Firstly special because my precious nephew Nicholas and his gorgeous wife Salma were married on this day in 2005. They had the most stunning wedding at Avianto (my first visit to that venue) and have been happily married since then and have two precious sons.
Sadly on the same day my ex-brother-in-law Shane's Mom, Dawn, passed away after a brave battle with cancer. She was a very special lady who loved life and died way too early.
Another great thing about today is that it is a public holiday in South Africa (and other parts of the world). I took this from Wikipedia ...
Workers' Day is a national public holiday in South Africa and since 1994, it has been celebrated on 1 May of each year. It has its origins within the historical struggles of workers and their trade unions internationally for solidarity between working people in their struggles to win fair employment standards and more importantly, to establish a culture of human and worker rights and to ensure that these are enshrined in international law and the national law of those countries aligned to the International Labour Organisation. In pre-1994 South Africa, the demand for the annual observance of the day as a public holiday became a rallying point for workers and their trade unions and was one of a number of annually significant days to symbolise and mobilise resistance to the apartheid government and its racial policies.
Last night we were not sure what we were going to do today but knew that we wanted to spend time together. I have kept two e-mails in my deleted box of things that I would really like to do ... one was sent to me by Graeme (my little sister's boyfriend) on 30 August 2011 about Lory Park ... I suggested we go and visit it and while trawling the internet I saw a place called The City Bakery, 6 de Beer Street, Braamfontein which they say serves a lovely brunch in view of the Nelson Mandela Bridge ~ It sounded like a nice place but we found it had closed down. We did see some gorgeous architecture on our drive to and through Braamfontein. Richard says that he thinks the first structure was part of the original train station ... It is going to wreck and ruin but the bones of the structure are gorgeous ... I would love a conservatory with a roof like that. The second one is a hotel in Braamfontein and I just love the old style wrought iron work.
We got back on the highway and drove through to Midrand to Lory Park and enjoyed walking around this little Zoo which has a huge focus on birds and also on the Race Against the Extinction of Tigers ~ They had a huge poster with pointers to the different parts of the Tiger and what those parts are believed to help in Chinese medicine. I was horrified to read that in China they sell Tiger Blood Wine. 
The zoo is very well kept and all the birds and animals look well looked after and cared for. There were some interesting birds and it was wonderful to be able to see them up close and personal.
We didn't like the look of the tuck shop so we decided to look for somewhere in Midrand to have lunch but couldn't find anything appealing so I suggested we go to Lee Ways for lunch ~ As usual we had a great time and good food.
This eagle just seemed to sit and look directly at the camera and wait for me to take the perfect photo ... Thanks!!!
I had a lovely chat to this Loerie ... it really seemed to enjoy being spoken to and came very close to the fence however the picture below made me weary to touch it.
This gorgeous parrot has only one leg and gets around with its one leg and it's beak ~ it is amazing to see how animals adapt to their circumstances. 
All the cats in the park looked like they had had a party last night and were still recovering!!!
Those cats were probably dancing on the bar the night before ... just as a good 'cat' should do ;-)
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