We have had such beautiful winter days this last week!
Lots of flowers in the garden are enjoying the warm sunshine.
Still good to have a log fire once the sun goes down as the nights are chilly.

And.......the new song book and cd is ready!

Check it out on my web page  www.judyliz.com

I like red bicycles so do you!

The Bridge

The otter

Winter

The new book and CD of songs for children is just about ready. 
In this book you will meet “The Otter” a shy creature that lives in the little river close to my home. 
Then there is “That Spiky Porcupine”. He is not too popular as he  eats flowering bulbs!   But my goodness what a funny looking creature he is!  And  those quills are amazing.
There’s a song about a big boat called “The African Queen” which sails up and down the river taking holiday makers to see the beautiful sights.
The lullaby (I always seem to add a lullaby )  is about  those beautiful flamingoes.
Then there’s some red bicycles, a donkey.......what else might you find near the little river!

©Judy Gardner

It is winter now and the mornings are chilly!  We light the wood-burning  stove at tea time and that keeps the house cosy for the evening. 
In the middle of the day if the sun is shining it can be quite warm. The garden is getting some of my attention. It is warm enough to sow some seeds....I have lettuces and peas coming up....just hope there are not too many snails around at this time of the year!!!!
Believe it or not the snowdrops are already flowering! I must take a photo!

Late summer

It is late summer here now. The wine farms are busy harvesting grapes. The days are getting shorter. It has been hot and sunny the last few days but we are promised some rain today.

These strange looking flowers have popped up amongst the burnt vegetation. I think they are called "April Fools" but I don't know why?

The bird club in the village have a project starting to give disadvantaged children the opportunity to learn about birdlife. First step is to raise funds to buy binoculars for the children to use. An interesting and important project I think.

This was the view from my window yesterday. A  fire on the other side of the river and the fantastic fire fighting helicopter team scooping water from the river. 

Languages

What is a language? How many languages are there in the world? Where in the world are different languages spoken? How many languages do you speak? What language do you speak at home?

I am thinking of having a bit of a language theme for the  literacy work this year. 
Keeping it very simple.....a bit of geography looking at a world map.........maybe the numbers 1 to 10 .....days of the week....etc.

And maybe a books and writing theme.......what is a book?  What is a story? What else do we read? 
Why do we write?  What do we write about?  What is a diary?  What is a blog?

January 2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_of_Eden

Late summer days here. We just returned from a little trip to Bitou and while there visited the Birds of Eden.

I don't like caged birds but this sanctuary is different. It is the largest  multi species bird "aviary" in the world. It is huge. The birds are unwanted  and would not survive in the wild and this beautifully designed area gives them a chance to live a fairly natural life. 

The construction and the landscaping are very interesting. 

The birds, an eclectic mix of indigenous and exotics, are fascinating. 

Back at the farm the bees that have taken up residence in the owl box got a fright yesterday when the whole thing fell out of the tree in the wind......I guess the honey has made it too heavy. So now we have a bunch of rather cross bees! I think the plan will be to move them up to the area where the other bees live and try to tempt them to take up residence in  a proper hive.

The new school year, autumn term, has begun and the Star Literacy programme will be starting in February. We volunteers will once again be listening to reading and encouraging the learners to explore and enjoy books, reading and writing.

JUDYLIZ