HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYBODY!!!!

I hope that you have had a special day.......

Even if you did not receive anything for Valentine's Day, it doesn't matter!! Remember that we have received LIFE......and that's what counts! Whether our lives are not always what we hoped they would be or whether our life is amazing........we are alive and have the opportunity to touch somebody else's life and make a difference. At the end of the day the things of the world are not important, since they are all man-made!

To the people who did not receive anything for Valentine's Day, here is a beautiful bouquet of flowers for you! From my heart to yours!!

Good Morning!!

Well as I promised, here are the "after" photographs - of our lavender sprucing up! I think it made a HUGE difference to the cottage!

We also roped dad in to help with the taping up of the windows and that speeded up the painting process!! In between that, dad made endless cups of tea and coffee and served us lunch!! Delicious English sandwiches washed down with cool drinks! A blessing in the scorching Karoo heat reaching temperatures of 40 degrees!!

Hello......????? Oh boy, these 2 girls are driving me crazy!! I suppose they want tea again??

Adrie concentrating as I caught her through the bathroom curtain.

There's always time for a smile...

We also gave the small front gate a good sanding and lick of lavender paint!

The 'shabby chic' look is great but we just had to paint this little gate lavender!!

......AFTER......

The (black) front door is now lavender....

.....the little gate is hanging.... and painted lavender...

Everything looks so fresh and new......... and lavender

....outside the bathroom window.... with lavender growing underneath....

Well? .... what do you think? You love it as much as we do?
Thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow.

Another day has dawned!
Good morning everybody! Hope you are all well?

I have a few posts to share with you. These will form part of a story of our house restoration in Aberdeen, Eastern Cape - (South Africa)

 I had to rush down recently to Aberdeen to sort out a problem with an unreliable builder we have. This is about a 7-8 hour drive, so one cannot actually "rush"... and with some of our roads being in such shocking condition, you have to drive carefully and be on the alert at all times! My good friend, Adrie, was my 'assistant'. She helped with the driving and kept me laughing all the way there and back. She's also a 'jack of all trades' and has done a few home restorations and re-sold the said properties. She can work 2 men under the table and is afraid of nothing! She has more energy than me and kept me going when I wanted to lay my paint brush down and park off under the nearest aloe's shade and sing that old song...."Klein Karoo" and ...... think of England!! That Karoo sun and heat is unbeatable!!!

Driving down through the Orange Free State at sunrise....

Anyway, we arrived safely, the problem was dealt with and we spent much time sprucing up the cottage that dad lives in,... plus... squeezed in some time for a quick trip to Mossel Bay to collect an old barber's chair and captain's chest that my hubby bought on our previous trip in Sept last year. All of that in ONE week, you may ask? Yes!! We did!

 Before I left Klerksdorp, I had this signboard made up for dad. He gave the name and I designed the rest. 'Lavender Blue' was the name of a racehorse that he used to bet on in the old days and we thought it suited the cottage as we have so much lavender growing around there.

Dad proudly putting in the last screw of his new sign!

 In this photograph you can see the beautiful new sign and the windows that have been taped up, ready for painting the new 'lavender' colour. The black trimmings were old, shabby and outdated.

Not attractive anymore......

Here Adrie is busy with the front window panes.... already a huge improvement!

I wonder what dad was thinking here.....? these 2 crazy girls have bombarded his place.....
Fortunately he loves the lavender colour and didn't care when his neighbour teased him about it.....Perhaps a jealous old man?

We decided everything needed a 'touch' of lavender. Here I am busy with the flower pots. They also have lavender growing in them!! Lol!!

Sanding is hard work and no good for the finger nails!!

I wanted a "shabby chic" look. Think I got it....

This looks better already....

Dad wondering what's going to happen next.... hhhmmm?........ don't worry dad!! You'll see!!

Well, you've seen the 'before' photos today. Will post the 'after' pics tomorrow.
Have a lovely day!

Klerksdorp Cemetry.....(cont)

A local hospital - The Duff Scott Hospital - was named after Charles Duff Scott

An interesting snippet of information for you....Mr. Masureik was one of Klerksdorp's biggest business tycoons and commissioned a local architect to design a beautiful Victorian house called "Fountain Villa" in Hendrik Potgieter Street, Klerksdorp.

I just want to thank these special people for making this series possible - Oom Alfred & Eugene of Danlou Motors!

.......Oupa - for keeping the gardens beautiful and clean....

.....Bert Gaffen for his unending interesting and valuable stories, for teaching and touching our lives and changing them forever!! ...a BIG thankyou!!!

Thankyou for your interest via comments and emails!

See you tomorrow!

Good afternoon everybody!

I trust that you all have had a pleasant weekend so far? I am still busy working on the last lot of photographs of the Anglo Boer War and the Cemetry here in Klerksdorp. Tomorrow will be the last post in the series of the Anglo Boer War..... for now!

 I hope that you have enjoyed it as much as i have?
Have a lovely Sunday! See you tomorrow!

Our visit to the Makweteng Cemetry also in Klerksdorp...

......also proved to be a very humbling experience and sad that the majority of the graves are lost and people unidentified.

As a matter of interest, Soweto in Johannesburg (South Africa), originates from a black concentration camp during the Anglo Boer War. I actually did not know that until I started all this research and met our Bert Gaffen, who has spent much time and patience enlightening me.

The British "scorched earth policy" displaced thousands of African farmworkers and the British established 66 concentration camps for them; with Klerksdorp being one of them!

This open cemetry is the Black Concentration Camp Graveyard. Nobody was interested in marking the graves and caring for them. By 1907 the new local authorities established a black township in Klerksdorp, North West Province, South Africa.

The grave stones with the springbok emblem represented the Union Soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars. There are also some to be seen at the other cemetry.

All so special and just as beautiful............. I leave you with your own thoughts....... until tomorrow!!
Take care and thanks for following.

WALL  of  REMEMBRANCE.....


The details on the Wall of Remembrance touched the 3 of us and we spent a long time reading the names of all the people who perished in the camp. I left the area with a very heavy heart!

My mom and Bev chatting and listening to Bert.

The list of adults ('Volwassenes') on the "honour roll"....

Bev's maiden name is Herbst and to her surprise she found some forefathers who were also in the Camp. This touched her deeply .

A separate list of all the children ('kinders') who perished here.

More names...

We also have some Kruger ancestors who died here.

A serious moment with Bev looking on pensively!

Time for a smile before we move on!

Thankyou for stopping by! I hope that this series has touched you as much as me? Take care!
Until the next post!