Little Green Grasshopper

This little guy spent two days on our budding sunflower, which is right outside the front door. Every time I went outside, I'd see him and think "I must get my camera" so I did, eventually. The wind was blowing, he kept moving around, and I was using my 28-70mm, which is not technically a macro lens, but I was quite chuffed to get these two in-focus shots! Click on them to see them bigger.

More Kitties

That Toby is creeping into our hearts! I know we said we want to keep a female, and then it turned out that Tilly is the only girl, but little Toby is just too cute. He is the most adventurous of the bunch, and instantly crawls out of the basket when any of us come to say hi. My daughter thinks that maybe if we keep one to be her brother's cat (seeing as Rosie is hers) maybe it should be a boy? Tilly is pretty, I guess we'll wait and see - but we're not keeping two of them!

Two Weeks old!

Tigger, 330g
Toby, 380g
Stripy, 370g
Tilly, 320g

So the kittens are now two weeks old, their eyes are properly open and they are getting cuter and cuter! They are starting to walk, as opposed to crawl, and keep plopping out of the basket and then they can't get themselves back in! We're going to have to put up some kind of barrier, I think! I think we're in for some major developments this week...

Hello, Blog visitors!

Okay, so I was inspired to leave my blog visitors a message specially for them by Jordan, a fellow Pea and photographer. She also had a little Feddjit counter (see to the right) that tells us who's visited our blogs from around the world.
I love that there are so many visitors from so many different countries, but I'd love to know who you are! Did you stumble across my blog by accident, or do you come here on purpose? I have a visitor from Parow, South Africa...who are you? I used to live in Cape Town, so I'd love to know who's visiting from there?! There's someone from Winterthur, Zurich that comes often, hello! Of course, you can also see how often I come to my own blog (Guildford, UK!) to see if anyone's left me some love!
So, a la Jordan, leave me a question, leave me a comment, or just say hi, I'd love to know who you are and maybe visit your blog if you have one? I'll leave you a comment....

Apple Tree Farm

I have had this little cardboard cut-out farm for years. I must have bought it around 1995 or so, I fell in love with it on so many levels. It was made of paper. It was by Usborne, by my favourite illustrator, Stephen Cartwright. It required fiddly sticking and folding. It came in a book of press-out shapes. So, I bought it, and I have stored it carefully wherever I have been living, moving it from Cape Town to Jo'burg and back down to Cape Town with me. Stored in Cape Town for two years, and finally, brought to my current address in England.

So what's different now? Why, after all these years of careful storage, have I popped out the pieces and constructed the farm?
Look who's playing with it! My very own mini-me, my daughter! She loves it, and sat patiently with me, helping me find the right roof for the right building, the right tree in the right spot, the animals in their sheds and fields, and the people, all busy with their chores and duties around the farm.

I realise that in a week or so it's probably going to end up in the recycling box, buckled and bent and not quite so pretty anymore, but, it will have been played with! And of couse, I took these pictures so that we will always remember Apple Tree Farm.