Wordless Wednesday #324 - Rainy Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday #318 - Wake Cup

Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden waterfall transformed today

Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens waterfall

We visited the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens today. It was overcast, but a lovely day in the Gardens. Each time we are here, I am reminded that we must come here more regularly!

Little Miss getting soaking wet

I was surprised to see that the waterfall rocks had turned to a blue, but later realized it was only me who saw it this way as it was my sunglasses.

Photo taken through sunglasses

We managed to hike up and down the mountain. It is always a treat to see the views, and look onto the eagles' nest.

We were already eating a scone after the excursion when a huge downpour hit the Gardens and surrounding areas. We had to scramble inside the restaurant and wait for the rain to subside.
It was coming down in buckets.

When we were walking down the path way on our way back, we could hear the waterfall crashing down>We had to go and look again at the waterfall after the storm.

It was magnificent!

The water had turned to brown,
but cascading down and hitting us with sprays

I am including these two photo before and after the downpour.

The Student 

Looking blurry because of the water spray

The Student also shared her experience of today: The power of rain and nature (with a video included taken by Hubby)


Related posts:

- Big Bug Expo

- Tunnels at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens

- "Mountain climbing" at the Botanical Gardens

Masterchef in the making?

Masterchefs preparing the fish

Little Miss always tells us that her Dad is a Masterchef, and why don't he also go on the Masterchef series?
It does not help disagreeing with her about how good one should be...
(Not that her Dad is not very good!!)

We had a less busy weekend this past weekend, and Little Miss could help her Dad with his food preparations, which she was happy to do!

We had buckets of rain, but it did not deter us in doing one of our favourite activities: Braai and braai (barbecuing). South Africans always find a reason (or no reason at all) to braai!
And never ever a pattie...

We also had load shedding on Saturday and Sunday evening! (Who did not?)
But there is nothing like candle light and a little bit of Seinfeld to have made it worth the while!
Thanks, Eskom!

We are now counting the sleeps to

• the holidays, 
• Little Miss' play-play party at school, 
• Little Miss' birthday and 
• Christmas, of course! 

Happy times!

Traffic and floods - I wish there was an Auntie Traffic

My view each morning and night

I phoned my dear husband last night in traffic, after we had been moving two metres every two minutes, and there was no end in sight... He wanted to make a few suggestions of how to get out of there! But it was impossible! I was stuck in four lanes - which became two lanes, which became one lane - going very slowly towards a flooded area in the road on Barry Hertzog.

I said I was just complaining!
I just wanted to tell someone!

I wish there was an Auntie Traffic that I could direct my complaints to? @EWNTraffic and @PigSpotter and @TrafficSA just doesn't do it for you! The best is when they retweet one of our tweets, but most of the times it is the same as swearing through closed windows at the taxis coming past in the wrong lane and sneaking back in front of you! (Which happens every day in any case! Just more so when there are rains and floods and back-up traffic on the road.)

The flooded area on Barry Hertzog

We went through this water last night, and my car gave a little flicker, but it made it to the other side.
High five!
Never again! (If I can help it!)


Thanks for listening! I needed to get a complaint in somewhere!


How is your traffic each day?

Santana - an unexpected weekend

FNB Stadium

We got the Santana tickets on Friday from a colleague who could not go any more! 

As I was eyeing the concert since it was announced (but did not have the budget), and trying to win some tickets, we were more than excited!

Luckily The Student was home for the weekend and she could baby-sit Little Missy. They were both not impressed. The Student and Little Missy wanted to go as well! But I don't think Little Missy would have lasted for the whole evening...

It was rainy and it was cold! 

But it was more than worth it in the end!

Johnny Clegg took up the stage before Santana, and it was my first time that I saw him life and in action! We have been listening to him since we were at school, and he is still rocking it! He also got two acts with Carlos Santana in his show. Amazing!

Carlos Santana performed most of his well-known songs with two male singers on stage, accompanied by great musicians! Stunning! Stunning!

Our view from the stadium

Yes, we have evidence!

That was an unexpected treat for a rainy weekend! 

How was your weekend?

Rainy weekend

We had a very wet weekend, and at one stage we thought the rain would never stop!
Our rain meter recorded over 100 millimetres, and then of course it overflowed!

All we wanted to do,  was this...

But we were extremely busy, and we had to rush from one appointment to another.
Luckily it was all fun, especially the wine tasting on Saturday afternoon, and the Rock Cod fish braai on Saturday. In the cold!

The Little Missy had a great weekend playing with friends, and with her cousins. We don't see her when the friends are around - she is off playing with them!

I realised this morning that her 3-4 year old clothes are not doing the job any more (I had hoped it would still see me through the winter)...
She complains that her stomach stays cold. So we are off to the shops this afternoon.

And the weekend is gone!


Hope your weekend was good?

Pretville visit

The Pretville movie set is still up at Hartebeesportdam, and well worth a visit.
Pretville is an Afrikaans film musical that is set in the 1950's.

It was a rainy day yesterday, with lots of mud, but it did not deter anybody, and afterwards we heard that it is much better than going there than when it is too hot!

There are tons of photo opportunities for snap happy patrons.

Definitely a place to take a photo

The Diner which was jam-packed 

The detail in each of the little shops is amazing
(like this AlphaPharm Pharmacy) 

Waiting for the bus

I hear that they are going to break it down in about a month, which would be very sad.
It was like going back into the past...

Accident on the highway

Running a bit late, but not speeding.

We had to turn off the highway to fill up with petrol.

And then back on the road!



If we had put in petrol before the time?

If we did not make that stop at the shops?

If we had started our drive a second earlier?

If only we had taken the other highway?



Rain bursting through the clouds, and then some patches of less rain!

But everywhere the wet highway...

THEN: The bundling of cars, and then we see the car skidding on the highway. There are cars all around us, and this car is not going forward anymore.


It is skidding past us, and I watch the face of the lady in the passenger seat! It is a face of unbelief!

Hubby swerve and misses the car, and for a split second we think we have made it!

The car skids into the barrier on the side of the road, and comes skidding back again...

It is right in front of us, and I hear myself scream.

I am thinking that this is going to be bad!

The cars are coming from behind, and we are in the middle of the highway...

We hit the other car on the side with a loud sickening THUD!

Hubby keeps on saying we need to get out of there! I push the button for the hazard lights...


Somehow he manages to get our car around the car which has now come to a standstill in the middle of the highway!

He drives to the side of the road, and keeps driving forward, afraid of more accidents...

The Toddler is crying now. We say something to her to calm her down. We have been in an accident, but we are fine!

We both get out of the car and look at the damage. The bumper is dented, and the number plate is missing. But it doesn't look that bad! The car can still be driven!

We wait for the other car to come to the side of the road, which somehow it manages to do. It is not roadworthy anymore!

Hubby jumps out and the two drivers exchanges their business cards, and then he comes back and we drive back home. He doesn't want to stay there!

Not on the highway anymore, and the Toddler crying because we are not going to the party anymore...

--------

The driver of the other vehicle says that 3 more cars skidded there while they were waiting to be towed! If we had stayed there, we would have been hit...



We feel very lucky today!

We did not get hurt at all, and except for the schlepp of having a car fixed, we are fine today!



(This happened 6pm last night on the N1 between William Nicol and Rivonia)

Posted with Blogsy

Wordless Wednesday #70 - Toddler with rain coat

Rain! on our public holiday

It’s been raining non-stop here since yesterday, and before that we had grizzly weather for longer than a week now. We love the rain, and welcome it! The earth needs it desperately!

But we go into complain mode when it seems that there is no end in sight. (We don’ know what we want, do we?)  I feel sorry for you in the Northern Hemisphere with the cold! Here we are used to long sunny days of sun during the December holidays and over Christmas!

We bought the toddler an umbrella yesterday, and she and Dad went out for a stroll in the rain this morning! It was a huge treat, and she did not want to come back in again... Love it when she enjoys something so much! She is taking an early morning nap now, which is a huge bonus! We are really chilling now...

Luckily it is a public holiday here today. One day less to worry about what to do with the toddler while working... And tomorrow is my last day. Whoohooo!

I love this time of the Year!
What are you doing with yourselves today?

Enough of the weather already and another day in hospital

It is rainy, overcast and cold here in Johannesburg. And we had to go to the hospital yesterday! Again!

It is very strange weather for this time of the year! Especially the rain. It feels like we are experiencing Cape Town weather. Cold and wet and it is not even winter yet. We hope it doesn’t signal a cold winter coming up? Maximums of 14 and 15 degrees and we COMPLAIN here! (Smile)

The toddler had an abscess drained the previous week, and on Sunday we saw the spot had started to grow again. Aaargh! Poor baby! Yesterday we had to go through the whole thing again: Book into hospital, theatre, having to sit with our little one while she is groggy after the anaesthetics. It feels so unnecessary but there is apparently nothing else to be done. An abscess has to be cut and drained, and it is better to put babies down because they won’t lie still on their own.

The cut was made bigger underneath her arm, and the surgeon inserted a small piece of gauze in the wound to keep it open for longer. I am SOOO squeamish, and I feel so sorry for Mieka. I just hope it is the last last time!

Photo: Mieka just before she went into the theatre. She was hungry because we could not give her anything to eat since 11 am, and she only went in after 6 pm.

Related post:

16 months and an unexpected day at the hospital