The Gift of a Blog

It's Wednesday and the sky is blue there is a gentle cooler breeze blowing today. The hot weather seems to have left last evening with a huge gust of wind, lots of lightning minus the thunder and a squeak of a rain storm. I have a new place in Blogland that I discovered that I wanted to share with you.

Wednesday's garden view

I recently met Eleanor from Thatchwick Cottage when Rhondi from Rose Colored Glasses held her Front Porch Party last week. Eleanor is from South Africa and her blog is one of the prettiest and most interesting places to visit. No better gift to give to a blogger than a new place to visit in Blogland.

She writes on her blog :"I live with my two faithful dogs in a thatched house separated from a busy street by a lush walled garden, haven to many garden birds. I work from home; love all things old and beautiful, quilt, embroider, scrapbook, play the piano, grow roses and my life is enriched by my faith, friends and grown up family."

The charm of her writing, the adventure of where she lives and the magnificent eye candy needs nothing more to enhance the beauty of her blog. Today on her blog she is explaining how they are thatching the roof of her magnificent Thatched Roof Cottage in South Africa. "Enoch of Thatching Construction Co. sings as he and his crew work on Eleanor's roof."

Not since I read the words in Isak Dinesen's memoir about her years in Africa, "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills." from Out of Africa have I been so drawn in, to the charming storytelling written about a place so far away. Eleanor is a lovely storyteller who writes about a place she dearly loves.

Ashley and Kim always creating fun.
I have a bit of a soft spot for South Africa. When we lived in Toronto our wonderful neighbors were from South Africa and their daughter Kim became a great friend to my daughter Ashley. We were held captive by the storytelling of adventures in Africa which held our family spellbound.



 

Sarah and Kim

We learned about Burgies in the mountains, a few words in Africaans and the safari adventures that they went on back home. I loved hearing about how their lives differed from ours and their lifestyle seemed to bring adventure to our home. I always marveled at the animals that would show up in Rosemary's backyard. It seemed that the wildlife knew where they were welcome. She would often leave her door completely open, and one day a Raccoon was sitting right in the middle of her family room.

Rosemary and I came from very different backgrounds yet we shared the same outlook about child rearing. We joined together in getting our girls to do their homework at the same time, not to interfere with a schedule of playtime and school work. We went on countless adventures to skating lessons, tennis lessons, swimming lessons together, with our children.

 

Sarah, Ashley and Kim her last visit to the States

They are back in Cape Town now, the family visited us once here in the States, and Kim has come for two visits. They have always connected me to a place I hope to go someday. I learned how to slow cook a wonderful lemon rosemary free-range chicken from Rosemary, and to this day as I prepare that meal it brings back such great times. In fact, it is what I planned on making for supper tonight. Rosemary's husband always cracked me up, as he would BBQ in the dead of winter. Now in Canada that is really a silly sight amongst the bitter cold nights with the yard covered in snow, icicles hung from the eaves. There he would be in the backyard with the BBQ fired up wearing a jacket and one of those bomber hats with the ear flaps.

Ashley and Kim, their smiles say it all!
Once upon a time when I read the words "I had a farm in Africa, at the foot of the Ngong Hills", It sang in my heart. I thought, someday I want to be able to say words like that, to have lived a life of adventure filled with lessons from foreign lands. I was very young when I thought that, and today I am so happy that life has fulfilled many dreams of living in far away places. Those far away places are woven into who we are, and not only for me but for my children. Now that I am home, I love that I can be here in my homeland and enjoy the people and places around me that I had missed so much. Yet thanks to Blogland, I can still connect to people from other parts of the world, by getting to know them through their incredible daily journals.

Blogland always gives us the opportunity to visit places that touch our heartstrings, and rekindles memories from favorite chapters. All the while we learn new things and connect to an incredible network of women. Bloggers...we are all different, but we are all the same. I hope you visit Eleanor and enjoy her adventure. The song for this post couldn't be anymore perfect for this post, it is Out of Africa.