Category: Photo Diaries

On a very cookie Christmas…or is that Christmas cookies?

Howdy. I hope you’ve had/are having/will have a very pleasant Christmas Eve (depending on which time zone you’re in). We’ve had rather a busy day. Not shopping, mind you. The last of our presents have been lying wrapped under the tree since two weeks ago – a new record for the wife and I, but then we usually begin our Christmas shopping around March each year. No, today and yesterday was spent baking.

When I was little my mom used to bake up a storm when summer vacation (which for us is in December) came along. Plastic containers filled to the brim with cookies would accompany us wherever we went on holiday and the contents would be fiercely rationed, on the one hand to ensure they lasted the whole vacation, on the other to ensure my sister and I won’t make ourselves sick.

As an adult I’ve turned my hand to baking cookies a couple of times with great success. Unfortunately the oven in our apartment is currently on the fritz. It’s still okay for making grilled cheese on toast or the occasional lemon meringue, but not so much for baking. So, when it was decided we’ll be spending Christmas at my mom’s this year it was also decided that there will be cookies via the exploitation of her oven. Continue reading “On a very cookie Christmas…or is that Christmas cookies?” →

On Christmas Carols and Decorating Craziness

I have to confess something.

I love Christmas.

I really do.

Or that’s how this post was supposed to start before Jayde-Ashe at The Paperbook Blog beat me to it. Oh, well.

There are things about Christmas I don’t like, like the way it has become all about stuff and all the whack-jobs and Scrooges (“Christian” and non-Christian) who suddenly get on their soapboxes to proclaim why we shouldn’t be celebrating Christmas. I could probably think of more, but I don’t want to right now. This post is about loving Christmas.

What I love most about Christmas is the music. I also like giving the people I love gifts. I’ve never been that big on decorating for Christmas – that’s the wife’s department – but this year I got into that as well. In fact, I got a bit too into it this year…

It started with the wife decorating the tree:

Looks nice, doesn’t it? Then I decided the clock needed decoration as well…

Continue reading “On Christmas Carols and Decorating Craziness” →

On National Passtimes – The Braai

Yep, you’re not mistaken. You’re actually getting two posts from me in one day. Aren’t you lucky?

But that’s symbolic of this day, you see. For not only is South Africa today celebrating Heritage Day, but also National Braai Day.

Braai is the Afrikaans word for barbecue. The word is derived from the Dutch braden, meaning “to roast”. In South Africa the word has been adopted into English, also appearing in the South African version of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Continue reading “On National Passtimes – The Braai” →

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On vacation (the journey home) Part II

I can hardly believe it’s already been three weeks since we’ve returned from vacation. That convinced me to quickly share the last few pics of our trip before I completely forget what it was like.

I left you in the tiny hamlet of De Vlugt, about two thirds of the way through the Prince Alfred’s Pass. You would recall that it’s a gravel pass that winds for seventy kilometres through the Outeniqua mountains between Knysna and Avontuur in the Western Cape Province. The road is quite narrow in places and tend to rise steeply around hairpin bends. We took it slow, stopping often, and had been driving for about two hours by the time we reached De Vlugt. We were starting to wonder if the pass was ever going to end.

Prince Albert Pass — “The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.

By this time we had left the forests far behind, but it in no way diminished the beauty of the mountains.

Continue reading “On vacation (the journey home) Part II” →

On home (mine)

I realise I’ve been giving myself (and this blog) over to a lot of rants recently. Sorry about that. Sometimes you just need to, you know, vent.

But today I’m going to remedy that. See, yesterday when I got home I saw to my great delight that my neighbour had returned. His name is Elmo.

Actually, I’m not sure if he’s name is really Elmo, or even if he’s really a he. But the wife and I named him Elmo because we like Elmo from Sesame Street (who doesn’t?), we have a friend named Elmo and it’s fun to say Elmo the emu. Oh, yeah! Elmo’s an emu. Meet Elmo.

Emu — My name is Elmo and I’m an emu.
Hello Elmo

Emu’s are large, flightless birds indigenous to Australia. They are the largest birds in Australia and second-largest in the world after the ostrich. Emus are farmed in Australia, the US, Peru and China for their meat, leather and oil made from their fat. I’ve never eaten emu. I have eaten ostrich (note: not “an ostrich” – that would be impossible).

Continue reading “On home (mine)” →