On air

I’ve been praying for opportunities to speak to people about Jesus, and the Lord answered my prayer today on quite a large scale – live, on the radio!! Tammy Williams hosts a weekly Christian show, and she phoned me on Tuesday to invite me to join her in the studio, as she was going to be discussing the topic of stress. I’m no expert on the matter, in fact I don’t really know much about it at all, but Tammy also managed to get my beading buddy Lorna on the show, as well as Lorna’s daughter who is here on holiday, and has just completed a masters’ in clinical psychology. We had a really great time in the studio, chatting and laughing between songs. The topic of stress turned into more of a discussion of depression, and I shared personal experiences of how I deal with it, obviously from a spiritual point of view. The Lord gave me the words to speak and boldness to speak them, and it was so exciting! Lorna and her daughter gave some excellent advice about how to handle depression, from a practical point of view. Tammy also asked me to bring some of my music in, so it was great to listen to the show afterwards (Nick taped it), to hear my favourite music playing!

We’ve had the most wonderful weather today – I almost wondered if we had finished with winter, skipped spring, and launched straight into summer! Plenty of sunshine and warm breezes. We were at the Coffee Shop in the morning for our Thursday appointment with Elza. Cindy and the girls joined us too. We finished off at 12ish, then I went to the museum to take some photos – permitted without the flash. Elza had her camera, so the two of us went around snapping away like Japanese tourists in Disneyland. The boys found the museum quite interesting this time around, and wandered around looking at all the displays, especially the swords.

Male bonding and kitchen bonding

Nick took the boys out to Francis Plain for a bit of kite-flying, which didn’t work out too well, but nice for them to be out together – I was informed that I could stay home, which suited me fine as I could scrap uninterrupted! During the afternoon I spent about four hours in the kitchen, making coconut fingers – an island specialty which are extremely yummy and easy to make, just fiddly.

Yeeha, got me some sliced bread!

Busy day today…after hanging up a load of washing, I took both boys with me to town to start my grocery shopping. I started at Spar, buying some frozen things and toilet paper, and a pocket of potatoes. The boys were extremely helpful, after they had finished being silly, and Caleb carried the 10kg bag of potatoes all the way to the car by himself, resting once. I was so proud of him, but I think he was even prouder of himself! Aaron also helped by carrying a bag. I sent the boys off to drop off DVDs too, and then after Tinkers they also carried my shopping bags. They were great. Stopped off at HTH Spar on the way home from delivering a meal to someone, where I bought two BIG loaves of bread and sliced them, as their bread slicer is still operational. You can imagine how pleased I was to have sliced bread! I really understand the saying, “the best thing since sliced bread…”. When you have to do it yourself, you realize what a tremendous help it is to be able to slice it with a machine. With Nick carrying the basket and feeling liberal, we put all sorts of things in the basket that I wouldn’t have bought on my own, like luxury biscuits with white chocolate chips, and reduction cherries, biscuits, chips…also proper things like apples! That done, we went home for lunch, which was fresh bread (the bread from the freezer never tastes as good as fresh bread), with some honey roasted gammon ham, cheese, tomato and mayonnaise.

Tragedy

Today has been a public holiday, following the UK’s holidays. The ship came in early from Ascension, bringing a box of scrapbooking supplies for me which I had ordered from the States. It’s always SOOO exciting to receive the things I’ve been waiting for! Took me most of the rest of the day to examine things carefully – felt like a kid at Christmas! The rest of the day has been quiet. Nick and I watched an excellent movie, “Faith Like Potatoes” – the life story of Angus Buchan. We were so inspired by the movie – we don’t often see or speak to people who are so completely unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I recommend this movie as a must-see!

Last Thursday, a young lady was booked in for a caeser to have her second child. There had been some complications during the pregnancy, with a placenta previa and the baby was breach, but no one was prepared for what followed the birth…she started haemorrhaging, and the lab couldn’t get the blood down to the ward fast enough, and she actually died. It’s such a tragedy, and the hospital staff are quite shaken up.

Not much of a fun day

There was a Scouts Fun Day happening at the Mule Yard today, so after watching a DVD together we went down to see what was happening. There was a jumping castle, so after paying our ₤1.40 admittance fee for the family, the boys could jump unrestricted. Not for long though, as Aaron was getting in the way of the older kids, so he swung instead, and then Caleb got off too. There wasn’t much else to do – mostly people were just sitting around drinking and smoking. Later there was to be a live band, but we certainly weren’t going to stick around for it!

Friday night club

Good News Club this morning was actually quite nice, with the kids, especially the boys, being very interactive and well-behaved during the singing. It’s working so well to threaten them with no cricket if they misbehave!

Yesterday, Elaine phoned during the afternoon to invite us to a burger evening. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned the Friday-night Club they have started up. The same kids who attend the GNC generally go. It’s only been running for about a month, by Anthony and Elaine, and at this point it’s just a games evening. I think the plan is to incorporate a spiritual message at some point. It’s a great initiative on their part though, and we’re very pleased that someone is doing something for the kids! Last night was fun. We let Caleb and Aaron join us for some of the time too, instead of sending them to bed at their usual 7 pm.

Coffee morning

This morning, after cutting Nick’s hair, the boys and I headed off to a coffee shop appointment with Elza, and Cindy and the girls. In answer to prayer, the weather was great in town this morning, although it did turn a little chilly, windy and slightly rainy while we were there, but not enough to be unpleasant. I arrived there first at 10.30, after stopping off at the bank to draw money. It was a great morning – the kids disappeared around the back of the coffee shop, where there is a big piece of grass, and played there, while Cindy, Elza and I had plenty of chatting to do.

Cheese and car trouble

Thorpes unpacked their cheese today, after a long cheese shortage. My mission for this morning was therefore to stock up on cheese (while I still can, before the cheese runs out again because everyone buys up products after a shortage, in case it runs out again, which of course causes it to do just that!), and buy brown rice, which I heard was available at Rose and Crown. I also popped in at Victoria’s for a fruit hunt, and was thrilled to buy about seven or eight small, red, firm tomatoes, two grapefruit, and three oranges, two of which Aaron ate today. He is very excited about having grapefruit at breakfast time, as am I! Elza came knocking on the door later in the morning, very frustrated at what the ship didn’t bring for her which it was supposed to bring. We had a good long chat about all sorts, and got on to the topic of witnessing, and being useful, as I am burdened by my lack of spiritual activity on the island. I don’t really see many people, and have little opportunity for ministry. I’m praying about what the Lord wants me to do! She encouraged me to renew my efforts at bringing God into any conversation, no matter how small the comment. After talking for some time, I had to get to town for bread, so urged her to come with me and buy cheese too. There are a few parking bays in a certain spot in town, mostly for taxis, but with a few public places. There was a spot there, but I told Elza that I always get parked in when I park there. Anyway, I parked there, and we went to Spar for bread (only about four loaves left, none of them sliced, as the bread slicer is now out of order), then to Thorpes for cheese. When we got back, true as bob, I had been parked in. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I might be able to just squeeze past the offending car, because it wasn’t directly in front of me, but after a few attempts I was just not going to brave it. We decided to rectify the situation ourselves though, instead of waiting around, so Elza opened the door, got in the driver’s seat, let off the handbrake, while I gently nudged the bumper with my knee to get it rolling back. This worked admirably, and soon enough we were on our way home. We laughed at the thought of this act appearing in the news – the Senior Medical Officer’s Wife and the Baptist Minister’s Wife doing this dastardly deed! Nick helped me get lunch together – he diligently sliced the loaf of bread, while I sliced cheese, tomato and onion for snackwiches. Nick had his under the grill, and the boys just had cheese snackwiches. Yummy!! Wonderful having cheese AND tomatoes again.

During the morning the rusks had been in the oven again, after having to change the empty gas bottle. I eventually switched the oven off at about 2 pm, I think…and have a successful batch of rusks!

Ma's rusks

After spending a large chunk of the afternoon doing jigsaw puzzles with the boys, we went to visit the old people. I was with Caroline for about 15 minutes, and took some rice for her doves, which Aaron sprinkled on the floor. Caroline thought he was just absolutely the loveliest boy, to bring rice for her doves. I made my very first batch of rusks later in the day, and although the recipe is easy, it was tricky mixing the large quantity of ingredients together in a bowl which only just housed them! The rusks are still a work in progress though, as after baking for an hour, the slab had to cool down before slicing, and now they are in the oven to dry overnight. Will see how they are in the morning.

School holidays start

First day of holidays…and it’s been one of the most boring and interminable days I’ve had!! Truly, I thought the day would never end. There was nothing to do, the weather was bad, so nowhere to go…and Lorna cancelled our beading for today due to unforeseen circumstances. Anyway, now it’s over, and I can go to bed soon, and tomorrow will be better. The boys had a good day though – they thought it was great that they could play all day. I made peanut butter pasta for supper, which the boys really enjoy. Caleb asked if he could help me with anything to prepare my delicious meal. I told him no thanks, but it was a very sweet offer! Aaron fell fast asleep, with his fingers firmly in his mouth (and one in his nose) while waiting for Caleb to get out of the bath. I thought he had already bathed and put himself to bed, but when I tried to dislodge his fingers, he woke up and said, “oh, I’d better get out of here”, and quickly went off for a bath. Shame!

Out for tea

We had a very good afternoon with Sarel and Elza…I phoned them at about 2.30 to ask if they would be home during the afternoon, and if we could come and visit with a chocolate cake which I baked during the morning, to which they were amenable. We arrived at 3 and left at 5.30 – a very good time with them! Nick and Sarel had some great ethics debates – right up Nick’s alley! On getting home, I made a quick supper of fishcakes and chicken nuggets, and the boys bathed, and we got ready for church. Nick is onto the text now of Jesus’ arrest, and he spoke of Jesus’ selflessness and submissiveness in the face of his suffering. It was excellent and very convicting.

Plans for schoolroom upgrade

Nick and I were in the schoolroom yesterday afternoon to discuss plans for a kitchenette in one corner. How exciting – we are going to install a sink, countertop and cupboards, and tile part of it! The government actually has some sort of fund, which we can draw on up to ₤1000, for improving facilities intended for use by children, or arts and culture. The schoolroom is used for both of these, so we actually have some funding for this building project!!! In order to use these funds though, a plan must be submitted, so yesterday was simply to make a start so Teddy’s friend can draw up a plan and do the costing. I don’t know when we will actually start with this, but it will be wonderful to have running water in the schoolroom – and a place to wash dishes!

Supper last night was our regular Friday-night-pizza. There is a cheese shortage though - I couldn’t get a block of cheese anywhere, but happily I found a reduced-price, outdated package of tussers processed pre-sliced cheese, which I half grated, half crumbled. It worked! Hopefully the shops will be better stocked for next week’s pizza after the ship has returned from the Cape on Monday. To make the evening a bit more fun, we turned out the lights, and lit a gas lamp and four candles, and the boys set the table with a tablecloth and serviettes. After the boys were in bed, Nick and I watched “Miss Potter” - the story of Beatrix Potter, the famous children’s author. We can definitely recommend this movie – good, “wholesome” viewing!

Good News Club this morning was pretty good – a good turnout. We are going to be awarding Bibles to some of the kids in a special service next month, so this morning we had to hand out letters to the appropriate kids to give to their parents, inviting them to the service. Almost all of the kids who will be getting Bibles were at GNC. Nick did his last talk in the “Our Father” series. As the sun had come out during the afternoon, and Nick didn’t have a band practice (he thought he did, but found out when he arrived at Tammy that he did not), we decided to feed the fish at the docks. We were very surprised to see two life-sized Elvis dummies outside Sally’s video shop, and have no idea why they are there. The fish were very grateful for their popcorn, and it was great to be outdoors together for a while, enjoying the sun, which didn’t last for long.

Fond memories!

Last night I looked at some old video clips on CD, and there were some really great ones of the boys, just doing every day things. We even have one of Aaron in a carwash, and I nearly cried when I saw how he was crying in the car, as he was terrified of the carwash – at the time it was quite funny, but now I think we were just really cruel to keep taking him through it when he was so scared! Shame man. It was funny to see though how the boys’ personalities haven’t really changed. Caleb was serious back then and is still serious, while Aaron was always after food, and laughed at himself very easily. Absolutely marvellous to hear the boys talking, and how they’ve improved! Caleb had quite a lisp which has now disappeared, and Aaron was basically just a jabberwocky, and I’m sure that only Nick and I could understand him. We showed the boys some of the clips during tenzees this morning, and they loved watching themselves.

I’m finding school quite interesting. We’ve been doing mountains, and today we looked at avalanches, and what causes them, and what can be done to prevent them. Did you know that soldiers actually fire shots into the snow (launch missiles) to set off a small avalanche, to prevent the snow from building up and causing damage? We’re also busy “finding out about every day things”, although I wouldn’t exactly call hydrofoils and space shuttles everyday things. Anyway, that’s what we’ve been learning about. One day left of school, and then we’re finally on holiday for two weeks!!

Maths and rain, ag shame

It’s been rainy today – rain, rain, rain. The only time I went outside was to hang up the washing. The boys got as far as looking outside. I let them watch a video in the afternoon, because it was so rainy. School was okay today, despite the boys reassuring me that they really do hate school, and can’t we just skip the maths, and why must we have school? Actually maths took quite a long time this morning because we’re started learning about halves, and “half past” in time telling. So I had to explain it. At the same time, we’ve also jumped into subtraction, so that also needed a bit of extra work.

Jumbo jets and cooking

Our Bible Study tonight ran quite late, because it was a good study on justification and sanctification, but there were some lengthy questions and comments afterwards. We were surprised, nay shocked, to realize that one of our members is a universalist in her ignorance – ie Christ died for all the people in the world – everyone will therefore go to heaven. The Bible teaches that only those who have put their trust in Christ, and His work on the cross, have a place in heaven. I hope she understood the difference after almost everyone had a go at explaining it!

Quite a cold day – some rain, off and on. After school this morning, during which time we spoke about jumbo jets and got ourselves all excited at the prospect of flying on one, we walked down to town, as Nick was out with the car, and I needed bread. It took some convincing to get Caleb to join us, but once he was on the road, he perked up and the boys ran most of the way to town. We first went to the library, chose some new books, then up the road to Spar for bread (already sliced), and I told the boys that I wanted to just quickly check for carrots at Thorpes (there weren’t any). The boys wanted to get a head start, so I allowed them to run along on their own. I couldn’t have been in Thorpes for more than three minutes, but they had gotten such a head start that I couldn’t catch up to them until I reached home, despite walking quickly! They said that they ran the first part. It was really quite a pleasant change from their usual plod up the hill any time we have to walk home. I got so cold during the afternoon, that I thought I had better do something active. The ‘something’ I found to do was making a batch of chocolate oat cookies, yummy. They don’t get baked, just mixed up and left set out as cookies on wax wrap, to set on their own. The boys couldn’t wait until the allotted hour was up for their setting time! Caleb must have been keeping his eye on the clock, because at exactly 4 pm he announced that they were ready. Supper was chicken pie, with all the goodness of tinned carrots.

Football fans fuming

After school I went to town, just quickly for vinegar, to return DVDs, and to take photos of some shop interiors for the scrapbook. I felt like an idiot taking photos, and asked permission in the smaller shops, so it was a bit embarrassing, but over quickly and with the desired results. Then it was lunch, and time for Lorna. Liz, our other beading companion and Lorna’s good friend, will be returning from her holiday on Monday. So things are slowly getting back to normal!

There is an outcry because some soccer (football?) game wasn’t aired on TV, due to some technical error or some non-agreement with Multichoice in SA. So the British football fans on the island are all very disgruntled. It was actually even on the news this morning.

Service

Combined service today…Nick had a Sankey’s service, with all four of the hymns from the Sankey’s hymnal. We came out for Sunday School after the prayer, before the sermon. I had 8 kids and just enough chairs around the table. I think the teaching went well – I asked the boys later in the day what they had learned, and they got the point, so I’m guessing the other kids did too. We made the apple and seed craft, which was quite nice. Either Nick preached for quite long, or my lesson was much shorter than I thought, but we had quite a lot of time afterwards, so I instructed the kids to colour in, giving them scrap paper and plenty of felt tip pens and that sort of thing, which I always have on hand in the diningroom. Finally at about 12.20 Nick came bounding through the kitchen to say they were finished. The kids scattered like clouds on a hot summer’s day, needing no further invitation to get their hands on the finger lunch! Nick had arranged the tables in a long line down the middle of the schoolroom, with chairs or benches on either side, forcing everyone to sit at the tables and face someone. We didn’t have an ice-breaker, but I think it was good not to – the format of the tables was a great idea. Plenty of food, as always. We had probably about 40 people stay to lunch. Unfortunately the newspaper was advertising the usual service times at the country chapels instead of the combined service, so a couple of people weren’t there who should have or would have been.

During the late afternoon we took the boys to Longwood to play for a while. Man, was it ever cold out there! I was wearing a jersey and jacket, with a beanie, and wasn’t quite warm enough. It wasn’t particularly windy, but actually just wintery cold, gloomy, and grey. After Longwood, we drove out towards Flagstaff as far as we could go, until the road became a dead end in a cul-de-sac. We were hoping to get closer to the windmills!

Wind, seeds and wall

I rushed through school this morning to get to a haircut appointment by 11.30, just saving the science experiments for after lunch. By the time I got home, Nick had finished his sermon prep, so we asked if I’d like to go out for lunch. I was hoping he’d suggest it! We went to Sally’s, and then ate at Castle Gardens. The weather looked promising, and it held while we were eating, but started getting cold and windy again while we were there. Home soon after, where we did our experiments. We’re doing experiments with air, so we made a rocket balloon, sailboat and wind winch. The wind winch was quite interesting, where you blow on the propeller and it winds up a thread with a paper clip attached to it, up a straw. I think you have to see it to understand! I’m doing the Sunday School lesson this Sunday, and the lesson is about Nicodemus, and new life, and seeds of life…so we will be pasting two apple shapes together with seeds inside. I collected acacia seeds later in the afternoon, after popping out for milk and rolls, from the house next door. Actually, this became a family mission, as Nick was outside too, so did the legwork of getting up on the wall and along the neighbour’s wall. The boys also climbed up on our boundary wall, and then Nick let them walk along the top of the wall as it’s quite broad, with supervision. After I had enough seeds and pods, I let the packet fall to the ground, where all the seeds fell out on to the ground. Doh! I had to pick them all up, to make sure that we don’t have any little acacia trees growing in our back yard!

Have money, will spend...but can't!

The boys were jittery in school today, silly with the excitement of going to the shops later to spend their ₤10. As soon as lunch was over, they were ready to go. We went first to Jack’s, then Queen Mary’s, then Warren’s and Y&T, not finding anything worth spending money on. It’s a real shame when you have money and can’t spend it! After Y&T there were no more shops to look in for toys, so we stood on the steps discussing our options, knowing that the boys wouldn’t be satisfied to save the money, and eventually we decided to look at the book shops in the market, for another Beano annual or something, which keeps them occupied for hours. We eventually found a very nice “Wallace & Grommit” book in a comic style – lots of pictures and not much text, which they love to peruse. Caleb also saw two small books which looked like super-hero books, which I thought he would be interested in, so we go those too, in hard cover. I was really pleased with our purchases – I hate throwing away money just for the sake of it, but the books we have bought will last them a long time and keep them busy (and quiet) for hours, and will not leave little bits of broken plastic scattered around the house, like debris after a tornado.

The afternoon turned out to be sunny and warm, so Nick and I wandered around the garden, pulling up a few weeds here and there. We found three more melons, but they have been infected by insects. One was almost ripe, so Nick cut it open, and it smelled pretty good, just mushy and rotten inside. Pity that they didn’t work out. I guess if you’re going to grow veggies and fruit you have to be quite diligent with spraying them. We’re still growing tomato plants though. I have about four outside, and three inside. The indoor plants, although healthy, are long and spindly, while the outside ones are short and stout and bushy. We see a lot of tiny white moths on the leaves of the outdoor plants, but the indoor ones are untouched.

Because the day was so lovely, we ate supper outside. We brought the boys’ school desk and chairs outside, while Nick and I just ate on our laps. After the sun went behind the mountain it started getting cold pretty quickly, so after Nick left at 5, we came inside for the devotion. We’ve just started the New Testament.

Saint lunch and fire training

Today, very unusually, we went out to Sandy Bay to have lunch with a church couple. I said to Nick on the way there that we would probably be served chicken legs, curry, rice, potatoes, fishcakes, and vegetables. I was right! Nothing more, nothing less. Our hostess cooks really well though, and definitely makes the best potatoes on the island – parboiled and then panfried, but ever so crispy, and soft on the inside. For pudding we had ice-cream and peaches. The boys ate well, and even Aaron didn’t lag too far behind on the eating part. We had a good time with them – they are lovely people, extremely simple and down to earth, and very generous too. In parting, they gave us a package of fishcakes, eggs, chips and chocolates for the boys, an entire chocolate cake (which I said to Nick was probably for afternoon tea, but we left too early), AND ₤10 for the boys to share. The weather, as we thought, was cool in the country and a little inclined to rain, like a child with a freshly scraped knee who will cry if someone just looks at them the wrong way. The boys had armed themselves for the visit with their bags, packed with toys, so they played nicely. Caleb apparently didn’t notice that it was drizzling, so he was wandering around in the garden, flying a transformer spaceship.

We took our supper of leftovers from last night’s social to the docks – one of our favourite things is to be there in the late afternoon, to catch the last bit of sun after it has already left the valley. After we got home from the docks, we noticed that there was a lot of noise coming from the schoolyard across the road, so we went upstairs to have a look from our bedroom windows, like nosy neighbours. The fire department was having a training session, where they were squirting a lot of water from their really big hose, which takes two strong men to control. Other chaps, dressed in red shirts with yellow braces which seemed more appropriate for a children’s video where the presenters jump around and do silly dances and sing silly songs, were engaged with unfurling hoses, connecting them, then disconnecting them and rolling them up again, carrying them to the other side of the playground, and repeating the exercise, presumably for speed and efficiency. It was interesting to watch. Nick took the boys across the road and they got a good close-up view of the action from the hole in the wall.

Poems for Kids (by kids)

For bible study, we didn’t have anything planned other than tea and eats, which leaves the evening wide open for disaster with the non-talkers. Anyway, it was quite fun, and a lot of conversation went on. As usual, everyone sat in their own chair and didn’t move, other than to get up and offer around a plate of eats, or when they left to go home. I wonder why they don’t move around? Strange culture thing, or tradition, or what they’ve become accustomed to. I theorised to Nick that perhaps the reason why people don’t really talk much is that they actually don’t have anything on which to report – in SA, we could get together with friends and tell about what we did in the day, or where we went, or who we saw, or get on to a deeper conversation about spiritual matters, but on the island, the first part would fall away because there isn’t anything to do, anywhere to go, or anyone new to see! So that cuts down on conversation topics quite drastically. But it was good and there was a lot of laughter.

For school, the boys are having to start writing poetry, and appreciating poetry. I thought this would be a nightmare, but they have actually taken to it really well, Caleb particularly. Caleb has dictated about six poems for me to transcribe now, and Aaron two. I think I will eventually have to make them up into some sort of mini scrapbook. An example of Caleb’s, if I can remember it, is something like:

A bird in its cage
Gets fed in its prison
And its beak isn’t strong enough to break it down.

Another one:

I wish I were a tree
Sweeping the sky high
Holding the clouds up in the air like a stilt house.

We are supposed to be writing one poem per week for the next four weeks, but Caleb has already more than filled his quota – yeeha! We’ll keep going and see what else comes out. We’ve started reading the Wizard of Oz, which the boys are loving. They really enjoy a chapter book, where they can get to know the characters and find out what happens next. There’s an interesting introduction to the book by Sonlight in their notes, about “how could Sonlight possibly use a book like this, filled with witches and wizards?” and their response to the question. So, in light of that, I explained to the boys the difference between the witches in the book (which are to be thought of as fairies – fictional), and real witches.

Little Drummer Boy

Nick went out during the morning to get a box we were anticipating from Ascension, but had gone too early, so went again just before lunch, and was successful. The box was a surprise for us – rather, the contents – Wilson blessed us with snacks again! Nick got his brand new toy, which he’s been looking forward to for months, which is a drum machine. It works fabulously well, and enables him to program any drum rhythm/pattern/solo, as well as a bass line. This means that he can do his own drumming and bass for his music. It sounds as good as the real thing. He spent the rest of the day playing with it, only emerging for lunch and supper. Even his guitar pupils, Andrew and Harry, were subjected to a rather long demo of it! As he doesn’t have to prepare bible studies this week, he has a bit of extra time on his day off to do this. The reason for no bible study prep is that because of last week’s cancellation of the Thursday studies, he’s cancelling this week’s Tuesday ones, so that they won’t be out of sync too far. Instead, tomorrow night, we are just having a fellowship evening, where people bring a plate of eats (as usual) and we’ll have tea and chat.

Painting windows?

It’s rained quite heavily this afternoon. We’ve had bursts of rain during the day, otherwise it’s been sunny and very pleasant. We spent the day at home – Nick didn’t have a band practice today, which he should have had, but Tammy had to cancel. I think he misses the practices, but is always pleased for the extra time at home on a Saturday. He started yesterday with the painting of window frames and lintels – the outer edge is a dark green, and the inner panes are white (not the glass). The lintels have been freshly varnished, and today Nick also varnished all the wooden beams supporting the roof over the back porch. The workshop door is also green now. It’s looking really great! Good News Club this morning was nice, with a good number of kids – 24, I think. They seem to be enjoying the games, as we give them such a variety to choose from. Table tennis and fingerboard are the favourites with the girls, while the boys will play cricket or football in the yard.

Yesterday morning the boys asked if we could do school backwards, so we started with the read-aloud and their reading, then the science experiment, then tenzees, followed by Maths, and finally, their writing. I didn’t mind doing it for a change, but I think it’s actually better to stick to the way we normally do it, as they are freshest for the horrible part (writing practice). The science experiment involved a range of kitchen supplies. It was all about making fizz – first we dropped raisins into 7-UP and watched as they rose and fell. Then we mixed bicarb and vinegar, to watch it froth over. To end, we made sherbet with bicarb, citric acid and icing sugar. That was fun!

New inspirations

I went to the dentist this afternoon, so she could see how the work she did last time on my broken tooth has fared. Happily that tooth is sorted out now, but still looks broken – but no more pain. She also checked all my teeth and notated each one. The x-ray showed that I have another wisdom tooth in the gums – actually not really a wisdom tooth, one that comes behind a wisdom tooth. It doesn’t even have a name. It’s a small tooth, and lying sideways, which would indicate that it has fallen over since the extraction of the wisdoms. The exciting news of the day, in my small world, is that Elza popped by with the latest (May) scrapbook magazine, which was finally on the shelf at Elaine’s Boutique in the Market. We’ve been waiting for about three months for the next magazine to appear, after they assured us that they had ordered more and would be getting them on the next ship…on the next ship…on the next ship…! It’s exciting news because they are so interesting and inspiring to look at, and the best part is that they always come with free gifts – this issue had a doodling stencil, a fantastic component to add to our goodies, and some papers.