Deck in Progress

Hello!

I greet you from a wet and misty Claridge! We are thankful for every drop of rain though!

I can happily say that the deck is finally finished! Completely! Now, I must still take some final photo's of it tomorrow but.....here is a sneak preview of it. This is the "behind-the-scenes" part. ;)

First, the holes for the poles had to be "drilled".

Looks just like a mole made them!

In go the poles....

We bought the timber a while back. The courtyard wasn't tiled yet here.

My Dad is very skilled and there's a lot of precision involved in building a deck. 

The supporting beams/planks.

Curly, the little furry helper.

Straight and neat.

The first planks go in.

Aren't they beautiful?

More planks are on, Joshy is already enjoying it here.

Timber galore!

Soon, it had to be joined to the house, of course the wall got a bit dirty...

It goes right around the side of our house.

Eventually, my Dad began with the cobblestone path.

My Dad also built the staircase, Joshy inspected it.

And then Curly...

They tried it out before the railing was built.

Joshy again.

Photo's ;)

Just a few photo's!

It was quite hot this  week, as you can see, they are just lazing around!

How can she sleep like that?

Curly on her chair.

Blitzy on top of the kitchen cupboards!

Fresh tomatoes from the garden!

A slice of my Mom's healthy seed bread.

How cute...?

Joshy 

Blitzy

Hmmm....it would be nice to reach 3000 views before 2016 rolls in, can we do it?!
Stay tuned for my next post, the deck photo's will be up!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila

Easy Embroidery & Emptying Out

Hi,

Just a quick update and a few photo's for your enjoyment. ;)

Christmas is just around the corner and so, we did some work in the house. We still haven't put the Christmas tree up yet....I know, it's very late.....but my Mom likes the house to be really clean and all renovations must be finished and then we can start on the tree! I guess there's no harm in that so, we tried to achieve that standard. ;)
We went through the cupboards and sorted the stuff into things that can stay, things that MUST go in the trash and stuff that can be given away or re-used.
Today, my Mom took the task of washing all the windows in the house. If you know big farmhouses, then you'd know that there are many windows and BIG ones too! Blitzy followed her around trying to "help" my Mom.

The other day, I used my embroidery machine.....oooooh, it is spectacular, really! It's amazing to see the little creation forming before your eyes. Well, I received this machine as a gift from my dear parents, a year and a half ago. I've used it plenty times but I don't remember ever blogging about it! Sorry! If you love all things creative or just like to sew, this machine is for you! They are expensive but I assure you, it is definitely worth buying. As usual, inquisitive little Blitzy was at my side, staring at the machine. I had to discourage her from getting close to the machine as it could be dangerous for those little paws of hers. Anyway, sleep tugged at her eyes and she decided to take a nap on my material, it's actually the backing for the garment.

Alright, I'll end here and by the time the weekend rolls around, I should have another post for you guys.

God bless and take care,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

Blitzy on the backing or "embroidery stabilizer" as the professionals call it. ;)

 

A design I did on one of my shirts. 

Another naughty stunt from Curly! 

And here....

                    A big gekho entered our home at some point and it drove Blitzy crazy, she tried to hunt him but he managed to escape!

I just thought that Blitzy's eyes looked so beautifully green here!

My Mom made lentil soup (dhal) & I made the dumplings! ;)

Delicious Pies & a Daring Duo!

Howdy! 

Today I baked some mini-blueberry pies! I used bluberries that were grown right here on the farm. The pies were delicious if I do say so myself. ;)

I didn't want the juice to ooze out of the pies like that but my Dad claims that they are more appetizing this way!

  

On Friday, we visited our grandparents in Durban, it's about 45min away from us. We try to visit at least once a month or so. This time, my Grandmother was not well at all so, we took her to a hospital in Pietermaritzburg which is the town that's just 10 min from Claridge. It was better that my Gran was closer to us so that my parents could care for her. They went to the hospital 3 times a day and it did leave them quite tired at the end of the day. Thankfully, my Gran gained more strength as each day passed and on Tuesday, the doctor discharged her from hospital. My Gran was rather homesick so, my parents took her back to Durban yesterday. It was a surprise for my grandfather and he was quite excited to have her back at home! They are inseparable, really. We're glad that my Gran is on the road to recovery and is taking it one day at a time. We are praying for her.

Here at the Claridge mission, there are devotions twice a day, in the morning and evening. Well, one night, after we had returned from devotion, I looked around for Curly. She would usually race to the door to go outside when we arrive but this night she was quiet........too quiet. So, I slowly peeped around the corner of our dining-room to find her curled neatly on top of the couch! How naughty! She wasn't the only offender though, on the seat of the couch was an adorable little ginger bundle. It was Joshy! These 2 seemed to have planned to be naughty together. It was a case of "I-won't-tell-if-you-don't".

Sadly, we had to end that little party! Blitzy was the only well-behaved one, for once!

Last week, we had a visit from Kenzo and Lassie, they're so sweet! They came to see Curly, actually. Then, Blitzy sauntered up to the gate and Kenzo made a run for it! Lassie raced off too, then slowly came back to catch a glimpse of this little kitty. It's really funny to watch them run away from a small little creature like her. ;)

Geniet die foto's!

That's Afrikaans for "Enjoy the photo's!" 

Afrikaans is similar to Dutch, in case you were wondering.

God bless,

Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡ 

Blitzy, so innocent.

The daring duo!

Joshy did not seem to care at all!

Curly's "visitors" on the other side of the gate. ;)

Lassie peeping from a distance.

Catching Up, Chocolates & Cookies & a Clever Monkey!

Hey,

I don't have much news since my last post but I just decided to share a few photo's. ;)

We are already into the month of December! Time flies! With Christmas just a few weeks away, everyone is getting into the festive mood. We haven't put our Christmas tree up just yet but hopefully we will get around to doing that soon!
Well, my parents' clients and employees have already given us early Christmas gifts! We had received so many gifts from them last year and this year was no different! Many boxes of chocolates and cookies and other sweet things.

I think I can safely conclude that summer has reached Claridge for good though we do experience a few cooler days inbetween........I receive those days with two hands! I really do prefer cool, even cold, days with lots of rain and mist.....yep, that's me! However, I've learnt to enjoy all seasons!

This week I got to reconnect with an old friend from New Zealand! We used to live in Auckland, New Zealand when I was little. Now there's a fun fact that you didn't know about me! Or did I already mention it at some point? Perhaps so, anyway, this friend of mine is my age and it was really nice to hear where she was in life, academically and spititually. Her name is Esther Koshy and she was happy to hear that I knew another Ester, just without the letter "h". The other Ester was recently married, I posted about that last month. Anyway, this Esther and her family were family friends to my family whilst we lived in New Zealand. We tried to keep in contact as we grew up, Esther and I were almost 5 years old when we returned to South Africa. Yes, we were quite small!! We would send letters periodically and then we began emailing each other not long after we moved to Claridge. Then, life got busy and I'd say that we both just didn't get a chance to email one another! Like I mentioned above, we reconnected this week and have made the time to catch up a bit! We exchanged photo's too, that reminded me how the years have just flown by!

Oh! I almost forgot! Yesterday, a big monkey was at our door, my Mom saw him and tried to chase him away but he wasn't scared at all! The monkeys that live here are used to people to some extent. Most times, they'd run away when they spot you but there are some braver ones that don't seem to care at all! So, later on, just Caleb and I were at home. We heard a soft nudge against the gate. I decided to check it out, I walked right to the gate and there was another monkey! He had lifted up our rubber mat and carefully laid it against the gate, that's the noise we had heard! He didn't even notice me approaching him and was indulging himself on the beetles and other little bugs that were underneath the mat! I tried clapping loudly, he did get a shock but wasn't afraid of me. He just stared and lazily walked away and climbed up our Litchi tree! How smart and brave! Unfortunately, I didn't have my tablet or phone on hand to take a photo of the monkey! This morning, the birds rushed for the bugs. We dont usually have many bugs in that spot but since it's Summer now, they have started to come during the night. Lots of them come after it has rained too.

Hmmm......what started out as a short post ended off as being a decent sized one, I would say!

God bless,
Sele'ha Mikhaila ♡

The gifts!! Yum, yum, yum!

The beautiful bags they came in. ---->

I have no idea why Joshy chose this specific spot to sleep!

Blitzy relaxing at the window.

The monkey's smart thinking!

Beautiful birds enjoying the leftover bugs this morning. Sorry for bad quality!