Merensky High School Metric Farewell 2016

Micaela Ball, Just ALL BEAUTIFUL MY ANGEL! :) So proud of her. She is writing her Matric exams now for the next few weeks, and will be done by the end of November.

 These photos were taken for the Matric Farewell Dinner. Here she is with JohnD.

 Below she is with her date for the evening, Marco Strydom.

 And Ken... :) Love this one!

We also had some fun taking photos here on the farm beforehand...  It's still pretty dry. Rain would be most welcome!

 Micaela and Alicia had some fun in their gowns, taking all sorts of photos ... both such beautiful young ladies.

SHI-AWELA SAFARIS WEBSITE UPDATE

…..I completely understand if you don’t even check anymore! Forgive me? I hope that all of these little notes make up for it. I struggle to get around to everything that I need to do.

I’ve completely given up on the idea of trying to resurrect our website. I’ve been blocked out of wordpress, and it’s not possible for me to go through all of the work of setting it all up again, just to possibly lose it again next year.   It would appear that the websites that are based on the use of programs that are free and “user-friendly”, are also abuser-friendly too, and easy to hack.  So, it’s my plan that we use this blog site until I am able to find someone who can build us a website, without using any of the free and “easy to hack programs”. 

Stop press!!! I have finally opened a Shi-awela Facebook page, and an Instagram page. I am learning…. So if you have posted something there, and I have not responded, forgive me!  I still have to cook breakfast, lunch and supper for our guests every day, I still have to run the school TAXI Monday and Friday, do all of the shopping and I still have to keep an eye on things at the lodge…  so the admin / office work happens in between as and when I can.

I am in the process of sorting photos, and getting my thoughts together to try and bring ya’ll up to date from March, so will add some more posts as soon as I get them ready.

Thanks for checking in and watch this space ;)

www.shiawela.com website hacked!

Hello! :) The extreme of heat here, and the dry conditions that we have now are such a huge contrast to the cold wet and winter conditions of Charleston!  We truly had a remarkable time in Charleston, thank you so much to all of our very special people and particularly to the Ford and Foster families. You are all just amazing and such a gift to us.  We love you dearly!  Micaela and I were blessed by you all.  She certainly wasn't ready to come home at all.

As appears to be an annual occurrence after the Wildlife show, our website has been hacked once again!  I have rebuilt it so many times, and think that we now have to come up with a new and original plan to stay ahead of 'them'.  I might land up using this platform in the interim until such time as we have a new system in place.

We both have LOADS of work ahead of us, and apologize to those of you who are waiting for a reply from me. I hope to get all of the emails replied to today.  On getting home 11.30pm Wednesday night, I was on the road Thursday morning to collect the kids from School, and we then all spent the whole of yesterday at the School Inter-high athletics meeting in Phalaborwa.

Big hugs, love Jo

South Eastern Wildlife Expo 2016, Valentine weekend... here we come!

2016 is going to be a GIRL'S trip. We leave Saturday, and fly direct to Charleston. Micaela is so excited to be coming with me, and I am just as excited to have her company. Ken and I decided it was an awesome opportunity for the two of us, as we don't know when we might have this opportunity again. She hopes to study Veterinary next year, and that is going to be a big time commitment for a number of years.

January 2nd I celebrated my 43rd birthday.  We were delighted to have our special friends Abraham and Ilse de Villiers join us for the weekend.  It's become an annual tradition for us to spend new year together, and we just LOVE IT!
We are short of rain, and do hope that February and March will be nice and wet months!  JohnD was able to do a LOT of hunting over the holidays, and he certainly helped keep our freezer stocked.  This "Jackpot" day was one I don't think he will forget soon!

January flew by, and with the children now back into the school routine, our home is empty again. Micaela is in Grade 12 this year, her final year of High School. JohnD is in Grade 10, and is already feeling the increased pace of being a senior.

Our schedule this year in the USA is a very short one, as we have to keep Micaela's time away from school to a minimum.  We are very excited to catch up with all of you again. We hope to see you at our booth in the Brittle Bank Park Sporting Village Tent.  The South Eastern Wildlife Expo in Charleston, South Carolina is over the Valentine's Weekend.