7 quick takes

1.  Good morning!  I have more plans than hours in the day today. It must be Monday. That energy usually dwindles as the week progresses, so I need to make the most of it when it's here. The girls are playing, the sun is shining, the house is a mess and this blog will be sweet and short. 
2. If you look to your right while standing on our beach; you'll see three small islands. They are about 18 kilometres away. These islands are part of the Lake Malawi National Park and people say they are beautiful. On one of them is a lodge, so for Hartmut's birthday the girls and I decided to give him a weekend away that we would benefit from too. It was as beautiful and possibly even nicer than we had expected. The lodge was amazing with beautiful details, the food was fantastic and plentiful and the island was nice. We hiked to the top of the island, we kayaked around it and made the most of the fantastic lakeside pool. Our phones were on airplane mode and the only distraction we had were the birds and the flowers. We were only away from our house for one night but it felt like we were gone for a week. 
3. The birds were quite a distraction indeed. Sophie and Doris have lately turned into avid twitchers who can recognise a large number of birds. The island we went to is known for it's great bird life and it lived up to our expectation. Armed with a bird book and pen to write down our latest observations, we hiked around and spotted kingfishers, weaverbirds, egrits and birds of prey. Each bird was met with great excitement but the pennant-winged nightjar with its beautiful feathers, took the crown. I am learning as much about the birds of Southern Africa as the girls do and I can definitely approve of this new fascination. 
4. 'I am more tired than I was yesterday'. Hartmut said. It was Sunday evening (yesterday) and we had just come back from our weekend away. It was then that we realised that there are two kinds of tired. 'Stressed tired' because if the heavy mental load you are carrying, and 'relaxed tired' after a sunkissed weekend spent outdoors. Hartmut's work is busy and taxing and when it is weekend, he really needs it. But when we came home yesterday, our bodies were in need of a rest after all the hiking, the swimming and the kayaking.  That kind of tiredness is not something that cannot be solved by a good night's rest. Our minds were refreshed and happy and full of energy.  It's the kind of tired I prefer. 
5. To win, or not to win. That's the question. Or at least a question that I have been asking myself lately. Besides watching birds, the girls really like playing board and card games. I am often asked to be the opponent but I always wonder what my strategy should be. What's in their best interest? I can play to the best of my ability, which means that I will win most games (except for memory) and the girls will learn how to deal with losing which is obviously an important lesson. But, it also results in dice and cards thrown away in frustration, angry feed stomping up the stairs and a bad feeling for all the players. I can also play with a strategy that makes that they win every now and then. But then I raise children who think they are the best without having the skills to match that and nobody wants that. What's your game-strategy?
6. Chicks are cute. They will always be cute. It doesn't really matter how many times we have had little chicks and ducklings in the past year, they still fill us with delight. Our hen's eggs hatched this week and now we have eleven little fluffy balls walking around... so sweet! And once they start growing feathers and lose their cuteness, we will have ducklings again as one of the ducks has started to lay eggs. It's more than cute and cuddles though, now eek passes without a funeral. Last week one of the ducklings drowned and we were able to rescue another one after it almost drowned. This farm our ours is teaching us lessons.
7. That was that dear people. Time to go and tackle the mess. Have a happy new week!