Purple Haze

Purple Haze
Originally uploaded by sprotbon

I made this using Flickr toys. The top row are my photo's and number 5 too. Number 6 and 7 are my friends photos, the rest off flickr

Bring back the Nature Table

Bring Back the Nature Table


I recently read an article in a British magazine “Country Living” which I purchase monthly.
It spoke about how children are loosing touch with their natural environment. Britain has started a campaign called “Bring back the Nature table”. It encourages parents and grandparents as well as schools to take their children out for nature walks; in the woods, parks, meadows, even the back garden. To let them experience nature, let them get dirty, let them get full of mud. Show them how to explore, forage, dig etc. I remember as a child always going off into the surrounding forests and woods-exploring, having awesome adventures. Building forts and poo fey-slides, (when you attach a wire to a tree on one end and to a higher tree or platform so that it slopes downwards. You then attach a rubber handle and holding on to this handle you jump off from a height and slide down the wire to the bottom)
We had great fun. I guess, and speaking from my own experience as a mom, things have changed drastically from the time our parents were children, to when we were children, to our children today. It is no longer safe to let them wander off exploring,even if it is a few meters in front of your own property, never mind in a nearby forest. It is said that if a child is not exposed to nature, to RAW nature before they are 12, that they will never make the connection with nature and this will stay with them for life.Let me quote the article as it put it so well, “If you ask an adult to think of a time when they felt most secure and happy, it's nearly always when they were a child playing in a natural place, such as a den in the woods or a park. Dr Bird explains : “But if they are not exposed by the age of 12, they will never make that link. A walk through the countryside will mean nothing to them-in fact, they may even perceive it as something to be feared.”.

Scary and Sad. I try and do things with my children outside as often as I can. If it a beautiful day, they have to play outside, and 9 times out of 10,I don't have to prompt them, they go on their own. Fortunately we have a lovely big garden with trees and a tree house too. I also take them on outings as often as I can, like to our local nature reserve. I realize they will never have the type of childhood I had, free and (relatively) safe, but I can to some extent give them that.

Anyway, although the article was for the British and the campaign is for Britain, this really applies to all Children in all countries. So I thought I would make a nature table for my kids. I gave them a table to use and I encouraged them to go outside and find things to display and decorate it themselves. I was so pleased with their sweet efforts and my daughter even arranged a pretty border of rocks and stones around the table. I told them that when we go on our walks, they must be on the lookout for things lying on the ground to add to our table, as things die, they will get replaced with new things.They are very excited about this prospect and with our 6 week holiday coming up beginning of December, I think this will be fun project. I might even start a nature scrapbook with them and dry out what things they collect to stick in.


I am so thrilled you all like my story! Thank you so much for the kind and positive words as it really was a big step for me sharing it to begin with! I will have to carry on writing it now so as not to disappoint everyone and leave it in the lurch!! ha ha. I have often wondered if writers think of the whole story in their heads, from how it will start to how it will end, or if they make it up as they go along. I for one, am making this up as I go along, although I sort of an idea the direction I want the story to take!

Without further Ado, here is Part 4 of "The Ivy House"

The Ivy house by Bonnie van Esch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License

“Mrs March” said Sandy, “I wanted to thank you for opening your house to us for the holidays. I mean, I know we are paying you for it, but it it still must be odd having strangers come and stay in your house. My husband should be here in two or three days to join us. He is just finishing a work contract.”

“Oh my dear, it really is not a problem, I could hear by your voice over the telephone that you were a lovely young woman and every time I heard those little darlings chattering away in the background, I knew that is what I wanted again. The sound of children and life in this old house again. It's been 10 years since The late Mr March died. Poor George. So it has been lonely here all on my own. Just Gladis who stays at the back of the house. She does all the cooking and cleaning. And old Saul who comes twice a week to mow and work in the gardens. But this place really is too big for me now. I am getting too old for all this. So I decided to rent it out to couples such as yourselves for holidays. I still get to stay here and enjoy a bit of company and you get to enjoy your holiday, no cooking or cleaning to do. Makes a good deal don't you say?” Said Mrs March. “Oh, and call me Margaret” she finished.

“Well Mrs...I mean Margaret” said Sandy, “We are looking forward to it. You have a lovely big old house and the gardens look like a lovely place for the children to explore. And if you can't find a replacement maid, I really don't mind doing the cooking myself.”

“Nonsense. I Will find a replacement, what kind of holiday is it if you have to cook and clean? That's what you do at home-no doubt every day. All mothers need a break!” Said Margaret and chopped a big potato right in half.

Sandy began peeling and chopping the vegetables, while the children played happily on the floor. Margaret and Sandy chatted about this and that and then fell into an amiable silence. Sandy finished her last carrot and put down her knife and looked around at the kitchen. It was done out in Maple wood. It was a good size. Probably four by five meters. The ceilings were high with exposed wooden beams. That ran straight across from one side of the room to the other side. The cupboards reached high and on top sat rows of assorted tins: Biscuits, tea, coffee and sugar, lovely vintage images adorning them. The handles on all the cupboards were little brass knobs. All the appliances, except for the big old stove and oven, seemed to be new. Stainless steel and black, but somehow the old and the new tied in nicely together. Next to the laundry room was the tall pantry cupboard which stood open. You could step inside it to retrieve your goods. Inside was a cement floor with a small wooden stool for reaching the higher goods. Next to the pantry was a bookshelf mounted above the working surface. It was packed with cookery books, some with cut our magazine recipes that spilled out the tops. The stove stood with its large warming drawer. Along the next wall were more bottom cupboards and two large rectangular cream apron sinks. In front of the sinks were two large wooden windows that opened out. Pretty blinds with large lemons and strawberry's, hand painted it seemed, framed the view. The butchers block underneath had 8 wicker baskets, four in each row of equal size. In these where all kinds of vegetables and fruits. The aromas mixed and filled the kitchen with a lovely scent. The kitchen had a very old fashioned feel,but looked modern and country at the same time. It was busy but not cluttered. Only the necessary things were on dark wooden tops. The kettle, toaster, coffee peculator, and some jars of assorted sizes in stainless steel for sugar, coffee, tea and pasta's.

to be continued....

Butterfly World

Hello there!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

I certainly did! Saturday I worked in my garden and mowed my lawn...yes, you heard right, I MOW my own lawn!! Ha ha....One tragic day, when I was fed up with the grass being so high that I had to hack my way through to get to the front door, I thought “I am Woman! I can mow the grass!” And so set to it....that was a good year or two ago and now it has become one of the many “jobs” in my long list of jobs! But...the strange part is that I really enjoy doing it. I love the satisfaction of watching the mower go over the long blades and seeing them get shaved off right before my eyes. The exercise is pretty good too. A good workout!

{Sorry got no photo of me mowing the lawn!! ha haha}

Sunday the kids and I went with friends to Butterfly World.

Such a stunning place. They have literally hundreds of different species of Butterflies there imported from all over the world. It is like a big green house, filled with plants, ponds, bridges, flowers. The temperature is kept a constant degree....am not sure...but HOT! You sweat walking around in there, it feels like a sauna! It really is a beautiful place and of course for a keen photographer a paradise! I went wild..ahem...I think I took 200 photos! And when I got home and loaded them on, I thought that I didn't take enough!!

Don't you just love Mr smiling frog?
I LOVE this one. I took all these photos on my AV setting and played around with my own aperture and exposure. I hardly ever use auto anymore. It's the best way to learn. After all, the photos are digital and you are not paying to print out the flops and can just delete them, so why not play around and get to know to your camera and learn how to take great photos!

Butterfly World imports pupae from all over the world every week as every week Butterflies die.
These ones are From the America's and feed on fruit. They lay their eggs in the rotting fruit too. Yummy! :)
I have these purple flowers in my garden, a pity I don't have the Rice paper butterflies to go with them! I also saw some transparent butterflies, unfortunately none of the photos i took of them came out nicely as they prefer the darker areas of the room, and you can't use a flash in there. But they are beautiful. As they fly, they look like mini propellers -When they land and you look at them,you can see straight through their wings-stunning.




Not only do they have butterflies there, they also have : parrots, Iguana's,
Blue Duiker, (a small buck) It's there...look closely!

monkeys (the small cute kind-didn't take notice of the name!) lizards, Snakes, spiders, tortoise, Gecko's. Quite amazing. We got to touch a Iguana, so scaly and rough.

Anyway that was my weekend and here are some photos I took whilst there....the rest I am saving for extractions for kit's!!! ha ha....It is terrible when you are a digital designer -you don't go anywhere without thinking “Hmmm....I wonder what that would like as an element or paper?”!!

I have a little secret to share too....I am doing two Collaborations at the moment...

The first one is hopefully released this week...is with Amy Riley. She is a fellow Designer at Snap and Scrap. I LOVE this kit...I am sure you will too....keep your eyes peeled!

And now for the 3rd Installment of my story..please note: The following story is copyrighted. You may not copy it, steal it, publish it in any way or form. This is my personal writing which I am sharing. This applies to the other two parts of the story and parts to follow too.

So , are you enjoying it??? Would love to hear your comments!!!

The Ivy house by Bonnie van Esch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License

Part 3 The Ivy House

There stood a little old lady. Her white hair rolled up in a ball on top of her head, held down with pins and a net. Her face was lined with a thousand wrinkles. She wore what looked like to be a couple of layers of clothing. But it was warm outside. In one hand she held a knife. But her face showed no sign of malice. In fact she looked at Kay and then at Charlie and her wrinkled face broke into a smile. It looked like dry ground cracking.

“Hello dears” Said the old lady. “Do come in, I was just chopping up some vegetables.” With that she turned and walked back towards the kitchen.

“Um, excuse me?” Sandy called after her. But no reply came. She stepped gingerly into the house with Charlie clutching her hand even tighter. Even Kay had wrapped her legs tighter around her mothers waist.

The floors were made of wood and Sandy's shoes made a clopping noise as she walked across the floor boards. A flight of stairs came off the entrance hall, with what looked like a small guest bathroom underneath the stairs. Next to the stairs was a large dark oak Dresser. Hooks lined the top on each side and coats and an umbrella as well as an assortment of hats lined them. On the dresser stood a painted vase with a large floral arrangement, very country fie. The dresser had four drawers on each side and two large drawers at the bottom. On the floor was a Persian rug in deep reds and browns. To the right of the staircase was the living room. Sandy could not resist taking a quick peep.

Large bay windows looked out to the driveway and gardens. Swags and tails framed the windows in plum colors. The bays had window seats with padded cushions done in the same plum color. Loose scatter cushions were placed at each end, with large hand painted black grapes and olive-green foliage on them. The two large bay windows were separated by a fireplace and a mantle piece with an assortment of wooden and leather picture frames. Smiling people and happy moments stared out the frames. A large mirror with a wood and gold frame hung above the pictures. The living room was divided into two sections.

The first as you entered had a lounge suite that faced the bay window in a square. The fabric was floral,large Iris's in lilacs and purples and butterflies in similar pastel colors. The loose scatter cushions were off the same fabric but each cushion contained one Iris or butterfly picked out from the couch. The walls were a neutral color almost like grey stone.

A large wooden oak coffee table sat squarely in the middle. A pile of gardening and house magazines sat in a small wicker basket at each end underneath the table. On top of the table was nothing except for three pillar candles arranging in size in shades of Purple. Behind the seating arrangement was a Heavy Oak Unit which had four large drawers and a surface and a top cupboard. On the surface was another large country flower arrangement of Lilac and white Iris's. A painting was on either side of the unit of pretty garden scenes: A Young woman sitting in the garden with her little girl on her lap. Both wearing white summer dresses and floppy weaved hats. The other painting of the same little girl holding a watering can and wearing a flowing floral dress. Both were similar as the paintings in the hall. In the other area was another lounge suite and coffee table over looking the second bay window, Bookshelves lined the rear wall filled to the capacity with all kinds of heavy volumes and old books. Two Large pillars separated the two rooms otherwise there were no walls in between. The second room was also green, but more of a pale mint green. The lounge suite was of a plain chocolate color with plum rose scatter cushions in silks. The curtains were cream with small roses in a plum scattering them. The two rooms seemed so different but yet tied in perfectly and complimented each other in their color schemes. All the furniture was done in the same dark oak and gave the room a permanent and homely feel.

Sandy went out and carried on walking down the passage,looking at the paintings on the walls as she walked. Most were done from water color: gardens and flowers. They gave a very peaceful and relaxing atmosphere to the house. There were other rooms that led off the passage but the doors where closed.

At the end of the hall, was the kitchen. A large butchers block stood in the middle with herbs and dried arrangements as well as pots and pans hanging down above the butchers block. The old lady had adorned an apron and was chopping carrots. Next to the chopping board on the counter was a pile of potatoes peeled but not yet chopped, a pile of peeled carrots and a unopened bag of tomatoes. She glanced up and held an extra knife out to Sandy.

“This may be a holiday house my dear, but i can't do this work all by myself. Gladis, the cook is off ill and i have not found a replacement yet. I'm afraid my hands are not what they used to be, Got Arthritis in these fingers now. We'll be here all day if you wait for me to get this lot done ah” the old lady said.

Sandy put Kay down on the floor who immediately began to scream.

“Come now, I have just the thing for you while your mommy works” The old lady said kindly and scurried to the cupboard on the other side of the kitchen. She pulled out a wicker basket of Tupperware containers and lids and put it on the floor in front of Kay. Kay stopped crying and mumbled something unintelligible and sat down on her haunches and began to explore. Charlie too, let his mothers hand go and sat cross-legged on the floor and began to play.

.....to be continued....

I love Fridays

It rained this whole week, today the sun came out to grace us with it's presence. Which is a good thing cos we are having flash floods around SA! Terrible.
I am a bit irked for a few reasons though:
1) My keyboard which is a wireless one and has just had new batteries put in, is playing up something chronic!! So annoying.
2)My microwave just died after I nuked a bag of popcorn and now there is a strange smell coming from the utility room where it is housed and I am too scared to unplug it!!
3) My man is away on business -he left yesterday morning and is only back in another 5 days. Sniff, sniff....I need him to unplug the microwave dammit! :)

Okay now I feel better I have that off my chest! LoL!


The Ivy house by Bonnie van Esch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License.
Here is part two of "The Ivy House"...enjoy!

“Mommy where are we?” Sandy jumped, not expecting the air to be broken with words. She looked in the car and there sat Charlie, awake, but rubbing his eyes.
Sandy went to his door and opened it, unbuckling his seat-belt and helping him out the car. He stood looking up at the house. His blue eyes widened in surprise.
“What is that?” He asked, pointing to the Ivy house.
“It's a house darling. The ivy has grown over the bricks.” She explained, “Do you like it?” She asked
“Yes.” He said simply and smiled. “It looks like a tree with windows. Is it the magic Faraway tree?”
Sandy laughed, “No,” She said, “But it does look like it.”

Sandy looked at her son, his brown hair was wet with sweat. He still had the glistening of sticky lollipop around his mouth. My sweet boy, She thought. She knelt next to him and pulled him close to herself hugging him. Feeling his small arms go around her neck and smelling the strawberry shampoo from yesterdays hair wash.
“I love you mommy.” He said.
Times like that She still choked up.
“I love you too” She said smiling.


Kay awoke just then too, like she could sense she was missing out on some love and attention. She rubbed her fat little fists in her eyes and yawned. They still looked swollen with sleep.
She scrunched up her nose at Sandy and grinned, revealing little white peaks for teeth. Then the smile disappeared and she popped in her dummy once again. Kay sat blinking at her mom, serious and waiting. Waiting for Sandy to come take her out the car seat.

She went around the car to kay's side,unbuckled her and lifter her out. Her nappy was heavy and fat. She grinned and patted her mom on the chest.
“Mama” She said.
“Yes, Kay, mama.”She smiled kissing her little head. Her little red curls plastered to the back of her neck. Her T-Shirt wet with perspiration.

Charlie came running around the car, and grabbed her hand.
“Lets go mommy. I want to see the Ivy house.” He said, pulling her along.
“Okay, okay, hold your horses. It's not going anywhere.” She laughed letting herself get yanked along by her four year old son.

They walked along the driveway and up the steps. Which amazingly were not covered in Ivy.
The front door had a sign on it, “Welcome” it said.

Sandy was nervous, almost agitated. She had no idea why She should be feeling like this. Her heart wanted to separate itself from her body and leap out. Taking a deep breath she knocked. No sound came from inside the house. She wondered if anyone was home. Maybe she had made a mistake with the day she thought. Or maybe it was the right day but the wrong time. Just as She turned to go back to the car, the front door opened. ...

Stay tuned!!

The Ivy House

I went outside today in the few brief moments that the rain stopped and took these photos in my garden. I just love that blue flower-does anyone know what it is? A stargazer maybe??

And it is so rare to see a double laced nasturtium.Love this one. I have red, yellow, peach, orange in my garden. Love this one with the peach edges though. I can see it in a future kit!
I thought a lot about the comments some left about my blogging. I should do it for ME, I should blog about whatever I makes me happy. I can't please everyone, so as long as I am being true to myself and making some happy in the process, I think that is all that should matter. So I am going to blog about the things I enjoy blogging about: my photography, my digital scrap booking and designing, my freebies, thoughts, art, whatever!

Today I thought to share a story I started writing --about 2 or 3 years ago! I always had this vision of writing a novel and selling it! I don't think that will ever happen. LOL! I LOVE writing though and write short stories for children which my kids love! I have had a few things here and there published. So I am going to share this story with you...in portions over the next how long....
It isn't finished...but I would love feedback on it...maybe you could as I go along, tell me how you think the story should go!! It is just for fun. If someone happens to stumble upon this blog and steal it and publish it themselves, well of course I would be very upset, but life is too short not to share what we want to share!! And I will put a copyright statement up first everytime I post.

Okay don't laugh...here goes...

The Ivy house by Bonnie van Esch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 South Africa License.

" The Ivy House" by Bronwen van Esch-Part one

The house was covered in ivy. It had, over the years, crept up the walls, slowly taking over- covering every visible inch of red brick. It was as if the owners had not even noticed when it had began, as, years later, the house looked like part of the surrounding forest. Almost camouflaged. I say almost, as the only areas the ivy had not covered were the windows and doors. They peeped out like eyes from under eyelashes.

It was really a beautiful sight. You would pull into the long oak-tree lined driveway and hear the car tires scrunching over the gravel. Sandy liked to roll down the window and hear the rustle of the leaves as the breeze swayed through the trees. To hear the twittering of the birds. Looking up, through the branches of the trees, trying to see the birds. Isn't it funny? You always hear them, but never see them.

Peeping through the trees you could see lawns. But not manicured. Not polished and pruned as if expecting a photographer to appear for one of those garden and home magazines at any minute. Little flowers littered the grass, pinks and mauves and whites.

But it was not the little flowers your eyes wandered to. Nor was it the rest of the garden, with its secrets and paths. Shrubs and flower borders. Ponds and water features. It was the house...

The house. It stood there, owning its ground. It had presence, character. Sandy stopped the car and sat with the engine running. Leaning forward and looking out through the windscreen. The baby, still sleeping, gave a big sigh and sucked furiously on her dummy. The little boy, too had fallen asleep and held up by his seat belt, his head lolled onto the car door. Red Crayon still in his hand. She turned off the engine and gazed back at her sleeping children. She smiled, her heart growing warm, seeing them, so small and innocent. So unaware of all this beauty around them at this moment.

She got out the car and stood with her eyes closed for a few seconds. Feeling the soft breeze like a brush of a hand across her face. Smelling the sweet aroma of roses. Hearing nothing but the birds and breeze in the trees. In the distance a lawn mower guzzled grass.

stay tuned for part two....

Bonnies delicious cupcakes!

Did you miss me????

I know....I am terrible!!! ha ha. The good news is that my PC is fine! It did crash, but nothing was lost....whew! DH bought me a new motherboard (old one dying) and some new RAM and a faster processor....OMW! I don't know myself with my lightning McQueen computer! It is sooooo cool!!!
I am used to opening up my file where all my scrap stuff sits...and then waiting...wandering off...watering the garden, making a cup of coffee, visiting a friend and then coming back and then it opens!! Now it is like literally 2 seconds and it is open!

Anyway...I have been busy with all kinds of things. One of them is redoing my daughter's room.
I had a printer's tray in her room which was plain and brown...quite ugly and I thought I could do something with it! So together her and I painted it...my hubby calls this color "primer pink" but actually it is a very nice color! I have one wall in my bedroom this color too (much to his dismay-ha ha)
I then cut out little blocks from various scrap papers, following a theme of roses and also pinks, cream, green, blue and purple. I must say I LOVE the result.

Here it is with everything back in! A lot of these little goodies I have had since my own childhood! So everything is precious!
I also got her these cute rose handles for her desk which is also brown...needs a paint! But that is for another time.
And then this pink bookshelf which has cute heart cut out's on the side.Now she has more space for her books and toys which I also got some cute baskets for her to store her stuff.
And I saw this whilst shopping for her and got it for my kitchen, love it!

And I have also been spending a lot of time in my garden, which is something I love. I adore gardening! (next to scrapping! lol!) Here is a photo of my cat Chloe... she is a cross breed of a Persian.Some flowers
I adore these purple saboidas.
The kids "tree house" where the cat normally parks for the day!


Last week we went to the nature reserve after school...if you read this blog often, you will know how much I love to go there...it is my favorite "retreat" -quite, peaceful and beautiful.
We went for a long walk up the mountain, here are some pics of the views from up there-amazing.
Love this bird!

See the pink flowers? Wotsonia's


I will be back with more news tomorrow....have a good day!! Drop a line if you stopped by! :)

I know.....I hang my head in shame.

So much for posting everyday! This month has been very busy with all our anniversary arrangements and so on. I have been meaning to post everyday but just didn't get to it.
Here are some more pics by the way!
This is the restaurant we ate at.Quite funky,
Red poppies growing on the mountain side







Do not fear though!! Instead of trying to catch up and post the promised freebie everyday for the month of October, I thought I would stash the rest of this months freebies in my newsletter.
Saves me trying to post everyday too , when I battle to find the time.
So the missing freebies from the 15-31st October (excluding weekends) are in the October Newsletter. You will be getting 13 Freebies plus a bonus one-14 freebies!!

The newsletter is long-20 pages!! Packed with inspiration and freebies. I really recommend you download it seeing as though it has taken me weeks to put together!! ha ha.

If you are not a member of my newsletter group yet, please sign up HERE.
I will be sending out the newsletter later today, so even if you sign up AFTER I have sent it out, you will still be able to get it by checking the messages on the group page.

Today my kit-Rain forest is on Sale for only $1- It is one of my early kits, but I still like it.

Here are some LO using it:




And with that in mind I leave you with a photo of my first chicken pie I baked!! yum!