Why do we celebrate Christmas?

If, like us, you live far away from any family, it's about being able to spend time with people you see once a year. It's also about food, presents, Santa (not even the kids believe in him anymore but what the heck we can pretend can't we?), more food, mmmm trifle, sleeping the afternoon away and family. And then we do it all again at New Year's. With trifle. But mainly, it's about family. And trifle.

Tell me about yours. No, not the trifle! The family, and what you celebrate at Christmas!

(but tell me about the trifle too please)

Lapa rebuild

Today's the day! Our lapa (thatched structure for my non-SA friends) has been damaged by years of neglect and horrendous rain storms the last few weeks. Today, a specialist company is coming out to remove the grass, fix the damage and replace the grass, which hopefully should last forever.

As promised, some photos of the day's progression :

Starting to strip the old damaged grass

Halfway with the front

The mess it leaves

LOL Friday

A tattoo that you might regret forever?

We've been adopted

by a cat!





For a few months now there have been a few cats roaming around our backyard. On the weekend, this one decided to brave the unknown and sneaked into the kitchen when no one was around.



J&C have blossomed with all the attention they are getting from this cat. He/she/it has gone from being terrified to letting you know that he is damn hungry and where's the damn food?!? Oh and no cat food for this animal. He is a specially FSM blessed cat that just loves digging into a bowl of pasta. J&C have named it Casper but I feel that just maybe Garfield would have been better!

10 years ago today

I had an empty womb and an even emptier heart.


Weeks and months go by and I seldom give you any thought. This year for some reason I've been thinking more about you and what you would have been like, with a younger brother and sister chasing you around the house.


Happy birthday. I miss you.

Himself's weekend in the bush

Himself spent Friday to this morning at Mashatu Game Lodge in Botswana at a conference. Inbetween all the "work", this is what they got up to...

Elephant calf and juvenile having a sandbath



Elephant crossing



Elephant stripping a tree




There's a National Geographic team filming the animals in the park and part of their programme is to collect information by darting the animals. That's himself grinning like a kid, the conference members were taken out and shown how an elephant is darted and what information is collected. That's Stella, the oldest elephant in the park.



Lions on the horizon. Can you spot how many?



Sleeping leopard



Leopard with a kill

Another random act of kindess

A selfish one on my part this week! Jen over at RAK has challenged us to let someone cut in front of us, anywhere anytime.

I went to the market to pick up my gnocchi order (Sorry Ei, I tried that recipe you sent me again and it failed, miserably!) from the Italian Lady and got stuck at the Polish sausage and meats stall. Sausage Dude gave me a piece to try, probably in the hopes that I would buy some (I did) but he failed to realise that because it tasted so damn nice I might want more...and the Carnivores I birthed might want more too. So, while we were oohing and aahing over the awesome taste, I let 2 people cut in front of me to actually purchase a much more substantial amount of his meat and sausage than I eventually did! :)

Freaky coincidence and LOL Friday

Himself is currently on a prop plane to Botswana. He sent a photo to me while still in the air. At the same time I got it, Annie Lennox's Little Bird started playing on the radio. The bit about wishing for wings to fly away....that was playing as I opened the link to the photo...




Because I am a man...

when I lock my keys in the car I will fiddle with a coat hanger long after hypothermia has set in. Calling the AA is not an option. I will win.

when the car isn't running very well, I will pop the hood and stare at the engine as if I know what I'm looking at. If another man shows up, one of us will say to the other, "I used to be able to fix these things, but now with all these computers and everything, I wouldn't know where to start." We will then drink a couple of beers and break wind, as a form of holy communion.

when I catch a cold, I need someone to bring me soup and take care of me while I lie in bed and moan. You're a woman. You never get as sick as I do, so for you, this is no problem.

I can be relied upon to purchase basic groceries at the store, like beer, milk or bread. I cannot be expected to find exotic items like "cumin" and "tofu". For all I know, these are the same thing...

when one of our appliances stops working, I will insist on taking it apart, despite evidence that it will just cost me twice as much once the repair person gets here and has to put it back together.

I must hold the television remote control in my hand while I watch TV. If the thing has been misplaced, I may miss a whole show looking for it...though one time I was able to survive by holding a calculator...

I do not want to visit your mother, or have your mother come visit us, or talk to her when she calls, or think about her any more than I have to. Whatever you got her for Mother's Day is okay, I don't need to see it. And don't forget to pick something up for my mother too.

you don't have to ask me if I liked the movie. Chances are, if you are crying at the end of it, I didn't...and if you are feeling amorous afterwards, then I will certainly at least try to remember the name and recommend it to others.

I think what you are wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it, looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?

there is no need to ask me what I'm thinking about. The true answer is always either sex, cars, sex, sports or sex. I have to make up something else when you ask, so don't ask.

and this is after all, the year 2009, I will share equally in the housework. You just do the laundry, the cooking, the cleaning, the vacuuming and the dishes. I'll do the rest, like wandering around the garden with a beer wondering what to do.

Random acts of Kindness

I'm not a morning person. Ask Himself. It takes at least 11tybilllion cups of tea before my brain surfaces and is ready for action.

Every morning on the drive from home to school and back again I have my car radio on, blaring mostly 80s hits with me and the kids singing at the top of our voices. Yes, we are those people, the freaks who love to sing along. When I'm alone in the car I get those stares, the ones from unhappy lumps who aren't morning people either and who haven't had their caffeine fix for the day. I like it, it keeps me (mostly) from yelling obscenities when people cut me off, or hoot at me because I'm driving the speed limit or doing the right thing on the road.

And twice a week I buy a newspaper from the News Dude at a certain set of robots.

News Dude is a young man who stands in the middle of the traffic and very pleasantly tries to sell newspapers to passing motorists. The first morning I saw him standing there, like most others, I rolled my window up because I was in a rush and didn't want to be bothered. The next morning I watched (the lights were out) as he weaved in and out of the cars. It was chaos but he never let any of the bad moods and rudeness bother him as he went about his business. Which intrigued me. The next time the lights were red, my window was open with music blaring as usual. He casually walked by and came back asking if I would like to buy a newspaper. I didn't have any cash on me so said no thanks. He said ok, have a nice day and walked away. The day after, he waved hello and walked on by. And the day after that I bought a newspaper. Now I buy one every Tuesday and Thursday, sometimes on other days if the lights are green and I can't stop. He's always pleasant and friendly, takes the time to say have a nice day.

This all ties in to my friend Jen's blog about random acts of kindness. After this week's challenge of saying thank you or smiling or have a nice day to random strangers, I realised that because of this young man's pleasant attitude and always having a smile ready no matter what, I started buying newspapers from him instead of reading all about it online. I can easily do that but the difference is, we wouldn't have our almost daily exchange which adds something nice to an otherwise dull day.

Who does this?

Himself went to the market this morning. Well he was supposed to go to Woolies for croisants for breakfast and ended up at the market. I think because C guilted him into it for custard tarts and spring rolls. What was only supposed to be a half hour round trip turned into a 2 hour delay. Himself got the croisants then when he came back to his car at the market, he had a flat so he went to the nearest garage to see if they could fix any leaks. There weren't any. Which means that someone must have let the air out of the tyre. There is no other explanation. Wanker. Breakfast was very late.

LOL Friday

Nature

See those two white specks near the snail? Those are eggs. J&C found her laying her eggs in a flowerpot when they went to bury another moth. Of course now all they want to do is dig them out and care for them. We've decided for now to leave her be and keep monitoring to see when the eggs hatch and baby snails come popping out of the sand.

We have a cemetary in our back yard

That's right, we have a cemetary. Why? I hear you ask. Well, a moth died. And I dumped it in the rubbish bin. And then we had tears and there was no way on this earth that I was going to go digging through the trash to remove it and bury it. So we struck a deal, the next moth to die would get a proper burial. This morning, two little furry, squishy corpses were waiting for J&C in the box. I had to keep my word.

You ever have one of those days?

Where you just want to kill someone? In a bad way? Mush their bones together until the marrow leaks out?

If you have, tell me about yours.