Fun among family in ostrich country

Patti Moed of the esteemed Lens-Artist quartet urges us to:

Feel free to interpret this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #17–JUST FOR FUN–in any way you choose.  Most of all, have fun!

To view her and others interpretation of Just for fun click here

I want also want to acknowledge and thank her for stating the following in her post:

•   you don’t want to miss from last week’s Big Is Beautiful challenge:
• Abrie Joubert shares images of a really BIG bird–the ostrich–in South Africa.

I also want to acknowledge the farmer on whose farm the photos of the ostriches were taken  (my cousin Jaco). In fact the photos for this post were taken this past weekend on the farm Muldersbank, Oudtshoorn about a 5 hour drive from Cape town. In the post Bird Big I wanted to mention that we would be going to Oudstshoorn to celebrate my aunt’s 80th birthday, but the post became too long. She received a special fun gift this weekend on which I will elaborate later (see last photo).

In the photo underneath a part of the farm can be viewed in front of my lens and the farmstead behind me can be viewed on a personalized bottle of Brandy, in front of my lens. Similarly the Ostrich farm owner behind me can be viewed in the bathroom mirror next to the farmstead (behind or in front of my lens – this is becoming complicated). And if you believe all of that, you had too much of the content of the bottle and like my cousin, a bit of an egghead… No I am not  degrading my cousin who also happens to be a friend, I am merely stating facts. The bathroom mirror is an ostrich egg with a photo printed on it, in a similar way to how it is done on a coffee cup. Considering my hairstyle, my egghead should look lovely on an ostrich egg!

Multiple frames of farm, farmer and farmstead

To me taking photos is fun – period. I got up at 5.15 am on Sunday morning (just for fun) to take photos of the sunrise (as the smoke of veld fires were in the air with the potential offering of unusual photos). The photo underneath features the Red Hot Pokers which can be seen in the background in the photo above.

Red Hot Pokers aglow

Red hot surround sight

I didn’t, but I did stop at the sign…

Having the this challenge in mind on the way back to Cape Town this sign caught my eye. A fun road sign which certainly draws attention with its schooldays theme. Another attention drawing feature is a dam with four red boats featuring the names of the employees of the restaurant – local people who were trained and can now keep their families afloat.  While I did not stop at Rooiberg Winery and restaurant close to Robertson in the Western Cape itself this time, I have done in the past and the property also boasts the biggest chair in Africa . The setup appears to exude a fun working environment and positive culture.

Nicole, Marion, Beatrix, Diana

The moment of truth

At her birthday celebration, one of my aunt’s grandchildren had the honour to open proceedings by extolling her for her virtues. Hanco ended his speech by apologizing profusely  for not buying her a gift, but he still had an ace up his sleeve as he announced that he was responsible for her becoming a great-grandmother 🙂

With her becoming 80, the great news from Hanco,  and her son Theuns (the new grandfather to be) singing a special song to her, it was already quite an emotional event. In her reply to all of this, she mentioned that she is my second mother (which she is indeed and the only living one), and I again realized that I cannot be a cowboy, as cowboys don’t cry.