Happy New Year to you all. May 2026 be all that you are hoping for and may the blessings be rich. The first theme of the year is {Weather} and for most of the team they hopefully have weather images that have managed to capture. For me down south there really is not a lot of change in the weather. Those two token cold days appear and disappear very quickly. Which I hate because I could really do with some cold these days. And by the end of summer I am a winter wanna be.

The end of the year has been a rush for me with our trip to New Orleans for 2 weeks, then back to work for 2 weeks then off again for a week, then back to work for 3 weeks and off again for 2 weeks. I have felt a little off and having to do catch up while wanting to spend time with the kiddies as well.

That said we did have a small change in the weather for hot to cool to cold back to hot again, the cold culminating on New Years Eve.

We started out on Monday with a warm winters day, enough that we decided to do one more trip through Lion Country Safari before our pass expired. Of course part of that is the splash pools and Luka is game for the slides any opportunity he can get. It was a little frustrating as they want you to be 42 inches. He is but according to the lifeguards he has to be at the top of the measure and not at the bottom. At Legoland he was allowed to go on all the slides. Here he could only use the small kiddie slide. One of the things I am not crazy about at these water parks is the huge bucket of water at the top. It has a great effect, but I worry that that amount of water landing on the neck of a young child is dangerous. That said it does have warning beeps but if the child doesn’t know what that means then it is a potential problem. Luka has narrowly missed having this load of water on top of him.

Tuesday came around and was a pretty pleasant morning, but by the time my cousin and his family arrived the weather was starting to cool down. I had not seen my cousin for close on 18 years and at that time it was at my mothers funeral so it was kind of a hi, thank you and move on to the next person. We opted to do lunch rather than dinner and then I took them for a short walk in the wetlands, before heading on to the South African shop for the family to buy some SA goodies. My drive back home was cold and the sky was pretty impressive.

New Years Eve morning was cold, chilly, and any other word you could think for it. My friends up north, I am sure were freezing. I know my friend in Dallas was. Amy had invited us to dinner and they planned to do a bonfire. Richard said it was too cold to go, but I decided I was going. While it was cold, the wind had died down somewhat and the fire generated enough warmth to actually have to move your chair back.

It was cold enough that we bundled Luka up into a sweatshirt and sweatpants with shoes and socks. We tried to put a jacket on over that but he was not having it. While dad was barbecuing, Luka was prepping his food to barbecue.

Daniel built a fantastic firepit and we got to enjoy a really warm evening as a result. He had numerous layers of wood on top of each other and I said it resembled a funeral pyre it was so well done. And it burned well and certainly kept us warm during the cold evening. Added to that I had given them a smores pack for Christmas and so they were tested out. Only thing I forgot to put in was skewers and so they had to improvise.

Added to that they had bought a small pack of fireworks to let off once it got dark so that Luka could enjoy them. He loved it but had his hands over his ears they whole time. Ella on the other hand was not to happy with the noise and so most of them were let off after she went to bed.

As the evening wound down, so did the fire to some beautiful hot coals.

Out of all of us Ella was the most dressed up in her sweatsuit and double socks and grandma’s hat. We also had to put some socks on her hands at one stage just before she went to bed. I did not stay until midnight. I did not want to be driving on the road when everyone was heading home, so I left around 10pm and just saw midnight in at home.

Friday was still somewhat chilly although the weather was starting to warm up. This began the weekend of the grandmothers watching the children while the parents took a quick 3 day vacation. Luka was with me, while Ella got to stay with her Baba. Friday night’s sunset was spectacular and we worth feeling the chill to get this image.

Saturday was warming up and Luka and I headed to the park for some energy release time. He loves to play at the park and this one was in his community. I went up during the day to help with Ella. She is more work than Luka is.

Today it feels like we are back to summer. While the kids are away the grandparents get to play. This morning I took Ljubica, Luka and Ella to breakfast. This is really her last full weekend here and after being here for 6 months this coming weekend she will be heading back home. I think it will be a hard adjustment all round. She has been living with them for 6 months and Luka in particular will miss not having her there every day.

Today he was a little out of sorts, and so while Ella was sleeping, I took him to the local park about 10 minutes away. He clearly goes there fairly often because he is familiar with all the different slides and climbing options. I am like a helicopter grandmother but I am nervous that he might fall.

That has been the weather for us. I wish I had snowflakes and that kind of scenery but to be truthful if I did have that I would probably be inside the house with a bottle of Frangelica and a good fire lol.

Thank you for joining us on this photography loop. This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My talented friend Lupji of Lupji Photography is up next. I look forward to seeing what he has to share.

I look forward to blogging this year with the team again. They bring such diversity to the different topics that I hope that we are all able to contribute throughout the year.

Until next time..

Stay well