This little piggy

is called Cinderella. She is a mixture of a black house pig and an  European wild pig. 

She is pregnant at the moment and we are expecting the little piglets within the next three weeks.

I will post pictures of them........

The newest addition

to our farm animals are these beauties.

Three hens and a rooster joined us just after Christmas last year. 

They have been faithfully laying eggs and we even got some chicks. At the moment the two of them are both sitting on eggs again.

I cant tell you how much pleasure these little beauties give to me every single day. It is very entertaining to watch their goings on and pecking order.

Small useful items

are on my agenda lately.

It is a scorching Saturday afternoon. The only way to survive is under the aircon .Glad for a few blissful hours in my needlework studio; I made up with this cute little project.

I covered the measuring tape with felt, adding a little padding underneath, and then embroidered it with scraps of thread. Isn't it cute?

This is definitely a project for my weekly class. I think the ladies will love to make personalised tape measures. It's so satisfying to make useful stuff that looks so gorgeous and is one of a kind.

Surprise, surprise,

Is that a guy stitching in the midst of all the ladies? No, hang on, two guys?

My son Pierre, (picture below), and his girlfriend Katrina were visiting from the UK for the December holidays. Pierre has always been very intrigued with the Embroidery classes I hold every week.

And on that particular Thursday morning, he just couldn't stay away from the "magic place".

Well, to be fair, we helped him along by luring him there under the pretence of delivering the scones for our tea break. (Thank you again Kati, they were delicious)

He looked around, commented on all the ladies projects, and to our surprise, sat down to "chat".

Before he new what was happening to him he was needlecrafting.

For 3 hours!

Marita,

 concentrating hard on the pulled thread stitches

. Counting: "three up....., and again....., three at an angle..... and again........"

Maritas grandson having the time of his life!

And the finished result! 

New Computer - phew!!!

Today I am transferring data from my old laptop to my new laptop. What a job it turns out to be..... I promise to be blogging on a regular basis just as soon as this is done.

Greece

In May, I had a total change of scenery. I went to Corfu Island on Greece for ten lovely days. 

No phones and computers, just sunshine, clear sea, delicious food and good Greek wine.

Our Villa was in the midst of 300 year old olive groves. Between the awesome olive trees we spotted wild pear, passion fruit and Kumqat trees, as well as the odd kreepy krawly.

  

We were in walking distance to at least three little coves, two of them had some tavernas right on the beach.

Oh what bliss just to lie in the sun and sip a cold drink, do water sports..... or not....., eat......,or not, ........whatever........

A shopping trip to Corfu Old Town was great fun. I bought a gorgeous crochet tablecloth here. Sadly the art of crocheting these cloth's is slowly dying out. There are only a handful of old ladies still doing this craft.

It was a beautiful holiday with many things to see and taste.

For many reasons, I shall never forget it......

Of Sheep and tame Impalas

The Sheep

We have beautiful indigenous sheep on the farm. This little fella is 2 days old.

(the black sheep of the family)

Each sheep looks quite unique with a different colouring of their coats. They are friendly, gentle animals. And masters at escaping into the fenced off game camp..... Who ever said that sheep are simple? On the contrary, they are quite clever.

They beg for food, come close to be scratched and seem to have a built in clock. It tells them exactly when it is time to come home to check their chances of perhaps getting an extra little something. Usually they are right as Herbert is near with the promising bucket containing maize kernels.

And usually they are lucky :)

The Impalas

This is Phillip our tame Impala.We got him about 6 years ago from a family who raised him with a bottle. As Phillip became bigger and his horns started to grow he became too dangerous to the family and he came to our farm.

We released him into the game fenced camp and he lived there happily with all the other Impalas. About 2 years ago we started to notice him being chased by a Blesbuck.

(A Blesbuck ewe with her calf.....)

It got so bad that Phillip would jump the fence and run towards our house for protection. We tried to keep the wild Belsbuck away from him as best we could, but alas, about 18 months ago he broke his right front leg in a fight. The break was quite bad and we thought we had to put him down. But Phillip didn't give up, he hobbled around and grazed and lay under the trees for about 3 months. The leg bone grew back together and Phillip got so well that he is now running around again as if it never broke. We notice that if the weather turns he seems to have some pain in his leg. (Like humans do too)

He stays on the "human part" of our farm permanently now and only has the occasional excursion into the bush. Quite often he will bring a friend along for dinner as well.

It is fascinating to watch these animals close up.