On We Go - Patio Project!

 The laundry area...

Monday.

Tuesday...

 

And down came the gentle soaking rain!

So welcome!

The work continued anyway.

Good work Glenn!

Breakfast at Second Cup

I took this picture  of the rooster and hen for Samuel and Isaac...

Roisin (Nadia's sister) and I went for breakfast to one of my favourite places...

Second Cup.

After we ate our delicious food,

We wandered around the stores just alongside.

I enjoyed these.

"Decide 

once and for all

to have an 

EXTRAORDINARY

life."

As we walked to the car again I noticed this gorgeous flowering tree...

And saw the dropped flowers on the parking area.

Very pretty.

I always come away from Second Cup uplifted, refreshed and 

readier to tackle my life and the challenges that arise.

My EXTRAORDINARY life...

Isn't each of our lives EXTRAORDINARY...?!

"I'd Rather See A Sermon"

I'd Rather See A Sermon                    Edgar A. Guest
	I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye's a better pupil and more willing than the ear, Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear; And the best of all preachers are the men who live their creeds, For to see good put in action is what everybody needs. I soon can learn to do it if you'll let me see it done; I can watch your hands in action, but your tongue too fast may run. And the lecture you deliver may be very wise and true, But I'd rather get my lessons by observing what you do; For I might misunderstand you and the high advice you give, But there's no misunderstanding how you act and how you live.

       

New High-speed Internet at Phillips

Glenn helping the Neotel installer at Phillips House.

Hopefully this will solve the couple's problem,

and mine - of trying to sort out Telkom to meet their needs.

My Favourite Things

 I was humming the music sung by Julie Andrews as "Maria"...
(emphasis added)

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens;
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens;
Brown paper packages tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels;
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles;
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings;
These are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes;
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes;
Silver-white winters that melt into springs;
These are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites,
When the bee stings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad.

- Portia Nelson, Irwin Kostal, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Julie Andrews, Marni Nixon

I thought... "What are some of MY favourite things?"
Here are some of them:

This old, so-far-irriplaceable egg lifter.

I keep it safely and hope it will last me all my life. 

This funnel I cut the stem off.

Very useful for canning and many other uses.

My three-pronged kitchen fork.

My cork hot-mats.

My personal ladder which belongs in our storeroom.

(I painted the ceiling second and touch up coats this morning.)

This device designed to 'hold' brooms in place.

I use it for many other things.

(the hooks fold up.)

 Our sleeper couch.  I love it!

My new laptop computer.

And my tablet, and my cell phone, my camera.

All very useful!

This lump of rose quartz turned into a lamp.

When I saw it  in my poorer days I said

"I have to find a way to afford that!" 

I did.

My notebooks.

When one is full I start another.

In them I write all sorts of inspiring and useful things.

My dish of seeds gathered from wherever I go.

My kitchen timer.

I actually have three.

This one reverts to what you set it,

one I can set for many hours when I want to,

and my new green Ikea one which you can see in the photo of my portable radio.

Each very used and useful.

 This string of bells.

I watched a programme recently about the Oshun religion in Nigeria.

They forge and use small prayer-bells.

I wonder if this is what these are?

I got this string in an Indian store.
I love to gently make it ring sometimes as I walk past.
If I brush against it there is that delightful tinkling sound.
Exceedingly pleasing to my soul...

My car...

Hail damage soon to be repaired.

All the paperwork is done at last!

These two light stainless steel dishes.

I looked long and hard for this size and shape.

I use them frequently.

My chopping boards.

Green for vegetables, pink for meat, chicken, fish,

yellow for fruit.

My two Victorinox kitchen knives -

one serrated, one a wonderful parer.

I use them several times every day.

My wall-hung kitchen scale.

Got this many years ago.

I haven't seen another wall-hung one since.

My wall-hung can opener.

Being left-handed this by-passes my handicap with hand ones 

which are designed for right handed people.

My multi-pocketed handbag.

The little heart is from a Relief Society lesson...

"Be the heart wherever you are."

My newest favourite -

the concealed lighting above the glass sliding door.

It truly warms my heart and comforts my spirit.

My portable radios.

I often carry them around with me as I work inside and outside.

I have two like this -

One for around the kitchen, one for my bedroom area.

And this portable one which is permanently set for AM657 - Radio Pulpit.

I listen to Radio Pulpit in the mornings 

when I am making our bed etc and putting on make-up.

A good way to start my day!

A little inspiring lift every morning.

My filing cabinet.

A gift long ago from Glenn.

I love it!

This is one of two mats at doorways.

Very practical.

Easy to pick up and put down.

My absolutely flat plastic shoes.

When I go to Kwa Zulu-Natal I get another couple of pairs for "Storage."

They cost me a mere R25.00 last time!

When I first got them years ago they cost R20.

Waterproof.

Easy to slip on and off.

Marvellously comfortable.

(I spend a lot of my time bare-foot in Summer

and shoeless with socks on in Winter.)

As I wandered around the house I realise - again - 

I am surrounded every day by many carefully chosen 

and adapted-to-suit-me favourite things!

After these 45 married and seventy alive years of having time
to search for and select exactly what I want,

I feel exceedingly fortunate!
"Too blessed to be stressed."
or, probably more accurately...
"Exceedingly blessed, even when stressed."

"Myself"

On our drive out to Garden World on Saturday afternoon last week 

I saw this Strelitzia

with the afternoon sun shining through the leaves.

I enjoyed the moment!

Myself

by Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself, and so,

I want to be fit for myself to know;

I want to be able as days go by,

Always to look myself straight in the eye;

I don't want to stand with the setting sun

And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to keep on a closet shelf

A lot of secrets about myself,

And fool myself as I come and go

Into thinking that nobody else will know

The kind of man I really am;

I don't want to dress myself up in sham.

I want to deserve all men's respect;

But here in this struggle for fame and pelf (money),

I want to be able to like myself.

I don't want to think as I come and go

That I'm for bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can hide myself from me,

I see what others may never see,

I know what others may never know,

I never can fool myself -- and so,

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.

  

I came across this poem in the mid 1960's.

I have tried over the years in between to live up to this.

I continue to make progress in my own estimation.

Patio Project - Ceiling and Preparing for Roof

  Inside, cornice up and the ceiling has its first coat of paint. 

Wiring for the lights all done -

they are just removed for the painting.

Quote coming for the built-in cupboards to go on the West wall.

Outside on the West side, Glenn is preparing for 

the whole glass roof to come off and the permanent roofing to go on.

(The looped cord on the pool wall is

the power from Doug's generator on his property

to come to his workshop on our property.

When the electricity goes off, 

as it did frequently in the past couple of years,

on goes the generator to supply his service provider business

run from his workshop.

Actually... I heard in a discussion on the radio last week

that with the coming on stream 

of another part of the new Madupe (sp?) power-station,

load-shedding of electricity is a thing of the past.

That will be great!  

I don't mind the loadshedding, but I know it is inconvenient 

for Doug and sometimes Glenn.

Vi does not like it at all.

I hope 'they' are right for all of us in South Africa.  

We shall see.)