"Pfft"

Some bad news from last night, although let me start with the happy ending that nobody was hurt. After bible study, Shirley’s husband Tony came to fetch her as he always does, at 9 pm. She had no sooner left, and we had started with the tea, than she was in the house again, saying “fire”. There was some confusion, and then Nick rushing into the kitchen for water, and then a few of us finding containers to hold more water, to throw on their car, which had spontaneously combusted. It was an electrical fire, which started in the engine just as they were driving up the road from our house – they were as far as the church’s front door when it just went “pfft” and a flame appeared from the bonnet. They got out as quickly as they could, which was quite slow as Tony has a bad hip, plus they had collected another lady on the way who moves like a sloth due to painful joints and age, all the while worrying about the car exploding. Teddy phoned the fire department from our house, but they took ages to arrive, so in the meantime we kept running back and forth with jugs of water while the flames grew bigger, until Nick got the housepipe in the alley sorted out and was doing his best with it, all the while breathing in lungfuls of the poisonous air. We had to all get out of the manse, under the police department’s orders, which meant rousing the boys and hustling them out the house, where they were ushered to Steve’s parked car to watch from a safe (and warm) place. By the time the fire department arrived, the flames had eaten most of the interior of the car, so we knew it would be a write-off. We all just stood around outside watching helplessly, while clouds of smoke billowed out, filling the air with the stench of burning rubber. Tony put on a brave face, although he really loved the car, had had it for 22 years and loved to tinker on it. They had just paid out loads of money to get it serviced and fixed up, so it had a new lease on life, as well as ₤20 of petrol in the tank. Shirley was also a bit traumatized, but both had the external attitude of “oh well”.

School this week has been pretty good. I was feeling quite cheerful this morning, so was singing to the boys and acting a bit too weird for their liking! Aaron was overcome during the reading of “Missionary Stories” where God held back rain in Korea long enough for the American missionaries to hold a week of outreach meetings, addressing about 100,000 people over five nights – exciting story, and I would love to think that the Holy Spirit is active in Aaron’s life and causing the joy, but he reacted in the same way during “Understood Betsy” where Betsy and Molly managed to get home safely and the Putney cousins were actually proud of Betsy, and how pleased she was…he and I were both nearly in tears! Caleb’s eyes went watery too, but only because he was looking at my teary eyes, he said.

During tenzees we went to the schoolyard to have a look at the burned-out car which is being temporarily stored there. We had left our baby dove outside in the sun, where an adult dove had come to eat some of the food we left there. Our little dove did its usual shivering act which it does anytime an adult is near, and we always think any interaction with other doves is good for it. It flew quite far this morning, out of my hand onto the step, which was halfway across the yard, and although it didn’t achieve any lift, it certainly maintained a good horizontal drift. When we got back into our yard 10 minutes later after looking at the car, our dove and the adult were nowhere to be seen. We looked all over the yard, in the grass, and even in the house, but it’s just vanished. The options are: 1) a cat took it; 2) it suddenly learned how to fly up and away, perhaps with the encouragement of the adult, although I’m sure the lack of tail feathers makes this an unlikely explanation; 3) it is still in the yard somewhere and we can’t find it. Not that I mind that the bird is gone, but I don’t like not knowing what happened to it. When your baby flaps its wings and leaves the nest, you want to see it fly safely away – not simply turn your back and have it disappear on you!

Housework

I devoted myself almost exclusively to housework this afternoon, and really got through a lot. I thoroughly cleaned the diningroom, which included turning over the soil in the pot on whose plant the dove lives, and cleaning said dove, vacuuming, dusting, and retrieving the cushions for the couches from Nick’s office where they have been for so long as sound proofing agents, before heading upstairs. During all this I also went to visit Caroline. The visits are so pointless though – I took the dove to show her, as she loves doves (God’s holy doves), and she nearly squeezed it to death trying to kiss it. Fortunately it survived. She can’t really hear what I’m saying though, even if I speak slowly and clearly, so not much of a conversation can be had. School today was fine, as it was yesterday. I’ve been blessed with “big chunks of patience”. In yesterday’s reading of “Understood Betsy”, Aaron was nearly crying for joy when Betsy and her friends sewed new clothes for poor little ‘Lias, which were subsequently sold for whisky by his wicked stepfather. ‘Lias got adopted in the end, which was what the girls were hoping for, so it was a super happy ending to the otherwise very sad little chapter. Today we only read half a chapter, which left Betsy and her little friend Molly alone at the County Fair with no ride home. The boys are a bit anxious as to the outcome.

Ah, it's that time again

Confession time: today I turned 34. I had a super day, and was certainly quite spoiled. The day started a little too early though, when the boys came in before 7 (it was still dark) with their cards. I had to look at them by torchlight! After breakfast I listened to the song which Nick wrote for me, which he had recorded, so we sat and listened together. It is very beautiful. Then it was the usual stuff – Nick had prayer meeting, and then we had Good News Club. He used my birthday as an object lesson (inspired at 4 am Saturday morning when the rain thudding through the ceiling into the strategically-placed dustbin kept us awake), teaching about being born again and having two birthdays. He had a moment of silent prayer after the lesson, inviting anyone who wanted to be reborn to ask God to forgive them and make them spiritually alive. It was a very good lesson. He asked the kids to guess how old I was, and most of the answers were somewhere in the 20s! After GNC, the real fun began. Nick and the boys took me shoe shopping, as gifts from the boys. I had in mind to get a pair of casual shoes, which I wear constantly in winter. We went first to the shop in China Lane, but there was nothing to be found there, so hopped it off down town to Y&T, which we thought was the most likely place to find something good. We did find something – I found two pairs that I liked and couldn’t choose, so Nick said I should get both, which I did (one pair from each boy!). That done, we went to Ardees for lunch – the boys shared a cheeseburger and chips, Nick had a cheeseburger and chips, and I had the fish, which was outstanding. We saw Harry and Jenny in the market, as Jenny was selling some of her confectionary – toffee apples, koeksisters, fudge and cakes. Nick chatted with them for a while and I browsed the bookshop in the market, buying a little book for the boys. On getting home, we watched a DVD together, then we just had a little time to kill before going out to the Cuttings. Steve and Maureen were already there. It was a wonderful afternoon – Jennifer had made a cake, beautifully iced, which I was made to cut (Nick tried to get a photo of the two of us standing behind the cake, but the photo here was the result – she was camera shy and couldn’t be persuaded!). She also provided chips, sweeties and more koeksisters. We sat around the diningroom table having our tea, and then the ladies and gentlemen separated – the men into the lounge, Jenny into the kitchen to start on supper, and Maureen and I in the diningroom where we could still talk to Jenny through the serving hatch. It was very relaxed and companionable. The boys played outside mostly, but also looked at their books inside and chatted to the grown-ups a bit. After a not-long-enough gap, supper was ready, which was pork chops, t-bone steaks, chips, sweetcorn and salad. Jenny is an excellent cook, and very relaxed about everything. We couldn’t manage any pudding, which was a tipsy tart, so had to bring the whole thing home with us, along with half of the birthday cake which we couldn’t finish at the time!

Going back to yesterday (Friday), I needed to be at the dentist early, but even so I was seen last as I hadn’t let anyone know I was there, so they didn’t get the order right. Didn’t really matter, since I had a book to read and I tried not to mind that we would miss a chunk of school again. He had to drill out part of the existing tooth to get something for the filling to hold on to, and in order to do that he had to numb my gum. This he did by means of three separate injections, all of them painful, and one of them into the gum where the tooth meets it! It seems that it’s worked this time though – as Roger said, he feels ‘in his waters’ that this is the keeper! I saw him on Saturday morning in town and he asked after it; I also saw his assistant who asked how I was! Sometimes I feel like I’m living in a little village where everyone knows everyone’s business…then I remember that it’s not a village, it’s a town, and everyone does know everyone’s business!

Caleb and Aaron took the initiative of starting up a ‘meeting’ – they have been listening to way too much Secret 7. They invited four of their friends from the Good News Club, who dutifully turned up at our house today for the meeting. The agenda was something along the lines of pray, discuss what is happening with the mountains and the rock stabilization project, see if anyone else had any other comments, and then play. They couldn’t meet in the back yard though as it was raining, and I certainly didn’t want six boisterous boys romping in the lounge, so Nick took them to the schoolroom. Agenda forgotten, they spent the next hour throwing Frisbees around and riding scooters up and down the length of the room. They had loads of fun, and I assume this will be a regular play slot for them. I’m impressed that they dreamed up this scheme by themselves; more impressed that the other boys remembered!

Nurse Nick? Not!!

Today’s grand Sunday lunch was a chicken concoction with bacon, pineapple, peppers, peas, corn, pasta and a packet mix sauce of sorts. It was nice, but the boys didn’t really take to it. We had 1/3 of the tipsy tart with fresh custard, the other 2/3 being in the freezer already. Did you know that when you’re making custard, you don’t need to mix the custard powder, sugar and milk, and boil the milk separately? You can actually put everything in the pot together, and bring it to the boil together. I tried this today for the first time after Maureen saw me making custard the last time, and recommended this method. I was hesitant, as I never known it to work any other way, but it actually worked perfectly – and you use one less pot! We let the baby dove wander around outside for a while, in the sunshine. There was another dove nearby, and our baby ran to it and shivered in excitement, but there was very little interaction. Ours seems quite big compared to the adult – it just needs its tail feathers to grow. It’s still eating well and pooing lots, so seems to be fine. The plan for the afternoon was that after I washed the dishes, Nick would take my stitches out. He seemed confident that he could do it, and since he sounded so self-assured I was happy for him to do it. However, after taking a close look at them, he decided that he wouldn’t be able to after all, because there were two which seemed to be attached to one another, and he thought he might get an elbow in the head if he hurt me. Instead, he drove me to the hospital (I could have gone alone, but begged for the moral support), where we quickly found a nurse who did it in a flash. Because they were joined, she only needed to sever one, and they came out together. It stung slightly, but otherwise was pretty painless. I’m hugely relieved to have that done! The wound has closed up nicely, and now the scar and surrounding area just need to heal. A note for all those currently with stitches in them: don’t get the doctor to do it! Doctors are very good at putting sutures in, but hopeless at removing them. Find a nurse!

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”.

Sick kid - my worst thing!

The boys were the only ones who really had anything particular needing doing this morning: they had to walk down to the AVES centre where they collected a packet of chips, jungle energy bar and ₤1 from Jennifer, via Harry who works at the centre. On Sunday at church she said she had something for them, and would drop it off on Monday if she was coming to town, which she actually did happen to do but had forgotten to bring the goodies with her. Thus it was that at exactly 8.36 am this morning, two little boys could be seen running down the road with a very set goal in mind. That of course made the morning drag for them as I said they could eat their stuff for tenzees. Aaron carried his chips around with him, asking every ten minutes what the time is now…we were all VERY relieved when 10 o’clock finally rolled on.

Aaron was quite unexpectedly sick in the early hours of Monday morning – around midnight Sunday night, actually. I woke up when I heard him crying as he walked to the bathroom, and trailed him to stand by while he emptied the rest of the contents of his stomach into the toilet. The first part had already been expelled on his bed – all over his pillows, duvet, and right down to the mattress. What a mess, and what a smell. He couldn’t sleep on his own bed for the rest of the night, obviously, so I set him up on the floor in our room. His nose was bothering him though, which is to be expected after you’ve had curdled juice and cheese snackwiches hurtling through it, but even after blowing it and blowing it there was stuff in it. He was making such a noise with his breathing that I lay awake for an hour, until Nick suggested putting him into the guest room. This I did, but then he came back into our room crying that he was all alone, so I lay on the double bed with him for a while until he was happy and said I could go back to bed. He was absolutely fine after that, although looked a little tired yesterday. It must just have been a bug which was quickly in and quickly out.

Opening of Knollcombes

Nick is on the mend – he is improving slightly each day. Today he is walking around fairly well, and can sit for short periods. He still struggles to get on and off the bed or couch, but it’s good to see the progress anyway.

We had our combined service and reopening of the Knollcombes chapel today. The governor led the service and preached, with Jean playing the organ. It’s wonderful that Nick can call on someone so capable to fill the gap. The service was being recorded for radio broadcast later in the day. The singing was full-bodied but hopelessly out of time with the organ, such that Andrew had to try conduct – I don’t think he’s an experienced choirmaster though because he looked like a giant pendulum trying to urge the errantly dawdling hands of a clock to keep pace. Aaron dozed during the message with his head back and mouth open and everything – probably not a very encouraging sign for a preacher, but since he’s only five it’s forgivable. The message was very good, from Philippians 2:12-13 about working out your own salvation. He was very clear that we don’t earn our salvation, but that once we are saved, we must look like it! People cleared off pretty quickly after the service. Nick was glad to have us home again (I think) as he had just been lying around listening to music and playing guitar. There’s only so much you can do on your back! (The photo was taken before the service, when not many people had arrived yet – there was actually quite a good attendance).

Ouch, oh, aaaargghhhh

Now here’s a lovely story about the latest news in the Clevely family. It starts yesterday morning, but let me set the scene. 8 am, we’re all ready to head off to Knollcombes for a morning of work at the chapel. Nick was keen to get a handrail cemented in, and I was planning on polishing pews. Nick was just getting some buckets of sand into the car and I was inside putting in a few pieces of the global puzzle I had going on the diningroom table, when Caleb comes rushing in declaring an emergency. “Dad’s lying in the road and can’t get up”, he says. I go running outside to see my poor husband sitting on the side of the road up by the school yard, the blue bucket next to him. He had been half dragging, half carrying it towards the car, but decided it was taking too long so picked it up and turned…which threw his back out, causing him to crumple to the ground! He was totally unable to move because of the pain, but after half-sitting on the road for a few minutes, with me hovering over him looking very worried and cars going by with staring passengers, he decided to try move himself into the church, which he did by slowly and painfully shuffling and moving, until he had gotten himself into the vestry where he lay flat on his back for the next hour. Not being much I could do for him, I went off to Knollcombes anyway, as the boys were all geared up and would have been disappointed at the sudden cancellation of plans. There wasn’t too much I could really do at the chapel, as some of the pews still needed sanding, so I was home again after an hour. By this time Nick had started crawling up the aisle of the church, so I stood by watching helplessly again as he made his way up. Once he was at the stairs at the front he managed to pull himself into a standing position, and slowly walked the rest of the way home, as far as the lounge where he manoeuvred himself onto a couch, and that’s where he stayed for the rest of the day. He was undecided whether he would spend the night on the couch in the lounge or in bed, but opted for the latter which I was glad about. It took him about ten minutes to get up the stairs in the house. He slept reasonably well, although every time he had to roll over it was painful.

Today he is slightly improved, but still mostly immobile. He spent the morning on the bed and the afternoon on the couch. He can’t even get to the hospital to see about his back as it’s too sore to move around so much at present, so perhaps he’ll go on Monday. Yesterday morning, realizing that he wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry, he phoned the governor to arrange for him to preach tomorrow, so that’s taken care of. It’s a real shame that Nick has to miss the opening of Knollcombes though, especially after all the work he’s put into it.

This morning I had to finish off the curtains, then do some quick prep for Good News Club as I was doing the teaching. When my Nick isn’t there I have to lead the worship too which I don’t really like doing, but I didn’t really have a choice in the matter! The kids were fairly subdued today, and afterwards during the playtime a couple of the girls made ‘get well soon’ cards for Nick, which they wanted to deliver. A lot of the girls came home here to ‘have a look at him’ – he must have felt like a real freak show!

We had chicken legs and mealies for supper tonight, which were delicious. The boys managed to eat them off the cob, although Caleb didn’t enjoy his very much. Aaron ate with gusto, and I told them about the mealies we used to eat from Grampa’s vegetable garden at 6 Protea Road! I smiled to myself when we were instructing the boys to eat the corn off the cob in rows, systematically, as this is what my dad used to tell us and we didn’t appreciate the advice!

What we did today

During the morning I made an awful pot of celery, potato and pumpkin soup, which is almost inedible, and a batch of coffee kisses which flopped in the oven, rendering my careful piping of the batter into one flat biscuit. Not a very successful morning of domesticity. After lunch I watched a DVD with the boys (Ratatouille – doesn’t Pixar always do fantastic movies?!). I had to go up the road to fetch a piece of red velvet curtain from someone, which I need to altar to fit at Knollcombes – there is an archway behind the pulpit where the curtain will be hung. Nick had a session with the lay preachers in our house from 5 pm, so I was carefully concealed upstairs and the boys were playing outside, too far away to be a noise. We ate our supper very quietly in the diningroom! At 7.30 Nick had a bible study at Half Tree Hollow, but he was home again by about 7.50, as only four people had arrived and they couldn’t get into the Guide Hall where they meet.

Caleb cut his finger on his little craft blade yesterday while playing with playdough, while I was out in town. Nick tended to him by putting on a plaster, although more for comfort’s sake. Today, Caleb was complaining that it was very sore, and ‘is there any medicine for the pain?’ I thought I should see what lay under the plaster, but oh, the tears when I tried to get the plaster off. Caleb doesn’t cry very often, so when he does, we really take note! I tried cutting the plaster off, but dear one was very worried about me cutting his finger, and I couldn’t pull it off because the edge of it was over the wound. Eventually I had to take him to Nick, who showed no mercy in pulling it off. We couldn’t even see the little cut underneath, but his skin had gone all manky – wrinkly and pale. He cried about it all for a good ten minutes after that, but it didn’t really take him long into the afternoon to feel better about it. There were no more complaints for the rest of the day. Funny how things like that can be so traumatic!

Pampoene

Yesterday it was overcast all day which felt strange, and it was also a public holiday so everything was very quiet. We had a good day of school holiday. I did a bit of weeding while I was waiting for the washing to come out, with the boys helping…we seem to have some tomato plants growing again, as well as a pumpkin plant – the pumpkin seeds must have been lying dormant for quite some time, as we’ve certainly never planted them! Of course we’ve left those untouched, to see if they will bear anything (like tomatoes and pumpkins, preferably).

Nick spent most of today out at Knollcombes again, putting in a few more stone steps. Honestly, I never knew my husband was such a handy-man/builder, but perhaps it’s genetic after all! Two JWs came to visit today. One of the ladies has been before, and the other lady is the late head-honcho’s wife. After giving them a glass of juice, I left them to it. Nick spoke with them for a long time, but of course they don’t listen to reason, logic, doctrine or the bible.

Family time

Nick was out at Knollcombes all day yesterday, so it was a bit of a lonely day. The boys and I walked down to town and back, and then watched a DVD in the afternoon. Nick said the chapel is looking good though, and he’s especially pleased with the work he’s done on putting some steps in the slippery, muddy path that leads from the road down to the chapel. It seems likely that they’ll have another work party next Saturday, before the combined service on the 27th.

Today was splendiferous. After Nick came home from church, we had lunch of pork stir-fry with veggies which the boys disliked, then pudding, and then we all went to sit outside under the shade of the bamboo, on our camp chairs. Nick and I were chatting, and the boys were there just listening or drawing, and then Nick tackled one of Caleb’s new model airplane kits. He and Caleb worked on it for a long time. Aaron and I went inside briefly to throw together a box-mix of choc-chip cookies, then went outside again. We had our delicious cookies outside with tea/coffee/juice, and then Nick carried on with the model while I sorted some photos of Caleb. Eventually at about 5 pm we all came inside! We were out there the whole afternoon, all together, and it was fabulous. All the work on the braai and roof has been done by Nick’s own hands.

Best birthday ever

It’s been a great day for Caleb today, celebrating his 7th birthday. The day kicked off at about 6.20 when the boys were awake and ready to open presents. We went downstairs at about 6.45 for the traditional present-hunt, and then the frenzy of opening, ably assisted by Aaron. After (during) breakfast Nick built Lego while Caleb played with a Transformer. We bought the Transformer two years ago from the UK via Scilla, but thought it would have been too difficult for him at the time, so it’s been sitting on top of our cupboard since then! We headed off to Rosemary Plain for our tenzees, although by then it had started drizzling a bit, so we took cover under the bus shelter, just in time to avoid a heavier downpour. Since being in the graffiti-ridden shelter wasn’t very conducive to picnicking, we didn’t stay very long, but managed to fit in the scheduled family photo. Back home I put together a meccano-style car while the boys played, and then we pottered about until lunch. Caleb decided that we would have lunch at Sally’s instead of Donny’s, as it was hot and sunny in Jamestown again. During the afternoon Nick went off to Knollcombes to get some work done in the chapel – we’re hoping to have a combined service there next Sunday, sort of an official reopening after the big job of maintenance there. Still a lot of work to be done though, after the new roof has been finished and the interior painted. They need to paint the concrete floor, wash windows, etc etc.

On holiday (AGAIN!)

We had our last day of school today, finishing off the book ‘Mountain Born’. It didn’t feel like we really needed a holiday at this point, so it wasn’t a huge relief when school ended, but it’s nice to know that we have a bit of a break anyway. School was good today. The boys had to do a little drill worksheet, drilling the addition facts 1-9, which they both whipped through in about two minutes, I think both with full marks. A couple of weeks ago Aaron would have taken at least 10 minutes over this with a lot of sighing as well, so it’s really encouraging to see the progress and improvement.

Soup on the fly

I made a big pot of vegetable soup today, although added bacon because I felt sorry for my non-vegetarian family. It was delicious, but the boys really sighed their way through it. I found celery and pumpkin in The Star this week, which were a real winner with me. Nick asked if I could please moosh the pumpkin next time. He managed to do it on the fly, as the big chunks were more than he could brave! Aaron liked the pumpkin but not the celery or onions, and Caleb didn’t like any part of it except the bread that went with it. He even battled with the potatoes. He almost cried his way through it, but in the end the both managed to clean their bowls so were rewarded with milkshakes for pudding. They spent some time playing in the dirt outside during the afternoon, getting so dirty, but loving it – I wonder if moms of girls have such dirty children, or if its just a boy thing?

Chocolates from the Dentist and heresy from the Anglicans

I took Caleb to the dental hygienist today for his long-awaited and twice-postponed fissure sealant. I suspect he was a bit apprehensive, not knowing what to expect, and as usual his eyes watered and he was wary of having things in his mouth, but he coped superbly. I was with him the whole time, only popping out briefly to check on Aaron in the waiting room, who had begged to come with us, and who had been left to his own devices while we were busy (he was conscientiously looking at the pamphlets on how to care for your dentures and so on). Caleb needed some reminders to open his mouth wide, but really it was such a short procedure that he didn’t battle. As we were leaving, the dentist who worked on my tooth saw us and told us to wait, and came back with two bar-ones for the boys which he just ‘happened to find’ in his bag. He told us not to tell anyone the dentist had given them to us! Ha ha…

School this morning was pretty good – it must have been, because the boys gave me a ‘good girl’ sticker for my big chunk of patience. (*Groan*, I just see that I’m still wearing it…after going to the dentist and town!!)

I had six girls for our group yesterday, and they mostly arrived on time, too. We had our best session yet. I read to them the chapter from my book, which usually isn’t all that relevant for them, but sparked off some discussion. We spoke about things that are pure, lovely, noble, excellent etc that they should be filling their heads with, and then on a tangent they told me what the Anglican minister teaches them when he comes to do his weekly lesson with them. Apparently Jesus isn’t the Son of God, but Joseph’s son, and God and Jesus want the devil to be their friend but the devil hates them. What utter nonsense! I set them straight on both counts, and warned them that just because he is a minister, they mustn’t believe everything he says, rather testing his teachings against the bibles. When I told Nick later, he was quite angry about it – there is so much heresy coming at these kids from the church’s direction, which is as bad as the apathy they get from their families. But, I felt it was a very positive meeting with them, and they are certainly enjoying it. It was especially great that they gave input. Not that they are usually quiet girls…on the contrary, but I think the mindset is that they simply wait to be taught instead of thinking and interacting.

Chopper at work

During the afternoon we went to the pool, and there were a few extra people around who had come to see the new helicopter in action. Today was the first day that it was actually doing work, and also the first day we saw it. It’s very loud, even from our house it sounded noisy.

Ticked off (the to-do list)

As I sit here in Nick’s office typing this, I’m feeling very satisfied with the completion of the work in here! I started the painting yesterday afternoon, but couldn’t paint the sea-facing window panes because the sun was shining directly in, so had to finish early this morning before GNC. After GNC I cleaned the windows, scraping away excess paint etc, and even had to get onto the porch roof to be able to properly clean the outside of that window! Then while we were watching a DVD this afternoon I brasso’d the brass arm-thingies that keep the windows open. They didn’t come up perfectly clean, but there are bits of it that are shiny and look pretty good, especially now at night. Once all the cleaning and vacuuming was done, I hung the blinds.
I took scissors to my hair this morning, being rather tired of the way I have to make such an effort to blow-dry it in order for it to hang properly, and cut off the lower two inches all around. I now have a short bob again, and I really like it. Nick’s comments have not been positive – in fact, the only thing he’s said is “why did you cut your hair?” Oh well.

Making and spending dough

Today has been what I would call a successful day. The first thing I did was to rather apprehensively get a loaf of bread baking. The boys nearly had their heads right in the machine, trying to see what was going on, so I had to shoo them out the kitchen eventually so I could concentrate on what to do. It turned out to be a very simple process after all – I had to just put the ingredients in (order is very important – liquids first, then flour, and yeast right on top), select the program, select the crust colour, and then press start. Three hours and forty minutes later, the loaf was baked. The bread machine mixes the ingredients, kneads the dough, lets it stand, kneads it again, lets it stand again, and then bakes it. I kept an eye on it during school, as there is a viewing window which is quite handy. School was good – no hiccups. I administered a test in maths, which the boys both did very well in. Aaron rather ingeniously used his ruler as a number line for one problem! I didn’t mind though – at least he used his initiative. I don’t normally get begged to read another chapter in history, but the boys are so interested in the discovery of Tut’s tomb that they wanted me to go on! I didn’t though. We were finished shortly after 12, but which time the bread had cooled down sufficiently to slice it. It was amazing. Cooked through quite properly, with a wonderfully crispy crust. I used wholemeal flour, so it was healthy too. We had single-slice open sandwiches with melted in margarine and grated cheese. Wow! Of course I had to photograph it…

The afternoon was good too. After washing up and tidying the kitchen, I settled into my room for a tidy-up. I had lots of sorting, organizing, and cleaning to do. I had to go to town for a few things, and both boys came with me. I wanted to see if I could find anything in the corner shop as a farewell gift for Scilla, and everything is now 75% off. The boys had taken some pocket money with them, and we were all surprised to find some little Bionicle spiders at the shop, which were 15p each. They’re proper Lego, just very little, so that was an excellent price. Then it was on to the Emporium where I needed paint for Nick’s office. I found a tin, only one tin, of the paint I wanted, and it was reduced too, so that was another success.

The schoolroom is coming along quite well. The chap doing the plumbing was in today to install the water heater, which is now done, and there was someone else doing electrical stuff, installing plug points and things. Steve has tiled as far as he can for now, and they’ve painted a small section of the schoolroom in a creamy colour, just one coat, which looks so good. The ship came back today from its UK voyage, and we wait to see whether the flat-pack kitchen units they ordered have arrived.

New kitchen gadget

The first thing I had to do this morning was to renew my medical insurance. It actually expired yesterday, but I forgot about it and got there too late, so I thought that I’d better not have any medical emergencies between now and then, and that I’d better attend to it post haste! I was there just before nine and they were already open, and it was just a matter of paying over the necessary amount to cover me for the next three months. They have all the details on the computer. I was home in time to start school at the usual time, and we whipped through the work in the early session quite quickly, finishing well before 10. That left us time to look at photos of the boys’ births – all the gory c-section pictures, which they wanted to see. I’m looking forward to sorting all the photos into chronological order, so that I can start scrapping in June! I acquired a bread-maker last night from Scilla, who had originally brought it to the island for Vilma. Scilla asked to borrow it while Vincent and Vilma are away, and Vilma left instructions that it was to be left at the manse when Scilla leaves (which she is doing on Saturday), apparently on a permanent basis as Vilma doesn’t use it much. I spent most of the afternoon working on the blinds for Nick’s office. Before I hang them though, I have to paint the window panes and pelmets, as well as Nick’s door which still says “I love you” on the back.

Aaron whispered in my ear today, during the reading of the bibleless peoples all over the world, that he is going to be the missionary who will translate bibles into the languages they need. Lately he is constantly providing analogies of what sin is like, usually quite well. I’m glad that he is thinking in that direction!

CD completed!

Nick finally finished work on Tammy’s CD some time today. The whole thing is very well done - Nick did an excellent job with the guitar, drums, bass, backing vocals, and overall engineering of the album. Now that it’s finally out of the way, I should have him home on Saturday afternoons again! That will be super. School today was fine – we had a peek at homonyms, which the boys caught on to quickly. They had to distinguish between to, too, and two, which they didn’t struggle much with. In history today we started a new book about Tutankhamen, who was only 18 when he died, and about his tomb, and embalming, and during the week we will read about the discovery of his tomb and the treasures. I’m really enjoying it, myself! The boys and I visited my old lady, Caroline, who commented that she hasn’t seen me since we’ve been back – very bad of me! I took both boys to town, for a change, just to get a few grocery items. It was unusual for Caleb to want to come with us as he’s normally such a homebody. The boys helped to carry the bags of purchases. Supper tonight was macaroni cheese, except that I used tuna instead of bacon, and colourful pasta shapes instead of macaroni. So actually it was nothing like macaroni cheese, it was more like a tuna pasta casserole.

Long school morning

I cancelled my beading with Lorna this afternoon, because by lunchtime we hadn’t finished school yet – so instead of rushing through everything, getting there late, and rushing home again for the girls’ group, I decided just to skip it. School just took a very long time this morning. I think we started slightly late, and then there were a couple of things that took longer than normal. Aaron had a few problems with his maths which needed explaining, and took a long time reading some words in another book. Caleb just goes on ahead with his maths – he reads the instruction himself, and just gets on with what needs doing. Anyway, we had lunch, then built some Lego, then carried on with the last two books. In history studies we’re taking a look at ancient Egypt, which has been very interesting. We’re coming at it from a few different angles in different books, which gives a good oversight. We started a new read-aloud called “Mountain Born”, the first chapter of which introduced a new-born lamb that seemed to be dead, but which was resuscitated and is now a little boy’s pet on their farm. The boys are enjoying it so far. We finally finished school for the day at 1.50, which I think is a record lateness. I had a bit of time to scrap, and then had my girls’ group at 4. I had four of them this week, mostly arriving quite late, but it was fun anyway. I’ve challenged them to do a ‘blessed list’ – listing everything in their lives that they are thankful for. I also have to do it.

Pompoms, fish and helicopter

It’s been hot again today, although we had a few patches of cloud cover during the day and even a short shower of rain this morning. During the morning I helped Aaron to finish his pompom, and then got Caleb started on one. Caleb did very well with it, successfully winding the wool round and round the cardboard circles, and then I cut and tied it. He also did a bit more knitting, but kept on snarling it and dropping stitches, so I advised him to give it up for now, which he was glad to do. In the afternoon we went to the docks, Donny’s side, to feed the fish – just for a change of scenery and to get out the house for a little while. It was great. The tide was pretty low so we could clamber over the rocks, and we saw a school of very large rockfish at the water’s edge. We had some juice and biscuits there, and then also sat on a bench outside Donny’s, in the shade, where we could watch the ship belonging to the French people who are doing the rock stabilising, being offloaded. The crane was working quite quickly to get sheets of fencing off the barge and onto the wharf. They have also brought over a little one-man helicopter, which we have not yet seen.

Church tonight was very good – Nick preached about miracles, and why we don’t see them anymore. His main point was that miracles highlighted a turning point in the history of the church – like when the apostles were planting churches, or when Jesus was ministering. They had already tapered off by the time Hebrews was written, about 70AD. Very interesting.

VIP guests

We had a fabulous visit last night with the governor and Mrs. They arrived shortly after 7 pm, by which time supper was completely ready and waiting. We ate straight away – after some panic about what to make for supper, I settled on lasagna, with stir-fried vegetables and garlic bread (ordinarily I would have had salad, but I only had green tomatoes on hand). Conversation flowed freely on varied topics including government and councillors, theology, stories of how we met our spouses and so on. I had a busy afternoon in preparation, evening going so far as to make chocolate leaves to decorate the nougatina meringue, the recipe for which I procured from a magazine.

Today we hired ‘Gummi Bears’ for the boys. It took Nick and me back to our childhood – we could still remember the theme song! Caleb wanted to learn how to knit after that, so I showed him and he managed a few rows by himself, but he would need a lot more practice if he were to become proficient! At the same time I got Aaron making a pompom, and then Nick wanted a haircut. In between other things I finished the ironing, and then this afternoon Nick has been at Tammy – this will be their last Saturday afternoon working on the album, as it has to be finished this week.

School stuff again

We had a ‘fun Friday’ in school today. During the week we’ve been reading a book called “Gooney Bird Greene”, about an eccentric little girl who dresses most unusually and likes to be smack in the middle of everything. Each day she went to school and told an absolutely true story to the class about something that had happened to her. For example, one morning she was late because she had to direct an orchestra. As it happened, she was on her way to school when a big red and white bus drove by, and the bus driver stopped and asked if she knew the way to the town hall, as he was driving the symphony orchestra there and didn’t know the way. She got on the bus and told the driver where to go, thus directing the orchestra! Very cleverly written. Anyway, yesterday afternoon I declared that we would all come to school today dressed up in a GBG style. Caleb came with an extra pair of underpants over his shorts, Aaron had two scarves wrapped around his neck, and I wore on odd combination of clothing! We started off the day with finishing the book, then did everything else more or less backwards, finishing the day with our science. It felt very peculiar, but was nice for a change.

Yesterday morning I sent the boys outside to write on the kitchen window with a window chalk I found in the shops. It’s nice stuff, like special paint for windows which is applied with a sponge tip applicator. I thought it would be fun, but the boys didn’t really. Caleb got it all over himself and couldn’t get the right amount of liquid chalk to come out, so it ended up running down the window in a long blob. Aaron managed better, but I guess when Caleb gave up he did too.

Burning it in

This evening we had the inaugural BBQ on Nick’s new creation. He really wanted to test it before doing any more work on it, to see if the height of the brickwork was right for where the grill would rest, for the coals to be close enough to the meat. The boys were very excited at the prospect of a braai, and so from about 3 pm they wanted to start ‘setting up’. I said they could take the camping chairs up to the top section, but that wasn’t enough. They wanted to make paper chains too, to decorate the area. I cut some strips of paper for them and gave them staplers, and they got busy. Nick was home from his guitar lesson by about 4.30, and got started with making the fire shortly thereafter. The boys were very helpful in whatever way they could be, really wanting to get involved. It was fun to sit outside there while the meat was cooking. We served up from inside and then ate outside on our laps. A bit messy, especially where the boys were concerned, but very successful otherwise. Just shows how unused to regular braais we are, where it was pretty much a weekly occurrence when we lived in sunny SA!

April Fool!

The first item on the news this morning was that the Wirebird, St Helena’s national bird, is actually not called the Wirebird, but its original name has been mispronounced for many years due to the way that Saints pronounce their w’s and v’s, swapping them around. This phonetic oddity causes ‘towel’ for example, to be ‘tovel’, and ‘Vilma’, ‘Wilma’. The Wirebird, then, was actually originally called the “Viabird”, named because of the indirect way in which it gets from one place to another. :-)

Because it was April Fool’s Day today, the boys wanted to do something special in school. I agreed that we could skip Maths and rather watch some Mathtacular, which they love and I’m sure they learn a lot from it. Perhaps we should have more days of missed maths, but I’m afraid that we might run out of school days before we run out of worksheets then!

In Bible Study, Nick’s been dealing with the portions in 1 Peter about elders and leaders and that, and it’s been very interesting to hear people’s opinions on matters pertaining to the pastor, and their expectations. We had a power cut (very unusual for us) from about 6.45 until 8.15 during the evening. We managed fine though with candles and torches for the worship time and half the teaching, but it would have been very difficult to do the tea without light!

Girls' Group

I had my second meeting of the girls’ group this afternoon, for which only two girls arrived. I was pleased though, as they are the more serious two of the group regarding Christianity. It was a good opportunity to speak a bit more deeply, and one of the girls, who already seems to have a good grasp of the gospel, wanted to pray the ‘sinners’ prayer’ to make it official. I’m delighted, and am praying that these girls will be rooted in the Word, and grounded in their faith.

No news

Yesterday I found some fibre-optic toys in the corner shop, and since they came in a twin-pack, on special they were 50p each. The boys had earned a reward, so I let them have those last night. They were absolutely enthralled with them – actually, Nick and I were also! The picture attached is a little-bit little-bit not-so-good, but somehow nice in its own way.

Today was the normal Saturday – GNC, town, DVD for the boys, scrapping for me, braai-building and band practice for Nick.

Deadline shifted

I had the final installment of dentistry on my troublesome tooth today. At last now it has been permanently filled, and the work is done. It wasn’t a fun dentist outing, as he first had to drill away the temporary filling, then screw a cap around the tooth which hurt my gum, and then do all the fillings. He cautioned me that this tooth is only for smiling, not for eating! So I have to concentrate on eating on the right side of my mouth. After all these sessions of work on this tooth, and finally the root canal, I had to pay the bill…₤1.30!

We were back at school this morning, and it was fine apart from the boys being chatterboxes and wrigglers. It’s quite amazing how much noise they can generate by scraping their chairs in and out, rocking on their chairs on the uneven floor (maybe I should be considering gluing felt to the feet of the chairs), and general mumbling and muttering. We started the day, after the bible reading and prayer, with writing their words in water, with paint brushes, on the outside wall. They got a real kick out of that. Then it was back inside for the rest of the usual stuff. It was a bit weird launching back into school on a Thursday and trying to pick up where we left off last Wednesday.

Tammy phoned Nick today to say that the album needs to be finished by 9 April, so they are really going to have to work hard now. Nick came downstairs to tell me that bad news that between now and then, all his free evenings will be spent at Tammy doing recordings. I think I’ll survive though, knowing that it’s a short-term arrangement!

Tiling, new scrapper and extensive shutdown

Steve and Maureen were in the schoolroom today, starting to tile the kitchen section. It’s hugely exciting to see some progress in that area! The cupboards will be arriving when the ship comes back from the UK, and then the real fun begins. They joined us for lunch in the back yard – they had brought their own packed lunch – so we socialised between the washing!

Caleb has started scrapbooking. He’s been wanting to do it for ever so long, and I’ve been saying that when he’s 7 he can start, but he sort of made his own start anyway last week. I provided some A4 pieces of cardboard, which I cut down to a square, so he has a few things to work with. He’s content really to do his own drawings and writings, using things he finds lying around as embellishments. He’s quite a creative boy, actually.

The hole in Nick’s gum where he had the extraction has healed well. He’s so pleased that he has an extra hole in his mouth that he make noises with. His shutdown procedures at night, as he calls them, are quite extensive now. He has to burst all the bubbles in his mouth and get the airpockets out the corners. With such clean teeth it’s very difficult to get your mouth comfortable for sleeping. The mouth is dry and has to be salivated, and then the spit has to be sucked off until all is equally lubricated, which can take several coats. This often disturbs the spit in the mouth and causes bubbles, which are then broken by (a) sharp intakes of breath, (b) swallowing, (c) fishing the small bubbles out from underneath the tongue with the tip of the tongue and pressing them hard against the roof of the mouth. Some bubbles need to be chased as they evade squashing, which results in cheek-squeezing, and any talking or smiling causes new bubbles to form. If one has flossed before bedtime, each gap between each tooth must be opened with the tongue suctioning any excess saliva out. (This paragraph was dictated by Nicholas – think of me with sympathy as I lie quietly next to this obsessive bubble-squashing air-intaker, wondering when his mouth will be comfortable and shutdown completed…).

Easter Sunday

The governor preached our Easter Sunday service today, and Jean played the organ, leaving Nick free of responsibility for the day, other than setting things up for the fellowship tea. Earlier in the week, I offered to do a children’s talk, which the Govnr. okayed, which went off well today. I drew three meanings from the easter egg – that when we eat an egg, we first break it, which reminds us about Jesus’ broken body; that the egg is empty (hollow) inside, reminding us of the empty tomb; and a real egg will produce a chick, reminding us of the new life we can have in Christ, because of his death and resurrection. I was nervous to do it, but the Spirit helped me. The fellowship tea afterwards was nice – good food as always. Jennifer provided two trays laden with mince-filled ‘vetkoek’ – die egte Suid Afrikaanse ding! They went down like a ton of bricks. Nick ate about 20, he says! The clean-up afterwards went well with lots of people helping, some in the kitchen and some in the schoolroom. It will be a relief to have the kitchenette installed, where everything can be done there and then, and the Pastor’s Wife won’t always bear the oversight of the tea!

Nick didn’t have a band practice yesterday afternoon, so instead he went on to the mountain to continue with what he started yesterday, which is building up a thick stone wall, to act as a barrier in the event of rockfalls. I don’t know how effective it would be, as rocks coming down tend to bounce, but it’s something anyway. I tried to do a bit of scrapping, but am currently without inspiration for the next museum page. Instead, I baked a batch of cheese scones which were pretty good, especially hot out of the oven.

No moss on this one

On Tuesday, Steve and a plumber were working in the schoolyard to install fixtures for the kitchenette, when a big rock broke away from the mountain and came bouncing down right towards them, finally ending its descent on a tin roof on the property next door to the schoolroom, about two metres from where they were working. They were somewhat shaken up to have watched the rock coming down, and by the propinquity of its landing spot! Minor damage was sustained by the house next door – the tin roof on which it landed has a big dent. Rock guards were called in to examine the mountain, but it was declared safe shortly thereafter. Again, we are thankful that no one was injured!

Our Good Friday service today was at Sandy Bay at 10 am. We left here at 9, to be there in plenty of time to get a parking, and put the songbooks out etc. The little chapel was very full. Nick’s message was focused on Christ as the Passover Lamb – he is our sacrifice, our substitute, and our safehouse (referring back to the blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintels when the angel of death passed over). It was another excellent message. After church we joined forces with the ex-pat Baptist community, which is growing, for soup and rolls at Steve and Maureen’s house. There were 9 of us, and the boys – Andrew and Jean, Harry and Jennifer and Scilla being the other ones. The Governor and Mrs had to leave before the soup though as lunch had been prepared for them at their house, but the rest of us thoroughly enjoyed Maureen’s vegetable soup. After the soup we had spicy buns. Conversation was good, with much friendly bantering. I tried to get a photo, but the camera’s batteries refused me that occasion. We had an international phonecall during the afternoon from a retired Baptist Minister in East London, to say that he is praying for us here. We are very privileged and humbled!

Rain, rain, rain, and Girls for God

Two things to report on today. The first was that we had the heaviest rain today that we’ve experienced since being on the island. To say that it rained hard is like saying that Methuselah was very old. It seemed like the entire Atlantic Ocean was dumped upon us in a very short space of time. Our bedroom ceiling was leaking in three places, but fortunately the drips could be caught with only two containers. We found two more leaks in the passage, one in Nick’s office, and the rain was entering the house downstairs as it dripped down the outside wall. The gutter outside our driveway got blocked, so water was gushing around the top of it in a wide muddy river. Further upstream, the torrent took away part of the concrete that makes up the bridge over the gutter into the schoolyard, where we park the car, so that a chunk of it on one side has been washed away, and the steel girders are visible in places. Fortunately Nick could still manoeuvre the car out, once the mud had dried a bit. The sun actually came out though during the morning, although we had another very hard shower later during the morning.

The second thing is that I had my first girls’ group today. I thought no one was coming, as none had arrived by about 4.05, but they all got there shortly thereafter. Only one girl from the sleepover didn’t come, but she wasn’t at school today either – the girls reckoned she slept late and so didn’t worry to go to school! I want the group to be fairly relaxed and discussional, rather than me preaching at them, but since they didn’t have much to say today I did a short teaching about faith without actions – that they can’t say they are Christians, but not have a life-style to prove it. I’ve assigned them the task of reading some Bible each day, and tracking what they’ve read, to show me next time we meet in a fortnight (we’re not meeting next Monday due to it being Easter). I think overall it was pretty good, despite the blank stares. Some of the girls really seem to be interested. One girl told me that after my tirade on Friday night, she deleted all her music off her MP3 player!