The boys and other things

Nick played cricket with the boys in the afternoon. Both boys had a chance to bat before getting bored.

Aaron found a puddle of water on the tennis courts, which worked well for his other discovery of marbles, which he found lying around Piccolo.

Iced over

Today was Maureen’s birthday. I baked a cake to celebrate, but once again I succeeded in flopping it. Not that it tasted bad, but it was simply a very flat cake. In taking the two rounds out of their pans the cakes broke into pieces…I was too lazy to line the tins with baking paper, so used a spatula to loosen them. No worries, I thought, I’ll just ice everything back together. I carefully laid the lower section on a plate, fitting them together as best I could like a puzzle, then spread a layer of jam over them. That done, the top bit had to go on. Hmmm, tricky, because I really just had one big piece and a lot of “large crumb” sections. I ended up just putting things where I saw gaps and pressing them down. So when it was iced it looked pretty…but all was revealed when it came time to cutting and eating it at bible study! Actually, Nick wasn’t much help there because he advertised my gastronomic disaster.

Pencils ready...let's go!

We had the first day of the Clevely Academy 2009 this morning. It really felt quite fine to be back at school after the long December holidays. The boys have retained most of their knowledge and bad habits, so it really didn’t seem any different from last year. We have a few new things in the schedule, like spelling and new handwriting workbooks. The boys were ready and waiting early, so we decided to start our school day at 8.30 instead of 9 – we’ll try this for a few days and see how it goes. A good idea though, since we have more work to do and so it does go a bit longer…our school day today was 3 hours and ten minutes.

Pam and the Piccolo People

Nick brought Donald home with him after church to have lunch with us. I made macaroni (surprise surprise – it wasn’t lasagna!), and an apple cake with custard for pudding. We barely had time to wash the dishes and apply sunscreen before it was time to leave for Diana’s Peak. We had some Piccolo People (that’s not their official title, but it has a rather fun ring…especially when you add “Pam” in front of it - decidedly band-name-ish) join us – Rob, Claire, Tom and Milly, as well as Phil with Sappho. Unfortunately DT wasn’t feeling well, and Arthur stayed home too. The other Piccolo family had already gone in the morning. We met up with Pam and Maddy at Prince Andrew, and then continued in convoy to the main entrance. It was a super day for walking, although we had a lot of mist up at the top, obscuring views. Also the skies were white from the peaks, which was unfortunate for photography. We had forgotten that it’s quite a strenuous climb, although very safe, so the adults were taken by surprise at the length of time and the hills and stairs! It was really fantastic though to be on the peaks again, particularly with such a big group. We were 14 in all – 7 kids.

(Thanks Pam for that lovely pose...)

Tennis-tennis?

Today was a hot day in Longwood, certainly the hottest we’ve had. I don’t have a thermometer here, but I’d say it was at least 25! Nick had a deacons’ retreat during the morning which I think went very well – he shared his vision for the church to go “WIDER” – focusing on the areas of worship, intercession (prayer), discipleship, evangelism and relationships (community). He and the deacons also plotted a calendar of church events for the year which will include gospel sings and a camp. He got home after lunch time but was still up for a game of tennis. There is an ancient court right here in Piccolo with half a net and the ghosts of lines still painted on, so we had a bit of fun. Turns out we are both rubbish at tennis, but I’m sure with practice we will improve. The main thing was that we both enjoyed it and deemed it a suitable form of exercise. I’ve never before played tennis with goats watching so this was novel. One poor goat was tethered to one of the fence posts, so every time I ran to that corner after the ball, it got nervous and tried to run away. The boys were also watching, and when they came too close to the skittish creature it ran right under the broken fence and on to the court. Poor thing…we had to very slowly guide it in the right direction to get back under the fence and out of the way! Sadly, I couldn’t play tennis with the camera around my neck, so there was no photo of that…instead, the PotD is this cute one of Aaron.

Camera-camera!

Negotiations closed with a local last night to buy his Nikon D80…we were at his place first thing this morning to pick it up and pay for it! The rest of the day was taken up playing ‘camera-camera’. Although I can use it as a point-and-shoot, I obviously want to get a lot more out of it, so I have to study the manual thoroughly. So far I’m on about page four…familiarising myself with the buttons, and how to change lenses and charge the battery. At least I managed to get photos onto the computer! Nick played with it too so that he will also be able to use it, at least the basics. We are very impressed with it! It has two lenses, an 18-135 and a 70-300, which is a kicker lens – huge, and does amazing things. Apart from my PotD, I’m going to post experimental photos on the blog regularly.

I particularly loved this agapanthus which I took from a distance of about 2m:

This is Jessina who lives near to Piccolo (Ema, this one’s for you!). Photo by Nick.

And at last, Fairy Terns in their natural environment…a photo I have long been wanting to take!

I took a wander around Piccolo in the afternoon, intending to take pictures, but happened upon Claire and DT, so stopped by for a chat and stayed for about an hour. Although I’m wary of having neighbours in such close proximity (my personal insecurities…what if people are constantly on my doorstep and I have no retreat-time?), I think it’s really awesome having all these moms about. Piccolo has the feel of a holiday home or camp site now, where the residents stop to chat. Next Saturday we’re planning a Piccolo Picnic (well, it didn’t have such a narfy title until right now when I typed it, but that’s what it will be), where we can all hang out together and get to know one another. The new residents have the advantage of having spent the week together on the ship.

Bead-bead

After a bit more sorting and organizing in the house, I joined up with Elza, Pam and Jocelyn at the coffee shop for the regular Thursday morning coffee, which I can only attend when we’re having school holidays. Jocelyn is a new friend – she is the wife of the dentist (the one who extracted my tooth last year) and is expecting their first baby in May. We have recently got her hooked on digital scrapbooking so it was a regular show-and-tell and swap party with scrapping magazines, photos and albums being passed around. During the morning I received a box of beads which I had ordered from a South African company – mostly semi-precious chips and shell beads, as I want to start a new product line using more ‘organic’ shapes and products. The afternoon, then, was spent playing ‘bead-bead’…I touched, sorted, organized and played with the new stash. Geoff and Pam came by in the evening after Nick had left for bible study, to fetch Maddison who had been playing with Sappho and had ended up at our house. Pam very graciously listened to my bead-twitter and even designed a necklace – I don’t think the beading bug bit though! On Thursday night I did more photocopying and then glued pendant bails on to some of the semi-precious stones I have in my collection, ready for use as pendants. Incidentally, I had run out of superglue so Nick and I walked to the Longwood store in the late afternoon to buy some. No, we were told, they don’t have, and we won’t find superglue anywhere on the island. We walked across to Maisie’s Shop which is run by the same people, and upon enquiring they dug into their secret stash of treasures behind the fridge to produce the sought-after solvent. So it always helps to ask!

Christmas in January?!

Happy Christmas! No wait, that can’t be right…except that today really was Christmas day again, at least in Pam and Geoff’s house! Pam put up the Christmas tree and decorated their house yesterday in preparation for Christmas in January today. We went around after the boys were finished at holiday club to have a Christmas lunch with them and open presents…it was fun! (Especially fun since Pam and Geoff had spoiled us with purchaes from the UK). After the present opening we ate a delicious lunch of lasagne, chicken korma, brussel sprouts (for Nick), carrots and jacket potatoes.


Then Maddison needed to get to a birthday party so Pam and I sneakily left the men in the house with a BIG hint (okay, it was more than a hint – it even crossed beyond the bounds of suggestion) that they should wash the dishes while we took Maddy to the party. Pam and I weren’t really intending to stay for long, but the birthday girl’s mom offered us a cup of tea. We stayed and chatted for about an hour and a half! Meanwhile Nick, Geoff and the boys were wondering what had happened to us, but they had solved the world’s problems in the meantime. We left their place at about 3.30 and passed Nick’s Wednesday afternoon guitar pupil on the way home – he had been waiting and eventually gave up, but turned back when he saw us. What followed was nearly two hours of loud electric guitar. The kids around Piccolo thought it was awesome; I was apologizing to everyone for the noise!

Newbies, returning friends and school prep

Up at 5.35 this morning to get ready, then leave with the boys for the docks at 6.10. We arrived in plenty of time to sit and wait for an hour before passengers began disembarking. Fortunately Pam, Geoff and Maddy were in the first busload – so exciting to see them waving at us from the bus as it pulled up to customs! We are all really pleased to have them back. I took Pam and the luggage up to their place in the car while the rest of the party had to walk – our Fiesta can only hold so much! Once we were unloaded and the rest had caught up and arrived, the boys and I left them to settle in and unpack. I had to get the boys to the second day of the holiday club, then I filled up with petrol and came home to do some photocopying of blackline masters for school next week. I still have a lot of preparatory work before school starts.

During the afternoon we received three new sets of neighbours in Piccolo, all off the ship this morning. We have met most of them but it’s a bit confusing trying to put the families together. I think it goes like this: Margaret and Paul have Louise (18) and Richard (16); Phil and DT have Sappho (9) and Arthur (14 months), and Claire and Rob have Tom (6) and Milly (2). Then of course there are the two girls in the Family Centre, and our two, so there’s quite a variety of children!

Yesterday I achieved a lot of what I wanted to do. I tidied the school station and sorted through the books we will be using in the first term, sharpened the pencils, reorganized cupboards etc.


In the afternoon I sorted out the boys’ clothes as well as their room, thoroughly cleaning out things and even tossing out some things which I didn’t think needed keeping. I moved the beds and vacuumed – it’s amazing what can be found under or behind little boys’ beds. Aaron was storing two Cadbury’s Eclairs, two toothpick floss goodies (useful if you’re going to get into a hidden stash of toffees), a boules ball and pyjama pants. Caleb had a more normal collection including cars and bits of paper. All things considered their room wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be.

Unity

So we’re four days into the New Year, and this is my fourth photo-of-the-day (hereinafter referred to as PotD). Turns out it’s a lot harder to take photos of something when there is nothing happening to photograph. Anyway, here's yesterday's:

The boys have turned a corner in their vegetable eating and boldly claim not to mind them now. This revolutionizes the way I cook, in that I no longer have to disguise vegetables in stews or pies or one-pot stuff with lots of sauce. I can now have them in plain sight on the plate – last night we had gammon steaks, mashed potato and beans, with not a drop of gravy. The boys’ teeth did not seem to be growing long as they bravely ate the squeaky beans. We’ll see how long this new phase lasts though! Nothing else happened in the day, including watching Narnia: Prince Caspian, which we did not. The person who rented it on Friday night had not yet returned it when we went to the DVD shop at lunchtime, and so Nick went back in the evening and it was still not in. That’s our second strike-out. We’ve booked it again for next Saturday…

Today’s PotD was going to be of Nick battling to open a bottle of grape juice with pliers, but that really would have been Celebrating the Mundane and Meaningless, so I’m using one of the combined service we had at the Salvation Army Hall. We normally have our evening services there, but once a month the Salvation Army has a united service in the evening, so we have to make other arrangements. We forgot completely about it, so by the time we were reminded it was too late to arrange anything else. As it was we had to phone all our people to alert them to an earlier service time. The service was very good, with the SA brass band up front playing the hymns (Aaron had his hands over his ears – we were sitting right behind them). Nick preached the message on a small little portion from Acts 13 about unity and diversification, which was excellent – highlighting the need for a multiplicity of leaders in the church and each member using their gifts.

After the service we drove through town, as we always do – this is the quickest route to Side Path which takes us to Longwood – and noticed that the Christmas lights were still up. I’ve been wanting to photograph the lights every year and never seem to have managed. The first year I didn’t have my camera cable and so couldn’t take many photos; I think the second year’s photos were hopeless, and last year we were away. So tonight I was excited that I had my camera in my bag – Nick obligingly drove the car around while I walked and photo’d.

Rainbow Horizons

Today Nick and I finished work on the album cover, lyrics and sticker etc for his second CD…he hasn’t officially released his first one yet, but the second is already ready for mass production! He’ll just keep it on the back burner for now, but he particularly wanted to finish it today before he starts with bible studies next week. He did the graphic work himself, fiddling around with the photos he chose – good job!


We went out for lunch, intending to go swimming afterwards but the pool was closed. We’re finding the vastly differing opening hours of the various shops and services very confusing and irregular. Next week things go back to normal. Anyway, we just had our lunch in Castle Gardens, in a staggered fashion as they had left out the boys’ sausage baguette, so Nick and I ate and the boys had to wait. One of the questions I'm always asked as a homeschooler is "what about socialisation". My answer is standard: the boys can socialize with anyone. They can chat with adults and easily mix with other kids, strangers or not. The boy in this photo is new to us, but while waiting for lunch the boys had engaged him and were eating his popcorn.

I forgot to blog yesterday that Phoenix has left us, but not in a good way. He was doing poorly yesterday, going the same way as Reepicheep in his last hours. We simply couldn’t bear to go through watching a bird die again, so we put it in a tree where the boys have their treehouse and left him there, hoping he might revive in the fresh air. It sounds heartless, doesn’t it, but there was very little we could really do for him. Later in the afternoon two girls who live near the complex and regularly play with Caleb and Aaron brought him back to us, and I said we didn’t want to keep him anymore. They said “oh”, and that their mom didn’t want them keeping him either, but came back ten minutes later to say their mom changed her mind, so they took him away. I don’t know how he’s doing now, but I asked the girls to let me know how he fares. Maybe he just lost the will to live and gave up on trying to fly too – he wasn’t improving anymore. Poor thing, and I feel very badly about the whole thing.

The Genesis of 2009

Happy 2009 to all those reading the blog! If you know the Saviour, may it be a God-filled year serving Him. If you can’t yet claim Him as your Father, then may this be the year that He reaches into your life to make you His own! It’s always exciting to be standing at this point of the unknown, on this side of God’s revealed plan for us, as it were. We suspect that this year might bring some big changes, but we have absolutely no idea what the changes will be. We’re hoping to leave the island toward the end of the year, but where to is a mystery still. I love to look back at an elapsed period of time and say “wow, look what God did”.

I can’t say it’s been a very exciting start to the day, but it certainly has been restful. The boys spent a large part of the day outside – we’ve been having the best weather at the moment – I’m up-to-date with the washing, and even tackled the growing pile of ironing this afternoon, so I guess that’s a good way to kick off 2009. Thinking back to 1 January last year, we had the dread feeling of our holiday coming to an end, as we flew to Cape Town on 3rd Jan to board the ship. This day last year, then, we said good bye to Glen and Antje as we parted ways from our mini-holiday experience, then settled in at my parents’ house again for the last few days. We had friends over to lunch and I dropped an entire bottle of mayonnaise on the tiled kitchen floor, shattering it almost under the fridge. But still, it was a good lunch. As I don’t want to relive the 29th of September 2005 when we left SA for the first time, I also wouldn’t want to relive this time last year. The frantic packing to get all the suitcases to the required 20 kg for the flight was almost as bad as the good-byes!

I’ve decided to do a photograph-a-day project this year. This means that every day this year I will be taking a photograph of something. Anyone want to join me in this? It might be of what we did in the day, or something more obscure. It might not even be very good! Every month I will print each photo in a 3x4cm size and paste it into an oversized scrapbook which I’ve prepared. So, to that end, I will be posting the day’s photo on the blog as well with a description should it need one. Today’s photo is of Nick skyping Glen – potentially arb, but they were in the middle of a deep discussion about our future and where in the world to go and how to find out where the needs are.

Goodbye 2008

Yesterday I spent most of the day crafting…bliss! I had to fold and put away some washing, but other than that I didn’t even do housework. I had some beading to do (an order), then in the late afternoon/evening I started a page, the photo of which was taken at Wimpy at Hartebeespoort Dam in March 2005, while we were on holiday with you at Magaliespark. It’s just of me and Nick, and I altered it on the computer before getting it printed out – I’ve had it for ages, and I just thought it would be fun to scrap. The layout fell together, and I finished it last night apart from the eyelets which took some serious hammering, so I did that bit this morning. It actually goes against my whole scrapping philosophy – I think scrapping for the sake of it is silly. A page should tell a story, but this one says nothing. It was purely fun!

This morning I still had the grocery shopping to do, was home by lunch time, then scrapped in the afternoon and made a pudding for the evening.

Our New Years’ Eve celebration this year took place at Steve and Maureen’s house, per their kind invitation. Sarel and Elza were also part of the group, and it was a lovely evening – good food and good chatting. We didn’t even have to resort to games to stay awake! Steve was in the middle of a story about a UK bank transfer gone awry when midnight rolled around, so it was about ten minutes after by the time we noted the new year and wished one another. Then home and into bed!

Too late

Yesterday our day was very low key, but nice – we had corned beef savoury tart and roast potatoes for lunch (I forgot to salt them while they were cooking so I simply poured on lots of salt afterwards, which wasn’t really the right thing to do!). In the afternoon we were just at home. Nick’s service in the evening was so good, it’s such a pity that only 9 people got to hear it, me and the boys included. He preached on the portion in Philippians 2 about working out your salvation, with the analogy of our salvation being like a house – at salvation, Jesus presents us with a completely built house, and a paintbrush. We are to give the house the finishing touches. The house will not fall down if we don’t paint it properly, but the onus rests on us to do it the best we can.

Today our plan was to go to town to collect the DVD of Prince Caspian which we had booked a week or two ago. We were very excited and had been looking forward to seeing it. Also had some grocery shopping to do and wanted to visit Elza. We spent the morning at home – the boys disappeared outside, helping Ethel with the Family Centre garden and working on the treehouse (and eating cake at their house); Nick read up on personality types on the internet, and I scrapped. After lunch we drove off, in high spirits – the boys had their swimming costumes with them too, just in case. We passed by a few people we knew worked in town, headed in their homeward direction, which got us a bit worried – our suspicions were confirmed when we reached town and every single door was shut! All shops closed at 1 pm today, and nothing is open tomorrow. What a huge disappointment! It wouldn’t have helped to be angry either because there were signs posted all over all the shop doors, advertising their opening hours for the Christmas week. It was our own fault that we didn’t bother to take note of them. So, that cancelled our plans for Caspian and grocery shopping. We went down to the pool expecting to find it closed, but it was actually open so Nick and the boys swam while I read. We stopped by Elza as planned, and Sarel was home as well – he needed to pop in at the hospital to see a few people, but then he and the boys were able to head down to our empty church to fly their helicopters…honestly, {big} boys and their toys! Elza and I were left to chat which was wonderful – I took a page to show her and she had two new pages to show me. She does excellent work and it always inspires me (and Elza, I’m not just saying that because I know you’ll be reading this!) We discussed a lot of other stuff too, including their recent trip to the UK. After Nick, Sarel and the boys got back, they had another cup of coffee and after more chatting, we left after 5 – still needing to come home and make dinner! I made a quick supper of scrambled eggs, cheese viennas and baked beans, a very acceptable meal. So that’s been our day.

Town day, almost

Again, Nick didn’t want to spend the day at home (I wouldn’t mind, actually – I’ve always got things to do, especially scrapping – finished off this page quickly this morning), so we left at 10 to go to town.

The plan was to do shopping, have lunch in town, then go swimming, but our plans changed when the weather turned bad and there were no eateries open. Instead, after a bit of shopping, we bought a loaf of bread at the Star (they don’t usually bake bread on a Saturday so we were pleasantly surprised to find fresh bread), some salami and cheese at Tinkers and mayonnaise, drinks and plastic knives at Thorpes. We had our lunch at Castle Gardens, then went back to the Bazaar to buy shoes for the boys. Nick stopped to chat with someone he knows, so the boys and I amused ourselves while we waited with some self portraits.

Nick didn’t want to sit around at home today – who can blame him? So we drove east in the direction of the Millennium Forest and then headed out to Prosperous Bay Plain. We’d never walked this particular part of the island, or even seen it, really, up close. First stop was a crushing plant which came with a few old cars too – the boys thought this was a fairy land, and were disappointed to learn that this wasn’t our final destination!
A bit more driving took us as far as we could go in the car, and then the hike/walk began. The first bit involved some scrambling up and down soft dunes which I did NOT enjoy but Nick and the boys were again in their element.

Then the scenery changed from brown to bright green as we trampled through little succulents which were growing pretty well despite the harshness of the coastal weather.

After navigating the dunes and crossing a small river we found ourselves on a path, which we followed for what seemed like a very long time but was probably only about 15 minutes – during this time we played silly games to help pass the time. The path disappeared when the ground become more rocky, but we could see our destination which was an old ruin of a house at the top of a hill. We walked and walked, walked some more, walked and scrambled, climbed hills, until we finally got to the top. The walk was worth it for the view! I wish I could tell you what the name of the bay is, but our big map of the island is at the manse, so I’m clueless. We luncheoned at the top; Nick threw rocks off the cliff to listen for the thud at the bottom, but it was too far down anyway…such a boy thing to do. Aaron found a piece of old rope with a loop on one end which he dragged around with him like a dogless leash until it got stuck on a rock a bit later on.

Once we had rested up we headed back – Caleb was hoping for a circular route but it was pretty much a straight there and back. Well, except for the fact that we bypassed all the paths we had trodden earlier, instead navigating directly by line of sight to the car. I couldn’t help feeling like Frodo as we wandered through the barren wasteland, headed for a target which never really seemed to get much closer. At one point Nick took the boys into a valley and up a hill, while I decided to see if there was an easier way along the top of the ridge. Turns out my way was both easier and quicker, but none of the Clevely men will admit to it. I stand alone in my theory, just as I stood alone waiting for them yesterday… (spot the three tiny travellers in the photo below - they really are there!)
We were home after three hours of walking where we were glad that nothing else needed doing in the day. Being a Friday I made pizza for supper, and, not feeling like washing up dinner plates, I suggested that we go to town and eat at the docks where we could watch the sun set. What we hadn’t reckoned on was another parade in town, and people everywhere – but we found an isolated spot where we could eat in peace. We didn’t really feel like milling around with people, so we came back home after supper and the boys went to bed.

Christmas Day

Happy Christmas one and all! We had a lovely evening last night, Christmas Eve. In the spirit of Christmas, we extended an invitation to the two girls and their carer in the Family Centre here at Piccolo to have dinner with us. They arrived shortly after six, and the lasagne and foccacia bread were ready and waiting. We tucked straight into supper, after which the boys couldn’t wait any more to open their presents, so we did just that.

Aaron says: Well, we got some Carribbean Pirates from our cousins, a transformer, a police thing, I had a pair of boots, we both had a helicopter because it’s both of ours, we got a game called Battleships and Cluedo, oh and I got an art thing, some toy men, a colouring book, a truck, some cars, I got some jellies, I got some vitamins, a chocolate egg, a toothbrush, I got um, what was it again, rattlesnake eggs (magnetic eggs), flashing lights things, and that’s all.
Caleb says: I got a skull, a fire department thing, I got a lego car, um two pencils, a pen, uh, a book, uh, vitamins, camp chair and that’s all I remember. And some shoes, and a flying disc.

Mom says: They got lots of stuff. They opened things so quickly that I don’t know what was from who.

This morning Nick was awake way too early – apparently I bumped him at 3 am and he didn’t get back to sleep. By 5.45 we were treated to “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” from the hi-fi. Strangely, despite it being summer, that song seems so appropriate for Longwood, as we have yet another day of white skies. Nick woke the boys up and they blearily came through for their stockings, which included vitamins and tooth brushes. Good counterbalance for the smarties and chocolate eggs. Then we got ourselves ready for church and left at 7.30, first to get to town to pick up songbooks, then to Knollcombes. The church was reasonably full and it was a good service. Nick preached on a portion from Hebrews 1 – not a typical Christmas message, but highlighting who Jesus is.

We had been invited to Gavin and Tammy for Christmas Day lunch which was really great – they had all their families with them including both sets of parents and at least one sibling on each side, along with some in-laws, and other small kids. Gavin’s mom had set the table beautifully, and everyone contributed to the meal – we ate and ate!

The kids forgot to finish their lunch; too excited to get back outside and play in the big pile of dirt. It’s a long time since I’ve seen them so dirty.

Here, there, there and back

I had a horribly early start this morning; up at 5.45 to have a quick breakfast and bath, so I could leave home at 6.20 to meet a few people off the ship – Elza and Sarel returned from their quick 11-day trip, and one of our congregants was back after being in the Cape for medical treatment for several weeks. She was glad to be reunited with her husband! This is the same couple whose car burned out in front of the church, if you remember. Sarel and Elza were in the first busload, and Elza handed me a packet with two scrapbook magazines (I had requested one – she managed to get hold of December AND January) as well as some beautiful embellishmenty goodies. Lovely! They volunteered for me to take them home, which I was more than happy to do. I dropped them and went straight back to the docks where I was in time to see Shirley come through. I just briefly said hello and welcomed her back, then came back home. After coffee and a QT I tucked into some real housework…and I meant business. I tidied the general living areas and our room while the boys had a forced tidy-up in their room (they thought they had tidied but I uncovered all the stuff from behind their beds and under the chest of drawers…I didn’t even get into their cupboards) and Nick tidied his office, finally clearing some desk space after having had Tammy’s sound desk there for so long. He’s taken to doing his sermon prep on the diningroom table because his office is overrun with music stuff. I also washed a few windows and washed the kitchen floor. I think we should make this an every-year-on-the-23rd-of-December event…a big cleanup before Christmas. Works for me. Sitting outside having lunch today, I was browsing through the January Scrapbook Inspirations when I saw a familiar looking page…my heart skipped a beat when I realized it was mine - they published my letter! You know, in the ‘letters to the editor’ sort of section. It’s a page with a photo of my niece looking out the window – I was so excited to see it in there!

In the afternoon we had guests - a couple called Paul and Gemma, and their three kids Leoni, Libby and Luka. We met them at Flagstaff when we walked it a couple of weeks ago, and agreed that we should get together for the kids to play. It was really a great afternoon – the kids played well, and us four adults conversed superbly on a variety of topics.

Yesterday I barely touched base at home. I left Nick to hang up the washing, and was in town shortly after 9. My first stop was the bank where I had a long visit, firstly as there was a bit of a queue, and then I had to stand at the teller for a long time while she counted up the ₤87.99 in coins which was taken at busking a few weeks ago, which we had not yet deposited. Fortunately I did the bank first though, as I noticed the queue got longer and longer during the morning! I was in town the whole morning, buying a few groceries and looking for some last minute Christmas presents. I was just home in time for lunch, then I was off to Lorna directly after that. It was my last crafting afternoon with them as I will not be continuing next year. Nick had asked me to be home earlyish, so I left just after 3, was home long enough to visit the WC, then went with Nick and the boys back to town – dropped them off at the swimming pool, and did a bit more stocking-stuffer shopping. Home again, made supper, and was tuckered out by 9 pm.

A little something from Caleb

Caleb asked me to put these on the blog. He drew them. They are Squats; they live in the ice-caps of Venus and they make electricity. They live in moist places (they are not real, they are just drawings, he says).

More busking and beading

With no Good News Club happening during the December holidays, we had the early part of the morning at home. Not for long though, as Nick had another busking appointment in town with Steve and Tony – the three of them sound really great together. I took the opportunity to set up my jewelry stand – if not, why not? The buskers played a selection of Christmas Carols and more traditional songs, and there were two collection boxes going around. Caleb and Aaron unashamedly shook the box and offered it to passersby for contributions, which, when coming from a kid, is inoffensive. Bernice Olsen joined the cause again and carried the other box up and down the street, which we really appreciated. The weather could have been better – we had strong gusts of wind (fortunately the musicians had strong bulldog clips or pegs for their music) and there was a bit of occasional drizzle – but Maureen and I agreed that it also could have been a lot worse. We also had Nick’s CD available for purchase, and 7 went. I sold another ₤80 of beaded goods, and Steve phoned in the afternoon to say that the busking raised ₤202.51!

Caleb lost another tooth before we left for town. This time, he literally lost it – he suddenly stopped mid-chew and showed me the gap, but then couldn’t find the tooth anywhere, so we surmised that he swallowed it. Never mind, the Tooth Momster still came.

Nick took the boys swimming in the afternoon, and Aaron very proudly swims without armbands now too. I took the opportunity to clean the house while they were gone – it’s better to do it when there’s no one around, because then I can’t get angry with anyone that the house is in such a mess! And I also scrapped (of course).

Friday's doings

I was in the market again today, selling my beaded wares. It was a bit slow, but I came away with ₤80 so I guess it wasn’t too bad after all! That’s another ₤40 to my camera fund. We were out for a large chunk of the day, leaving home at 9.30 to get to the manse first and then the market; Nick and the boys dropped me off in town then went to Bluehill to help Donald some more with his gardening. The boys sawed wood and played with it, and explored, and Nick dug weeds and planted some pumpkin seedlings which were donated from the plenteous supply in our front garden – more are coming up all the time.

Cocktails and Carols - do they go?

Today was very much an at-home day for the most part, in which I finished a scrapbook page of Nick and started one of Aaron. At 5 pm we had supper and then got ourselves ready for the Cocktails and Carols evening at Plantation House. Nick looked dashing in his suit with a gray shirt and red tie, and I had a bit of spare material to make him a pocket-kerchief thing, so we matched well. We were ready to leave by 5.45; I asked Caleb to take a photo of us before we left, but um…it wasn’t a great pic.

We got to Tammy before 6 to drop off the boys, then left straight away – I guess we were anticipating chatting for a few minutes because we had built it into the driving time, but we ran ahead of schedule and got to Plantation House way too early. We sat waiting in the car for about 15 minutes! We were welcomed at the door by the Governor and Mrs Gurr before making our way into the library with a glass of fruit juice. After a short time of chatting, those of us in the library were invited to join the others in the diningroom for the singing of the Carols. There was quite a crowd in there and it was stuffy! We sang five or six carols, interspersed with some jokes by the Governor and even a little ditty of his own composition which was amusing.

Nick and I agreed that we didn’t enjoy singing carols with people who had glasses of wine or beer in hand, who were changing the words to amuse themselves and then laughing at their own cleverness, or who were simply singing songs – it is OUR Jesus they are singing about, and they shouldn’t do it without meaning! But that aside it was a lovely evening. After the singing we made our way back to the library where we chatted to people we wouldn’t normally mingle with – I spoke to the Bank Manageress, the wife of the Chief Secretary, and one of the ladies in IT who also happens to be Miss St Helena (when I put it like that it sounds impressive, doesn’t it – but there are no celebrities on the island). Nick isn’t much into chit-chatting so it was more laborious for him, but the mini pizzas, chicken nuggets, sausages, samoosas and other finger foods kept him going. At 8.45 we joined the queue of leavers, bidding farewell to the Governor and Mrs at the door. We had been standing around for over two hours and my legs were aching, but it had really been very good. The boys were still awake at Tammy’s house, having had too good a time playing with their friends to bother about sleep!

Dress done and Donald

There is very little to report on in the last few days – I’ve been sewing almost non-stop! I finished my evening dress on Monday night and I’m really pleased with it. Yesterday I cut out and sewed a blouse with material which was sent over in June. It took me a long time to get to, but in the past few months there hasn’t really been much need for a little summer blouse. However, I’m sure summer is nearly here, even in Longwood despite another grey day yesterday, so while I was in a sewing mood I got it done.

Nick went to help Donald with housework yesterday. Donald will be officially released from prison on the 27th, but he is on a ‘prerelease release’ at the moment which means that he is completely out of prison but it’s not official. Go British Prison System. Anyway, after a few years in prison his house needed some attention. I think Nick worked in the garden mostly – I didn’t get any clear details.

Fund-raising, party and dress-up

Nick was called in to receive a cheque for ₤40.85 from St Paul’s Middle School yesterday, from a fun face-painting activity they had had for which the children needed to bring 20p. Although it’s a small amount we are still so blessed that people are giving and thinking of us in their charitable and money-raising efforts.

We were anxiously watching the time during the assembly as we needed to get to town by 10 so I would be ready for my bead-selling appointment by 10.30, but everything went smoothly and timeously. The weather in town was undecided; worse in the country – it has been raining or at least misty for a few consecutive days now. My washing is piling up. Anyway, it didn’t really look good for sitting outside in front of the canister, but the drizzle was just light enough not to ruin the cardboard tags upon which all my necklaces hang. I did eventually move into the entrance of the canister, and actually not a moment too soon – apart from the slightly heavier precipitation, a PW&SD truck came reversing into the exact spot I had been sitting in order to fix a light. Then along came Pilling Primary School to sing Christmas carols, again occupying my former spot. Meanwhile, I was out of the later-developing sunshine, so all in all it was good. Tammy had also been there all morning selling her Christmas CD, of which she sold about 8. It was great to have her there to chat to every now and then! I met a few interesting people, particularly yachties who stopped to look. Also inside the Tourist Office was Wanda Isaacs doing a lace-making demonstration. I was very pleased with my own sales.

This morning was the Good News Club Christmas party. We sang two songs before Nick organized the children into games – the indoor games were balloon volleyball and I think balloon basketball, and then a few rounds of musical statues. Enid and I got all the food ready meanwhile, and by the time the kids were statued and musical chaired-out, we were ready for them. There followed the usual excitement accompanying the eating of party food, and when we felt that enough chips, sweets, coconut fingers, meatballs, chocolates and pizza squares had been eaten, we brought them back inside to receive their Christmas presents. Enid arranges a present for every child who has attended during the year and wraps them up, which is really a huge undertaking for which we are grateful. At about 11.40 we were pretty much finished and the kids went home with their presents.

Nick and I have been invited to “Cocktails and Carols” at Plantation House on Thursday. While I was lying awake in bed early it occurred to me that I have absolutely nothing suitable to wear to a Black Tie occasion. I had a mild panic before concocting a plan in my mind which involved the purchase of material to make a dress. The plan was discussed with Nick and although he’s not keen on me spending my camera money, he agreed that it would be appropriate. So, while we were in town yesterday, I dragged Nick and the boys to the only two shops which sell material – Victoria’s and the Emporium. At Victoria’s I found something which I really liked, but no lining, which was a good thing because I found lining at the Emporium on sale at 99p a metre – quite a saving when I needed four metres of it! I came away with everything I need to make a long evening dress in a red/burgundy, with a rose lining which will peep out the bottom. I’m really excited to start sewing it – it’s been ages since I’ve sewed a dress, and ages since dressing up for an occasion! I also needed shoes though, and bought a suitable pair of heeled black sandals on sale at Warren’s – marked down from ₤17.69 (gasp) to ₤10.69. They must be quite fancy, because not only was each sandal individually wrapped in plastic in the box, but there are also two spare heel tips included in the box.

We were home for the afternoon and then back to town again early evening, this time for a street parade organized by the Rock Club in aid of our restoration fund – yet another organization wanting to do something to help us! Caleb and Aaron wore every item of fancy dress stuff they could find, which really only amounted to their ghost costumes, red vests and beanies. They blended in surprisingly well and did the entire parade on the back of a truck, which they simply helped themselves onto. Nick and I were asked to carry one of the collection tins which was moderately embarrassing, but also fun in a way because a lot of people gave, even though we were bringing up the rear. We wait to see how much money was collected, and I’m sure Nick will be called in to receive another giant cheque.