childhood friends and birthday delights

Childhood friends, ah! how I treasure them.

Last week Nancy and I were delighted to welcome two dear old friends to our little home for a couple days.

 Picnics, walks on the beach, antique shops, singing together in front of the piano…laughing till our cheeks hurt and watching The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society…just a few of the wonderful things we got up to during Miss J and Miss M’s visit. 

 One of the main reasons for this long overdue visit (it had been three years since they last came to stay) was to celebrate Nancy’s nineteenth birthday on October 14th. 

 ^ The lovely birthday girl... 

Sunday morning saw rain clouds on the horizon and not long after, a thunder storm of note broke out.   

All our hopes for a picnic and walk in the Botanical Gardens went out the window…

However, by the time we had finished baking our carrot cake and mini quiches and everyone had gotten dressed and done their hair and make up, the sky had cleared and it began warm up.

Off we went in high spirits to enjoy a delicious celebratory picnic under the trees...

 

 

Nancy had a music lesson in Sedgefield on Monday morning, so on the way home we stopped for a long, refreshing walk on Wilderness beach.  

 

Some of us (ahem, yours truly) had forgotten a warm top, so by the time we got back to the car we were chilled to the bone.   

We had planned on picnicking on the beach, but ended up cosying up in the car to enjoy our lunch.  What a sight the four of us must have been as we giggled and munched away ever so happily.

Tuesday was the day I had been eagerly anticipating...  For months I had wanted to drive to Mossel Bay (about an hour away from George) and browse the antique stores, stop in at a quaint coffee shop and have a simple picnic on the beach front.  

We enjoyed our drive through, laughing and singing along to Josh Groban’s Bridges all the way…

We decided to go for coffee at Fynbos Café first, and seeing as it was a fairly warm day, we opted for coffee milkshakes.

 

After looking around the gift shop, we walked to the first antique store where Nancy fell in love…with a typewriter.  After watching Guernsey, we all agreed that a typewriter would be perfectly delightful.  

 

 I came across a gorgeous vintage Singer sewing machine.  I am still dreaming about it…

And Miss M’s mind constantly wanders to the beautiful teacups she found.

Afterwards we headed to a big second hand store where I found two more books for my growing book collection and we lost track of time as we wandered down rows and rows of every second hand items you could ever imagine.

We then decided it was high time we had lunch, so we made our way to the beachfront where we had a wonderful picnic while watching the waves. 

It was a perfect day.

All too soon the visit came to an end.  We were grateful to catch up on some much needed sleep seeing as we had laughed and chatted to the small hours every night…

Gifts for booklovers...

The other day I received an email from Melissa, the lady behind Literary Book Gifts, a collection of gifts for literary lovers like myself...

 

She does her own designs and recently launched a range of literary inspired T-shirts and tote bags...

Personally, I love her Far from the Madding Crowd tote bag...both the book and movie are among my favourites...

My sister would love A Tale of Two Cities tote...she is a devoted Dickens fan!

And of course..who wouldn't love a Little Women tote?

 

*sigh* What  could be better than a Pride and Prejudice T-shirt?

Here is another Pride and Prejudice design...

This lovely typewriter design reminds me of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...perfect for a writer friend!  {{Smiles}}

Each 100 % cotton T-shirt comes in different sizes and selection of colours...

I think that these lovely tote bags and T-shirts would make excellent Christmas gifts for literary friends, wouldn't you agree? 

Melissa has very kindly offered you, sweet readers, a promo code for 20% off your order...  

All you need to do is use this special code, KellyCountryDiary20 at checkout to receive 20% off your entire order!

Visit Literary Book Gifts over here...

Blessings and love to you, dear friends...
Kelly-Anne

P.S.  This post does not contain affiliate links...I am simply sharing something delightful which I think you all will enjoy!

Would you like me to write a review for you?  You can contact me over here.

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The coming of summer..

I am sitting outside on the grass, enjoying the peacefulness of a late October afternoon.   

There is a slight breeze blowing which brings welcome relief from the terrible heat of the past few days...

This morning I awoke to raining ash.  The mountains are ablaze and several other fires have sprung up in our area…  How strange to think that just a couple weeks ago the majestic Outeniqua mountains were topped in glimmering white snow - what a beautiful sight that was.

Yes, summer has arrived in all her splendour and hot, sticky days are upon us once again.

My little garden welcomes the warmer weather.  We have been harvesting radish and lettuce as well as one or two ripe strawberries every day.  Rocket, parsley and spinach will soon be ready for harvesting too.

I was more than a little put out when I discovered that a pesky Hadada (a large, noisy bird we get here in South Africa) had sat on my lettuce and proceeded to stick his long disruptive beak into all my beds in pursuit of earthworms (I have an abundance of earthworms in my soil), squashing the flourishing lettuce in the process.  Oh, I could just cry…

In other news I thought I would share pictures of my some of my recent creations.   

How I am enjoying my sewing, sweet friends...  The Christmas market we’ve been working towards is only seven short weeks away and my sewing machine is whirring incessantly as I hurriedly work to make all that I need to see my through the week long market.

My reindeer are just about finished now.  I have thirty in need of buttons and then they are ready to go…  I have almost finished making my goal of fifty mini ellies and I am doing well with the snuggle bunnies and ellie softies too.  I do still have bunny rattles to do as well as clothing for my Miss Lettice and Farmer Boy rabbits.

Visit Heartmade on Facebook over here...

When I am not sewing which is seldom, I am pottering about in my garden (usually early in the morning before it gets too hot) or tidying up our little flat.  It is slowly but surely beginning to feel like home.  I also still work at the shop on Fridays and Saturdays and au pair one afternoon a week… 

We are settling into a steady rhythm of life and adjusting to a much quieter life…

Now the evening is drawing to a close. Crickets are chirruping and the sky is growing darker.

Nancy is playing a pretty tune on the piano and I have moved from my spot on in pursuit of a comfier seat.

Coffee in hand I sit back, close my eyes and smile. Truly, this is the perfect end to a summer’s day...

Blessings in Christ,
Kelly-Anne

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Gratitude Challenge

Hello sweet friends...

A blessed Saturday to you...

My sweet friend, Jeanette, who writes at Only By Grace, shared a lovely gratitude list earlier today...I was inspired to do the same...

I gave myself six minutes to compile the following list...

 

coffee...of course

a sunny day

family...although they are far away, we talk every day

uplifting music

being a girl {{smiles}}

 

pretty dresses

the piano being played by my sister...

good books...

cute I love you messages from my little brother

a cosy little home to come home to after a day at work

time spent with precious friends...

surprises...

my sister 

a kitty to cuddle

God's grace

doing what I love every day...

my little garden, growing so happily...

funny stories shared with family members...

walks on the beach...

picnics

smiles

a car to get me places...

 concerts

an upcoming getaway...

another trip to China early next year to be with the family...

What are you thankful for?

Do share in the comments below...

Blessings and love in Christ,

Kelly-Anne

 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...Movie Review

If you have been a long time reader of my country diary, you will know that I love time period drama... Thus, you can imagine my delight when I came upon the trailer for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society...

~

Several weeks ago my sister and I had the delight of going to see this beautiful film in theater...

Set on the isle of Guernsey in 1946, the story surrounds the people who found refuge in books and friendship during the German Occupation of World War 2.

"Always, yes. It's a perfect job. Sitting indoors, and always near a teapot."

~ Juliet Ashton in response to the question of whether she always wanted to be a writer. 

 

The lovely Lily James plays the role of London-based author, Juliet Ashton, who receives a letter from one of the book club's founding members, Dawsey Adams, a pig farmer on the Island of Guernsey who discovers her name and a address in a book he has in his collection...  

Juliet responds with questions about the book club and an unlikely friendship blossoms...

 "I wonder how the book got to Guernsey? Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers."

~ Juliet Ashton to Dawsey Adams

Juliet is intrigued and drawn to the people of Guernsey who found solace and hope in the books they read during the Occupation, and after exchanging several letters with Dawsey and hearing more about their unique book club, Juliet decides to pay them a visit on the Island for a taste of their bookish delights and not to mention, their famous Potato Peel Pie...

 

"Our Friday night book club became a refuge to us. A private freedom to feel the world growing darker all around you, but you only need a candle to see new worlds unfold. That is what we found in our society"

~ Dawsey Adams to Juliet Ashton

"You've yet to have the full experience..."  

~ Eben Ramsay to Juliet Ashton

My thoughts...

I was transported to Guernsey and felt quite at home among the Islanders through this magical film about books and the way they can bring people together in sometimes the most peculiar ways.

Guernsey sees a number of excellent British actors and actresses come together...

Penelope Wilton as Amelia Morgury...

Jessica Brown Findlay as Elizabeth McKenna...

Matthew Goode as Sidney Stark, Juliet's editor and dear friend...

to name but a few...

This story is beautifully woven and entirely captivating...

And happily, unlike many movies of similar genre, this one is delightfully clean!

I would however, recommend it for 12+ due to some disturbing content relating to the war.

"The Guernsey literary and potato-peel pie society. Crikey, that's quite a mouthful."

~ Sidney Stark to Juliet Ashton   

I am completely and utterly in love with Guernsey...

And I must tell you that the book which the movie is based on is equally charming...look for a review coming soon...

  "If I could have anything I wanted, I would choose story without end, and it seems I have lots of company in that."

~ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Blessings to you, sweet readers!

A Story of Grace & New Beginnings

Dear friends...

I have a beautiful story to share with you today; a testimony of God's unfailing love and grace.

I am sure most of you know by now that my dad has been working in China for the past year.
 We saw him in February when he came home for a month long visit and I recently spent a month with him in China.
He came home in July for a seven week holiday - how delightful it was to be together as a family again!
When the time came for him to fly back to China, his long journey wasn't made alone...{{smiles}}

Many of you also know how difficult the time of separation was for our family and how we had been praying for the Lord to make a way for our family to be reunited.

We had explored so many different options over the past months but kept reaching dead end upon dead end.

Eventually we again surrendered this area of our lives to the Lord and decided to wait upon Him for further direction.

Sometime during my month with my dad, the Lord answered the cry of our heart's and made a way for our family in a truly special way...

I will skip through the many details and share with you the wonderful news that the end of August saw my mom and five younger siblings joining my dad in China
Nancy and I have had to remain in South Africa for the time being...
I could write about how this all came about, but that would take much too long.  {{smiles}}

Of course it is true that our family is still be separated - but we know without a shadow of a doubt that this is indeed the Lord leading us and that His will is that Nancy and I remain here for however long He sees fit.

He opened doors for the two of us to rent a small but adequate sized flat in a very nice area - this flat is actually on the property of friends, so we have the added comfort of knowing we are right next door to people we know and trust.
My dad also has that peace of mind knowing we are not completely alone.  

Housing for the rest of the family in China was miraculously taken care of too...

Once my dad was back in the country, he and my mom could take the five younger children to apply for their passports...

Once their passports arrived a few weeks later, we drove to Cape Town to do the visa applications for those going over.  Six days after that the visas were approved and we could earnestly begin selling off household items, moving into our new little flat and packing the suitcases the family would be taking over with them.  

By the grace of God, all this was achieved in approximately three weeks.

It was a stressful, exhausting few weeks to say the least!

Many have asked how our family feel about Nancy and I having to stay here in South Africa.  

We did look into Nancy and I going over too, but at this stage it isn't possible due to the two of us being over eighteen...
We hope to spend a month or two with the family in the new year, though...

^ Dad and I made so many special memories during my recent visit with him in China...

The month I spent in China opened my eyes to just how small the world really is and how possible it is to travel.  Flying across the world alone also gave me the tremendous boost of confidence I really needed!

~

We are excited about this incredible opportunity for our family.  

Nancy and I feel we are ready for this next step and are truly humbled that the Lord would see fit to reunite my mom and siblings with my dad!

We do not feel scared, but rather at perfect peace with what the Lord is doing in our lives...

And if you read my previous posts on my recent trip to China, you will know how I long to go back.

Having the whole family there will mean another visit in the near future!

Nancy and I will also have enough to keep us busy what with our work and hobbies so I know we won't be bored!  {{smiles}}

^ How I love these girls!

The Lord is working everything together for our good - we look back over the course of the last year and stand all amazed to see His hand in every little detail.  

We know now that that even the fire was in His will for us...

I pray that I might encourage you today - whatever season you may be in...whatever you may be facing...stand firm in your faith. 

The Lord is faithful and He will give you the grace and strength you need for each moment.  

This time last year our world was in total confusion after losing our home in the terrible fires of 2017 and trying to rebuild our lives while facing my dad going to China for work.

Many days we thought we just couldn't take another step...but by God's grace we made it through another year smiling.  

How good the Lord is to us...all the glory to His wonderful name!

We would truly appreciate your prayers as we enter this season of change...♥

With love and joy in Christ,

Kelly-Anne

P.S.  I actually wrote this shortly before our family left...they have been gone for almost six weeks now...  They arrived safely after a long, grueling journey (most of the children and my mom were sick with flu on the flight) and are settling into the rhythm and routine of their new life in a faraway land...
I hope to write another more detailed update soon...♥

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Hello

 Just popping in to say hello...

Sweet friends...I have not forgotten about you.

Life these past two months has been a whirlwind and I do anticipate being able to share our news with you as soon as I am able to sit down and write over a cup of coffee...

Blessings and love in Christ,

Kelly-Anne