Festival of Running

It’s now 20h23, and I’ve only just finished my day’s housework and chores! I’ve discovered that if one really applies oneself to housework, it can be a full-time job. School in the morning; lunch was the usual sandwiches, and then while Nick was busy outside painting, I made the dough for a batch of passion fruit cookies. The dough had to chill for half an hour, so while that was in the fridge I sorted out some money to go into the bank and my grocery list. Rolled out the cookie dough and shaped them as per the instructions, although they ended up all running into one another anyway. Pretty tasty though. As soon as those were out of the oven, I went to town to get some grocery shopping done. I can’t really do it all in one go and have given up trying, rather doing the most urgent things first and then getting more things as I go. I did the bulk of it today though, but could only find a parking right down outside Castle Gardens. There was no way I was carrying three heavy bags of groceries all the way there, so left the bags in Spar, walked up to Thorpes for a few more things, brought those packets down to Spar, went to Solomon’s for some paint and putty, left them in Solomon’s, then went to fetch the car, as by this time quite a few parking spots had opened up in the central parking, close to where I needed to be. Much better that way! Got home at about 3.15, then decided that the pantry should really be sorted out. Stopped to get supper in the oven, which was a chicken dish, and I put carrots and potatoes in the oven too, then carried on for another hour while that cooked. I threw away a lot of old stuff that was literally gathering dust, then vacuumed out the whole floor, right to the back where the stairs meet the floor. There was a lot of dirt! Then I moved the filing cabinet to the opposite wall, and have managed to put the urn and all the boxes of cups under the lowest shelf, so they are neatly tucked away and don’t have dirt constantly falling on them. There is a lot more floor space, which is really only advantageous for Aaron who likes to go in there with a torch and amuse himself. Lots more hiding spots for him now. Overall, it’s very much neater. Then finally I could unpack the groceries which I bought earlier, after cleaning all the shelves and rearranging.

The island is presently hosting a “Festival of Running”. Several athletes have just arrived on the ship who will be participating. The first event happened this morning, with a Jacob’s Ladder Challenge. It was very interesting, actually, as they had a live radio link-up to a person at the top and the bottom who were giving commentary on what was happening. So Nick and I sat on Aaron’s bed looking out the window where we could just make out the people on the ladder, and listened to what was happening. We only watched the first ten or so minutes, and the first contestant up did it in 5 minutes 17 seconds. That’s pretty darn fast!! There were about 20 participants in all, but I don’t know any of the other results. They sent them up the ladder one at a time with about a 1½ to 2 minute interval between each. I think the next event is a 10km run on Wednesday, starting at Francis Plain.

Of Mice and Melon

We finally killed our little pet mouse. It was a messy death although instantaneous – lots of blood on the trap. We’ve been growing melons in the back garden for a couple of months, and finally we saw a little one growing. The boys saw it too, and picked it to show me. Grr! We expressed our disappointment, but I guess they didn’t know it wasn’t ready and wouldn’t continue growing off the vine! It was perfect too – no goggos had infected it. We had an evening out with some South African friends, visiting at their place for supper. We hardly saw the kids, as they just got on with playing and games and fun. Our boys and their girls really get on well.

The ship came in at 8 am this morning, with some friends on board who were back from holidays. I wanted to see them all, so the boys and I walked down to the docks after breakfast, and waited and waited and waited. Saw them all briefly, just to welcome them back and say hello, and then we walked home again, stopping at Thorpes on the way up for fortifications – they are open one Sunday morning a month.

Old Mother Hubbard

We did a science experiment in school about the tongue and taste buds, which was quite fun. The boys had to put sugar on the back, sides and front of their tongue, and also black coffee. Caleb didn’t want to try the coffee, but Aaron did, and then they both had lemon juice too. It’s interesting to see where the taste buds for different tastes are located. Try this if you don’t believe me – put sugar on the back of your tongue, and then the front, and tell me where you taste it the most! We’ve had all weathers today and yesterday – half hour bursts of rain and wind, then clear and sunny. But mostly it’s been drizzly and windy. A bit miserable, but okay. I got myself busy in the kitchen, firstly with making a batch of date squares, and then a double batch of fishcakes. I had just finished those and washed up when it was time to start the regular Friday night pizza.

Being month-end, and Nick not yet having been paid, we’ve run out of things. This morning we had only enough cereal left for the boys, and no bread for toast. Nick and I subjected ourselves to tea and banana bread for breakfast!! Then for tenzees we had tea and banana bread. For threezees we had…you guessed – tea and the last of the banana bread! But don’t feel too sorry for us – we got paid later in the afternoon, and I have bought cereal now.

Old Mother Hubbard

We did a science experiment in school about the tongue and taste buds, which was quite fun. The boys had to put sugar on the back, sides and front of their tongue, and also black coffee. Caleb didn’t want to try the coffee, but Aaron did, and then they both had lemon juice too. It’s interesting to see where the taste buds for different tastes are located. Try this if you don’t believe me – put sugar on the back of your tongue, and then the front, and tell me where you taste it the most! We’ve had all weathers today and yesterday – half hour bursts of rain and wind, then clear and sunny. But mostly it’s been drizzly and windy. A bit miserable, but okay. I got myself busy in the kitchen, firstly with making a batch of date squares, and then a double batch of fishcakes. I had just finished those and washed up when it was time to start the regular Friday night pizza.

Being month-end, and Nick not yet having been paid, we’ve run out of things. This morning we had only enough cereal left for the boys, and no bread for toast. Nick and I subjected ourselves to tea and banana bread for breakfast!! Then for tenzees we had tea and banana bread. For threezees we had…you guessed – tea and the last of the banana bread! But don’t feel too sorry for us – we got paid later in the afternoon, and I have bought cereal now.

Windy windy day

It’s very windy here at present. Wind speeds have been measured at 25mph. Apparently something happened to the power supply for some part of the island, but it was too windy to fix the problem, so they couldn’t restore power for quite some time. Sorry, a bit vague on the details. We had a bit of rain today, and I would say it’s been really cold, but I checked the thermometer and it was 20. Felt cold though with the wind. Very difficult to hang up a load of washing where you have legs of jeans flapping back into your face, and long hair being blown over your eyes. But tally ho, this is the life of an islander.

Jesus' Disciples

We had an excellent church service last night. Nick preached such a challenging and convicting message from John 17:13-19, which is part of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples (and us). Essentially, that we will be hated by the world and must not try to conform, and that we have been sent into the world – what are we doing about it?

I'm a lumberjack...

Sunday afternoon, and I’m sitting in the car at Knollcombes, while Nick and the boys are chopping wood! The reason we’re here is a long story – an old couple in our church, a brother and sister, have been battling with the winter cold, as their stove broke down some time ago. They were using a wood burner to heat the house. Nick found out about this, and set the ball rolling, along with one of our church men who works for social services, to get a new stove with the government’s help. A sponsor came forward from our congregation who funded half the cost of the stove, with social services paying the remainder. The stove has now been bought and installed, and they have just a little bit of wood to keep them going. Nick is therefore trying to chop down dead trees here. The boys are trying to help, although it seems Caleb wasn’t watching what he was doing with the axe and took a blow to the leg – no blood, no crying, so I guess he’s okay. Aaron’s given up already, so must be wandering around over there. I can just see them.

Good News Club yesterday was okay, although the numbers are dwindling. Last week I got really upset with the way they are behaving during the singing, which should be a time of worship, so yesterday Nick told them that if they misbehaved during the singing, there would be no games afterwards. This helped some! Nick is still on the “Our Father” prayer, and it’s going well. After the teaching we have a bit more singing, and then offer the options to the kids of football, twister, foursquare and drawing. They can do whichever of those they want, and usually the same kids do the same activities each week. I played some twister with the girls, and because I’m taller than they are, I usually win – it’s tricky though, but loads of fun! After the club I ran Keisha home, just up to the top of Ladder Hill, then I went out for a spot of shopping, taking Aaron with me as he begged to come. Nick wanted to stay home to do some things on the computer, so we didn’t do our usual “let’s all go to town and choose a DVD” Saturday thing. I bought some baking goodies – a new baking tray, a loaf tin, cookie cutters, and then some ingredients too, as well as some kitchen towels. All part of the kitchen project. After lunch we watched my delightful choice of DVD with the boys, “Back to the Secret Garden”, which Nick rolled his eyes at but watched anyway. It was very slow and quite boring, but a sweet story nonetheless. When Nick left for Tammy, I baked…and I baked…I finally made a banana bread, which Nick keeps begging me to make, and then a batch of peanut butter and cherry cookies. It’s really satisfying to finally be baking again, and the efforts are very much appreciated, although Aaron doesn’t like the oaty biscuits so much. I finished off making paper poppies for the windowsill and those are all in their bottles, looking really colourful. I made a stunning effort with supper, producing slightly burned fish fingers and chips.
Today’s lunch was fish (grouper) with savoury rice. Aaron’s comment during lunch was “We’re actually eating flesh – eeeuurgh!! What’s flesh?”

Something to do

This morning Aaron asked me if there was going to be anything happening today – i.e. anything interesting or exciting to look forward to. I said no, but felt sorry for him because I know how he feels – there’s nothing to anticipate except for the holiday, which is too far away to be of any use to keep our spirits up!! I passed this observation on to Nick as well, and had in mind to take the boys somewhere or do something. So when Nick came wandering downstairs at 10 and told me he had finished his sermon prep, and suggested going out, I jumped at the chance. We put the rest of school on hold, had our tenzees at home and I hung up the washing, and then we headed off to Longwood. It was a pretty gloomy day in town, and Longwood was far worse – really, really cold, and windy. We took the kite and it practically flew itself, but didn’t get up high enough to stay up, so we gave up after a while. The boys played on the playground, although most of the equipment is now broken. A few of the swings are still operational, as well as the roundabout and slide. Nick and I browsed the shop while the boys were playing, and it’s interesting to see what they have on their shelves that we don’t have in town. We bought some old-stock Smarties on special.

House mouse

We have mice in the house again, and one in particular is quite friendly. It has the run of the whole house, and when Nick was in the bathroom yesterday the mouse joined him. He somehow managed to capture it in his hand, so put a t-shirt over it and brought it out to show us all, although couldn’t just reveal it otherwise it would have jumped off his hand and run away. Instead, we emptied the boys’ big toy box and put it in there. It was a cute little thing, quite small, although I think they all are. It was as long as Nick’s thumb, excluding the tail. It kept trying to jump out of the box and almost managed – we were surprised at how high it could jump. We quickly got some food from downstairs to feed it, just to see what would happen, and it soon became accustomed to Nick’s hand in the box, even climbing onto his fingers. The boys were thrilled of course, and loved the idea of having a pet mouse. The box wasn’t suitable though, so Caleb found an old dustbin in the workshop and we got it comfortable in there, still assuring the boys that we would have to kill it eventually. The episode was short-lived though, because Aaron wanted to get a better look and so lifted out the superwipe that it was nestled in, causing the mouse to run up the cloth and jump out the dustbin, to take cover somewhere in their room. And that was the end of their pet mouse story.
I had to go to town for bread, and to my amazement, the bread is now sold pre-sliced, and the bread slicing machine has been removed from public view. What can I say – it’s the best thing since sliced …! Caleb spent the afternoon playing a game of gypsy gypsy, but got himself highly frustrated and tearful at not being able to fold up the tent on his own, and not being able to do what he wanted to do. Shame. Aaron just wandered around, ate an apple, looked for the mouse, offered his mug-finding services to me while I was washing up, and shut himself in the pantry with a torch. The things you can amuse yourself with when you’re four are quite limitless.

On a mission

After giving the matter much though, I think that the reason why I don’t like cooking or baking is because I don’t like being in the kitchen, which is because it is so unattractive. It’s not a bad-looking kitchen to start with, but has very little “Lynniness” in it. So I am on a Lynnifying mission now. Surely making it a nice place will encourage me to spend more time in it!

Ah-ah-a-a-a-a-ah

Nick left at 7.30 this morning to be at Head o’Wain to start the painting of the chapel’s roof. It was a hive of activity to get him going, as I had to pack juice, coffee, sandwiches, snacks, apples etc for him, and he had to get the ladder and paintbrushes and all sorts of things into the car. He left on time though, and so the boys and I carried on with our morning as usual. It was strange not to have Nick around though and I missed him! I’m so used to him making me a cup of tea while I’m busy with the first session of school, and just generally being around. I couldn’t miss him for long though as he was home before 10 am. The paint they had was not right; they needed a primer or something, and it was raining out that way too, so in any case they couldn’t have gotten started. Shame, after all that preparation. Anyway, we shared his flasked coffee in the diningroom while Aaron did a worksheet and Caleb drew a picture, and then Nick went to get started on some reading and things. He also used his time today to paint a section of the house where he’s cemented, and it’s coming along well. He says the old paint work has deteriorated so much that it’s difficult to paint over, so took a long time. After tenzees and hanging up washing, we continued with school, and we’ve started a new book for Geography called “Wild Places”, with the section on Jungles. It’s a great book and the boys are going to enjoy it. Since we are now doing jungles, Caleb wanted to make a jungle, so after all the reading, we created a paper jungle, and Caleb even added string vines, which we learned are creepers which hang off trees and have thick rope-like roots, and are called lianas. Thus it was that there were lianas strung about the trees, such that Tarzan would have been right at home!

Island happenings

There are all kinds of shortages on the island – potatoes, cheese, 2% milk – I don’t even know what else. The ship has just come from the Cape, but didn’t bring many things it should have, and there was some mix-up with potatoes. I haven’t had good potatoes for such a long time that I was disappointed not to have any, so when one of our church ladies offered some to me, I accepted very happily!

There was a smash’n’grab in town recently, the first one we’ve heard of since being here. Someone broke two windows of a shop in town, and took out whatever merchandise they could reach. Although it’s a petty and non-violent crime, it’s still a huge news event, and almost makes one want to lock doors.

Goopy fun

School was fun today. One of the suggested activities for the language section was to write letters in cornflour mixed with water (ie goop), which we did. Caleb didn’t want to touch it, but Aaron couldn’t wait to get his hands into it. He and I both played with it for about 15 minutes as it was just so much fun and intriguing the way it solidifies and liquefies so instantly.

BIG news!!

We’ve booked a holiday! Yeah!!!! DV, we will arrive Cape Town on 25th November, and leave Cape Town on 3rd January. That is a six week holiday, and 8 weeks off the island for us. Our ship leaves here on the 18th of November.

Let's twist again!

Yesterday afternoon Nick had to attend a funeral where he was accompanying Tammy on one of their songs (this song will be going on to Tammy’s next album, which they are hard at work on with weekly practices). The Bishop led the service and apparently it was shockingly awful. He quoted from the Book of Wisdom, which is an apocryphal book (that means it didn’t get into the Bible), quoting it as the Word of God, and then he even misapplied the text, as well as stating that people become Christians when they are baptized (which is not what the Bible teaches).

Last night we had dinner at the house of two of our members. The hostess considers herself a poor cook, but we had a very good meal of cottage pie, peas, chicken wings, rice, and chow-chows, which we thought were glassy potatoes at first, but they had a pear-like texture and had a subtle pear flavour. Very good. After supper we pulled out the instruments, and I was given some pointers on the mandolin which will greatly improve my playing if I practice them. It was fun to jam all together – two guitars and two mandolins, then our host took up his banjo, and his wife switched to piano accordion, after which he changed to the fiddle.

At Good News Club this morning, there were about four kids at 10 am, but more came in just after 10. Not many kids have started coming after the Holiday Club, we still just have the regular core plus maybe two others. Nick did the lesson – he is doing a series on the Lord’s Prayer, so will be doing the talks for the next six weeks still. Yesterday was the first part, “Our Father in heaven”, and he pointed out that God isn’t everyone’s Father, and that if He’s not your Father, then your father is the devil! I think this was quite startling to the children. For the games, we had some twister going, soccer outside, and drawing for the less-energetic. The girls just love playing twister. We played it again later in the lounge, for the boys’ benefit. Nick wrote L and R on the their hands and feet!

History made real

We’ve nearly finished reading Doctor Dolittle which the boys have loved, but tomorrow is the last chapter. In History we’ve been reading about Adoniram and Ann Judson, the first American overseas missionaries. Ann died quite young, and Adoniram remarried, and was widowed again, and then married Sarah, who died at the St Helena port en route to the US in 1845 and was buried on the island. Her tombstone is in front of our Jamestown Baptist Chapel! The inscription was composed by Adoniram himself. Adoniram died five years later, at sea.

Frosty the Snowfridge

Today we accomplished a great and marvellous thing. We defrosted the fridge! I say we, although I should technically say ‘Nick’, because he actually did all the hard work of chipping ice away, bit by bit, grazing his knuckles in the process. He diligently sat in front of the open fridge most of the morning to do this. Our fridge has some serious frosting issues – we had glacial conditions going on as a mammoth ice-growth at the back was enveloping sauces and jams. Of course fridges aren’t supposed to get iced up at all, but ours is old.

Breaking the ice

We had a combined service today with fellowship lunch following. We did the lunch slightly differently today, by including an ice-breaker. We thought it was time to shake the people up a bit and train them in the art of conversation. For the ice-breaker, we had five tables set out with chairs and benches, and each table numbered. Everyone had to pick a number out of a bowl, and then sit at the corresponding table. That was step #1 to get them mixed up and separated. On each table, there was an envelope containing some questions, like “what is your favourite place in your house” and “what goal do you want to accomplish this year” and “who are your parents, who do they do, and what would you change about them” and so. We asked that people ask one another the questions, just to help get the conversation going. I think it worked fairly well. There was certainly more conversation than the usual downcast eyes and wall flowery stuff affords. We were disappointed at the poor turnout – only about 40 people turned up, and no new faces – none of the parents or kids from Holiday Club, which is what we were hoping for.

Winter's rain setting in

It’s been raining most of the day, although there have been a few patches of weak sun. We went to the docks with our chicken burgers for supper, as we deemed it to have cleared enough. On the way, we stopped off at Thorpes for some Liqui-Fruits, and when we came out, it was raining again! The boys had been instructed to wait in the car, but they decided to get out and stand in the rain instead. I don’t know why they did that, but there you go. Anyway, by the time we got to the docks proper, the rain had stopped. We sat on a bench under a very big tree, so were sheltered from the weather. After eating, we stood at the seaside rails to watch the waves, some of which were very big – Aaron got himself pretty wet when one biggie splashed over the edge. He couldn’t have been more pleased though!

I wrote an article about our holiday club for the St Helena Herald, which was published in yesterday’s edition (although on the 3rd page this year instead of front page like last year). The article was completely unedited, so all the good gospel bits are still there.

Radio Nick

Nick was invited to do a live radio interview with John Turner this afternoon, on John’s rock music show. He took a look at Nick’s music taste in the rock and heavy metal genre, and the journey he’s taken from there to now, after becoming a Christian. Was a very interesting show, which I listened to on my portable radio in the kitchen while I made supper for the boys and me. He included a lot of Christianity and the changes the Lord had made in his life, and played some good Christian music!

Nick's genius story of the day

I was looking for the small plastic measuring jug, and after questioning the boys, gave up the hunt. When Nick came into the kitchen I asked if he knew where it was, and he said no, but “check the dustbin”. I mentally dismissed the idea as ridiculous, but something prompted Nick to have a look, and sure as bob, he produced the missing, dirty, jug. Why was it there? Well, the milk in the jug was finished, so in his scatterbrainedness, Nick threw it away. (You do know about Albert Einstein, the genius, pulling up to someone else’s house, thinking it to be his own? Apparently genii are known for their utter inability to master the simple things in life – like painting windows and chewing dispirins).

Caleb no longer a teetotaller

I forgot to blog Caleb’s wine-tasting experience yesterday. After jumping on the jumping castle at Harry’s birthday party, he had worked up a thirst, so wandered over to the food table and found a plastic glass with what he supposed to be juice in it, but actually one of the parents had simply left their cup of wine unguarded. Not knowing whose it was, he took a sip anyway, and swallowed it before realizing that he didn’t like the taste. Nick and I saw him spitting as he walked away, so Nick questioned him and discovered what had happened. We could only laugh.

Concluding church service

We invited the Holiday Club children to participate in tonight’s service, and invite their parents to spectate, the same as we did to wrap up last year’s Club. We had a fantastic response! The church was fuller than it usually is for a combined service…only the front three rows or so were unoccupied, the rest of the church was packed. We had the kids up on stage to sing two songs, and at a guess there were about 20 kids there, which is definitely more than we were hoping for. For his sermon, Nick did a summary of what we had been doing in the week, which amounted to the gospel – creation, sin, judgment and salvation. It was very clear and compelling, and then he urged the parents to encourage their children to follow Jesus as their Saviour – to help them build a solid foundation in Him which would then help them avoid the many pitfalls in life. A couple of people spoke to Nick after the service, just to say that it was very good. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback generally about the week. Gary from Radio St Helena, the father of two of the girls who came for the week, was in church to record some bits – not the whole service, just the kids singing, and then after the service he tried to interview some of the older girls from my group, but they were all too shy to say much, and then he interviewed Nick and me, and that will be broadcast on the radio some time this week. All in all, it was an excellent church service and we are very blessed and encouraged. This has wrapped the week up so satisfactorily for us.

Finally, at last, it's over

We ran a parrot-naming competition during the week – this was completely last-minute and unplanned, as on Monday morning during the warm-up I had been naming the animals but omitted the parrot, so when they asked for his name, I said he didn’t have one but they could offer names, and thus sprung up a full-blown competition. We had 62 entries, 13 of which were “Polly”, but the winning name was from Kieran, of “Lynick Do Do”. We weren’t sure if it was supposed to be an insult to Nick and me, but it was the most creative name anyway.

This morning we started at 9.30 and ran until 11, so it was a compromise between HBC and GNC. I’m not sure of the exact head count, but I think there were about 30 kids only. The program for this morning was different of course with the shorter time, so we had the opening assembly and singing, then prize-giving for perfect attendance. The story was the lesson of the sheep and goats, so for the warm up I put some Rice Krispies and some Strawberry Pops on the overhead, and then asked the kids to try separate them. Of course they didn’t know which were which, the point being that only I could separate them as only I could see them. Nick then did the actual lesson which was very good, and straight after the lesson he did something unusual, which was to get them to close their eyes and bow their heads, and then he prayed “the sinner’s prayer” with time in between each phrase for the kids to pray in their hearts if they wanted to become Christians. Nick asked that if anyone had prayed it, that they spoke to one of the leaders, but no kids spoke to us afterwards. We don’t know if there has been any fruit from the week, but we don’t know what will happen to the seeds that have been planted. The fun sheets followed the lesson as usual – every day there has been a worksheet with a variety of crosswords, word search, code words etc. Then it was juice and biscuits for everyone, followed by the craft, which was a whirlwind of paper and glue, and tricky to co-ordinate with so many kids all at once! At 11 we officially ended, but with voluntary “watersports” afterwards. Since they had so much fun on Wednesday with water, we decided to do it again today, but make it unofficial and after the lessons, because it takes so long for them to organize themselves with changing into dry clothes at the end. I didn’t venture near the schoolyard, but those who did were doused and dirty. There were wet sponges, which fall in the dust and make a lovely mess when thrown at each other.

Get on board

Today is officially the start of winter here. As I write, Nick has taken the boys swimming. Yes, on the first day of winter, they are swimming.

Today’s session was good again, with 43 kids. My group starts with their craft every day, then after the snack break, we have our activity – today’s was sliding under the pews from the back to the front, collect a card, then slide all the way back. It was great! After the activity we go to our Bible Story, which they least enjoy, and look at me blankly, or stare at the walls or whatever else is available to look at. The bible lessons have been very good though, strongly focusing on God’s pending judgment, and salvation. Yesterday’s story was Noah, and how people laughed at Noah then – I asked the kids if they would like to be on the ark if they knew a flood was coming. They all nodded their heads vigorously, so I told them there is a “flood” coming – God is going to judge the world one day, and they need to be on board the “ark” which is Jesus.

"Watersports"

47 kids today, and wonderful weather, praise the Lord! We had our water activities today, and told the kids yesterday to bring extra clothes in case they got a bit wet. We weren’t expecting that they would actually throw water at themselves, just for the pure enjoyment and fun…any games with water are a big hit. One girl sat down under a running tap, fully clothed. “Us gonna play with water ballooooons?” is one of our favourite rip-off sayings, and sure enough, they said it again this year. Loads of fun. The first group to do their games came in soaking wet and muddy, so we moved that activity to our back yard where it would be cleaner and give the grass a good watering!

The Brown Dispirin Story

Last night Nick and I were both feeling a little “coldy”, and in need of medication. Nick, alone in the kitchen, found some Dispirin for children, with a picture of some kids on the front. When I walked into the kitchen he was still chewing on it, which I thought was strange because Dispirins are not chewable, even the kid’s type. Then after some more chewing, he spat it out, saying it tasted like Marmite. I thought it was hilarious because everyone knows you have to dissolve them in water first. He tried again, taking another one out its foil wrapper, and was amazed to see that it was white, as the first one had been brown. So not only did he chew a non-chewable tablet, but it was off and vile-tasting!!! This can go down in the annals of Nick Clevely duffs right there with painting windows!

Today we had 43 kids at the HBC, with 16 new ones. A couple of yesterday’s kids didn’t return, but most did. It was a good day again, and the Lord has provided all the necessary helpers! It’s a bit chaotic and hectic, but it’s working. This morning’s lesson was about rebellion and the Fall of Man, so for the warm-up I came in with a mouse trap on my foot, and had to confess that I had snuck into the pantry to get a chocolate quickly, but got caught in the trap – I gave in to temptation!

In the afternoon I went to town to pay Nick’s income tax – that was a simple procedure whereby I had to go to the bank and do an account transfer. The teller provided the government’s account number and everything. Of course she could have just put in her own account number and I wouldn’t have been any the wiser, but that kind of thing doesn’t happen here!

Let the games begin!

This morning was the first day of Holiday Bible Club. At 8.45, we had four kids – our two included. By 9 am we had about six kids, but they slowly trickled in until we had a goodly number when we were ready to actually start at 9.15. Once all the kids had been registered, we had 29. (Today has been a public holiday though, so we think there will be more children tomorrow). We kicked off with a time of welcome, prayer, singing, explanation of what the week entails etc, memory verse learning, then a ‘warm-up’ before the lesson. I will be doing the warm-ups. This morning I baked a cake with imaginary ingredients, mixing everything together, and produced…nothing! The point was that only God can create something out of nothing, and then we broke off into our various groups. The lesson for the day was creation. We had the groups divided into 5-6 year olds with Enid, 7-9 year olds with me, and 10-12 year olds with Nick. But, when we saw that the bulk of the kids were in the middle group (my group) and mostly rowdy boys, Nick and I did a quick last-minute swap, so I have ended up with the older group who are all girls. This is the pyjama party group of girls plus one or two others, and so we already have a good rapport. The various age groups went off to do their craft, or bible story, or activity, then we all had a cup of juice and biscuit, then off to the next thing, so that each group does one craft, has a story, and plays a game. After the three sessions, we came back together for a quiz and then a final time of singing and wind-up.

Father's Day

Early this morning the boys gave Nick their cards and presents for Father’s Day, which were a music stand (nice sturdy one I bought locally), a battery operated toothbrush, a tube of Pringles (traditional Father’s Day gift) and a packet of Wagon Wheels, which I don’t think you can get in SA anymore. Aaron’s card, which he reread for Nick, said “Dab” – he only realized when he read it today! He felt a bit embarrassed I think. Caleb’s said “Hotweels” all over it. Then we proceeded to breakfast and the day as usual. Lunch was chicken burgers and onion rings which we took to Steve and Maureen’s empty house, as they have asked us to keep an eye on it while they’re away. The boys took their box of plastic animals and played with them on the very thick carpet/rug while Nick went over his lesson for tomorrow and I read “Chasing the Dragon” which I started a week or two ago – about a single missionary lady in China in the Walled City. Very good book.

And the winner is...

...not Nick. As we thought, the country song won. Nick was placed as the first runner up though, thankfully he beat the other song about the world’s climate change and not jumping in your car. He wasn’t disappointed, although the boys were a bit, but he still won a cash prize which he’s going to put towards a drum machine (not a set of drums, this is something different).

We finished the backdrop on Wednesday, which gives a good feel to the main section of the schoolroom. The kids are sure to like it!

Goat's Meat Curry

No problems with school this morning, other than waiting for 10.30 to listen to the radio. It was the final elimination round today, taking the contestants down to the top three. Guess what? Nick is in the top three! The other two are a country song about “walking with my grandson” in a real American drawl, and a song about “walking a little more instead of jumping in your car.” But on the island, where you have smash hits about goat’s meat curry, any lyrics go! Nick’s lyrics are more poetic. After three years of hearing the song off and on, and now a week of hearing it three times a day on radio, and after actually asking Nick, I finally have the first line of the verse figured out: “Walking under winter’s lighter skies I delight in the mellow blues, cloudless skies and expanse touching textured fields of golden hues” – this to a very complicated tune that you can barely hum along to, let alone sing. I still can’t sing it. Its downfall might be that it’s not catchy, although you can easily listen to it over and over again without getting sick of it. Well, we just have to wait for Friday now!

Aaron is trying to read a lot now (writing on bottles and boxes, that sort of thing), and spelling things out to himself all the time. It’s exciting to see that he’s taken such an interest in literacy! Caleb has become a terrible mumbler, but it’s actually not just a mumble as much as it is picking up the Saint accent. Both boys say things like “hee-ya” and “fowa” instead of “here” and “for” every so often. I don’t know how they have managed to pick up this accent as they are mostly around Nick and me; I suppose from their friends and the radio. There are a couple of dreadful radio personalities who don’t pronounce their words, they sort of skip over them and the words run into each other in a very indistinct way, which is exactly what Caleb is doing. Caleb is sick again, with his usual chesty cold. Shame, it really knocks him hard every time. He coughed a lot today, and we decided to nebulize him – I popped up to the hospital to ask for some medicine for our own nebulizer, and after explaining the situation with Caleb, they were very happy to hand over the plastic vials, 10 each of the two kinds I need to use. No forms to fill in, nothing to sign, no wait, nothing to pay – so easy!

HBC prep and Idols

Nick and I started painting the backdrop for next week’s Holiday Bible Club this afternoon, but it wasn’t long before he remembered he had a deacons’ meeting tonight, so he had to go and prepare for it – not much painting was done today! Pop Idols this morning – another elimination day, and Nick is still in. We are down to four contestants now, and another one to go tomorrow. It’s quite exciting sitting listening to the radio, waiting to hear who stays and who goes! He doesn’t think he will win, and I don’t either, based on what the islanders like and their biases, but he still is the best of them and should win! It will be nice if he places in the top three though.

Winter Sun

The boys went to Callum’s birthday party this afternoon, a lunch-time affair. After dropping them off we came home to get lunch ready for ourselves. But since the boys weren’t with us, there was no particular rush to have lunch, so instead we had coffee and wedding cake (Sharon gave a piece of boxed cake to Nick this morning at church) and chatted outside, and then made ham rolls which we took to Castle Gardens. The weather in town this afternoon has been perfect – a mild breeze, the sun comfortably warm, the sky blue with a few clouds. We took the picnic blanket to the Gardens, and the doves wanted to share our lunch, so we broke off bits of roll for them. They are obviously very accustomed to people, as we got them taking crumbs from our fingers. Nick brought his guitar out and I read a book, and then we chatted, and it was so nice. I haven’t had so much vitamin D in a long time – one either avoids the summer sun, or the winter rain. Not much winter sun. Funny though, because Nick’s song is called “Winter Sun” – written from a South African perspective! The doves continued pecking at crumbs – one brave little one even walked right over my legs. We had a good talk about the state of the church on the island, and what needs to happen. The conclusion is that a revival is needed! In 20 years the Baptist witness could be dead on the island, as the church consists of people mostly over 50, with the handful of younger people who would be the next generation of “the church” not being very serious about their attendance.

There was a tragedy on the island yesterday morning, when a parked car rolled over the edge of the ladder hill mountain, bounced a bit and fell into the sea. Two young people were killed. There is much speculation as to what happened and why, but since it was a boy and a girl in the car, people are drawing the obvious conclusion. We don’t know the identity of the people, but apparently it was a difficult identification for the police to make, as the bodies were badly battered in the fall.

Dinner Guests

Nick is still in the running for Pop Idols – one more contestant was eliminated yesterday, but it was not Nick. The next elimination is on Monday. Last night we made a start to the backdrop for the Holiday Bible Club, which is running from 18th to 23rd June, putting together big sheets of paper, getting it up on the wall, and then outlining our picture from OHP. We started painting this afternoon, and made a big dent in about two hours, so it looks like we will easily finish that with not too much stress.
We had John and Cindy to dinner this evening. She brought a cremora tart for pudding, but she used a different recipe, and to her embarrassment it didn’t set. We’re one-for-one with flopped puddings now (my trifle didn’t set when we had dinner at their house!). The kids ate at their table, so the grown ups could have a decent conversation, and it really was nice. We chatted about all sorts of things and laughed a lot in between. Cindy had a tension headache, so after giving her two Comprals, I suggested we pop out to the Emporium where I had seen heating pads (the automatic type where it heats instantly, and then afterwards you reset it by boiling it) quite inexpensively. Unfortunately we got there at 8, just as they were closing, so no luck. We wandered about town a bit after that, looking at the clothes in Warrens, where I remarked that “die klere is lelik en duur”. Nice to talk in our ‘private language’!

Dentistry

I started off the morning with a trip to the dentist, as a temporary filling she had done a few months ago has come out, and I was finding myself in pain by the end of the day. I phoned for an appointment, but the earliest I could get was in July, so the receptionist said I could just come in between 8.30 and 9.30 which is when they have emergency appointments, for her to reapply the filling. It was very quick and virtually painless, other than when she blew air onto the tooth which was very sensitive. For this dubious service I was charged no money, so I guess you get what you pay for. She also had an x-ray taken to see what needs to happen next. Unfortunately, she can’t do crowns or inlays on the island, so the only options are to either keep redoing the temporary filling, or pulling the tooth. Of course the latter is not to be seriously considered. I was home again before 9, so school kicked off at the usual time after the news.

Nick still in the running

Pop Idols continues, and today was the first elimination day, where two contestants were voted off. Nick was not one of those. There are now 6 left standing, and the next elimination will be on Friday. It’s quite exciting – we wonder how far Nick will go! There is a country song among the bunch, which, although not very well sung, is a country song after all and may well get the winning vote.

School stuff

It has been raining and cold today, I’m sure it might even have hit 20. I felt really cold this morning and my hands were purplish, but did I put on another jersey? No! I thought that sooner or later the sun would come out and I would warm up, but it happened later rather than sooner. Anyway. School was a bit bumpy this morning with the Maths, as we are now learning to count in 5s. Aaron struggled with it somewhat, but we’ll keep on revising it. I am doing spot tests where I get them to write a number I say, as they both don’t have their teen numbers under the belt. It’s quite fun and they enjoy it. We’ve got a new game called ‘Silly Simon’ – Simon says “put your hand on your head”; “Simon says wave your feet in the air”; “Simon says walk on the ceiling” – to which they will reply “Silly Simon” if it’s something impossible to do. It’s so funny the way they reply in unison with harmonised intonations and a lilt at the end.

Pop Idols

St Helena is running its very own version of Pop Idols. Nick has been very involved with the project, writing some music for the songs, and playing guitar for most of the recordings. He submitted one of his own songs too, which he recorded in SA, but we weren’t sure if it had been accepted. The competition officially started today, with the 8 contestants’ songs being played on the radio. We sat glued to the radio for the half hour the programme ran, and were very excited when Nick’s song came up as “Contestant Number 2”. Of course his is the best of the lot – and I say that with only a slight bias, because really, the other contestants are not too good. Nick’s guitaring can be heard on all the other songs too. He entered it just for fun, so whether he wins or loses is not that important to him. The competition will run until next Friday, with a contestant being eliminated every few days until there are three left in the final.

The weather today has been on the chilly side – I forgot to look early in the morning at the thermometer, but it was right down to 21 (J) when I checked later in the day, with intermittent showers. I’ve been wearing a jersey most of the day, and Nick’s had on two layers of long sleeves! Still some sun in the afternoon though, for which we are grateful.

A lesson on fish and deep thoughts

This morning Lloyd and Njori arrived just after 8 for their lift to Sandy Bay, bringing with them six or seven bullseyes for us. Nick brought them back from church shortly after ten, and after a cup of tea, Lloyd very kindly filleted the bullseyes for me, outside. He showed me how to do it, so if I ever have a whole fresh fish again, I’ll know what to do. His method did not involve chopping heads off with axes! I didn’t have to prepare lunch today, as we had been invited to Anthony and Elaine for lunch. We ate a hearty lunch of veggies, cauliflower in cheese sauce, gammon and drumsticks. Pudding was chocolate peppermint stuff and a peach flan, all very delicious. The conversation flowed around church topics mostly, and Anthony is very keen to improve the worship. They also have an idea to open a coffee bar in the schoolroom. A discussion of the role of the Pastor’s Wife always seems to come up, as in years gone by the PW was very active in the community, church life, and various ministries. I always maintain that the PW is not employed by the church, and there should be no expectations put upon her, other than the expectations of any normal church member to be involved in ministries. It bothers me that there is this undefined and unsaid rule that she is a Super Member and should be doing more than the Regular Member. But then I always have to wonder if I should be doing more, and what I should be doing, and where I will find the emotional energy after a morning of homeschooling! My role as a PW is to look after and help the Pastor, which I am doing (the Pastor concurs). If anyone has any thoughts on this, drop a comment on the blog!

Last night we had chicken burgers for supper, and did one of our favourite things, which is to take our supper to the docks and eat while we watch the sun set. It was great, definitely something we’ll miss one day. We sat on top of a big flat wall next to the cannons, with our feet dangling over the edge. Caleb climbed onto the wrong wall, so I instructed him to climb down and climb up again on ours, cautioning him “not to even think about jumping across”. “I’m thinking about it,” says he, “but I won’t do it.” Our supper finished, we walked further around the docks and threw some bread out for the fish, but the sea was very rough and we didn’t see fish. Then Nick and the boys clambered over some rocks while I sat watching the sea. It’s intriguing how the waves keep on breaking over the rocks with such force, and have been doing so for centuries, and will continue to do so as long as the earth remains. Not quite an infinite cycle, but very long anyway. As I was sitting there, watching, I realized that I had been staring mindlessly at the sea for some time, just enjoying it, and not getting bored, and then I thought about heaven. The fact of its infinity is a scary thought, but probably because we’ll be enjoying it so much, we won’t think about how long it’s lasting.

Work party

This afternoon we have been at the Boer Cemetery and Baptist Cemetery since about 11.30 with a work party, chopping out roots, cutting down tree branches, and replacing fence posts. The work party was smaller than we anticipated, with only Vincent, Nick, Nick, Stan and Mervyn (pictured) and me working. My job was with a machete, hacking down small overhanging branches which were obscuring the path a bit (which I interspersed with lying down, in typical Saint fashion – work a bit, rest a lot). Unfortunately my axing technique wasn’t correct, so although it got the job done, it’s left me with a sore elbow and paining muscles! Nick was tasked with chopping roots out of the path which he tackled with vigour, leaving him quite tender afterwards too.

Gone fishin'

I am pleased to say that I can add “fishing off a yacht in the Atlantic Ocean” to my list of life’s experiences. We made contact with a New Zealander and his wife who have come to be on the island via yacht, who are Baptists and wanted to know about our Sunday services. This morning, these Kiwis, Lloyd and Njori called by the house briefly to invite us to dinner on their yacht!! We didn’t need any persuasion. We caught the ‘taxi service’ from the docks to their yacht, for ₤1, and boarded their beautiful vessel at about 5.30 pm. Wow, what a stunning boat. It has a covered deck at the back (I’m sure I should call it aft or starboard or something) and a trampoline at the front, and then a lounge/kitchen area with comfortable seating and a big table, and then on either side of that section there are stairs leading down towards the cabins, of which there are 4, all en-suite. Very luxurious and still very new. On board were Lloyd and Njori and their daughter Tania, 34, and another Kiwi couple who are actually the sailors, Keith and Bianca. It was a very relaxed evening of conversation, indoors or outdoors, and dinner was a delicious chicken curry. We watched the sun set and admired the vivid reds in the sky. After supper, we tried to spot some fish, throwing some breadcrumbs and left-over rice overboard, but there wasn’t much action near the surface, although we could see the occasional silvery glint of a mackerel. Since this wasn’t very fruitful, Lloyd and co got some fishing rods out, baited up the hooks, and let them in. Njori tried for a while, then handed the rod to Nick, who had been holding the torch, while I was sitting watching. Nick had a few tugs but didn’t catch anything, and then handed the rod to me. I’ve never held a baited rod in water before, and it was pretty exciting letting the weighted gut run down to the seabed, and then slowly clicking the handle back to pull up a bit. Keith showed me what to do, and said that as soon as I felt a tug I was to pull up and reel in. I felt the bite, and quickly zinged the line in as fast as I could, although it was surprisingly hard work as the fish was putting a lot of tension on the line trying to get away! Eventually it broke the surface, and I think it was a mackerel, probably about 30cm long (and that’s not a fisherman’s lie). I was so excited about catching my first fish!! I was screaming and laughing, but at the same time wondering what to do next as I didn’t want this writhing thing touching me. Thankfully Keith caught hold of it and took it off the hook, but we decided to throw it back in as I didn’t want to take it home, and I guess they can catch bigger fish themselves. Sadly, by that time the taxi was back to relay us ashore at 7.30, so we said our goodbyes and left. (Nick later confessed that he gave the fishing rod to me before risking catching anything himself, as he doesn’t have the stomach to take a live fish off the hook with its mouth gasping for water around his fingers, and it wouldn’t have been as appropriate for him to scream “don’t bring it near me” as it was for me.)

Another year, another birthday

This morning, the boys woke up early as usual, and then I heard them discussing that they must get my presents and hide them, which they duly did, creeping quietly down the stairs and then coming back up to tell me I could come and look. With all the help, I found all the presents easily. Nick gave me a beautiful Swatch, which he had commissioned friends in SA to buy for him. He also bought me a CD-card – the CD has music from the 1970s, and the card is a “1974” history card with events that took place in that year, for example UN excluding SA because of apartheid, and things like that. The boys went shopping with Nick yesterday, and Caleb chose the present which was a little ceramic bath ornament with some bath pearls in it, and they each gave me a card with a hand-written greeting. It’s so gratifying looking at their “from Caleb” and “From Aaron”, knowing that I’ve taught them how to do that! After lunch, and after getting my watch strap adjusted at the home of a man who does that kind of thing, we went to the Coffee Shop at the docks for coffees and milkshakes. Caleb took the photo of us. It’s handy having a child who can take pictures!

A new Wedel is born

The collective Salzwedel family, my brother Alan and his wife Kate specifically, are very excited at the safe arrival of Zoë Talitha, born this morning at 07h50 GMT. Zoë is the first female of her generation, so the grandparents are definitely celebrating a girl after four boys.

We’ve had another public holiday today, which caught me by surprise. Had I known on Saturday that the shops would be closed today, I would have done some grocery shopping, or at least some menu planning for this evening’s meal with the Johnsons. But as it happened, I didn’t know, so I didn’t shop. That left me with only the month-end groceries in the cupboard, which were very sparse. Fortunately I had a lot of mince still, and I found a packet of pasta sauce, and I had onions and spaghetti, so it was spaghetti bolognaise for supper. It worked out pretty well, and I even baked a simple sponge cake for pudding as I had no tinned fruit, no jelly, no ice-cream, no nothing! And only just enough custard powder left to make 500 ml custard. All in all, the dinner was good. We had a super evening with the Js in conversation, with no lack of topics to discuss. After the meal, Caleb came and took all our plates away and put them in the sink.

Yeah, yeah, country music

It’s been a good day – quite unusual actually, because Nick has been at home with us all day. Being a lay preacher’s Sunday, he wasn’t obliged to go to the country services, as Vincent was able to lead the worship at the chapels he was preaching at. We will therefore go to church tonight here in Jamestown to listen to Nick W preach. We had a very relaxed day, just pottering about, spending time together, and nothing more! After afternoon tea we took a drive to Rosemary Plain, where there were some locals playing soccer, so we walked down the road to Farm Lodge and then back up the road again. Caleb had taken a bionicle with him and was very disappointed that we didn’t stop anywhere for him to settle into a game, so we went home via Plantation House so he could play on the field, but we didn’t stay there long either as it was getting a bit cold in the country. They had the most dreadful selection of country music on the radio which we endured because Nick was wanting to listen for a particular frequent-play song about death by whisky, but it didn’t come on. We were even mistreated to a couple of local artists, one about how much she loves country music and Johnny is dead and gone, but there’s always a good country song playing for you and for me.

Party

I spoke on self-control in Good News Club this morning, the last in my series of the Fruits of the Spirit. The kids were very distracted and I really battled to keep their attention! After that I went out to town for a bit, just by myself, and then in the afternoon we had a birthday party to go to, for Sarah – John and Cindy’s four-year-old. It was at the mule yard in town, and they had a jumping castle and plenty of sweeties, so the kids all had a wild afternoon. I stayed for the duration, but Nick had to get to Tammy for a band practice, so when the party was finished at 5, we started walking home. We hadn’t gone far when Caleb said that it would be so nice if someone we knew would stop and offer us a lift, and about half a minute later Jane did just that. Probably a good thing we didn’t have to walk all the way up town, because the boys were tired from the afternoon’s activities!

Suitcase Day

We declared today “Suitcase Day” and took a holiday from school, in honour of the arrival of a suitcase of gifts. It’s been a busy and exciting day! We were all ready and waiting from about 8 am, so that when the foghorn sounded at about 8.30 we could leave straight away. Even so, there was a long wait until the passengers started coming through. Dave and Colleen were on the second busload, coming out of customs at about 9.30. We recognized them from the photo, and Nick remembered Dave from Honeyridge. We stood at the customs gate chatting while we waited for the luggage to be offloaded. After a long wait and no luggage, they decided to let their host take them to town to get the car insurance and drivers’ licence sorted out, and by the time they were back the suitcases were ready. They took their two and we took ours. It was Christmas in May again, second year running, for us! The boys are well set up for clothing now for this winter and next, as it’s so difficult buying clothes for them here. For lunch we decided to go to Sally’s and then Castle Gardens with our take-aways, and then went to the post office on the way back, where we collected a box from my parents. The contents of the box was so exciting, with all manner of scrapbooking goodies and bits and pieces of things requested and things which were surprises.

I can see clearly now...

Nick picked up Caleb’s new spectacles from the hospital today. Caleb was very excited to finally have them, and they are working so well, although will take some getting used to as they seem to be making his eyes water with prolonged use. He’s just wearing them for half an hour at a time for now, more or less. He tells me that now he can see there are shells in a bottle where before it was just a white blur, or that he can read the writing on something which was previously a yellow blur. Shame, he must have lived in a world of blur. We’ve given him some training on the correct use, handling and storage of the spectacles, and I think he is the sort of child who will be able to look after them. Nick also bought him on of those glasses-strap things so that the glasses have no risk of falling off his head. He looks super with them on, much older and quite intelligent!

Happy Birthday St Helena

It is the 505th birthday of the island today…discovered on 21st May 1502 by the Portuguese explorer. In honour of the event, today was a public holiday, and there were festivities planned at Francis Plain (Prince Andrews High School). During the morning, Nick and I got some house painting done, after a very late morning though and a late start, only getting to the painting at 10.30. We worked for about two hours, and did the lower half of the house wall, a good accomplishment we thought. It’s looking really lovely, although the windows (not the glass) and pipes look so conspicuous now and need a fresh coat of paint too. The colour we are using, the peppermint, is working so well, giving a fresh appearance, like minty toothpaste. The boys were playing outside with a very long pipe which Nick found for them, which they decided to sand and clean, so that occupied them for some time. We headed off to the Plain after a small lunch. There was a good attendance! I’m sure at least a third of the island turned out for the occasion, it was really quite festive and lively. Some activities had been planned, like tug-of-war and custard-eating, but the teams were made up of government departments, not a free-for-all. There was a marquee set up with a BBQ going, and a jumping castle, but we were disappointed that there were no boot sales going – you can usually pick up some good bargains! We stood in a very long queue for chips, sausage, burger and ribs, then sat on the field on our picnic blanket and enjoyed the meal. The boys had already had a good jump on the castle, so after that there wasn’t much left to do. We were out for a good hour at least, maybe more. The weather is changing though – yesterday we had heavy rains during the night, for which we are grateful as it hasn’t rained in a long time, and there’s been a very slight chill in the air, particularly in the country.

Lekker dinner

We had a combined service today, which was excellent. Nick preached on the Holy Spirit and His ministry in the world (conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment). Nick felt that people were mostly not interested. We need prayer! The lunch following the service was the same as always. Most people avoid eye contact, even with friends, while some people (mostly the Jamestown people) talk and laugh heartily together.

For the first time on the island, we went out to dinner on a Sunday night - at John and Cindy, some South African friends. The kids played up a storm, and we had a good chat and laughter over dinner, which was a tuna mince and pasta dish, very tasty. We were due to leave their place at 7 pm, giving Nick time to get home and to the radio station, as he has had to go in tonight to do some recordings, as this is the only time another person has available.

Our first Saint wedding

After many preparations, arrangements, and last minute details, we were ready for the wedding at last, and by 2.30 pm we were seated. The chapel started filling up slowly, and by 3 pm there was standing room only (not quite, but it was very full). We had a mixed bag of guests – I don’t think the Baptist Chapel has ever housed two Bishops, a few JWs, one Bahai (and a partridge in a pear tree). The bridal party arrived about 25 minutes late, by which time the guests and particularly the groom were becoming a little anxious. But, eventually they appeared and proceeded down the aisle to Pachelbel’s Canon played on the organ. Sharon looked extremely lovely, and Nigel couldn’t keep his eyes off her, soaking in every detail. While Sharon was walking down the aisle, Nick dashed around through the schoolroom, so he was standing in the front when the couple reached the stage – a little trick he learned from Leigh, who married us! The service and ceremony all went off smoothly, and our song item was applauded. After the church part, Nigel and Sharon stood outside the chapel, and all the guests greeted them (no confetti or anything), milling about on the street. Fortunately, being a Saturday afternoon, there weren’t too many cars going by! Then there were photos at Castle Gardens, while the guests made their way to Kingshurst Community Centre. We went home for a while, got the boys organised and took them to Elza and Sarel, chatted a while, and then went to the reception – I was worrying that we would be late in arriving, but actually we had to sit around for quite a while before everyone else arrived. The reception was a bit strange. Not a nice venue, and no hors d’ouvres while we waited. But the food was plentiful and tasty, the usual Saint array of chicken legs, roast beef, pork and gammon, roast potatoes, vegetables, rice and curry, and salads. Very good! Nick and I were seated at a table with a cousin and uncle of Sharon’s, neither of whom were talkative, so Nick and I mostly made our own conversation, or walked around a bit. Pudding was another feast in itself with a variety of dishes. By 7.45 we were feeling inclined to leave, as we still had to get the boys into bed. We left before the cutting of the cake and speeches. The other guests, the ones not invited to the dinner, were starting to arrive just then for the party which was only starting at 8. On the whole, a very good wedding.

Roman delight

For tenzees we made some revolting Roman food – in the history book that we are working through, there are often things to make, and yesterday’s was this little bread snack. Since we didn’t have time to do it yesterday, we did it today. We had to first soak bread in milk, and then fry it up until it was crispy. They weren’t undelicious, just very oily and quite messy as the oil started popping and shooting, causing the boys to scatter like sheep in a hailstorm. Nick finished his sermon prep this morning, leaving him free to concentrate on the wedding messages and arrangements for Saturday. I helped with the decoration of the chapel after Nick left for bible study in the late afternoon, and it looks so beautiful, very ‘weddingy’!

Fishy Tail

In school this morning we finished a dolphin book, a true story about a diver who helped a baby dolphin who had caught a fishing hook near its dorsal fin. We should only have done two chapters, but we were all enjoying it so much that when I offered to read the next two chapters, the final ones, the boys jumped at the chance. Quite an amazing story, really, which in fact only took about ten minutes in real life but was definitely worthy of a book about it. After gaining the dolphin family’s trust, the diver helped the baby, removing the hook, and a few weeks later he saw the little dolphin with the scarred tail swimming in the ocean, so he was happy to know it had survived and no sharks had followed the trail of blood. Actually two sharks had tracked it down while the hook was being removed, but the mother and father were so aggressive in their defense that the sharks swam away bleeding.

The Bird Lady

I went to visit my old lady, Caroline, this afternoon. She had another visitor with her, a cousin she said, but the cousin, Sylvia, is 44. We had a good time together, and I stayed longer than my usual 10 minutes – with Sylvia there, we could all chat. I was in hysterics about Caroline and her birds. She encourages the little doves to come into her room, where she feeds them with rice sprinkled on the floor. The doves are quite used to her, and apparently one sat on her head and the other slept on her pillow quite recently. Anyway, when two doves came in, she got up to give them the rice, then spent the next five minutes talking so lovingly to them, Christopher and Mark, she calls them. I was nearly crying I was laughing so hard, though not out loud, but it was just so funny: “Here you go Marky Marky Mark, there’s a goooooooood boy, come on Christopher, oh yes, oh yes.” And so on. When I got back home the boys were sitting outside waiting for me, and Caleb had managed to get a few thorns in his foot, which after much performance on his part I removed with tweezers.

Sunday Lunch and The Wall

We lunched at Jean today which was very nice. We thought that perhaps Steve and Maureen would be there, but it was just us, Jean and Joe, and another couple Raymond (Rusty) and Joyce. Rusty was very easy to talk to, he works at Solomon’s DIY and can chat about anything. Lunch was the usual array of delicious things, and pudding was also intended to fill. We could see the RMS coming from Ascension for about 45 minutes before she actually reached the anchorage, starting as a tiny grey speck on the horizon. Got home just after 3, I think, and then I had such a delicious quick snooze while the boys watched X-Men again. Then it was a bit of pottering, and at 5 Nick decided that it would be a good time to paint the wall some more, so that’s what we both did, and finished it just after 6. Church was very good, with Nick’s message on persecution. Makes me feel like I want to go out and boldly declare the name of Jesus so that I might perhaps be persecuted!

Out and about

We just needed a hint of an excuse to drive somewhere far in the car, so went all the way to Redhill, which is just past Bluehill, for a picnic lunch after Good News Club. There we ate, and then took photos of the car because we need to send one to CPBC and thank them again, now that the car is actually here. It was hilarious getting the photo done, because Nick had to balance the camera on the cooler box across the road, set it to self-timer, and then dash quickly across the road, up some stairs, and along the bank, then seat himself and strike a pose which made him look as if he’d been sitting there for hours. He usually made it only with seconds to spare every time, then ran back to see if the picture was any good. He took about six photos in this manner, all in very good humour. Because it was so hot and bright outside, none of the photos was very good, but this is the best and it will suffice.

Off the island again

We had perfect weather today – perfect for our boat outing! Elza and Sarel have a small boat, and we’ve been trying to find a time to get out there together, so when they phoned earlier in the week to ask if we could do Friday, we jumped at the chance. The wind of the past week had died down to a breeze, and there was not a cloud in the sky. It was hot out there, but with the breeze and a slight ocean spray we hardly noticed it. We met up with them at the docks at 10 am. Because of the depth of the water there are no piers at James’ Bay, so all the boats are moored along ropes, and you have to get a ferry to the boat you need to be on. So our boating day started with a short ferry ride to Lady Sarah. Sarel and Elza have bought a small rubber dinghy, which they just received this week from the Cape, and today was its first test run. Sarel was very excited about his new toy, which means that they can anchor their boat somewhere around the island and go ashore, using the dinghy to get right to the shoreline. He took the dinghy out to the boat, and once we were all on board and comfortable, we set off into the seas. The day turned out to be a comedy of errors. The first thing to happen was that the boat’s engine cut out, but Sarel managed to get it going after just a short time – he suspected an air bubble in the fuel tank. We sailed to Lemon Valley, where we anchored and then Sarel first took Nick and the boys ashore, and came back for Elza and me. Nick and the boys were already swimming when we got back. We took our lunch ashore, so after a bit of exploratory walking around, we came back and enjoyed our sun-warmed ham, tomato and cheese rolls, dangling our feet in the water. Because both Sarel and Nick had afternoon engagements, we didn’t tarry for too long. Elza and I were taken back first, but Sarel soon realized that in the excitement of testing out his new toy, he had only put in enough petrol to test it, and that quickly ran out. We were but a stone’s throw away from the shore when the little engine cut out and that was that. Sarel had to “row, row, row his boat” all the way back to Lady Sarah, and it was quite some distance. We decided to take Lady Sarah closer to the shore and anchored her again, so that it wasn’t so far for Sarel to row to collect Nick and the boys. While they were gone, Elza realized that the anchor had somehow become disconnected from the rope which was tying it to the boat, so all that was anchoring us and preventing us from drifting into a nearby outcrop was a piece of blue rope floating on the water, which was hardly effective. Fortunately Sarel came rowing along before Comedy Error #3 became Tragedy #1. With the dinghy secured to the back of the boat, we put out in the direction of James’ Bay. It was a refreshing ride back, enjoying the spray, sea breezes, the smell of the ocean, smell of diesel smoke…uh oh, too much diesel smoke smell…and the engine sputtered out again, this time refusing any efforts at resuscitation. We simply had to drift a bit and radio for help. Since we were quite close to the moorings at James’ Bay, it didn’t take long for someone to come and tow us back to where we should be – the blue line between two white buoys is their boat’s address. And in all that time we didn’t see even a single fin of a dolphin…but it was a very enjoyable day, and certainly memorable!

942 gets a fresh look!

Today is a red-letter day in the history of the Baptist Church, and about 15 years since the last big day of this nature. Today marks the start of a journey with our new car! Our brand new Ford Fiesta 1.4, in a metallic blue, was delivered to us this afternoon. After our several fruitless trips to the docks to see if it was there we were feeling a little discouraged by this morning. Then Nick received a phone call from Colin, the garage owner who has been instrumental in getting the car here, to say that the car was indeed on the island, and actually busy being “MOT’d” (road-worthied), and that once the insurance had been sorted out, we would be able to take ownership of it this afternoon. Wow! Nick then went to town with Vincent to get the insurance done (all very simple, no waiting), and saw Ian in town (Colin’s son who was taking it for the MOT) who said that he would be bringing the car shortly. After lunch we all hung around, supposedly getting on with whatever we were doing, but actually anxiously waiting on tenterhooks, and the boys even managed to get Nick and me dashing downstairs by ringing the doorbell! After some time, Nick yelled to look out the window, where we saw a new blue Fiesta, registration 942, driving up the road. Assuming that Ian was taking the car up the road to turn around, we all stood glued to the window, eagerly watching for the car, such that when Ian pulled up next to the house we were practically breathlessly crowding around the front door. We stood around the car gaping and grinning like a young groom on his wedding night for a while before actually getting into the car and going for a test drive, just to town and back. After the Golf, anything would be a smooth ride, but the Fiesta is truly a dream. Being the latest model, it’s a really stunning design and looks nothing like the old Fiesta shape. It has a very dark grey interior with blue and grey seats, and even came fitted with a CD-player, per some arrangement made by Colin. It has air-con and power steering and is very comfortable, and doesn’t feel like a small car. A nice touch is that on the number plates, the word “Baptist” has been included just below the number 4. Of course the car’s not ours, it officially belongs to the church, but we have exclusive drivership privileges. We are so thankful to God for His provision of the car, as it is only in answer to prayer that we have it. He has graciously given us more than we dreamed of or hoped for!

This morning was school as usual, and it was all fine. Our crazy activity for “Cc” was to cook corn, so I thought of cooking popcorn. That was fun – I let the boys put the kernels into the hot oil (carefully monitored of course) and then we all stood around the stove listening to it popping. I showed them what would happen if I took the lid off, and a couple of popcorn pieces popped right out of the pot. Aaron ran out the kitchen terrified, but I think because one piece shot at him and it was very hot. He was nervous around the pot after that, even though I was holding the lid on. We ate our popcorn for tenzees.

Weather, wall, and where's our car?

The weather seems to have changed here…it’s been relentlessly windy, day and night, and I mean really windy, not just a fresh tropical breeze. This afternoon I was out in town, and as I was walking across the road I was nearly blown over as I took a step…I needed to have both feet firmly planted on the ground to stay put! With all the wind, the house is a mess. It’s not just dust that lines the windowsills, it’s actually black sea-sand. You can imagine how delightful that becomes after even a few days – if I collected it all we could probably build a small sandpit in the backyard. This afternoon I got stuck in with vacuuming, and it was so exciting to see the sand whisked away, and things looking fresh again. I get stressed when the house is messy, and psychotic when it’s actually dirty, so am feeling a whole bunch better now, even though I only got as far as the lounge and diningroom. At least I know those two rooms are done (but for how long?!).

Nick has finished pointing up the boundary wall, so yesterday we started painting it. He did the top, standing on the wall while painting with white enamel, and I did the side with the peppermint masonry acrylic. Nick continued this afternoon with the peppermint, and probably will be finished with it tomorrow. It’s looking grand! Once that’s done, he can bring some scaffolding around from the schoolyard, and fix up the house walls, so that we can then paint that too. I think we’re both pretty excited about getting the house itself painted (although just the back at this stage) because it really looks so terrible!

Still no car yet…we’re starting to wonder if it’s even on the ship. I keep reassuring Nick that it’s probably in one of the containers, and will be driven out as soon as enough boxes have been unpacked…but the possibility always remains that it didn’t get on the ship at all. He’s been to the docks about three times today, just to see if it’s there. Shame, he’s quite disappointed. At present we’re driving around in an earlier-model Fiesta, a white one, which is lovely, although there is something wrong with the brakes (they work, but shudder). The golf started losing its water again yesterday; it was gushing out onto the driveway after Nick put in about six litres…this directly after the garage had attended to it after it broke down on Sunday and deemed it all fixed up! So we had to explain about twenty times at bible study last night that this Fiesta is not the new one…

Aargh, Golf is back!

Nick phoned just as I was leaving Lorna to say that the garage phoned, needing the loan car back immediately, so I had to take the car to the garage and walk home. Our golf is back, sad to say! It was parked in its usual spot in the driveway when I got home from Lorna…but at least now we can give it a clean before we hand it over to Colin. After supper, we drove to the docks, just to see if there was any action with offloading stuff, but because the ship arrived in the evening, nothing was happening. It was nice to be there though, in time for the sunset (about 6.20?), and we chatted with a couple of people.

The premature end of the Golf

Today, being Mother’s Day, was a lovely day. I was really spoiled by Nick, via the boys. Nick hid my presents around the lounge, and the boys were so excited for me to find them this morning. I was given a pair of slippers (pink satin, mmm, pretty and shiny), a lovely top which I had hinted at (pretty), a beautiful bone china vase with pink and green flowers with a mother’s day message, and a coaster, also made for moms. Oh, also a box of chocolates, and most importantly, a hand-made card each from the boys with their own hand-written messages of love. I was really made to feel special!

Nick came home for a quick cup of tea between services. When it was time to leave for Knollcombes, the Golf didn’t want to start. Nick eventually got it going and left, but phoned about ten minutes later to say that it had broken down on the way, so he couldn’t get to church. I phoned Colin who looks after the car, and he quickly sorted Nick out with a loan car, such that Nick made it to church just in time to preach – Vincent had continued with the worship and was just starting on a sermon which I think he was making up as he went along (how wonderful that he so quickly filled the gap though), so it wasn’t a disaster. But now we have a loan car, with the Golf still sitting on the side of the road in Half Tree Hollow. Our new car becomes more and more desperately needed! In our easy-drive loaner, we went out for lunch with our sandwiches to Rosemary Plain. We don’t usually have just plain sandwiches on Sunday, but since it was a Special Day, it was acceptable. As it was so hot in town, I didn’t see any need for a jersey, but it was quite cool at the Plain, and I started feeling chilly. My chivalrous husband took the very shirt off his back and gave it to me! He played some cricket with the boys, but we didn’t stay for too long before going home to spend the afternoon mucking about.

I started thinking about the next scrapbook page, and decided on a photo of an old canon overlooking Ruperts Bay, so am going to do a page of island relics and history. That set off an interest in finding old stuff, so after rummaging through the workshop and finding some rusty bolts and a few buttons, Nick suggested having a look on the mountain, as there is an old rubbish dump behind the schoolroom. So the four of us climbed up the back wall and wandered over the rocks, looking for rusty bits of metal and anything flat enough to use in the scrapbook. It was an interesting treasure hunt! We also collected a bunch of empty, bleached snail shells. I’m sure they must be quite old. Picked up some seashells too, which was a surprise – perhaps someone had a shell collection and threw it out, and that’s where it ended up. So we came home with a stash of old bits and pieces.

Monster Mom

During school this morning, I got up to put fabric softener in the washing machine while the boys were busy with writing practice, and found a foam monster mask we had made a few weeks ago sitting on top of the tumble dryer. I put it on and went roaring into the diningroom. The boys screamed and looked so terrified, that I nearly fell on the floor laughing.

Our water is finally running clear again, after a long time of brown water. It’s not very appealing stepping into a bath filled with off-coloured water, much better to have it smelling of chlorine. Unfortunately, there have been chlorine shortages, so the pool has not been supplied with its needed quota, and is completely green. It’s actually been closed for over a month now. A pity, because going to the pool was one of the few family activities we could do together! But we are thankful that we can drink the water from the taps, anyhow.

No back-to-school blues or tomatoes

On Monday we started school again, and although I always slightly dread the first-day-back, it was absolutely fine. We’re back into the swing of it like we never had a break. The boys haven’t forgotten anything over the two week break! We’re reading a book called “Ten and Twenty”, about some French schoolchildren who have to hide some Jewish children during WWII. The children would have been around ten years old, in 1945…so we compared them with my dad, who would have been only slightly younger. What was really interesting is that one little boy’s name is Philip!

I went to Thorpes late afternoon today to see if I could find tomatoes, because they bring their fresh veggies in on a Wednesday afternoon. Because the truck was a bit late today, there was quite a gathering in the courtyard when they offloaded the produce, rather like a flock of birds around fresh elephant dung (we witnessed this once at a zoo). I would be lying to say that all that remained after the flock departed was a couple of cabbage leaves and half a carrot, but it was quite a frenzy anyway! No tomatoes for me, I’m afraid. Looking forward to the ship’s return from the Cape with lots of lovely produce for us.