Mooipraatjies met Elsa

05/03/2026

For friends and family who would like to join us in honouring my mother’s life:
Her memorial service will be live-streamed this afternoon from the Gereformeerde Kerk, Sederstraat, Heiderand, Mossel Bay.
The video stream will begin at 14:30 (South African time) and the service will start at 15:00.
You can watch the service here:
https://youtube.com/?si=LTv9M6wJMzZR-4tk
Your presence, even from afar, means a great deal to our family.

Vir familie en vriende wat graag my Mam se diens wil volg:
Haar gedenkdiens sal vanmiddag regstreeks uitgesaai word vanuit die Gereformeerde Kerk, Sederstraat, Heiderand, Mosselbaai.
Die video-uitsending begin om 14:30 (Suid-Afrikaanse tyd) en die diens begin om 15:00.
Die uitsending kan hier gekyk word:
https://youtube.com/?si=LTv9M6wJMzZR-4tk
Dankie vir elkeen wat saam met ons, al is dit van ver af, hierdie oomblik deel.

03/03/2026

The memorial service for Nellie Kruger will take place this coming week.

Date: Wednesday afternoon 4 March 2026. Venue: Gereformeerde Kerk, Seder Street, Heiderand, Mosselbaai Time: 15:00 Friends and family interested in remote access: Link to the electronic streaming video service will be provided on this group once the arrangements are in place.

03/07/2025

The gift that keeps on giving. My beloved goddaughter is visiting from LA. I spent a few days with her, her sister and friend at their late mother Salome ‘s Bonnievale country house. Fire places, moonshine, marshmallows, cacao ceremony, knitting, musing, cooking, red wine, rainy clouds, children entertaining us with talent concerts… my tank is filled again. 😄

26/01/2025

What would I be without my woman friends? A much needed reconnect with my A-team girl friends .walker and this weekend. Starting off with a long stroll along the Sea Point Promenade on Friday at sunset. Then a scrumptious dinner at the indescribably beautiful bougainvillea framed Centre courtyard of the Wi******er Hotel. My batteries are recharged and energy levels restored. So grateful.

26/01/2025

A memorable Cape final farewell to BEELD newspaper. An event for the pioneers, founding members and following teams of journalists and editors who worked at the paper over the past 50 years. Of course we couldn’t end the event at at 15:00! Too many stories and memories still to share. Ended up with pizzas at with friends , , and The wake went on till late, in typical bittereinders style. Bittersweet day with endless stories of a newspaper that played a formative role in our lives.

16/01/2025

How wonderful to find IDEAS / IDEES magazines dating back to 2010 in the restaurant in Bland Street, Mossel Bay. Enjoying homemade lemonade after digging with neigbour Amanda through my storeroom next door. Big 2025 cleanup loading. Customers love having homemade lemonade and salted caramel cake while flipping through the mags, says manager Rama Nonda.

10/01/2025

Ek d**k dit behoort ons vroue van ‘n sekere ouderdom se mantra te wees vir 2025.

IT’S TIME

There comes a day, somewhere in the middle of every woman’s life, when Mother Nature herself stands behind us and wraps her arms around our shoulders, whispering

“It’s time.”

“You have taken enough now. It’s time to stop growing up, stop growing older and start growing wilder.

There are adventures still waiting on you and this time, you will enjoy them with the vision of wisdom and the companionship of hindsight, and you will really let go.

It’s time to stop the madness of comparison and the ridicule of schedule and conformity and start experiencing the joys that a life, free of containment and guilt, can bring.”

She will shake your shoulders gently and remind you that you’ve done your bit. You’ve given too much, cared too much, you’ve suffered too much.

You’ve bought the book, as it were, and worn the t-shirt.

Worse, you’ve worn the chains and carried the weight of a burden far too heavy for your shoulders.

“It’s time” she will say.

“Let it go, really let it go and feel the freedom of the fresh, clean spaces within you. Fill them with discovery, love and laughter. Fill yourself so full you will no longer fear what is ahead and instead you will greet each day with the excitement of a child.”

She will remind you that if you choose to stop caring what other people think of you and instead of caring what you think of you, that you will experience a new era of your life you never dreamed possible.

‘It’s time’ she will say…

“to write the ending, or new beginning, of your own story.”

Donna Ashworth from
https://amzn.eu/d/2TElrwx
(Exciting announcement coming soon…grab yours first📕😎😍)

Art by Watercolours by Rachel (prints and books available)

23/12/2024

Who is this mysterious woman? I’d love to find out who she is. This is a commissioned painting by the renowned South African artist Sydney Carter (1847-1945). He was well known for his landscapes, and portraits by him are pretty rare. The painting has been in our family since the 1970’s, when my dad bought it at an art auction. Several art auctioneers are interested in the painting, but it would add intrinsic value to know who the sitter for the painting was.

Please forward to your art loving friends and cognoscenti, who might help me track down the story behind the picture. Perhaps she even had descendants or family in South Africa who would recognise her. Just imagine what an interesting story or mystery it might reveal?

The artists’s bio: Sydney Carter was born in Enfield, Middlesex, England in 1874. He attended the Walthamstow School of Art in London from 1890 to 1895, and later won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art from 1895 to 1899.
In 1923, Carter arrived in South Africa and travelled around the country before eventually settling in Johannesburg in 1926. The following year, he began teaching art at the Witwatersrand Technical College.
During the mid to late 1930s, he was commissioned to paint murals for the Johannesburg and Cape Town Post Offices. Carter was also an illustrator, having worked on several book editions by famous international authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, and Charlotte Brontë and South African writer Dorothea Fairbridge.
In addition to illustrations, Carter was a painter, mainly in gouche and oils, and particularly of landscapes, trees, and farmsteads. His works are in prominent South African collections such as the Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, Pretoria Art Museum, Durban Art Gallery, and Ann Bryant Art Gallery in East London.

28/11/2024

Making memories. A beautiful blue day for breakfast.

22/09/2024

The year so far has been enormously stressful. Family illness, devastating loss of my lifelong best friend and pressure took its toll on my thick, long hair - my security blanket, so to speak. The hair fall was shocking. When I came across the Scalp Serum, formulated by the formidable Dr Judey Pretorius, I jumped at the opportunity to restore my crowning glory. And Hey Presto! Look at all the new baby hair at my hairline after a month. I’m over the moon!

04/09/2024

Can I just, with respect, point out that lips are NOT Botoxed. They are FILLED (or blown up!) with hyaluronic acid injections like Rystalyne. Foreheads and wrinkles are Botoxed to iron out lines by paralyzing the muscle movements that cause wrinkles. Botox is mostly used in the upper half of the face and for neck wrinkles. Don’t blame Botox for those caricature lips 👄 😉