Pretoria | Travels through a geek's mind

Jul 29 2014

Receiving 15 aircraft in your back-yard

I’ve always said that I am a little left of normal and this is true of my entire family. Case in point: my sister Christelle is a student pilot, and her love of aviation combined with my mother’s love for cooking lead to this amazing breakfast fly-in.

We proved a while back that the farm where I grew up is the perfect wedding venue, but Christelle took it one step further this past Saturday by receiving 15 aircraft for breakfast.

The morning started with a true Zandfontein wind, blowing everyone setting up to receive guests hither and thither. The weather app on my phone claimed that it was only gusting at 16kmph (just over 8 knots for those aviatory-folk), but it sure felt and sounded like far more.

By 11:00 the wind had calmed down significantly, and the 900m runway had received a number of slings. The helicopters were lined up nicely and Mike Rumble literally dropped in on the festivities.

If you love great food and want to experience something slightly different in the Joburg and Pretoria vicinity, keep an eye on 29 Zandfontein’s Facebook page for the next event. It should be a lovely lunch in October.

All images by the author: © catterflyworx 2014. Please contact me if you would like to use any images from this site.

Tagged Air shows, Aviation, Fly-in, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Site-seeing in Johannesburg, Site-seeing in Pretoria, Things to do, Weekend

Oct 22 2013

3 Comments

Experiences, I <3 Pretoria, Life in the Capital City, South Africa, This has nothing to do with travel Image

The final count-down

A little less than two weeks to go.

Meet Ceara 🙂

Ceara (Photo by Yolandi van der Linde)

Tagged For the love of cute, Pets, Pretoria, South Africa

Sep 13 2013

3 Comments

Experiences, I <3 Pretoria, Life in the Capital City

Look at those feet!

I usually get annoyed with people who post about their pets, but I can’t help it this time!

We’ve been on a waiting list for a new staffie for months now. A new litter has finally been born, and the breeder we’re buying our new addition from sent me some pics yesterday. I cannot wait to bring this little thing home! I know our 2 year old staffie, Gelos will love having a friend (other than the terrified cat).

Red staffie bitch puppy held in her breeder's hand

So very tiny and immensely cute. (Photo by Yolandi van der Linde)

Only a few days old and fast asleep. (Photo by Yolandi van der Linde)

Gelos looking attentive at age one and a half. Gelos was bred by Nickelback Staffies.

Brindle staffordshire terrier dog on the lawn

Eating a palm seed on the lawn of our flat in 2012.

All images by the author, unless otherwise specified: © catterflyworx 2012.

Tagged For the love of cute, Pets, Pretoria, South Africa

Apr 10 2013

Turning our house into a home: the before & after

In December 2012, we moved into our very own house. As first time home owners, the first week was filled with excitement. The four months following that first week, has been filled with a lot of hard work.

The reward has been worth it though, as this past weekend was the first one since the beginning of December last year that there was no ‘To Do’ list. No more walls to paint. No builders tramping through the house and no more small little things niggling at my conscious to get done.

Well, I’m lying. There was one more thing. It read: “Take and post some before and after photos.”

Done.

Master bedroom

Second bedroom. (Seriously guys, I was not making an extra bed in the house purely for the pics. Sorry!)

Study. The walls were a slighter lighter green that that cabinet.

Study

Lounge. The parquet flooring was in immaculate condition. This is the first time in 47 years that the wood has been exposed, it was covered in carpets as soon as the previous owners moved in.

Kitchen, with lots of space for wine. One can never have enough wine (or books).

Kitchen

Scullery

Pantry

Dining room (we still need a table, so in the meantime you get to look at my amazing Belweb wardrobe)

Bathroom

For those of you who want more info, our work regime was roughly as follows:

Remove all carpets, replace with laminate wood flooring in all bedrooms and study. Sand and varnish parquet floor in lounge, dining area and hallway.
Resurface the bath, basin and toilet (changing the colour of the enamel from blue to white).
Move into the house.
Unpack most of the boxes. Don’t unpack everything, as we’ll have contractors in the house for the next two months.
Remove all curtain pelmets.
[DIY] Paint the bathroom, WC, hallway, master bedroom, lounge, and dining room.
[DIY] Mount curtain rails and hang newly made curtains in lounge (YAY!!).
Pack the kitchen back up and use the study as a temporary kitchen.
Demolish kitchen.
Start replacing the kitchen.
Remove tiles from wall in study.
[DIY] Put cornices up in kitchen.
[DIY] Paint cornices, kitchen walls, study.
Unpack the rest of the boxes, including the kitchen (again).
Build and [DIY] cover frame for TV mount to hide cables.
[DIY] Mount TV-cable-hider-frame and TV (at 2am the night before your housewarming).
Enjoy fabulous new kitchen while preparing food for said housewarming 🙂

Tagged Before & After, DIY, feel, Home owners, Pretoria, reality, South Africa

Aug 08 2012

But, before I go

We’ve planned a lovely weekend away at the beach. Thursday is National Women’s Day in South Africa and we’ve taken leave for Friday, looking forward to KwaZulu Natal‘s mild winters, sunny skies and city-free living. However, the Winter Queen had one last thing to say before she leaves the southern hemisphere, and she chose to send her message in white. Snow white, to be exact.

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