Serenity

Se

What else is there to do when you have reached the end of a good innings? Here is Daphne, Carol's mom at the Serenity Nursing Home waiting for God.

Intelligent sleep in

I tried to sleep in and recover but I think that I am not used to it. So I just had a lazy day looking at how long the grass had grown in 3 weeks. The question is do I cut it or do I wait for the gardener who is coming on Tuesday? Carol fetch mom for the day and I just looked at the grass pondering that while we are searching for intelligent life out there in the cosmos, will they find us intelligent?

Mom

Carol’s mom is actually improving at this new place that she has been moved to, although all she wants is chocolates. I make her eat all her lunch before any chocolate is brought out.

Braai Day

Today is Heritage Day, also know as Braai Day. A braai is South African for Barbeque or BBQ. The weather was great and even mom-in-law cracked a smile although just briefly.

Malcolm flies up

It is Friday at last. It has been a long week. Malcolm came up from Cape Town on his way to Malawi. He popped in to visit mom but I think Maxy was happier to see him than mom. Here is Malcolm on the phone to Joy while mom is trying not to look too excited with Malcolm being here. Later we took Malcolm to a lovely restaurant in the Design Quarter for supper. A good start for the weekend.

Family wedding tree

Here are the family weddings on Carol’s side. (From right to left): Jimmy and Daphne (Carol’s mom and dad); Ken and Simone (Carol’s son and daughter-in-law); Darrel and Shannon (Carol’s son-in-law and daughter) and finally but not least Carol and I.

A wee break then

Ah a quiet tranquil break during what has become a busy weekend. I took Maxy, Carol and her mom for a walk to Emmarentia. I am not too sure about taking Maxy there on a Sunday as there are too many dogs for Maxy to sniff. Here is Carol and her mom sitting by dam. Well that’s if you can see them. Just believe me they are eating chocolate there on that bench by the dam while I am walking the dog.

A Duvet Day

The cold front rain has set in. Carol and her mom climb under the duvet to watch TBN and keep warm. Sun International kept me busy behind the computer all day and late into the evening.

They back

The family arrive back from their month holiday in style, each with their own set of wheels. They visited Netherlands, Belgium, France and Canada. Before they landed, I had to make sure that our home was all in order. Matthew was so happy to see me and Maxy (well I think he was). Carol and Matthew had so much to say about the trip that I only got to bed the following morning.

De Grote Kerk

Visiting the local Market at Dordrecht started with us catching the Waterbus across the Beneden Merwede River from Papendrecht. We then walked along the Wijnhaven looking at the beautiful boats moored in the canal and small shops in Voorstraat. Soon we reached the Grote Kerk, which the building of started 600 years ago. It has the largest carillon in Europe and took us 275 steps to climb to the top of the tower which housed the carillon. Here we took quite a few photographs of Dordrecht and surrounding areas. We then walked down the Nieuwe Haven and through Scheffersplein and found a quaint pofferties and pannekoeker restaurant in an alleyway where we had lunch. We finally reached our destination, the market in Statenplein. While we here I need to post a photo of our kind hosts Irene, Graham and their family. Here is Carol (hu hum notice her wheels), Matthew, Heather, Mom, Irene and Graham outside the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht.

Summer Holiday

Wow what a long trek. The song on my lips “I’m leaving on a jet plane. Don’t know when I’ll be back again” soon died on my lips when I saw the long walk from customs to gate A18. My walk meter says that I have walked 10.6 km today. I average about 3km per day. Soon we will board the KLM flight to Amsterdam and it is a half an hour behind schedule. Here is mom, myself, Carol and Matthew being dropped off at OR Tambo.

The accident

A quiet day to recover did not turn out all that quiet. Mom came over but as usual did not to eat lunch. Later in the afternoon she fell while walking from the lounge to the kitchen. She does not remember the fall or how she got on the floor. She now has a large gash on her forearm. Carol is quite troubled by the event.

Sunday

Sunday is church and mom spending the day with us. Mom is more talkative today and even cooked up a batch of custard and bananas all by her self. In the afternoon I just worked on Sun International and by evening I posted on “This is the BBC” blog.

Mey Sisters

It was month end shopping for me but before I got to the shops, mom’s sisters came round for tea (Elaine and Winnie excluded). Mom enjoyed her sisters reminiscing in the past. A few interesting stories came up but I am sure there are lots more about the Mey girls that will stay in the past. Sitting down with Mom (Daphne) is Rene and behind her are Enid and Muriel.

Catch up day

Today, I spent catching up on clients work. Carol fetched her mom to spend the night so otherwise not much to write home about.

Christmas Lunch

Ken, Darryl, Shannon, Mom, Simone,
Carol, Matthew, Amy and Connor

Scrabble

Mom and Matthew play a game of scrabble

Out of Hospital

Daphne

Mom at the Linmed

Daphne

Farewell to Malcolm and Joy

David, Daryl, Kayleigh, Malcolm, Jerome
Greta, Nicky, Carol, Kenneth, Daphne, Joy, Simone
Henry and Matthew