Saturday, 26 March 2011


Hi Kai,
This is a picture of a clock with a sheep on it. The reason I want to show you a picture of a clock is because tonight in Scotland the time changes. very early in the morning, or maybe very late at night, the clocks will go one hour forward. We do this to make the amount of daylight when most people are awake to be longer. It has been done for almost 100 years. It also makes some people complain because they get an hour less in thier bed if they have to go out to work! I don't know if you change clocks in South Africa, but here we do it twice a year, once on the last Sunday of March to move them forward and then we move them back on the last Sunday of September, very close to your birthday.
Can you tell the time on a clock? This is an analogue clock and there are two types of clock. The other is called digital. A digital clock shows the numbers in a row like 10:10 and the analogue goes around in a circle like the one here. There 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour and each number on an analogue clock is 5 minutes. There are also two hands on a clock a big hand and a small hand. The big hand means minutes and the small hand means hours. So if the big hand is pointing to 4 and the small hand is at 2 that means it is twenty past two. Can you tell me what the clock would be like when it is your Bedtime or your lunch time?

Lots of love, Dad.

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Apples Bananas and lots of others

Hi Kai,

Today I went shopping and bought some apples and bananas. I hope you like fruit they are tasty and good for you. A fruit is a plant that contains seeds but some fruits are called vegetables and it can be confusing as there are so many. Because there are so many I wondered if there was a fruit beginning with every letter of the alphabet. So I started making this list. I didn't find them all but I wonder if you know any of the ones I missed. These are some of my favourites, I bet you won't try all of them!


Apple : There are apples everywhere most are either red or green. I like the green ones better than the reds. The green ones tend to be sharp tasting and the red ones sweet. Your great grandad has apple trees in his garden but they are cooking apples so I make turnovers with them.

Banana : Bananas are great they have thier own packaging. I prefer them when they get brown spots.

Cherry : Cherrys are small and red. They are sometimes sweet and sometimes sour.

Dragonfruit : There really is a dragonfruit! It has bright pink skin and has white flesh and black seeds inside. It tates a bit like custard.

Fig : I have never had fresh figs but I have had dried figs. Sometimes people dry fruit so it lasts longer and that it doesn't go to waste. I like some dried fruit but others I prefer fresh. There is also a type of biscuit called a fig roll. That has dried figs as a filling.

Grape : Grapes come in different colours from green to dark red and black. They grow in bunches on vines. There are lots of Vines in South Africa but not many in Scotland.

Gooseberry : There is a fruit called a cape gooseberry because it was famously grown near where you live. I think I knew it as a Chinese lantern as thats what people thought it looked like.

Honeydew: A honeydew is a type of melon I like melons. When I was young we rarely had melonsso when we did it was a special occasion. I like eating them because you could use your hands and then the juice could go everywhere!

Ice Cream Bean : I have never tried this and don't know much about this I only added it here because I missed a fruit with E and with H and wanted to add it beacause I liked the name and wanted to add something with an "I"

Jam : Okay so Jam isn't a fruit but it's another way of preserving fruit. It's sometimes called jelly or preserve or conserve, but I don't know the difference between them. My favorite Jam is Raspberry.

Kiwi - Kiwi's are a little bit bigger than an egg but are green and hairy on the outside. Some people think that they should be eaten like a boiled egg by cutting off the top and using a spoon to eat the inside.

Lemon : Lemons are very sour they are not nice to eat like an apple or an orange but they are nice to add to cakes and recipies and lots of people add them to drinks.

Mango : Mangos have a big stone in the middle. Some people turn them into hedgehogs before they eat them. To do that you cut them in half then remove the stone. Then you score the flesh in squares and then turn them inside out so that it looks a bit like a hedgehog.

Nectarines : Nectarines also have stones in the middle, they are a bit like a peach that doesn't have any hair on them or a big plum.

Orange : There are lots of types of oranges and lots of names for them, I thinke that they are called lemoens in Afrikaans and they are called naranjas in spanish. They are squeezed for juice or made into marmalade. I used to eat them at half time when I played football.

Pear : There are lots of types of fruit beginning with P but the pear is my favourite. But I like pineapples, plums, peaches, papaya, passionfruit, pomegranite and pawpaws too.

Quince : I have never had quince but it looks like a pear and is famous in a poem called the owl and the pussycat

Raspberry : When I was a child we grew Raspberries and Strawberries in our garden. There is something special about growing your own food and eating it when it is ready.

Starfruit : A starfruit is strange because when you cut it it is shaped like a star. It tastes a bit like an apple and an orange and a pear all mixed up.

Tomato : A tomato is really a fruit but it is strange because it doesn't taste like the other ones I've mentioned here. An Irish Rugby player once said "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad" quite what he meant by that I don't think anyone really knows. Tomatoes are used to make pizza, lasagne, soup, and to flavour and be the base of thousands of other dishes.

Watermelon: Watermelons are green on the outside and red in the middle, they are huge they have black seeds in the middle so you have to be careful when you eat them but i dont think there is anything better than a nice big slice of watermelon straight from the fridge.

Saturday, 5 March 2011

Russell




Hi Kai,

Russell was a blackbird that lived in my garden. He was very inquisitve and often came into the back kitchen to steal Brogan's food from his dish. Your Grandma called him Russell as she would here him rustling in the house and then fly away when she went to see what the noise was. This is not a picture of Russell, he was a lot fatter than this bird. I guess blackbirds are not meant to eat dog food, but Russell certainly seemed to like it.

Lots of love, Dad.

Monday, 28 February 2011

Mice


Hi Kai,
Today I saw a mouse in town, he was small and thin and looked hungry and cold. I decided to draw him using paint programme. I'm not very good at using a computer to draw I prefer to use pastels It's much more fun to draw something when you can make a mess with your fingers! What do you think? Do you like to draw or to paint anything? They say that mice eat cheese but I think that mice will eat almost anything but I really think that they like to eat grain and seeds. I think that mouse would probably be cold as it is still winter in Scotland. It is winter here because I live in the north of the world but you live in the south. There are seasons because the earth is tilted. If the earth didn't tilt we probably wouldn't have seasons. But I like seasons my favourite is autumn, not because it starts to get colder but because the trees go from green to all sorts of colours of leaves. I think it's beautiful at that time of year even if I have to wrap up warm when I go out.
Anyway I hope you like the mouse.

Lots of love, Dad.

Sunday, 20 February 2011

Polar Bears


Hola Kai,

¿QuĂ© tal?

Today I want to show you some polar bears that your uncle Iain saw when he was in Greenland.
I like polar bears, they are big meat eating white bears that live in the arctic. Arctic comes from a greek word meaning "near the bear" or "north". If I was to name these bears I think Aura would be a good name. I'm not sure about the other, what do you think the other bear would be called?
Polar bears are very curious but they must be very cold with all that snow.

I hope you like the bears.

Lots of love, Dad.

Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Books


Hi Kai,

When I was your age my dad used to buy me a Mr Man book every week. I thought I'd do the same with you. This is Mr Happy, he's round and yellow and always happy, it's nice to be happy. I was going to post them to you today but your cousin Jessica was visiting and she wanted to see the books too. She seemed to like Mr Tickle more than Mr Happy, but I was happy you shared your books with Jessica.
She will be finished with them soon then I can send them to you. What is your favourite book. Today mine is Mr Happy I hope you like it too.

Lots of love, Dad

Saturday, 12 February 2011

What's in a name?


Hi Kai, I'm not very sure as to how to start this but hi is as good a way as any.

I wanted to share with you why I chose Kai as your name, your mum and I had decided that you would be called Kai not long after we met. It was unusual in a way as I think most people have no idea what to call thier children, but we both knew that you would be called Kai. But I want you to know why the name Kai is special to me.

I love fantasy books I read them all my life, but one series was special that was Lone Wolf. Lone Wolf was a hero and he belonged to an order of monks called the Kai, I still have these books and though they are probably too old for you just now, I would like you to have them when you are old enough. I loved those books and I couldnt think of a better name to call you.

I was happy to find another Kai, this one is a Lego Kai, he is a ninja and he wears red. My favourite team plays in red and I love Lego so I had to get you a Lego Kai, I guess you can say how lucky you are to have a Lego man with the same name as you. I bet there aren't many people that can say that they have the same name as a Lego ninja! Anyway the picture is of Lego Kai.

Lots of Love, Dad.