Sometimes you gotta fake it

I love a garden full of colourful flowers. When I go for my runs through the neighbourhood and see gardens full of flowers, I’m a little envious. You see, our garden, unfortunately, does not get much sun, so we have been unable to plant any flowers.

When we originally moved into our house years ago, we were so concerned about blocking our neighbours from peeking into our garden that our landscaping was more focussed on big trees and bushes. Nine years later, we have the most beautiful trees full of bird feeders and nests, but lots of shade. It’s lush and green but lacks the colour that only flowers bring.Water lily

But a few weeks back, my mother-in-law changed that. Starting with just a single water lily, she “planted” this colourful flower to float gently on top of our water feature in the corner of the garden. Viewed from the kitchen, it was lovely to see not only the birds splashing themselves in the water, but a dash of colour. I requested she buy a few more and now have almost 8 of these beautiful flowers to view. I love them.Collage1

The water lilies are fake. They are plastic. But they look like the real deal and they bring me joy. In life, that’s what counts. Water lily in water feature

I love my weekends, especially because of…

Friday night pasta…

We don’t eat a lot of take-out. For us, Friday nights are pasta night in our house. It’s the one night of the week where I make a kick-ass pasta dish, loaded with cheese. Yum!

Saturday morning breakfast in bed…

KK wakes up quite early on Saturday mornings. If we aren’t off to run a race, he will make breakfast which we usually eat in bed watching something we’ve PVR’ed on TV. Even if it’s just a bowl of Milo cereal, or muesli and a hot cup of tea. It’s perfect! The best part is falling asleep again and waking up later.

Saturday movie night…

If we have no other plans, KK and I usually go to movies. We take it in turns to pick the movie and always buy x2 small popcorns and a water. After the movie, we go for supper. It’s our special “date night” and never grows old.

Sunday afternoon naps…

I absolutely love napping on a Sunday afternoon. It’s even better if there’s a typical Jozi thunderstorm and the room gets all dark and cosy.

Spending time with my dogs…

Annie and Emma follow me wherever I go. They absolutely adore me. It’s also the only time I get to really snuggle them and let them cuddle with me when I nap. I like to spend extra time talking to them and brushing them. They love it!

Feeding the birds in my garden…

There’s nothing more beautiful than the sound of birds in the garden. I have two bird feeders and it attracts so many birds to my garden. All weekend, there is the sound of weavers and grey louries in the trees. It’s magnificent!

Early morning races…

Running races have become a part of my life. It’s what we do. I once told a friend that I was thinking of quitting the running and she said, “You can’t. It’s such a big part of what you and KK do on your weekends. It’s what your friends do on weekends. Quitting is not an option.” She’s right. It’s a big part of our lives and our weekends. Yes, so the 4am wake up and driving to races in the dark always feels like hell, but crossing those finish lines and eating pancakes under a tree after a race while we all review how the race went is .. well, it’s pretty awesome.