Counting crows!

For the record, I really love love love (no comma's inbetween) my chickens. They roam free - unless under threat from predators and birds of prey - have the run of the mill, to the extent that we sometimes pass each other and chat in the kitchen, when we're a bit late with their food - even though they've DEVOURED my gorgeous lettuces growing in the herb garden (sob)! They all have names and their own personalities and we co-exist happily here on the hill.

Also, for the record - I only EVER wake at 05h30am about 3 times a year, when I need to be in Durban early for business - as for the rest, 05h30 is still considered middle of the night for me, and at my age beauty sleep is no longer a luxury, but rather a necessity!!! But this morning, HOWEVER, since 04h00 (that's like so close to midnight it's RUDE) our Oliver (rooster) has been crowing every minute, at 30 second intervals! One would THINK that by now, he would be hoarse, parched, OR DEAD, BUT ALAS, the crowing continues! My DH assures me that this is a daily/nightly occurance - grrrrr.... clearly he's the light sleeper out of the two of us, but it would have helped had he told me this before I got too attached to kill him!!

Eventually, at 05h15 I get up....SEETHING....

Husband: what you doing????
Me: putting on my UGG boots.
Husband: where you going...??
Me: (calmly)...oh....um...to strangle the chicken...?
Husband: NOW????
Me: Well since we're on the topic - when do you suppose is the best time to kill a chicken???...I'm thinking dead of night WORKS FOR ME!!!????

Silence....OMG - FINALLY!!.... could it be that our 'all too polite' tennant living in our cottage has also lost it at last, and got there before me....YAY!!!..oops, I mean..oh shame....poor Ollie!...still silence.....snuggle up to husband.

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!!!!!....HMPF!!!!!

Blogging at this time of the morning is NOT something I do every day, but HEY, it beats counting crows! Oliver, born and bred on our little homestead (his Zulu name 'Mandla' means survivor - not for long!!!) will from now on be sleeping with "the girls" (our laying hens), in the hopes that if they're anything like real women, he'll be "henpecked" to death in no time!!...LOL!

Butterflies need no excuse....to smell the roses.

I sometimes have those days and moments where I ask myself, "how did I let myself get talked into this???"...... . Most of the time it's because I know that I have so much on that "to do list" already, and why oh why couldn't I just have said "NO". Last week Wednesday - the day before we were due to leave for our camping trip in the Berg, a few of us parents spent the morning lifting our children to school and back, on an outing to a textile factory. Needless to say it was one of those moments where I wondered why I do this to myself and commit to things that take me away from my desk, work, pressing responsibilities, AND PACKING FOR A CAMPING TRIP!!..that requires you pack everything, BEHALWE the kitchen sink - infact - NO - even that!!!!! - and to pay for your sins, you're then left playing "catch up" for the rest of the day.

So as I drove home somewhat disgruntled, giving myself "THE TALK", I calculated what I could have done in the time I had spent driving up and down fields hill, snapping pics of children oohhing and aahing over textile machinery and collecting fluff balls on their clothes! But then I reminded myself of my firm belief in the principle that you should strive to "be content that you are exactly where you should be in the moment you are in, even if it's not always obvious to you at the time, as to why you are where you are".

As I arrived home, I was greeted by one of the most BEAUTIFUL butterflies I have ever seen in my garden, and thanks to my trip to the textile factory, not only was the timing perfect, but I just SO HAPPENED to have my camera on the seat next to me, so I could capture this miracle of nature...well this simple little experience made my day, it really did, and had the flower child in me skipping along saying "you see - you see...if you'd been at your desk you would have missed this opportunity to smell the roses by catching a butterfly".

The last few weeks of glorious weather has left our garden FULL of these beautiful wonders of nature. As my desk is positioned in front of large windows, with a view of their playground, I find myself gazing unashamedly as minutes tick by, at these little miracles of nature. With their beautiful wings all different shapes, patterns and colour combinations, I can see why they give so much pleasure, and need no excuse....and how lucky I was to be in the right place at the right time after all.