Freckles and Rhoda

Now I have known Rhoda since she was a wee lass, and look at her now, all grown, married with 2 children. The youngest Emma is the same age as Matthew. Rhoda’s brother Robbie who is my best friend, and I were invited over for supper with Rhoda, her husband Kevin, and Joshua, as Emma was away getting her hair died blue.

As usual it was misty and miserable outside, they say Hilton is always like this in summer, but I am now not so sure, as the mist is so thick, you can hardly see your hand in front of you. Anyways Rhoda was all prepared for the mist with a blanket and her cat Freckles. Kevin didn’t want to be in the photo as he is in one taken earlier in the week.

Four Friends Forever

With their Matric year now over, 4 friends headed for the beach to celebrate. They booked a bungalow down in Rocky Bay south of Scottburgh, far away from adult supervision, that was until today, when they wanted to go to uShaka Waterworld in Durban. I got the call yesterday, asking for me to be taxi, and of course I said yes. I dropped them off at the entrance, took this photo in memory of their last days as children. Next year they are separating, going to different institutions to study further but these 4 will be friends forever.

Leo or Pepper

Since we have new kittens added to our pack, gave me the perfect excuse to get another dog. Now I always wanted a new Italian Greyhound or Whippet but was thinking that maybe we need a bigger dog. I once visited friends Elke and Tomas, who bred wolves, their top female just had a litter of cubs.

Elkie and I went into the make-shift den, and Elke picked up one of the cubs and handed it to me, I held the cub but made the mistake of looking up, and I found mommy wolf, still laying on the same spot feeding the cubs but was staring me down. Intimidated I quickly looked down and past the little cub back to Elke. I remember Tomas once telling me that wolves aren’t aggressive but use their size to intimidate, I got it quite clear that day holding that wolf cub with my throat about a metre away from mommy wolf.

I am in the firm belief that you should have a pack with both small and big dogs. The small to be alert and the big for I got your back. Now my Italian Greyhounds are not that alert as they like to be nice a snug at night. My best friend, Robbie, who I am staying with, his 2 dogs just had puppies, The father Leo is a Belgium Shepard and mommy a German Shepard. And now I have to choose between 2 of my favourites, Little Leo, a black puppy looking a lot like his daddy, and Pepper who looks more like her mommy.

Because of my pack makeup, I would prefer a girl but like Little Leo’s colours, so now a choice has to be made Leo or Pepper.

Office Away from Home

I have setup my office at the Mugg and Bean, Midlands Mall, that is if anyone wants to meet the infamous Jerome West. I have openings in my diary from 10 till 12am Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, if anyone wants to come say hello. I promise I don't bite. The reason I am working here is that the cellphone connection is awful from Robbie’s house in Hilton, plus where else can I drink bottenless fruitlattas while I work.

The chap in the office next to me has the same idea, he even brought along a printer. Well planned boet, well planned.

Since I am in town, there are a lot of people to catch up with, Sunday afternoon it was a braai with Kevin, Rhoda and family, this afternoon I popped into to see an old friend David who moved back to Pietermaritzburg to take over the family business over 5 years ago. Interesting David and Kate now go to the One Life Church from which the church that I now go to was instrumental to seeding. I am sure that will bring a smile to Jon’s face as he reads this post.

Tonight it was Tim, Fiona, and family’s turn. We had the can’t go wrong Mac and Cheese, plus their famous Hilton Sparkle Cakes made from ice-cream. But sadly I could not savour the dessert as I had to rush as Robbie needed to get going to get to the airport on time, as Mom Cameron was flying in from Cape Town.

Designer Beards and Spandex

I woke up this morning feeling much better, as my normal was catching up after such a stressful journey down. It was an early start as I had to get to Hayfields Bible Chapel in Pietermaritzburg by the 9:30am family service. I know I am a stickler for the old country Brethren upbringing.

Since the early start, I stopped at Gillitts for coffee. Just turning off the highway at the Hillcrest offramp was like driving into another dimension, white people everywhere. Yes, I hardly saw any white people in Durban. Even the night I arrived at Glenwood, where I was staying following my GPS I was taken into some dodgy areas with prostitutes on every corner and seedy looking potential drug suppliers lurking in the shadows. Arriving in Gillitts, there was joggers and cyclists doing their Sunday normal. It only dawned on me when standing in the queue between a skinny tall blonde haired lady with sparkling white teeth and a hipster sporting his designer beard and spandex cycling shorts. I carefully looked around, I was surrounded by only white people. Toto, I don’t think we are in South Africa any more.

 

This Assagay, Bothas Hill, Gillitts, and Hillcreast bubble is not normal yet they seem to be living normal. I mean even Assagay is spelt incorrectly, Ass-a-gay, what happened to Assegai the Zulu short spear. So I quickly continued inland towards Pietermaritzburg and while passing Camperdown, I had to pull over to the side of the highway to witness a flock of about 30 yellow billed kites gathering at a termite emergence. I was in awe watching these raptors swooping and catching the tiny flying ants by the wings and eating all in flight. The spectacular flying displays of what could be the bird's version of a sardine run bait ball was mesmerising. What is happening, nothing seems normal in this place. Please pinch me.

I arrived at Hayfields, a little early and there was already a lot of cars in the parking lot so I walk into the main chapel hall and no-one, I saw nobody. I looked outside at all the cars then back inside, what did I miss the rapture? Oh no I don’t want to be left behind as nothing is normal anymore. Then I heard a faint sound coming from the room in the back, after peering in, ahhh how can I forget, breaking of bread with the faithful.

It was good seeing all the old folks and also the young folks that I grew up with, now looking old too. Interesting was today’s sermon by Paul Greeve, oh yes he is looking much older than I remembered, but his wife Dorothy hasn’t aged at all. I must say Dorothy reads my blog, thank you for your kind words today. Anyway I digress, Paul’s message was about what is normal. He used the scripture from Mark 1 verses 1 to 20 about this man living up in the graveyard. He cut himself a lot and was troubled by some bad spirits. When he saw Jesus, he ran to him as begged for help. To cut the story short, Jesus cast out a lot of evil spirits from the man into about 2,000 pigs whom then ran into the sea and killed themselves. Paul was asking what is normal, the troubled man asking for help, or the Jewish pig herders and the Jewish pig owners who then asked Jesus to leave as he caused enough trouble to disturb the normal.

Rabbi be gone. Thy powers brings loss to us. Our ways are not thine. Thou lovest men, we swine.

So what is normal, men sporting designer beards and cycling spandex shorts? Next is I wear speedos, no don’t Google that. Okay now back to normal, here is my best friend Robbie and his brother in law Kevin braaing up in misty Hilton. Nou gaan ons braai as nothing is as normal as it seems.

Fine but Tender

I had a terrible night last night, but thank God I am still alive. After arriving safely at my cousin Eleasha and her husband Wayne’s place in Durban so late, I was stressed and extremely exhausted. I tried to eat something but just picked at my food. Fatigued, I took some headache tablets and crashed.

I woke up sometime in the night, feverish, headachy, and had the squirts. Okay overshare! The stress of yesterday must have hit me hard. I lay in bed sweating yet shivering with cold at the same time. My head was pounding that I could not even put it on the pillow. I started hyper ventilating and the thoughts flashed through my mind that I am not going to wake up here. Wayne would have to call the cops to remove my body while Eleasha would have to go through my phone to find my next of kin’s numbers. Oh dear!

I woke up with the birds chirping outside along with the soft sound of rain. I was alive, but barely. I must have fallen asleep with those dark thoughts. But in the morning I seemed fine but tender. Obviously I planned to take it easy today, but since I am only going to be a day here before heading to Hilton for the week, I went out to get my headlights sorted and like a good little boy I did my fiduciary duties by visiting family members.

An Eventful Journey

There is an old sailing saying that goes something like it is a bad omen if the weather is calm at the beginning of the voyage. Matthew and a few friends had booked a bungalow at Rocky Bay for their end of Matric getaway and when Matthew’s lift fell through, I offered to take him down instead of him going by public transport. Most of the friends flew down but 2 came with me along with all their food for the next 10 days.

I have this blessing that I give all my friends to fly out to Europe, Americas, or Asia, may you have an un-eventful flight, as events in a flight is not what anyone wants. So began my eventful journey as no-one blessed our journey.

I left home at 08H30, stopped at the nearest garage, filled up with fuel, checked my tyres. Thank God I did as my spare tyre was flat. I asked them to check water and oil too, but the serviceman must have forgotten, as I paid and drove off. A few kilometres down the road I realise that my bonnet was still open, and it was then that it dawned on me that the oil and water was not checked. So I stopped at the next service station to check water and oil. Oil was fine but engine coolant was below low. Then it was onto the highway to Benoni to pick up the 2 boys and all the food. We left Benoni at at 10:30 and it was not long into the journey, like 30mins when we hit this 5km backup. At the end of the backup was a police roadblock. Sigh!

About 100km before Harrismith, I started hearing a noise from the front right hand side. It sounded like bearings, but it can’t be as I had the car serviced a month ago, they did my brakes, replaced my front wheel bearings and the front wheel hubs. So it simply can’t be but it was getting loader and loader. On top of that I started getting automated calls from my bank stating that there is a possibility of fraudulent activity on one of my bank cards. By the time I got to Harrismith, I was a wreck with worry.

We had a bite to eat at the fuelling stop at Harrismith because the boys were hungry. I tried to eat but couldn’t even eat with all the worries. I phoned my insurance about getting a hired car but they informed me that they can only give me a hired car if I was involved in a crash or hijacking. Bugger that, where is the nearest wall that I can drive into.

I slowly drove to the car hire place in Harrismith, booked a car, and asked directions to the nearest, reliable, and reasonable mechanic. Yes it is my wheel bearings which means that my wheel bearings have been replaced 3 times this year alone. Something is not right. The last service with the brakes, hubs, and bearings cost me a little over R2000, this mechanic saw me coming a mile off because he managed to replace the bearings but at a whopping cost of R1280. But good news 2 hours later we were back on the road and didn’t need the hired car.

By the time we got to Mooiriver, it was raining and cold. In the rain somewhere near Howick, my one globe popped. Now I had 1 light in dims, and brights only. Because of the 2 hour delay at Harrismith and the rain we started driving slower, by the time we got to Pietermaritzburg it was dark. And the rain got harder, and the driving conditions got progressively worse that I only got to Park Rynie at 21:50. With the boys dropped off at Rocky Bay, I was now traveling back to Durban to were I am staying for the weekend. I ended my eventful journey at 22:38, that is 14 hours later.

Vintage Amber

This morning, I wasn’t sure my meeting in Rustenburg with the largest supplier of stainless steel convoluted hoses in Southern Africa was still on as the owner, Henk, left the night before to contact training down in Richards Bay over 750km away which is about 8 and a half hours drive. But after assurances that he will be in for my meeting, we took a slow drive up to Rustenburg.

 After driving through the night, Henk, made it to our meeting high on energy drinks. I must admit, it was a long drive back and I would not be looking so chippy. Good news it was a successful meeting and on the drive back Anthony and I stopped at a small roadside café called Vintage Amber near Magaliesburg to celebrate. The food was good and tasty, just what the good doctor ordered.

Surprised Visit

It has been a busy 2 weeks with today being my rest day or a day of catch up with all my admin work. I was taking it easy, cruising through the day, and then just a little after 1pm my gate intercom rang.

Surprise, it was my brother Anthony. I was only expecting him late this evening or even tomorrow morning as he is going up with me to Rustenburg tomorrow. Never mind I like pleasant surprises, now I can now catch up on all the family skinner except I don’t like the politics.

West Rand Salute

When I saw Morné at our west Rand Connect group, my first thought was that he was here to audit our family group. Well what was I to think as he was taking notes on his phone or was that just socialising on social, uhmmm. Anyways Morné is from the Cedar Connect group near Fourways, he is still a young Christian but from what came out of his mouth, and you could say that he is an inspiring Christian with good wise words for us. Duff, if you reading this, I think we should press gang him into our group, as he would fit nicely into our not perfect family, tattoos and all.

From what I heard this evening, Morné is from the West Rand, hence here is Morné introducing me to the West Rand salute, quite different from my Durban salute of a raised right hand with the thumb and pinky sticking out and the middle fingers folded along with the words “kiff”.

Mthunzi

My mother used to say that you need to make a good impression by always dressing neatly, making sure there were no holes in your socks, and that you always had a clean underpants on. It looks like the intern at BankservAfrica took it to heart, well not the socks and underpants part, as there is no way in earth am I going to check but Mtunzi is always dressed smartly at work.

Ama-gent, the opposite to colour blocking, I am intrigued by what I think closely resembles a rose fob watch chain, interesting touch.

Doing Life

Sunday morning, and I am looking forward to going to church. What has happened? After I was retrenched a year ago, I felt down yet at the same time I felt God was doing something in my life but I wasn't in that happy place close to God. I was angry, for example it was 2 days apart when our house was registered and when I was told by the company I was with that they were making my position redundant. What was God doing? Deep down I knew that God had planned for us to have this house, the promises of God where deeply embedded into my heart but the deviousness of the company just rendered me into pieces. I was down and didn't feel like doing church but God was into doing life.

Look at me now, God has brought us here to Centre Church, a place where I am unknown, a place where I am doing life in a new way. I still not sure where God is taking me but I am here Lord.

I introduced myself as Jerome to Stewart after church, shown here with his wife Emma, and he answered, "Oh you are Jerome, I have heard about you". Oh dear that is always ominous, I hope my foot in my mouth reputation hasn't gone before me, but eh God has my back. Stewart and Emma are one of the elder couples leading Centre Church being good stewards so to speak. Emma preached today about Mary, a young teenage girl who fell pregnant by the Spirit of God, and had to face such a predicament of telling her parents, her husband to be. Against all odds before her, she said "here I am Lord, use me".

And now I find myself, in a similar place, no not pregnant although I look it, but I find myself at the edge of a steep precipice, and I cry out to God into the wind "here I am, Lord, take my hand, please, as I can't go on without you. I can’t do this life without you".

Gecko Wind Chime

One of the touristy things we brought up from Clarens, was this wooden wind chime with geckos printed on them, okay I know that they are most likely made in China but we have been in the market for a wind chime for some time now. A lovely breeze was blowing down the gorge making the chimes make these marimba sounds as the sun set.

Wild Flowers

Somehow I managed to get home earlier this afternoon. It was a scorcher of a day and the sun was getting low, perfect time to take the dogs and any cat who wanted to join for a walk along the ridge.

The ridge next to my house that overlooks a deep gorge is very rocky and lined with Protea Trees but it was not the trees that I was looking out for but for any wild flowers. With all the rain that we have had in the last few days, I was hoping to find some interesting flowers, not the Red Listed Cites plants that I always hope to find one day but beautiful Highveld grassland flowers none the less.

La Rosa

We pass the La Rosa, a Mexican Grille and Tequileria, quite often and since Jon asked how to get there as he had a meeting, I was intrigued. If it was good enough for Jon to meet and greet, well it should be good for us too.

Anyways with both Lynda and I coming home late today and carpooling since we were working in the same area, we decided to make it a date night. So we stopped on the way home at La Rosa for a tasty supper.

The restaurant’s décor was beautifully done in the colourful Día de Muertos theme and the burritos that we ordered very scrumptious. I mean even the toilets was worth a visit with the stunning murals all over. La Rosa is defiantly down for another visit.

Wagtail Poop

When I arrived at BankservAfrica this week, Wendy was so excited to show us her first tattoo that she got. I said first because once you start, you can’t stop with just 1 tattoo. Her first is the cross with a vine and a wagtail bird. All mean a lot to her, the cross and the Bible reference in John 15:5 about the vine, but what does the wagtail mean?

The wagtail sitting on the cross reminded me of Massimo Battura the famous Italian gastronomy chef, which I told Wendy of how Massimo was dragged to art galleries and museums by his wife, Lara, to help Massimo with creativity. Now the story goes, at this one gallery, he looked up and saw these stuffed pigeons which were positioned in such a way above the art pieces and art was created to look like the bird poop onto the art pieces below. Massimo was so inspired, with the bird pooping onto traditional art pieces as art itself.

You can see that I too am inspired by this bird poop, that it took the wagtail tattoo to remind me. Anyways it was this inspiration that stood Massimo in good stead when he opened the Osteria Francescana in Modena. He struggled at first as the locals trashed his ideas of turning traditional Italian food on its head. He was even thinking of throwing the towel in but Lara kept him at it. BUT then after a top food critic’s car broke down and was forced to overnight in Modena. This critic ate at Osteria Francescana and wrote about this extraordinary place, the news spread like wildfire of Massimo, and the rest is history as the Osteria Francescana is now ranked the 2nd best restaurant in the world.

So here was this small insignificant wagtail, sitting on the cross, that means so much to Wendy, that it became part of her first tattoo.

Washing of Feet

Last week, I uploaded a photo of Duff's feet half in his shoes during Connect Group meeting, and as my punishment, I offered to wash his feet. Well I am not sure he expected me to carry out my offer until he saw me walk in this evening with my bowl, soap, and towels.

I am all for the servant heart, as it pleases me to serve others and I believe that as a Christian we are called to have a servant heart as opposite to what the world dictates, which is all about me me me. Not an easy thing to accomplish, noooo not the washing of Duff's feet, that was the easy part, but to strive to serve others even in times when we feel down on the inside. Well it is nice to know that his feet now smells of wild rooibos, not that I have a foot fetish, just to clear up that matter.

It is that St Francis of Assisi song that I used to sing when I was a young boy growing up in that convent in Vryheid that makes me yearn for the servant heart, oh yes for the record I did spent some time in a convent called Nardini Convent, "...grant that I may not so much seek to be console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving the we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life".

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

While 3 Watch

The Pool Buoys came round today to fix the swimming pool’s solar heaters. The day after they installed the new solar heaters, Matthew from Pool Buoys phoned, after debriefing the installation team, he realised that they had installed the solar heaters incorrectly which would cause it not to run to its optimal performance. So proactively he phoned to book another date so that he himself can come out and rectify.

And that day was today, I am not sure if the 3 assistants are trainees; as they mostly watched, pass the tools, and helped carry, while Matthew did the rectifying.

I am now looking forward to a lovely warm pool, okay I know we are heading into summer, I am just not a cold water person even with all this blubber.

Wind in my Beard

After another comfortable sleep at the Protea Hotel in Clarens, we had a late start to the day, but we are on holiday so it is worth it. After brunch we headed to the Golden Gate Highlands National Park for a round trip back home.

It was stunning driving the rolling hills through the majestic sandstone cliffs of the Free State. Yes not all of the Free State is flat; some of it is very beautiful. It was so peaceful to be away from the madding crowds of the city and be so high up, close to God with the wind in my beard.

As I stood there with on this high mountain hill with this Watsonia Confusia iris at my feet and a breezy wind blowing, I thought of Elijah, who had just ran away from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in fear for his life, how he too stood on top of the mountain seeking the Lord God. A mighty wind tore down the mountainside, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, then a fire, but the Lord was not found in either of them too. After all these mighty things, Elijah heard the Lord in a gentle whisper.

So as I stand on this high place, not knowing what is before me, but knowing that God is all around me. I push in towards God, and hear His gentle voice, “I Love you, I will not let you fall”.

Protea Hotel Clarens

Waking up in Clarens to the noisy construction of a new service station right next door to the Protea Hotel where we were staying after an upset tummy all evening, was not nice, not nice at all.

We arrived in Clarens late yesterday afternoon, and checked into the 4 star Protea Hotel by Marriot Clarens. After freshening up we took a lovely stroll around the square. The shops were closing but the restaurants and pubs were preparing for the weekend rush. We decided to have supper at the hotel as it looked agreeable after a long drive down.

Lynda ordered a beef lasagne and I, a chicken florentine served on a bed of cauliflower mash, oh how very Banting of me. Anyways how were we to know that this was to be the downfall of the day. The service was polished as to be expected of a 4 star establishment.

The food itself well, what can I say about the very overdone lasagne that was so dry that Lynda could not even get some of it down without copious amounts of grapetiser. The chicken looked good and tasted very good but once I got to the middle it felt like my knife was cutting through raw chicken. I stopped eating and had to fish for my cellphone to use the torch app to have an inspection of the chicken in the dimmed lights of the dining room.

It looked okay, but I was very unsure as I continued to cut into it. During the night my tummy had lots of things to say about the chicken. Luckily by the morning I was fine. Anyways we are not eating at the Protea Hotel again that is for sure. Now the unpleasantness cannot be said about the friendliness of the front of house staff nor the comfortable bed in the room except for me taking numinous trips to the toilet, we were well rested to enjoy this day in Clarens and surrounding areas.

OJs

Lynda has been wanting a holiday for such a long that we finally managed to get a mini break away down to Clarens. It is not easy, co-ordinating each other’s diaries, arranging house, dog, and cat sitters.

On the way down to Clarens we decided to take the slow long route visiting all the small Vrystaat dorpies along the way. This drive reminded me of another lifetime, when a group of friends rode down on this same route on our Vespas on route to conquer the Sani Pass way back in 2011. Ahhhh the Posers Scooter Club.

Lynda and I stopped at Heilbrom, a small town in the middle of nowhere, and had lunch at the same restaurant as the Posers did, OJs. I couldn’t get the same table as a group of 3 Harley Davidson biker couples had it so we sat at the table next to it.

At first I was quite pleased with the Hogs conversation as it was all Christian, but during their meal, their conversation went south, quite literary, with the colourful topics starting at swingers, then moving swiftly along to lesbians, before on to sex dolls, but when topic reached floppy dildos, I ordered my bill and bid a hasty retreated.

Decontamination

I didn’t get much sleep last night as there was a pair of Staffordshire Bull Terriers or Staffies running outside our yard in the veldt much to the excitement of all the dogs. We asked on the chat forums if anyone are missing any staffies but not a peep. My neighbour Pieter let them into his yard for safekeeping till the morning and that is when our sleepless night started for us and our neighbour. The strange staffies caused all the dogs in the neighbourhood in a barking mood right into the wee hours of this morning.

Good news is that we found the owners first thing in the morning bad news that was not the end of my troubles today.

So here I was trying to keep my open when I got a phone call from Lynda. Ella, her son Dale’s house mate’s Boerboel puppy was very sick with vomiting and loss of appetite. Since their car was still off the road due to being repaired from an accident they had no way to take Ella to the vet. A boerboel is a South African Mastiff a large dog but Ella is still a 6 month old puppy.

I picked up Dael and Ella and took them to the vet. Bad news is that Ella has been diagnosed with a deadly virus called Parvo. She has been hospitalised and treatment will take up to 5 days with 1 out 4 dogs not surviving the treatment.

Since the virus is highly contagious especially to puppies, I had to decontaminate my pickup and as soon as I got home I took a nice long shower. Our dogs are older and although this virus comes from cats it doesn’t affect them but I was taking no chances.

True Blue

It has being just about a month since the big storm that struck the west rand and I can say finally my swimming pool is ready to be swum in. About time as today has been a scorcher of a day with temperatures in the mid 30s. Okay the Solar pool heaters are not running efficiently due to an installation issue which is be rectified next week, it is great to see my pool blue again. Hey true blue, fair dinkum, you’re back.

The Bald and the Beautiful

Okay bald you would know by now, but beautiful? Well yes beautiful.

Lynda and I have been welcomed into a beautiful family, no strings attached, the Connect Family headed by Lance and Kerry-Anne. Kerry as her friends' call her is shown above and Lance better known as Duff has his half in half out foot shown below. Okay before you ask about my foot and latex fetish, the foot photo was taken by Kyle who hosts the family get togethers with his wife Nicolene. If you are wondering why Duff's foot is being featured, well mainly because he is defiantly not like me with my foot always in my mouth; his feet are firmly planted on the ground; and because I can.

The Centre Church is the hub of a number of Connect groups and since we have started meeting on a Sunday morning, we have noticed a friendly rivalry of which is the best Connect group. Now I haven't been to any of the others but I must say that this Connect group may not be the best but it is sure the most beautiful family filled with beautiful peoples.

Now you might ask what about the not so beautiful, so let me clarify. Beauty is not an external superficial visual thing as the world sees it but rather an inside thing. As you can see by Duff's feet, we are ordinary people, not perfect but touched by God and changed to be beautiful in God's eyes.

Therefore I know I am bald and I am beautiful, not perfect but loved by God.

Getting her Shots

Okay it was not easy coming up with a name for this scruff muffin, well she is a beautiful calico and scruffy just didn’t do any justice. One of our limiting factors was that it should be a name is easy for the vets to spell as we didn’t want to have to spell Gallifrey or even worse Galadriel.

Yesterday was our deadline as today the little mite had to go the vets for her first shots. Having rescues we are big on being up to date with vaccinations and sterilisations. So the name we finally settled on was Rose and then it became Rosy to match Maxy, Minky and Paddy.

Now with that out of the way, this morning on our way to see Dr Andrea at Silverfields Veterinary Clinic it was meow meow all the way but once there Rosy was all alert with the unfamiliar surroundings. Rosy was good taking her vaccinations and deworming tablets but when it came to trimming those sharp little craws of hers, that is when she became a banshee.

Meeting the Outlaws

Eish, time to meet Bradley’s outlaws, in other words, his girlfriend’s parents. This was sprung on me only this morning, “oh Adi’s parents are coming over for a braai, what time can I give them?” A braai did you say, well meeting the parents, wel nou gaan ons braai! Any excuse for a braai will work for me.

Adrienne arrived with her mom Debbie and dad Tinus while I was still busy getting the braai ready for their lekker kuiertjie on our deck overlooking the kloof. It was still very hot but it soon cooled off as the sun started set. For the record I did offer the usual skinny dipping but no one took up my offer as First Contact Protocol was in play. I think the meeting of the parents went quite well with no-one bringing up the elephant in the room oh course. One step at a time Jerome, now that first contact has being made.

Same Same

Happy birthday Matthew, I know it is in the middle of your exams but it was lovely to just spend some time with you over our favourite meal, sushi.

Here we are father and son on Matthew’s 19th birthday wearing the same shirts, uhmmm, I think that was my fault by buying 2 shirts, 1 for him and 1 for me same same.

Matthew has started his finals and is feeling the pressure and stress as his health is taking a knock, so please keep him in your prayers.

Home Alone

Ahhhh I now find myself home alone, since Lynda is away at a Ladies Night function at Centre Church. When the cats away, the mice begin to play, so what can I do?

First a simple meal of chicken burgers, then binge what some Netflix. Lynda returned well after bedtime, and I am half asleep on the couch. They did some nice artsy stuff, such as this picture that she made; through it all it is well. From all her babbling when she returned, she must have really enjoyed the Ladies Night, nice. She is safely home so now I can go to bed. Good night!

I said No

For the record I said “No”, when Bradley mentioned that a 5 week old kitten called Squirrel needs a new home since its current owner’s dogs are actively hunting the poor little creature. Well when it comes to cats, the cat lady in my life has the final say even if I am actively trying to whittle the number of rescue cats down in favour of more Italian Greyhounds.

So yesterday, this little adorable scruff muffin arrives much to my and the rest of the resident cat’s annoyance. I mean hissy fits and arched backs are in endless supply when any other cats come to greet the fiesty new kitten.

So now we are looking for a new name for this beautiful dilute calico girl, any suggestions? My choices so far are Arwen, Galadriel, Gallifrey, Hoshi, Sarasa, or even Tobi mi-ke.

Night of the Dead

Okay now this is a sore point for me. I think I am a moderate person, and I tolerate different peoples, cultures, and beliefs but last night, well it was too much. Lets call it the Night of the Dead, as I am dead tired writing this but it needs to be told. Let me start from the beginning. A neighbour who is a South African Police member approached me about 6pm with whom I believe was a family member and 2 other men.

The neighbour wanted access into the kloof or gorge through the gate at the end of our road for the 3 men who wanted to collect holy water. The gate is locked due to security reasons, so I directed them to a public entrance a few kilometres away but they weren’t happy using that entrance due to it being unsafe for their car which was a black VW Polo. Understandable as Polos are targeted by criminals but they wanted to park on my property. It was getting dark and because it was my neighbour asking I gave the go ahead, it was only for a few hours while they hike down into the kloof and back. I expected them back by latest 8pm. Yes I was concerned and I voiced my concern that walking at night in the veldt with its dangerous cliffs was not the wisest thing to do. But they were adamant.

I had Connect Group meeting yesterday evening, so I asked my tenant if she could open the gate when they returned. But when I got back from Connect at about 10 o’ clock and the 3 men were not back from fetching holy water, I started to get worried, so I phoned my neighbour who was on duty. At first he thought I was joking, but I was serious, he rushed over from work. Once here, he tried to phone his family member but no answer; he then called the wife to get the cell numbers of the other 2 men. When the wife heard that the men had not returned, she started crying over the phone. Cellphone reception is virtually non-existent deep in the kloof. So with the police lights flashing at the end of my road, my neighbour and I went into the veldt and hiked to the edge of the kloof overlooking the closest holy water sources to my home. We shined our touches down into the gaping chasm, my neighbour called out to them, but no answer. It seemed dead below us.

It was way too dangerous to go down further into the kloof in the dark, so our only bet was to wait till first light and if they still had not returned, then our option was to bring out the dogs and form a search party. I remember saying to my neighbour, that either they lied to us and planned to sleep over night in the kloof or they got hurt somehow.

My neighbour then drove over to the public entrance and found some Zionist Christian Church (ZCC) religious pilgrims hanging about there, at this time of night? After questioning them, it was discovered that a ZCC ceremony is being held in deep the kloof near the holy waters and is planned to end at midnight. I was very upset when I heard this because this meant they lied to us big time.

I showered and called it a night. While trying to find sleep, I remembered that tonight is the eve of All Saints, or Halloween as it is called in the Western world. Oh dear, this is now serious. A secret religious ceremony is being held in the kloof on the Night of the Dead.

Now I know that the ZCC mixes the Christian beliefs with African traditions such as ancestor worship. The ZCC stem from the Apostolic Faith Mission and I never thought that the Catholicism beliefs of honouring the dead saints especially today, All Saints Day, would be celebrated by them in the form of ancestor worship in the dead of the night, excuse my pun.

The 3 men finally emerged from the kloof about 02:30am in the morning. Talk about the dead rising from the hole in the ground, I was not a happy chappy but remained cool and collective, well as best I could in the wee hours of the morning.