Flat Susan Leaves South Africa

Was a sad goodbye indeed, funny how a little flat doll can get in your heart!  She was such fun to take places and entertain, sadly just over a week flew by and I have had to pass her on so she can continue on her world travels.  This was mailed off last week Wednesday (that was the intention, but it was really Thursday as life happened!) so she should be almost home by now...

I made my tag for her next hostess and here she is sitting next to it.  I took inspiration from Tim's July tag but made it South African in nature.

Below you can see how she travels in style with all her kit and very clear instructions.

When I went to the post office, I asked for pretty stamps cos the lady inside would appreciate it...this is what they gave me...I think they are fabulous.  The flying pig is a G45 stamp which they thought was hilarious, but added their airmail sticker, just in case the message was not clear enough!

Bella is Busy Making Flat Susan a House

I could not let Flat Susan go without making her a house...cos every doll should have one!  I recently purchased this die that makes a 3D bird house and thought it was just the right size for Susan!  She even got a matching chandelier for her chair and so she thinks she is really in vogue!

I have all the post cards of where she has been ready to go in her envelope and will be sending all her collected paraphernalia with her (chair and house)...show me a girl who does not go back home without over-weight baggage after a long trip to another country. 

Flat Susan Gets Ready to Leave South Africa

Tried to make this photo more to scale...

I have been hosting Flat Susan for the past week and what a pleasant guest she has been!  I have tried to show her the more interesting parts of my city in my previous posts and thought I would leave you with a map of Africa so you could picture where she has been.

Cape Town is right at the southern most tip of Africa at the join between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  So depending on the weather, you can quite literally go to one side of our city or the other for warmer or cooler sea to swim in and believe me, there is quite a temperature difference!

Bang in the middle (well not quite, but it does divide the CBD from the rest) of our city is a great big rock known as Table Mountain, because from its front side it looks completely flat.  This I can tell you is an optical illusion as I have climbed this mountain and walked along its top...it is by no means flat!  Here is a view of the city taken from above of Robben Island where

Madiba (Mr Mandela who is currently not well and about to celebrate his 95th Birthday on Thursday) was incarcerated for many years!

Below is a photo of Cape Point.  I have been here in a helicopter and it is truly magnificent, but my photo was not as clear as this one.

On the left is the Atlantic (cold) Ocean and the right the Indian (warm) Ocean and this is Cape Point.   Not quite the most Southern tip of Africa, that is Cape Agulhas a 2 hour drive from here where they claim the sea changes, but my toes tell me a different story!   If you look at the top right hand mountain in the far distance, that is the "back" of Table Mountain and where Flat Susan has been residing.

She is getting ready to wing her way back to Neet who will send her on to her next hostess.

Flat Susan Goes to Table View with Bella

Here we have FS on her throne...a somewhat doctored photo as she would not stay in focus to get the shot I wanted of the famous Table Mountain in the background!  This is a 30 minute drive from the other side of this mountain where I live in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.

Yes, this is WINTER, well not all the time!  They are predicting rain for the next 3 days so I was glad to get out and about to let my little guest stretch her legs.  My son who is 8, thinks I have quite lost the plot,taking a little plastic doll on a jaunt around my city, stopping to take photos at will, having conversations with her about sitting still and staying in focus etc, etc and then carrying on to our destination as though nothing unusual has happened...This is such fun!

I even did a panoramic shot to give you the perspective of how little FS must feel! 

Flat Susan goes to Kirstenbosch with Bella

Here is Flat Susan's first outing with Bella

Today I took Flat Susan (a small lady on a tour of the world in a suitcase the size of a matchbox in an envelope...to read more on her blog...click her name)  on an outing to Kirstenbosch, one of our National Botanical Gardens.  The kids love it here no matter what the season, so while I was entertaining Flat Susan and showing her our beautiful flowers and the giant statues that adorn the place, the boys went off to catch tadpoles in the mountain water streams.

Yes, this is Winter in Cape Town!  Chilly, but beautiful!

The top photo is FS (for short) with me at the entrance with one of the Dylan Lewis sculptures with the gardens behind me and the photo below shows the famous "Castle Rock"  through another one of Dylan Lewises sculptures.

 FS was finding the flowers just the right size for her to really enjoy.  Here she is on one of our early spring daisies that come up like carpets in September and make the landscape look like it is covered in snow!

Above FS poses on the shoulder of one of the Mambo Sculptures which is a permanent but ever changing exhibition of African sculptures 

Above: This is locally known as the Bird of Paradise flower or Stralitzia. 

This is a "bath" (though no one can use it) up in the Dell which is the start of a pure, clear, clean, drinkable natural spring and flows down the hill into a pond.  The technical explanation is in the photo below.

 Below is a beautiful Yellow Wood tree with the most amazing trunk.  FS is in the hollow about half way up, to the left of the name tag... hard to spot, but she is there...

 Below is a display showing all the flowers in bloom currently in the garden, though being winter these are few and far between...I did not see many of these on our travels from stream to stream to hunt for taddies...

So that was FS's first outing with me, on Friday she goes to Table View to get a look at our famous Table Mountain across the sea, and maybe even Robben Island where Mandela was incarcerated.  All of this is weather depending of course!

Flat Susan Arrives in Cape Town, South Africa

Flat Susan has arrived on the next leg of her journey to stay with Bella.

Flat Susan arrived this morning on my desk in Cape Town, South

Africa, in her perfectly crafted suitcase, together with passport and first aid kit (for emergencies you know...)

As you can see she was exhausted from her journey from Scotland and was resting in her "bed".  I have however made her a chair for my desk, which I have placed on a "pedestal" with her name on so she is easy to spot for Wednesdays post of WOYWW and so she has a good view of the goings on on my desk which has a serious case of "shove out the way" clean up status below!

As a good host, I will be taking her out and about in my city to show her around some of the most beautiful vistas in the world (that's my opinion any way)  I leave you to be the judge of that later!

Please join me over the next week to see what Flat Susan gets up to...