Johannesburg Zoo Trot

I can't remember if I have ever been at the Johannesburg Zoo as an adult. Anyway, they had a Zoo Trot on Sunday, starting at 7:00. I went, really just to get in before the Sunday crowd arrives and it gets too hot. I wanted to do the 5 km route but don't know where it ended so it seems I completed the 10 km route. No harm done. I walked it all though. Everyone else ran the course. 

I found I couldn't look at the monkey and ape cages, and the elephants looked very sad. But not everyone can afford to go to the bush, or overseas to visit the exotic animals so how else to our children the wild animals but in a zoo. TV doesn't quite shape up. It doesn't give you the true scale and size in relation to yourself. I don't mind the flamingoes, or the pelicans, they're in the open, but I do mind the vultures being caged. The vulture spreads his wings as if delivering the Sunday service, then the aviary must be his church. I don't like the small spaces for the snakes, or that the lion can't run down its own supper. The buck all seem to have good spaces. They have their young with them, an indication of a good environment, I hope. I like that all the plants and trees in the cages are real and not artificial (at the Pretoria Zoo it is often artificial). So I got some exercise and had a good morning.

Made with love

My brother and his wife pickled these olives. So damn delicious. Thank you.
We have to ration ourselves or it would all have been eaten in one sitting.

Out to celebrate

blowing in the wind

I tried to photograph the Blackjacks but the wind was blowing them about all the time. So I overlapped the 4 pics I took to create the movement.

Walking along the stream

Sunday morning we drove to the Modderfontein Nature Reserve and went for a 2 hour stroll along the stream. So soothing to listen to the water and the birds. Lovely. Good for the soul.

Chop en dop

The braai is a big part of the South African way of life. Summer's are all about being outside around a braai, throwing a chop (chop) on the fire and drinking beers (en dop). As soon as more than 2 men gather together it is a reason to braai, family or friends, whatever the occasion.
Although I have been using a portable braai for years, it just seemed we weren't really into the gees of the braai, so we have had a permanent structure built and we can't wait to christen it.

The grill is from another portable braai my father made me when I first moved into my house. I'm sentimental like that ;-)

Below are before and after pics.

I cannot lie, I love tie-dye

Did a little tie-dye project with the girls. I may have enjoyed it more than they did ;-)