Sleepover #2

Yesterday was a busy day, with getting the house cleaned and ready for the sleepover. School was all fine, neither boys had problems with anything that I can recall, although my sleep-deprived brain might not be at its peak for memory. I spent most of the afternoon cleaning, and then made pizza for supper as usual. Straight after supper I made another pizza for the girls, and that was in the oven when they arrived. They launched into the fun straight away, although first started with some screaming because I had said that they may make as much noise as they wanted to since the boys were out. I had to revise that rule though, and say that they could make noise, but I didn’t expect it to be continuous!! We played all sorts of different games, including the old favourite, the chocolate game, with a slab still from Jean’s generosity some time back. I showed two of the girls how to make the poppies, as the other girls were more interested in wrestling each other at that point, and we also did the seed-in-jar science experiment / spiritual analogy. I compared their faith to the seeds, which need to be watered and looked after, so I hope that when their little plants start growing, they will be reminded of the lesson. At about 11 pm they were still running around, so I told them it was time to brush their teeth and settle down, and we’d watch a DVD. This we did, and actually managed to watch almost the whole DVD without too much disturbance and interference, although they weren’t lying quietly in their sleeping spots as I’d hoped. After the DVD ended I insisted that they get into bed and then we watched most of our wedding video, which they all loved. I fast forwarded what I thought would be boring bits, but they complained every time I did! (This morning they were playing bridesmaid-bridesmaid). They settled and were ready for sleep by the time Nick and the boys got home at 1 am. I lay awake very uncomfortably on the couch for some time, bothered by the fact that if I straightened my legs, the duvet didn’t cover them and they attracted the mozzies. About an hour and four mosquito bites later, I tried out an empty patch of cushions on the floor, but couldn’t settle there either. Eventually I got up, making sure all the girls were asleep, and switched off the passage light which they had begged me to leave on (scared of the dark), and got comfortable on the floor, just on top of a duvet. After that I slept fairly well, but woke up at my usual 6.30 or so. For that reason I am now very tired. Nick, meanwhile, had had a great time at Svetlana’s house, playing TV games with Tsvetan while the boys and Georgie played and watched a DVD. The boys went to sleep there at about 9 pm, not too late, but they were noticeably tired today.

This morning the girls had their breakfasts, and then took forever in the bathroom getting themselves dressed and brushed. I tidied up the lounge a bit and folded sheets, and then bathed when they were all finished their ablutions. Had to pick up clumps of long dark hair off the floor and practically wash out the whole bath to get the toothpaste away before I even tried to feel at home in my own bathroom!

Nick had to be at Tammy’s house at 3 for the next session of album practice, and I had arranged to take the boys to visit Steve and Maureen, since they live so close and I haven’t been to their house in a while. We spent a very relaxed afternoon there. The weather was almost wintery in the country today – overcast and chilly. The boys played inside with Lego mostly, while Maureen and I chatted and read magazines. I fetched Nick at six, and then we came home for a very quick supper of fish fingers and scrambled eggs.

Dang flies

Supper tonight was fishcakes. I had a lump of tuna in the freezer, as well as some wahoo, and also the left over mackerel which Reepicheep didn’t live long enough to eat. I used all three fish varieties together. I ended up with a huge batch of fishcakes, after spending nearly 3 hours in the kitchen, which will do for another two meals. The boys tried to count the flies having a feast in the kitchen, but it’s difficult to count 20 flies who don’t keep still.

School again?

This morning Caleb said he didn’t want to do school, and he doesn’t like school. That sent my heart plummeting, since I wasn’t particularly in the mood either! Fortunately Nick came in just then, so he had a nice chat with Caleb. Shame, he didn’t seem to happy though. Aaron works hard and continues to amaze me with how well he’s doing with the literacy program. Sometimes I battle to distinguish between Aaron and Caleb’s work. While we were busy with school, just as we were about to break for tenzees, Elza’s familiar voice came floating through the diningroom curtain. I think she’s given up on the front door, and knew we were in the diningroom, so she just came right up the path and addressed me there. She had found some ribbon and beads to give me, and a kids craft magazine. I invited her to stay for a cup of tea as it was so well timed, so we had a good chat. While she was visiting, Nick offered to take her camera up the mountain to take pictures of the bell tower, as the bell will soon be coming down. By this time we were ready to start school again, so Elza just stayed for a bit of the second session, and I’m sure she learned something about fruit and flowers of trees! The fruit of an evergreen tree is always called a cone.

Get the paper, got the paper?

This morning I was very upset to see a strange brown blob sitting on my desk when I came in for my QT, and it took me a few moments to realize that it was two pieces of chocolate which I had left there the night before, which had been diligently nibbled all around the edges. The mouse ate my chocolate! That’s it, the trap has been set now in the pantry.

After lunch I went shopping alone, just to see what’s in the shops at the moment. I came away with a pack of marbled papers, in five different colours, quite reasonably priced, at the corner shop. We don’t often find anything useful in the crafty line in the shops here. At about 2.30 Elza called on with some ferns she had uprooted for me from the Sandy Bay Clinic, which she thought would still look good in the bottles. Of course I had to show her the new paper, so she buzzed off there as soon as she left here. The boys and I quickly went to visit the old people, and Caroline was so pleased to see us again. I felt bad that it’s been so long since we had been (before Christmas), but I’ve just been avoiding going. She said she knew I hadn’t forsaken her. We didn’t stay long, getting back in time for afternoon tea, and then I got stuck into doing something with the plants. It’s awkward to get into the hanging bottles now, as I have to undo some wire holding them up…so I didn’t put the ferns in, but rather planted them all into a container. Then I potted the melon seedlings which are progressing well, and also planted some more bulbs in the front garden, those aloe-type plants which Nick hates. The weeds on the house side garden are really flourishing, but I’d rather have healthy green weeds growing than nothing at all. They’re a nice succulent type of weed with a thick green leaf and purplish stem, which spread out as a ground cover. The portulacas on that side are also quite abundant now. Some time during the afternoon Lorna phoned, and we both had a good laugh about the fact that she was phoning to let me know about some nice marbled papers in the corner shop…I told her I already had them and had told Elza, and would have e-mailed her tonight! At least we all know we’re looking out for each other.

Unusually out on a Sunday morning

This morning I was just busy at the computer when Elza phoned, wanting to know I could help her with some on-line ordering. I offered my services immediate availability, since Sunday mornings are usually so blah. She was at the house in about ten minutes, and I heard her calling through the diningroom window to announce her presence. When I opened the front door, she said that she hopes that heaven’s gates are easier to get into than our house! She must have been knocking at the door for some time (the doorbell doesn’t work anymore). We spent nearly two hours at her house, first getting the order finalised and sent off, and then looking at photos and other scrapbooking chit chat stuff. It was great to be out on a Sunday morning! She dropped me off at home at about 11.45, which left me just enough time to put together spaghetti bolognaise. When Nick arrived home, he asked where I had been as he had come home between services, desperate for something to drink, and found the house locked up. Shame, I felt so bad. The rest of the afternoon was our normal quiet at-home stuff, me reading, the boys playing, Nick resting or playing guitar. Caleb made swings for himself and Aaron, very cleverly, with ropes and batons, which are actually functional and usable.

Church this evening was good, although seemed quite long. It was full – behind me was the medical row with Scilla, Svetlana and boys, and Elza. Sarel was called out, so couldn’t come. Last week when Teddy was ringing the bell for church, the rope broke, so Nick inspected it during the week, and discovered that the bell itself is actually extremely dangerously positioned now because the trussing and supports are so old and rusted in crucial places. It’s going to have to be taken down and repaired. So tonight there was no bell-ringing. Teddy announced in church that he believes it was providential that the rope came away last week, otherwise it might have been quite disastrous!

Green hill

After GNC we took a picnic lunch to Greenhill, which we’ve driven past before but never stopped for an outing. It’s very far from us, right down by Sandy Bay way, but extremely beautiful. There is a big grassy bit with some picnic tables, and a very unique bench a little farther away – one side of the bench is supported by a tree, the other in the usual manner. It was actually quite hot when the sun was shining, but there was a big cloud which kept obscuring it. Aaron informed us that he needed a poo, so I asked if he could wait as there were no toilets around, otherwise he’d have to squat in a bush somewhere. He went away and I forgot about his request, until we heard him calling and then saw him sitting on the grass by a bush with his pants down. He had finished his poo, he said. Armed with toilet roll, I went to inspect the damage – he didn’t understand the concept of “squat” so had merely sat down. Miraculously though, it had come out in a neat little pile in front of him, so was an easy-wipe type. Could have been much worse! Was very funny.

Tammy, the island’s greatest singing success, has started work on her next album, and this afternoon was the first gathering of the clan. Nick was gone from 3 pm until just after 7 pm, after a long afternoon of putting music to the lyrics Tammy had written. They now have ten songs ready for practicing and polishing, and then recording. It’s unfortunate that he will be away from us every Saturday afternoon for the next however long, but it’s something he wants to do and enjoys.

Hanging garden

Yesterday afternoon the boys and I went to Knollcombes to source some small plants for the hanging garden. I didn’t find what I wanted, ideally looking for ferns, but got a few other bits and pieces. The boys were helpful with finding bulbs lying on the ground, some of them already growing little plants and roots, but easy to lift up. Those will eventually grow into huge aloe-type things, but in the bottles they won’t get very big. Later in the afternoon I invited Elsa around to help with the bottling of said plants, and so I could show her how to work with pewter. We had a good afternoon. The plants got planted, and the pewter was pewtered, with much chatting in between.

Car nearly on its way

Good news! We’ve been praying that the Lord would provide a NEW car…the funds were transferred about a month ago across to St Helena from Constantia Park Baptist Church, and it’s been looking very much like we would be able to get a good, second hand car. Well, the Lord has graciously answered our prayers for a brand new car…we will be getting a new Ford Fiesta, in a pale metallic blue (our choice of colour), at the beginning of May on the ship from Cape Town. Awesome!!!

Hospital visit

Poor Caleb was sick enough this morning for me to take him to hospital. I phoned the hospital, because I never know if I’m supposed to try get an appointment or just arrive, and I was asked if it was an emergency, and told that it’s not outpatient’s clinic day today. Oh. So I said I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to bring my sick child, he needed attention today. So yes, it’s an emergency. We were all ready to go right then, so the boys got in the car and I started up, put the car in gear, and didn’t go anywhere. I tried to put it in gear again, but this time the gear stick was completely stuck and no amount of jiggling would set it free. By now the hospital was expecting me, so after trying and failing to arrange a lift, we walked up. I had to piggy-back Caleb because he was already wheezing so badly and the walk uphill would have been very bad. Poor Aaron struggled to keep up even though I was going quite slowly, as he was carrying two school books with him. Had only a slight wait at the hospital before Svetlana saw to us. She nebulised him and prescribed four different syrups, including antibiotics.

Toilet issues

Last night we had the heaviest rainfall we’ve experienced on the island so far. Not only was the rain heavy, it was continuous, for what seemed quite a lot of the night. As anticipated, we had a shower in the bedroom too, but it actually only came after I was out of bed. I just noticed that the duvet was wet, so either one of us has incontinence issues, or in fact, as I rather suspect, the roof leaked. The sight in the back yard was something to behold. With the extensive rain and insufficient drainage, the paving area and concrete area beyond that was quite flooded. Unfortunately the rain had caused all manner of blockages in pipes, so we had bits of toilet paper and various other unmentionable sewerage items floating about. Ja, it was pretty gross if you’re thinking that. Nick got busy straight away with draining off as much water as possible, burying what big bits of manure he found in the garden. Then he climbed up on the roof, confessing afterwards that I wouldn’t have liked what he was doing up there in terms of safety, to fix the holes in the roof with some flushing/flashing he found. He said the roof looks like a tin can that’s been opened, so he mended the biggest holes he could find until he ran out of the stuff. Then he cleaned out the gutters around the roof, sending years of dirty water where it doesn’t drain off properly, down the drainpipe. It came out the other end with such force that it appeared as if the drainpipe was projectile vomiting.

Good ol' cricket

This afternoon, to relieve the boredom of the day, we took a drive. At first we were without heading or direction, but then Nick remembered that there had been a cricket match on the go at Prince Andrew’s School, so we pulled in and had our picnic there. It was so windy that the Cremora almost blew off the spoon before I could get it into our flask mugs. We watched a bit of the cricket from a distance, but it’s difficult to follow without commentary! Walked around the school a bit because I haven’t seen it before (Nick teaches guitar there, so he’s well acquainted with the school grounds), and I must say that I’m quite impressed. The school buildings are old and a bit on the run-down side, but it’s big and the lawns are well kept. There are many trees about, and overall it seems to be a nice learning environment (picture of boys taken at the school grounds).

I wanted to look for some plants for a hanging bottled-garden I’m going to make for the kitchen, so with Nick’s encouragement I climbed up the precarious route up the back wall and onto the mountainside. I think my days of rockclimbing helped a bit with this adventure, but I was nervous to be up there, I must confess. I had visions of spending the night on the mountain, being too scared to come down! I didn’t find any suitable plants except for one more geranium, which I planted into the front garden as soon as I was successfully off the mountain.

At supper we were discussing the fact that I was so scared about getting up and down the mountain, and Nick tapped his head, and said “it’s all in there”. “No”, I countered, “it’s in my muscles”, pointing to my arm. Caleb’s pearl? “But this” (points to head) “controls this” (points to arm).

This morning Nick brought me tea in bed – what did I do to deserve such a wonderful man. He gets up early on Sunday mornings to go over his sermon prep, while I have the luxury of lounging about until 7 am. Then the boys came into the room too, to be with us for a while. We got onto the subject of God, and that He doesn’t actually have a smile, or hands, or some physical feature which Aaron was querying. So Nick said, “God doesn’t have a body”. Aaron’s face screwed up in amazement and perplexity as he said, “only a head???”

Domestic Therapy

Did you know that there is such a thing as ‘Domestic Therapy’? You’ve probably heard of Retail Therapy, where you go out shopping when you’re feeling down and it picks you up. Well Domestic Therapy is a new one we’ve coined, where you get stuck into some serious housework task to cheer you up. I’ve just been feeling so narfy again the last few days, and not lus to do anything in particular. I’ve been wandering around the house, fiddling here and fiddling there, but not actually doing anything constructive. So this evening after washing up, I attacked the grimy stove-top with a scourer, and even though I didn’t get it completely spotless, doing such an intensive domestic chore made me feel better. Nick is just wondering if my conscience is bothering me! Perhaps that’s it then…neglecting one’s household duties leads to a restless spirit…

Not much to report on from the day’s activities. Good News Club was fine – I did the talk, on “Goodness” today. I’m continuing with the fruits of the Spirit. It was basically a gospel presentation, about how many people think that their goodness will get them into heaven, and then shattering that illusion. The gospel will be preached many times over while we’re here! I was saying to Nick earlier that I don’t think I’ve shared the gospel as many times or in as many ways as I have since I’ve been here. So many opportunities pop up with various people, it’s great.

Gardening

Nick and I were both woken up by the heavy rainfalls and the sound of dripping on the ceiling last night, as the roof leaks in a few places. We lay awake wondering when it was going to start dripping through from the ceiling, and eventually there was a deluge onto our bed. Panic stations everyone – I tried to catch some drips in my hands while Nick fetched a dustbin, and then I checked my craft room to make sure that there was nothing lying around which could be water damaged if the leak opened up in there, which it has done in the past. I went back to our room to find Nick lying on the bed, half asleep, with the dustbin between his legs. I had expected that he would move the room around to get the bed out of the way, but actually by that time the dripping had stopped. Unfortunately we were both wide awake then and couldn’t get back to sleep for ages!

Directly after breakfast I got stuck into the front garden. Prudy organized three bags of manure to be delivered to us about a month ago, which we just had not got around to digging into the soil, so I made it my goal for today. Thankfully the rain held off long enough to get it done, and I finished the front before the sun was shining there too brightly. Nick helped me with lifting the bags and turning over what he could with the fork. I also planted a little bush we’ve been nurturing in a pot in the back, which we didn’t want to plant until we had dug in the compost! So that’s done. Then I had the back to do as well, turning over dead leaves and grass cuttings into the banana tree garden, and then planting the bean plants which were top heavy in their little peat pots. It was very muddy doing all this work; my old shoes were about an inch taller with the caked mud. We also now have six sweet-melon seeds growing, same method as the bean plants. They have sprouted their shoots after less than a week. Who knows, we might actually get a vegetable garden growing after all. The papaya tree is doing very well, flowering at the moment with sweet-smelling little yellow flowers, and the mango trees are growing slowly, although one of them has mysteriously lost its leaves again.

Drug bust

This morning we were with Cindy and the girls again, as I had volunteered to help her with some stuff on the computer. When we arrived, she and the girls were waiting for us just outside their house where the driveway begins, so that I would be able to find the house. They live in St Paul’s, fairly close to Plantation House as the crow flies, but difficult to find if you haven’t been there before. We had a fantastic time together – arrived at 10, and only left at about 2.40! I installed a little program for her to aid with photo resizing, and then set up a blog for them. Panic welled up when the computer blue-screened (what is it with me and computers blue-screening?) and then wouldn’t start up again. I was very worried, but eventually, after me feeling very embarrassed, it righted itself and we could carry on. In the meantime, the kids were playing Lego and all kinds of other stuff, with the occasional dispute and teary “that boy” did this and “the smaller girl” did that.

The RMS left for Ascension this evening. When she came in on Sunday, there was a big delay with getting the luggage and containers off the ship, because there was a drug-bust. Someone was trying to smuggle Cannabis (marijuana) into the country, and somehow customs and police got wind of it. They had to take the sniffer dogs on board when she docked on Sunday. People have only been able to get their luggage and hold goods off today and yesterday! We were very fortunate to be able to get our box on Monday.

Friendly friends

Today I had an arrangement to meet Cindy and go to Rosemary Plain, because we’re all on school holidays. We had a super morning, Cindy and I chatting up a storm about life, the universe and everything in between, while the kids eventually got themselves going with some good playing. It took a while for them to find their groove and play together without hanging around where the food and moms were, but after a little while they clicked and had fun.

Monday rush

It’s a good thing that we’re on school holiday, because I’m sure I wouldn’t have had time for school today! I started the day with grocery shopping just after 9 am, but first had to go to the bank and post office. There was a letter for me in the post from Mrs Collins, my old German teacher! Lovely to hear from her. It’s always nice receiving things in the actual post, although e-mails are great too. Then I started on the actual shopping, first at Spar, then at Thorpes. I had parked just outside Thorpes, so it was easy to get the milk from the wholesalers, and carry all the parcels in one go. I left the car there and walked around to Queen Mary’s for some more things on my list, then Tinkers for the cold stuff, although I only procured frozen veggies from there. Anyway, was just walking back to the car when I spotted Elsa, who returned from holiday in SA yesterday. As it turns out, she was on a mission to find me…she stopped by the house, and Nick of course told her that I was out shopping, so she asked Nick if she could take me out for coffee if she found me. Then she went from shop to shop asking if anyone had seen me…isn’t that nice? Since I was finished with my shopping, I was delighted to accept an invitation to the Coffee Co, where she treated me to a chocolate milkshake. It was wonderful to catch up with her and hear all about their holiday. We had a wonderful time chatting, but at about 11.45 I had to get going because I needed bread from Spar still, and then to get home to feed the starving flock. After lunch I headed off to Lorna for our usual beading. Today I started making lemonade from the lemons I have left…I have a lot of very little beads, in all shapes and colours, so have started making bag dangles, which I think will sell nicely with the girls. I got home from Lorna just after 3 pm, after stopping off at the HTH Spar for fish, and then since Nick’s guitar pupils had cancelled due to their driveway being flooded (heavy rains this morning, briefly, followed by an excessively hot day), I suggested that we go to the docks and see if there was a box for us, which we were expecting, from Scilla, containing photocopier toners and paper and cardboard for the holiday club. The box was there, which we were very happy about…we haven’t had bulletins since the end of last year! Got home and unpacked that, sat around for approximately five minutes, and then went swimming, all of us. The water was lovely and it was great to be in the pool. Some of the girls from GNC were there, and Callum too. Home at 4.45, then I had to get supper going, which was a tuna curry, except with only about a quarter teaspoon of curry so you couldn’t even detect it. I enjoyed it, but I think I stood alone there! I finally had a chance to unpack the groceries while the stew was simmering…

I had an opportunity to chat to a friend about the Lord today, which was sparked off by me asking if she wouldn’t mind not taking His name in vain all the time. It grates me to hear the constant blasphemy. She was quite taken aback and said she meant it more as a prayer, which was a good springboard for me to question her a bit further. Why do people think that God owes them something – she felt that God had let her down over the last years and so is on the fence as far as ‘religion’ goes. The fact is that we can count our blessings that God shows us any mercy at all and doesn’t simply stamp us out, being so wickedly sinful!

Party on!

We went to Georgie’s birthday party this afternoon It was nice – only about six boys there, but that was plenty! Lots of noise and shouting, but they had fun. Svetlana had arranged a black forest cake to be made, which was delicious, although of course the kids only really ate the cake part and left the cream.

Lunch in the garden

Yesterday was our last day of school for the term – we made it! I don’t feel that I was desperate for a holiday, but it’s a welcome break anyway. Actually this last week was quite good, on the whole. Aaron is seeing the letters he’s learned all over the place now and pointing them out to us. Nick took the car in to the garage yesterday morning because there’s been a clunking noise coming out of it, but since the garage didn’t have a loan car, he walked home. After school we all walked to town for bread and to get a DVD for later, and decided to have lunch at Castle Gardens. We bought rolls and chips, to make chip rolls. Got some slush puppies from Sally’s, and sat down on a bench in the garden for a leisurely lunch. It was great – it started drizzling a bit while we were there, but it wasn’t bothersome. The boys found a trail of ants which led into a tree, and were bubbling over with excitement at how many ants there were. Actually I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ants in one place either – they seemed to have a home in a huge tree, with trails of them diligently scurrying up and down the tree from all sides and trailing quite far around the paths in the garden. Nick spent the afternoon cementing the back wall, canceling the prison ministry due to lack of transport (carrying a guitar down the road would be very hard work). We got the car back during the afternoon, sans the noise.

This afternoon we watched Ice Age 2 together. Nick and I laughed our heads off, but Caleb thought it was too scary and started crying, and eventually left the lounge. No amount of persuading could get him to continue watching. When it was nearly finished he came back to see the happy ending. There is a thread running through the movie of a saber-toothed squirrel and his acorn which keeps on eluding him, which is actually very funny, but Caleb felt sorry for the squirrel all the time. It was just too much for him when all the animals seemed to be drowning during the ice age meltdown!

Marine Awareness Week

We went to the Consulate Hotel today, where there has been a marine awareness display on the go for the week. The display was very interesting, with an interactive computer program all about marine life, which Caleb took a liking to, and a DVD playing on a big TV about diving in St Helena, and there was a slide show running, and also on display were shells, crustaceans, and even a dolphin skull. Various other activities have been organized for the week too, ending on Saturday with dolphin trips, swimming races around the bay, raft races, and a fancy dress.

Hidden

Helfen Sie mir, bitte?

Directly after school today, we went to Steve and Maureen's country house so that Nick could help move things into their place. It's almost at a point of completion now, certainly enough so for them to move in. The floors, which have laminate wood flooring throughout, have only been laid in the main bedroom and kitchen. There is still loads of tiling needing doing, and the front doors actually aren't on yet. They have no running water yet, and the electricity isn't connected in the house yet.

I had Georgie coming at 3, as Svetlana has asked me to help him along a bit with his German. He will be attending a German school when they go back to SA mid-year, so she doesn't want him getting completely out of practice between now and then. I’m so out of practice with the language though, but it’s okay…kind of like the short-sighted leading the blind!

A maf flew into the beer

We’re doing Aa this week, finally a vowel…so now Aaron can actually start learning how to read, by putting together the sounds he has learned so far, to make rat, fat, mat, bat etc. I put together “t” “a” and “b”, and told him this is something that Grandpa likes to drink. The wheels turned for a few seconds, and his answer was “beer?” We all just laughed and laughed. Then I gave him “maf” to read. “What is maf?” he asked. So Caleb, sitting at the diningroom table, displayed the beginnings of a great Balderdash in his answer: “It’s the South American way of saying ‘moth’!”

Combined service

Our combined service this morning was well attended, although there are always noticeable gaps of people who should be there, who aren’t. Steve, Nick and I were the band, with Anthony leading the service. After the singing part, before Nick preached, he dismissed the children and teachers, and we went off to the Manse for Sunday School. Our boys volunteered plenty of extraneous information during story time, like Caleb volunteering that sometimes he gets angry, and then little brother’s voice piped up, “sometimes Caleb gets so angry that he hits me”. Maureen’s craft, which linked in with letting your light shine, was to make playdough tealight candle holders, which was a fun activity. Then it was all over and time for the lunch, which was the usual array of fishcakes, pizzas, quiches and sandwiches. Very enjoyable, very filling, and very much.

New friends

After Good News Club this morning, which was well-attended and enjoyable, some new people came home with us (apart from the regular girls who like to come and hang out). They are a South African family who arrived on 3 Feb, he is the new adult education somethingie. Cindy has been finding it difficult to adapt to island life, and John reminded us of a friend from back home, just taller. They have two girls, Hannah and Sarah, also 19 months apart, who are respectively just a few months younger than our boys. Their girls and our boys had a blast playing here, getting on like a house on fire. Also in the house was Riana, who entertained herself by making paper things from a craft book I have. She likes to just come and be here, whether or not anyone is playing with her! They were living in Krugersdorp before coming here, and are familiar with places like Cresta, Menlyn, Clearwater etc. We chatted non-stop about all sorts of things, mostly about island stuff. I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of them – since we all got on so well, it will be no effort to get together for a braai or something from time to time. Yippee, South African friends! While they were still with us, Jean arrived, bearing about five packets of groceries for us. I had just commented to Nick this morning that he must go easy on the muesli because I want to try make it stretch to the end of the month, when Jean comes today with this bounty – including a box of muesli!!!

This afternoon Nick went to the old age home, the Haven, as he had arranged to do some sort of church thing there. He took the guitar and sang a few songs, which were more of a solo nature because the old people didn’t sing them too well. He was supposed to also deliver a talk of some sort, but said he ran out of time, as they started serving tea at 3. I think it was a bit disorganized, but it was a start. Nick has been wanting to get an old person’s ministry started for some time now, with the aim of handing it over to someone with a passion for old people, so I guess this is its humble beginning.

Reepi...in loving memory

Reepi didn’t seem himself this morning. He looked like he was battling to walk a bit, we noticed this yesterday too, that he was sort of limping. Still sitting up though, and eating little bits during the day. Well, he just got progressively worse and then was battling to breathe, his chest was heaving with the effort. There wasn’t much we could do, so we left him on his cage flap and went to Sally’s for lunch. When we got home he was hanging upside down from the perch, having fallen off but gotten a claw hooked. I don’t know how long he’d been that way, but Nick quickly disentangled him and handed him to me. He was pretty much catatonic and unresponsive, unblinking and still. He flapped his wings a bit when Nick took him down, but he died in my hand. I cried and cried, but I think I’m okay now. The boys are still saying that they feel sad about Reepi dying, but they aren’t tearful. We wrapped him up in his little kitchen towel and buried him in the back garden next to the hibiscus.

When I went for my walk this morning, I skipped my usual Jacob’s Ladder route and instead walked down to the sea, and along the seafront to the left, to where the huge rockpool is. I love the rockpool – the way the water rushes in through two inlets, rising up and swirling over the rocks, a great foamy cauldron of angry soup, and then just as quickly being pulled out again like a giant toilet bowl being flushed. I stayed there for about ten minutes, watching two crabs who were trying to mate, hanging tenaciously on to the rocks as the water tried to pry them off.

In school we transplanted the bean plants into peat pots, with potting soil and pots which were provided in the science kit. They are about 20cm tall now, and had a bit of a pause in growth today with the transplant, but are back on the rise today. There are 8 little plants lined up on the windowsill now in the diningroom, and the bottled garden is there too.

When I went outside to bring in the washing, at about 6.40, the sky was unusually yellowy, so I looked up at the clouds as the sun was catching them, and saw a great rainbow, spanning from the top of a mountain, over the church steeple, and arcing down again. It was so bright! Two minutes later it was pouring with rain, and continued raining for about an hour, off and on.

Fee fi fo fum!

You wouldn’t believe what happened to the boys’ bean plants overnight…but it makes the story of Jack and the Beanstalk more believable! From having no shoots yesterday, only roots, they now have leaves which have grown up past the neck of the bottles. Even during the day we have noticed a difference – they’ve easily grown three inches during the day. We’re looking forward to seeing what tomorrow brings. Caleb wrote in his nature diary without prompting and drew a picture of the plants.
I renewed my drivers’ license today. I was severely reprimanded for driving around with an expired license. The police lady asked if I know it is a criminal offence to drive a vehicle without a valid license, which I did know, and I felt terribly guilty. I even thought she might give me a fine or put me in prison. But she just said I mustn’t let it happen again. After town we went to Plantation House, so that the boys could run around and I could read. It didn’t really happen that way though, especially about me and the reading part, because the boys kept on talking to me, and then Aaron wanted to look at one of his books with chip-crumby fingers, and then Caleb didn’t want to finish his apple so I had to hold it, and then needed a nose blow, and then Aaron was cold…so after a while I gave up and we came home. At least they got out of the house for a while.

Nick is giving Reepicheep flying lessons, which means that Nick is taking him outside and throwing him in the air and then catching him again. Reepi doesn’t mind though, he flaps his wings madly while he’s in the air although it does him no good. Good exercise though. Last night while we were watching the DVD, we saw our pet mouse running in the lounge. Caleb had earlier put a biscuit in a plastic container, in the hopes of luring him into a trap. Well, the mouse found the biscuit, and started eating it, taking a little nibble and then dashing back behind the wall units. Then he tried to drag it back with him, which he couldn’t do because he couldn’t pull it over the extension cord. He tried so hard, pulling and pushing, even flipping himself right over the biscuit trying, that I felt sorry for him and moved the biscuit when he had run for cover. At the end of the evening we observed that he had eaten half the chocolate covering off the biscuit, leaving the innard untouched! Definitely a sweet tooth.

Valentine surprise

I gave Nick a torch and card for Valentines’ Day. During the morning I slipped a note under the door for Nick, which said, “Nick, You are Sexy, I love You” with all the letters cut out from magazines. It was supposed to look like an anonymous love letter. The boys found it and gave it to him, so he took one look at it and said I could throw it away…ha ha ha ha haa haaaaaa….I thought he would know straight away it was from me, but he didn’t even suspect…so I was laughing hilariously when I confessed. The boys and I wore red today.

In science today we did an experiment of planting a bottled garden…pebbles, charcoal and potting soil went into a lying-down bottle, and then two little plants, okay weeds, which I found in the garden went in, and the lid went on. I dampened the potting soil first, so now the garden never needs to be watered. The boys are really enjoying all this plant stuff and seeing the things grow. We wrote in their nature diaries again today.

Mouse in the house

We’ve had a tiny mouse living in the house for a couple of weeks. We often see him running for cover in the lounge or kitchen, and sometimes the stupid thing runs right across the carpet while we’re watching a DVD or something, so we’ve seen a lot of him. Caleb’s been trying to catch him, setting up traps with Nick’s help – not to kill it, but to have a look at it. We just don’t have the heart to set a proper mouse trap and break its neck. Last night when I went into the kitchen quite late, he was sitting on the small table next to the stove, so I approached very cautiously. He jumped into the spice rack box, so I called Nick down to see what we could do. The mouse eventually jumped off the table and ran under the stove, so Nick got a bit of bread and held it on the floor near the stove, to lure it out. It actually came out, after peeking its tiny head out to see if it was safe, and grabbed some bread from Nick’s fingers. We have it on video tape. I also had a try, but the first time I wasn’t watching properly and got a huge fright when it came scuttling out, sending it dashing for cover again. It came out again, and sat holding a crumb in its front paws, sitting on its hind legs, having a munch. It’s still out and about somewhere, but we’re not sure what the next step is.

Bean sprouts

On Friday we did a science experiment, which was simply to put bean seeds in a jar with a paper towel and water, so that hopefully they will germinate. Then we had to make nature diaries. I had already bought two reporters notebooks, so in school today we covered them nicely, sticking a piece of coloured paper over the front and then decorating them with feathers, foam animal and plant shapes and stickers. The boys are very proud of them. Those diaries will be to report on the things that we do in science. Today’s entry, which I had to write, simply said “put seeds in jar”, and then the boys drew a picture. Today after lunch, Caleb noticed that the seeds we ‘planted’ on Friday have grown shoots. He was nearly beside himself with excitement, so I suggested we write in his nature diary which he was very pleased to do. He was well satisfied that they had germinated.

Reepicheep is back to his normal self today. We are grateful to God for sparing his little life!

Mackerel...don't read this entry if you're squeamish!

Emma Bennet, from the Fisheries Department, stopped by yesterday with seven mackerel for us. She was really surprised that we’ve had him for so long, and was also surprised that he was so small – she was expecting that he would have been older and further developed, so was especially amazed that he’s done so well up until now. She says that most of the time when people find terns, they only last a day or two. I told her that we’ve been praying, so I give all the credit for his survival to God! Anyway, about these mackerel…the only thing that had been done to them was that their necks had been sliced open (if you can call where the head joins the body a ‘neck’). I had to de-head them, de-tail them, cut them open and remove the innards (I don’t even want to know what exactly was in there…it was a bloody mess and there was white fatty stuff and it was GROSS), then take off the skin, and then pull the flesh off. Well I got as far as preparing six of them for de-fleshing, and just cut the seventh one up in slices. I’ve kept all the heads, in case Reepi likes those when he’s older. The rest of the fish bodies are in the fridge for when I can face them again, also because I think the flesh comes away easier when it’s cooled. I’ve never really handled a whole fish before, but I guess when you get past the fact that it’s just recently been a live animal happily swimming in the sea, and now you’re dismembering it, it was quite interesting. I showed the boys how the mouth opens (bob bob), and I showed them the gills, very red, layers and layers. I guess those must be rich in iron. Yummy.

We visited one of our church ladies in the afternoon out at Blue Hill, clothed warmly in jackets because it had been raining all morning and was on the chilly side in town, so we expected the weather to be worse in the country (it was). Had a good visit with Shirley and her husband. She had a back op in Cape Town three months ago, so still has to be very careful. This gave me a good excuse to help her with the tea in the kitchen, which otherwise she would never have heard of…you can’t bother the pastor’s wife to help with something like that!! Again, that horrible pedestal thing. We’re hoping that people will see us as normal, regular people as time goes by - it’s a Saint peculiarity that we are viewed as only The Pastor and The Pastor’s Wife.

On the way home from Blue Hill we encountered an ex-pat couple who arrived on the island at the end of last year, on a two-year teaching contract. Their car had run out of petrol, so they were hoping to push the car up the hills and freewheel down the slopes until they got to a garage. Unfortunately, even with Nick helping, the hills proved too steep to push the car up, so we drove them to the garage in Half Tree Hollow (amazingly, it was open on a Saturday afternoon) where they could get petrol in a container. Then we drove them back to their car. After they had emptied the petrol into the car and got it started, we all stood outside (in the freezing wind) chatting, and having such a nice time! It was a providential meetings, I’m sure.

Eat Dirt!

Reepi was alive this morning, which we were surprised about from a ‘natural’ point of view. He ate really well today in fact, wolfing down two generous helpings of mackerel so far, and we’ll feed him again after our supper. Nick told Vincent about the bird last night at bible study, and Vincent, who has bred chickens and knows what he’s talking about, didn’t hold out much hope for Reepi. He says that the food goes into a gizzard first, where it gets ground up, and thereafter gets passed into the stomach. But sometimes the food can’t get ground up properly, so it sits in a ball in the gizzard and becomes infected, causing the bird to die. From what Nick described, this is what sounded like the problem. The birds need to have some sort of grit in their food to help the gizzard grind it – you can imagine that a bird eating fish would naturally pick up dirt and bits of bone and hard stuff. The solution was to introduce dirt into Reepi’s diet, so this morning we dug up some dirt from the garden, and rolled a few bits of fish in it. R had no trouble with it at all. He’s still quite floppy although looking much better than he was yesterday. He managed to stand up and walk about a bit today before flopping over, but we’re hoping that with eating better his strength will return.

Caleb just happened to be standing in the wrong place yesterday when Reepi needed the toilet, so he got it on his head. It dripped down from his hair on to his shoulder, and we all thought it was very funny. I got pooed on four times yesterday (once on my bare toes) and again today, because Reepi isn’t his usual self and doesn’t have the strength to find a good position to aim. This morning Aaron found some poo on the diningroom floor under the cage, so he told me about it and that it was still wet. How did he know that, you might wonder? He was sticking his fingers in it. I sent him outside post haste to wash his hands, but he came in again because Nick was outside and Aaron didn’t want his dad finding out what he had done. Shame!

Sick bird

Our poor Reepicheep is not doing so well today. We think he might die - it’s touch and go whether he makes it through the night. We don’t know what has happened, other than that he hasn’t been eating enough. It seems that he’s not strong enough to hold his body up, so instead of standing on his legs with his head all perky, he lies on his whole body with his wings spread out on either side. It’s a pathetic sight and we’re very sad. I found three mackerels at the Fish Market, but it might be too late to put them to use. He wasn’t even interested in those today! Of course we’ve all been praying incessantly, but God might have other plans than Reepi’s survival.

Cross & Blackwell

I bought mayonnaise today!!! My heart skipped a beat when I saw about six bottles sitting innocently on the shelf in Spar. I couldn’t believe my eyes. They must have got them in on Sunday’s ship, and unpacked them this morning. I have no doubt that they are already all sold out now. I bought two bottles of it, small bottles of Cross & Blackwell. We haven’t been able to buy mayo for at least two months. After Spar I went up to Queen Mary’s, in the hopes that their fruit had been unpacked, and once again, I rejoiced! I bought a bag of beautiful red tomatoes, and also a cucumber, and even a quarter of a watermelon (sliced today). Lunch was cheese and mayo sandwiches (with tomato on mine and Nick’s), and watermelon afterwards. Sheer luxury, I tell you.

Shouldn't be driving

I persuaded Nick to go to town with me late afternoon, because we need to get our drivers’ licenses renewed (the expired at the beginning of January). We have to renew them every year, which costs £7.50, but it’s quick and easy. All we had to do was go to the Police Station, fill in a form, present our expired licenses, and they renew it. Unfortunately we got there at 4pm when the whole world of St Helena stops working and goes home (other than the shopkeepers), so we just missed being helped.

Lunch guests

Scilla Brown, the optometrist, arrived on the island yesterday. She’s a lovely Christian who comes to our church when she’s on the island – she does a yearly optometrical stint here, from about January/February to April. Her church back home is also very supportive of ours, and have helped tremendously with finances for our building projects. We invited her to lunch today, since it’s not very nice being alone on a Sunday, and also had Steve and Maureen over. Fun to do something sociable on a Sunday, although we’ve grown accustomed to being on our own over the weekends. Makes me lazy with cooking, so having people over is a good reason to cook a proper meal (my poor family!).

Our pet

We’ve had some rain today, and also some hot weather. Yesterday was also hot - enough for us all to go swimming. Reepicheep is going whiter by the day. The feathers that are growing out on his wings and neck are particularly noticeable, and he is also getting some white downy feathers on his chest. He’s such a sweet little bird, very placid (perhaps a little too tame), and has a funny habit of burrowing…he will press his beak between our fingers and wriggle his head so that eventually he can get his whole head between two fingers, or a finger and a thumb, and then once we’ve got his neck in a good grip, he closes his eyes and goes to sleep, blissfully happy. Also likes to have the top of his head scratched. If you do that, he gets himself comfortable with his beak resting on something, tail in the air, and enjoys the attention. Absolutely adorable. Still not eating very well. I always thought “eats like a bird” was a misnomer, as birds are supposed to eat their body weight in food every day, but then again, maybe there is something in it.

Car news

This morning we had some fun in school, when we went outside to see how water comes out a hosepipe – first it curves up, then falls down. So Fireman Lynn says this is how the letter ‘f’ is made…quite a good idea from the book! I did a spot more grocery shopping during the afternoon, specifically needing mats for a mosquito repellant machine, as Jane has lent me one. It has to plug into Nick’s transformer though which buzzes, so the whole thing ends up being quite noisy. I think I’d rather take my chances with the mozzies! Ha ha ha.

Great news…the money from Constantia Park Baptist for a new car for the church has arrived. It might still be another month or two before we actually get the car, but we’re excited that it’s imminent! As you will know if you’ve been reading the blog, our yellow golf is on its last wheels…

Very exciting entry...really

Had another fairly uneventful day, other than that the boys went to play at Jane’s house today, leaving me free for about two and a half hours…wonderful! Supper tonight was fishcakes, although we didn’t actually have supper per se…Nick had a lay preachers training session at 5.45, so I made the fishcakes and then just cooked some corn for the boys, with the intent that Nick and I would eat supper later, and I’d make more veggies. Didn’t happen that way of course, so supper for us was just a couple f/cakes here and there, and two quality streets! My theory for cooking is, why cook only one meal when you can cook enough for at least two, so I have frozen a whole batch of the fishcakes for another time.

Monday stuff

I cut Nick’s hair this morning before school and he looks very handsome again. Not that he didn’t before, but he’s just especially nice now. School was okay, felt a bit all over the place, but the boys are learning stuff so it’s fine. We’re onto Mm this week. After school I went out by myself to town, just for bread and apples (both boys love apples, Aaron particularly, and eat them all the time. If I offer them an apple because they say they’re hungry, it’s like a treat for them). I had a quick lunch, and then headed off to Lorna. Made five bracelets while there, hopefully will be able to sell them. When I got home, I Baked Brownies with the boys, as it was supposed to be last week’s “crazy activity”, what with the week of learning B. They turned out quite well. Then it was the usual supper and etc etc.

Reepicheep is really becoming a part of the family. We’re going to miss him terribly when he flaps his wings and flies away, you know, empty nest syndrome and all that. This evening he was waddling around on the table when we had finished supper, and then sat on the bible for a while, before he started circling about looking for a good poo direction to aim at. He wasn’t too careful though because he fell off the bible and landed on his bottom, legs in the air…we all laughed uproariously, but I think R’s pride was hurt…heh heh. Eventually he squirted a good one right in Aaron’s direction, who would have got it in his face if he had been a cm or two closer. We all laughed at that too. Anyway, Reepicheep has sprouted feather buds from his bottom now. I mean, not right from his bottom, but from where his tail should be. His wings are definitely getting longer and stronger, and his whole body feels weightier.

Plantation Forest on a seed hunt

We didn’t have very much scheduled for school today, but there was an experiment to do, which was more like an exploration of seeds and how they travel. I had decided that we would go to Plantation to look for dandelions and burrs, and it happened to coincide nicely with Nick finishing his sermon prep before lunch, so we all went together for a picnic lunch first and then a walk through the woods. I found a couple of dandelion sort of things which we could examine, but no burrs – just the wrong kind of forest! You know you’re a homeschooling mom when…you go for a walk and end up digging mud to take home to see if any seeds will grow in it! The mud went into a plastic bag with some water, and is sitting on the windowsill now along with a kidney bean in blotting paper. The boys were absolutely great during the walk. We did a fairly long round-trip route and instead of complaining that it was too long etc etc, the boys were ahead of us most of the time. Caleb goes far on his own, very confidently, and Aaron wasn’t far behind him. Great that they’re enjoying the outdoors and getting better at hikes. Nick took the boys swimming during the later part of the afternoon, and supper was the usual Friday pizza. Oh yes, I thought there was a bit of a yeast shortage, so when I found a 500g packet at Thorpes, I was elated! I don’t think I’ll have to buy yeast again, at least not until September next year when it expires…

This morning we had GNC, and then the girls (and some boys) rushed off to our place to see the necklaces again. They didn’t even wait to get their popcorn, poor Nick W brings it every week so faithfully and now they don’t even stick around for it. Made some good sales again. A lot of the kids just stayed to play afterwards, but I had to get some shopping done (breakfast cereals and milk, mainly), so I left Nick at home with everyone. For some reason they are never in a hurry to go home, I guess because there’s nothing better to really do at home. They all have fun playing in the back yard with the tree house, so we’re cool with that.

Nick took the boys to visit the prison quickly this afternoon. They weren’t gone long, just long enough for Caleb and Aaron to see the inside of the prison and say hello to the inmates. I think they enjoyed it, and I’m sure Nick’s contacts enjoyed meeting his children.

Classroom organized

I had a call this morning while I was in the last section of school, to say that I could collect a desk and two chairs from St Paul’s Middle School - this after I phoned last week to ask about the availability of furniture to borrow. I was so excited that I left as soon as we were finished. It’s a cute little desk, quite old-fashioned (no inkwell, not that old!), and two small chairs. The boys are completely delighted with it as I hoped they would be, and raring to go with school tomorrow. I’m extremely pleased and relieved to have a proper sized desk because it’s very important that children develop a good posture for writing. After lunch we went to the library, but first to Queen Mary’s to buy a chalk board. I have also borrowed a globe from the school, as the lady in charge said I could make use of any of their resources, because with all the downsizing and school closures, there is a lot of spare equipment. I had to laugh at the globe – I always look for St Helena on a map, but on this one it has only finger-worn spaces over St Helena and Ascension – you can just make out the writing, but obviously many little fingers have pointed to those two islands!

Fresh fish delivered to our door

We were glad to see that the tern survived another day. Always happy to see it still perched in its box when we go down for breakfast! One of the ladies who works for the agriculture/fisheries department came by this morning with a bird cage, as I had contacted them on Monday to ask for advice in helping the bird. It’s quite a big cage with three perches, but unfortunately our little fledgling is too small for it – it tries to get out between the bars, and managed to get one wing, one foot and its head through, but then had nowhere to go. So we’re back to the box for now.

During the afternoon, Nick went out to do a guitar lesson, during which time I had a visitor who was a stranger to me, but he had a delivery of two fresh mackerel and a chunk of frozen wahoo, for the bird. You have to love the way things happen here – you just mention something to someone, and next thing you know, you’ve been organized. I was extremely pleased to get the mackerel, and have cut them up (using industrial gloves) into bite-sized pieces. This bird can sluk quite a big chunk of fish, so we’ve moved right away from mashing it up with milk! I’ve put most of the fish into the freezer, frozen flat for easy access. Honestly, the things you do for animals…I took longer cutting up the mackerel than I did making our own supper!

More bird news and school

The fairy tern survived the night, no thanks to my sleepless night of worry. At nine o’clock this morning I dashed out to the shops to look for mackerel. No fresh ones, but Thorpes had three varieties of canned mack. It’s incredibly fishy-smelling fish, and the smell lingers! We managed to get a few small chunks of it into the bird, as well as some milk and water during the course of the day. So far it’s doing very well – it was very active and energetic today. It’s just too cute. We gave it the run of Nick’s office and my room for some time, and it’s getting quite sturdy on its legs. It tries to run, head down, wings out, full tilt, then bumps into something. It has stopped trembling when we hold it, and quickly settles down to sleep when it’s in a hand. This baby is more spoiled than mine ever were!

School today was very good, despite the bird. It just took longer because I stopped after every subject to feed. We started with the language section today, and I was extremely pleased with the boys’ work, both of them. We’re doing Bb this week, although focusing on the capital letters. Caleb is starting to write neatly between the lines I draw for him, so this handwriting method seems to be working well. Aaron is also learning to write the letters independently, not only tracing. I feel confident knowing that I’m teaching a proper method, not muddling along! Also for language I had them retell yesterday’s short story, which they did pretty well. After tea we carried on with the read-aloud and history, and then another break, and then science. After lunch Caleb read to me, and I couldn’t believe how much he had retained from last year. He only stumbled over a few words, but most of them he read fluently, just slowly. So it was a very encouraging school day.

We had lunch out today, to try out Sally’s new delicatessen. It’s so nicely done, looks like any modern SA deli/take-away. The boys each had a cheese sandwich, and Nick and I had baguettes (foot-long rolls). Nick had bacon, and I had chicken, mayo and salad filling – tomato, cucumber and lettuce. It was absolutely and perfectly wonderful! Sally makes her own mayonnaise, so doesn’t struggle with the shortages.

The pitter patter of little feet

This morning I was out for my walk, but didn’t get very far when I noticed a bird-shaped ball of fluff sitting on the road. It was a baby fairy-tern, which must have fallen out of its tree. The terns don’t build nests, they simply lay eggs on the branches, so fatality rate is quite high. I dashed home to get some gardening gloves, because the fluff-ball revealed a beak and an attitude when I tried to pick it up, so armed with industrial gloves I carried it home. Its first home was an ice-cream tub, but when the bird had stopped quivering and become accustomed to its surroundings, it was quite lively and tried to get out. We settled it into a much bigger box, with two soft toys for company. It likes to sit on the highest point of the soft toys it can find. It can’t fly yet but used its wings as arms for balance, while it shuffled around the box. We tried to feed it a mooshed up raw golden smackaroo inner, but were unsuccessful today. Apparently they eat mackerel, so tomorrow I’m going to have to try find some. It’s absolutely lovely, covered with downy fluff which is starting to fall out. It’s also completely tame now and loves sitting in or on our hands, or will sit on our shoulder while we walk around the house. It’s just too precious, and we are praying for its survival! Hopefully we will see it mature to adulthood - the beautiful white fairy tern.

New format for monthly combined services

Church was great today, really enjoyable. We still had a lot to do this morning before church started by way of preparation and setting up, but by 9.30 we were ready to go. We all started in the chapel with the lay preachers’ service, and then after the preliminaries of worship, notices, offering etc, the kids left for Sunday School. We came to the Manse. There were 7 children, with two of the moms present, and then Joyce, Maureen and me. I started off with prayer and then the story, relating to God’s love, and then Joyce did the craft. She had pre-made all the craft things at home, so all the kids had to do was write their names on it, which didn’t take up very much time. Then we sang a song, let them colour in for a while, and then served them juice and biscuits. Nick came at about 10.30 to say they had finished church, so we went back to the schoolroom for tea. Quite a bit of rushing around then although the ladies had gotten the tea served and organized. Before we knew it, it was 11 and time for the next service. Nick wanted to do something quite different with the worship, so we had the overhead projector with a big screen, and Nick played guitar, Steve the violin and I played the mandolin, like the Bible Study. It was really nice – Nick even got them clapping! I haven’t seen them so lively in church before. Then I shared my testimony, which Nick had asked me to do. I recounted two of the lessons I’ve learned – about honouring God, and about submission in all things - I told how I was always too scared to commit EVERYTHING to God, in case He did something horrible to me like sending me to a remote island to be a missionary!! Well, I think that went well because although they all looked blank while I was speaking, they applauded! Nick said it’s more than he gets J Then we sang another song, and then Nick and I did a duet – one of Nick’s original compositions, very good. Then another song, and finally into the message. Meanwhile the boys had just been sitting on their own in a pew, and were very good. Nick’s message was excellent, tying in with what he was trying to achieve with the two services and the lunch and tea – which is fellowship and love. He wants to foster a more loving spirit within the church. Although on the surface they are very loving and warm, that’s as far as it goes. People don’t get together for a meal, or socialize together. For most of them, the only time they mingle is at church!! It’s a very difficult mindset to change. The finger lunch was quite nice, I think, although people still didn’t get the right idea of sitting at the tables we had laid out yesterday and chatting to different people. But still, it was pleasant enough.

Yesterday was equally busy. While Nick was at prayer meeting, I took the boys to the docks to say good bye to our neighbours, who left on the ship yesterday. Embarkation was 8.30, but no one really seemed to be in a hurry to get on the ship. Well, we eventually saw them coming along, so bid them farewell. I really enjoyed the experience of having a neighbour who I could talk to! Then it was Good News Club, the first of the year. Straight after GNC, the girls came to our house because they wanted to see the necklaces I make, so they had all come prepared with money. I sold about £24 worth! Very pleased to have made some money, and perhaps word will spread. For a while the diningroom and lounge was swarming with little bodies, because they’re never really in a hurry to leave. We had arranged for Callum to stay after to play, and another little girl decided to play too, which we don’t mind. God has really provided many friends for the boys – it was a big concern a while back, that they wouldn’t have friends, being homeschooled. Now they are always seeing other kids! At about 12.30 we sent Riana home, as Callum had already left, and took a quick drive to the docks to see if perhaps Wilson had sent a box. We weren’t sure if he was sending one with this ship or the next one in February. That was closed though, so we are still none the wiser. During the afternoon we got the schoolroom ready, and Nick had sermon prep and I had Sunday School prep and testimony prep to finish. So really, this whole weekend has been in preparation for this morning! Last night we went to town again to see if we could find anything ready-made to eat, because the option for supper was scrambled eggs which we didn’t feel like. Spar didn’t have anything, so we went to Tinkers and bought frozen smackaroos, but then we saw that the burger stand was open, so supper was cheeseburgers, chips etc. Quite fun, just a bit ridiculous that it’s the only fast-food thing open on a Saturday night!

Little Firemen

After school this morning, we went on an impromptu field trip to St Helena Fire Services! Jane actually arranged the whole thing, because she works right next to them, so just asked if the kids (hers and mine) could come and look at the trucks. It was wonderful. The boys could actually get right into one of the trucks, unfortunately not the huge fire engine, but one of the other smaller ones. They were allowed to switch on the sirens and the hooter, and the floodlight in the front, and then they even had a go with the hosepipe, which looks like an enormous gun – what better toy can there be for a little boy!! The three boys each had a turn while Zara hid inside the building peering out from behind the glass. It was a really great experience for them. After that, Jane whisked all the kids off to her house so they could have an afternoon of playtime. I went straight home so that Nick could use the car to get to the radio station. While I had the house to myself, I did some homeschool reading, as I haven’t actually properly started the handwriting program because I didn’t know I should have been, so have been a bit confused about what I was supposed to be doing in that particular slot. It’s all clear as mud now and next week will be more organized. While reading, the idea popped into my head to phone the education department to see if I could arrange some smaller desks and chairs for the boys, because working at the diningroom table is not good for them. They should really have their feet on the floor and be able to comfortably lean their elbows on the desk. What we need are child-sized furniture items, and since some schools are closing, I feel sure that they would have something available. I spoke to a very nice lady, the Education Officer, who said she would find out what she could. I wait to hear from her.

Nick had his prison service this afternoon, so I went into town with him and wandered around the shops, actually looking for yeast. There is no yeast in any of the shops. So we have a yeast and mayonnaise shortage. We fetched the boys at about 3.30 and of course they had all had a lovely time. Jane’s mom is visiting at the moment from SA, a very pleasant and down-to-earth lady. Supper was yeast-less pizza, which wasn’t quite as good, but still tasty. After supper we dashed down to the docks, because it occurred to us that there might have been a box from Wilson today, but everything was already closed up. We stayed a while at the docks though, because it was a nice atmosphere and lots of other people about. A rare occurrence for St Helena today – three ships in James’ Bay. The RMS came in this morning, and then a tourist ship, the Saga Ruby, arrived at lunch time, and there is an LPG (gas) carrier anchored in Lemon Valley which you can see from the docks. I think a lot of people turned up just to see the unusual sight!

This and That

Let me start with yesterday’s happenings…school was fun, with a science experiment to do with expanding air. We made a coin jump on top of an empty long-necked bottle by heating the air inside the bottle. It worked very well. We have a DVD of every single experiment that we will do this year, fully demonstrated, so if ours doesn’t work, then we can at least watch it. It’s great to have such a good guide. Caleb still thinks school is boring though. After a quick lunch I went to Lorna, as I couldn’t make our regular Monday slot since we had that luncheon appointment. I had a great time with Lorna and Liz yesterday. For some reason I was in a silly mood and didn’t really feel inspired to make necklaces, so instead I helped Lorna with some of her fixy-projects, and then made a space-man dangle for a necklace she was trying…she had started off with a normal looking thing, but it looked like a little person with a head, neck and body, so I just added arms and legs. This with much laughter, but she thought it was adorable and will actually use it (definitely will be a talking point!) Home at 3, fed and watered the boys, and then popped off with them to Maureen, to drop off a birthday card I had made for her. Got home just in time to make supper of drumsticks and chips and beans, and then at 7 we had a short Sunday School meeting to discuss our first Sunday. This Sunday coming we will be having an experimental day of services. We will start at 9.30 with a Lay Preachers’ Service running concurrently with Sunday School, then have a tea break, and then have our regular, although combined, service at 11.00, followed by a finger-lunch in the schoolroom. It is experimental because we haven’t tried this full-morning sort of program before, with a Sunday School included. Should be interesting.

Today after school, and learning about William Tyndale and snowflakes, I tidied the house in preparation for an afternoon visit with Janet and the boys. Since our boys all had such a good time on Tuesday, they came to us today. Well, all four of them ran riot and got completely silly and out of hand, but they had good fun. Janet and I had a quiet chat in the lounge. She is very pleasant and easy to chat with, so we had a good time. They left at 4 to go have a swim. We might meet up tomorrow afternoon at the pool if the weather’s good, otherwise I’ll definitely make a plan to say goodbye before they leave on Saturday. I gave her a box of old clothes which she will be able to give away to poor people in Cape Town, since there are no poor people on the island that I can give clothes to. Supper was the second half of Tuesday’s macaroni, and then Nick left for Bible Study at 5. This is the first week of being back into regular routines, poor Nick wasn’t looking forward to all the driving around again.

Neighbours (everybody loves good ones)

School today was better – we started with the read-alouds and then had science (thunder and lightning today), then had tenzees, and then tackled the language, which is always the difficult part of the day. We finished at 11, and then were due at our temporary neighbour for tea. Her husband was out fishing, so she had a morning loose, and since she has two boys, we thought it would be fun. Indeed it was! We had a lot to chat about, and I shared the gospel with her. Her boys are 9 and 7 years old, but the 7 year old is Caleb’s height and the older boy is not much taller, so given those factors, they were more or less on a par. They had a great time playing all sorts of stuff – amazing how kids can make friends with strangers and get on with playing hard.

School Again

Well, first day of school today. It was fun, confusing and awful, all in one! The confusing part was trying to figure out which activity sheets to do when, and paging between two files to find what I needed. I’ve rearranged the material though so tomorrow will already be better. The fun part was the variety. Today we learned about Martin Luther, how rainbows are made and the water cycle, we read a chapter from the Boxcar Children, and did Aesop’s fable, the Crow and the Pitcher. Then we did the experiment of putting water in a bottle and filling it with pebbles to make the level rise, just like the crow. That was all fun. The horrible part was the language section, which is the literacy part – Caleb couldn’t hold his pencil nicely, or couldn’t write the letters, so he dissolved into tears, despite my reassurances that it was normal to have forgotten a lot of what he’d learned last year. I think we got it sorted out though, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. Every week we learn a new letter of the alphabet, and this week’s letters is Ff. All in all, I think it was a good morning. We spent about two hours, including a tea break where I hung up the washing, doing school. We haven’t yet started the maths program or the family fitness program, and I think they are easing us into the year with the read-alouds, so I imagine we will increase our time to about three hours per day.

We went out to lunch, to people in the church who live in Sandy Bay. It was a really, really nice visit – Mervyn surprised us by being quite chatty when you got him on the right topic, and very well spoken. We had always thought of him as one of the shy-stare-at-the-ground non-conversationalists, so although the conversation wasn’t sizzling, it wasn’t overly awkward! They are a super couple and we enjoyed the time with them. Daphne cooked up a storm – roast potatoes, delicious (the best to date) drumsticks, a stew (non-curried for my benefit), rice, cabbage, fishcakes, and a salad. She said she doesn’t cook very well and was very modest about the meal, but we were very complimentary. The boys also enjoyed it, and both had second helpings. Pudding was ice-cream, and Daphne couldn’t find a tin of peaches she was sure she had, but we didn’t mind at all.

Sunday Lunch

Some good news – Nick’s amp returned from getting the new component put in, and it’s working now. We are so relieved about it, because when it first blew, we thought that was the end of that and a big waste of money. But the only thing lost was time, so no problem. Nick is very happy with his whole guitar configuration now – he has an amp for each guitar, with the electric guitar amp having loads of effects, and then a separate pedal for the acoustic guitar/amp, which he can also use on the electric, so he will never be at a loss for different sounds.

Today has been a nice Sunday. Paul Stroud just missed Nick for a lift to church – he came by the house at 10.45, as he had been at the docks hoping for a position on one of the yachts. There was a fun race around the bay today, and anyone interested could participate or catch a ride. I contemplated taking the boys, but when I heard it would be a few hours, I thought we’d rather skip it! Anyway, Nick and I had decided to invite Paul to lunch, so when he came by I extended the invitation, and then he asked if he could just stay at our place until lunch, otherwise his friends would be bugging him to hang out, which he wants to avoid doing. I didn’t mind, so he came in and went out to the back, where he played ball with the boys and chatted to them. That was quite nice, otherwise the boys might have been a bit bored. Lunch was beef steaks (quite peppery, but nice), potato bake, beans and sweetcorn. I enjoyed the meal. After lunch Nick showed Paul the amp, as Paul also plays a bit of guitar, so that took some time and was quite loud, during which time I came upstairs to do…what else, scrapping. Then we watched Aladdin with the boys – Paul hadn’t seen it, so watched the whole thing too, and then left. After that we went to the pool, where Nick and I read books while the boys swam. Always plenty of kids for them to play with. Then it was supper of sandwiches, and church. The message was very good, about Jesus’ betrayal, and how you can look and act so much like a Christian without actually being one – the disciples had no idea that Judas was the betrayer. Nick also touched on forgiveness, as Jesus had loved Judas throughout his ministry.

More visits

I spent a large part of the day tidying and sorting, mostly in my craft room. Every time I have a box arriving for me on the ship, I have to tidy my room again and get it ready to put out the new stuff! I did all the ironing while listening to the radio, because there was a very nice morning slot hosted by Tammy Williams and her sister, both strong Christians in the SDA church. They have been doing a children’s show twice a week during the school holidays, so when the boys heard them playing nice music and talking to “the boys and girls”, they arranged themselves in a cramped little corner of my room next to the radio. When Colette said “don’t go away” and Caleb nearly got up, Aaron was very concerned because the lady had just said they mustn’t go away! They had a competition on the go for children to phone in their wise words, particularly as to how the people of the island can get along better with each other. I encouraged Caleb to think of something, so we phoned the station with “don’t do anything in anger”. When I had finished the ironing and it was time for tenzees (at about 10.30), we went downstairs and I was surprised to see someone sitting in the lounge with Nick. He’s a pastor at a church in Cape Town, not Baptist, sort of non-denominational, but evangelical. Lovely guy, very charismatic, who had actually come as part of the crew on one of the yachts. He didn’t stay too long, but will probably come to church on Sunday night.

I’ve been decorating the diningroom to look like a classroom, with the alphabet, numbers, maps etc stuck up on the walls. After tea I made some origami birds (after Nick showed me how to make it properly, because I couldn’t work it out from the book’s instructions), and then strung them up from the ceiling on fishing gut, while the boys watched a DVD. At 5 pm, Svetlana, Tsvetan and George came by, primarily so that Georgie could play with Caleb, but I had also invited them to dinner. The boys had a wild time playing, and Caleb has promoted George to ‘best friend’. Sorry Aaron. George turns 6 next month, so they are very close in age.

High Hill Hike

Busy day today - we had a morning visit with church people for tea in Bluehill. They have just returned from Cape Town where she had a back op, very successful. We left them at 12, and then drove around all over that part of the island looking for a picnic spot, as I had packed some rolls and chips and apples, in preparation for a whole day out. After much driving, we found ourselves at the foot of High Hill, where we ate and then played hide and seek for a while. That got boring, so Nick suggested that we climb High Hill. We were all wearing good shoes, just in case of something like this happening, so we tackled it. It’s quite an adventurous walk/climb, although only rated 2/10 for difficulty but there are many very steep bits, and the boys managed splendidly. Aaron held Nick’s hand almost all the way up and down but Caleb is like a little mountain goat. There were only a few places on the way down where Nick held his hand. I was quite scared in many parts, feeling like I couldn’t go any further, because I have no confidence when it comes to leaping about on sandy and pine-needly inclines, but Nick helped me in some places and the other bits I just took slowly. We got to the top eventually, and then came down again, with me shuffling down almost on my bottom. Thankfully the car was parked in the shade, so we sat in the car and recovered. It was hot and sweaty work! We were very glad of the weather though – sunny and warm, but with a nice breeze. We sat in the car for about half an hour, and then went to our second visit of the day. Their driveway was a surprise for us. Nick parked just outside the gate, and then we walked up. Had we known about her driveway, we might not have bothered getting the exercise from High Hill. It must have been easily 1 km long, and fairly steep! First there was a bit along the gravelly driveway, then we went through a barbed-wire gate through the cow field, then another gate led us into the actual house property, after which there was another very steep grassy bit. We couldn’t believe how long it took us to get there! They have to do that walk every time they go anywhere, because they park their van about half way up and walk the rest. Had quite a nice visit with them, despite the awkward silences. We left at about 4.30, but not before Harold warned us not to go near the cow, because she doesn’t like children. Unfortunately the cow happened to be standing right next to the path, so Harold accompanied us down half way, assuring the cow that we had no harmful intent. It was a little on the scary side, because this cow was huge and old with long sharp horns. We didn’t really want to be attacked. Thankfully got to the car without incident, and even more tired than before. Got home, then got busy cooking, as we had dinner guests. Very good evening with them. Nick is extremely satisfied to have accomplished three pastoral visits in one day!

Termaters

The good news of today is that I bought tomatoes. Yes, this is reason for celebration! I happened to be at Queen Mary’s and noticed all the people gathered around the just-unpacked fresh fruits, so I selected some apples, plums and apricots, and then waited a little while after confirming that they would be unpacking tomatoes. I was really excited to get my hands on about 6 firm tomatoes, one of which I ate single-handedly when I got home.

No more baaaad hair days

Yesterday Nick asked what I wanted to do today – I said there wasn’t much to choose from! So we were very happy to get a phone call from Daphne Peters who has a farm in Sandy Bay, to say that they would be shearing their sheep today. We got there at about 9.30, and they were waiting for us to arrive before they started. They only had four sheep to do today, I guess they will do the rest another time. Daphne’s son-in-law, David, was there to actually do the shearing. It was great to watch – they have to get a rope around the sheep’s neck and then lead it to the cement block where they do the deed. The sheep are very docile and obedient, bringing to mind the Scripture “as a sheep before its shearer is silent…”. They are arranged and positioned where the shearer needs them, sometimes sitting on their bums, sometimes lying on their backs, sometimes standing – but they pretty much did whatever they had to, every so often having a huge twitch and needing resettling. David did a good job with them and is obviously quite used to doing this. It’s all manual, simply with a pair of shears which could even double as garden shears in an emergency (you know, when your bougainvillea starts attacking you and you have to hack it down quickly, that type of emergency). At one point he accidentally cut the sheep, so when he was finished shearing it they sprayed on some purple stuff, which would help to keep the flies off the wound. The boys lost interest after the first five minutes, but at least they’ve experienced it. We had tea inside, and then while we were inside, William, Daphne’s husband, called for the boys to come outside. They had finally caught the big ram and wanted the boys to see it. The ram was jumping all over the place, but finally calmed down a bit and the boys could get close enough to pet it. Aaron was in his element when William picked him up and sat him on the ram!

Front garden (sort of a garden)

We took a drive out to Sandy Bay this morning for Nick to drop off the prayer meeting lists, and took the opportunity to go to the chapel and take some plants. Of course we’re allowed to take plants from the church property, so we uprooted a few small guava trees and small other hardy sorts of bushes, all very small. We figure that if plants can grow in Sandy Bay, in terrible soil, with full sun and with absolutely no water except the bit of rain they get, they can definitely grow in our garden! We’ve planted the things into pots so that they can grow a bit stronger before we put them in the front garden. The photo is of the front garden at present with just two small geranium plants - assuming there is any growth and change in the garden, I’ll post updates!

New Year's Day

After and quiet morning and lunch, we headed off to Francis Plain (i.e. Prince Andrews High School), where there was a big New Year’s Day bash happening from 12 noon, running through to midnight tonight. There were lots of food stalls about, and a few car boot type sales, where we picked up 4 hotwheel cars for the boys. Since we had just had lunch, we bought some juices and chips and sat down under cover (to get shade) to enjoy those. As always, you see lots of people you know, so there was a nice sort of atmosphere. Unfortunately the fair was completely rained out during the afternoon, by which time we were already home and watching a DVD.

Yesterday Nick got busy with the hammer and nails again, and made a flowerbox to go on the highest kitchen windowsill. This morning then, he and the boys painted it a lovely shade of red, sort of an oxblood colour, which Aaron managed to get on his legs so he looks like he’s been bleeding, but which I’m sure he had fun doing. This afternoon Nick planted out three geraniums into the now-dried pot, and put it in place. It looks pretty there. Sometime soon he will go up the mountain and get some more small geranium plants which we’ll look after and grow.

The Governor’s Cup Race is a yacht race from Cape Town to St Helena, which I think happens every second year. Once here, the yachts are hoisted aboard the RMS and shipped back to Cape Town, as it’s very difficult sailing a yacht against the trade winds (normally yachts go to Brazil from here, always west). The race started on the 28th of December, and they are expecting the winner to arrive on the 5th or 6th. Apparently “Our Dianne”, which is the island-manned yacht, is in the lead. I gather this is quite a big event around here.

And so the year ends...

Happy new year! Our last day of 2006 ended with a potluck dinner at the Manse, and a watchnight service. Fortunately we had some warning that not a lot of people would be coming to the potluck, so I could also prepare some food – I made mince, rice and green beans. We had Steve and Maureen, Dot and Nick W. It was a good evening though. As Dot put it, we had “quality not quantity”. She’s cheeky! We had dinner together, and then played a game of Balderdash, which Maureen won hands down. We all enjoyed it. Jean, Teddy and Brenda joined us at about 10.45, and then at 11.30 we had the service, which Vincent preached and led.