Boo. Y'all.

Since there is a lack of Halloween trick or treating here, I thought we would engage in some costuming of the animals.  The cats were uninterested in participating as they had some sunbathing to attend to, so the dogs partook.  Poppy enjoyed her costume,  we settled on a princess since we have an overabundance of princess outfits, and she pranced around much like our other little princess here.

Oliver didn't think his frock coat was quite up to his standard of quality so he looks a little dissatisfied with the photo shoot.

Not very frightening I'm afraid, but you might find it scary that someone dresses up their animals like little people just for fun.  And no, I don't subject them to these horrors but once a year.

End of the Week

So, this is the end of our 4th week here, time is just flying by.  End of the month and Halloween is coming, though haven't seen much evidence of good old fashioned trick or treating, very little in the way of costumes in the shops either.   The boy has a halloween parade today at school so at least there is something, but I think I'll miss the 300+ kids stopping by the house trying to beg for candy.
Yesterday I posted photos of the felines of the house.  Today I give you a couple shots of the canines.  Yes, we have a menagerie.

They are finding the living fine here as well.

First the Fauna, Now the Flora

In my previous post I showed you some of the local wildlife (such as it is at our house, there are more beasties who I will introduce you to later), I thought I would show you all what I see out the various patios and verandas around our house.  Some are beautiful and strange to this midwesterner

 And some are easily recognized.  But I will give credit to the humble gardeners who work within this estate, there are few gardens that can compare to the beautiful ones here.
And then, there are more chilling landscapes. Good vs. Evil, no?

Wild Animals on the Loose

I hear there are many large cats roaming these African lands, I think I have located two of the local beasts obviously resting after a long hunt.

This is the first time since we adopted these felines that they have been able to roam freely outside, they are taking it in stride.

Who knew?

So, my hubby and I had bemoaned the lack of good tv programming while we lived in the UK.   That is not to say we didn't have our favorite shows, and they did have satellite tv in the form of sky +.  As time went on we actually came to find several of the programs to be well worthy of viewing.  I became obsessed with Midsomer Murders, and Masterchef, and Come Dine with Me.  When we moved back to the States I was having withdrawal symptoms and was left with what they would broadcast on BBC America (not bad, but lacked a lot of their original programming).  We also learned that some of our favorite series were going to come to the US, only not the British versions, but rather the powers that think they know better decided to repackage them with american actors and virtually the same script.  This was the fate of Being Human, and Masterchef, and Shameless.  Though I will say after watching the Showtime version of Shameless with William H. Macy I really could get into it.  The other two were sad copies.  Luckily I was able to find the UK version of Being Human on BBC.
So fast forward to our recent move to SA and once again we found ourselves with craptastic tv programming.  If you don't mind old reruns of mediocre US sitcoms you'd be pleased, but we want more.  ( I know, greedy American's) 
But guess what we found while surfing the limited channel selection....Midsomer Murders reruns (yea!!) and Come Dine with Me and Graham Norton and Masterchef!!!!  And they even started a South African version of Come Dine with Me.  I'm in heaven.

Maiden Voyage

How does one start a blog?
I always wondered this as I read many during my long days at home as a SAHM.  With no one to talk to during the day except two kids under 7, the adult conversation was a little lacking.  So those unknown writers out in the WWW kept me company.
I find I now have a lot of time on my hands since the move, so I want to document my experience while living here in South Africa.  Not only for myself, but for all the friends and family who can't enjoy the experience with me.  We have traveled halfway around the world again, this time to South Africa for a job assignment.  For those of you reading this who don't know our family of four has moved before, this will be the second international assignment we've taken and this time to a much more foreign destination than the one before. 
Hopefully this will be an interesting and informative record of our time here.
We have been in country for almost 4 weeks now and apart from the weather, and the whole driving on the wrong side of the road thing (again!) it is remarkably like the US.  That's not to say that there aren't differences, obviously back home it would be cooler as they head into fall, and here its near balmy as they coast into summer, but the amount of sunlight is fantastic and dawn comes much earlier due to the lack of DST.  Anyone who suffers from SADD should just move out here, no need for UV lights.
The people are friendly and enough people speak English that its not impossible to communicate. (phew! my ability to learn new languages has slowed considerably since school days) 
I will try my best not to be another stagnant blog out there in the ether, but who knows when something interesting might or might not happen, one would think that with two kids and 4 pets there would be enough mayhem for several posts a day.  But you never know about these things.  So, if you are still with me, welcome.  I hope you stick around for a while.