Have you ever received this for your wedding anniversary?

Well, we married young, both twenty-one and ready for life.  We both worked and life was, good, we were happy, he had gone to study, and we had bought an older house and were in the process of trying to build it up and put our stamp on the home.

The great part is where is was located we were right next door to my in-laws, which was amazing, we really got on, and Granny was always nearby to help with whatever we were doing.  Whether we all went out or popped down to the shop, we always had a partner in crime, our mom.

It was great for the children, as they could walk between the two homes, and always have one of us around.

Well, the years rolled on and our tenth anniversary was coming up, I was so excited, to think that we had made 10 years.  It was a milestone in my opinion, we had been through lots of things, life changes, and come out the other end, so it was great.

My husband had always believed in giving a gift relevant to the year and these traditional suggestions.  The first year was rice paper, and duly I received a gift which was applicable.

But I had my sights set on the very least a medal, may a diamond, but something that 10 years together sort of warranted in my mind.

Well the evening came I had prepared a really special dinner, with champagne  and the children were sleeping over at Grandma's.

His gift was waiting in the bedroom, all wrapped and specially chosen. It was jewellery (a chain for around his neck, gold)

Well just before we were to sit down, the children came in to wish us and were excited as they were sleeping over. We wished them goodnight and off they went, expectation on my side was absolutely ready to explode, because he had been so secretive,

I had no idea what to expect. I had received the most romantic card ever, so was sure it was going to be an awesome one. The candles were lit, the champagne poured, just the two of us. The starter was served.

The love of my life pulls out his gift,  this elongated, large gift.  Instantly I though we it is too large to be a medal, what could it be?

Well needless to say, it was light it, did not make a noise when I rattled the present. He was so excited and convinced that I would guess what it was..... I truly had no idea at this stage.

What I had not done was refer to the list for marriage - traditional gifts, I was just so convinced.

Lol, well I opened the gift with all the excitement of a toddler with their first Christmas.

As I opened the gift, he had a second layer and when that was uncovered this is what I saw

If I said I was speechless, it was an understatement.  My recovery was remarkable, an Oscar winning performance.

We had a lovely evening, he loved his gift, but berated me for not having stuck to the list. Knowing what I know now, I should have bought the baked beans.......

Mom, arrived with the matching tin as a gift the next morning.... Perhaps a little advise guys, please don't do that.

Traditional and modern anniversary gifts

Year	Traditional (U.S.)	Modern
9th	Pottery	Leather goods
10th	Tin, aluminum	Diamond jewellery
11th	Steel	Fashion jewellery, accessories
12th	Silk	Pearls, colored gems

Lockdown the first hour.....

Well we are ready and lock down can begin, lets get it started.  Its set to start at midnight, well time for bed and those of us who are ready go to bed and to sleep, when we wake up it should be a good few hours into the first section.

As luck would have it, at 12H30 an almighty bang, crash is heard literally outside the house and of course we are all awake and what the heck?

To get outside and a person who should not have been travelling had hit the kerb on the opposite side of road and came straight across the road, into our garden wall, saved by a tree and finishing at the neighbour's wall.

Duly the son is already out there, checking is the person alive or dead, bleeding, etc. (Social distancing, we are all freaking out, be careful, stay away, don't go close......)

Meanwhile, stress central we are phoning 10111, no answer, try the Neighbourhood watch, no answer, 112 no answer.  Panic now what? Who to call, started with the police number again, and success they did arrive very quickly and sorted it out. Took statements, fully masked, gloved and correct. The said person was taken away by them.  He was not supposed to be on the streets.  Car was badly damaged and all four wheels destroyed.  No, blood, guts or broken bones were seen. The street returned to the expectant calm.

Impressive was that while Neighbourhood watch were not available, I got a call back later the morning.  Stunning.

I must admit, I love my country, but have not had that sense of pride for a long time.  But I feel for the frontline people.  Thank you for what you are doing.

Respect to you all, and those of you obeying and complying. Someone made a statement, think as if you have the virus, to change your behaviour;  how would you protect your family and others from the virus?
Be safe

had a Mosquito under the covers?

Well its the season for mosquito's and out comes the roll-on repellents and the sprays. 

Last evening was just like any other, had the shower, got the book and  while getting ready for bed.
put on the repellent on arms and hands, forgot the legs, I just could not wait to get back to my book.

Read for a while and had the room light on, so if there were any mosquito's, my thinking was that  they would be attracted to the main light, away from me........

Well my pooch and I were lying all curled up under the blankets, just my head and one arm holding the book was sticking out, of course I fall asleep while reading. A good Samaritan put off the lights.

Sleep glorious sleep,  I woke up to an itching leg and foot, oh boy, I could not stop scratching.
It was definitely a mosquito bite or two, so irritating, after a few moments of scratching  my legs with no joy, decided to try and sleep again.

Thinking that I must have got warm and had my leg on top of the duvet, it would make sense that mosquito's had bitten me.

Feeling confident that they were not going to bite me again tonight.

I was all in, arms and legs, under the duvet, quite pleased with myself, I had got the better of these mosquito's.

 This itching would not stop. Eventually frustrated I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to soothe the bites...... with toothpaste.  My legs were white with toothpaste and the relief was great.

I put on the light again,  now wide awake to get back into bed, as the blankets were opened up to climb in,  out came this 7kg mosquito with the longest sting, I swear it had a grin on its face, it had been inside the bed, under the sheets.

However, the biggest mistake the mosquito made was to come out of hiding, he came out flying in this triumphant flight of bzzzzz, bzzzzz trying to fly in circles, as he was so heavy from all the feasting he had done.

The slow flight allowed me to whack him to kingdom come.  What a satisfying feeling, knowing that it was not going to bite me anymore.

Now to try and sleep again.

CB radio's

Have you ever used one of these, they are such fun.  I lived in a small town and it was great entertainment.

I had it setup next my bed, in my car, and in the shop where I worked.  This was pre-cellphone.  I know you probably cannot imagine life without cellphones, but it existed.

My CB (Citizen Band radio), could be anywhere, it was a bit clumbersome, but it put you in touch with everyone in the community that was connected and possible new friends.

You would chat for hours about anything and everything, there was its own lingo. You had a name which was a handle, you used this name to identify yourself and would talk to the other buddies.

When driving in your car, you would ask the person where they were so that you could meet up and chat and that was called eye-balling (see) you.

I remember the passion for this type of communication being so popular.  One child had a father who was a job involved radios, and such like. Well, the whole family had radio's. Dad had one in his work vehicle and office, Mom was on the Base station, needless to say she had the strongest radio around and would "bleed" over all the channels when you spoke, the only way it worked was to invite her to chat with you..... The eldest son had one in his vehicle too.  The younger two had hand mobiles which also worked.  But the cutest one was the youngest.

One day while chatting he and I chatted for the first time, and he wanted to know where he could meet up and chat. I of course, was at work and suggested that he come around to the shop. Well he came and parked across the road.  I was finally going to meet the "voice".

I would have imagined, at least 5ft 10in, good-looking, dark hair, well spoken, good manners, and a fair car.  By now you have gathered I am somewhat of a romantic.

The call came in "Fairlady, where are you? Seagull here, what is your 10/7?" I went outside and looked up and down the Main road, as it was a Sunday afternoon and very quiet.  There was no cars in the road.  I went back inside to speak to Seagull and say that I could not see him and that he was probably in the wrong place - he had this smile in his voice.  He assured me that he was in the right spot and that I was just not looking correctly.

Duly I went out again and when I looked up the road again, there was only a lad on a bicycle with this very long aerial attached to his bike.  No. No-one was there.  I went back to the radio and called him up again and said that I could only see someone on a bicycle, "That is me," he said.

Well, we laughed and laughed, he came in and we chatted and had a ice-cream and we really became good friends. He ended up being my brother in law years later.

made "Melkkos"

Years ago as a young wife, my cooking skills were not so great, I mean if you have a husband who at your wedding reception, decides to tell the guests to not take all the food, as my wife can't cook.....

Needless to say we setup home in a place called Kathu.  Where?   It is in the Northern Cape, far from anything, to make matters worse when we lived there, the only grocer store and shop was run by the mine.

There was a petrol station and that was pretty much everything in the town.  There were obviously the schools, churches and homes, but not shops at this stage.

Well the point of this story was you were either employed by Iscor or SA Railways.  The nice part was we were lucky enough to have a lovely house, not much furniture yet, and we had a boarder who moved in with us.

He was young man who came from a large family and had a mother that could cook.  He came from a fishing village on the West Coast and was a lovely Afrikaans lad, Koos.

He had been missing home, and was saying that his mom had made him his favorite dish to spoil him and he was missing his mom real bad.

Needless to say his favorite dish was "Melkkos", I had never heard of this. But not one to back down from a good deed. I thought I would surprise him and make his favorite dish. 

Well, out came the trusty "Cook and Enjoy" , recipe book, filled with lots of South African recipes. Koos had left for work.  I had some time on my hands. 

It was a Friday and those were the days of petrol restrictions.  Petrol pumps closed  on Friday  evenings and reopened on Monday mornings. Kathu was a good 10 hours drive from the West Coast.

So I decided to get started with project surprise.  The recipe was read and re-read.  All the ingredients we had in the pantry so no issues there. I had to make a dough, I was so excited it sounded easy enough.  Make a dough, cut some strips, make a custard (thin), cook the dough strips in the custard.

How hard could this be, it was brilliant my dough came out fantastically, I rolled it out and cut finger sized strips as per instruction.  These flat long snakes were good looking.  I was feeling really proud of myself.  I had done everything right according to me.

These long strips were quite thick now, they seemed to have risen quite nicely and all I had to do was pop them into the custard mixture to cook.

This was working out so well, these thick snakes in the custard.  Well Koos came home and I could not wait to tell him, I had a surprise, he had, had a particularly bad day at work so I was really pleased that I would be making him feel better.

I called the guys for supper and dished up the meal in these big porridge bowls.  Just imagine a bowl of really thick Cobras in a bowl of custard.  Koos sat and stared at his bowl of food and asked what it was, I told him it was "Melkkos", he was not impressed.  He excused himself from the table went to his room, packed his bags and said goodbye.  He left to go home to the Coast, but what he forgot was that he could not get petrol.

He sat at he petrol station for hours making a terrible racket on his hooter, trying to get someone to open up the petrol station.  He did not come back to our home.  Instead he slept over at someone else and left Kathu and his job on the Monday morning.  Moral of the story, don't let me cook "Melkkos"

Egg Challenge 2020

 

Well Lock down fun, we are having the Adult Easter Egg Challenge,  it started as a way to pass the time.
You line up three shot glasses and a chaser.

There is a specific order of drinks, first shot glass is a raw egg, second shot glass has dry sugar in, the third glass has a shot of choice. The last glass is your drink of choice, which you down. Now nominate a couple of friends or family to partake in the challenge.

 You should video tape the whole challenge and send your video to the person who challenged you.

 Well needless to say this kept our family really busy for a full afternoon.

Friends in Orania, Johannesburg, Langebaan, Saldanha, Tableview, Bothasig, Plattekloof and the Southern Suburbs

What to do on Lockdown

Looting food which has been donated

The looting of donated food is a dreadful thing.  The injustices of the world is crazy.
Food was donated a few years ago to Mozambique.  I was living there at the time.
It was a strange time, there was flooding and travel was impossible to get anywhere, the water covered everything.

We had to get our food from different sources, we were lucky enough to have friends who could send us food parcels via South Africa, but they had to fly it in to us.  We lived in the Inhambane province at that stage. Road travel was limited to the central part of town, We were cut off from from the other towns.

The sad part is that the local Mozambican at that stage, were sustenance farmers,  they live off their produce and if they have more than they can use, they trade amongst themselves or sell it at the local markets.

Well, the floods happened, homes were lost, people were dying and help was pouring in from the NGO's  and other Organizations.

From rubber ducks with outboard motors, to help with rescue's.  Food was sent in by the bags full.  At a time like this rice and mielie meal is distributed to the locals and all who need, this is a gift for the people.

However a time like this power is a dreadful thing.  Whenever the power hungry person steps up, there is a money driven opportunity for them to make money.  Well make money they did.  They sold the free rice to people who had nothing, nowhere to live, just nothing.

The saddest thing I had ever seen was a old lady who had walked for miles to get to the distribution point with her bowls to take back food to where she came from.   She had walked for miles in water to get to the town, where it was being distributed.

This "Director" as they like to be called would not give her the food as she did not have the monies to pay for the rice and mielie meal, he sent her away, not bothered.  I was nearby and saw what had happened and had to ask someone else to go and "buy" and give it to her.  It was dreadful.  That was not the only one that I saw that he turned away that day.  But the stories came out.  He was never taken to task about it.

What we heard is that there were warehouses in Maputo that had such a lot of donations in the warehouse that was never distributed to the needy, but instead was sold to the people who were in charge of making sure it was distributed.

Nothing was proven of course, this is Africa, but is it not sad, that one person's downfall is another man's ill gotten gain.

Joyriding and been caught

My friend had bought herself a 125cc Honda, it was her transport of choice.
Oh, how she loved this motorbike.

It started to give a problem nothing major, but something was not right with the motor and duly my hubby said he would look it over, service the motorbike for her.
He serviced the motorbike and we had for a few days to make sure that it was all good.

Me, being me had been having a few motorbike lessons, but admittedly not the greatest rider yet..... decided to take the motorbike down to the store that we owned which was only a few kilometers down the road.I thought I would travel the back roads to the store and it should be all ok.

Well, very excited at the thought, I went to put on my leather jacket, boots and got the full face helmet. Just needed the keys and I would be on my way.

I pushed the bike out into the road, put on the helmet, key into the ignition and turned on, now to kick start and the motorbike and it would roar to life.  I did all that I had been taught, felt so confident, hubby would be so proud of me when I arrived at the store.

The motorbike started I am traveling along steadily, no issue, one four  way stop ahead,  I stop, pull away and onto the second  four way stop.

This is where it all changes, I stopped and a Traffic Officer pulls up alongside of me, guilt rushing through me, making me nervous, suddenly feeling very hot, my mask is starting to steam up. I fidget, pretend to check my pockets willing him to move and be on his way.

In my nervousness the motorbike splutters, I over rev it with brake on and it dies on me. I now have to restart the motorbike, and it won't start.  It obviously had an IDIOT problem. By now the dear Officer had pulled his vehicle over  and was on his way to me. He had this knowing grin on his face asked me to show him my license.

Well of course, I did not have it on me, because I did not have one. I had to tell the truth that I had also taken the bike without permission too.

By now, the helmet was off, the leather jacket was too hot. My embarrassment and frustration at the impending fine and trouble that I was in, was too much.

The fine was given and I had to return back home which was two blocks away.  To add to my humiliation, the Traffic Officer must have called it in and a second car arrived on the scene and I had to start the bike and take it home. They had a field day laughing at my antics.

Needless to say I was in a bit of doggy doo  with powers that be, my hubby and friend.

The best was yet to come about three weeks later my innocent friend was out riding on a Saturday afternoon and she was merrily traveling along and was pulled over by a Traffic Officer with  flashing blue lights and siren asking her to pull over. 

The Officer wanted to check her driver's license. He wanted to know how long she had her motorbike as, he had seen another lady on the same bike three weeks back, and she had no license.....

Needless to say she was ok and had everything in place, he remembered the motor
bike, number plate and the fact that it was a girl that was the rider.

Been to Orania

Well, I had never heard of the place, let alone been there.
What an eye-opener, I loved it.
The whole experience is not what I expected at all.  There is nothing that the people of  Orania cannot do. There are shops, computers, Netflix, churches, wow!

I loved the fact that you are part of a community.  We in the City seem to have lost that a community feeling. Looking out for each other, caring.

You can have your morning coffee on the proverbial "stoep" and see your neighbours walking or driving to work. You greet each other.  It is just the right thing to do. You want to greet, no forced smiles.

You come home after work and the children are playing in the streets, riding bicycle and chasing each other around.People pottering in there gardens.  Walking, riding bicycles, chatting with each other. You feel so safe.

It was really hot, while I was there, the Town swimming pool was open for us all to go and swim.
What a difference. From the Pastor, to the Town Clerk, the Cleaners and Gardeners, all were there.
Residents recycle, look after the environment, are healthier and have less stress.

This really sounds like Utopia, but the strange thing is, you expect the average age of the citizens to be at least 60 years old, but strangely enough the average age is 35 years old.
Yes the quality of life is what it is about.  You can drive to the larger cities, but you don't really need to do that.

Life has meaning, you come away with a sense of pride.

One of the many people I met there, who was not at all what I expected.  It was a young lady, with many tattoo's, not to be judgemental, I wondered how this lady came to be living in this community.
Only to be told by her that she was a music major and played the Violin of all things, not using those talents right now. But gainfully employed. Everyone has a job, no-one needs to be unemployed there.

What I learnt, they know how to have fun, one of the many things, runs, cycle rides, stock cars, pub crawls.  Just normal life.....

So just as I learnt, do not judge a book by its cover or its environment! There are different ways to live, and its stunning. Well worth the visit.  If you have something to offer the Town, well worth the stay.

Been a part of/in Lock down

Well, this is a new term, Lock down, only ever heard of it in the American movies, the jail was in lock down or there in some such term.
We are now looking at Lock down in the Suburbs, Cape Town, South Africa, the World.
Whaaaat!!!! Never!!! You are over reacting, nothing, but nothing can be this serious.
Where has this ever been done, I mean, come on.
It will blow over.

Well, well, it has not, its literally less than nine hours to Lock down.
The laws have been put out there to follow.
Don't stock pile, there is enough, you can go to the shop and buy the necessities, doctors and pharmacies.

We just did a big shop, two month shop,  it won't go to waste.  We are not stock piling, just will not get goods next month.
Stay home, I am fine with that, but why go out to the shops and take a chance.  Stay at home, stay without. There are many ways to survive.

Roll on Lock down, lets put this Virus down - let us show the rest, we knew what was best!  Let us beat the curve. May we get through to the other side.

Tasted Bacon Biltong!

Bacon Biltong!

Well this is a tasty biltong, or jerky as the American calls it.
It is really spicy and just the right amount of fat on it.
I think the Streaky bacon is perfect as it has the fat and meat in the right ratio.
Spiced correctly I think this is a winner.
It should dry quicker than thicker pieces of meat, so it makes an excellent choice
for just nibbling in between or having it as a delicious snack with your glass of wine.
I look forward to trying to making my own, with my biltong maker, spices and bacon.
It really is an -ish, -ish taste. More-ish, delicious-ish.
Try it yourself and join the taste experience.

Have you ever tried underwater diving?

Well this was going to be a fun way to spend time together. Doing a fun recreational activity.
It was great fun getting our wetsuits, I now have a new empathy for sausages, the squishing and squeezing into this wetsuit.

It is a great feeling once in the suit. You feel so slim and warm. The idea is so that you do not get too cold while diving in the ocean.
The wetsuit is made skin tight and you literally wiggle your way in and baby powder the suit so that it does not get stuck on you while trying to put it on. Beware if you need to go to the bathroom, there is no way of getting out of this suit in a hurry and on your own.

Well once you have this on, you feel amazing, so streamlined, ready to swim through the water. I am sure I now know what seals feels like.  Sushi has a new meaning.

Well, we have all this equipment, a diving tank which has to strap on your back, a weight belt which has to have a few lead blocks on to keep you under the water.  The hoodie on your head, goggles, and mouthpiece for the breathing tank.  Now for the slippers on my feet and flippers. Wow this is really fun!

What they did not tell me was that we had to go over some rocks and walk a little way to the ideal diving spot.  So duly off with the flippers at least.  It feels like 40 deg in the suit.  I am breaking out in a sweat in places I did not know existed.

Well after careful negotiations I have managed to get to "The Spot" flippers back on, goggles spat in and on face, ready to enter the water, and really it is a slip, sliding affair. The cold water feels soothing when you enter the water.  Your body so hot and the water so cool.
All too soon you realize that you are not reaching the ground anymore, you are not able to stay afloat, as you may have a few too many lead weights on.

I get the mouthpiece in, the gas/oxygen is on.  My misted up goggles are on, check. I am trying to see where I am.  My diving buddy, having done this before is impatiently waiting for me to find some direction to swim in.

All I can see is big dark plants that are swaying in the water, the kelp is thick and not letting me see any light. I feel panicked, luckily I am tied to my diving buddy.  Such a sweetheart really looking out for me......

He is merrily swimming along, pulling me along in his wake, oops here come a large fish, is it a shark? Nemo? Oh my word, its going to swim into me..... It was  a sardine, I later heard. My goggles seemed to magnify the size of the fish.

This seems like fun as we get to a section where there is no kelp, beautiful water all clear and this is what diving is supposed to be about. I have images of diving off Mauritius, Mozambique. Costume and snorkel and beautiful fish.

We are going down, closer to rocks and sand and there is this huge spider, and its all claws and legs. Hold this my diving buddy says, are you nuts, me touch that thing....

I had, had enough fun for one day and wanted to get to shore, except it was quite a way away, and I would have to fight the kelp again, with that long walk to the Landrover and some hot coffee.  It was looking like a task way too big for me.

Needless to say all good things come to an end.  I did not volunteer to dive again, but rather to be the base station.  It definitely was a lot more fun and easier, and I could snorkel where I wanted to.
Till the next time.

Thought about how you would love your next child?

I was a young mom at the age of twenty-three and had been lucky enough to be blessed with a healthy pregnancy.
I was spoilt rotten as I was expecting the first grandchild on both sides of the family.

For example Father-in-law would work in the City, every now and again and as we lived in a small town he would always bring a few treats, the Pick and mix kind, as well some of the Colonel's fries. . As that satisfied the cravings.

Needless to say when Junior finally arrived. This was no  pre-scan and gender announcement parties. We were at the mercy of our Aunt's who would say you are carrying as if it were a girl. Your cravings were that of boy. You would put your wedding ring at the end of some cotton and hold it over your wrist, depending on the motion of this ring over your wrist, would be the gender of the newborn.


When asking the husband about the cravings, he would wisely find whatever we wanted at 3am.
Mom giving birth, was almost last to know what or whom she had given birth to.

Junior's arrival was fairly easy, a lovely healthy boy. He was really an easy baby except for his bottle  he did not really want to give that up. But with time he grew into the cutest toddler, blue eyes and lovely blonde hair. A typically little boy, as curious as ever, about everything.
I remember going to bed at night and praying that when he was of age that he not be called  to  the Defence force at 16 years of age.  At that time, all boys had to go to do training in the Defence force for at least two years.  It could be postponed till after your studies.  I was a typical mother.

He was a very sociable little one and loved playing with his friends and would cry so badly when they left. Mom and Dad did not play the same as his friends.
We started thinking about a second baby, I really was not keen at first, I had a boy he was three and a half and was off nappies, talking and ever so cute. ....

How could I love another? My husband, my child, how does it work. I was so worried. I asked my Mom, "How do you love another child, I am sure it is not possible, will you not love one child more than the other?"
Mom, looked at me, with those all knowing eyes, a mother of four children, herself  and said that you will never question this again.

Once pregnant, and your baby is born, this thought will vanish and your heart overflows with love in abundance for all your children.

Boy, was she right my second blessing arrived as easily as the first and all she was , was a bundle of joy, half the size of her big brother, but such a little darling.
I never once doubted my love for her or her brother and in that moment there was no doubt in my mind that I had enough, love and more for them all