11 EGGS

Ever thought about eggs??? ……………….
First of all you can choose to have the boring and more conventional kind : BOILED!
But that’s not so simple :
soft boiled with the yolk nice and runny
medium with the yolk firmer
And then you have a dry hardboiled one : all green round the yolk and which can almost be used for a game of golf!

Then we move over to SCRAMBLED egg!
Scrambled in the pan
Scrambled in a bowl with milk
Made into an omelette

Used in BAKING of most of the deliciously decadent cakes, cookies, tarts, pancakes as well as quiches and many more.

Ah! What is the original function of the egg? To be hatched into a tiny, fluffy and cute little chicken, which will then grow into a fine hen or cock who will in turn produce more eggs!
Now for the burning question that has puzzled many sages and scientists

WHAT CAME FIRST : The hen or the EGG?

10 DEADLINE

Mom and Babe

…Imagine what this means : “I have to meet a deadline!”
What kind of line did you have to meet :

• A train line would be awfully dangerous and life-threatening – you would be dead-on-the-line before you realize!


• A telephone line should be quite interesting. Try and get hold of someone only to discover that some gremlin cast a spell somewhere : ho-hom … you met a deadline!


• Imagine … This wonderful and exciting safari which you have been looking forward to for ages, has finally arrived. Accommodation is 5-star standard; the huts are made of reed and there is even mosquito netting over the beds. A pitcher full of of fresh , tropical fruit juice which is tinkling with ice cubes, forming water droplets and drizzles on the outside of the ice cold glass. You savour each mouthful and appreciate its coolness as the juice trickles down your throat. You hear the sounds of the wild very near to your enclosure, and experience the thrill and excitement and anticipation. You are actually very grateful that there is a surrounding fence for the safety of the safari members. Later on your first evening, the great big bonfire and subsequent braai is enjoyed by all, and this is where the hunting stories are exchanged … trophy hunters each relate their own special tales of the great KILL! You very gingerly look over your shoulder on hearing the giggle of a hyena and the grumble of a lion. Why are sounds so magnified when it’s dark? This gathering is the prelude to the hunt of the following day.
  Early next morning the group is ready for the great hunting experience! Each has a vision of the great trophy which he is to shoot! The guide follows the spoor intently, and is very careful where he treads. He is aware of the wind direction and we have all been instructed that we should be downwind at all times. Suddenly, the guide stops abruptly … the followers stagger against him like falling dominoes … he points his trembling finger towards … a DEAD LION!
  

YOU MET A DEAD LION!
…… sorry …….

9 ACCOMMODATION

After a tiring day of driving and viewing beautiful scenery and places never visited before, we finally decided that it was time to look for somewhere to lay our weary heads! East London was one of the pre-planned destinations. Gonubie sounded like a beautiful holiday venue, and we proceeded to the place (using Blondie, our newly-acquired GPS). She was very helpful, and she took us along all the spooky routes to the long-anticipated Gonubie. Dusk settled terribly rapidly, and we once more consulted Blondie to help with locating suitable accommodation. By this time, we had decided that self-catering units in caravan parks suited our needs perfectly.
Among the many names from which we could make a selection, Gonubie Municipal Caravan Park seemed as if it could be just the place! Hubby phoned ahead and the key to our chalet was left at the gate!
Blondie took us along the highways and byeways to the Park. It was getting darker and darker (and I don’t mean the time of day!) We arrived at the gate and got our key. The guide walked ahead to direct us to our chalet. The little paths abounded with little chattering pikkanins, all excited about their holiday. The path went deeper and deeper into the dark unknown, and eventually … la-laaaaaaaa! Our little place.
A 6-bed chalet fully equipped. I saw the faded bedding and the well-used pillows, and started itching all over! I became quieter and quieter, and Hubby could see that something was bothering me … I stood at the door and just prayed that he wouldn’t say it was okay! We looked at each other, and after 40 years of married life, we just KNEW: This wasn’t for us!
Blondie had to navigate us to East London-proper! By then it was dark, and our search began once more. We thought that maybe we deserved a nice comfy hotel – alas! Not for us. We had a good idea how Mary and Joseph must have felt – no room for us … ANYWHERE! Craven week rugby teams booked all available accommodation! Eventually one of the hotels gave us the name of a guest house which provided rooms. This was an old hotel which was in the process of being renovated, and the fee was very low (to get the place on the map)! The OLD building looked fine at first – then we asked where safe parking for the car was. We were directed round the corner – a car which had an EC registration, had to be moved, and hey presto! A tandem garage yawned at us. We drove right into the dark cavern of this aforesaid tandem, and I quickly realized that there could be no possibility of making a quick get-away! Our luggage was man-handled up a little balcony, and we proceeded to the room via a narrow little passage in an even narrower kitchen! Our room was just round the corner. Our footsteps resounded noisily on the wooden floors. The room was quite nice-looking and had a bathroom and a table & chairs. We could prepare our own supper! The Ousie had a pikkanin on her back, and we heard bump-bump on the floors till LATE that night. I moved a chair under the doorknob (LIKE THE MOVIES) just in case!... Fanie was quite amused, needless to say!
Breakfast was to be at a nearby Wimpy. … Gud morneeng Mam, haw-a-yew! We were the only two lighter spots in an otherwise dark restaurant. I was beginning to think that perhaps I didn’t remove my sunglasses, but not so!
A lesson learnt that places aren’t necessarily what the names sound like …

8 STEAK

Perhaps elephant steak?

After a long day driving and taking many photos, a delicious meal would be most welcome!
Me “Could I have a steak please”
Her “How big?”
Me “Errrr.. so big … what do you mean : how big?”
Her “What weight : 200g, 250g, or 350g? Or maybe mansize?”
Me “Gee, I guess , so big … how much would that weigh?”
Her “That would depend on how it’s been grilled”
Me “Huh? Whaddaya mean … how?”
Her “Welldone, medium rare, rare …”
Me “O, okay let’s say medium rare”
Her “Sorry, if it’s medium rare it’ll have to be so big”
Me “But I want my steak to be SO big” (relevant gestures)
Her “Madam, then it’ll be 250g medium rare”
Me “Ah eventually I’m going to get some food to eat!”
Her “Oh Ma’am, we have a selection of ostrich steaks, buffalo steaks,
kudu steaks, beef steaks”
Me “I’m so tired of choosing … I’ll settle for a hamburger please”
Her “What would you prefer : double beef patty, chicken patty, mansize
patty or regular patty"
Me “Never mind! Please give me some fish and chips”
Her “How would you like your fish prepared : battered (I wonder who
battered the poor fish), pan fried or grilled …… or ……………”
Me `”Never mind, PLEASE give me a sandwich”
Her “Ma’am, would you prefer cheese …………………………….”

Eeeeeeeek!

7 MAGAZINE

Room with a View

MAGAZINE

After a busy day – I can put my feet up and relax with my favourite magazine … Page through it starting from the back ofcourse. I skip the pages with the longer articles ; linger longer on those with sumptuous and mouthwatering recipes: Drooling and dreaming … beautiful gardens and homes catch my attention next! I can never even begin to imagine how anyone can really live in such lovely homes. (what do they say about sour grapes?) Ah, enough dreaming - now to settle down and read the story which catches my fancy. I start on page 42 … read avidly and see “continued on page 60” … I page to the correct page – or should I say, I TRY to go to the page concerned, but to no avail! There are plenty of advertisements inbetween, but no sequence of page numbers! Eventually I detect number 51! Now it shouldn’t be too long before I make this discovery … yet another very scare page number pops up : this time it’s no 73! Oh no … now I’ve lost the gist of the story! Back to page 51 and count each page till I get to the elusive 60! I continue reading till I reach yet another referral to the page of unknown destination .. here I go again – same story as before …
I have learnt a valuable lesson from this little exercise : Now I FIRST get all the relevant pages and place cryptic markers between the pages, and only then settle down reading my story! Did I say that I dreamed of relaxing with my magazine! NO, this was a very strenuous exercise! Goes to show that one is never too old to learn! … or maybe : There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip!

6 SHOPPING

Going to the shops is always a chore not to be envied! To buy or not to buy – that is the burning question!
Well, I guess, to be able to buy, you should have enough money in the first place and then you will have to have a big enough fridge or cupboard to store the hoard which you so lavishly purchased! Imagine being in that position – just walk into a shop and grab whatever takes your fancy…. Imagine not having to scrutinise the price tags very carefully … imagine walking past the bargain stores and entering the hallowed spaces of the sumptuous and elegant (dare I call them “shops”) ……… This old lady will feel right out of her depth if that should by some miracle this should cross my path!
There is always the Lotto which may (or may not) bring unexpected riches. While waiting for the final draw to take place, there are many castles in the air … visions of undreamt-of luxuries and cruises … new houses and smart cars! It’s always someone else who does the winning … oh well!
No, give me the bargain R10-Rand shop where I can scrounge for a real bargain – not to mention the Red Cross or Hospice shops! There is always something which someone else has discarded which is just calling my name! Yes the one in Winnipeg as well as some in Cambridge was also visited and enjoyed!
WHO SAYS THAT YOU NEED PLENTY OF MONEY TO DO SHOPPING!

5 VIDEO

2008 : Leo-né and Grové helping to bake : each with their own task!

4 SPRINGTIME

When it's Springtime in the Rockies ............... ummm, it's not springtime here, and my toes are freezing!

But it's always wonderful to have a look at the wonderful gifts of nature which we receive! Examine this beautiful flower . It started off as an ugly little bulbous item; was placed into stinking soil and sprinkled with some white granules and watered every now and again. Oh, not to forget plenty of hope and visions of the magnificent creation that it would perhaps one day be.

Suddenly a little greenish thing begins to peep out of the soil, and next morning you see a little point of something ... a promise of something mysterious! You go your merry way and forget all about it till you see the beginnings of some leaves. The bud pushes itself out of the ground at an alarming rate, and before you know, you wake up and see this gift of nature evolving from the safe enclosure of the protective leaves!

The wait was worthwhile! Life is very much the same. Things start of by being dark and mysterious. We get bombarded with things unknown and unpleasant to us ... but there is always a Hand which feeds and nurtures us from day to day, till we blossom into some exquisite being.

3 BEGINNING TODAY........

Yes, quite a good philosophy to have in one's life. I guess folks tend to try and relive the past, Well, sometimes I think that can't be such a bad idea - one just has to keep perspective and not let the past memories overshadow one's present way of life.

And the future ... well, none of us are certain of that, are we?!

TODAY is the only place in time of which we are certain - we should enjoy it as if it were the last ... now doesn't THAT sound too dramatic? No, I guess now we have to stop and smell the roses!

Talking of roses - I have very fond memories of the time when we went to Kroonstad to look around. This was a strange town and we had heard that we were transferred to there. We drove around the town, and practically every house had the most beautiful roses - I remember it was October! Must be a good time for roses! We found a nice house to buy, and naturally this place had the most beautiful rose garden : with at least 30 rose trees! Now THAT's a memory I allow myself to savour .

2 SCRAPPING

I forgot to mention that I also love to do digital scrapping! I guess everyone is already tired of seeing my creations, but I just love doing them. I considered trying the real thing, but I guess all the schlep of having boxes and drawers full of embellishments didn't really appeal to me - hence the digital-medium.

Diana set me on this path by introducing me to the scrapping. She provided me and the other sisters with kits, fonts, web sites and plenty of encouragement. We started by having regular challenges; that petered out - but that didn't put me off creating on my own. I have subscribed to Scrap Girls and receive a daily newsletter full of lovely inspiration. I started looking at other folks' pages for ideas, but invariably I find myself actually doing my own thing :)

1 INTRODUCTION

I can go on mentioning famly and extended family ...That makes me feel like a diamond with many facets! :)

Nevertheless, I like my own company and feel happy and satisfied with myself! Not every day one hears that, hey! I really have a feeling of well-being : glad to be alive and very grateful to have a happy home, a caring husband, stable environment, and family close-by!

My other children are far away in New Zealand, and I now that they are happy over there. We chat on Skype (not as often as I would like), but we keep contact with each other.

Facebook also plays a great role in my daily life : I can look at the rest of my family's good things that they wish to share with the rest of us! What a wonderful invention internet is! Imagine how far away everyone would have seemed without it! Modern technology is mind-boggling! I wonder how many folks still make use of snail-mail to correspond with their loved ones (well, the little brown envelopes still appear unwelcomely in my post box every month) - but even there, the companies give one the option of choosing to receive bills by e mail! They try and pull the conscience-strings by saying that we can save a tree by choosing e mail option and all! Well, if we sit down and think, I guess it makes plenty of sense!

Enough for now ...