'Tis the season to be jolly, tra-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

Cocky little elephant!

I love this clip of a calf elephant charging a game vehicle! Brave lad!

Early Sundays River Valley Farming - citrus, cows & farming methods

Early Sundays River Valley Farming - citrus, cows & farming methods

Addo in 1937 saw the Brigg’s family expanding when Johnny was born in October. Johnny’s father took the plunge and built the present farm homestead on the hill overlooking the farm, the Coerney River valley and on towards Addo Heights. Building seemed to take up most of that year, Johnny’s dad, Kit, uncharacteristically ambitious with his building plans. Eventually, photographs show the venerable model T Ford lorry, as well as their car, a Plymouth, carting furniture and household goods up the hill to the new family home. A farm foreman, Mr. Sweetman, was installed in the old cottage to help Kit run the farm of some 2000 citrus trees and a few dairy cows. This was the norm of the times. Cows kept on the farm, the milk separated, and cream sent three mornings a week by train to the dairy in Port Elizabeth. This little exercise entailed much work: lucerne was grown, mown and stacked; cows were herded, kraaled and milked twice a day. Milk and cream cans were washed out and filled with milk and cream separated in the dairy. A lot of activity, it seemed, for a small sideline, but that was how one farmed during those times. The cows were kraaled each night as well as the two mules that were a major factor in the daily farming activities, and every six months or so the manure was dug out of the kraals and carted into the orchards. Whenever a cutting of lucerne was spoiled by rain, it was also carted into the orchards to use as a mulch, which conserved the moisture in the soil, and helped control the weeds, as well as improving the fertility of the soil. The two mules that Johnny can remember were called Kaptein and Rooiland, strong and hardy, and were inspanned every morning, outspanned at lunchtime and inspanned again in the afternoon. September Makeleni was the muleteer. They pulled a four-wheeled wagon that was used to cart lug-boxes in and out of the orchards during the harvesting season. The lug-boxes were stacked near the sheds and when one hundred lug boxes were ready, Mr. Whittle, Thurston’s father, who ran a transport business with Chevrolet three-ton lorries, came to load them and transport them to the citrus pack house. Out of season the mules were used to cart lucerne, manure, fertilizer etc., and were used to pull a plough, cultivator, leveler, dam-scoop or whatever else was being used at the time. Kit Briggs spent a lot of time repairing the leather harness room cleaning and oiling the harness. The McCormick Deering tractor was started up once a month, quite an operation, to disc the orchards, and the mules did everything else.

Based on the fascinating writings of Mr Johnny Briggs, of Good Hope Farm, Selborne, based on the diary of his late father, ‘Kit’ Briggs, a Valley pioneer.

Car games to play with your children

Road trips with your children don't have to be difficult ordeals punctuated with a repeated "Are we there yet?" There are plenty of ways to make time in the car fun for both you and your child. Here are eight fun games to try the next time you're on the road again.

1. The Alphabet Game

Ages 5 and up: One person chooses the right-hand side of the road, and someone else the left. Each player looks for letters of the alphabet that appear on signs or license plates on their side. The object of the game is to point out all the letters of the alphabet in order, from A to Z. The first person to spot the entire alphabet wins.

2. The Animal Name Game

Ages 6 and up: One person names an animal. Then each person in order has to name another animal (no repeating!) that starts with the last letter of the previous animal named. There are no winners or losers in this game. With older children, try the game with TV shows, or geographical categories such as cities or countries.

3. Twenty Questions

Ages 4 and up: One person secretly thinks of either an animal, mineral, or vegetable. The other players then take turns asking yes-or-no questions, such as "Can it fly?" or "Does it grow in the ground?" After the players have asked 20 questions, each player gets a chance to make a guess.

4. Telephone

Ages 4 and up: A child whispers a story to someone else in the car. That person whispers the same story -- as close to a word-for-word recount as possible -- to a third person, and so on. The last person to hear the story repeats it out loud so everyone can hear. Invariably, some of the story will have been lost in the translation, and the resulting garbled message usually inspires a good laugh.

5. The Theme Song Game

Ages 5 and up: One person hums the tune to a favourite TV show, and everyone else tries to name the show as fast as possible. The first person to guess correctly hums the next song.

6. Memory Test

Ages 6 and up: The first person says "A is for ---" filling in the blank with any word beginning with the letter A, such as "apple." The second person comes up with a word for the letter B, such as "book," but must also repeat the "A" word: "A is for apple, B is for book." Continue through the alphabet, each person taking several turns and reciting more and more letters and words. By the time you reach the letter Z, that player will recite the whole alphabet and its corresponding words. However, if you're playing with younger kids you may want to choose an earlier letter than "Z" to be the final one.

7. Secret Place Race

Ages 7 and up: One person looks at a road map and finds a small town, village, river, etc. That person announces the name of the place she has chosen. A second player has 60 seconds to look at the map and try to find the secret place.

8. Restaurant Race

Ages 5 and up: Each player chooses a restaurant, such as Burger King, Taco Bell, McDonalds, etc. Players earn points by spotting their restaurant off the road, on a billboard, on exit markers, on Food/Fuel signs, or by hearing it mentioned on the radio. Impose a time limit -- say, 20 minutes -- and then add up the points.