1camera1mom: July 2016

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Hex River Valley - Part 1

The weekend before Mother's Day, we took a drive to the Hex River Valley. It was Autumn here, below the Equator. We had a lovely sunny day and enjoyed the rose garden at our favorite farm stall. I actually thought that I'd share this outing sooner, but I always have great places to blog about that it's hard to keep up. We are really blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world, in the heart of South Africa's wine country.

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Sisters: Samantha, Amanda, Jessica

The Hex River Valley

Vineyards

Our Favorite Farm Stall from the Road

Sisters in the Rose Garden at the Farm Stall

Amanda

Jessica

Mom and Daughters

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I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.

Related post:
Favorite Farm Stall

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Gordon's Bay, Cape Town

If you have been following my mom blog, Amanda's Books and More, then you'll know all about our new shelter dog that we adopted from Gordon's Bay. We made the trip twice - first to meet him and begin the adoption process and then to bring him home.

Today's photos are from our first visit. We brought our old shelter dog along to meet the new one and headed to the beach afterwards. We found our own way onto the beach from the lower end and didn't see any signs about dogs until we got to the promenade. It turns out dogs aren't allowed on that part of the beach, so we walked back to our car via the paths. We went in winter when it was too cold to swim, but nice enough to walk on the beach and along the promenade.

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Click on the images to enlarge them.

Trust me, it's worth it!

Gordon's Bay has white sandy beaches with mountains and two harbors. It's about a 40 minutes drive from the city of Cape Town. Along the mountainside, there is a huge anchor with the letters "GB". Many think that this stands for Gordon's Bay, but in fact stands for General Botha, which was the original name of the Naval station in the town.

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Poem: "The child who was shot

dead by soldiers at Nyanga"

Poet: Ingrid Jonker

Artist: Tyrone Appollis

We came across this very moving sculpture by Tyrone Appollis of a tricycle with flip-flops hanging from the handlebars and lines from a famous poem by Ingrid Jonker. Appollis included several lines of the poem on the four sides of the plinth:

"The child just wanted to play in the sun."
"The child peers through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers."
"The child grown into a giant journeys through the world."
"The child is not dead."

Her poem was read out by Nelson Mandela on May 24, 1994 at the opening of the new Parliament in the New South Africa. It was written in 1960, just after the Sharpville riots. Around that time, Jonker witnessed a black baby get shot in his mother's arms.

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I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.

Related post:
On the Road to Gordon's Bay

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

On the Road to Gordon's Bay, Cape Town

If you've been following my blog, Amanda's Books and More, then you'll know that we adopted a dog from an animal shelter in Gordon's Bay. Today's photos were taken on the road there while Hubby did the driving. In South Africa, people drive on the left. It was a pretty drive. Our journey took us passed vineyards, orchards and more!

This blog is best viewed in Google Chrome.

Click on the images to enlarge them.

Trust me, it's worth it!

*********************

I'm also on Instagram.

Ich bin auch auf Instagram.

Tina Morley

All original photographs by Tina Morley
unless stated otherwise. 1camera1mom is
mostly in English mit ein bisschen Deutsch.

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Angala Boutique Hotel Franschhoek

On our last day in Franschhoek, we popped in at Angala. My mother-in-law works there part-time in a managerial role and she wanted to show us the new pools that were being put in. Since the pools were still under construction, I didn't take any photos of them, but I did take a couple of photos of the proteas and a neat faucet fountain that seems to float in thin air. The scenery shot above was taken while we were driving on the private farm road to Angala. I'm also including some photos of a post that I did about a year ago during an art workshop weekend at this 5-star boutique hotel.

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Proteas in black and white

The Gardens at Angala

Just over a year ago, Samantha and I were treated to a fabulous art workshop weekend at Angala. Today I'm sharing my favorite photos of that weekend with you.

Sisters: Samantha, Amanda and Jessica

The Views at Angala

Samantha and I enjoyed our morning walks. We had vineyards on one side and forestry on the other, with mountains all around us.

Samantha

Samantha took this photo of me.

The Art Workshop at Angala

Samantha and I participated in a fun and informative art workshop weekend at Angala. Leonie E. Brown was our instructor. Samantha painted a child portrait of herself and I did a landscape from one of my photos.

Samantha Paints Her Portrait

I Paint My Landscape

Our En Suite Bedroom at Angala

We took early morning showers outside and, surprisingly, we didn't feel the chill in the air under the warm water. We also loved everything about our room, including making coffee and tea in the mornings and evenings.

The Restaurant and Staff at Angala

I saved the best for last. Although, I have to admit, it's almost impossible to beat the idyllic setting with Angala's gorgeous views. But, the excellent care we received at Angala made it that much more enjoyable. The photos speak for themselves.