Primitive Thanksgiving

There is something primitive about sitting around a fire in each one of us. I can only imagine this deep down warm fuzzy feeling stems from a time when our ancestors sat around a fire pit in a cave under an enormous starry sky for safety and warmth.

So on this cool summer’s evening, a group of friends gathered around a brazier for warmth and to give thanks to the Lord our God for a hard year that was full of ups and downs, but a year that God was in control.

This year has surely flown past, as we once again find ourselves at our year end dinner. For me this year was a hard one and I give thanks that deep down I can lean on the knowledge that God is in control even when my life seems out of control and heading for that crash test wall with dummy me strapped inside. My second thanks is for my son Matthew. It is his birthday today and I thank God that he has turned out to be a wonderful young man.

After our primitive yet very important giving thanks around the fire, we sat down at a well decorated table for our year end meal. Breaking bread with friends and family is a highlight in the year for me, knowing that I belong.

The Crazy Ones

Ah the first day of the Year 2015 and what better time to spend it chilling with friends and family. The day started with rain and more rain, so much so that I was wondering how we all going to fit into Anika and Gary’s lounge. It wasn’t just the 10 adults shown above as there were another 3 teenagers and a child. But thankfully the sun got brave and dried up all the rain as suns are supposed to do.

As South Africans, the meat was on the braai, with the young ones all occupied playing either in the pool or on the game consoles, the adults aka the Crazy Ones could chill in peace under the lapa next to the pool. Okay from left to right are the Crazy Ones, Sandy and Derrick, Lynda and Jerome, Megan and Bruce, Necia and Craig, Anika and Gary.

As always everything that exciting happened in the year came up in topic, Dr Who; ostrich meat; X-Box games; Ingress; programming; work; bandwidth; beer bread; merits of school and school fees; The Resistance; being splashed by the young ones in the pool and Craig that needed to be thrown in; some muscle car that Bruce owned in the states that he left his iPod in; Dropping DVDs of the film The Interview over North Korea via helium balloons, Apple vs Android; so called home made Turkish delight; various re-modelling projects from bathrooms to this very lapa; some movie about a women who has a sex change, goes back in time, marries herself and has a child, very confusing even to me; and not to forget the chat about cats and more cats. If I did leave anything out, other than the cats, I am so sorry but I can't remember everything. Oh yes talking about remembering we also chatted about how we get round remembering a face but not a name.It looks like this might be a usual problem with us Crazy Ones.

This blog also did an appearance in the discussion. Gary still likes the longer posts whereas Craig wants shorter more factual posts. Oh and I mustn’t forget we found out that Bruce is a fan of my blog and could be a serial blog stalker.

One of the suggestions, Gary’s I think, was maybe add more photos which will get the blog to feel longer. So let me give it a bash, here is the cat Robbie all bored and had enough of this small talk. He had this thing where he sucked his paw and when he had finished with his paw while sitting on his mommy’s lap, he put his head down on the table, relaxed.

Thanksgiving

As the year comes to an end, the Year End Functions start. Our home group held their Christmas Dinner tonight as our last Tuesday together for the year. It is not just a year end dinner but a Thanksgiving Dinner for us. Although it has been a rocky road, we as a group have a lot to be thankful for. My three things on top of my thankful list are Health, Work and Matthew.

There were twenty of us around the Thanksgiving table and in today’s photograph are Sandy, Tracy and Gary.

Let them eat Amakhekhe

Tonight was our home group's turn for manning the "Under the Bridge" feeding outreach. So I left work the earliest I could and rushed over to BBC to start preparing the food parcels. Normally the food parcels consists of a large piece of polony, half a loaf of bread and a packet of crisps.

This time was slightly different as our home circle decided to each bring two pockets of oranges which allowed us to give each person who came for food two oranges each. There was quite a few oranges left over so we decided to take these later to the Hillbrow shelter. Someone also donated quite a few packs of Amakhekhe so we added one each into each food parcel. Amakhekhe are small cakes which are in between scones and cup cakes without the cup. While we packed the amakhekhe into the food parcels the words "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche" came to mind. Although misattributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, let them eat cake is exactly what we did. We gave them amakhekhe and oranges with their bread.

Sandy

Monday has come and gone. Tuesday, what can I say about today? Nothing much can be said about today. Sophia my Vespa is still not talking to me, no not that. Ah yes, the one good thing about a Tuesday other than it is not a Monday, is that Home Circle is held on a Tuesday evening. Our small group regularly meet at the home of Andy and Sandy. Here is Sandy with her pink top, a perfect model to show Gary what my small new Canon can do in low light.

Getting Back to Normal

After a wonderful week of having Matthew with me it was time for him to return to his mommy. It was a sad quite drive east for us as Matthew buried himself in a book and I thought of the upcoming National Positions work. It was time to get my home (after Matthew) and my life back to order. I ended the day with a wonderful meal at Sandy's home with vegetables :-) and home cell.

Brenda's 60th

Our home met at Fratelli in Ferndale Village to celebrate Brenda's sixtieth birthday. Round the table from the left is Mike, Tracy, Gary, Carol (hidden behind Gary), Andy, Petra, Sandy, birthday girl Brenda, Linda and Denise with her back to the camera. We had a wonderful time with friends.

50 and free falling

Sandi turned 50 yesterday and this coming Saturday we all getting together to celebrate Sandi reaching the BIG FIVE ZERO. I have this birthday hand theory which I think makes sense. You look at your hand with the fingers together. This represents your life and at the tops of the fingers the decades. From the base of your thumb to the top represents the jump from 0 to 10 years old. The big jump from the top of your thumb to the top of your pointer finger is your thrilling teen years. Then it is a little climb from 20 to 30 (middle finger). Now at 30 you’re at the top but it is not big drop to 40 and you’re still near the peak of your life. But from 40 to 50 you start picking up speed as you enjoy the freewheeling through the roaring forties. Well from 50 it is free falling and I suppose that is why they say life only begins at 50. Happy Birthday Sandy!

Nero’s feast

Be careful when you pull a tongue Mike, as you never know where the picture will end up. Sandy is trying to smile next to that face. Doesn’t Mike look just like the Roman Emperor Nero? This evening our home cell had our Christmas dinner. Andy, Sandy, Rob, Denise, Mike, Denise, Emmelinah, Poppie (Karin), Jackie, Francis, Johanna, Carol and myself all enjoyed ourselves. The water mains were turned off in the area so we had no running water, which was okay until we needed to refill the toilet cistern from the swimming pool. As usual the food was scrumptious. We started with avocado pear topped with shrimps in home made mayonnaise sauce. For main course there was roast turkey, roast beef, roast potatoes, roast vegetables, other vegetables, salad and garlic bread. After that I was too full but that was the end of my diet. With ice-cream topped with strawberries, cherries and melted chocolate what could I do. There was also some tangerine and cream pudding and not to forget Emmelinah’s cupcakes. We ended the evening with coffee, tea and more chocolate.

Sandy and Poppie

After a long day at Metrorail, I ended up at Home Cell in the evening which I look forward too during the week. Here is Sandy and Karen also known affectionally as Poppie. She is good looking and single. Because of this I tease her frequently that she should try Australia or New Zealand as they have plenty of lonely sheep farmers. A bonus is that she is a well trained nurse. Any offers?

The cell

Another rushed day. It seems that I am wanted everywhere. The last visa was picked up today and just 2 more sleeps until we leave for our holiday. In the evening I went to home cell and we took photos to send to Maia in Bulgaria. So here is from the front left to right Denise, Petra, Rob, Leigh, Sandy, Sarah and Francis. In the back you can find Mike, Andy, Karin, Emme and Joanne.

Mimmos

Back to Metrorail with head down and peddling hard. I still have not fully recovered from the long weekend but maybe I need another holiday. Tonight I joined Petra (shown), Sandy (shown), Andy, Rob, Denise and Mike for dinner at Mimmos in Douglasdale.

Home Cell

Another hot summer’s day. No load shedding. No rain. Potholes are slowly getting fixed after all that rain. Home cell started in earnest with the first episode of the Canvas. This must be rated as one of the best Christian DVD teachings ever, better than sliced bread. I still want my own copy, and Northpoint church in Atlanta does not ship to South Africa. More about tonight later in my other blog, This Is the BBC. In the photo is Sandy. She and her husband Andy lead our home cell in their home.