Afternoon walks

My routine is not at all blogging friendly at the moment… all my energy is going into looking after Livia who is almost 5 months already! I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get her into a more predictable routine, which will free me up to do more things away from her, but it’s hard to let go especially when one lives and works in the same place. Even when I think things will get done during her nap time other distractions occur that take me away from my to-do-list. Sadly, blogging is currently at the very bottom of the list especially since I’m not doing much in the garden or kitchen or getting out and about on the farm to take interesting photos. In addition, little Hope broke her leg the other day when she jumped off the bakkie while it was moving fast. So now I have a little patient in the house for 6 weeks until her leg heals. She needs lots of attention to keep her out of mischief and regular trips outside on a lead – almost like having another baby in the house!

Part of my routine with Liva is to go for a late afternoon walk with the dogs (unfortunately Hopey will have to stay home for a while). We walk down into the valley and back, which is about 2 kilometres. I used to take her in the pram, but it keeps getting flat tires from all the rocks and thorns on the way. She’s big enough to face forward in her sling now so we do that instead. Some days we come across lots of cows, other days it’s sheep coming home to kraal. Some days there’s nothing but guinea fowl, herons and ducks. The late-autumn light is soft and casts a gentle glow over the brown veld. We lap up the stillness as I sing songs to her and gently admonish Paris for stepping on my heels. These photos were taken on Mother’s Day when Quentin joined us for our walk. Hopefully we’ll be able to keep it up in winter, wrapped up in our warm jackets of course!