Rooftop Gardening

Well today was quite the experience having to take out some plants that were growing in the gutter on the one side of the house. It looked like some leaves accumulated inside, with the water and some micro-organisms, and had biodegraded into mush that gave these plants the perfect environment to grow. I came along and then pulled out their roots and cleaned up the gutter a bit to try and stop that from happening again. 

That is nature for you, if you leave it long enough nature will reclaim what was once theirs. Thinking about it, who are we to stand in its way?

Passage of Light

 

I think I've overslept. No, I know that I have over slept as I stumbled up the passage to the kitchen to make some awesome morning coffee. Yip, I need my java to start the day. As I walked up the passage with my eyes in slits, I could not help but notice the bright white light streaming in from the overhead windows. Ahh I needed a photo of this moment...

Purple Clouds

My Vespa came out of service yesterday and it was a pleasure riding to work and back. Goodbye traffic woes, goodbye. 

I arrived home stress free only for the electricity to trip in the entire neighbourhood. No problem, just go outside and sit on the deck and enjoy the last light of the day. Prince forget dancing in the purple rain, we have purple clouds to amaze us. What a end to the day, awesome.

Follow the Pipe

Eish, this is when I get soooo upset. When we bought the house just over a year ago, it came with plans of alterations done by the previous owner which are okay, but when you find out that plans were not followed which now cost you money, now that makes me very upset.

The plans required a new sewer line to be build to accommodate, what it calls to be a store room to be built over an existing sewerage line, unknown to us, the new sewer line was never built and the storage room become an office over an existing sewer line that I am sure was never even reinforced. Was there never an inspection done by the municipality? No wonder, since we moved in, we have had endless problems with the sewerage on this end of the building. 

This sewer line was constantly getting blocked, and when I got plumbers out yesterday for the umpteen time to unblock, they failed and said that the line must have collapsed. This morning I got the quotation and it is R12,000 to repair. Wow, at this moment in time I simply can not afford it but it needs to be fixed. So I went to price the materials needed and then hired some labourers to follow the sewer line from the kitchen. The cost of the materials needed is only R1,200. What were the plumbers smoking, a R10,000 labour charge for a 2 day job. 

We followed the pipe down until we discovered that it turned under the new section. It was then that I realised that this was the existing sewer line and the required new line was never built. Grhhh!

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.

Pool Buoys

A few weeks back, the hailstorm damaged our pool solar heaters on the roof and they started leaking. All this time we could not use our poor pump as the shut-off valve was not working as it should. Finally after all these weeks, our house insurance sent in the Pool Buoys to replace the damaged panels.

The installers, Boy and Mpho from the Pool Buoys arrived this morning with the new panels. The new panels are different than the old damaged ones as I was told by the assessor they don’t have that system in the country anymore and would have to order in. When the new panels were off-loaded and the old ones removed it was obvious that the new panels are bigger than the older ones, by a metre so they had to re-arrange the layout. Yay soon I will get my sparkling clean swimming pool back just in time for summer.

The Other Side

This is view of my home from the other side of the kloof. Somehow you can't see the scale of things that is seen from my deck but this is a rare view to me. Somehow the Protea trees don't seem so many from this vantage point. I wish I can get this area protected and stop the itinerants moving in, as they dig for gold in the sides of the cliffs, dig up medicinal tubers that are thousands of years old, and not to mention cut down the Protea trees for use as firewood.

Bird on a Wire

Bird on a Wire must be one of my favourite 80s movies or was that in the 90s, oh never mind it was a favourite. I arrive home this afternoon to such a racket, the dogs were barking and the guineafowl were screeching so I went out to investigate only to find this cheeky guineafowl perched up on the fence teasing the dogs to the amusement of the cats, like a bird on a wire.

Firebreak

Up here on the Highveld in winter the veldt tends to dry out and veldt fires break out weekly so it is imperative if living next to the green belt to prepare for them. So today I employed Joseph and Innocent to cut a 5m wide firebreak along my perimeter and I must say that they did a sterling job.

Sunset Procrastination

A self imposed deadline due to procrastination has jumped up and bitten me on the buttocks. No time to waste, I dove straight in and while crunching code, an orange glow caught the corner of my eye and turning to see, I saw the sun setting and suddenly remembered my Photo a Day blog.

Working from home does have some benefits except the procrastination part.

Freedom

So what does Freedom Day mean to you? While some people marched to express their freedom or lack of it, others like ourselves relaxed with family. Freedom to be ourselves. Freedom to believe in our God. Freedom to love whoever we want. Freedom to enjoy our home and surroundings without fear and discrimination and far away from the annoying crowds. In the above photo, our lovely home is just out the picture on the right half way up. This is the view I wake up to every morning and feel blessed.

Freedom to eat sushi for breakfast at home and to play with Minky in our garden while still dressed in my pyjamas and not be filmed.

Cloud Burst

To match my sombre mood from yesterday, the gods in heaven decided it best to give me a cloud burst of rain that would wash away all those sad thoughts. Depression is a reality for me and I am walking ever so close to that line. All I have to go on is my faith and that 1 verse that is found in Psalm 32:8 that God gave me late last year, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

I love you Matthew

I know it must be difficult for Matthew, having to be split between 2 homes, one in Benoni and the other in Roodekrans. Because humans are complicated beasts.

After driving all the way across from West to the East Rand to pick up Matthew for the weekend, we arrived back home tired, but glad to be back home. Forget happily ever after, we got messily ever after but we here now and have to make the most out of life. I love you Matthew.

Fire in the Sky

With the cyclone passing over us with not much hoo-ha other than gusty winds and an increase in rainfall but the clouds during the sunset was fiery spectacular. A short post for a change as I enjoy this sundowner moment.

Weather Clearing

After a raining month, the weather looks like it is starting to clear as this beautiful sunset shows compared to yesterday morning’s photograph of mist and rain. At least there will be a break so that we can get some washing done and hung out to dry in the coming sunny days.

Misty Monday Rainy Monday

Monday, Monday, Monday! Sigh!

This morning we woke to soft rain with our home up in the clouds. The gardener arrived but what can one do with rain coming in waves. So not to disappoint him and send him home, I decided that he could do maintenance chores around the home and I had two tasks that I have been putting off for quite some time now, one was to put up the extra fencing to keep the dogs from going into the nature reserve, and the other was dismantle the dog house and rebuild it at the back.

The rain held out while the fencing went up much to the disappointment of the dogs. It was while I was helping the gardener with the fencing, that I noticed a rather large snake skin just outside our wall. It looks like it could be a puff adder or night adder skin but more the reason keep our dogs out.

Halfway through the dismantling of the dog house, the rain said bugger that, and started bucketing down. My well laid out plans had to change; it is now a dismantled dog’s house under the car port and a soaked me in the shower.

Monday, Monday, Monday! Sigh!

Joy to All

Joy to all those who enter here, reads a small porcelain sign at our front door, a final touch ready for all the Christmas visitors. On Thursday our first 3 visitors, Hans, Theresa, and Juan, came through from Nelspruit to spend the night. This evening Marco, Robynne, and Rebekah came to visit and we through a few burgers on the braai for a tasty hamburger evening.

Holiday Guests

I remember a time, living on the Natal South Coast, during this time we started getting an influx of visitors from the Transvaal which we called Vaalies. Now I stay in Gauteng which is the heart of what once was the Transvaal. Does that make me a Vaalie now?

Anyway we have prepared our guest room for the influx of visitors in the opposite direction, those trying to escape the holiday makers. Today the beds have arrived and Lynda and I had to get ready the guest room as our first visitors are arriving tomorrow evening.

Evening on the Deck

Sitting on our deck on a balmy Joburg evening, hoping for a summer thunderstorm. This is life! It has been storming most days now for nearly the entire month of December. The storms cool the summers down quite nicely thank you. So here I am sitting on the deck, feet up, drinking sundowners even though we can’t see the sun due to ominous black clouds to the west which looks promising.

After the Storm

Yesterday evening we had a storm come through that uplifted trees in the neighbourhood. Even Minky our cat was caught unawares in our backyard somewhere and had to wait it out in the veld. She was one drenched and scared cat when returned after the storm.

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me.

The howling wind reminded me of staying in Noordhoek, Cape Town, when that when used to channel down the mountainside, frightening me.

Calm, peaceful, this evening is. The storm clouds have moved along and it is quite pleasant sitting on my deck after the storm.