Day 185 of Lockdown

Sunday, September 27

    Last night we received news of an earthquake in the ocean south of us!

It was felt in Cape Town for a few seconds but it caused some worry. 

   Some positive news and lovely pics received from Eon and Emile. 

 Yael turned 11 months on Friday. She is super cute!

Eon and Inge made friends at a cell group... and in JHB Emile and Jana had a cell group braai in Sunningdale. 

I am very interested in textile waste, the clothing industry and recycling. 

   The harmful effects on our scarce resources is shocking and it seems most buyers are oblivious of the facts.

Heritage Day!

Thursday, September 24.    

       Day 182 of Lockdown and 77 people died of Covid 19 in the past 24 hours according to News24.

      It was gorgeous weather and I put the umbrella up this morning after sweeping and raking leaves.

     Had joy in building a fire for Kia to do the braai... Our tortoise was in Spring mood and we had a tough time keeping him away from the fire. The cat had more sense and just enjoyed the weather...

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Late afternoon we delivered snack plates to Ans and Alette in Munro Kirk.  Then onto Beach Road where the traffic was heavy and the beach and promenade packed... 

     Little groups of people  were setting up their braai equipment on the lawns.  I have never seen this before!

     Kia had yo find a laundry marker for Ans but Pick n Pay was packed so she came back with ice cream which we ate in the parking lot!

     The lemon meringue tart was enjoyed later in thr evening.   Our question: whose culture does Lemon M represent? 

We are at Level 1 and it is Day 179

Level 1 started at midnight and when I opened the front door at 7.30 am the first Mandevilla of Spring welcomed me!

Slacker measures does not mean Corona has "disappeared". In the Karoo town of Burgersdorp the high school had to close. Pupils were transported to Aliwal - North to be quarantined.  Infections are on the rise in Britian, Italy and Spain. 

   Die Burger pinpointed the following:

Poverty, despair and homelessness are also on the rise.  I am keeping on with putting out food parcels and sandwichmaking is on my schedule from about 4.30 in the afternoons.   There are so many people making an effort to feed the needy.These women are my inspiration:

In Kayalami, Ilan had an interesting morning. His mother took him on a treasure hunt... 

Day 177 of Lockdown and Level 1 lurking!

Saturday, 19 September :  While business, religious leaders and tourism is looking forward to a move away from draconic Covid rules, murders on farmers and police officers are increasing.

    So very sad, but some days I do not want to watch or read bad news.  So here are a bit of family news...

    Our ginger cat is so much at home here. His real owner was here this morning to say hi ! 

   Ilan and Yael enjoyed an outing in the gardens of Kyalami... 

In NZ, Eon and Inge is making the most of their weekend at Cape Palliser.

Instagram had some gems up my street...

Doing my bit in sorting through vintage and retro linen in order to gift items that I will never use again...  I found these special pieces... A net that my mother embroidered and a "lappie" my ouma made using blanket stitch to create a pattern. She taught me  to do it when I was about 11 and the winter nights long in the Karoo.. 

It is day 173!

Tuesday, September 14

    Good news from Eon in New Zealand!  A lovely weekend in Tora Bay...

I had a surprising day yesterday... What was supposed to be a property meeting at 11 with Nina from Remax, became a social day with strangers coming and going and interesting conversation.  I got home at 17:30 just in time to start with the preparation of food for the homeless.

      Currently crematorium, morgue, cemetry and undertaking staff are striking.  The media is silent about corpses "not moving"... And Covid deaths are rising, This is a strange time...

Beautiful Saturday : Day 170 of Lockdown

This single azalea bloom greeted me as I stepped out into the front garden this morning.

     I bought the shrub for Arie when he turned 50, 25 years ago.

    Yesterday brought good news when a contract person from the municipality's electricity dept arrived to install a brand new pre-paid meter.  For nearly 1,5 years it tripped at random times affecting the alarm and appliances.

The world was again reminded yesterday of the 9/11 attack...

I remember hearing about it in the Communications block at the PE Technikon, now the North campus of NMU.

    I was booked to fly to England that December and remember how airlines upped their security worldwide. 

  On a lighter side,  (but not completely light) many influencers  and entertainment personalities are scaling down on buying textiles etc as the world is suffocating under its discarded rags. Not to mention slave labour, water wastage in the production etc. 

   

Day 167 of Lockdown

My friend and journo colleague from way back in Die Oosterlig days contacted me.  She lives with her sister near Cradock. I have good memories of working with Wilma Kemp.

    The veld is very dry in the Karoo but this beauty shone and she captured it... 

Seems as if protesting has taken over from Covid to start a new pandemic.   Black Lives Matter started in America after George Floyd was killed by a policeman and anger and violence swept through many countries in the world.

    All lives matter to me and a deep understanding of ethnic differences is so necessary. Currently a hair product advert has resulted in choas (Google Clicks). 

   Just as serious is the water crisis in our Metro.  Yesterday we heard via the media that Day Zero is near...  Today I saw this notice in Die BURGER

And in the same edition, the Covid stats for the province...

On a property note, The Herald had this news...

   

This caught my eye on Instagram... 

My aunt Edna turned 86 on Monday... A grand old lady!

Day 160+?? of lockdown!

Saturday,  September 5.   Cold, dark and rainy after a perfect spring day yesterday.

    Kia went to J Bay with Derrin and Alex and I paged through a historical pictorial gem of a book.... A gift from Ans Schouten. 

    Fortunately I could have the services of Stefan yesterday checking on the state of the roof after a gale force wind earlier in the week. He also did a few small jobs and Sharon helped him to "hang" two antique doors that were in storage for about 30 years.  Purely for decorative use now!   Ohhh,  we had such plans  with old bits and pieces when we were building our nest! 

From Jhb I received this lovely "Spring" pic of my granddaughter 

... Here is their grenadella harvest.... 

And on the Covid front, yesterday's stats:

  

Items on Instagram that caught my eye:

End of August 2020

Monday 31st...  Arie was born today 75 years ago... 2 weeks after the bomb fell on Hiroshima.

      In our street the fresh new leaves are to be seen on the trees although it is really cold and an icy wind is blowing. Fortunately the back garden has a few sheltered sunny spots. 

    Lara slept over on Saturday evening and we had a lovely time. She adores Katite. Here they are on Sunday morning:

I had an appointwith my GP this morning. Strict protocols are in place at the Intercare practice. The usually crowded waiting room was quiet as only patients were allowed in the area.

    Emile and family is back in Jhb and I received this cute pic of Yael having snacks

Here are some Instagram bits....