kirstenbosch winter wonders programme

Wait, what??

We've been so distracted by The Birthday that the THREE WEEK SCHOOL HOLIDAY rather crept up on us.

Secretly I love the school holidays, for no other reason then I hate the mad term-time morning scramble to get out the house (why do you think I've conspired to mainly work from home for so many years?), however there are other complications - namely that whole work from home thing...

The girls are pretty content to play together at home, for which I'm grateful, but I do feel I need to plan a couple of outings - to stave off cabin fever, and to allay my guilt for leaving them with their nanny when I do work.

Kirstenbosch being one of our favourite places

For all the above reasons I'm very excited about Kirstenbosch Gardens' lovely looking Winter Wonders programme. The full programme is up on their website - they're really catering for all age groups (check out the great art workshops for older kiddies), but for my small girls I'm most looking forward to:

Puppet shows in the Conservatory - followed by a guided walk around this amazing indoor garden. The puppet shows are R30/child, but entrance to the gardens is free for kids under17 until 16 July.
10h00 - 11h00
26, 28 June, 3, 5, 10 and 12 July

Garden Walks - all free - guided walks with specific themes. We're keen on -
All Creatures Great & Small: the animals of the Garden
10h30 - 12h30
28 June & 10 July at Gate 2
Medicinal Plants: SA's indigenous healing plants
11h00 - 13h00
12 July at Info Desk, Visitors Centre (Gate 1)

Story-Telling and Colouring-In.
These happen every week day at 10h00 from Tuesday 26 June at the Visitors Centre bookshop (Gate 1).
There's even a reading of Vumile and the Dragon by the author, Claerwen Howie on Mon 2 July.

I'd love to take the girls to the Frog Awareness talk, but you know, there's the whole bufunophobia thing ...

And for a special treat, maybe lunch at Moyo Kirstenbosch? The set-up is not yet looking as rich and colourful as the other Moyo's we love, but I'm sure they'll get there soon and with great kiddie specials this holiday (and a good deal on coffee for the parents) it'll be worth a visit I'm sure.

I'll be sharing more fun holiday activities as I find them - please let me know if you've any recommendations too!

did I mention we LOVE Kirstenbosch?

say hello to my little friend(s)

WARNING: Arachnophobes, keep walking. Seriously.

Sitting on a sunny bench in Kirstenbosch on Tuesday afternoon, watching Sunday devour a mielie and marveling at the yellowness of it in the late afternoon light, I casually glanced up and gahhhhhhhhhh!

Golden Orb Web Spiders. About a grazillion of them. Look. They're really beautiful.

I can't recall ever having noticed these ladies in Kirstenbosch before. And we go often. I wondered whether their being out in such force was seasonal, but after a bit of research it seems not, just that they're far more common in the Cape South Peninsula in the last few years than ever before.
They're not toxic (unless you're a small winged creature) and they get their name from the golden strands of their amazingly intricate webs.

While going through my photos I recalled Heather posting photos of spider webs in Kirstenbosch last year - here - and was interested to see it was more or less the same time of year when she took those.

It may be that the Golden Orb Web Spider doesn't spin her web in specific seasons, but some seasons just display them better.
I think this magnificent Autumn light in Cape Town brings out the best in all of us.
Get outside!