Reboot….

Hi guys,

We are busy with the reboot of Rumbling Ocean. This includes manually removing posts, 20 at a time and associated photos. We need to create space again for more blogging.

Personally, I have had a few equipment updates and skill improvements, which should provide for interesting posts in the future. Post will also me more spaced better and both project and/or subject based.

We will do most of what we did, but the focus will shift a little away from Boeta as he grows older and more toward art and nature.

We have also un-followed all blogs (cleaning out the dead weight) for this new start, so expect a re-follow soon. We think it fair to focus on our old friends and followers and build new friends and followers.

Yesterday, I tried my hand at art flower photography…these are out the camera with a few textures added.

Hope to see you on the other side of the reboot, if not thanks for following along over the last 3 odd years.

Adrian

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…

 

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.

Morning walk with an archeologist toddler

Saturday, last, was a perfect morning. We decided to take a walk, but not go to the beach, we went inland. So we drove a few kilometers and parked under the trees, selecting an area rich in fynbos, mainly protea species. It was also a wide enough “path” to allow for the big wheel stroller, a must on sandy or gravel roads. Boeta’s own 4×4.

The walk is 4 and half kilometer. Off we went, daddy with the camera and mom with the stroller. It did rain a few days before, so the path still had muddy areas, which although ideal for the little man, not so much for his parents, as we wanted to have a walk and not turn around to get him dry and clean.

Boeta nearly hung over the side of the stroller as he examined the area with so much bushes and flowers. Some of the things he saw, included lizards, Protea and some birds too. We just enjoyed the environment and change in scene.

We hardly talked in this first period, except for answering the odd question from Boeta about something he saw. It was just perfect and we were savoring the smells of the fresh dew and soil mix, the smell of the bushes in the fields around us. We kept on walking but also kept an eye on the path as we decided Boeta should be left to run and explore on the way back.

As we went along the path got narrower but we kept going to a point where the stroller could not go anymore. Time to turn around. Time for the little man to run and explore.

Boeta immediately went for the rocks and not any, the biggest he could carry in one hand. The problem is when you have 2, you cannot pick up any more and you have to pass so many potential rock and sticks.Daddy, now walking with the stroller told Boeta to bring the rocks, we can put it in the pocket at the back. This was an immediate hit suggestion….look at that face light up.

We swapped stroller and baby. Mom took the stroller and daddy walked with Boeta. He collected more rocks and gave them to me to put in the pocket, but we also realized these rocks will fill that pocket quickly, so now and then daddy subtly flicked one into the bush again. Boeta realized it will be easier to put them in the pocket himself, so started to do that, which really would not work. Daddy told mom, “Just walk a little faster.” The idea then that it would take longer to reach the pocket and fill it. Boeta picked up speed and ran after mom and the pocket, rocks in hand, laughing. Daddy was in tears, so was mom, but she also had to keep the speed up. Every now and then she would think, I am far enough ahead, time to break…daddy said: “Look behind you”, yes, the little man was right there, rocks in hand.

After our hilarious walk with toddler chasing mom holding big rocks in his hands for around the last kilometer, we drove around the corner to a spot with a bit of a view and some picnic tables for a well deserved refreshment.

Boeta got out and was immediately playing and looking for things to find around the area.

After all this running and playing Archeologist one gets thirsty and hungry.

It was a wonderful morning as a family, with lots of laughing and as you can see from both the faces of mom and Boeta, running too…or is it chasing? The last 2 images are shots of the view from that spot.

 

Gardening Toddler

Daddy decided to lift the garden, cleaning out deep growing grass-roots and working in new soil and compost. Being so close to the ocean, also means we have beach sand for soil and it needed to be refreshed. Yesterday an area was done for replanting giving Boeta a great excuse to go play in the sand and help with the gardening. Daddy called him, put his gardening hat on and got his wheelbarrow. He told Boeta to go get his tools as we are going to do some planting. He was out of his skin with excitement.

We started planting and we use the wheelbarrow to put selected plants in, then we push it close to the area and start planting. Initially it was Boeta’s job to bring the plants for daddy as he put them into the ground. He then decided to try a few himself, planting them upside down, roots in the air. Daddy showed him the correct way. The lizard is his favorite ornament in the garden and he helped putting it just right.

The idea of plants having to be covered with soil, stuck, and he then decided to add soil to every plant, just to be sure daddy did not miss some.

The most important thing in the garden is one’s hat and losing it is not a good thing…the problem is to put it back, while one hand is loaded with soil…luckily, daddy was there to rescue the situation.

Boeta really loved the play and learning session in the garden and soon he was walking around like a farmer investigating his crop, even learning the words “aloe” and “tag”.

We decided to end the session after about 2 hours and Boeta sat with daddy as they discussed what they did.

In this period of calm after a hard “days” work, Boeta decided to test the soil too! This was a less than good decision, clearly.

We packed up, ready to go in and have something to drink and eat, having established that soil would not do.

Our neighbors saw us busy in the garden and being very fond of Boeta, they came over to see what was going on. They are Boeta’s favorite neighbors too.

Boeta explained in a language still unrecognizable what we were doing and soon a game developed with the tags we use to mark the aloes.

At the end of this session we went direct into bath mode. He had soil everywhere, but he was happy, very happy. It really is fun to play with your toddler in the garden, while also teaching them about plants and gardening.

Our environment … 2014.

We have shared with you our trips into nature throughout the year and in equal proportions showed you something of our immediate environment which is dominated by the ocean and views we have of it.

This included a photo here and there of aloes, which daddy collects, from the garden, like the Aloe schelpei from Ethiopia, or the Aloe tharskii in full flower.

Mostly we tried to give different views of the coastal area in front of our house and here are a few of our favorite photos.  Now lets fulfill a promise too, A Momma’s View blog had a new challenge idea, Nature Chills. Her question, what in nature makes you chill out and why? The photos below is our answer and it has always been our choice to make nature a big part of our life, because it is one of the few places a person can really get in touch with inner self, take a deep breath, experience relaxing solitude.

The red tide photos attracted a few people, so we show them again. Mom said she saw the post and thought I made the photos a little too red, I laughed and when she got home, she nearly tripped as she saw the color was real.

A few posts ago we did a 3 part series on the high seas, so we will not show them again. Moving on, some of them were taken within 1-2 km from the house in the surrounding natural forests we are blessed to have.

So there, a nice overview of our environment – and the area we include in the definition of “our rumbling ocean”. We are excited to see, search and share more of our area in the new year and hope you find it interesting.