Vlieland!

Celebrating Christmas one day late on Vlieland, but with a lot of joy! Sadly enough my Nikon camera decided to stop working, so pictures are made with my iPad mini, as is this blog entry.

Botlierskop Private Game Reserve: Feeding The Elephants

Today we had the chance to feed the elephants. We took turns in feeding apple halfs to the bull and the 7 year old calf, the mother was still too protective over her calf so she was fed by the caretaker (in the background) while we could feed apples to her young one.

feeding apples to the 7 year old calf

feeding the bull

open up!

big tusk

lashes of about 10 cm!

big nose, big ears

big molar

and after apple-lunch it is time for a stroll with the family

South Africa - Day 2 - from Cape Town to Montagu - African Game Lodge

After our night in the Cape Towm airport hotel we drove to Montagu. Beautiful scenery that did remind me a lot of Utah. From Montagu it was another 30 km on dirt roads to the African Game Lodge where we would go on our first game drive and where we would spend the night. No electricity, no internet, no mobile phone signal, no TV. Lots of animals! Stargazing at night!

right out of Montagu 2 fighting baboons came running out of the bushes!

this way to the African Game Lodge!

our rental car on the left
it looked like this guy on the right needed some help

our south african cottage for the night

on the outlook

our private game drive vehicle

South Africa - Day 1

We stayed overnight in a hotel at Zürich Airport to catch a 7.00 AM flight to Amsterdam from where we would fly to Cape Town. We arrived in Cape Town at around 9.30 PM. Our first night in Cape Town we spent in a new airport hotel, Hotel Verde, only 400m from the terminal. Large living room with kitchen and separate bedroom, kids on the sleeper-sofa, big bathroom, everything proper and clean. Bottled water and milk in the fridge. Great breakfast next morning.

Hotel Verde, Cape Town Airport

New Project: my own tiny art-studio/workshop!

The new year started with a *bang*: I was in bed with a fever for a few days, followed by a cough for nearly 3 weeks, finally got some medicine from my doctor and now I'm working on a new project: my tiny art studio/workshop! It is in a former flower shop that was closed down by the end of last year, in fact my art studio is not the shop itself but the former "Blumenbinderei" where the flower bouquets were put together. It is in the basement of a building, that means concrete floors, concrete walls, lots of dirt, lots of tubes & pipes, two small windows and one big glass-but-no-see-through-door, little sunlight and everything is very old. The high table is gone now, the other dark cabinet/table will stay and I will move in my old working tables to work on. And my chair. And my tools. And my polymer clay! My hands are itching!!!

But what a little bit of white paint can do! It looks better now and soon I can start creating again. I'm in the moving-phase now and getting organized. These pictures were made before I distributed the white paint:

the high table is gone now

water is available!

this old cabinet/working table will stay, it has a nice height for standing work.
the most important tool is already there: my Nespresso machine!

miracle stuff: white paint!

To be continued!!