Some forest!

We had Scilla around to lunch today. I did a pot roast yesterday in preparation, but it almost turned into a disaster – I put it on at about 5 pm, so I could keep an eye on it while I was busy in the kitchen, and then completely forgot about it when I started watching “Meet the Robinsons” with Nick. At 9 pm I suddenly remembered, so with a jump I ran into the kitchen, expecting to see smoke. Fortunately there had been enough water in the pot, and I think it was just on the point of burning. Disaster averted, I cut up the meat and put it in the fridge for today. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really the ideal cut for a roast, so even after four hours of cooking it was still pretty tough, although tasty! Scilla brought a chocolate fudge cake and I had ice-cream in the freezer, so it was a good pudding too. It was very relaxed with Scilla – she gets on very well with the boys; I think they like her because she talks to them and takes an interest in what they say. She went outside to examine the centipede larvae they are observing, and to look at the mango tree, and then after lunch we took a drive out to the Millennium Forest. She doesn’t drive on the island, and although she gets pretty far on foot, she doesn’t normally get to the Longwood side. We took a bit of a picnic tea, and it was very relaxed and nice. The vegetation on that side of the island is so different to other parts, it’s like being in a different country. I found some goats on the way, so we stopped to take necessary photos of those for a scrapbook layout. We left the “forest” at about 4 pm, and then stopped by Steve and Maureen on the way home, as Scilla had not been to their new house. Steve hasn’t been very well of late, suffering with dizziness and nausea from his blood pressure tablets. He had just got off the bed when we arrived, but our visit seemed to cheer him up, as he regaled us with stories from their visit to Russia and laughed himself better.

Tammy phoned to cancel their band practice, so Nick was home all day yesterday. It rained a lot, off and on, but that didn’t stop him from working outside on the braai place he’s making, which is really progressing nicely (temperature still pretty high, but a bit better after yesterday’s rain). He’s finished building up the height with stones, and now will be working on the table top as such, adding extra length to make a counter top. I spent some time scrapping, and also watched the boys’ DVD with them (the same one Nick watched last night). It’s Mothering Sunday here today, so I had to wrap up a bunch of little Top Deck bite size chocolates with a note, to be handed out today. We don’t really celebrate this one in our family, rather using the traditional South African Mother’s Day as our day.

The pigeon has mysteriously disappeared. We can only surmise that the ginger cat got hold of it. The parents are still hovering around looking a bit bewildered. I feel a bit sad for them, and wish I knew what had happened! It would have been nice to see our little one learn how to fly and become self-sufficient.