And now the end is near...

(posted by Elizma)

After several weekends in the garden, I'm glad to say that we're ALMOST done. But we're really enjoying the fruit of our hands.

On Sunday we had a braai with Johan and Celia. What a lovely time we had...

Back-breaking gardening...

(posted by Elizma)

The last few weeks Leon and his dad Bill spent a few back-breaking weekends in the garden and they did such a wonderful job. They built us a second deck at the back of the garden when it was still quite a bit colder - as you can see on the these photos.



Then, over the Easter weekend, they built a path to the deck and widened the bed for me. It looks really beautiful and I can't wait to put some plants in. I just have to get rid of the vine weevil that ate the roots of my tulips!



Finally, on Easter Monday we got to enjoy the fruit of their hands and the exceptional weather with a braai with some of our good friends.

We hid Easter eggs in the garden for Danie and Helena's little girls, Anya and Talitha and really enjoyed the great company. The other couple who joined us were Louis and Liani with their beautiful baby girl, Alika.



Click here for some more pictures of the garden work and here for more photos of our braai.

The Jeltsema's Visit

(posted by Elizma)

On Good Friday, friends of my parents (from ever since I can remember and who immigrated to the Netherlands quite some time ago) came for a visit. I took Oom (uncle) Bert and Tannie (aunt) Ella for a stroll and tea in Wisley Gardens.


We then had a relaxed lunch in our garden before they were off back to London where they were house-sitting for their daughter and son-in-law.

We were very lucky weather-wise and it was really good to see them again.

Click here to see more of photos 'oom' Bert took in Wisley Gardens...

Monte Carlo or bust

(posted by Elizma)

Leon and I went to Monte Carlo (Monaco) this weekend for our 4th wedding anniversary. What a fabulous weekend we had!

I was responsible for the arrangements - and Leon will have to work very hard to beat it - even if I have to say so myself!

We flew into Nice on Friday morning, where a helicopter waited to transfer us to our hotel in Monace - the Hotel Metropole Monte Carlo. The hotel was absolutely amazing (picture below)! They offered to upgrade us to a junior suite, but had none available so they upgraded us to a £1100 per night(!) suite. It came complete with champagne, chocolates, fresh flowers and candles and rose petals around the bathroom (which was bigger than our bedroom back home) in the evening. We were probably the 'poorest' people in the whole hotel.




The view from our room was stunning - I took the picture below lying on our bed. It had floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall windows.


The hotel is situated on the Casino Square in Monte Carlo with the Grand Casino (obviously), Hotel de Paris and the beautiful gardens.


We spent the weekend strolling around stopping for a coffee or people-watching at Cafe de Paris. We visited the Aquarium, the palace and gawked at the huge yachts.

On Friday we had dinner in a wonderful little Italian restaurant Il Terrazzino, which was almost in itself worth the entire trip: over the course of the evening we managed to get through about nine dishes. They just kept bringing food! It is a family-run restaurant and quite small - there are only about ten tables in all - but the food was simply to die for. The tables are all on top of each other and we met a lovely British couple, Keith and Yvonne who were celebrating their 40th anniversary. We shared a lovely evening with them. They stayed in the same hotel as us and we bumped into each other quite a few times during our trip - sharing a last cocktail at Cafe de Paris before our departure on Sunday.

Monte Carlo will definitely see us again for another celebration - actually any excuse will do and it is highly recommendable. Click here to see some more of our photos...