OOPS, I DID IT AGAIN…

Oops I did it again…

Another 2 years have passed since my last blog. And then, out of the blue, I get an e-mail to say that ‘chiohana‘ has started following my blog! Excuse me? How on earth did that happen? I think that it might be spam, but still, maybe just the kick in the butt I needed to start blogging again…

A very quick update on my life over the last 2 years : I’m still farming, although I have to say that the physical aspect of it is starting to get me down. I still adore my cattle, and I can hardly imagine a life without them, but I can imagine not having to spend hours out in the sun , wind and dust while giving them their inoculations… I’ve been to Canada again to visit my daughter, this time in the winter, and I loved every minute! And I’ve sold my house and bought another!

That’s it, in a nutshell.

I have of course had countless times of intense frustration coping with this new life that I have chosen for myself (see previous blogs), but since today is not one of those times, I’m going to concentrate on the positives.

I don’t know how many of you know South Africa at all, but I’ve bought my new house in the Western Cape province, in a town called Robertson. I am sooooo chuffed! I’ve always wanted a very old house, and this one was built in 1887! Unfortunately I cannot move there yet…

As you can imagine, living on the opposite side of the country at the moment, in Limpopo province (farming, and my SO* is running a business from there), it is an impossibility to go and live in the new house right now, but I have hopes for the not too very distant future.

So…what is it I’ve done again?

I’ve gone and made a decision about my future, based on a dream, that might come back to bite me in the bee-hind sometime soon…

But that’s OK. I’ve got dreams, life is short, and rather then have a lot of ‘what if’s’ in my old age, I’ve got part of a dream, that might just become the whole catooty soon…

            One of my babies getting some TLC from me.

SO – Significant Other

 

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3,2,1!!!!!

Up, up, and away…

The final countdown.

Three more sleeps, and then I’m up,up and away!!!

I cannot understand how one person can be such a mess of emotions… Super-excited. Stressed. Worried. Sad. Fortunately, I’m not feeling all of that in equal measure!

I am super-excited. I’m starting to pack today, which is not something I normally do. I usually leave the packing to the last day, but this time I can’t help myself. I want to get on that ‘plane, and fly off to far-away places, and of course, to my daughter!!!!! Cannot wait to spend some quality time with her, to see where they live, and how. And of course, to explore new places (for me!) with her and her hubby.

I am stressed. I haven’t traveled on my own for a very long time, and it is a veeeeeeerrry long trip… Another reason why I am starting to pack now, is for the fear of forgetting important things, which stresses me out too. And I’ve got a few important things to do here before I go, and I’m not sure I’ll get it all done.

I’m worried. I do believe that I’m the only one that can look after my cattle the way I do! I know I’m probably wrong, but that’s just the way I feel. I’m worried to leave them and not be there if something goes wrong.

And I am a little sad. It’s sad that I have to leave my SO* here and go off on my own. He is the reason why I haven’t traveled on my own for so long. I know I will miss him terribly.

But all in all, I’m ready to go! Its been some time since I’ve been off to explore a new country, and Canada has been on my list of ‘places to see’! And I’m sure that once the wheels of the ‘plane leave the ground, I’ll be all excited, and forget to be stressed, or worried. Maybe just a little sad…

SO* Significant other

Newsflash II: a dream come true

Remember a while ago I said that I’ve got so much to tell you? And then I told you the first bit of news? Well, it’s time for the second bit of news…

I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you softly:

WE ARE GOING TO EUROPE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

I am just SO excited, I can’t find the words to describe it. It was my SO’s idea. We both love travelling, and we both haven’t done any travelling for a very long time, so he decided that we must see if we can have a White Christmas.

We haven’t got the whole trip planned yet, since we’re going to be driving ourselves and we want to be free to chop and change and go where we feel, when we feel like it.

We are flying to Frankfurt, and from there we’re driving down to meet my daughter in Munich, and from there we’ll probably go through Austria, down to the north of Italy, and through Switzerland back to Germany. We have booked a lovely place (we hope!) for Christmas – It is high up in the Swiss Alps, with gorgeous views, and we’re really hoping our dream of a White Christmas will come true. If it doesn’t, that’s also OK, I mean how can it not be?

These are of course not pictures I took, I had to ‘borrow’ them from the guesthouse’s site, just to give you an idea of where we’ll be Christmas!

 

The guesthouse in the mountains.

 

 

The View.

So there you have it! The final bit of my big news. 🙂

 

🙂       🙂        🙂      🙂      🙂       🙂

 

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks. And I find myself once again trying to catch up on all your posts. If it seems as if I’ve disappeared off the face of the earth, I haven’t, and I’ll try my best to catch up!

AND FINALLY, SOMETHING BRIGHT TO WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY WEEKEND!!!!! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

Newsflash 1: Out with the Old, In with the New.

I cannot believe that time can fly like it has been the last couple of weeks!!! I just don’t get around to posting something! Either I don’t have pictures, or I don’t have time, or everybody is so busy using the laptop, that I cannot get to it.

Last time I posted a piece, I mentioned something about news. Well, the first HUGE ‘happening’ was this…

I had a birthday last week, which is just something that happens to all of us once a year, so that is not the news. 😉 The amazing man in my life, has been watching me blog and take pictures for my blog, and just generally whip out my camera every time I see something worth snapping. He has been very patient whenever we go somewhere to stop and ‘allow’ me to get out and do my thing.

So he decided that my trustworthy, loyal little Samsung digital is not good enough anymore, and he bought me another camera for my B-day. And folks, not just any camera!!!!!

So, I have to sort of say ‘goodbye’to this:

The Old – My trusty little Samsung S750.

And ‘hallo’ to this:

The New – Canon EOS 600D with extra lens.

I never even dreamed of owning something like that, so I was over the moon, believe you me!!! 🙂

But…now I have to live up to my camera… It is this very amazing piece of equipment, and I’m sure it can do pretty amazing things, but I don’t even know where to start. My wonderfully clever, and extremely patient daughter tried to teach me a few basics on Sunday. I now have to go out and practice by taking thousands of pictures, and hopefully someday, I’ll be able to take a few decent photographs…

Am I a very lucky girl, or what? 😀

Sun…

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset…

Ah…what a beautiful song! Who can remember it, and who knows the musical/movie it comes from?

It is a very old and well know song, but if you don’t know it, and would like to listen to it, here you go!

 

Anyway, I know that I’m being very one-dimensional here, but I can’t help it. I often get to the farm early in the morning, and now that it is winter and the sun sets early, I’m often still there when the sun sets. And it is so often, so beautiful, that I keep taking pictures… It inspires me… So, I for one, will not complain, since I’ve been lacking in inspiration a bit, as I told you before! 🙂

 

When I arrived a the farm yesterday morning, this is what I saw as I was opening the gate…

Beautiful sunrise. 🙂

 

And as I opened and closed, and opened and close gates, the sun rose a teensy bit more, and decided to hide behind the clouds. That turned the light into something totally different.

Tree at sunrise.

 

I am going to try and be a bit pro-active this coming week. I’ll try and take a day or half a day off to go around the area and take some pictures of something other than the sun, with clouds, and beautiful colours… 😉

And if you get bored of the same thing over and over again, you are welcome to yawn in my ear! 🙂

 

I am supposed to be doing books and admin., but I haven’t written or read blogs for a while, so I’m pretending that I don’t have any work to do. I suddenly find myself in a space where I’m running around, and I’m on the go a lot, and I just don’t have the time for essential things like keeping the finances up to date, or filing the invoices that I’ve entered (ugh! who likes to do that anyway!)

Oh! And our last lot of cows and heifers arrived yesterday!!!! We are very excited about that, as it is a dream come true for us. We went to the seller’s farm yesterday morning and selected 21 to add to our others. BUT – that is IT for now. The only other cattle we’re going to get, will be the calves born on our farm. So watch this space, as we are into the serious breeding of calves now!

I sincerely hope that all of you have a wonderful weekend, and until next time – be blessed! 🙂

 

End of an era

Hi there everybody!!! I’m still trying to catch up to all your new posts, but it seems once one has fallen behind, it is near impossible to catch up.

Thank you for all your positive replies and support, it is much appreciated. I can say that I’ve managed to get everything done that needed to be done last week (have doors replaced after attempted break-in, etc.), and a little bit more (some plastering and painting to spruce up the place a bit.)

Now, on to the present.

Today spells the end of an era for me. The last guests to stay in my guesthouse left today. It has long been a dream of mine to have a guesthouse, and the opportunity came (as many opportunities do) from misfortune. I got the chance to start up my guesthouse after my divorce. It was exciting and it has been doing relatively well, but unfortunately not well enough. As this is, for the moment, my sole income, I couldn’t afford to carry on with it, and I had to find a tenant. Which I fortunately did. 🙂

So, as of today, the guesthouse is no more, and this time the relief is definitely a lot more than the sadness at having to close it (the Janus-effect again…) 🙂

I’ve had a name for the guesthouse a long time before I opened the doors. I read the name in a book somewhere , and I thought that it was so appropriate  – L”Abri, which is French for The Shelter.

The view from the guesthouse.

 

 

I couldn’t resist adding this next picture as well. Even though it is the same view, the mood is quite different.

Same view, different mood.

 

L'Abri, street view

In a certain sense, this is a new start again. No more worrying about guests breaking and stealing stuff, no more driving 160km every week/10 days to make sure things are in place for the next guests. But also no more financial worries, as the rent will cover my expenses every month. How blesses am I!!!!! 🙂

Until next time my good friends, keep well!!! 🙂