Break for the weekend

The past few months have flown by, mainly because mom has been traveling more than usual. Having her home for the weekend (only one this month), meant we had to do something and off the 3 of us went to Addo for the weekend.

Our first sighting was a the biggest dominant male in Addo, Vallie Moosa. He is a big tusker for sure, even on a distance with a telephoto lens.

From the biggest male to the possibly smallest, Stompie (meaning shorty), a name given to him on account of his half tail. He has had it rough, possibly attacked by predators just after birth.

From one baby to another, we saw but could not really photograph 2 baby Hyenas. The minder/mom was rolling around in the morning sun.

Boeta collected little flowers for mom every time he got a chance.

He was enjoying mom being with us and sharing the experience and he let her know on every occasion that he loved her. Sweet to see.

 

 

From our pup to African Shellduck chicks.

Next, we saw a maybe once in a life-time animal in the wild. The Brown Hyena came out the bushes right in front of us and moved over and away as fast as we saw it. I was shaking, had the wrong lens, but managed to grab a photo. This folks, the Brown Hyena, is 100 times more scarce to see in wild.

We were the only people to see it. We were starry eyed and the excitement was touchable.

Boeta was still sharing flowers.

Our last sighting for the day, more elephant bulls drinking water, but on this occasion the Bull let the warthogs know it was time to move on…

The main image of the post is Nyala mom and baby, I used to create a art piece.

 

Dry summer

It has been a dry start to 2017. We are in the midst of our summer and the rain is staying away. I am lucky because I planned a garden based on succulents, so I do not have to water in any case, but even the poor succulents are looking for rain now. We have daily fires everywhere in the Southern Part of South Africa now and the smoke smell keeps coming and going throughout the days as the winds shift.

Boeta is growing so quickly, it is scary. He is fully potty trained (we took our time and it turned out to be much less of the issue it is made to be). He is becoming more and more his own “man” with his own preferences and moods. He is our trooper living a life unlike most other 3 year-olds. Mom had to fly again and he was up at 3.30 am and eating croissants and watching planes at 5 am yesterday.

Here he is last night just before sunset, still laughing and enjoying life. You cannot but to admire his spirit.

Have a great day.

Always great at Southern Point of Africa…

We spent the first week of 2017 at Struis Bay, which some of the older followers may know as our most special place, holding deepest of meanings.

As our little grows, it just become more special to us. He is enjoying the space and unique environment there too.

We loved taking a drive, buying fish and chips at our favorite shop and eating it at the beach, sometimes in the car, other times sitting on the rocks.

The real Southern Point of Africa has a whole different feel of ominous danger to it. Many a ship has gone down over the years. This part reminds us very much of our home, the rocks being more similar, but not as sharp and pointed.

 

Happy New Year

Hi, we are back from a trip to the cape. We would like to wish all our friends a happy, wonderful and fruitful 2017.

We flew down to Cape Town, collected Boeta’s Grandparents and set off to Struis bay for New Year.

Boeta got a late present, this was one of my favorite toys as a kid and he now has one too.

As we got to 2017, we popped a few drinks and shared some laughs.

We also drove around a little, exploring and just relaxing as much as we can. My camera never being to far away.

These house were some of the first from 1800’s.

The harbor.

Outlying farm

Boeta running the planks on the many walking areas.

More later…

 

Walking home….with the explorer!

After turning around, we walked back slowly, still looking for anything interesting.

The sun was going down fairly quickly by now. We still had a bit of a walk back home. Boeta did not care one bit.

Every time I pushed him a little he complained and wanted to walk in the opposite direction, only for the drag of a dad to remind him that it was getting late and we had to go home.

I loved this spot with the green algae to spend some moments here to shoot a few shots, all freehand.

I looked for Boeta who was in his own world, finding another treasure, I am sure. I called him and he came walking toward me pointing at a Oystercatcher flying past and asking what it was.

I again reminded him that we had to move on and he reluctantly joined me as we walked towards home. I took a few shots in that direction. You can just see the houses.

It was a brilliant evening yet again. I could not get enough of the clouds and the setting sun, so every now and then I would get another shot.

As we got closer we saw some fisherman again. Sometimes the ladies join their husbands/friends as they angle in the early evening as was the case with this young man.

Boeta was in great spirits and still throwing rocks, running and enjoying being at the beach. You would never know we were coming to the end of a 6 km walk.

It was too dark now. I was on the built-in flash to get any descent shots. Really time for us to get home.

I took a last shot of the white rocks and the remaining sunlight.This is the last of this series of posts. We hope you enjoyed the full photographic walk with us.

Tomorrow we leave for a short Safari and a few days in the mountains to celebrate our son’s 3rd Birthday. Hopefully we will bring lots of photos of wildlife and landscapes to share next week. Have a great weekend, I know we will.

I looked for Boeta …. he was busy looking for crabs under the flat rocks.

My son – The explorer! Happy Birthday, we are so proud of you! Love you, Mom and Dad!

 

Spending time together…

The aim of this trip was spending time together as a family and enjoying being one. So I will try to give some idea of this through the activities of Boeta for a day at the lodge. After breakfast we sat outside having a nice coffee. It did not take long before Boeta had one and then two friends from the lodge and they played together.

Their mom called them for something and Boeta decided to take mom for a walk as I was also walking around looking for birds to photograph, such as the those in the previous posts.

He was in a running mood and at that moment nothing else mattered to me. I wanted to capture the 2 year-old in flight and I wanted to capture the delight.

Se if you think I managed this…

Before we knew it, it was midday and time to nap. After his 3 hour nap, he was ready for more play on the big lawn at the lodge. We were so peaceful at this stage, totally relaxed. I say we, because I could see mom also felt relaxed.

The best for me was watching them together, mother and child, just being together.

Boeta, being a healthy toddler, does not sit still for too long and as you would guess he was off again, exploring.

He found another friend of similar age and they had a quick play or combined investigation of the wagon behind them.

It was getting late and we had to start planning dinner and bath-time. We spent as much time as we could outside together that day and the day played along even keeping the mood serene right into the evening.

So as the sun sets, you can see the figure of a mother and her son on the grass taking it all in. I soon joined them, taking a deep satisfied breath.

Last day

Next morning was the last morning on the farm in the Karoo. We started the morning s we do nearly every morning, with hour of book reading.

This is an important hour of bonding between mom and Boeta, while daddy get ready for the day ahead with Boeta. On this day we were on holiday, so daddy got ready for one last walk on his own, while Boeta got ready for the day with mom. The road to our next destination was waiting. But we had some time to walk around one last time.

I saw a pair of Pied Barbets having a disagreement. Sorry about the second shot, but message is clear to see.

My first stop was to see if I could capture the Rock Hyrax in the Agave plants. Many of the old farm have these near especially old houses, but I have never seen Rock Hyrax living in them and using it as obvious protection.

They were warming up in the early morning sun, so I got a few nice shots. As I passed them walking into the fields, they disappeared to the lower levels and protection. I heard a crow on the morning breeze and looked in the direction of the calls. It was slowly gliding along the road, probably looking for possible easy food from a car strike during the night.

The sounds of the sheep grew louder as I walked into the field. My senses were alive and I was determined to enjoy every sound, smell, sight as the crispness of the morning tingled on my face.

 More later…

 

Climbing the dunes

Earlier this month the boys decided one morning to go climb some dunes. The 2 year-old has never attempted this before, so it would be a great new experience for him too. We walked past some driftwood left by a previous storm.

The dunes start at this point and Boeta did not hang around, he wanted to try this out.

It is pretty steep. We climb it in a zig-zag motion/action. At the steepest angles you really struggle to go forward/upward, but with some support Boeta got to the top.

I carried my tripod up the dune as well and attempted some new shots from the top. Here are a few.

Boeta got a drink on top and while he investigated the new environment, I waited for a moments in which he stood still long enough for bracketed shots.

The EXPLORER!

I saw a how the wind excavated the top of a dune and attempted to capture it, overlooking the ocean.

Unfortunately the wind also started to blow with strong enough gusts that the sand really bothered the little man, so we decided to walk back down to the beach. More photos of the rest of the walk later.

Purest of Joys and a Birthday

Thursday was a great day for the boys. Mom was on her way back from Uganda after near 2 weeks away. This was the last in a series of trips over the last months that left us alone regularly.

Boeta was dressed and ready to go and fetch mom. He could not wait.

We bought a bunch of flowers (roses) for mom and daddy gave Boeta one to give her when she arrives.

Arriving at the airport we got bad news, the flight was late (delayed). Daddy decided that we had no option but to go to the little airport restaurant and watch the activities outside with the planes landing and departing.

A BA flight was the only one at the airport, preparing to depart.

Boeta was excited about this ability to see the planes and all the trucks and other funny vehicles used at the airport.

We were lucky to get a seat with a great view and we settled in for the wait, which hopefully would not be more than 30-40 minutes.

Daddy got a menu and Boeta enjoyed asking about all the things on the menu. Daddy decided to order a strawberry milkshake. Boeta very first milkshake. He loved it and using a straw made him feel very grownup.

A pair of common doves decided to sit in front of our window and groom each other. Boeta enjoyed this as well because he could get close to them and watch them carefully.

The BA flight prepared to leave. Boeta watched the process with great interest. We saw many smaller airplanes landing or taking off.

Shortly after the BA flight departed we noticed a South African Airways flight coming in.

Daddy immediately realized that this is mom’s plane landing and told Boeta the news. His whole demeanor changed. He was much more alert and immediately teary eyed.

Daddy told Boeta that we had to wait a little longer. From past experiences he knows that the little man becomes much more troublesome at the arriving hall after he has seen his mom. So we watched as the plane taxied to its bay.

Every now and then he would excitedly ask me if we could go now. He wanted to get out and he wanted to get to mom.

We were off to the arriving hall. Here you have a door with security that separates the arrivee’s from the family and friends collecting him, similar to most airports nowadays, I guess. One person does not care one way or the other. When he sees mom, he runs to her. This happens every time mom arrives, but this time I had the camera, because we had a flower and mom came home for her birthday, unlike the previous year when she was in the USA. What now follows is the most the purest of joys one could ever ask for. I do not need any more words…

Daddy got reduced to baggage master in that instant and mom became primary caregiver. Boeta would not let go soon and he kept hold of the rose too.

Mom said he told her: “It is a rose, smell!”

At home he showed her his new puzzles and they spent some immediate quality time together.

Friday Morning

Daddy taught Boeta the “Happy Birthday song” with the aim that we could sing it to mom on Friday morning. Unfortunately after the long previous day and the excitement, Boeta was in no singing mood. He just wanted his morning tea and mom. So Daddy obliged and mom had to face another lonely effort by dad on her birthday. Daddy tried to make the scene festive which was to the little man’s liking.

Boeta had a card and present for mom. The card was written by him with dad holding his hand.

Boeta enjoyed the balloons very much and he is still playing with them as I type this.

He played while mom opened the gifts and then Boeta got into the paper more and really tore it apart as can be witnessed above. Daddy also presented mom with a Cream cheese fridge tart and an oven baked Cheesecake. He made 3 of each.

We end this long post by saying that the boys are so very happy to have their mom/wife back. She is truly our beautiful flower.

In Boeta’s words…a song he only sings when we are all together…

“Family, family, that is what we are, everyone with same name, that’s who we are!”

Toddler is a girl magnet…

So, after many “boys only” excursions to the beach and learning sessions, mom was available for a walk for the first time after 2 weeks.

Boeta enjoyed having this girl back in his life. It is his most favorite girl in the world and he even has a loving name for her…”Mamma!”

They decided to do fishing together, while daddy got a chance to walk on the rocks and deeper in with his camera.

While daddy was shooting the large old barnacles, Boeta who learned about it in the week, showed mom the small ones.

I carried on walking around looking for interesting finds. I looked back to see if they were okay and Boeta had another girl in his midst.

He was less taken by the love showed to him by the 5-year-old, he prefers older women. She seemed to like him and he decided to allow her join him in rock throwing.

He really enjoyed this and decided this girl was okay too (for throwing rocks), not so much hugging, he did not want to hurt “mamma’s” feelings. Then he saw Uncle Bennie and ditched the lot…he adores Uncle Bennie.

It did not take long for the two and daddy to find his favorite climbing rock. Now he could show Uncle Bennie his real capabilities.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week.

Stamina

I want to do a follow-up post on the last post ice cream at sundown. The little man has developed a lot of stamina over the last 24 months. All toddlers are busy and active that is for sure and Boeta is no different. I chose stamina because it’s definition states “the ability to sustain prolonged physical or mental effort“.

Boeta now easily walks, runs and climbs his way along the same path I walked before he was born and just as far as what we did in the stroller every morning. We walk, run, climb and explore for 1.5 to 2 hours every time we go out and sometimes twice a day. In the previous post we showed such  morning walk and we did it again, the following morning.

The climbing and jumping is now standard procedure for the little man. He does recognize his limitations too and quickly calls “Daddy help” when he gets stuck.

  Being present to explain finds and teaching, while playing is just as important in my mind. We talk about everything and it goes with a “wow, look at this or that!”. We are lucky to have lots of rocks (many shapes) and shells…touch exploration.

Even things like throwing rocks in water becomes a chance to learn. I would start by saying, wow, what a beautiful oval rock, and then he will go nice round rock, wow, a triangle and so on, learning to see the shapes in the environment.

Then there is running on the rocks. Even walking on rocks like these lets you slip and slide a little. Here he learns more about keeping balance while enjoying the chase of daddy.

Over the past weeks we have started fishing (post), looking for crabs and other live sea creatures, really looking at the treasures each pool holds. The green shell below hold a crab and other 2 photos are of fish “fingerlings” hiding. Look closely at the sense of wonder in that little face.

Just to put context on above photos, here is another set of him from a distance as I walked on.

In above photo I called him and his newest reaction is a sort of jerk and face pull to show he is not impressed and wants to stay longer.

But being daddy, I do have veto power and insisted that he joins me. We had some more exploration to do.

Luckily toddlers do have a short memory and by the time he reached me the slight frustration had given way to fun, running and play again. It was not long before we climbed higher again and I offered him a potential strawberry flavored milk drink, which always seems to make the decision to go home less troublesome in his mind.

Walking back home we have to climb a little last hill to get to our road/street. You can just see the narrow path.

Here is the thing, play at the beach, yes…but also in this play the little man is learning biology, maths, science, art and so many more things. This is the physical part of the word stamina, the other valuable part of this exercise to my mind, the ability to keep himself busy at home, the ability to sit at his table and build a minimum of 3 (4-1) puzzles, meaning each box hold 5 puzzles varying from 20 to 6 blocks, and he loves it. The puzzles are all 3+ and 4+ year old puzzles and he builds them without help. I am noting this fact, because it serves to show that we should be careful to get stuck on age vs toys. I react on what I see and experience with him.

He pages books by himself and even tells some stories to himself as he knows them from all the reading, especially done by mom in the morning, but loves it when we read to him and he seems to not get enough of that (normal I think). So without much hard work he has developed the mental stamina that sometimes astounds me for a toddler of 27 months. Yes, we are fortunate, but the point is this, I now see the benefits of the last year of exploration and letting him explore, playing outside.

I only allowed him the tablet a few months ago for the first time, he mastered it in a week and plays on it mainly at night if not building puzzles. It is as if they are born with the ability to operate tablets and alike. He will leave it and any other thing he may be doing if I say, “Boeta, wanna go for a walk?” Right now, I am truly grateful and proud of that.

PS..NEXT post we will return to my walk in the karoo. I cannot wait to show more finds of that walk.

Boeta and the tortoise

Boeta walked up to me and we watched the merinos for a moment before I showed him something much more interesting. Looking back his reaction was pretty fascinating for a 2 year-old.

Half “parked” in a small bush next to us was a wild Leopard tortoise. By my estimation it must be around 30 years+ old, if not much older, whatever the case may be, not a young specimen. I told Boeta to look at the tortoise, his first ever face to face with a big one. An amazing thing happened, he was like a veterinarian, immediately interested and concerned for the health as he laid his little hands on the old lady’s shell and inspected her…he was very serious too.

I turned her slightly out the bush so that he could see her face and this seemed to get him excited and in a lighter mood again. We decided to walk on, excitedly talking about our find and the fact that it blended in so nicely, I nearly missed it totally.

Boeta was back exploring, which made life pretty tough for mom, because he kept running off the track into the field and getting grass up in places he did not want it.

Once she got the irritants out, he immediately forgot about it and was off again…

At this point we had been walking for a good 30 minutes and knew we had to turn around as he was still a toddler and this equaled an hour walk already. We turned around and when we got to the point where we left the tortoise, it was still there…

Boeta was again heavily concerned for this tortoise and it’s seemingly inability to move away.

We explained that it was still fairly early in the day (10 am) and being winter the tortoise had to first warm up or it may be waiting for warmer times.

(Later the farmer told us they tend to park up against a bush and just sit there until it warms up again, which is precisely what this one did.)

Boeta was not so convinced and again laid his young hands on the shell of the tortoise.

I decided to show him the tortoise was okay and asked mom to take a few shot of her, when we turn her on her side, so that we can try to determine the sex later and also show Boeta she was fine.

It was a female, the short stubby tail and flat plate indicates that, males having more of a groove and angle from center outward and longer tail with more pronounced V. One special tortoise then as she would be able to lay up to 15 eggs and several clutches in a season, sometimes, taking up to a year to hatch.

It also gave me the opportunity to show you the front and back legs and nails of the mature tortoise.

The rear legs are very trunk-like, the front legs are almost paddle shaped and “pigeon-toed” with a row of small “nails”. They can move very fast on these legs, and maneuver over rocky terrain easily They can also climb and go underwater for up to 10 minutes. Younger animals have a surprising ability to climb, as their toenails provide a very secure grip on wood, concrete, and rough stone surfaces.

The South African leopard tortoise is significantly more difficult to breed in captivity than the common leopard tortoise, S. p. babcocki. Eggs will rarely hatch in an incubator. Most successes have occurred when eggs are left in the ground, and when the climate is similar to the natural one for these tortoises. Not surprisingly, given its propensity for grassland habitats, it grazes extensively upon mixed grasses. It also favors succulents and thistles, and (in captivity) the fruit and pads of the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia sp.) (cactus are New World plants not native to Africa). The African Leopard Tortoise typically lives 80 to 100 years.

Leopard tortoises “court” by the male ramming the female. When mating, the male makes grunting vocalizations.

Keep up mom…

We drove to the top of a hill and got out to explore. We had the area for ourselves, at least 10 – 15 km in every direction, not including the farmhouse, where we stayed, which was about 3 km or so from our location.

I got going down the farm tracks in order to take a few shots of the 2 year-old and mom. Initially I struggled to see Boeta, as he was busy collecting rocks and having fun in the immediate area. Mom patiently waited for him to finish his exploration. He appeared with a huge rock.

With all the rocks around, it did not take long before he saw another and another in need of inspection. Mom and Boeta traded leading as they walked, stopped, walked, stopped, walked…

I decided to take a few shots of the Euphorbia that grew everywhere on the hill.

I saw a crow in the air and wondered for the slightest of moments about the specie, saw the white and knew it was a pied crow. I asked mom if she saw it and pointed…

At the same time a few “Springbok” gazelle took off from close to me and Boeta noticed, but not mom, she was focused on the crow. I could not get a nice shot of them, unfortunately.

Boeta, unknown to mom, took off, while she was looking up.

When mom looked back, Boeta put some serious distance between them and she needed to lift the speed…seriously.

When the little man got to me, I showed him and mom (a little later), the meat merino’s that were standing all around us on the hill.

We enjoyed seeing fast distances, showing the little man the far mountains and all we could see and find in the fields around us. A special find at this spot with the next post…

Being stopped by grassy irritations…

Continuing our walk, we walked along one of the farm roads until we saw a gate that led us into the fields.

Boeta was reacting as we hoped and he really enjoyed the open karoo. The first thing we noticed was the flowering Aloe ferox.

Then we got a glimpse of 2 “Steenbok” antelope charging away from us as we got to the crest of a hill. They are not very big and pretty nimble.

We looked around and saw a Euphorbia specie with its fingers, some called these medusanoids.

We were now working in the open fields and Boeta got his first lesson. Some “Piercing Grass, Stickgrass, Three-Awned Grass, Buffalo Grass”, whatever you want to call it, started to collect on his sweatpants and in very sensitive area and it started to prick him. He stopped dead in his tracks.

It was pretty obvious what was going on and I could not help giggling. Luckily mom was close and came to the rescue of the confused toddler. She started removing the grass that got stuck like burdock.

He patiently waited for her to remove the causes of his discomfort, which seems to have been a great collection as mom took a while, and I started to look for other subjects to photograph.

Nope still busy….

Okay then, time to head back in any case, so I walked past them and took a shot back to the farmhouse from the top of the hill behind them.

Boeta eventually got freedom of movement back and was off again. As we walked back to the road we saw a dassie (Rock Hyrax) and I got a quick photo before it was gone.

Boeta also realized we were on our way back and he already remembered what was waiting for him there. He started picking up speed as we got near to the farmyard again.

When he saw the sheep, he was off and running with mom in hot pursuit. It was so much fun to witness his immediate and obvious love for the environment he found himself in. How do you know your kid is enjoying himself?? Tell him it is time to go home for dinner and a bath…He did not know it, but more fun was around the corner and the sheep would be there, the next day.

We walked past a flowering Ruschia species, a succulent plant (low bush) with small purple flowers.

Reflecting on the last week(s)

I took this photo last night of the sun going down and the reflection from our living room window.

I thought it a good title to this post as we have had an interesting time, lately.

First, I want to thank all the people who wished me and Boeta good health, we are all better and feeling ready to take on the world again.

Mom is away for the week, we miss her and cannot wait for Friday to go and collect her at the airport again.

Last Friday we had expected a power cut again, something we are having to live with, because it is a near daily occurrence in South Africa at the moment. At 9 pm the power went….we did not get power again before Sunday, near midday. So for 48 hours we had to keep going with the toddler and being winter it becomes dark early in the evening. Here are some photo’s…

LOOK MOM….THE LIGHT IS OFF!

FUNNNNN!Daddy had to try to keep his mobile working and much to the enjoyment of the family, got a kinetic power generator plugged in and winding the living daylights  out of it (look at him go) to charge his phone. At least daddy was warm (hot) and even worked up a sweat for half a bar of mobile power we guess.

For the rest of the time it was torches and candles. we told stories and played games.

Boeta got to do more ART, which is his new phase now. He wants to do art and build puzzles.

REFLECTING on BOETA

The little man still loves playing ball and with all the other speedy things he likes and the new art phase, the little man has grown some more since we arrived back from holiday. It is amazing what these outings do for his development. He is doing short sentences now and can say any word, parrot style, without knowing it’s meaning. For the most part it is his communication skills that we all find lots of benefit in now, as we are able to generate discussions, toddler style. Playing on the deck has evolved from mere kicking to dribbling, throwing and catching…we are working on the catching, 1 in 4 he actually catches. So…are you ready for some action….! HERE WE GO!

THIS ONE HE DID CATCH!

FOCUS….

LOOK AT THE FOCUS!

We had some other visitors as well. A Mommy Southern Right Whale came past the house with her baby.

What was interesting was the turning around on her back, belly up! Not sure if that is to allow the baby to suckle or just playing?

She lay like that for a while and the turned around again and swam off. I could not get a nice shot of the baby fin, sorry.

We are approaching full moon and it is called “The Sturgeon Moon“. Seems appropriate given the “large fish” we saw….

August: The Sturgeon Moon
The sturgeon, a large fish common to the Great Lakes and other nearby bodies of water, is most easily caught during this month. The reddish appearance of the moon through the frequent sultry haze of August also prompted a few ethnic groups to dub it the Red Moon. Other names included the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon.

OK, so that was a “current” update, we will go on with the posts of the holiday from tomorrow. Thanks for visiting!