Ready to share some photos!

It sure has taken long enough! lol! Things have been crazy. I finally have some photos re-sized to show you of my trip. I am waiting for a disc from the first friend I stayed at, as over 600 of my photos for some reason, didn't copy onto my discs, so she is posting them to me. But here are a few of my favorite so long....
This is me hanging onto a pole -the day I got to England. My friends took me to my first English pub for a "pint" and then to a little place called Stoke Bruene-and we strolled along the river and watched the barge's go up and through the locks-amazing. Someone kindly invited us to get on their barge and took us through two locks so we could experience the real thing.

the little forest walk we went on along the river.This pretty little place was in Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. We went there for the day and bought a 5 -house pass to see his birthplace, his wife's (Anna Hathaway) childhood home which was their marriage home too, his mother's farm (Mary Arden), his son-in-law's and daughter's house and something else,...can't remember now. I must say, this was one of my favorite outings of my whole trip. I loved the quaint town, the history, the houses, it was all so beautiful. When I get my photos of it, I will be sure to post some.
These two photos were taken along the River Avon, in Stratford-Upon-Avon. A mother swam and her two signets.

Last of the daffodils....
sweetpeas
Shakespeare's wife-Anne Hathaway, this was her childhood home and later when they got married, it became their married home.
Some of the gorgeous flowers in her garden.


Mary Arden...her house, She was Shakespeare's mother.
I fell in love with these Tudor-Style houses whilst there, I just love the history and look to them, look at this one, how wonky it is! And yes, that is me standing in front.

gorgeous tulip


We went to Warwick Castle (pronounced War-rick)which was nice. That was a whole day outing, exploring inside and outside.
Here is me on the top of one of the towers...took a lot of courage standing near that railing, I hate heights!
A view of the side of the castle with the old mill.

I just love this old bridge and the reflection!
roses and in the background, the big castle clock.
Some of the views from the highest towers of the castle.


I still have my PARIS photos to show you and lots more...so be sure to come back..and a FREEBIE later on in the week too! Would love to hear your comments!!

Grab some coffee and a biscuit!

So much to write about..so little time...hee hee.
Going to have to type extra fast as I have to leave in 10 minutes to fetch my kids from school!

First of all, today and tomorrow I have a $1 sale on 3 products!

So grab 'em quick!! advert linked for your convenience.

Here in South Africa it is Autumn..The days are colder, the trees are beautiful turning gold, yellow, orange, red and brown. We don't have a full-on autumn like some places with just about every avenue of trees in those colors, but I have been driving around, and when I do spot a beautiful tree or something that strikes, I have been taking photos to show you what our autumn is like. So here are a few photos! Enjoy!
The first one is of a sunset taken the other day from my back garden. No touching up done, it really was this color!! so gorgeous!
I pass this fence on the way to take my daughter to school everyday. I love it, I have watched it over the weeks turn from green to brown, to gold and then to red! The sun was shining on it when I took this picture and it just looked so amazing.
I just love this corner. This corner is on the road that goes to my inlaws house. It is also the corner that goes to my sisters-Jen's holiday house. I love this road and these trees.

This is the view I have from my dining room. I love to look out at this mountain.
yesterday, It was a rare beautiful day. Cold, but at least it was dry and the sun was shining, so I took the opportunity and took my kids to our local nature reserve. We had a picnic there and went on a lovely walk. Here are some photos i took! (just as well as I took them because today is back to being cold, wet and raining!)
I love how this came out-a spider web.Some buck in the park
Two dragon flies.
Some nice, bright berries-I think these will be in a kit soon!
my kids running in the reserve
A beautiful plant
i love this one-with the oak trees in the mist.

In this photo below, if you look carefully you will see a spotted hawk and a squirrel.
We sat and watched in amazement as this Hawk tried to catch the squirrel and attack it! The Squirrel wouldn't hear of it and when the Hawk came closer, he attacked it with a nut still in his mouth! Actually I am sure he had a nut in each cheek and had just found another one and was probably protecting his dear stash!! ha ha. It was hilarious. Unfortunately in my excitement, I didn't catch any photos of the whole fight,but I got these!
Here is the hawk-it is so beautiful!

The poor little squirrel with his poor little heart probably beating a mile a minute!This one is of me with my kids! love how this came out! love having a self-timer on my camera!

And the last one I snuck in-some fancy home with this gorgeous oak-tree lined driveway!!
BACK TO THE DIGI-STUFF!!

Then I have some freebies!!! I meant to post about this one a few days ago,..but forgot! Anyway better late than never! I made a desktop for you for May. It contains products from some of my kits like A breath of Fresh Air, and also from a NEW Kit which is a secret...coming out in June..It is a collab I am doing with a fellow designer of ESS....you will have to wait and see! Please note the desktop size is only made to fit one screen..so check if it is the right one for your screen first before downloading.
size: approx 2MB

I am also happy to introduce a CT member of mine who is making it into the designing world...FanFan Rue Des Anges. She really scraps so beautifully and is making beautiful kits now!
Take a look at her first kit which will be in her store soon!
DOWNLOAD HERE

I also have done some pages for CT kimB Designs

And Here is a QP made with this one for you.

DOWNLOAD HERE

I hope you enjoyed todays post! making up for my lack of being around in the digi world for so long!

Thank you

Me, my brother Rob and my sister Jen December 2008.

Thank you for all your thoughts for our family.

Finding strength for "normal" things is just very, very hard and I am taking one day at a time. Getting through each day is my main focus at this point. My sister arrives tomorrow of which I am so grateful for. My other brother who lives in London cannot come right now, which is terrible, I last saw him 8 years ago...I wish he could be with us right now, but we speak on the phone everyday. I feel the most for my dad...I can't imagine loosing a child...he already lost my mom when I was two. And of course I feel so much for my sister in law...they had been married 18 years this month (had just celebrated their anniversary)...
It helps me personally to cry, to talk about it when I need too. It is my own way of dealing with it.Sometimes I just can't and I just need to shut myself up or sleep. Sleeping helps and is great, because then I don't have to feel anything. The mornings are the worst as I wake up and for a few brief seconds life is normal until it hits me all over again...

The hardest thing is that life around you carries on. You still need to feed the kids, be a mom, do the washing, etc etc. you wish the world could stop so that you could just grieve. I suppose in time it will be the normality of these little things that will help me. My husband has been the most amazing man in the world. So utterly supportive and kind. He cries with me, he cleans for me, he does everything he can. And shame, he is still suffering with his own physical pain from his broken leg and limping around.

Devastated

Just a quick note, so you all don't think I dropped off the planet.
My dear and beloved brother passed away today. He had gone in for a procedure to cut a small piece of skull out to relieve the pressure and swelling in the brain. It was just too much,the pressure too great. He was pronounced brain dead and as per his wishes, my sister in law had his life support switched off. It is a great shock and sadness, the last 4 days have been like a bad dream, in fact it still feels like a bad dream. I am surprised I have the strength to write this, but I know a lot of you will be wondering and thank you for your support. Even though we have never met, it still means a lot to me. I won't be going over to NZ anymore. My sister in law will be coming over in a few months time. We will be having a memorial service her for him too.

Keep those you love safe and tell them every second you love them. I am so grateful I have no regrets and my memories of him are all good. He was here for 4 wonderful weeks in December and we had the best holiday ever. I will always cherish that as long as I live.

Sad news...

On Monday the 9th of March,my oldest brother (lives in NZ)suffered a brain aneurysm and was rushed to their nearest hospital but then transferred after a CAT scan to Wellington. They medically sedated him and had him life support and all kinds of other machines to monitor his blood pressure etc. Yesterday he had a 8 hour long brain surgery in which they clipped the aneurysm. The operation seems to have gone well. He is currently still in ICU, sedated but in a serious condition. At this stage, we do not know if he has sustained any damage. It seems like he can hear even though he can't respond as my sister in law said his blood pressure went up after she read him a card from his 6 year old daughter. My brother is only 45 and very healthy, doesn't smoke or drink ..so this was a big shock to us even more so because there doesn't seem to be a physical reason for this to happen.
Jenni and I are going to be flying over to NZ , probably next week Tuesday for 10 days to be with him and his wife and offer as much help and support as we can.
My shop will still open as scheduled on Monday. I can tell you that I am a designer now at ENCHANTED STUDIO SCRAPS.
My store will go live on the 16TH MARCH .

Amidst everything happening in my life right now, I am excited for this new opportunity and looking forward to things to come digitally speaking.

As for my brother, we are waiting to hear the prognosis when they take him off the medication.
I wanted you to know in case I am quiet. When I go, I will say goodbye before so that you know.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts and well wishes...

Being Crafty...

Well it seems as if the fires were arson....they found coke bottles with candles inside them. Why anyone would deliberately set fires that destroy hundreds of kilometers of forest, vegetation, animals-is beyond me. They are still raging on, but the smoke and ash has lifted from our area. The fires are still burning some very nice wine estates.....and they are battling to put them out. Vergelegen, Knoerhoek and Lourensford Wine farms. They have 70 fire fighters working in shifts and water bombs are being dropped too. This is the 4th week now of fighting these fires.

I am being crafty lately. I altered this catalog into some type of journal. Well it could be used as a notebook, journal, photo album, scrap book-whatever really. I am doing a series of these for friends and one for myself. I also might do a GIVE-AWAY of one of these on my blog, so watch this space!







Today I got a new pair of shoes

and my hubby bought me this ring I was hinting at last year for our anniversary which was in October...I am so surprised he remembered the ring. I love it!

Drama....

Saturday I get this call from my husband telling me I mustn't panic, he just broke his leg and was on the way to the hospital! *mustn't panic* sure!!

The story is that he went out for a bit of fun with the guys Saturday afternoon. He has this thing called a rhino. It is a like a 4 x 4 golf cart(see a pic of it here) with big wheels and a extension on the back like a pick-up truck. He bought it for work as he does electric fencing and they do big jobs that require they go over rocky, and rough terrain. Anyway....they took it out to play in some sand-dunes. Know what my last words to him before he left ?? "Be careful!"

So...what happened is that they were actually ready to come home and were packing up and decided to have one more ride. He was driving. It is a left hand drive. So he took a corner and it started to tip and he stuck his leg out (instinctive, I have done this too!) and it tipped right over and fell on him. He said he looked down and his leg was gone-it was bent from the thigh backwards- behind him. OUCH.
So his friends lifted the rhino off him and had to transport him back on it to the vehicle and then to the nearest hospital (which unfortunately is 40min drive from here! been driving through every day)
That was Saturday evening. I went through with the kids immediately and he was in traction and on a drip when I got there. In a lot of pain.

Sunday morning they operated. They put a titanium rod right through the bone. The long femur was broken clean off-snapped in half . I saw the x-rays, quite something. The pin is as long as the length of the whole thigh. from the hip to the just above the knee. he has two long 10cm cuts on this left leg. Anyway he is at right now -came back this afternoon. In crutches (no cast) for 6 weeks..

Wish me luck guys, I am sure I will be playing house nurse for a while....
I am just glad to have him home!

He was sharing a ward with 4 other men all much worse off than him. Two had each had 9 operations before. One guy each time on his back-totally immobile, the other a guy in his 20's-on his foot and the last man must of been in his late 70's-fell off a ladder and broke his pelvis and has leukemia. His poor wife who sat and cried next to his bed side. My heart bled for her. My husband was saying how guilty he felt being checked out. Two of those men will be there for another 2 months still. Life is sad...

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....