Daena is Thirteen!

Pizza party and chocolate cake!

It was good to be there...

Wish you could have been there too...

Forever Maintenance...

Three bath tiles in our bathroom just came loose and fell off.

They have been there for nearly 30 years!

While Glenn was about it he replaced the bottom row of shower tiles

which had been cracked by the vacuum cleaner banging against them.

I hasten to say I vacuum carefully - others do not necessarily.

Ready for re-grouting!

Patio Project - Painting the Bathroom Door

Time to paint the new bathroom door.

Pink primer.

I had forgotten...

When I paint "oil paint" I line the tray with foil,

and when finished throw away the foil and the sponge roller.

I do clean the brushes - they are easy to clean with

Polycel brush cleaner or equivalent.

Universal undercoat.

And I did the enamel coat on Friday.

Each job done is one less to do!

For Me To Come Back To...

When I feel homesick I will enjoy these pictures and remember...

Final Autumn Splendour

The winds have blown up and the Virginia creeper is now bare.

Here's for the memory...

Autumn Hillside

A piece of our beautiful hillside.

Rain Rain!

We recently had two days of gentle soaking rain.

We went to help our friend Gail with something

and then take her out for birthday lunch.

We will be away on her birthday so this is pre-birthday...

I noticed the droplets on the bush outside her window.

Beautiful!

I tried to photograph it - both pictures less than I would have liked them to be.

Lovely memory!

Another Pause! The Television Aerial...

 Our TV picture was all snowy all of a sudden!

Glenn tried this and that.

Douglas said "There is something wrong with the aerial."

They went out and looked.

The TV aerial had broken off and was hanging at an angle.

(The aerial has been there many years!)

Since we as a country migrating to digital signal the discussion was about - 

do we get another aerial for a short time?

Do we get the "box" that converts analogue signals into digital?

How do we record programmes still and watch them when we want to?

Is it possible to still record with our systems?!

Well - after trying this and that inside the house and outside - 

Glenn is mending the aerial in hopes of putting it back up again.

In the meantime we record programmes in another way.

Moenie my vra nie - ek kan dit nie verduidelik nie...

Glenn took the opportunity to trim the trees next door so that they 

cannot interfere with the aerial when he puts it up again.

When he trimmed the trees one of the branches fell and

broke one of the flat bathroom windows.

So another pause inside a pause...

We had spare glass for the windows, so I cleaned it

and Glenn replaced it this morning. 

Autumn is so Gorgeous!

This Virginia Creeper is a delight every Autumn!

So warmly glowing with rich and splendid hues...

And one blustery day... the leaves will all be gone!

I shall enjoy them as long as they last!

Aloes in the back blooming, this one will bloom soon.

This time of the year reminds me of the poem "To Autumn" that 

I grew to savour and love when I was in High School.

To Autumn

John Keats (1820)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,    Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless    With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run; To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,    And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;       To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells    With a sweet kernel; to set budding more, And still more, later flowers for the bees, Until they think warm days will never cease,       For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells. Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?    Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,    Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind; Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,    Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook       Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers: And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep    Steady thy laden head across a brook;    Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,       Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours. Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?    Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,— While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,    And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn    Among the river sallows, borne aloft       Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;    Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft    The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;       And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Ah... Autumn...

And to my loved-ones in the Northern Hemisphere:

Enjoy your Spring!

Saturday Afternoon Drive

We went and got fish and chips at a place recommended in the Saturday Star.

Glenn was incapacitated by his knee...

We drove to a park and stopped close to flowing water.

What a lovely sound!

Always conscious of our safety, when some other cars arrived 

and I felt like we could be parked in we moved to further along the 

quiet road where the entrance to the park was.

Gorgeous peaceful Autumn afternoon.

A Pause for Investigation

 Last Friday Glenn went and had his right knee scoped at Wilgeheuwel hospital.

He has been bothered by it for a long time.

He has spent this week recovering.

Another opportunity to practice patience...

Monday we were off to the specialist again...
one of two incisions oozing bleeding.
The wounds were redressed.

By Tuesday Glenn did some light work.
He put up a shelf in the laundry for me.

Thursday it was back to the specialist for the scheduled
one-week-later check-up and report back.

Patio Project - Filling the Gap

The gap above the built-in-cupboards -

We both thought Glenn would do a better job than the cupboard contractor...

So here he is filling it in.

After two coats of ceiling white paint...

it needs another coat of paint.

And then, I am not sure if it would look better the 

colour of the walls rather than the colour of the ceiling

which is a slightly different white to the colour of the cupboards.

Perhaps I will have time to change my mind, 

and perhaps it will just stay like this for the time we are away.

Let me know what you think if you feel like it.

Special Saturday Morning

Our Ward is due to divide on 22nd May.

This was our last Relief Society Enrichment Activity - 

A visit to the Temple on cold, crisp last Saturday morning.

Many Sisters were not able to be there...

Those of us who were there had a grand time together.

I noticed the shadows and patterns on the bricks...

I liked them!

We Are Called and Set Apart...

We are Site Missionaries during the construction of

the Durban Temple in Umhlanga area.

Our call is for 30 months.

(Actually from commencement to completion.)

We have known about this call for about two months.

We have done lots of preparation for the call

and preparation for leaving our home and life here for the duration.

On Sunday we were finally officially called and set apart

by our Bishop, under the direction of our Stake President.

We are called Service Missionaries

serving in the Special Projects Department.

We do not know yet when we actually leave here for there...

We do not know yet where we will be living there...
When our supervisor says "Go" we will take our cars and go.

We are not even sure of all we will be doing!

We do know Glenn will be assistant to the Site supervisor,

and I will be keeping a record of the construction
And speaking by invitation in the Durban Temple District.

We will proceed with faith in every footstep!

We will relish and cherish whatever there will be to enjoy!

We will wrestle with whatever needs to be wrestled with!

We will overcome whatever needs to be overcome!

We'll let you know more when we know more...