Fishy tales

We decided to go out for a picnic tea this afternoon, as the weather was quite nice after a lot of wind and an overcast day yesterday, so we took ourselves to Rupert’s Beach for a change. A number of other people had had the same idea, and actually there were a couple of swimmers in the bay. We wandered over to the pier, where some kids from GNC and their parents were fishing a bit, and had our afternoon repast seated there. A couple of fish were caught – we got a good look at a rock fish which had just been pulled out of the water, which apparently is poisonous. It was really gross, with blood dripping from its mouth, and still alive, thrashing about. I was trying to get a good close-up photo, but the fish chose that particular moment to exert a particularly strong wriggle and nearly escaped the hand that was clutching it, so I screamed and jumped in the air, to everyone’s amusement. After enough of staring at the dying fish, we took a walk over the rocks to explore, and found a long-dead crab. All that was left was the exoskeleton, which we’ve brought home with us, beautifully preserved (although a leg fell off later in the kitchen).

Nick had an amazing revelation the other day, that you don’t ever find products that are egg-flavoured. Have you ever seen egg-flavoured chips or egg-flavoured latte, or egg essence for baking? The closest we could think of was mayonnaise, which has a strong egg taste but only because it’s made with egg. We’ve spent the last few days pondering this fact.

Radio Station

Yesterday I joined Maureen and Elza at the coffee shop for a milkshake, and the boys again shared a chocolate milkshake and then climbed trees and fences. It was a lovely morning. Before we went out though, I quickly finished off the page I was scrapping, and then sent it off with a letter to the “Scrapbook Inspirations” magazine I bought here last week. It’s wishful thinking, but maybe I can win another prize!

Today Nick had to do recordings for the prologue for the radio, and because Colin was due to be coming, Nick had advised me yesterday that he would like us to accompany him to the radio station so I wouldn’t be alone here with Colin. I was happy to do that, to let the boys see something new and exciting! (Colin didn’t come, incidentally – today’s reason was back pain). While Nick was busy recording, the chaps working there let us have a look at the other studio, where the DJ was actually live on air. When we went in she had a track playing, but then had to do the intro to the next song. We kept very quiet while she did that, and then Caleb donned headphones and looked at the sound desk, very interested. Aaron was too shy to go any closer than behind my legs, can you believe it! I don’t know where he gets his occasional shyness. It’s not like his mother used to hide behind rubber plants and strip the leaves off when cousins visited or anything like that. We didn’t stay in the studio long, but waited for Nick at the St Paul’s school just next door. It was so incredibly windy though that I took the boys back to the car, where we snacked on breadsticks and smarties (you have to always be prepared!). On the way home we went to town, ostensibly for bread, but then one of the Sandy Bay ladies was in town and gave the boys ₤2 each, so we went to Queen Mary’s to spend it on guns and knives. Bought some chips on special (old stock, of course), and finally went home after our shopping spree for lunch of snackwiches.

All painted out and lunch at Donny's

Yesterday I spent the whole day painting. It took a bit of time to get the room prepared, with moving furniture, masking taping the ceiling and skirtings and poly-filling, but I started painting eventually at about 10.30, this after two trips to town, once for a new roller, and once for another tin of paint, otherwise I would have run out. I got quite a lot done before lunch, then changed quickly and scrubbed my face and arms and went to Lorna. This was Liz’s last session, as she has left for holiday today. Back home before 3, and carried on with painting until about 5.15. In that time I finished all the painting work. Nick kindly agreed to wash the brushes so I could cook dinner, which was quick fried rice. The effect of the clouding with the blue and beige looks really good, and ties in nicely with the carpet and woodwork. I’m really pleased with the result, and the blue on the other walls looks clean and cool.

We heard on the radio yesterday that the water in Jamestown is now safe to drink without boiling or using any other chemical treatments. It’s nice to know that we can drink it again. It’s just a pity that we didn’t know we shouldn’t have been drinking it untreated – no wonder I had stomach ailments!

Nick finished his bible study prep yesterday, and this morning he completed his sermon prep, as he’s doing a sermon he’s preached before in SA. It’s a broadcast service on Sunday, so he’s not doing his John series. Since he had finished so quickly, we went out to Donny’s for lunch. This was well-timed, because it meant we could watch the RMS puff her way into James’ Bay at 12.30. Nick and I agreed that it was most excellent to be sitting right at the coast, watching our ship coming in, enjoying the weather from the shade of our table, and smelling the sea air. Right on time (actually about five seconds early on my watch), the RMS blew her horn to announce her arrival. It was awesome to hear the great and terrible clanking of metal as the anchor was let down, something we don’t often experience.

Party time!

We had Caleb’s birthday party today. Pretty exhausting, but fun. It was the first party we’ve hosted where the parents’ attendance was optional and unpreferable, so we only had two ladies who are the ‘nannies’ of two of the kids. For the rest, we only had to entertain and cater for 12 children. I made what is going to become the traditional birthday cake – a chocolate cake decorated with Smarties! It’s about the only baking thing I’m good at. The kids had a good time – there seemed to be two factions of kids, the running-around ones, and the other ones, who we kept busy with colouring in and drawing, and then a DVD. Pretty much a free-for-all afternoon, really, although Nick kept a lot of them occupied with ball games, both in the backyard and the schoolroom.

Restful day...needed

Today was hot again, although a bit of drizzle here and there. I joined Elza and Maureen for their regular Thursday coffee-morning, since we’re on holiday, and the boys came too. They climbed the trees and gates and fences while I chatted. It was fun. The rest of the day was pretty low-key. I received an e-mail last night to say that the letter I sent to the Woman’s Value Ideas magazine has been published – look out for it in the May issue. It’s a worthwhile magazine to buy and read cover-to-cover – lots of good stuff in there.

Birthday and Outing

Today, being Caleb’s 6th birthday, we had an early morning opening presents. As is customary, we hid the wrapped presents around the lounge. His favourite present was a little model aeroplane, ranking above remote controlled cars and Lego!

We had our Good News Club outing today, at the Sandy Bay Community Centre. A bus had been organized, and picked us up at Pilling’s School just after 10 am. We had a super day out, although it rained off and on all day and even got quite cold in the afternoon, what with us being in a cloud and all. But the kids didn’t mind their shoes, socks and pants being soaking wet, and carried on running in the puddles and long grass gleefully. We had a time of worship, some indoor games, a story, lunch, more games…it was a good day.

Crossed off the list

I spent the whole day today painting, and finished Nick’s office. That’s a day and a half from start to finish. This morning Nick put his office back to how it was, moving the furniture back, while I vacuumed and dusted. It’s looking very clean and fresh (and good) now, and is definitely light blue. The window frames are glaringly ugly now, more noticeable against the toothpasty blue. I might only get around to those after I’ve painted the boys’ room, but we’ll see how it goes. Meanwhile, Teddy and Nick finished constructing the carport in the schoolyard, so when the car comes it will have a nice place to spend its nights. They have been working very hard at it.

Walking the Run

This morning, being the first day of school holidays, I got around to something really fun and exciting – painting Nick’s office! It’s been pending for a year and a half, and now seemed like the right time to do it. Also the fact that we found paint on special at the hardware expedited the project. I only had about three hours to start this morning, so Nick and I got the furniture moved, charts off the walls, polyfiling done etc, and a very small section painted. After lunch I had my beading time, and on the way home from Lorna, I picked Elza up, and then came home to quickly change and collect the boys. Then we walked all the way up to New Bridge (behind the back of the hospital, where the road would take you up Constitution Hill) to get on to the start of The Run. I think that’s the start – at least that’s where the date stone is located. We walked along the Run as far as we could go, although it was a slightly dangerous walk, until the way was inaccessible with trees. Then we cut through the back of a house (with the owner’s permission – he had to hold the dog) back onto the road, and walk down the road a bit until we could get back to the Run at a safer spot. The next section was easy going, and we stopped for our threezies in the shade of a few banana trees. Elza had bought chips and juices, and I took a packet of biscuits. Sebastian came riding along on his bicycle, so the boys went off with him to see where he lives. The lower section of the Run was a bit dangerous again, but we went all the way down to where it meets the back of The Standard, a pub in town. From there I quickly went to hire a DVD, although had to take it on credit as I had taken no money, and then we all walked back up home again.

Baptismal Service

We had a combined service today, a baptismal service. There were four candidates to be baptized. Nick preached a very clear, simple message about obedience and baptism – about the whys and wherefores of not baptising babies, and that believer’s baptism is a command. I was glad to know that the boys were listening to some parts of the sermon. Aaron whispered to me that he couldn’t get baptized, because he’ll always be my baby. The four people shared their testimonies, and it was all very moving and wonderful. Look at the colour of the water – straight from the tap! Directly after the service, after about a 15-minute break, we had our AGM. The meeting didn’t last for more than 35 minutes, even though it’s the big annual meeting!

Minor improvement

This afternoon we finished the extensive work we started in the front on Monday. I was cutting the bougainvillea down on Monday, but had had enough of doing this loathsome task every month or two, so I asked Nick if I could take it out, as he had been wanting to chop it down for some time. He came and helped right away, sawing all the branches off, and then dragging it out the garden and up the road to the school yard, where Public Works collected it a few days later. Unfortunately the wall where the b/v had been wasn’t in great shape, so Nick did some pointing up on the wall, and then it needed painting. I tried to start painting on Tuesday or Wednesday with a very light (almost white) enamel, but it was pretty hopeless going on. The stones are still being held together with mud in some places, so the paint didn’t stick to it at all, and in other places the old paint came away with the paintbrush. Yesterday we got hold of some acrylic paint in a closer shade to the house colour, and it went on much better. Still, it was like trying to ice a 3-week old cake, which tends to crumble and flake as you apply the icing, so in places the paint had to be thrown into the holes, almost literally. I got most of the painting done yesterday afternoon while Nick was out at Tammy for a band practice, but when he got home he helped with the really big holes and patches, while I dabbed at it with a smaller brush.

Poor man's lunch

So, we’re on holiday again. School went fine this morning, but I think we were all happy when school ended with a final story. I suggested that we go out for a “poor man’s lunch”, being chip rolls at Castle Gardens, to kick off the holidays. Nick had finished his sermon prep early (despite his late start yesterday!) and was in the school yard helping Teddy with the carport construction for our new car, so I had to go and find him there. I had a hard time persuading Caleb that it really was a good idea to go out, as he had just started setting up a game of being a Roman in his home office (this from today’s history bit). I can never understand why more people don’t take advantage of the wonderful garden – it’s shady and breezy, with benches to sit on, and beautifully maintained. You find the occasional office workers luncheoning there, but it’s not really very common. We had our rolls and juices, and the boys finished off with a chocolate each. Thanks are to Caleb for the photo!

It's the new-look Barbie

Last night I thought it would be fun to highlight my hair again, but instead of just highlighting, rather to go blonde all over. It didn’t work as I had anticipated, and today my orange-white hair really didn’t look so good in the cold light of day, so I decided to take it closer to its natural colour, which I suspect is a dark mousy blonde. Unfortunately no shops sell “Dark Mousy Blonde” as a colour anyone would want to buy, so I settled for light brown instead.

Public Works and other Business

We had a disaster this morning after some rain in the night – the drains all blocked up again! At first it wasn’t too bad, but we noticed that the back yard was getting more and more flooded, despite the rain having stopped some time before. Then we saw that water was actually pumping out of the drain instead of running into it. We phoned the drainage section of Public Works and they were pretty quick in getting to us. By then the water had subsided, but another quick downpour filled us up again, this time with sewerage. Nick had the quick presence of mind to put something over the bigger drain, to disallow the really big pieces from getting out, but not before toilet paper bits and cigarette butts had distributed themselves across the cement and bricks. The drainage chaps took a long time to find the actual problem – they opened up our drain in the alley, where the cockroaches were delighting in the sudden influx of edibles, but the problem wasn’t there. Eventually they tracked it down to a blockage a bit further up the road, forcing everything to come into our drain. The sewerage lines in St Helena weren’t really designed with high usage in mind. The blockage was big blobs of congealed grease – people don’t realise that pouring fat and oil down the sink is not a good idea. Nick spent the entire morning sweeping water off the bricks, helping the drainage people, and cleaning up the mess. This didn’t help his sermon prep any!

George came for his German lesson as usual this afternoon, and I simply read from a book called “Max und Moritz”, about two very naughty boys and the pranks they pull. Caleb and Aaron sat on the couch and listened too. Then I let all the boys play, until Svetlana came for Georgie at 4.

Different venue for bible study

Bible Study was held at Steve and Maureen’s house tonight, both so that people could see their new house, and to simply have it at a different venue as we like to occasionally do. The study was good. Nick is continuing in 2 Samuel, and tonight’s chapter had a lot of forgiveness – David forgives many who have wronged him. Nick spoke about how he showed them grace, and how we should do likewise. There weren’t as many people there tonight as there usually would be, because I think some people couldn’t or didn’t organize lifts. But it was nice to be there, and meant that I didn’t have a frantic last-minute tidy-up!

We let Mr Twitchyfeather go today. We decided that he could fly well enough to get around, as he seemed to have improved while we had him, and we thought that he had a better chance of survival among his own kind than with us, as he wasn’t eating anything. Nick put him on the school wall across the road, and later he (the bird) flew into the big tree.

Another bird in the hand

Our day has been really good. It’s been an excellent stay-at-home-and-get-lots-done kind of public holiday. Nick and I made an early start with some extensive work in the front garden directly after breakfast, while it was still cool and shady. It was a good day to do front-work, because otherwise there is a procession of cars and pedestrians which need to be waved at or greeted. But today the street was pretty empty. While we were busy outside, Nick found a baby dove on the road, along with the mother, who was frantically trying to get the bird to fly back up to its perch from which it had fallen, or flown (I can only imagine it would have tried to fly away at that tender age if the conditions at home were unbearable, which I’m sure they weren’t – so let’s assume it fell). We didn’t think it would be able to fly back up, since it isn’t much of a flier, so Nick picked it up and handed it to me. I took it to the back and tried to get it into a big cardboard box, as we did with Reepicheep, but when I opened my hands it was happy to sit on my fingers, and I could walk around with it. It was probably quite scared, so rather than trying to get away, I suppose it was sitting still and hoping we wouldn’t notice it, but rather like a cancerous growth on one’s face, it was hard to miss. Nick later concocted a very cute nest/perch, made from an old church candle holder, strung up on a hook, so it’s away from any prying cats. We gave it a bit of mashed pear during the day, but other than that, it didn’t eat much. At least we don’t have to source mackerel and other disgusting stuff! We tried sesame seeds and bread crumbs too. Maybe tomorrow it will eat better. It’s a tiny little thing, much smaller than Reepi, with a head about half its size. It has all its adult feathers, but still some downy strands too, and has a compulsion to preen itself. Seems to have some serious dandruff issues. We’ve named it “Mr Twitchyfeather”. We had it out in the back most of the day, and it had a few practice flights. Nearly flew away at one point, but sat on the top of the wall for a long time, giving me chance to retrieve it. We just don’t think it can fly well enough yet to fend for itself. For the night, I’ve settled it on a potted plant in the diningroom. Incidentally, we recorded a temperature of 29.5 degrees Celcius, possibly the hottest that we’ve experienced since being here.

Millennium Forest

Christ is risen – hallelujah! Our Easter Sunday has been a pretty regular Sunday, with the exception that it started early, 6.30, to go downstairs for an Easter-egg hunt. We wrapped some little candy-covered chocolate eggs up in foil (I bought these at Thorpes yesterday, on ½ price sale because it was so close to Easter) last night and scattered them around the lounge. The boys didn’t take long to find them and were very excited to have them. Then it was breakfast, folding bulletins, typing out a song as Nick realized he didn’t really have any suitable resurrection songs for Sandy Bay, so I did “Christ the Lord is risen today”, etc, and time for Nick to leave. We had a relaxed morning – I did Sunday School with the boys, going over the resurrection story, and then they drew pictures of tombs and angels, and people running with their hair flying in the air to show how fast they were running (Caleb’s picture). This afternoon we went for a drive, all the way to Millennium Forest and Prosperous Bay Plain on the eastern side of the island. The great rocky feature pictured here is known as "The Barn". We drove about as far as we could, to the rubbish tip, and then back to the M/Forest, which is basically some barren ground with rows and rows of little trees, which is “a project aimed at rehabilitating the degraded wasteland through the re-establishment of the native woodland to be a recreational, educational and spiritual resource for all and a legacy of the island’s spirit of community and conservation in the new millennium”. Seems like a good idea. There is a little wooden construction there, a gatehouse, if you will, where we had our afternoon repast. There was a lot of space for the boys to run around and explore, which Caleb did with his usual enthusiasm. Aaron preferred to sit in the shelter with me and enjoy his juice and chips! We came home via Longwood, spending some time at the playground there.

Easter weekend

Thursday night’s Maundy service was excellent. Nick’s points were the three prayers of Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. He drew out the fact that Christ’s sorrow in the garden wasn’t simply because he was facing death – many martyrs have faced death joyfully – but that that he was facing the full wrath of the Father. Being God himself, he knew the horror and the anger he faced. Nick also noted that in the garden, Jesus opens his prayers with his customary “Abba, Father” – but on the cross, during the period of darkness, he prays “My God, my God”…the father-son relationship had been severed at that point as God the Father poured out His judgement. Yesterday, Good Friday, instead of focusing on the suffering, he looked at Jesus’ compassion on the cross, how he prayed for his persecutors. It was really another good service. We had it at Sandy Bay at 10 am, a combined service, and the little chapel was packed. It was a blessing to hear the congregation singing together so heartily in the little building. The Jamestown group sang an item, and the Sandy Bay group did one too. After the service, we joined Elza and Sarel, Dot and Iva at Steve and Maureen’s house for a cup of tea and jaffa cakes. It was so nice to be invited out for tea afterwards! We came home at about 12.30, and then had lunch of hamburgers at about 1.30 – quite a late lunch for us. It was such a hot day, even in the country, that we didn’t actually feel that we wanted to go anywhere, preferring the relative coolth of our own home. I sat outside crocheting while Nick played cricket with the boys, and then Nick did some more work on the wall while I rested and the boys played outside. Supper was pizza, which we took to the docks, and watched the sun set. It was a rare privilege to see it actually dip into the sea, because the sunsets are often obscured by a cloud bank. Sunset is now at 6.21 pm. We thought about the fact that on Good Friday, Jesus’ body would have been taken down from the cross before sunset, so for the disciples and followers all those years ago, it was all over (so they thought). It’s difficult to imagine their intense grief, as not only did they lose a beloved friend, but because they didn’t fully understand what Jesus had been prophesying about his death and resurrection, their hopes for a Messiah had died too.

RMS finally underway

Today was hot, for lack of a better description. Very, very hot. Clear skies all day – Nick said there was a haze over the valley it was so hot. Must have been at least 28! School was much better this morning than the past few days, I actually even enjoyed it again. We had a bit of extra work to cover, but even with that I was finished before 12. No horrible time-consuming worksheets to get through this time – I guess that must have been the time saver. After school I went to town for bread, which has to see us through until Tuesday, and also quickly went to Victoria’s for wool, to get started on a winter crocheted hat. It’s not exactly like we need hats and scarves – simply for fun!

The RMS has finally left the UK, yesterday at 5 pm. It is due to arrive here on 18th April, 11 days behind schedule. I didn’t catch the full news broadcast where they announced the new forward schedule for the next few weeks, so I’m not sure what exactly they’re doing yet, whether they’re cancelling a voyage, or trying to make up lost time (which I think is possible, but over a few months), or simply rearranging the whole schedule, which doesn’t seem very likely.

More DIY, assembly, beans and ship

I’m feeling quite proud of myself after fixing the doorbell this afternoon! I had a look at it on Saturday, and discovered that a fuse was blown, so tried to find the right fuse on Saturday, but without success. Bought a few more today at different shops. Tried an unmarked one first, and lo and behold, the doorbell made a ding noise, but no dong. After some thought, I realized that the current was too strong…it works on some kind of electromagnetism, pulling a dinger from one metal bar to another to produce the noise. Too much current was causing the dinger to get stuck on one side and not released. I tried a different fuse, and hey presto, it all worked. Also on Saturday, we changed the lock on the glass front door, because we’ve never had a key for it. Kind of annoying when you go out and shut that door, and can’t get back in, and have to ring the doorbell for someone to open up (or bang on the glass if the doorbell is broken!). So now we can both ring the doorbell and open the door ourselves.

This morning Nick had to take the assembly at Pillings Primary, across the road. He drafted me to help with some singing, so at 9 am we walked across to the school, with the boys, and joined the assembly. The kids all sit on the floor in a very colourful small hall, grouped in their classes, so Caleb and Aaron sat right in the front with the other kids, looking quite like part of them. I sat on a chair in front with the teachers, and Nick pretty much launched into his talk as soon as assembly began. He shared the gospel, although left out quite an important part of having to accept the gift of salvation! We knew a lot of the kids from GNC, and were pleased that a couple of our GNC kids knew the answers to questions about salvation and forgiveness. After Nick had finished his presentation, we sang two items, and then got them to sing a song, which was great. One of our songs was almost a disaster, because I didn’t quite get my note coming in, but I just asked Nick to start again, which we did. No problem. After assembly the kids all filed out, and Caleb and Aaron would have gone right to class with the kids their age if we hadn’t stopped them!! I must say that I did feel a little sad for them that all their friends were there, in school, and we came home to have school on our own. But they didn’t express any kind of longing to attend that school, being under the impression from the kids there that it’s a “stupid dumb” school.

We harvested beans this afternoon, picking enough for supper. I was hoping that the novelty of having home grown veggies might entice the boys to be more open-minded about them, but it was the same story at suppertime…the teeth were VERY long!

I didn’t catch the news today, but I understand that the RMS is still in Portland, waiting for a part. Still no one knows what’s happening with the schedule, but it’s been rumoured that a Cape Town voyage may be cancelled. You can imagine what kinds of problems this is creating with hotel bookings and airline bookings and so on for people booked on the ship in the near future. It should have been back here this coming Saturday, leaving for Ascension on Monday, so now people who were on that voyage with connecting flights are being put on a cruise ship which arrived today, leaving tomorrow, at Andrew Weir’s expense. Hotel bookings on Ascension are also at their expense. It’s a complete and utter gemors!!

Regte, egte braaivleis!

Today was a lay preacher’s Sunday again, which relieved Nick of his duties for the day. He left at the normal time to get to Sandy Bay, because Teddy was preaching there and needed a musician. He was home by 10.30 though, and then we launched into our plan for the day which was to have a braai. By 11 he had the fire going, and I sat outside crocheting while Nick did some chipping away at some plaster, to uncover the red stones underneath, by the kitchen window. I advised him that he should not really be undertaking such work on a Sunday, but he said he enjoys it so it’s not work – it was relaxing for him. We had our BBQ with potato salad, pineapple, tossed salad (with actual fresh tomato, lettuce and feta), t-bone steaks, and boerewors. It was such a great experience having a braai for a Sunday lunch! I don’t think we’ve had it that way since being here, where it used to be almost a weekly occurrence in SA, with friends or family. I have to share the potato salad story with you though. You see, the local potatoes tend to be wormy. When I’m peeling them raw, I have to bore in quite deep to get rid of the worms, but after boiling the potatoes in their jackets as one does for potato salad, the worms come out quite easily. You can actually pull them out in one piece, although of course they are cooked. One particular potato had a whole worm family, including grandparents and second cousins twice-removed. We only got about one or two usuable cubes from that one. I didn’t tell Nick until afterwards, so he and the boys didn’t think anything was unusual.

After the braai and cleaning up, we mucked about the house for a while until it was time to go to Jane’s house for Zara’s party. I could kick myself for not taking the camera! There were about 20 or more kids, and although Jane had hired a jumping castle, it was raining for a large part of the afternoon, so the kids were in and out the house, utter pandemonium and noise. A lot of the parents stayed, so there were those extra bodies milling about too. Fortunately Jane has a huge house, with two reception rooms downstairs, and a large covered veranda around the front and side. She had loads of food prepared, so it was actually very nice. The kids did eventually get a chance to jump on the castle during a break in the weather which was super fun for them.

The RMS is now about 9 days behind schedule, still in the UK, something to do with the turbo blowers giving out in the Bay of Biscay. It seems they might have to actually cancel one of the voyages, because it doesn’t seem possible that they will be able to make up the time. No one really knows at this point what’s going to happen. Apparently it was out of commission for three months once for repairs!! Let’s hope that this doesn’t repeat itself.

Caleb reaches new heights

Caleb went all the way up Jacob’s Ladder earlier this evening. We all went together after supper, and Aaron and I got to about a third of the way up, where the path meets the ladder. Caleb was really going for it though, and he and Nick went together all the way. Nick carried him down on his back some of the way though, but he did jolly well for a five-year-old. Nick said that because his little body is so light, he could go quite quickly, and although he took many breaks, Nick had to actually try to keep up with Caleb!