Unstitched!

This morning I was quite excited about getting the stitches out. We hurried through school, so were finished by about 11.40. I heeded Nick’s advice and went to town first, for a DVD for tonight and a few grocery items. He said I probably wouldn’t feel like going to town after the stitches were done. I was at the hospital at 12, then had a bit of a runaround trying to find someone to get the stitches out. I asked for Hazel, who was the attending nurse last week, and was sent over to the outpatients clinic, where they couldn’t find her at all. I headed back to the hospital, thinking that I could just find anyone capable of doing this, but then luckily found Dr Kruger AND Hazel, in the same place, and immediately available. The Dr attended to the removals, which I was happy about, as she could examine the wounds and declare them to be fine. However, the one on the neck is still stitched up with just two stitches, as it hasn’t closed up as much as it should have. I said yesterday that I would be taking painkillers in anticipation, but decided against it in the end – which was a bad idea. It was really sore, and I sweated a puddle onto the operating bed! I now have a steri-strip across the neck wound where the stitches have been taken out, just to keep it together (although I don’t think those things do anything), and a piece of gauze in my armpit to keep those ones dry. Unfortunately my skin seems to have reacted to the plasters, so is quite red, and the doctor couldn’t apply any more plasters to keep the gauze in place, so instead she wrapped a bandage around my arm and over the shoulder, sticking that in place instead! I now look officially wounded. I had thought to go to the dentist while I was up at the hospital, as my filling came out again this morning, but I was in too much pain and went straight home instead, changing gears with my right hand.

Shopping and more stones

After school today I tackled the grocery shopping. Last month’s experimental weekly shopping didn’t work for me, so I did a full proper shop today, although still couldn’t get much by way of meat for the month. I’ll have to buy that as I see things. It’s nice to have the cupboards well stocked again though! I was home by about 1.45, rushing a bit as Nick wanted to get to Head o’Wain again for more work on the path, but when I got home he was nowhere to be found. Eventually he arrived home, having been at the church next door doing a presentation of the Baptist Church to a group of school children. He went out shortly after that, taking both boys with him as he really only needed to go to Knollcombes to fetch stone and deliver it to Head o’Wain. The boys managed to take themselves off on a mini-hike up the mountain near the h.o.w chapel while Nick was busy, where they saw a dead rat for which Caleb apparently picked some flowers.

The Right Path

We had a slightly backwards school this morning…the boys wanted to celebrate finding a tiny sword they thought they had lost, so I suggested doing the read-alouds first, then I administered a Maths test, then we had tenzees, moving on to a Maths lesson after that (with lots of complaints from the boys and a subsequent talking-to from me), then they did their reading for me, followed by Science, and finally their writing. It was a bit peculiar and didn’t flow quite as smoothly as our days usually do! The afternoon was taken up with some scrapping, some housework, and the cooking of a stew. Nick went to Head o’Wain in the afternoon to start laying stones to make a path to the chapel, as it is presently quite boggy, and will be getting worse as the winter approaches. He transported some big stones from Knollcombes, and got quite a bit done, apparently. The boys played indoors mostly, although Caleb built some sort of machine outside with chairs and benches, but tripped over a chair and scraped his elbow hard enough to draw blood, resulting in the termination of that particular game and the commencement of a DVD, in honour of the blood.

Mondays - what a rush!

First thing this morning I went to the dentist. There were three people ahead of me, but he got to me shortly after nine and it was very quick for him to refill the hole. He said that there was no more damage to the tooth itself, and that it was simply the filling he did on Friday that had come away, so I was much relieved. He didn’t even numb the gum – just applied the filling material, and drilled it a bit to get it smooth. I had my last beading session with Lorna and the ladies today, as Lorna leaves on Friday for her four-month holiday overseas. I was home just after three, then had to quickly go to town to return DVDs and buy a few ingredients for supper. Also bought fresh apples and pears just off the ship. I see eggs are on the shelves again; I must get some tomorrow. Home again, with just enough time to throw supper together with instructions for Nick to put it in the oven at 4.15, then I got to my girls’ group. I had 8 girls today, although most of them only arrived halfway through the lesson. They loved the craft I had prepared, which was a bookmark bearing the message “I’m not everybody, and I’m not doing it”, with Proverbs 1:10 quoted. That was the heart of today’s lesson – to stand against sin, and not to do it because “everybody is doing it”. They were still busy making their bookmarks when Nick came in at 5.05, so I had to dash home to serve and eat supper, and then went back to the schoolroom to pack up the stuff and send the girls on their way. Nick took two of them home on his way to his deacon’s meeting. Then I had to wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, put the bird to bed, bring in the washing, sort the washing and put it away, bath the boys, read them a story and put them in bed. Phew! The boys are always ready for bed and don’t give me any grief about going down. We spoke about it tonight, actually, and I said that some children give their parents a hard time and refuse to go to bed, which was a surprise for Aaron who loves the “feel of the mattress and [my] warm duvet”.

The baby dove is still with us, and eating very well. We’re feeding it both baby cereal mixed with water and tiny muesli bits. I sifted the muesli and got out all the little bits that are normally left in the bottom of the packet, which the bird seems to be really enjoying. It polishes off about three or four teaspoons of this combination a day – and I do mean ‘polishes’ – it practically licks the spoon clean!

Tripe and onions, anyone?

Nick was hanging out in my craft room while I was preparing a craft for Monday’s girl’s group, and he happened to ask what we were having for supper. I relayed my frustration over cooking on the island to him, where I can’t simply plan a month’s meals and go buy the ingredients – you have to take what you can get, and substitute this for that, or have chicken for days on end until you can find any mince again or decent beef cuts – you’re really at the mercy of the shops and local providers (unless you have any recipes for pickled pork cuts or tongue or pig’s kidneys). It’s jolly annoying trying to cook under these circumstances. Plus there is my frustration at being somewhat slowed down by the mole removals – I can’t chop up loads of stuff, because there is too much tensing of armpit muscles for those sorts of activities which causes pulling on the stitches and things (who would have thought you need those odd body parts for so many things!) It was a good discussion though, because it ended in Nick and me going to Thorpes and Tinkers together, leaving the boys at home busy with their playdough, to see what sort of things were available for an instant meal. I had already taken chicken out the freezer, so we bought a packet of ‘spice up your rice’ stuff which was on the reduction shelf, a tin of mixed veggies and some onions. Supper was grilled chicken kebabs and savoury rice, both of which were quite nice, and both of which Nick essentially cooked. I wouldn’t even have minded MacDonalds at this point.

This morning we were all sitting around having muesli for breakfast, when I felt a really hard bit which I didn’t want to crunch too hard on in case I broke another tooth. Too late – the hard bit was a tooth. Seems to be the same tooth which was just so wonderfully patched up yesterday. I am so upset with these teeth of mine, and almost embarrassed to go back to the dentist on Monday morning! Quite a big portion of the tooth simply came away, so there’s a hole right against my gum which doesn’t feel too great.

I bought new toothbrushes for the boys yesterday at the dentist, and the boys love them – they’re bright orange, but differently shaped and sized for their different stages of teeth. Aaron brushed his teeth at about 3 pm today, just for the fun of it. I guess it’s a legitimate way of getting toothpaste into his mouth, as we’ve banned him from actually eating it, as he did on Thursday or Wednesday morning halfway through school – it’s easy to catch toothpaste-eating when the offender suddenly smells minty-fresh after having gone for a wee!

More dental work

I had a dentist appointment this morning to do a permanent filling in the tooth I cracked, where he had just put in a temporary. Fortunately most of the horrible work had already been done, so he just needed to numb the gum (ie half my face), drill out the temporary, and then put in a nice smooth permanent. I was a bit concerned that lying in the chair might cause discomfort to the hole in my neck, but it was absolutely fine. Nick had had to drop me off at the dentist because I’m not going to try driving yet, so he fetched me again after about 40 minutes. He had been to town in the meantime for bread and cereal and tonight’s DVD. I couldn’t make pizza for supper, so instead I assisted Nick in the making of an English breakfast – we were given eggs last night, so we had four of those scrambled, with cheese grillers, bacon, beans, tomato and toast. Yummy!

Holey moley

Despite feeling quite ‘out of it’ on the painkillers I’m taking, I am still feeling quite uncomfortable after today’s ordeal with the removal of three moles. My appointment was for 11, but she could only get to me at about 11.45 as she was the only doctor on duty at the hospital and had a few delays and problems. I had been reading a book in the meantime so I didn’t mind at all, although it gave me more time to be nervous! Finally she was ready, and I had to lie on my stomach on the operating bed with my head to the side, and she could begin with the first mole on my neck. It was really awful – not painful, apart from the anaesthetic injection, but just thoroughly gross with the tugging I could feel. I think that the thought of what was going on made it much worse, but it’s difficult to think happy thoughts when you have this procedure going on so close to your face. I felt somewhat inclined to cry at the horror of it all, but rebuked myself for being a wimp and prayed hard! When she finished and instructed me to roll over onto my back, I saw the pool of blood that had collected on the bed which was pretty shocking considering that she had been swabbing the hole continuously during the cutting out. The armpit ones weren’t quite as bad, although I could feel a sting and must have winced, so she gave me another injection and it was better after that. We got into a gospel discussion during the cutting of those two moles which really helped to take my mind off it. After the second and third offenders were eradicated, I was cleaned up and the wounds dressed, and then I went up to the dispensary for my painkillers. By then they were really stinging and I just wanted to get home. I had to phone Nick first to fetch me, which he did quite promptly with both the boys. They had all been to the corner shop while I was out (Nick had to borrow money from the boys), where Caleb bought me a ‘sweetie pie’ chocolate which he wrapped for me.

The baby dove is still doing well, and ate quite satisfactorily today, pooing enough too. I bought some baby cereal stuff which I think it is enjoying. The sun shone most of the day today.

Time for a new bird, what a Fun Day

Being St Helena Day, there was a Fun Day organized at Francis Plain. Directly after school we all headed off there, primarily to get lunch, but also to see if there was anything interesting going on. There was quite a vibe going on with a lot of people milling around and socializing, despite the swampiness of the muddy field. The rain held off while we were there and there was quite a bit of sun out, but some dark clouds loomed. We found Harry Cutting cooking up some burgers in one tent, so bought those for lunch, and then patronized Jennifer’s table to buy candy apples for the boys. She threw in two truffles for us too. Maureen was there with the League of Friends group, manning a table, and Steve was wandering around. The boys did a disappearing trick on us after lunch, finding some of their friends and having a good time playing. Aaron was appropriately dressed in his wellies – definitely wellie weather! We looked around, but apart from the food there really wasn’t much else happening at that time, so unless you’re there simply for the social event of the year, it’s a bit on the dull side. We didn’t stay long. On getting home and out the car, Caleb spotted a baby dove sitting on the steps that lead to our front garden (technically, garden isn’t the right word – but what do you call it then – front dirt patch?). We were a bit perplexed as to how it ended up there – it can’t fly, and there is no place for doves to nest directly above there. It must have blown in. We quickly picked it up before it could hurt itself, and settled it in a candle holder in the diningroom, after feeding it with milk mixed with bread flour (I didn’t happen to have any suitable baby-bird-food lying about in the cupboard, but it appeared to enjoy what I gave it).

Yesterday in school I was at my wits end with the boys in the Maths section, as every day I am reteaching them the same concepts of time-telling. I’m coming at it from different angles, but they’re just not getting it. I went up to Nick’s office during school for a short respite and I’m sure that my drooping shoulders and hands hanging limply at my side were an indication that I was thoroughly disheartened! It was his great idea to buy analogue watches for them, to help them figure it all out. So, straight after lunch yesterday I took both boys to town, and after a few grocery items at some other shops, we went to Queen Mary’s which I felt confident was the best place to buy watches. We found the most perfect watches – kiddies’ ones, so the straps are the right length, with various designs of Scooby-Do, Batman, Spiderman, and even Meet the Robinsons. Caleb picked a Scooby-Do watch and Aaron took Batman. They were only ₤2.77, quite a steal. They might not keep accurate time down to the millisecond, but even if they lose or gain a minute or two every day that would be fine!

More rocks?

Today has been sunny and hot again. Yesterday the sun was out too, which makes perfect rock-fall weather – the rain makes things muddy and the rocks come loose, and then the sun dries it all and the rocks expand, and dislodge. There actually was a rockfall again yesterday, and parts of Jamestown were evacuated and roads closed off. When Nick got home from church he was surprised to see us at home! Possibly we were supposed to be evacuated, but since Nick was out with the car they may have assumed no one was home. Or perhaps we weren’t in the danger area. Either way, no rocks fell on our house! Yesterday afternoon, since the weather was so perfect, we took a walk down through the Run to town, and then all the way to the docks, where we fed the fish. They’re already pretty well fed with the sewerage, but it’s always nice to give them some unprocessed food. A couple was fishing on the rocks, and had already caught a huge eel – looked like a big snake with long fins and a toothed snout. They had smacked it on the head a few times with a plank to stun it, but when it revived it started writhing on the rocks, moving inefficiently on the land. The chap caught another fish while we watched, but after bashing that one a few times to quieten it enough to remove the hook, he decided he didn’t want it so threw it back. I wonder if the salt water heals its wounds or if it simply becomes easy food?

The nose knows

I had a doctor’s appointment today, to try sort out three issues – I have been saving them until I thought it was time to go and get them all fixed up at once! I was sent for blood tests, an x-ray, and I have another appointment next Thursday. Before my 10.30 appointment, we had school, actually finishing our whole morning’s work as we started early – we were on the go by 8.15, and finished our language and Maths by 9! It was a bit strange listening to the morning news at 9, knowing that we already had a huge chunk of work behind us, when normally we are only getting ready to start. Aaron came downstairs after a wee, saying in a very pleased way that he had a little perfume in his pocket. I was puzzled; he fished around for a while before producing a toilet duck refill! Ha ha ha. The boys noticed before I did that something was smelling bad in the kitchen, and Nick noticed it too when he was sitting down reading a magazine while I was making pizza. He discovered that the potato bag had gone soggy on one side and the smell was definitely coming from there – two or three of them had gone bad, so Nick took them all outside, washed off the good ones, and buried the rotten ones – they really stunk!

Nick got up on the roof today with some waterproofing tape which we found at the DIY – it is essentially cloth tape soaked in tar, with which he covered the worst holes in our roof. We’ll have to wait until the next spell of rain before we know if it’s worked to stop the leaks.

Surfing the airwaves

Saint FM, one of St Helena’s two radio stations, is now broadcasting to Tristan da Cunha, so at 2 pm they had a special program to officially launch this new broadcast. It was an historical occasion since Saint FM now broadcasts to all the Southern Atlantic Islands – Ascension and the Falklands have been receiving their signal for some time already. The program was pretty boring though – the officials and VIPs in the studio read their boring speeches and passed on greetings and blessings to the people on Tristan and all said how terribly wonderful Saint FM is to have accomplished this great thing.

Celebrating our car's birthday

School was quite fine today, despite the boys not getting the maths at all, or the language section in which they had to write ‘attributions’ – “do you even know what that is?”, she asked. We had to break for lunch before finishing, but we only had the history and read-aloud to do afterwards so it didn’t take long. Then I went to town, with both boys in tow. The reason Caleb though it would be fine to come along is that we are driving a different car today, following Brenda’s panic phonecall yesterday to say that our car is no longer insured (must be a year since we got it them – time flies!) and we mustn’t drive it – she had forgotten to attend to it earlier (she is the treasurer and doer of things while Vincent and Vilma are away). Nick took the car in early this morning for its first service and MOT, after which insurance will be bought. Fortunately Ian from the garage could lend us a car, and the boys think it’s quite fancy on the inside – it has a brown marble-finish dashboard, but it’s actually just a Ford something, Escort I think. Anyway, town was fairly quiet but the boys were not on their best behaviour, and kept running around the shops.

Early morning sightseeing

We’ve long been wanting to watch the sun rise over the ocean, but getting up early enough to drive to the eastern side of the island has never been very appealing. This morning was different though. At 5.15 I heard a knock on the front door. I ignored it, wondering if I had imagined it, but it came again a minute later. I got up and peeped out of the window, and saw through the darkness a police van across the road, and then I heard a woman’s voice. It’s not usually a good sign when the police come knocking on your door at that time. I woke Nick up, whose first thought was that someone had committed some or other crime and he was needed at the scene. The reality was a lot less sinister – there had been a rockfall somewhere up above us, and we needed to be evacuated (again). With Nick running downstairs and the sounds of voices, the boys had woken up, so it was quick work to get them dressed. We gobbled down some breakfast, not knowing when we’d be home again, then I made a flask of tea, and we jumped into the car and drove off towards the east. If you have to get out of your house so early, you may as well go somewhere to watch the sun rise. We drove as far as the entrance to Napoleon’s Tomb, which turned out to be the perfect viewing spot – we thought we might have to go as far as The Barn or somewhere. We drank our tea while we waited for about half an hour for the sun to rise – there was something quite incredible about sitting on a mass of rock in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, watching the sun crackle over the horizon! By the time the sun was visible, we were pretty tired of hanging around there, and felt sure that the rock guards, who needed to assess the mountain side for safety, had been and gone, their job complete. We were home by about 7.15, but since we didn’t see any other evacuees standing about on the road watching the mountain, we weren’t sure whether we should have been home or not, so phoned the police station, who said that social security would phone us right back. Huh? About five minutes later they phoned, to say that we still needed to be out our house, and the best they could offer us as alternative accommodation was the Jamestown Community Centre. We said we’d go elsewhere, so phoned Steve and Maureen, who were happy for us to have an early morning visit! I got all the school stuff together, as well as some snacks and lunch ingredients for a possibly long stay, and Nick got a few books together, and we headed off there. It was pretty cold in the country still and we were glad of jackets and things. The cows were in the field right close up to Steve and Maureen’s house, and the great bull bellowed at our arrival – interesting watch dog. We had a cup of coffee, then I got started with the boys’ school. Just after 9, Nick phoned the police station again, who said that we could return home, and that it had been announced on the radio (although we were listening in, we missed it).

The Weekend

Yesterday we had a good day, doing the usual Friday stuff. There’s much comfort in the familiar when the familiar is comfortable! We finished school at a decent time, then went to Sally’s for lunch, taking it to Castle Gardens as usual when the weather’s good, which it was. In the afternoon Nick collected his new glasses from the hospital, and he’s so pleased to finally have them – he can see! Then he went to prison, and I think I scrapped – seems mostly likely – then we had pizza for supper and Nick and I watched a DVD. Today was GNC, then we all went to town to choose the afternoon’s DVD and to buy a few goodies for a picnic lunch, which we took to the George Benjamin Arboretum. I took with me the prepared ingredients for ham, cheese and mayo sandwiches, which we assembled at the picnic spot. It was very cloudy in the country, with a few spots of rain, but mostly the weather was satisfactory. After lunch we walked through the arboretum, the regular circular route that we always do, which brings us out on the road some distance away from the car. It was really a very pleasant walk and the boys coped so well with it – not one complaint, just enjoyment. We were home by about 2 pm, and then watched a DVD together, which was really a bit young for the boys but they enjoyed it anyway. Nick and I tolerated it. During the late afternoon we just spent some time outside, enjoying the peace. Nick read a bit, Caleb constructed something or other, Aaron went about taking strange photos and I – well, the picture tells it all.

Wednesday waffle

I rather enjoy Wednesdays – the pressure of getting the house clean and an early supper for Tuesday is over, and I can relax in the afternoon. Today was no different. I had an appointment with Lucy at 2 pm, to go over the acknowledgements of photos etc for the scrapbook, and then had a quick browse in the shops before I had to get home so Nick could get to his guitar lesson. In the late afternoon I realized that I didn’t have anything planned for supper, so dragged Nick with me to the shops for company and bought frozen chips (no potatoes available in Thorpes, the only shop open) and chicken cordon blue thingies. Aaron hated the chicken things, although they were very nice, with ham and cheese sauce in the middle, so consequently he took forever to eat and didn’t get pudding, much to his dismay. They didn’t get a bed time story either because their room was such a mess.

Does the tooth fairy come for grown-ups?

I was at the dentist at 8.20 this morning, hoping to be the first emergency patient so as to get on with our school day without a late start, but another lady had beaten me to it. I had a bit of a wait, and when I went into the consulting room I could feel the dentist’s surprise at seeing me again so soon! He was relieved that there was nothing wrong with the tooth he’d worked on. I explained what had happened, and after a bit of prodding he found the cracked tooth, splitting it wide open with his probe. He administered an anaesthetic then sent me back to the waiting room for it to take effect while he saw the next patient. After a longish wait I was called back in, and he gave me another injection on the inside of the gum, then said he would just remove “the bit of broken tooth”. That turned out to be half the tooth – I was horrified when he showed me the big piece he’d removed! He looked at me askew when I asked for the piece to take home, which I wanted to show the boys (something interesting for ‘show and tell’). I was home by about 9.30, so we had a late start to our new term, but managed to get through the first part of the morning’s work quickly anyway, so by 11 am we were all caught up and finished by 12. School was fine, despite my numb face and not being able to read aloud very well. I had to sip my morning tea with a straw. The boys haven’t forgotten much over the holidays, and unfortunately they didn’t magically learn how to sit still during the holidays either.

The Braai

So apparently it’s not actually mother’s day today – I believe it is next Sunday in SA! We went ahead with ours anyway, as we only discovered the wrong date late in the afternoon. The boys were awake at 6 am, ready and waiting at the bedroom door to give me my cards and presents, making a lot of noise – not a very appropriate beginning to the day! At about 6.30 I couldn’t pretend they weren’t there any more, so we opened the curtains to let a bit of light in and they presented their cards – very sweet sentiments of never-ending love and lots of love and loveliness.

Nick arrived home from church at 12.30 and got the braai going, and then Harry and Jennifer arrived about ten minutes later, followed by Steve and Maureen ten minutes after that. It was really a super afternoon with excellent conversation. The men were happy to sit in the top bit while Nick cooked the meat, while us ladies sat around the table on the porch. The boys were between the two groups, not really fitting in with either parties! Shame, they really would have liked some friends of their own. The food was excellent and plentiful – considering that there were no Saints present, we really did very well. We had about ten varieties of meat and chicken, as well as potato salad, savoury rice, tomatoes, carrots, sweetcorn, baked beans, pineapple and garlic bread. Pudding was a cherry and strawberry crumble which I made with custard, and pineapple and yoghurt. It was 3 pm by the time we finished pudding, and then we had tea – we decided to let the food settle for a while before tucking into the cake which Jenny brought! By this time we had moved our chairs to the other side of the yard to follow the shade, and then it even started drizzling, but since the sun was still shining it was very pleasant.

I'm falling apart!

Yesterday, while the washing was busy, Nick and I did a clean-up of the back garden in preparation for a BBQ tomorrow. We’ve invited Harry and Jennifer for tomorrow’s braai – a good old South African “bring and braai” – bring jou eie dop en tjop, soos hulle sê!

This morning Nick did the lesson at GNC, which was about the life story of Jim Elliot. It wasn’t difficult to get the kids’ attention – he started off by saying that Jim was a very good wrestler! The kids were gripped during the story, the retelling of which was very well done by Nick. I played Uno with the girls during the play section. Lunch was ham and cheese sandwiches, and while I was eating mine there was a ‘crack’ in my mouth which Nick heard as well, and another of my teeth has broken. The break is not visible (yet), but I felt around and there is a crack right down the middle of a tooth, quite a prominent tooth unfortunately. It’s a bit sore, and I’m going to have to go for an emergency appointment on Monday morning to see what repairs can be made. All the pieces are still together in my mouth so hopefully it can be stuck back together or something! Nick has theorized that perhaps I’m not getting enough calcium – we only drink long-life milk, although I did say to him that vitamins and things are added back into the milk after they take all the goodness out by boiling it. I’ve started taking calcium tablets, but only quite recently. At the moment, Nick is out at Tammy doing a one-off recording for a song she needs for the “Miss St Helena” pageant coming up soon.

Album in the making

Nick has started recording his songs, using Tammy’s equipment which he still has here, with the goal of releasing an album on the island, and since he’s been laid low this week he’s had a bit of extra time to put into it. I’m his quality controller. He’s done four songs to completion already, and they are excellent. Any money he earns from the album will be donated to a charity of our choice (our church, of course), as Nick’s work permit only allows him to be a preacher – he’s not allowed to earn money from other means.

This is the house that mom built

I thought I’d better do some actual housework today, so while the washing was washing, I went outside to see what could be done about the untidy back yard. What got done involved throwing away rubbish and bamboo offcuts, a bit of weeding, and putting some things away in the workshop. It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement. There were about five or six long bamboo poles which Nick couldn’t use on his roof which were lying about, so I decided to make a little shelter for the boys in the corner where they like to play in the dirt. It’s in full sun for the morning and half the afternoon. I brought around all the rest of the bamboo poles which Nick hadn’t used, and got them into height order for my construction. It’s not fully sunproof but makes a big difference, and the boys love their new spot to play. Looking at it, I have to think of Eeyore, whose house usually consists of no more than a couple of sticks leaning together. We’ve therefore nicknamed the shelter “The House at Mom Corner”.