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Monday, March 21, 2011

A lovely rainy weekend

Can you remember what you did over the weekend of 19 and 20 March? You never know when you might need an alibi. Gattina of Writer Cramps hosts this fun meme. Do pop over to her blog if you can.

On Friday I finally made my home-made muesli. My sister-in-law, Shelley, sent me the recipe and once Grant brought home my natural honey, I was able to make this delicious breakfast cereal. I will post the recipe in a while.

Home-made muesli

When I returned to my desk, I spotted this bird through the window. It's Ross' Turaco and you can only see the red under its wings in flight. Unless it preens and stretches for me!
Later that afternoon, James - who works for Sharda - asked if he could trim my lawn. He still had fuel left in the tank after trimming Sharda's lawn and wanted to help me. Wasn't that sweet of him? Typically in Africa you wear your protective eyewear on top of your head



On Saturday afternoon, Grant took me for a ride to the stream below the office. After this week's rain, the river level is up. We spotted and photographed birds here again
On Sunday morning Grant and I set out on our normal birding trip through the mine. This is typical of  the bushveld where we stop if we see or hear birds. It's greened up incredibly since last Sunday. Isn't it stunning?

Gorrilas in the mist? Wishful thinking...


Another favourite birding place is below one of the mine's dams. The reed beds and swamp area offers a huge variety of water birds, the bush on the left always teems with bee-eaters, shrikes, bulbuls, robin-chats and weavers. Every few minutes an ibis or go-away bird lands in the tree top and surveys the area. Where I was standing, a host of little warblers, bulbuls, doves, fly-catchers and chatterers flitted in and out of the trees above me. I've only posted a few photos for fear of boring my readers with so many birds. We are amazed at the amount of birds we see in one two-hour trip around this beautiful valley and never tire of seeing them
A pair of Egyptian Geese

Back home, of course it was braai-time. Instead of just me and Grant alone, we'd invited Johan, the financial manager to join us. He is here on single status and was thrilled to be part of a family meal for a change
I tried a different dish today: Chickpea and Paneer cheese salad. I downloaded the recipe off the Internet but tweaked it so much it hardly resembles the original! I will post this later as well

For more on what other people did over the weekend, click here

12 comments:

  1. Enjoyed your tour as always. The dishes you made look wonderful and it was so nice of you to invite Johan. I'm sure it made his day! Blessings and have a great week ahead.

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  2. Jo,
    That cereal looks wonderful! Umm, I can't wait until you post the recipe...I love the bird with the red wings :)

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  3. Always enjoy seeing the birds on your outings. The Turaco posed so well to show its red under feathers. Really is looking Green.

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  4. Liked your goose stepping gander.

    Phillp

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  5. What a marvellous post, Jo. And you can never post too many pictures...not in my books, at any rate! The bush and your garden are looking wonderful in their new green. Now it's beginning to resemble the Kenya I have always pictures!

    Your salad and muesli look yum. Don't forget to share the recipes :)

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  6. I suggest you take Arthur along on your bird photo hunting, lol ! The landscape looks so typical african. All the movies or pictures I have seen from Safaris in Kenya.
    Here it's still far too cold to even think of a barbecue ! Today O°C but this afternoon they announced 14° !

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  7. Are you having more rain than usual? All the plants and animals must love it.

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  8. The Turaco is a beautiful bird. It must be fun to learn about the flora and fauna in a new environment as you move around Africa. I've enjoyed coming along.

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  9. Your pictures are always amazing. I feel like reaching out through the monitor to taste those wonderful creations you made. That's awesome you're surrounded by God's wonderful works! And I'm grateful you always share your adventures with us. Blessings and love to you sister!

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  10. Hi Jo, Looks like you had another fabulous weekend. Love that bird... WOW!!!!

    AND--that picture of the fog/mist on the mountain is marvelous...

    Your meal sounds and looks so good... Made me hungry...
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  11. I really enjoy seeing your world, Jo! It looks so lush and green. The muesli and the Chickpea and Paneer cheese salad goth look mouth-watering!

    We've been having two weeks of rain and snow here--very unusual for the last two weeks of spring in norCal!

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  12. Hey again Jo, hehe.. Thank you for your comment in my blog of the SkyWatch .. yep good to know you for sure. :) And don't go to my main blog yet tho... if you don't like to be scared thats it ;)(the link of the mainblog added to my name now)I must tell, your homemade mûslii made my teeth running water ... I love that kind of food very much. And the other photos .. wow.. looking great. It is nice to follow your life (added you as reader of the blog) Have a great week you too. Blessings, Mariane

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo