This was the sunrise at 7:00 this morning, absolutely beautiful. Of course I do wonder about getting up at that time on a Saturday in the freezing cold but I had places to be. I went to Portabello Market to find some vintage lace and see what else I could find.

The market is aimed at the tourists, especially when it comes to the prices but you can find some nice stuff and can bargain with the stall holders so it is an interesting morning. That is why I was up so early, the stalls open at 8:30 and the tourists only start appearing at 9:30 so you have a bit of time before it becomes chaotic.

It was so cold and I think it was getting worse by the time I left at 10:00. I found some lovely lace which will be showing up on a bear soon, a couple of old keys, not tiny but for a 4" bear they are perfect and then I gazed in longing at some vintage postcards and velvet flowers but the money is limited so I left those. On my way back to catch the bus I stopped at a table and in a box on the ground was this poor old bear.
Well he had to come home with me, having one arm is a bit of a problem but I used to restore old bears so I can fix that. He was only £10.00 and I just couldn't leave him behind. Of course that was the grocery money but who needs to eat.
He did have one glass eye but when I got on the bus I realised that he had lost it on the walk, it was very careless of me and the bag that he got put in had a hole in it (wouldn't you just know it) so it could have been lost anywhere.
So poor bear is now one armed and blind, I am going to have to try and find out where I can get old glass eyes from in this country (if anyone knows please email me, an old bear would be very grateful)
So tomorrow I have to wash him and he can sit on the radiator to dry. I can't put him in the freezer as it is tiny and he wouldn't fit so I can just hope that the extreme cold he was in outside will have killed any potential bugs.
He has got a Chad valley label on his foot so he has got a good pedigree.

It has got really cold today so I have spent the afternoon wrapped in a blanket with the heating on stitching bears. I will have a couple of new ones on the website next week.

I seem to have finally settled back into UK life, I was really out of it most of last week. This is an order for someone in America, all ready for Valentine's day. I love little red bears and have never made one for myself. 'The Companions' are two little bears that Wendy finished for an order last week and got posted off to their new home, And finally a glimpse of a couple of the bears that are going to be appearing at the Bear Paths ' Fun in the Snow & Winter Sweethearts' Internet gallery show in February.

One final photo is of my work area, rather different to having a whole room but this is working well. At least I make miniature bears, can you imagine a big bear trying to sit on the table. I have all my fabric neatly packed in some boxes on the shelf next to the desk. Of course the computer can be a huge distraction as I love surfing the web and can sometimes be very undisciplined.

This post is going to have a lot of photos to look at, I finally got around to down-loading the last of the photos I took when I was in Cape Town.
The first photos have to be of the cats, otherwise they would complain.I took these at the cattery where they are staying. This is Mishka - he is only happy when he is in the garden so luckily the cat hotel owner lets him wander around to his hearts content. Sorry about the blurry image, he was busy and didn't really want to pose.Also another blurry photo (not a good day). This is Merlin, he is the most layed back about being here and not at home.
Then we have Sasha, the grey and white kitty, also the elder cat in the tribe. He didn't stop purring, almost as if he was saying, you haven't forgotten us, when can we go home. Then the little witch's cat Leila (our baby at 4 years old). She is really not happy, doesn't like people and just wants this to be over with. Apparently she has settled down enough to walk around and behave as if she owns the place now.
First of many scenic shots. This is Betty's Bay just up the road from where we were staying. This is the harbour and after the rocks there is a penguin colony which we didn't have time to go and see.
In amongst all the rocks is a Dassie colony, very cute little creatures. (you can just make him out in the centre of the photo) There where a whole family out sunning themselves but I forgot the camera in the car and by the time I got back they were all hiding. Can you believe that their closest relative is the elephant. My brother always tells us this when we tease him about being bitten by one many years ago.
This is the beautiful beach in Pringle Bay that we got to take our evening walks on.




My family knows that I love hanging out the car window to take photos, I just snap away and sometimes get really lucky but often end up photographing a bush, wall or street sign when I was really wanting an amazing scenery shoot. They all think it is hysterical and all I can say is thank heavens for a digital camera. This is on the way to Cape Town you can very faintly make out Table Mountain on the horizon (very faintly)
Now we are driving back to Pringle Bay, the road winds and twists around the side of the mountain.
This is the mouth of the river that comes from the dam on the other side of the mountain. The photo is taken from the bridge.
And on the other side of the bridge you see the amazing river and mountains.
Finally I had to include this shop's photo. This is in Kleinmond about 15 mins from Pringle Bay and who can resist a shop with a name like this. Sorry about the car, but look at the cat signs by the columns.

Back in London again and my first day back the sun was out. I seem to have missed all the really mean weather.

So much has happened since I last posted. I left Cape Town on Monday the 19th. When I got to the airport my luggage weighed 34kilos and the allowance is 20kilos. So Wendy had to take stuff back for me to be posted later. It was a lot lighter with the books gone but still weighed 26kilos but the nice airline people let me get away with that. Of course 4 pairs of heavy winter shoes most probably accounted for a lot of the weight.
I really had a nice time flying with Qatar airlines, lovely crew, literally hundreds of movies to watch and the best was I had an empty seat next to me on both flights so I managed to put my feet up and sleep. The only down side of the trip is the time it takes, 11 1/2 hrs to Doha, a 5 hr wait and then 8 hrs to London. I was a bit tired by the time we landed and then the tube journey is an 1 1/2 hrs.

I miss talking to Wendy as we are back to phone calls and that can be a bit frustrating as there is always something that I forget to mention and of course I miss my kitties. Apparently the kitties are going to have to go on diet, being stuck in the cattery all the time means they are not getting enough of their usual exercise. At least the time is almost here for them to move to France.

One more hurdle in the saga of the Chamberlain family move was for me to get a Schengen visa. I made the appointment with the French embassy 3 weeks ago and set off this morning. My appointment was for 10:00, luckily I got there early as at 9:15 I was third in the queue. At 10:00 exactly you are let in the doors, we have been standing outside in the cold weather until then and now there must be at least 20 people in the queue (at least it wasn't raining - much). Now you pay and get a number, and sit and wait to be called. Of course then you start panicking that you have got all the right papers and haven't forgotten something or didn't know that you needed something else ( luckily I phoned yesterday and found out I needed travel insurance, I got it online from my bank for £20 otherwise the embassy offers you insurance for £50 - and you have to take it. ) If you get sent away because you haven't got everything you have to start again and make another appointment. Really crazy.
1 1/2 hrs of waiting and I get called, it only took a few minutes and then she gave me another number and I had to wait for my passport. I was out of there at 12:15 with a new visa in my passport. Thank goodness.
Now I can run off to France when I feel like it. Most importantly I can go with Wendy and my Dad to meet the kitties from the plane and get them settled in their new 6 month home.

Now back to bear making, some orders and the Hugglets show is just around the corner. I also need to look for a part-time job to help support the kitties, they do have expensive tastes :-) and it does help to pay the rent.

This is Leila looking very peeved because all the couches and chairs have gone and she has to sit on the floor. Of course we did provide the pile of cushions so she could be comfortable.
Merlin is packed and ready to go but is now bored with the whole idea of moving.
The empty house, this is the kitchen, it looks so beautiful. Below is the lounge, I am standing in the dining room to take the photo so that is the little bit of wooden floor that you can see.

The front of the house taken from the pathway. The verandah and garden look so bare with all of Wendy's plants gone.
This is the cottage we are staying at in Pringle Bay. Very cute with a fynbos garden which is not really my thing but is in keeping with the area.
And our first visitor. A very beautiful Siamese cat. She spent the day sleeping on the couch or bed then disappearing back home, presumably. Poor kitty tried to jump in the window on one of the return trips and I heard a thump and she was standing on the verandah with one eye closed looking at me as if it was my fault that she had misjudged the space.

My poor kitties in their hotel would be so angry if they knew about the interloper.
We went for a lovely walk along the beach late yesterday evening and watched the sunset. Absolutely amazing.

It is done. Three days of packing and our lives are in storage. We left the house at about 5:00pm on Friday, I was packed into the back seat of the car with a fan on my lap and the computer next to me and off we drove. I took some photos of the empty house just to remember and will post some soon.

The hour and a half journey was delayed when we had to stop at a police roadblock. I was not impressed as we were all hot, tired and trying to get to Pringle Bay before the sun set as there are no street lights in this little seaside town.

It is a cute little cottage that we are staying in but I have yet to see any of the famous baboons, most probably a good thing.

Drove into Cape Town yesterday, Saturday to hand over the last set of keys and do some shopping. We didn't go and see the kitties as it was getting late and they were all sleeping, they are apparently settling in okay but I miss them so much. They couldn't have stayed out here as they love being outside and that is just not possible.

We went on a long walk in the late evening, it is so quite and peaceful here, it is going to be a nice break. I have extended my stay till the 19th, to help with final packing and sorting out of kitties and visas etc. Wendy and I can work on bears and I just hope we have remembered to pack everything needed. At the moment it is a bit disorganised and there are still a few panic stricken moments when we can't find something important and wonder if it got packed by mistake.

It has been rather an eventful new year so far. The weather the last 3 days has been almost more then I can cope with, I feel like a limp rag it has been so hot you feel as if you can't breathe and I am getting a suntan. I am very fair and have the red hair tendency to get freckles rather than go brown so I am not happy. At least when I get back to London I will look as if I have been on a nice holiday.

The four kitties had to go to the cattery this morning and we had an eventful time trying to catch them, with boxes piled everywhere it provided plenty of hiding places, so I spent some time lying on the floor pulling cats out from under tables etc. Never have a cat box made for two cats to share, you put the one in, open the door slightly to put the other one in and the first escapes.

They were not very happy when they arrived at their 'hotel', Leila went and hid in the one box bed and I don't think she has surfaced yet, the other three kitties just stood in the centre of the cage and looked at us. When we went back this afternoon they had all chosen a bed to hid in and didn't even want to greet us, finally Merlin came and got a hug, he surprised me as he seems to be handling it the best so far and I expected him to have his usual stress and all his fur to fall out.

I miss them, it is so strange not having them with us, I would normally be typing this with Merlin sitting on my lap and Mishka trying to sit on my shoulders. I just hope they are okay, I know it is the best place for them to be as they would have been terrified with all the people walking through the house and making so much noise and mess but they have never been out of this house so it must seem so strange.

The packers were supposed to start at 9:00 this morning but only arrived at 12:30 as they had to finish someone else's place first. This is usual stuff for this family, nothing goes smoothly or according to plan but not much you can do about it. They are amazing to watch, everything is packed so well and thank goodness they seem to be fast. I have decided that mid summer has to be the worst time to move, it is so dreadfully hot that you lose half the day to heat exhaustion and there are all the holidays to contend with so things drag out for longer.

I feel a bit lost at the moment as we took all the sewing stuff to Pringle Bay already and I think this is the first time ever that I don't have something to do at night, of course there are no chairs so we are sitting on the floor but I could have done some stitching.

I made dinner tonight and then realised all the cutlery had been packed so we ended up using breakfast spoons and kitchen knives to eat, very interesting. So the packing continues tomorrow and Friday and then we will be out of the house.