Brenda's visit

We have known Brenda Ndongeni for more than 30 years. She has been working for us on a char and fulltime basis since Emile was in the crawling stage of life.
    Brenda retired before Ari passed away but we have kept contact through the years. Yesterday, her daughter Phyllis brought her parents to have tea at the Verandah and to collect a parcel made up specially for them.

      Brenda in Phyllis' car

                                                       

     Brenda, Phyllis and Joseph

                                                       

Three tiny visitors

Recently we had very tiny visitors ...
   First we entertained Carlos on the verandah...or, I should say Carlos entertained us.
He is my little German neighbour of 5 months. His mother had tea with me, while he had milk
on tap.
  Then I volunteered to babysit him while his parents went to an Indian restaurant. At first he was very cooperative and we gluc gluc gluc together, but suddenly he realised that his mother was nowhere to be seen.. So we walked the passage, watched TV, etc. Eventually, I phoned his father. They had there dinner packed as a take-out and came rushing home.
  Next time, I will watch him in the afternoon. His father said that is when he displays his best behaviour.

Carlos on the verandah

What a handsome boy!

My sister-in-law and her son with their 6-month-old twin girls had tea with us on the patio one beautiful Friday morning. Fortunately they were very sweet, alert and talkative and all I had to do was to serve tea and cooooooo!

      

                                                                              Me with little Elle ...

 Mila, having a conversation with her father Francois. Rika is in the

                                    background with Elle

                               

                                                     Lizette with half her pride and joy!

                                                                     Mila horsing around!

Eon was the entertainment manager for the morning

                                         

                                                              Elle in a pensive mood

July art crawl in Central PE

So many PE residents moan about "nothing to do / nowhere to go."
      But there is plenty to do in the Friendly City - one day is not even enough to check out the art scene.We found a lot to see even while the local artists were all at the Grahamstown fest ...
   
                         At ART on Cuyler:

Child art at the Ron Belling in Park Drive... crying out in the plight of the rhino!

Mosaic in the garden at the Atheneum

Roger Ballen's work was displayed at the Atheneum ...

(I could just take a few detail shots)

Vibrant colours at ArtEc in Bird Street ...

                                                 and a decorated suitcase in the galery shop...

Dressing a male actor

For his comedy, Danie Matthee,  writer, director and actor, needed a lady's outfit for his role in Dokter, dokter.
   Although I have a pic of him in my red German dress and jacket and beige hat, he left with a nice floral "outannie" dress, navy hat, brown leather shoes and an enamel chamber pot.

Anelle Zondagh, who has a role in the play, introduced Danie

 to me and she had a great time fitting some pieces.

She is in the background with one of my favourite dress and jacket combinations.

My lending fee was one comp and I enjoyed sitting on/in 

the green chair in the newly renovated Little Theatre

Goulash en ondergrondse hospitaal-museum

Hoe kom die twee bymekaar?   Kasteelheuwel in Budapest is vol verrassings en toe ek en Kia op mooi Mei-middag die St Matyas-kerk verlaat om die pad na "Hospital in the Rock" te vind, kom ons op Cafe Miro af.
     Ons was albei dadelik geinteresseerd in die knus kafee wat na die Spaanse kunstenaar Joan Miro vernoem is. Die meubels en inkleding is 'n beeld van Miro se ekspressionistiese styl.
     Daar en dan besluit ons om goulash te bestel, want ons moet dit 'aftik op ons lys.'

     The Hospital in the Rock was 'n ondergrondse hospitaal gedurende WW II en funksioneer nou as 'n museum om die besoeker 'n realistiese beeld te gee van die mediese dienste wat daar gelewer is. Besoekers word op 'n toer geneem wat ongeveer een uur duur en baie insiggewend is. Ongelukkig is dit taboe om fotos te neem, maar in die voorportaal is daar 'n klein retro-winkel waar Kia vir haar 'n gasmasker gekoop het en waar ons bietjie met die Rooikruis-teken "gespeel" het.... en nie om dowe neute nie. My hand was nog
baie seer en geswel van die val in Zagreb.

Gigantic charity shop

I have read about Caritas, a charity organisation in Austria, but it is only when you see this place, that the enormity of it strikes you.
     Trading as CARLA, the organisation has a shop in Vienna the size of an airplane hanger. Is in itself a tourist attraction and was abuzz with people when I visited with Kia.

Vintage in Vienna

Vienna is teeming with vintage and retro shops... from crummy cellar-shops selling second hand textiles to very upmarket emporiums. We brought some pictures back from our visit in May!