The Books we love to read part 2

Tonight we read a whole pile of books. I love to choose these stories before the boys get to choose. It saves me reading the likes of Asterix which I love to read to myself but not aloud to them. That is a job left for Dad. I am also rescued from books that are the shortened version of some great movie such as "Cars" or " a bugs life". Don't get me wrong. I really enjoy these kids movies but I really do not like reading them. I have worked out that if I choose books to read first then we have more great reads and not to many of the ones I find a bit difficult to get through with enthusiasm. Someone once said though, " letting children read or be exposed to good and bad writing helps them to know the difference" . mmmm I am not to sure if this is true or not but anyway.... here is a few more of the Jethro and Samuel best reading list...

1. A Snowy Night and The treasure Hunt by Nick Butterworth. These are awesome books. We love the story which is so rich in humour and the illustrations which mirror the fun in the story. There is always a gentle and friendly element of surprise and always a happy ending.

2. We enjoyed " Ten Play Hide and Seek by Penny Dale which is also beautifully illustrated and although has a very simple story is still very much enjoyed.

3. We did not get to this book but I want to include it because I really LOVE this book. " The Pig in the Pond" by Martin Waddell. The drawings are by Jill Barton. Both the story and the illustrations are a delight and this book is never, never boring or dull. It is a must!!!

Thats that for tonight. Ill put together a list of books James and Thomas enjoy. This is sure to be full of the usual Like harry Potter which James devoured weekly until he was full and other authors too Like Jeremy strong. Check out his web site for fun!! www.jeremystrong.co.uk.

Enjoy and keep on reading!!!!

Welcome to the zoo!!

Welcome to The Falconer zoo. By this I do not mean the four fun, noisy and full of energy ; forever talking, singing or shouting. I am going to write about the animals we share the living space with.

Let me introduce you .

Titus or as our very friendly and sweet neighbour refers to him as Brutus. He is a 5 year old beautiful Rotty. He is huge. His mouth is huge. His head is huge. everything about him is .... huge including his appetite. Titus has helped himself on several occasions to large, hot pies; parts of birthday cakes; carcass of a chicken; rolls; loaves of bread and of course the other dogs food. He is a food thief and has no manners. But we love him and he takes care of us. Titus sleeps in our lounge. He has a bed on the floor like normal dogs but if the chance should present itself, he will sneak onto the couch and make himself very, very comfortable. Yesterday, Doug gave him a lovely, frothy bath. Boy oh boy. Did he love that.

The Books we love to read

I thought I would write something about our favorite books. I love reading and love children s books. When I was studying to be a teacher, one of the best parts of the course was all the interesting things we discovered about Childrens books and authors. So I came to parenting with my own personal favorites. Shirley Hughes and her dear characters and life like , beautiful drawings. Judith Kerr and the lovable ' Mog" the cat. Pat Hutchins and Titch or ' Don't forget the bacon" and of course the one sentences book of hers called 'Rosies walk'.

One of the best things about living in The Uk was the smorgasbord of books available. I thought I had landed in children book heaven. Needless to say, our kids have been surrounded by books since they were very very tiny and I mean very tiny. Poor things. They probably could not even focus and a book was placed in front of them. I was an eager mom!!!

Well, enough of that. I am thrilled to say that my children and friends have introduced me to many , many more fantastic books.I thought I would write down some of our most loved books and use it as a growing list for my memory and if you should stumble upon this blog, your interest.

1. Who has flown in on her broom into our busy day but none other than a witch on a broom in Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's " Room on the Broom. A fab book and a real fun read with my Jethro and Samuel.

2.This book is one that makes me feel right at home. Full of a gathering of family fun and many creatures including a couple of horses. "First there was Frances" by Bob Graham . A must for every child

3. Max Lucado and his " A Hat for Ivan" is a great read for children who can concentrate for a little longer. It is a great story line and a very sweet message about being who God has made us to be.

Doug Part 3

This week has been quite interesting in the South African Political arena. What with ET being murdered and all the intrigue surrounding that story and Julius mouthing off at a British Journalist , well I feel a little ashamed of being South African.This of course brings me to Part 3 of my husband as a person.

Doug the Political beast. I have to say that his left views and sometimes ( I feel) blind following of the left, comes shining out when we have a week like we have just had. Doug will fly into James Bond kind of "search and find mode" and he will as an example, trawl the net for information and ideas on why Race is a myth. He will read and think and talk and talk and talk some more about the why and were to from here and lets not forget his hopes and dreams for the future. I just love this about him . His love for the underdog and the helpless is one of the things that attracted me. It is a virtue to be a person who thinks about life and the meaning of it. It is also a virtue in our home for at least one of us to have more than hope for this staggeringly beautiful but tragically strange and sad Land of ours - South Africa.

Thanks Doug for helping me to see the good that has and is being done.

PS pity about finding the web site where the extreme right of South Africa blah blah on about why they hate other people based on outward appearances. I truly and stupidly thought these people might have withered, died and been blown away by a very strong South Easter. mmm How wrong I was. Having said this though They are lost and sad. So very, very lost and very, very sad.

May God have mercy on them!

How deaf are you really?

Last night we decided to make the trip into the Waterfront in Cape Town to meet Doug for a meal. It is the holidays after all. On the way there Jethro fell into a deep sleep. I carried him to the meeting place and fell onto a nearby bench to wait for Doug to arrive. Two young adults were seated next to me. They were chatting between themselves and I was half resting Jethro,s head against my arm as it flopped down, drawn by gravity and half watching the people of the Cape as they went about Friday evening business. I guess the Waterfront is fairly noisy but I had not noticed this aspect of it before. I guess I am a little deaf in one ear. Anyway, the one young Adult turns to me and says these words..... " your phone is ringing" . ............. Really. she must be mistaken. Not my phone. I did not hear it - I did not hear it at all. Not a beep. I rummaged through my overflowing hand bag and found the said phone and .... yes 2 missed calls. Which begs the question. How deaf am I really?

Dougie Part 2

Today was Saturday and turned out to be a typical Doug Day. A brilliantly sunny day with nothing at all planned. A great day to get chores done. And that is exactly what happened. The thing about Doug is that he is a fabulous DIY man. Oh yes he is! He can build almost anything he puts his mind to. Gifted with a neat and steady hand and the need to measure carefully and well dare I say it , perfectly, Doug manages to build and build. I am so grateful to him for the projects he has taken on. Nothing is to small and nothing too big. So what did he do today? He put up some shelves for James and rewired his lamp and radio player wiring and he put up a hook for James to hang his school clothes on. He fixed punctures and wobbly bike wheels.

In addition to these small tasks he washed the dogs ( all three of them) and read up on how to clip a birds wings ( which he was going to attempt but has been put off). He cleaned the water from the fish tube in the kitchen........

I think this is enough for today Doug. Doug my DIY man. I am so proud of you!!!

Dougie

This is a photograph of Doug taken while were on holiday in Sheffield. We have been very, very fortunate to get to holiday there over these past few years. More on that another time. This is not a post about Sheffield or about holidays. it is a post about Doug.

Last week we celebrated 15 years of marriage. We were married on April 1st at a pretty conference center in Johannesburg called Helderfontein. I am not sure it is even there any more, but at the time it was a lovely old Herbert baker building and some other buildings, built in a very stylish manner. We had a grand time on the day and hope everyone else did to. But this is not even a post about that.

15 years... wow! it seems and feels like a life time. A life time of great joys and deep sadness. I guess life is like that. The joy comes and so does the sadness and I would be lying not to describe it like that.

I have found Doug to be one of the most amazing perseveres I know. He just never gives up. I find this to be a great quality in him and over the years have come to really admire him for this. Through thick and thin , he never gives up. That does not mean he never wants to give up. I am sure he does BUT he does not give up.

I will write more about him but for now ... here it is. ....