Shopping with Janita

Sunday will be Janita’s special blessing day: she will not be christened, but the L’s will have a special private ‘inseëning” (blessing) for her.  Their church is big and the blessing of infants is during the week, with only a mention of the occasion in the church on Sunday.  For everyone to go out at night during the week is rather difficult: there is little time to visit, take pictures etc.  The little ones are not at their best in the evening – Franco sometimes fall asleep before 5 o’clock!  And taking little ones out in the bitter cold is asking for trouble! 

So the L’s decided on a private Sunday morning affair – with Jan leading the proceedings for his namesake.  Dorette and I are having fun planning the eats…!  I am even trying out new recipes and I’ve  bought cake tins!  (Haven’t tried out anything new for years!)

On Monday Dorette and I went shopping for something for Dorette to wear on Sunday and shirts for Hendrik – he is off to Kwasizabantu mission tomorrow.  Janita was as good as gold right through the shopping trip – did not cry once and often gurgled and smiled… but not for the camera!  She studied the flash light very seriously: these pics were taken in the fitting room while Dorette was trying on some tops.

 

You are so special Janita and we can’t wait for Sunday!

Weekend in Limpopo

Last week we spent two wonderful days with  Jan’s sister, Alta, and her husband.  They live on a farm in Limpopo, so we seldom get to see them and it was great fun catching up on news .. and I got a whole lot of new cake recipes as well.  (Alta has stacks of recipes all neatly sorted and pasted into books.) Alta and I have been friends since grade 1, so I have known her longer than I have known Jan.  She also teaches handicapped children, but unlike me, who now only teach Tamerin, she has to cope with big classes and varied disabilities.  Imagine having to prepare handiwork or a reading lesson for a class where some are deaf, some are mentally disabled and …and all 22 of them, with their wheelchairs and walking frames, are squeezed into a tiny class with no assistant!  I take my hat off for you Alta!  It was great  to share our experiences.

We were so busy chatting, that I forgot to take photos, but here are a few:

Alta’s son with his daughter, Juandri (pronounced Johandrie)

5 Month old Juandri enjoyed chocolate cake!

Henry’s wife, Driekie and Edwin

Jan, Alta and Anneliese

On Monday morning we left before the crack of dawn – we decided on the spur of the moment to come back home via the Kruger Park.  We entered through Punda Maria gate and left through the Phalaborwa gate.

Here are some pics of animals we captured (or tried to capture).

In the far North one gets to see lots of Baobab trees – and this one had lots of interesting nests in it.

Our first elephants…

The next elephant was MUCH closer and he was having a ball splashing himself with mud.

Our leopard… he is really there left of the tree… We first saw him right next to the road, but before we could zoom the camera, he was gone…!  We also saw two baby hyenas, but they disappeared into a culvert before we could even lift the camera!

Technorati Tags: Holidays

Next elephant…

 

Last elephant, obligingly next to the road.

The Kruger Park remains one of the best places on earth to be!  We expected the park to be very full, it being high season and World Cup and all, but it wasn’t really.  But we did meet a Landrover with a Portuguese flag and lots of enthusiastic Portuguese guests, and a Spanish bloke who had seen everything except hyenas.  In Steers in Phalaborwa some Argentinians, sporting light blue striped shirts, were ordering lunch.  They had quite a chat with the waitress, who wanted to know if they drank beer in Argentina.  It gives one a nice fuzzy feeling to know that our country is being appreciated for more than just the World Cup.

So far the World Cup seems to be a great success!  Maybe the Italian and French guests will leave prematurely, but I think we can expect an influx of Japanese and U.S.A.  guests! Viva South Africa!

Our “Feel it, it is here!”

The past week, the whole country has been abuzz with vuvuzela’s blaring, yellow T-shirts, and flags everywhere: every second car sports small S.A. flags or side-mirror caps, on every major intersection flags are being sold and there are flags on poles on all the main streets.  (Generally very festive, but some look rather pathetic, like the vertical hung flags in Zambesi Drive, which simply get twisted around the poles… Can’t SOMEONE do something about that?  It’s a major embarrassment!)

On Thursday Tamerin had her big World Cup Celebration – she made another BIG speech for which we practised very hard.  The day was a great success. (See www.homeschoolingaspecialchild.blogspot.com – part of my bloglist)

On Friday our school closed.  (“Our” because public schools closed on Wednesday.) We wore yellow ribbons for water aerobics.  One ardent German woman even made herself a swimming costume in the German flag colours.  The water aerobics class itself was different and great fun with group activities.  All to get into the spirit of things.  Afterwards I took Tammy to buy herself a new costume – she worked hard this term and I felt she really deserved it.  Along the way, we enjoyed the pulse of the streets.  Tammy knows all the flags and countries.

After school I went to the L’s for the opening of the soccer match and of course the big match.  Here are some pics:

Gert was chuffed with the a real Bafana-Bafana T-shirt he got from his work.  Like a lot of other people, he got stuck in a traffic jam at 13:00. Nobody who could help it, was going to work on Friday afternoon.  Jan is a civil servant and they too got the afternoon off.  Sadly taxis were suddenly very scarce: in Atterbury and Lynnwood Roads there were queues of people (in yellow T-shirts) waiting for transport, lots of them carrying heavy bags. 

Anyway, World Cup or no World Cup, Gert has to see to their pool every Friday.

He is fortunate (?) though to have the enthusiastic help of Franco.  Here he is filling the pool with the hose pipe – watch out Gert!

 

“Ouma, kyk!  Kyk, Ouma!” “Ouma kyk, my liefie!”

Gert got the beeny from his work too, and had to wear it to work on Friday.  Big upset in the L household, because Franco insisted on wearing it himself.  He offered his own hat to his father, but absolutely insisted on the Bafana-Bafana hat.  Some children have been wearing the real thing to school, it seems. 

All work an no play makes Jack a dull boy.  Gert and Franco played soccer while Dorette, Janita and I watched the opening of the World Cup.  It was quite good, but short and had too many videos – boring we thought.  It ended rather abrubtly – I was still waiting for the World Cup song, speeches etc. when S.A.B.C. switched to sport commentators.

 

Franco doing the diski dance.

Franco sitting still for one blessed moment, so that I could snap him in his yellow clothes.  Martelize had an ear infection, so they couldn’t come to the party.  Jan and Hendrik joined us later – they first had to stable the horses: the farm hands had the afternoon off.

Dorette making pizza for supper.  Njam!

Thanks for a great day!  And thank you that Bafana-Bafana did not lose despite a very wobbly start! (You did us proud Bafana-Bafana – you nearly won… and for that matter very nearly lost, but Itumeleng what a goalkeeper you are!  Wow!)  Thanks Jesus for letting them keep the hopes of our country alive!  Thank you for the unity and joy the country is experiencing at the moment… !

Technorati Tags: Sport,25 months

Super 14 Rugby Final (May 2010)

Most members of our happy family – at least we have all three grandchildren in one picture!

Like last year, we all gathered again to watch the Super 14 Rugby finals, and like last year, the Bulls won again! Go Bulls!  Here Franco is trying out Oom Hendrik’s vuvuzela.

That’s how you should hold it – now all you have to do is blow it! (Notice the blue clothes!)

Franco was much more into rugby than last year!  Click here to see the previous Super 14 posts

Two enthusiastic flag wavers.  Jan bought them each a South African flag – we all suffered from World Cup Fever already!

Janita in her sporty tracksuit and tackies. 

Dorette having a tea party with Martelize.  Both little ones are into sorting colours.   Here Martelize puts the yellow cup  onto the yellow saucer and  a yellow spoon inside the cup -not on the saucer, mind you, but in the cup. Martelize doesn’t know saucers! She knows that boiling water should go into the cup though, and brings one of her tea-set cups to be filled from the kettle, but here Ouma draws the line.  She likes to pour milk into her mom’s coffee, and if she is is not quick enough, the whole jug gets poured into her cup with messy results!

Franco and Martelize bathed together, and afterwards enjoyed riding on Oupa’s back.  (Martelize had never wanted to do this before, but she was not going to be outdone by her cousin.  Monkey see, monkey do.)

Then it was pack away time…

and a final hug… till a next time.

All afternoon and evening they had been as good as gold: no fighting over toys (except for a little squabble over the potty), na tantrums, no tears, but instead lots of laughter, calling each other by name, mimicking each other, playing happily alongside each other. 

The past weekend we attended my niece Jansie's feedback on their Highway trip from New Zealand through several countries until Pakistan.  Hendrik joined her and her friend in Bangladesh and he and Jansie travelled from Bangladesh through India to Pakistan in less than 2 weeks. Anyway, the little ones were also there, and during interval both insisted that I pick them up simultaneously!  (That should make my arms strong!).  They would not be put down, unless the other one was also put down.... lots and lots of giggles.

Thank you God, for two such darling individuals.  Thank you that they play find so much joy in each other, for all the laughs and giggles.  They are such a blessing.

P.S.  My apologies to people receiving this blog via E-mail for receiving posts twice.  There were problems with the photos when I published these photos just now, but hopefully the problems are now sorted out!  Thanks Sandra and Thea for the blogging tip!  Live writer is so much easier!!

Technorati Tags: Rugby,21 months,23 months

Janita at two months.

Two month old Janita.

(I struggle with the alignment of the pictures - Blogger does not quite do what I want it to do - and the published previous post did not look like my edit at all... Does anyone else have this problem?)

P.S. Have you seen who has blogged again? Check my favourite blogs "We have been blessed".  Dorette has published some precious updates.