Sunday Afternoon - Values

Eish… I’m discovering I have a limit to long walks…

I wonder if it is the highveld altitude?

Or the need for walking is walking further than I’m used to?

Anyway… I’ll find out what my walking comfort level is and stick to within it.

Perhaps I will work on stretching my limits too.

(I’m VERY grateful to be sleeping more soundly!)

We walked and walked looking for the easier-sliding curtain rails we prefer.

Glenn is now replacing the previous ones with the newly acquired ones.

That should stress the curtains less as we open and close them.

The new kitchen door security gate is in… still needs some touch-up painting…

BUT – I feel more relaxed when I am in the front part of our part of the house.

At the same time… it is harder for Doug, Nadia, Ethan, Daena and Cabryn to pop in.

Doug has a key… Perhaps another one is needed for Nadia and the children…

Grrr… !!!  Difficult trade-off decisions to be made sometimes…

Glenn installed a dishwasher and a washing machine for our other-side-of-the-house tenants.

(Nadia’s sister Kayla and her husband.)

The dishwasher in the old main bedroom, now living area.

The washing machine in the en-suite bathroom bay window area.

It was a significant installation!

I’m so grateful Glenn can do this and that.

It’s a great comfort and blessing to me…

We went on a Friday lunch-date to Second Cup, Weltevreden Farm.

A lovely venue where the tables are in amongst the trees.

The roosters and hens run around.  A friendly cat came and meowed companionably.

I was deeply soul-glad to be there.

Glenn and I are called and set apart as Young Single Adult advisors…

That will be a whole new experience for us!

Have a good week!

Love

Mom / Judy

Early morning sunrise on the way to the Temple.

  

 Us at Second Cup.

And our new security gate...

Sunday Afternoon - Home Again!

We had a peaceful and delicious breakfast on Thursday at The Little Church in Van Reenen… we were on our way home…

 And yes, we are home again…

We had thunder and lightning and rain Thursday night when we arrived, and after Ethan, Daena, Cabryn and Roisin (Nadia’s sister) helped carry all the stuff in…  
We are home!

I walk around bare-foot on our carpets… We are home!

I bathed in my own bath… We are home!

The church bells rang this morning…  We are home!

The peaches and apricots are ripe… We are home!

The birds are chirping and chirping outside… We are home!

And we have room!

Douglas has built upstairs in the property behind us and moved some of his stuff there. 

This week we will move more there to clear the front room off the entrance hall and prepare it for Les and Sally who arrive next weekend.

Richard, their youngest, is marrying and being sealed in the Temple on Saturday.

I am looking forward to that precious time with Les and Sally.

I enjoy having my brothers to stay, when they come to Gauteng for whatever reason.

Actually, I just enjoy visitors – and I prefer them shortish-term, whenever possible.

The other front room, Doug’s office, will be next on the list to clear to next door behind, then we’ll be all on our own in our part of the house.

And we’ll make that front room and the adjoining ‘piano room’ into what we need them to be for this stage of our lives.

(The piano room is already transformed – we did that before we left - it has a new built-in-cupboard which is very useful.)

(I’ll share pictures when all the new stuff is closer to ‘finished’ than it is right now.)

I to Glenn "If one of us is alone in the future we might well end up in one room."

We have much to share now with those less fortunate than we are.

I will take a load of our many clothes to the charity shop tomorrow.

Other items will be sure to follow.

We’ve been packing in La Lucia for weeks now.

A bit at a time…

By the time Thursday came, we were ready – just about.

I realized when I was in Pietermaritzburg that I’d left a few items in the fridge…

Ah well, the movers will have 6 eggs, delicious bean soup (which I meant to leave for those who clean and tend the estate) and probably a few other this’s and that’s…

I loved being there for the three years and five months that our home was there.
I loved being closer to John, Brenda, Vi, Craig, Roxane, Madi and Kirsty.

I mastered more technology… what a blessing!

I met and got to know many people I never would have otherwise.

We lived where we would never have otherwise.

We went places and did things we never would have otherwise.

I’m glad we went.

As I said to one of my colleagues who commented that I really enjoyed being there, 
“I enjoy my life… wherever I am.  Each day that passes will never come again.  I want as few regrets as possible when it is my time to die.”

I’m glad to be home…

I love my home…

We’ve spent many years making it very comfortable, functional, and pleasing to me/us.

Interesting – I don’t even miss the other side of the house.

This part is very suitable.

I’ll spend ten early minutes a day in the garden, and ten minutes a day on a ‘hotspot.’

FlyLady terminology… Finally Love Yourself Lady.

FlyLady has been very useful in ‘liberating’ me to a greater degree.

Do you know about it?

I look forward to going to the Botanical Gardens again.

One of my places of refuge/refreshing/being.

It’s good to be home!

It’s good to be alive!  See, hear, smell, taste, touch, think, move, be, LIVE!

We have a heat wave this weekend – it is hot.

We have the fan on, and the doors and windows wide open.

Most tolerable, most pleasant, when that is possible.

Northerners… Enjoy your deepening December.

Somehow Christmas in Winter is “the way it should be…”

“We” in the South have been indoctrinated by the Northern countries – 
through many years!

Somehow Christmas Dinner (hot) is just not right here…

And Christmas cake/pudding here needs to be ice-cream…

To each their own. We’ll have a swim on Christmas day to cool down.

That’s appropriate here.

This little bird, big actually, was by our front gate when I drove in from shopping yesterday…

Black Friday weekend… What was I thinking?!

I was glad to see this at-ease bird!
Do any of you know what it is?

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.

Re-Arranging - Again!

Sorting out...

Making space for Doug and Nadia and children to move in with us.

Temporary storage of some stuff in the gym.

My computer on the way to Doug's office where it is now.

The two rooms got a good clean while they were empty.

Some of the 30 years accumulation of stuff for sorting...

Doug and Nadia move into the patio bedroom.

Daena and Cabryn in the room that used to be the girls' bedroom,

 then Dianne's room, then Doug's workshop, then my counselling room

 until we leave,

then they will move into our room.

 

Doug will then fit a kitchen into the cupboard area,

block off the passage with a door,

and that side will be ready for tenants when Doug and Nadia move.

********************* 

Jarom and Ethan are very comfortable in 

Gillian's and then Dianne's old room.

My Dad's old desk is now in the entrance hall temporarily.

I feel glad when I walk down the passage and see 

children's beds again in the two rooms where our children used to sleep.

A Busy Day!

A full day of

hanging curtains in our new bedroom,
deciding what goes where from this side of the house to the other,
moving clothes and other items to our new bedroom cupboards,
clearing half the storeroom for Nadia to use,
sorting out items from the storeroom to go to the charity shop,
packing Nadia's supplies in the storeroom as Sylvester brought them from next door,
sorting out banking knots,
perusing accommodation where we are going,
applying to three estate agents for accommodation - we leave soon now,
writing important emails (Paulette van Tonder's husband Basil died last week,)
instructing Doctor who was here for the day.

I enjoyed my pause for my bath this lovely sunny Winter afternoon.
Very good pick-me-up my daily bath is for me on most afternoons.
It's the warmest time of the day, and the sunniest, and I can soak uninterrupted for as long as I want to.

Glenn has fitted a towel rail in the new bathroom,
he also fitted cup holders in the bathroom,
He has been working on the lawnmower which seized or something (I think,)

Simple omelettes for supper tonight.
We are both weary...

More Work on the Flat

The outside ledge of the sliding door of the flat 

has been unfinished for fifteen years or more?

While we wait for the carpets in the bedroom this is today's work.

It looks lovely!

Grouting tomorrow.

The warm afternoon sun is lovely!

Some Work on the Flat

The perished carpet at the sliding door has been removed,

tiles put in, and the carpet will be finished off when the 

new patio bedroom carpet is installed sometime soon.

We are just waiting for the date for the carpets to come in.

Remember the right hand little tile against the kitchen counter that

has been missing for too many years?

Well, Glenn did it too while he was busy with the other tiles.

So good to get these little things done!

Tomorrow we will do the grouting.

No date yet as to when we are departing to Durban!

In the meantime we are using the time wisely...

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!

Final Autumn Splendour

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

Here's for the memory...