A tragic fire .... an annual squeeze and a knight!

I've been squished and squeezed .. it's an annual event!!

I go yearly for a mammogram and have been for years now as I have fibroadenosis. It doesn't usually lead to anything "sinister" as my GP says but I need to go for the mammo every year. OMW it's always stressful and this time was no exception. Deep yoga breathing helps when I had one boob xrayed twice 'because there was a shadow' and then I had to wait for ages until the xrays were checked! Nerve racking!! The radiologist said I had 'good boobies for mammograms'! 'Why' I asked 'is there something wrong' and of course she wouldn't say .. which makes me do more deep yoga breathing! Seems to be OK although the wording in the report is different so will take them when I next see my GP - but I didn't need 'the scan' so to me that's a good sign!

Long slow breath out !!

Elaine's having her braces on this afternoon - she is not looking forward to it but it has to be done. As the orthodontist said when she first started her treatment "once you're on the train you can't get off " ... so she's on that train and chugging along! She's not worried so much anymore about 'the look' ... it's the pressure and pain of the movement of the teeth. I do all I can to ease it with pain killers, when she needs, and soft foods etc. We tend to eat lots of mash and mushy foods to keep her company!! (She had braces when she was at Primary School so we've been though all this before!)

But yesterday was not a good day for her either. Her boss had a tragic fire at their house on Sunday night and burnt most of the house ... absolutely awful .. and Elaine and others went yesterday afternoon to give some comfort and support. She came home very upset having now seen what damage has been done. Major damage! Nothing has been spared. They're not allowed in because everything that may be saved has to be detoxed first before it can be touched apparently. (Nicole, our DIL who is a trained firefighter as well as a paramedic, would be able to tell us more about that)

A miracle that the family (and pets) managed to escape unhurt because apparently the fire spread extremely fast.

Elaine told us in detail about the state of the house. OMW what a tragedy. We always see tragic fires sweeping through housing estates etc on TV and we witnessed the aftermath of a fire in Hermanus a year or so ago when thatched roofed houses were left as burnt out shells but it's never anyone we've known. We don't know them (E's boss) personally but my heart goes out to them as they pick up the pieces of their lives again.

Some things have left a deep impression in her mind like the description of the paint peeling off the walls right before the boss' eyes when she ran upstairs to fetch the sleeping child ... their beautiful furniture and possessions in a heap under rubble, blackened and burnt ... the little girl's room with blackened and burnt bed, toys, dolls and a dolly's pram ... and more.

Very very sad, but with all tragedies and war, families pick up the pieces of their lives and carry on. I pray they do.

On a happier note and .... wow - how proud are we (!) - my son has been knighted! He has put it on his blog so I don't think it's a 'secret' - he has been knighted into the Knights Templar (with sword and all !!) of the United Religious, Military and Masonic Orders of the Temple and of St John of Jerusalem, Palestine, Rhodes and Malta of England and Wales.

Fire in Hermanus - Jan 2008

I seemed to have got imaginations stirring with my photo of the chimney. Sadly there was no romantic, mediaval, or goblins tale to tell.

It was a devastating fire that swept along the mountain range in Hermanus last year. We happened to arrive for a family visit on that very same day. Burning cinders were carried by the wind and set fire to this once beautiful old thatched roof home. By the time we got there, the owners were standing, bewildered, next to their smouldering shell of a home. I think, if I remember, they were out at work at the time but lost everything in the blaze. (The mountain is in the background)

Jeanette - I took you there when we were visiting last month and all that was left was the empty stand, the fence and the gate. I took a photo of the gate and posted it in a previous Weekly Winners - 14-20 Dec

Below - Jeanette again - this is the house that was boarded up and you took a photo of the window. This house is a block away from the first one and on the sea front. It also was a beautiful old thatched roof home. There was also no-one in the house at the time of the fire.

The next photo is across the road which runs in front of the house pictured above.

The mountain ablaze - photo taken from my brother and sister in law's home - the fire vehicles are visible at the top of the mountain ..

This is at the foothills of the mountain - not one modern house was touched by the blaze even though the fire swept passed their garden walls and fences. This wooden fence didn't stand a chance. On our recent visit last month, we drove along this road passed this house, and noticed that a large brick wall has now been built. (pity about the reflection on car window which was closed because of the smell of smoke)

Firefighters on the mountainside
The fire still burned into the night - (photo taken from SIL's home with full zoom lens)

A year later - when we were there last month - it was so nice to see that the fynbos (indigenous vegetation) has recovered well. There are still vast areas of blackened bushes but in-between the new growth is visible - green with pretty little flowers. On the way to the church, where we had my father-in-law's memorial service, I noticed a bunch of red poppies growing amongst the blackened bushes - and I didn't have my camera!