Five Minute Friday: Tree

An apt word for Friday: Tree

Zak and I spent the morning hacking alien trees in the Tokai Plantation. The commercial pines have been harvested in order to make way for our beautiful Cape fynbos. Seeds lie dormant beneath the soil and will produce fynbos after the fires which will be set in about April next year.

The alien vegetation needs to rooted out before the fires, I wondered if our seemingly feeble efforts would make any difference in such a vast area. I was told they would. In a few months these aliens could double in size, so rooting them out now does make a difference.

 Loppers and poppers were used. Hard work in the scorching sun. My finger, which is still not right after the break, took major strain. I could only pull the tiny trees out. Aliens are not welcome among the fynbos.

I had always thought the loss of pine forests of 120 years old to be a sad loss, but now that I know the area will rejuvenate with precious fynbos, it seems right.

 These aliens have no place here in our Cape floral kingdom.

"Unscripted, unedited, real" Lisa- Jo Baker

Write for five minutes on the given topic, link up at Lisa- Jo's blog and encourage the person who linked up before you. Have fun!

Weekly Wrap-Up

Another week rolled on by, so fast it seems....

Every morning Josh was up bright and early, dressed smartly and ready to set off to work. 

He seems to really be enjoying his work.

 Around here we miss him....we miss his loud music (believe it or not), we miss his wit and humor and his built in body clock that always tells us when it's lunch time. I miss his coffee making and I miss that he is not sitting over at the computer when I glance across the room.

  Keren misses him popping his head into her room animatedly to share a joke or a new song. 

But he is happy and glad of the weekend to rest.

I love the time we have alone each morning in the car on the way to dropping him at work. We get to chat, just the two of us and it's wonderful to connect with him. I love too that my favorite nursery is just around the corner from his work and I get to pop in there whenever I like. This week I popped in and got some leek , gem squash and red and yellow pepper seedlings at a rand a piece which is a real steal!

Keren spent much of the first part of the week prepping for her art exam on Wednesday and writing another art essay. Once over the hurdle of the exam, she was able to relax a bit. 

She brought her current piece she is working on home. 

I really love it and can't wait to see the finished work.

We had a lovely surprise this week when a parcel from China arrived. It is part of an International Book Exchange we are currently doing. As the sender could not find much written in English about China or a book suitable for the teens, she sent us a lovely package filled with interesting goodies and treats. 

There were stickers, a notebook, chopsticks, two packets of green tea from a reputable Chinese tea shop, 

   

peach gummies and crisped rice chocolate! 

We were also sent the link to a traditional Chinese story. 

The kids were thrilled with the lovely parcel.

We continued with our online cooking course with Yuppiechef and Zak and I made the best ever peanut butter cookies! They are made with oats and we added peanuts to the cookie dough.

 I love that they are not too sweet. 

The guys enjoyed them in lunch boxes!

 Definitely a recipe to make again! 

You can find the recipe on their website if you would like to try it.

Zak had basketball practice and an away match this week.The match took place at the American International School and was complete with cheerleaders cheering the home team on. I felt like I had been transported into Disney Channel! The match was sadly lost, but the kids still had fun. 

We didn't get to do a huge amount of reading together but Zak has discovered the joys of reading to himself this week and has been devouring a pile of books borrowed from a friend. It is wonderful to finally see him developing a real love of reading. He can be found with his nose buried in a book early morning, noon and night time before nodding off. 

Zak and I enjoyed a morning out in nature on Friday with his Science club.

 Our task was alien hacking, but more on that in another post. 

The week ended with the kids all going off in different directions. Josh to a friend, Zak to a go-carting party and his first night at TPC youth and Keren left early to prep for youth and help run the evening. 

Today the younger two have a fun day with a 12 hour long birthday party at Ratanga Junction!

Life is good and it's been a great week!

Out and about

The past week has been a busy one for our youngest with a number of fun educational outings. I was thankful to a dear friend for taking him on two of the outings, giving me dedicated time to spend with  our eldest, who writes his first exam for this session tomorrow. 

The first was an outing to the Hout Bay Museum where the children learned more about the Khoi and San people. They were able to look at tools from the stone and iron age and enjoy a short movie. They learned of the Strandlopers who inhabited nearby caves at Llandudno.

 Fun was had exploring the caves, where they saw cooking areas, sleeping areas and a shell midden.

 One happy boy was delivered safely back home!

The second outing was "The 1902 Victorian Schoolroom" experience. Some preparation was necessary as this is totally different to his own experience of school. Big brother and sister did not do much to ease his fear of the strict Victorian teacher he was to encounter!

 Their memories of that outing years ago were still fresh in their minds.

However, we had some fun looking at websites and discovering what he would encounter, making a paper model of a Victorian school and colouring a British Flag. 

On the day, he was required to dress up and take a typical Victorian lunch in a paper bag: bread & cheese, a boiled egg, fruit and a glass bottle with ginger-beer.

No Tupperware lunch box allowed. It was all about role play and the total experience. 

The children encountered the strict teacher who required proper Victorian discipline, standing to address him with a "Yes Sir". They were seated in the classroom and went through their lessons, writing on slates and doing rote and object lessons.

At break time, they were treated to a Victorian sponge cake and played with toys of the day such as stilts, whirr whirrs and the yo-yo.

He was presented with a certificate of honour for good attendance. This was rather funny as he was supposed to be the "new boy" in the class, that being his first day!

He came home happy and having enjoyed the fun, even asking if he could go back again!

Today's outing was to the Department of Rural Development & Land Reform where we visited the National Geo-spacial Information centre, otherwise known as South Africa's national mapping organisation. K and I went along too and it was rather interesting but perhaps a little over their heads in some areas.

 (Note to self - time to do some map-work with them again!)

We were met with an enthusiastic teacher and his colleague who gave the children a presentation, showed them various maps and quizzed them at the end. 

We learned that NGI has an archive of aerial photography, dating back to the 1930s and photographic coverage of the entire country which is updated with their digital mapping camera.

One is able to purchase maps and access information easily. 

We were kindly given some maps to take home  and enjoy.

The museum houses a collection of maps and mapping & surveying equipment, dating back as far as 150 years ago. Much of this type of equipment is outdated due to advancements in technology. It was great to be able to see various equipment that we have read about or only seen pictures of....

far more interesting when one sees the real thing!

I am hoping that I can inspire the children to enjoy maps more than they do, gain a healthy respect for those early map makers and have some fun with map-work!