Another highway of 7 highways

Jansie - traveller for the Lord

My niece Jansie is leaving on another Highway for the Lord trip. This time she will start in Alaska and travel down the west of North, Central and Southern Americas. Please take time to check out her blog quickly. (This blog is also on my blogroll.) If you get the background now, you will be able to follow an incredible journey that will start soon. She has received a tremendous commission from the Lord and does all this in obedience to Him.

We pray for you Jansie! You inspire us!

Another blessed, filled weekend.

Last Friday was our last day of school. Tammy's family came out to the farm for a last day celebration. Here they are rubbing on sunschreen before going up the koppie.


Tammy's Ouma and Mommy Alta.

Tammy on top of the koppie - I'm so proud of her - my one and only homeschool learner. Read more about her and this outing here.


Hendrik really did us proud by leading everyone around the paddock on Klasie. He always does that so willingly and graciously - ek sal jou hou Hendrik!

What are Thelwyn and Martelize doing on the koppie and why is Martelize looking so disgruntled? This is a story for a post on its own and has something to do with a post a while ago which said "Watch this space." Those white planks took up most of our time on Saturday, but more about that later.... (Does the material of Martelize's dress seem a little outdated? It was Thelwyn's dress lovingly made by me... )

On Sunday Hendrik brought Marietjie to meet us.

We had a great time and we hope she did too.

Stable time was again Martelize and Ouma time. No ponytail today -te woelig Ouma!

Have horse will ride... or love me, love my horse... something like that. Marietjie getting her first riding lesson.

The Beautiful and the Very Bold

On Sunday the H's popped in and while Frans and Thelwyn attended to the horses, Ouma had the pleasure to look after Martelize. A day before she turned 8 months.

Look my pretty ponytail. How Thelwyn manages
to make the pony so neatly I don't know - but she has always been good with hair - I think she was the only one in Grade 1 who plaited her own hair and when she went to high school, she plaited the most "upside down" French plaits.

Standing tall. Martelize is quite tall. She loves standing and pulls herself up with ease.

"I don't need two hands to hold on."

My Little Miss Pears. Does anyone remember those advertisements?

Our very bold grooms caught a little baboon today! How I do not know! We have quite a serious problem with baboons. They get bolder by the day and go into the stables and eat the food of the horses - and then they horse around with our water valves so that we continually have "no water"in the middle of the night! Not funny. We are nature lovers and part of a conservancy but "wat te erg is, is te erg."

Sorry that you got hurt in the catching process and sorry for what is about to happen to you little fella!

It looks much worse than it actually is! The grooms painted hm red and white (it is not blood) and then let him loose again! Hopefully the other baboons will be frightened of him and take their leave - hopefully for good!

So what did you do during Earth hour?

I nearly forgot all about it! But we duly switched off all the lights. Jan watched rugby and I phoned my sister Elsabe. It is her birthday today. We had a lovely long chat....

Meanwhile in the bathroom (yes all these books are in the bathroom) the red candle leaked and made a horrible mess... there are little spots of wax on the acrylic carpet. How am I going to get rid of the wax on the mat? I can't iron it as I tried that before on an acrylic carpet and still sit with a scorched mark! Hope I can brush it off, but haven't the guts to do it today!
There are heaps of washing and there were unmentionables in the tupper cupboard, so late last night - after earth hour - Jan washed all the tupperware while I first cleaned out the cupboard and hunted you know what and then started to dry said tupperware.... It took me quite a while to sort out all the lids etc and repack the cupboard.

When I lifted the empty candle holder this morning, I saw that it made a horrible mess of the diary in which I record my weight - glad I have not set the house on fire!

Moral of the story: save electricity, but watch your candles!! If you burn down the house, you'll send even more earth warming gasses into the air than the burning light bulbs would have!

PS. Hendrik made the most of earth hour: he went to Goodland to watch stars with "sterrekundiges".

Bad news Thursday, Fun day Friday

On Thursday evening a terrible thing happened to Hendrik. His "new" car was stolen at church while he was attending a "selgroep" (prayer group). His previous car was stolen last year while he was at work. Of course he stresses a bit, but he is not too depressed. There is another reason for his cheerfulness, but that is another story...! We pray that the car will still be found because in it were his tools, his brand new gumboots (which he had just bought before cell group) and worse his medication.

On Friday, the L's came to visit after work. Jan was still away on a "bosberaad" (planning session for the work) and only came later. In the meantime, we enjoyed the glorious autumn weather (late summer really) and played with Franco outside. He is now 11 months.

He is very interested in Jakkie, our 10 year old Labrador. She is very friendly, but a bit lively and not too clever when it comes to babies. She still has to learn not to lick him in the face!

His dad put him in a tree and he drooled from enjoyment or is it apprehension? It was quite high and the trunk felt rough.

After supper we absconded to our bedroom/ T.V. room. Here Gert and Hendrik are fascinated by......

"Noot vir Noot" - a "How well do you know music" competition programme. A friend of Gert and Dorette's, Andre Opperman, took part in the competition. He is the one with the green shirt. He came 2nd.
Meanwhile Franco had a ball climbing all over Oupa.

Oupa your tummy is just right for standing up.
Jan is very ticklish and of course Franco gave his tummy a drooly kiss. Jan shrieked and Franco couldn't quite make out what was so funny.

Franco is going places..... "Ouma se klim en klouterkous!"

He quickly pulls himself up on the bannister above our bed and just about hangs from it from his little arms. Will he be a gymast like his mother has been?

Or perhaps a dentist? Oupa has a very fascinating mouth...!

What interesting thing is this?

Franco tried out the treadmill and soon caught on what it is all about. We did not switch on the machine but took turns in moving the "conveyor" belt. Quite hard work.

Oupa's turn to give Franco crawling exercise.

The engineer in Franco soon discovered the treadmill's bolt. Ever since he was a tiny baby, he has been very interested in hinges, electrical plugs, screwdrivers, bolts etc. Dorette says he now makes his swing stop by holding on to the sides!
The blue mark under his eye? No his parents are not baby batterers. Before we went to play outside, Franco tried to crawl onto our couch, slipped and bashed his little face against the wooden leg. Sorry Franco! (He succeeded in crawling onto the couch right after the accident and happily stood there looking out the window - that's why we went outside instead.)

Bedtime! Last smile for the camera! (In the background is a very exciting 20/20 cricket match between South Africa and Australia. South Africa won of course, but it was quite nail biting! Morne Morkel saved S.A.)

Is this blog going to become a household tip blog? I hope not but I was so thrilled about our "new" way of defrosting the freezer that I have to share this tip (Hendrik's idea) with you.
How to defrost your freezer
Get an attractive young right brain young man to help.
Unpack everything (just check that your right brain chap does not forget to put the ice cream in a cooler.)
Put a fan on a table in front of the freezer and go and have a cup of coffee. (Sorry, Rooibos tea - Hendrik says coffee is bad for you.)
Suck up water and loose ice with the vacuum cleaner. Keep fan going until the freezer is dry. (It dries it much better than a cloth!)
Done!
This was a quickest, easiest and by far least messy operation ever. I really recommend this method. I just wonder... How many people still have upright freezers that need defrosting? We have this separate stand upright one, a 3o year old refridgerator with a freezing compartment on top and a chess freezer and Hendrik and I cleaned all three of them all this morning! (End of household work for the day! The rest has to wait.)

I couldn't resist placing a photo showing what an excellent son I have. He has very creative ideas and is always willing to help. Maybe a certain someone will read this blog one day and know just how special he is...! We hope to meet her soon.

Franco on the treadmill.

Weekend jobs and a special day for Willem

This weekend was pretty much spent like most other weekends since my life without X started three weeks ago: housework and more housework! I did the schlepp like laundy and dishes whilst having long telephone conversations with Dorette (with the phone in a bag around my neck), I found satisfaction in jobs done that were long overdue but still feel guilty about jobs that I did not get round to... not because there was not enough time, but because I could not make myself do it. I did exercise though! The scale is tipping very slowly.

My grandfather made this "blikkas" (steel cupboard) for my grandmother and it stood in her farm kitchen. It was green then. She died the year my mother bought our farm (let wel, Ma en nie Pa nie, maar dis 'n storie vir anderdag...) and it has stood in Ermelyn (our house), for the past 39 years. When we renovated the house, I made sure that there would still be a spot for this useful cupboard - albeit a difficult one to keep tidy seeing that the door does not open all the way and it has nice corners where one can hide (and forget) things.

My magnus opus on Saturday was to clean it out and to tidy it. The vynil on the shelves is becoming worse for wear, but no so much so that I want to remove it yet - the "Novilon" was my choice and my handiwork when I was a student and we came out to the farm over weekends. I had very grand ideas of how the kitchen should look. I was very inspired by the kitchen of my Belgian French tutor, a Mrs Devos . She was a fundi with walll paper. (Ermelyn's kitchen in those days had no ceiling and a low corrugated iron roof - I vividly recall the sweat running down my back when doing the dishes in the stuffy little corner.) Do I sound like a grandmother? Well, I am one!

Another job that gave me much satisfaction was to clean the copper and silver. Some of these pieces were made by my grandfather, so again they have lots of sentimental value. My good friend Alta gave me her mother's wonderful recipe for cleaning this stuff and it works. Anyone who has copper or silver must remember it. It works like a charm and it works for jewelry too! Thanks Alta!
Copper/ Silver Cleaning Recipe
50 g Acid (Alta's mother uses citric acid or tartaric acid, but I had none - as I only discovered when I tidied the grocery cupboard, so I used vinegar and it worked fine)
25 ml Sunlight liquid
Very hot water.
Soak piece in it for a short while, rinse it and it shines! Some pieces did need a bit of brasso or silvo, but I just rubbed it on and then rinsed it in the above solution. No hard polishing and no white bits in the crevices!
I used a plastic container just to be on the safe side and heated the solution in the microwave when it got too cold, but even the cold solution seemed to work well enough.
Late last night I crept out of bed and cleaned my wedding ring - it sparkled again!

??? Jan's project will be ready before Easter. It is a BIG and HEAVY job. It has and will still require a lot of muscle power and determination. WATCH THIS SPACE. I will definitely blog about this project again! Hendrik helped him all day Saturday to paint the planks (2 x 6 meters and 2 X 3 meters).
We had a problem with our electricity supply to the stables and labourers' housing
and the internet and radio tower on our koppie, so that took quite some time to get that sorted out. Many thanks to our community radio man, Rudi, who came to the rescue!

Today we went to Jan's brother Willem's "bevestiging" as a church minister. He has been the director of Youth@ Heart since its beginning many, many years ago. He will continue his youth work, whilst also ministering to this congregation. This photo is not too clear (we should have sat in the front pew), but I think it is the only one where his wife, Rina and his daughters presented him with his toga.
The service was about the parable of the sower: God wants us to sow abundantly. We need not be careful with the seed. Only one of every 4th seed will grow, but these fourth seeds that do indeed grow will yield a crop way over what man expects!!
Willem was welcomed on behalf of the "Ring" by Ds Wouter de Vos, the man who videographed Gert and Dorette's wedding and Inkululeko's (my previous nursery school's) concerts. Who said it is amazing how many old acquaintances we do meet?

Willem's family: Righardi (Grade 11), Rina and Tani (1st yeat B.Com Accountancy). The eldest daughter, Marianne, could not be there. She is studying to become a vet.

Jan, Noella and Chris, Willem's older brother. (Jan's father married their mother and the combined family had ten children. Jan's one sister has since died, but the other 9 are all well and married. A very big family indeed. Willem is the youngest of the 9 brothers and sisters.)

Willem greeting some congregation members at the tea afterwards.

In deep conversation with another congregation member.

Noella and Rina.

Afterwards Jan and I went to the H's. Martelize has ear infection - again! She was not too keen on eating, but she managed a sort of a smile for her Ouma. Ouma se pampoenbekkie!

She loves to stand and pulls herself up against the furniture, (7 1/2 months) but I sat behind her ready to catch if needs be, but it wasn't necessary. Here she is having her portion of the newspaper.

Smile for the camera.... After her medicine and bottle, she was cheerful and babbling, but the moment Thelwyn gave her her blanky (the one I knitted), she closed her eyes.... She falls asleep so easily and usually sleeps very well, but Thelwyn says the ear kept them up, pretty much of the night.

Franco is also sick again - not serious, serious, but feeling pretty grotty and miserable, so we never got to see them this weekend. Tomorrow he will be 11 months! Can you believe it! Tomorrow it will be a year since my mother died. She died on Easter Sunday, exactly a month before Franco was born. (Ons mis jou, Ma! Het wanneer laas patat geeet. Geniet dit daar in die hemel saam met Pa.)