aug, 5th - olympic fever....

day 908 / 7:

Olympic fever has gripped the country, the city and our household......we've maintained the no-T.V. rule with Limi except when it comes to sport (although she does get to watch some cartoons etc. on the laptop every now and then). as a result, Limi thinks that the T.V. only shows rugby, tennis and now........ swimming, sailing, gymnastics and lots of running, jumping and throwing sticks.....the Olympics is amazing for teaching her about new and interesting sports.....although swimming seems to be her favourite as she keeps asking us to change the athletics to swimming.

a couple of days before thunderhooves arrived, the torch passed through West London on it's way to the Olympic Park.....i chose a South African street to go and watch the procession and Kelly took along our Aussie flag....so all three nations were well represented.

waiting for the flag to come........

the changeover happened right in front of us but at nine months pregnant, i didn't manage to muscle my way in for the perfect shot......

it's a great time to be living in this city of ours........

jul, 26th - torch fever....

day 898:

blue skies and olympic fever has reached London. we went to see the torch today as it passed through West London.....more pics tomorrow.

jul, 12th - vuvu south africa....

day 150:

farewell to the soccer world cup! South Africa has done themselves proud….i have loved all the stories from friends about their wonderful experiences all around the country….and watched the entire tournament with a lump in my throat and a yearning to be home to see the world fall in love with all the things that make South Africa the wonderful place that I still call home…..the people…their warmth, humour and diversity….the incredible wildlife and landscapes….the wildness, urban-ness, rural-ness, creative-ness, and lots of other nesses. if you haven’t been…GO….it’s a beautiful, raw, inspiring, friendly place.

i am unbelievably excited to take limi home and have her smell the African air and absorb all that vibrancy. 

jun, 22nd - serious soccer fever....

day 131:

this is a brilliant summer to be at home with Limi.  watching Wimbledon tennis always makes you feel like you are sitting in a pot of Summer strawberries and cream, Cricket, like you are swimming in a tub of pimms and now with South Africa hosting the Soccer World Cup, like you are sitting in the middle of a hornets' nest (have you heard those vuvuzela's en masse). So....there is serious sporting mania in our house. (Having never watched much t.v. before, Limi thinks that the screen is a big patch of green grass!!) 

Since this is the biggest, international party that my home has ever hosted and I long to be there...I've been trying to recreate the festival in London (Limi just thinks that we've developed a strange shout-out-loud-at-odd-intervals habit...with additional leaping around the living room shouting Yippee!! She's loving it!)

I was keen for her to represent her (multiple) countries but sadly no-one seems to have had the idea of creating baby-gros completely out of country flag designs (now why didn't I think of that more than a few seconds before the world cup started). So, i have had to make do with these organic suits from Cafe Press. now that Bafana Bafana (S.A.) and potentially the Socceroos (Australia) are both out of the tournament....we will be supporting Ghana, the last African country still playing. so, Limi will be wearing her best, clashing African patterns from now on....

well done Bafana Bafana & the Socceroos...Ayoba!!

jun, 7th - girls can too....

[Limi at her first cricket match yesterday]


day 118:

when we were convinced that we were having a boy (day 1)...i think that A. had already started measuring up the cricket bat and promising that if I let our son play for Australia instead of South Africa, he would let me warm my cold hands on his warm belly forever more....


he dreamt about taking our son to his cricket matches on the weekend and instilling his love of the game from an early age....i dreamt about long, kid-free Sundays spent covered in bubbles, paint or the duvet. 

having a girl stopped these thoughts in their tracks but...i come from a non sexist family...my mum did a brick-laying course and built our braai/bbq and my dad enjoys cooking (and that's not just limited to bbq-ing meat)....so i've never felt constrained by being a girl. although Limi can't realise A.'s dream of playing for the Men's Australian cricket team there are some things that i feel that she should learn to do just as well as any boy:


- throw a ball (there's no physical reason that girls can't throw balls...even though my brother disagrees....we're just not taught!)
- kick a ball without breaking a toe (same reasoning as above)
- change a tyre
- explain the off-side rule....in fact be able to talk about a sporting match without commenting on the clothes or the men's calves
- work a drill


finally...


- learn how to keep score for cricket as soon as she can talk and write....a cunning way to reclaim my Sundays!!