A rainy day...

 Actually, that's an understatement.  It's been pouring!!  We've got a slight gap in the weather now, but the next cold front is on its way and there's more heavy weather on the way next week.  Sitting at work yesterday, I didn't even realise that it was raining.  I mean it was drizzly and we had a lengthy downpour at one point, but I didn't think it was raining that much.  Until I left the office!  I was glad I had my camera with me, so I snapped a few to share.  The top picture is across the road from our office.  You can see how far under water the poles are.

Below shows the whole road, if you look carefully, you can see the parking lines and the grey drive way I had to go up to park.  That's a lot of water...

 This is the road my folks live on.  The water is pavement high...

 And this one just around the corner from Jake and my house...

 More shocking though are the photos that are doing the rounds now, these ones came from Jo this morning...

 It's insane - my little car could never have made it!  The water has dried up really quickly though and even in the hour between when I took my photos and when I collected Jake from school, the water level had dropped substantially.  I'm just so grateful to have a roof over my head and a warm bed to snuggle into...

Because of the flooding, my mom couldn't get into town to take Corky and Bi to Jo, so they landed up spending the night with my folks.  I took them with to fetch Jake from school and he was very happy to see them in the car waiting for him.  He was even more excited when we got to my mom's house to drop his cousins off, to see that my mom had made them flapjacks as a treat.  Jake and Corky seem to have turned a little corner with each other and Jake is really trying very hard to be extra nice to Corky...

 Be wanted to be in on the action too...

  Oh, it's so nice (and less stressful) when they all get on...

 A big smile for mommy...

my precious heart, freckle-face...

 Not the greatest photo, I know, but just so you can see how comfortable they all were together...

 Bi loved the little photo-shoot, every time the flash went off, she shouted 'more'...

Bi recently told someone that her name is Princess Bi... guess these things stick in their minds...

 Ta-daaaaa...

Jo, I wanted to wash her face for you, I really did, but she looked too cute full of chocolate spread!!

Hope you're all keeping warm and dry!  Snuggle up, it's still gonna get nasty.

Lots of love,

Sue XXX

Catching up...

 The rugby season is drawing to an end.  Jake's last practise is today (he's skipping, because he has a dentist appointment, dread) and his final match is on Wednesday.  While I'm a very nervous rugby mom, Jake really loves this game and he enjoys his time with his team.  I can't even begin to tell you how much they've grown as a team this year, it's quite unbelievable.  Their coach (in the background with his arms spread) is gentle, but firm with them and the kids all adore him.  He's been brilliant in teaching them new ball handling skills, scrumming and proper tackling.  Jake's adopted the position of wing on the field, which suits me fine.

I love being able to watch practises and matches and I love that Jake still wants me there.  I'm pretty sure it won't last forever, so I'll enjoy it while it does...

 Jake's always been pretty cautious on the field.  He doesn't like getting hurt, which is a bit of a problem when you play rugby...

 But he's getting stronger and bigger and braver.  He loves getting time with the ball and is learning how to take the tackle...

 He's learning how to support his team and is really trying his best...

 Working together to support his team...

 He's taken a few bad tackles, like this one in the neck, that seriously made him (and me) upset...

 But through it all, win or lose, Jake comes off the field a happy, sweaty little man...

 Desperately in need of a shower...

 I'm sure with time, as he bulks up and grows up, he'll learn to play this game with even more passion and I'm enjoying sharing this with him.  I just hope that other schools are focusing on teaching rugby safety as much as ours is.

The weekend past was beautiful. On Friday, M spoilt Jake and I to a delicious sushi dinner at home, Saturday morning was rugby, then rushing to get ready for my cousin's wedding.  He's married the girl of his dreams and they are so well suited.  It was a lovely, emotional wedding and it was good to catch up with all my cousins again too.  This is a snap I nicked off Facebook, of our whole family on my mom's side, minus our kids and my M...

 Yesterday was the most magnificent winter's day in Cape Town.  I cannot wait for summer!!  Jake and I took advantage of the low tide and took a little walk to the island opposite M's house.  Jake's been nagging to go for ages, so I had no excuse on Sunday...

 Jake loves climbing the rocks and scratching in the rock pools...

 There was some mad man on the rocks, enjoying the waves breaking all over him...

 Looking out over the island to Table Mountain...

 There was a whale out enjoying the sunshine too.  I think it's a Southern Right, but I'm no expert.  Jake was thrilled to be pretty close...

 Jake bumped into a girl from his school while we were there, so enjoyed showing her the whale...

 The tide always comes in too soon and we were supposed to be braai'ing, so we didn't stay as long as Jake would've liked.  Plus the rocks are really sharp and we must remember to take shoes with us next time...

 Hey Jake... I love you more than you could ever know...

 The water in Blaauwberg is usually toe-cramping cold, but it was pretty warm yesterday.  Jake even had a little dip...

 View looking back towards the island.  There's Jake on the left...

 From the sunny balcony at M's house, looking back towards the busy island.  We spent the rest of our afternoon on the deck, in the sun, braai'ing and chatting.  It was the perfect, relaxing end to our lovely weekend.  I am feeling like a very lucky girl at the moment...

 This morning was a nightmare rush.  Jake remembered that he was supposed to have printed pictures for his group oral today and then there was unbelievably heavy traffic on our way to school.  Turned out that a water pipe had burst on our route and that a bus had sunk in the hole in the road caused by the burst pipe.  It all happened at the top of my parent's road, literally 100m away from the high school.  People were doing everything to get around the bus at this heavy intersection.  Thankfully, we didn't struggle too much and Jake got to school on time...

 Firmly stuck...

 It provided much entertainment for the kids and by the time I took these photos after I'd dropped Jake, the tow truck was already there to try shift the bus...

 Hopefully this morning isn't a sign of how crazy this week is going to be.  Last week was just mad and so I was really hoping for a tamer one this week.  I need a massage!  My photography course is drawing to an end and I didn't have homework to do this week.  We're off to Sandy Bay to do landscape shots tomorrow evening and then next week we'll be learning a bit about editing them.  I have really enjoyed the course and I have learnt a lot, but it's been 2 terms worth of work now and I need a break!  School has been hectic, sport crazy and add in cubs and photography and my extra job, things are more busy than they should be.  Can't wait for the short school holiday at the end of September!

Sending love,

Sue XXX

A lot of hard work...

This week's assignment has been about using flash to freeze motion.  Sounds simple enough until you actually try it!  Especially without an add-on flash ie only using my camera's pop-up flash.  These pictures were all taken in the dark, using the little flash to freeze the water.  It's really not easy to get the water in focus, you never know where it's going to land and I have a heap of reject pictures from this assignment and only a handful of maybes.  It's a matter of jumping up and down to hit the light switch, getting everything set up and then kicking the tripod on your way back to your spot in the dark and having to start all over again.  VERY FRUSTRATING!

I must give credit where credit is due and I wouldn't have been able to do this without Jake's help.  He didn't moan once (possibly because he went to bed later than usual) and came up with some pretty cool ideas too.  The first picture is done by literally dumping a shot glass of water into the glass.  I quite like it.  The light is reasonable and I like the splash.  I think it could've been nicer if I'd cut more of the glass off and caught more of the splash though.  The next one was created by dropping a bouncy ball into the same glass.  Is also pretty.  Which do you prefer??

Next up was to try catch a drop just before it hit the "ground".  I used a sunflower platter, put a piece of blue cardboard below and a red one behind.  Quite funky...

 Jake's greatest idea and he can take complete credit for this, was to use red food colouring, instead of plain water to create the drops.  Makes it so much more dramatic.  I think this one might be my favourite of all the pictures taken...

 This one is really good too though, just don't like the one cut off at the top.  This one's light is better.  Also, as we added more and more food colouring, the water became redder and obviously the blue card stood out less and less...

 So similar, yet, so different and I still have to send them off for printing...

We were using a little pipette that Jake got with a science kit and it really was the perfect tool for this exercise.  Our next attempt was the squeeze the water into the dish and to catch it splashing...

I love these pictures too... I only need two for my class tonight, I just can't choose...

The second half of our assignment has been to do an environmental portrait again, again using flash to give extra light.  I'd have liked to have had more time to do these when it was darker, but I've run out of that...

I like this picture too, but it was taken in front of a window, so excludes it a bit.  Would also have been nice to have gotten less glare on her glasses.  Oh well, live and learn, there wouldn't be any point in doing this class if I wasn't learning anything, right...

I also managed to take some pictures at my parent's neighbour.  He's an art teacher, but it was just too bright...

I've been asked if I'd like to try take some photos of a restaurant for their website too.  It's a mammoth task and one that I'm not sure I'm up for, but I'm definitely going to try!!  Again, I can only learn.  Jake and I were given royal treatment when we popped in to suss it all out on Saturday morning.  We even had waffles for breakfast...

And coffee, of course..

Jake was more than thrilled to be having waffles for breakfast.  Truthfully, the restaurant wasn't even open yet, the staff were all busy rushing around to get ready for opening at 11...

I did get into trouble for taking this snap of Jake with his mouth full.  He's starting to be a little more conscious about how he looks these days...

But those eyes... they just melt me completely.  It's all about the eyes...

Back at home, it was bath time for little Pip.  I have never seen a dog that enjoys the water as much as he does.  Jake used to bath in that basin too when he was a baby...

OK, I know it's slightly out of focus, but he was quite happy to just chill out in the warm water...

Getting rinsed off...

Seriously though, what do you think he is?  He's every sweet and such a calm, happy dog, but I can't even begin to tell you what kind of a cross he is.  I think he's about 7 months old now, so he's not growing any more...

Hahaha - little drowned rat!  Do I have to get out now???

He even enjoys having his fur blow dried...

And that's about it.  Marius was away for the whole of last week and the entire long weekend.  It was great to have some catch up time with Jake, but I am SO glad to have my Marius home safely now too.  Jake and I spent much of the long weekend slobbing - on Friday we didn't even get out of our jammies and it was just what we needed.  Those down time days are really just the very best!

Sending lots of love,

Sue XXX