How to paint with no paint

My daughter is four years old. She has just recently moved halfway across the world with us to settle in a new country.  Part of moving to a new country is throwing out lots of stuff. Unfortunately her water-colours were one of the things which ended in the bin.  It was old and well used and needed to be replaces in any case.

Now we have settled in the new house, we have unpacked all our stuff and she wants to paint. No paint. 

My excuse of waiting till we go to the shop to get new paint, didn't go down well. She wants to paint now. She will make her own paint.

Here's here plan:

She cuts out small pieces of paper, colours them in with her colouring pencils and then soaks them in small amounts of water until the water turns to colour. Then she paints with the coloured water. 

No problem.

How's that for problem-solving skills?

Flower Feedback: Three Rondavels 4 and Mac Mac 13

I received an email with several photos from Paul and Elsabe Finch. They are from Rietfontein Farm in the North West Province. They came across my flowers at Mac Mac and Three Rondavels.

It was such a nice surprise to get a stack of pics.  Thank you for sharing.

Flower Feedback: Mac Mac 8, 9 ,10, 11 & 12

It seems Mac Mac is a favourite flower spotting area...

My name is Hanita and I am with my family and friends at the Mac Mac waterfalls. Our story today is about taking time out to appreciate the finer things in life - enjoy the company of our friends and family and recharge our souls.

A short message from Dorette and David Pienaar:

  Passing by on a cloudy day.

A lovely message from the Netherlands:

We are Iris & Pieter from the Netherlands, traveling around SA for 3,5 weeks and enjoying wonderful nature, golf, SA wines, etc.  Really enjoyed Blyde River Canyon and spotted your flower at Mac Mac falls viewpoint.

And a beautiful story from North Carolina:

Hello! My name is Amy Martin and I am a 38 year old single mother from Durham, North Carolina, USA. I visited South Africa in mid October with G Adventure. Although I was with a group, this was my first time traveling abroad alone, and it was the longest period of time I'd ever been away from my three children. My experience on this holiday will be forever embedded in  my mind. Someday I plan to bring my children to South Africa so that I can show them this amazing country.

When visiting Mac Mac Falls, I saw your flower and read the note and thought it was a very cool idea. I had  a fellow traveller take my photo so that I could send it to you.  I wish you best of luck with this project!

Aslam Watson send me this pic of their beautiful family. There was no message attached.

I find it so cool that people from all over the world are connected by the flowers. A chain indeed.

Flower Feedback: Franschoek 5, 6 & 7

Whoo-hoo! THREE messages from Franschoek!

My friend and I came across your flower and I've attached a picture of us. I'm Tamsyn Jethro (left) and my friend is Fahtiema Ohlson (right) both from Cape Town. We met at work two years ago and became firm friends. We share spontaneity and a love for our province. We've done the Route 62 and Garden Route trip together.

When we both moved to other jobs, seeing each other became difficult. So we planned a 'reunion' date and nothing was more fitting than a road trip. So we followed the road signs and found Franschoek and your flower. Really amazing. 

Regards Tamsyn

What a great story.  Road trips are the best.

We escaped to Franschoek on a relaxing weekend getaway. It was a beautiful, warm day. We ran for shade and that is when we discovered your flower. Happy Spring!!

M Raath

We currently reside in Port Elizabeth. We were on a family holiday and sight seeing trip. I am originally from Cape Town but my boys had never been (not what they can recall, that is!) Jarryd, the fairer of the two is 13. Chad, on the right, turned 12 in Cape Town.

Tanya Cuthbertson

Happy birthday Chad!

Flower Feedback: Three Rondawels 3

I received this wonderful photo of two sisters from Brazil. 

We're sisters from Brazil, and we were visiting a family of friends in South Africa and traveled all over the place this September 2012!

We took this picture next to the Three Rondavel viewpoint, and I just realized that it was on my birthday, September 11th!

It was a really great experience to finally visit South Africa and discover so many incredible places... I can't even tell you how many thousands of pictures I took! LOL It's gonna take FOREVER to sort it all out and edit it from print.

I thought it was a really cool thing to do this! Hope many other people sent you their pictures!!

Cheers!

Tais

Flower Feedback: Witsand 2

I am still getting great feedback from the African Flowers.  I am so happy to know at least some of them are still up there!  This one is from Witsand.  I only had one previous message from there so I assumed the flower had disappeared. I was wrong.

I am Irma Roets. On Monday 19 November 2012 my husband, Sarel, and I came across a crochet flower at one of the view points at Witsand in the Northern Cape.  We are from Kimberley, the Diamond City, in South Africa. A three and a half hour drive from Witsand.

Thank you, Irma!  When we passed through there in August, it was freezing. It looks like you guys had a bit more sunshine than we did.

I'm Back

...with only a few minor tweaks. 

We live in a small cul-de-sac street with parks on both ends and stream flowing by.

Our bedroom window looks out over the stream and we can watch the ducks get ready for the day while sipping our early morning coffee.

I walk past the pond in the park on my way to and from the metro station every day.

The ducks share the pond and the stream with moorhens, gulls, cormorants and the odd pelican.

It is a true joy to be surrounded by nature while still living in the city.