It takes about an hour and a half to get to the vet, yep, it's far!  This is going to be a late night!  

Will see you again later.  I am terribly sorry but I just cannot concentrate on this blog right now.  Will see you again soon, promise!

Love
Amarie

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

Exam Time

A Big Hello To All My Friends Out There

I am thrilled to see so many international hits on my blog!!!!!!!!
All the way from Nigeria, The Philippines, Alaska, Germany, Russia and the USA, and of course, home!!!!!!!  It's simply just wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!

This last week mom's taxi has been running little Miss J  back and forth to write her varsity exams.  It's been quite stressful.  Now she has a small study break till her next subject on  Nov 07.   

Exams though, really freaks her out!!!  She gets really nervous and jittery and can actually make herself quite sick.  This last Monday she wrote "Legal Aspects in Accountancy" and struggled a bit to study, so Miss Molly spend her week-end helping her little sister study.  And it worked.  Thank you Molly!!!  You're the best.

I have also crocheted a new bag while watching TV and waiting for Miss J at varsity and I must say, I am really quite proud of it.  This one is for my other sister, Makie and I hope she's going to like it.  
It's actually the second bag I made for her, but my other sister Zennet, decided that she wanted it.  So another bag had to be made and this is the bag I made the first time.  I found this pattern on 
Attic24:  and this was my very first bag I made.  I must say, Lucy at Attic24 is a great teacher.  Her step-by-step instructions are easy to follow and her blog is wonderfully bright and happy and makes for easy reading.
             A Bag For Zennet

Now the next bag I made for sister Makie, is mostly my own design.
I had a few hexagons left from a previous project  and this is how I used them.
            A Bag for Makie

Cool!!!!!! Even if I say so myself.  
It's time to start supper and I think I will make a nice chicken curry tonight.  It's just a little cool today, so a curry will be just perfect.

Keep well my friends and I will see you soon
Happy blogging 

Love
AMarie

Our Furry Friends

Hello Dear Friends

Yesterday 6th October was World Card Making Day and I am so glad to say, I have finally finished the cards I made to enter the World Card Making Day Competition!  I hope they get there before the deadline of 15th October and hold thumbs that it will go well!  I hope you thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful day as much as I did.  Imagine, a special day for card makers!!!!!

www.worldcardmakingday.com/contests/2012
Today I want to share with you some of the other animals on the farm. 
                                   
Leopard  -  Mr Winston...

Black Leopard - actually a monkey in disguise.....

Brown lion cub - a teddy bear look-alike

White tigers and white lion - They are just so darn cute!!!!

And now for the more domesticated ones:
                                  
Bontie - found the kitchen sink the coolest place to be on a hot summers day ....                                                                                                                 

Dozer - the "Dozy Great Dane" - watching TV and giving his approval...

Brandy - the "police watch dog".  Nothing happens on this farm that she doesn't know about.  She even controls Dozer!!! ...

Lola:  She is sooo sweet and almost fairy-like.  She is Dozer best  friend....

Angel:  The "queen" of the household.  She doesn't really like anyone, except hubby, and spends her whole day grooming herself... (Very, very moody) and she can give a look that gets both humans and animals to back off!!!!!

  Popcorn:  doing what he does best!!

Rosco, well he's the handsome one, a really lovable and friendly boy! 

and then there is Tar - a real farm cat. He has found a little vervet monkey who somehow got left behind from the troop and then decided to stay with Tar.  They have become best friends.  Sorry, I do not have a photo of the monkey!  Will try and get one and post it as soon as I can.  He's not very camera friendly....

Bontie, Brandy, Lola, Rosco and Tar are all rescue animals.

Hubby's been sick this week, but thankfully he's getting better each day.  Has to be back at the doc again on Tuesday. 

This has been fun but I have to go now.  Will visit with you soon!!
Love 
Amarie 

PS:  I really can't believe I could forget one of our pets!!!! and believe me he is by far the hardest to over look because he is right here next to me and talks all of the time. Soo Sorrryy Blue!! 

Now that really is all of our pets!!!!!!!!!!
'till later Bloggers
Amarie