We saw 2019 in...

Glenn's car's dashboard showed a warning light on our journey up...

That delayed our planned journey home on the 28th.

We took the car to the dealers on Thursday 27th December.

They said they could book it in on Monday 30th at 7am.

So - we had a few extra days!  We used the time productively...

The dry, dry construction woodwork of our new room got a penetrating wax layer...

It will get at least another layer of penetrating wax before some sort of sill 

and side-surround is fitted - in due time!

The three black-out curtains for our new bedroom pool-side windows got made
and hung.  Relief!  There are a lot of windows!  It is very light at night!
We had one night when the wind howled and a motion-detector security light
flicked on and off, on and off, as the light picked up the whipping shrubbery...

The remote transmitter for the drive-way lighting got moved from 

our old bedroom to the cupboard behind our-side old bathroom door.

Doug carefully and skillfully removed a tile to work on the pipes to disconnect 

the geyser from the our-old-bedroom separated side of the house.

Now the geyser only feeds our side - the other side has a new gas geyser.

Glenn replaced the tile.  Can you see the little white spot next to the shower hose?

The tile just above it is the replaced tile.  Good work...

When we go home again I will spot paint the white dot and few will notice.

Our new bathroom needed a mirror.  Puzzle... Where to put the new mirror!

There is a window right above the basin.

The new mirror is on the one cupboard door to the side of the basin.

Glenn changed the handle from upright to sideways, and when you want the mirror, 

you open the door and have a mirror to the side...  It works! 

Our side old bathroom toilet seal perished.  The leaking toilet was not usable.

Glenn replaced the seal with Doug's help.  Awkward space to get to...  

Happy day!  Two usable toilets again.

The silk plants in the bathroom were two-plus-years dusty.
One day it rained.  I took all the plants outside to be washed clean in the rain.
They look bright and cleaner again!
Next time I will take a photo of them...
I couldn't remember how best they fit together!
This will do for now...

Lovely-hostess Nadia invited us for New Year's Eve dinner - delicious curry and rice.

That was lovely!

Granny Miriam (Nadia's Gran) sitting comfortably to one side.

I joined her...

Granny Erene (Nadia's Mom) momentarily in the kitchen...

One of the games afterwards was - spread a beard with aerosol whipped cream...

Move a few paces away and toss little marshmallows at the creamed beard!

Good fun!  Good sports the kids were!

Another fun game...  

Give each a dice, roll one at a time, and draw body first, then head.

After that, draw whatever you roll apart from a six or a five.

For example - (these may be what the original were...)

6 = body, 

5 = head, 

4 = mouth, 

3 = hat, 

2 = scarf, 

1 = one of two arms, one of three buttons

First one to finish their drawing says... (I can't remember) and gets a prize.

Keep on until all complete.

Good fun!

Fireworks were strapped by Doug to the pool fence.
"They don't make a noise..." the lady who sold them said...  She lied.
We all enjoyed the fireworks and sparklers and saw the New Year in together.
I haven't stayed up for many years!
I would have been woken by the fireworks if I had gone to bed!

We left for KZN on the 1st January - "When we woke up..." - 6:30am.
Our journey was wonderfully cool again, and peaceful. 
There were not many cars and even fewer trucks on the road.
We stopped at the Little Church for a delicious breakfast.
We went straight to Craig and Roxane for New Year's Day lunch together.
We enjoyed being with them all.

By the time we got home we were well and truly TIRED!

Focus - 2019

– from “Alive Again” notebook

1/1         Question…What will I give my life to and for each day of 2019?         

8/1         Grow.  Growth provides me with valuable experience.

15/1       Stop complaining.  It’s time to get my house in order.

22/1       Deal with ‘it.’  I may not like ‘it.’  Find a way to deal with ‘it’ anyway.

29/1       Accept.  The key to surviving change is to accept its inevitability.

5/2         Change.  Some changes will take generations after me to yield a harvest from seeds I

              plant this week.

12/2       Choose wisely.  Consequences come sooner or later as a result of my inactions, as 

              well as actions. 

19/2       Be aware.  My role is to prepare the way for those who choose to follow me.

26/2       Death is certain.  The hour is uncertain.  I will make good use of every hour, every day. 

5/3         Ask.  Can I do it?  Will it work?  Is it worth it? 

12/3       Be a “success seeker” rather than a “failure avoider.”

19/3       Be me.  It takes courage to be myself, to be different, to be who I am sent here to be.

26/3       My trials can be for my good - when I consecrate my performance to being good and 

              doing good.

2/4         Know.  Violation of trust and denial of truth: will lead me to diminished options and 

              opportunities.

9/4         Focus on my realistic plans for my future rather than moping about and wallowing in 

               my past.

16/4       I will increasingly love the flawed and imperfect person I am – and make progress 

              every day.    

23/4       I will do a five-minute favour – for someone else as I am able, and for myself when I 

              need it.

30/4       I will make time for the talented part of me to work on my passion and be innovative. 

7/5         Choose a small, favourite object.  What can this help me remember when my anxiety 

               wells up?

14/5       Creative thinking can help me make any space I live in better, and more beautiful.

21/5       Imagine.  Change has to first start in my mind.

28/5       Help myself and others.  Have a plan, a purpose.

4/6         Who can I enable to succeed?  Find one person.  Then another.

11/6       Boldly transform.  Put people before things.  Put myself before my possessions.

18/6       Get to know someone new.  Look into their eyes.  Watch them.  Listen to them.

25/6       Get support from someone capable when my going gets tough. Ask for help!

2/7         Learn.  Start every day with “What can I learn today that will bless my life?”

9/7         Don’t repeat myself.  Make every word of my sentences count. 

16/7       Be prepared - to be amazed!

23/7       Get on with the people in my life.  Learn how to get on better with them.

30/7       Enjoy some music - Music can make me more at peace with my world.

6/8         Don’t be one of them.  There are always “people chirping in the side-lines.”

13/8       Say farewell consciously.  You never know when it is for the last time.

20/8       Talk about “the lessons I have learnt,” rather than my failures.

27/8       I can do this… Be polite, assertive and fair with people who have different ways, 

              different opinions.   

3/9         My life is my story.  I am the main character in it.  How is my story unfolding this week?

10/9       My fears have images. The ones I choose to allow space in my life will influence my 

              choices.

17/9       Beware.  Do not be blinded by certainty – someone else’s, even my own.

24/9       Live abundantly - within my resources!  Financial, emotional, physical, social, spiritual, 

              vocational.

1/10       Remember to return everything borrowed – in an improved condition than when I 

              borrowed it.

8/10       Stop!  Cease blaming other people. Press forward – steadfastly.

15/10     Admit when I make a mistake.  Do what I can to make reasonable amends for it.   

22/10     Give clothes I do not wear anymore to someone else.

29/10     Walk every day – take a thirty-minute walk at least every week, and also as often as 

              possible.

5/11       Strive for improvement and excellence – not perfection.

12/11     Be punctual.  Be early rather than late.

19/11     Don’t argue.  Get yourself organised.

26/11     Take time-out every day to be alone.  Learn to be alone without being lonely.

3/12       Cultivate good manners that serve me well across cultures.

10/12     Realise – Life is Not Fair.  It is what it is. Learn to navigate and negotiate my 

              way forward.

17/12     Know when, why, and how to keep my mouth shut.

24/12     Take the time, make the time, to be holy.   

31/12     Reflect.  Think about what I learnt from this past year.  Plan for a better 2020.

Mom's Biscuits

Biscuits – Philippa Powrie (Judy Bray’s Mother)

(there was always a roll of biscuit dough in the freezer – wonderful for unexpected visitors – 

4 minute oven warm-up and 12 minutes max baking… 

and there would be fresh biscuits! Selena, my Mom’s helper, used to make the dough –

 this is her method developed over time from the original recipe.)

250 + 30g butter                                    half melt     (we don’t know why the extra 30g…)

4 cups sugar                                         stir in

5 teaspoons vanilla in a cup

fill up to ¾ cup with milk (less milk?)     add to above

4 eggs                                                 

6 cups flour

7 teaspoons baking powder                   sift into bowl, add liquid

2 teaspoons salt                                   

Bake at 180 - 200C in TEAspoonsful, 6 at a time (they spread,) on a baking sheet or…

 – even better…

form into sausages with circumference of 6 – 8cm

loosely wax paper wrap each sausage in so that they do not stick together…

(if the mix is wettish sometimes I roll each sausage in flour to make it easier to handle)

put in freezer to harden - or keep there until whenever needed

When baking:  set oven to 180 - 200C

When the oven is ready,

take out a sausage of well chilled biscuit dough,

cut into 1/3 cm rounds,

place 6 on buttered baking sheet,

brush with melted butter and bake – 

the biscuits will “rise” then plop and brown around the edges… 

that’s when they are ready.  (We timed 8 - 12 minutes, depending on the oven.)

Remove from the baking sheet immediately

allow to cool on a cooling rack.   Enjoy!

MOM’s ORIGINAL RECIPE

 3 cups sugar

250g butter                               grate into sugar blend

4 eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla                    put in and mix thoroughly, add to above

8 tablespoons milk

6 cups flour

7 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt                        blend together, mix to above                             

roll into sausages, cover with wax paper, put in freezer to harden

cut from frozen into thinnish slices

Bake 180C – 200C about 8 – 10 minutes, depending on your oven

Stick together with apricot jam (optional) and/or dip ½ of round in melted chocolate – 

Fabulously decadent for special occasions…!         

We Went Home For Christmas...

I wondered if I would want to stay there!
As it happened, I loved being there, and was glad to come back -
Having started the history of the construction of the Durban Temple,
I dearly want to finish it, if at all possible.

Before we left, we drove through to Amanzimtoti for Glenn to fit a fan light
in Vi/'s bedroom/John's study, 
He also fitted two outside security lights -
one outside their bedroom window on the bush side, and one outside their bathroom.
Ladder work... tiring...

We took some time to rest and then started our journey -
the weather was gorgeously cool and cloudy.

We arrived home safely...  

Always a pleasure to complete an 'uneventful' and safe journey...

Each time we have returned there is some progress in what needs to be done.  

This is the entrance hall.  

Front door not accessible at present - no fuss, we used the laundry and back door.

This is the piano room - I could access part of my cupboard in there. 

I decided I would sew some curtains for our new bedroom.  

We bought the block-out fabric.  

I asked if Nadia knew where my sewing machine was.  

From her answer I understood it was in this pile against the wooden door. (in the background.) 

I decided I'd rather borrow her's than try and unpack all that stock-pile to find 

my sewing machine.

Then it was a case of getting used to hers!  

After her needing to help me a couple, or more, times to thread her machine, 

she suggested we find mine.  

She went to the door opposite the old bathroom door - the one leading to the passage.  

I was surprised!  

There were shelves against it!  

She moved the plastic shelving unit and opened the door! 

 A storage space!  

Doug has boarded a divider making two sides of the house as we originally planned.  

There, amidst some of the things moved from the other side of the house, 

I found my sewing machine, fairly easily accessible.  

I was so happy to use my beloved sewing machine again!  

Many happy memories using my machine!

For the record... below is the space in front of the north glass doors in our new bedroom.  

Also stockpiled with chairs, and other goods for now.  

Our bed is against the cupboards for now.  

A view the other way towards our new bathroom en suite.  

Cabryn does her school work at the dressing table/desk to the right of the picture.  

The plastic banks of drawers are Nadia's.  

This down-sizing for both of us is a sobering exercise!

The view from the bathroom door - the windows on the left overlook the pool.  

Lovely view!  Eventually our bed will be where the plastic drawers are now.  

We will be able to sit up in bed and look out on the pool.

On Christmas eve we drove through to Springs to spend the evening 

with Lowell and Joanne's family.  (Nadia's brother and sister-in-law)  

I liked this simple fountain in the front garden area.

A lovely meal for many people!  

Lowell and Joanne's family of six, Doug and Nadia's family of six, 

Joanne's parents and a grandmother, Joanne's brother, 

Nadia's mother Erene, and grandmother Miriam and the two of us.  

Two long tables full of cheerful people.  

Lowell and Joanne were lovely hosts.

After supper there was a present for each...

Christmas morning we joined Doug and Nadia in the flat.  

Nadia loves Christmas!  

This year the presents for their children were in boxes arranged like reindeers. 

Many presents inside the boxes to form each reindeer...

Hat's off to Nadia... She had fourteen people for Christmas lunch...

Their six, her mother and gran, the two of us and four missionaries.

The table was set under the carport.  It was heatwave weather!

I was anxious... I wondered whether we might be bothered by random beggars.  

I prepared seven parcels for them...  Not a one!  Things must be changing...

And no dustbin collecters knocked for a "Christmas box"...

Things must be changing...

I am an optimist - I feel like they are changing for the better...

I hope I am right...

After lunch, Jarom (now driving!) and I went to visit Joyce John, 

a (newly divided from Florida 1) Discovery Ward sister in hospital.

We couldn't find her there.

When I visited a few days later with Angel Simon I discovered 

she had booked in under her maiden name something like Darnia Hoodia.  

No wonder Jarom and I couldn't find her!

We actually looked in each hospital room...

And she looked so unlike herself, I didn't recognise her 

when I looked in the room she was in.

My mission each Christmas is to keep sane if I possibly can... 
I baked cookies for everyone I gave gifts to and shared my mother's recipe with each. 

After Christmas Doug, Nadia and family, and Glenn and I,
went and had supper at Spur together and to see the new Mary Poppins movie
at Siverstar Casino complex near Krugersdorp for our Christmas gift to them.