Mini break

Well the weekend has come and gone ... and what a wonderful weekend it was!!!

FRIDAY ... Connor and I left the house at 08h30 ... desitination Standerton.  We took the Standerton turn off and a couple of kilometres later a car was flagging us down and pointing to the back of the trailer ~ as it was a car full of men I was weary to pull over so carried on driving for a while and when I felt safe I pulled onto the shoulder of the road ... the one leg of the trailer had wriggled loose and was dragging along the ground and had bent.  We couldn't get it out so we just tightened the bolt and continued on our way.  We arrived in Standerton a little ahead of Richard and when he got there we unhooked the trailer and removed the leg.  We had a lovely relaxed lunch at the Wimpy and then Richard went offroad for the rest of his trip to Wakkerstroom and we drove along the national road.  We fetched the keys for the house (Francolin House) and as we started to unpack Richard arrived after having a wonderful and uneventful off road ride.

First things first ... a cuppa tea!!!  While the kettle was boiling we explored the house and unpacked.  It is definitely not our favourite house ... Coot Cottage right next door is our absolute favourite ... but it would do for the weekend.

SATURDAY ... We are always very relaxed when we are away and let each day take care of itself.  We had a leisurely morning and decided to go into town to Brie Street for brunch ~ Connor had been speaking about going to Brie Street since we were there last year over the Easter Weekend.  Well ... when we got there we saw a sign on the door which said that they were "ceasing to operate after 2 April due to the owner's retirement".  I had specifically gone onto the internet before we left home to check that it was still open and there was NOTHING on there about the closure.  The waitress didn't greet us as we walked in and the owner was speaking to someone at the counter so we sat down and waited ... the owner walked past and said she would be with us in a bit and then walked over to said waitress and said "Tell them ....." and I couldn't hear the rest of her sentence.  The waitress got the menu and came over to us and said that we could choose from the front and back of the menu and that the inside was only for last week.  So the front and back of the menu contain drinks, scones, muffins and the cake of the day.  I was a little irritated by the way that it was handled so we got up and went to the Wakkerstroom hotel and had a lovely meal (I had a vegetarian breakfast, Connor had french toast and Richard had an omelette).  We walked around town a bit and when we got back to the house and Richard and Connor decided to go for a ride on their motorbikes.

As you know I am crazy about sunrises and sunsets ... I battled to get a great photo but this was my best attempt at the sunset on Saturday evening.  We had a relaxing evening in front of the fire ... which Connor loves to build.

SUNDAY ... Slept really late ... Richard got up early and went for a walk and then when he got back he asked if I minded if he went for a ride ... I asked if he minded if I stayed in bed!!!  Connor came ambling into our bedroom to find out where his Dad was and we snuggled for quite a while.  When Richard got back the two of them went off for a ride and I stayed at the house and played a game on my tablet ... in my pyjamas!!!  When the boys got home we decided to go into Volksrust as we had to get some more water and milk and decided that we would go to KFC for lunch ~ the KFC was packed so we went across the road to the garage where there was a Debonnairs, Fish-a-ways and Steers.  Connor had a pizza and Richard and I had burgers from Steers followed by a delicious ice-cream.  Another relaxing evening ~ we watched Wreck-it-Ralph on Connor's laptop ... what a cute movie.

MONDAY ... I got up early with my DH and we went for a walk.  There is a wetland just down the road from the house and we walked through there ... It is gorgeous and tranquil and as the sun was hidden by a huge cloud it was a bit chilly. 

As you enter the wetland there is a bridge and this is the sign on the bridge.

Connor and Richard went out on their bikes again and I sat in the lounge and knitted ~ I am busy making scarves for a school which my friend Alison supports.

My boys phoned me and asked if I wanted to meet them at the hotel for a cuppa coffee.  When I got there we decided to have lunch ... Richard had a chicken stack (two pieces of crumbed chicken and chips), Connor had a steak and I had a salad ~ was supposed to be peaches, feta cheese, leaves and berries with a balsamic reduction.  What I got was 5 little cubes of peach, possibly two strawberries cut in slices, feta and LOTS of leaves.  When I asked the waiter where the balsamic was he brought me balsamic vinegar.  A guy came over and asked if everything was OK and I asked why if peaches were the main ingredient in the salad why I could only find these few little pieces.  Off he went to find out what had happened and came back and said "The kitchen ran out of peaches, your salad is on me!" Oh!!! He's the owner.  And he also found me the balsamic reduction which was lovely. 

We went on a hunt to find some firewood as we had run out and eventually found some at a little shop in town. 

We spent the afternoon quietely at home and watched Arthur (the new version with Russel Brand and Dame Helen Mirren) in front of a lovely fire which Connor built for us. 

TUESDAY ... Up early again for a walk around town ~ we stopped and chatted to a lady who lives in one of the most beautiful houses ... wish she had invited us in for a cuppa but alas she didn't. 

This is one of the houses in town which is for sale ... It would be a perfect renovation project.  The property has a cosmos 'hedge' around it ... so you can imagine how that speaks to my heart.  The first thing I would do is restore the windows which have been built  in in the front room of the house ... it must make the inside incredibly dark.  We need to have dreams!!!!

When we were leaving the house to go for our walk there were many of these spider webs on the lawn ... they are funnel spiders and their webs are incredibly intricate.  I found this on the internet ... "There are two very different kinds of spiders that are commonly known as "funnel-web spiders." Some members the Hexathelidae can be very dangerous, and only one member of the Agelenidae might give medically significant bites to humans." 

 Back to the house, had a cuppa tea and yoghurt, packed up, had a lovely shower and off to the hotel for breakfast.  The service was rather slow but the omelettes we ordered were definitely worth the wait.

We left Wakkerstroom and stopped in at Standerton to put petrol in the car and had a lovely drive home.  I got some more knitting done in the car.  When we got home we unpacked and then went to the car wash with the boys on the motorbikes.  While there it poured with rain but I waited it out as I wanted Richard's car to at least be clean inside.  We spent the evening at home and watched Strictly Come Dancing and then early to bed.

 My little family at the Wakkerstroom Country Inn. 

 I couldn't resist putting on Connor's sunglasses ... they are a bit too hip for me!!!!

SOME OTHER PHOTOS ... 

 One of our many games of Scrabble ... I so love word games!!!

 Richard looking like he belongs in the current Captain Morgan advert.

Some of the houses we walked past on our walk through town on Tuesday morning ...  

Mahem & Bokmakierie Self Catering Cottage

This building on the left looks like a studio ... I love the stone look and the gorgeous barn doors

This house looks a bit derelict although it has definitely been worked on recently as the two front doors and the wooden window frames are new.

The view from the back garden

WEDNESDAY ... This morning Connor and I fought peak hour traffic to go to the Dept of Home Affairs in Edenvale ~ We had been there last year for Noleen and Connor and they were really good so we decided to go back there.  I have had 'renew passports for LG & CYG & new IDfor LG' on my "To Do List" for such a long time ~ so I put in a day's leave for today for this purpose.  When we got out of the car a guy came up and asked if we needed photos and directed us to their little booth ... They operate out of a tiny little room but were very efficient and super friendly.  When we got into the offices we were at the back of a really long queue however it moved really quickly.  While sitting there a couple came in to get married ... they even had a guy playing the bag pipes for them.  We all clapped when they came out of the registry.  When we got to the front the lady said that unfortunately as Connor is still a minor we needed Richard to be there as well.  He was in a meeting in Pretoria so once we were finished with my paperwork we went round the corner to McDonald's and waited for him to call us.  After nearly two hours we decided that we would come home and do this another day.  We fetched Mom and took her to the bank at The Glen and then off to Pick 'n Pay to do grocery shopping.  On the way home it started to pour with rain so we had to do some dashing in and out of the house to unpack the shopping.  I am now going to watch Elementary and do some knitting and try not to think about going back to work tomorrow.

Hope you have all had a stunning week thus far!!!!