Some random news

Claire and I. She is my hairdressing doll, with real human hair! We have curled and dyed her hair so far (mind you the dye was just conditioner, we were practicing the method)

Zeek and Rachel on a fallen log. We went for a walk before church (we start at 1:00) with Don and Eva. The kids had a good time I think. While on the walk Pete found this red car in the bush and Rachel wanted it, so now it is one of her favourite things to play on.

Corbin's picture of Grandpa, not sure which one. It says: I like my grandpa, he gives me lots of treats, we play games together.

And the other picture is Rachel's depiction of the three little pigs in the brick house. All safe and sound, but some of the light bulbs have blown (don't know why, but she wanted only the three lights working.)

Pete made me a CD and he called it :THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. It has all the songs that have ment something to both of us through our marriage. I am listening to it now, my husband loves me so much, isn't it wonderful.

Mom's home cooking

Why is it that the recipes I try from my mom never taste the same. Tonight I made baboti and it tasted nice, but not the same. Oh how I miss my birthday meals made by mom, that were almost always baboti.

Thanks mom.

Looks like Summer - feels like frostbite!

Got us a canoe today and the weather was too inviting for us to resist.

We all had a great time but the water was a little chilly. I'd guess the water temperature was about 3 or 4 degrees because the air temperature was only 8!

It's about time!

Well I finally went and got a camera! So now the pictures will be better quality, it's about time really. You know when you finally do something and then you think, why didn't I do that ages ago?

I have started work at the local call centre, I work in the mornings while the children are at school. I take orders for catalogs and brochures and create stop orders on peoples bank accounts for charities, etc... So from now on when you are talking to someone at a call centre, speak clearly and don't get annoyed when they can't seem to make out what you are saying, it is not as easy as you might think! There are a lot of mumblers out there!

That is all for now, I hope you have a great week ahead.

I will miss my friend

This morning we heard that the Prophet Gordon B Hinckley passed away on Sunday night. I felt like I knew him well, I am going to miss him. I used to love listening to his addresses at conference and I felt his love for me.

I am glad for him too though, I am sure that he is walking arm in arm with Marjorie and that they are laughing about fond memories that were experienced here upon this earth. I also know that he was greeted lovingly by Our Saviour, I am sure there were many embraces and happy tears.

I want a greeting like that when I pass through to their presence. I will strive to live in such a way that that will be possible.

Thank you for all you did for us, we will never know the burden your calling placed on your shoulders, but we can never comprehend the joys that came with it too.

Till we meet again...

Time turned around

Sunday mornings used to be a frantic rush to get to church. Now they're a frantic rush to stay in bed and laze around. I like it this way!

I have grave concerns about the well being of my family in South Africa. I think that economic meltdown and consequent social unrest could happen far faster than we think possible.

I may be thought of as a doomsayer or afro pessimist. It's your prerogative to label me with whatever pejorative you please. However it's also your responsibility to look to your own salvation and I offer the following thoughts on the subject:

1. Is SA sufficiently different from other countries that have experienced social upheaval as a result of infrastructure failure and consequent economic difficulties that their experiences cannot be extrapolated with some degree of confidence? Examples that come to mind include Burma, Argentina (a couple of years ago), Germany in the 1930's and a slew of African countries from the '60s to the present.

2. Which is more likely :

a.) Millions of poor black South Africans endure another 14 years of declining living standards while waiting for the promise of "better life for all", looking across the valley to where the lights are on (although powered by generators).

b.) Enough poor black South Africans vote for someone who promises to redistribute the wealth now rather than waiting for the economy to grow and make everyone rich.

3. Is there sufficient difference between the providers of other infrastructure (roads, rail, airports, water, sewage treatment, waste disposal, telecommunications etc) and Eskom to make it likely that they will be able to maintain current service levels? Or is it more likely that they have also amnesiated (my word) their institutional memory and eviscerated their operations and maintenance capacity through affirmative action and poor planning?

I'm off to church now - maybe more later.

Walk around the island

Did we mention that we were going to walk around the whole of Ireland. It will take us many years I am sure, but we are making a go of it.

On Saturday we went for another leg of the journey. We walked from Donaghadee to Millisle. We do about 4 or 5 miles each time, and by the time we have walked the whole island we will have actually done it twice. This is because we have to walk to a point and then walk back to the car.

If you are interested you can check out the progress on Google Earth, so far we have walked from Millisle round to Craigavad. +/- 16 miles in total, but remember that's doubled. We took some pics on our walk, we passed the standing stone and stopped at the Donaghadee fort.

The standing stone is some kind of war memorial, the words on it were so faded that it was too difficult to read.

Enjoy.