I wish I could tell my Mum...

..that the beautiful bride in this photo has recently made contact with my cousin through Rhodesian's Worldwide ... she used to work for the accounting company his Dad and my Dad used to own in Bulawayo. The company still exists today ...with our family name, but sadly no members of the family are there anymore.


She asked after our families remembering the two little boys at her wedding being the sons of one of the partners ... and also the little flower girl on the left of photo.

That's me !!! aged 5 .. in 1957 !!

It was the one and only time I have ever been a flower girl or bridesmaid and it was on the occasion of her wedding. The wedding reception was held in our beautiful garden ...

It was the one and only time I have ever been a flower girl .. or bridesmaid .. and the wedding reception was held in our garden of our beautiful home, Craigo, in Bulawayo. Our home .. built by my paternal grandfather. The photograph below is in a collage of my child/growing-up photos which my Mum put together years ago and hangs on the wall .. right in front of me as I am typing this ...

From my Mum's photograph album, where I found the wedding photo, on the same page, was this photo of me with my cousins, in the middle and my eldest brother on the right - I grew up with boys ! ... no sisters and no girl cousins close by! I always had beautifully made dresses .. all made by my Mum


I wish I could tell my Mum that this beautiful bride has made contact after so many years ... and she and her husband are well ...

Jackie Paper and Puff !

.. and there it is .. the LP (long playing) record .. Puff the Magic Dragon ... which Connor sings on Jeanette's blog ... she has a 'modern' CD for her car - so the boys have heard a recorded version - and not just mommy singing from memory !! ...

.. always a favourite with Jeanette and Carl ... played to 'death' and is probably rather scratched ...

30 years ago ....

... hubby and I bought a quarter acre plot in a suburb in Johannesburg, South Africa ...

... where foundations were marked out for our new house ... (that's hubby - young and slender!)

House built .. we moved in on 1st February, 1980 ...

.... and set to work laying the foundations of our garden ....

.... the ground was ploughed .. and lawn runners were planted ....

We worked, every weekend in the garden, with the help of a once-a-week gardener .... digging flower beds ....

... and planting shrubs ...

... lots of fertilizing, weeding, watering and praying for rain to get the lawn to grow so that Jeanette and Carl had a garden to play in ....

Trees and shrubs began to flourish .... those are my very first roses in the foreground (below)... and in the middle of this patch of lawn I planted a Kapok tree which grew large, and which got struck by lightening eventually and had to be removed to make way for the double garage in 2005 ...

Garden starts taking shape ....

... the single garage was eventually converted into a bedroom for Carl when Elaine was born, and now is the study/playroom for grandchildren/sewing room ...

Here 'she' is ... our new home ... 30 years ago !!!

Additions have been made to the house ... and garden ... I, personnally, me, myself .. have planted every single tree, shrub, plant and seedling ....

E&B roll at Fritz .... and the electrician

I really need to find out how to change the day and date to OUR time/the present/now/at this moment on top of the blog!! It's TUESDAY today !!

I would normally have had a healthy salad, or something healthy anyway, last night. Hubby is away on business (as previously mentioned) and Elaine was at 'mommy's night' - she and Bryan pop along to Bryan's parents for dinner on Mondays.

So there I was, all alone ... littlies gone home, their toys packed away - peace and quiet again!! Darkness creeps in early now that winter is not far away ... turned TV off, put on my favourite (for the moment) CD of Crystal Healing music which soothes the soul - used to listen to whales' songs - yes, I am a touch strange at times !!! ... aromatic incense and candles wafting through the dimly lit house ...

... so there I was, all alone .... and needed supper!

Ummm ... no healthy meal for me - egg and bacon toasted sandwich ... yes .. that's what I needed!!

Had been eyeing the bacon in the fridge since Sunday - Elaine and Bryan cooked a huge breakfast for themselves while I toiled in the the garden, my mouth watering as I caught whiffs of bacon cooking! I couldn't eat anything but cereal, when I got up early to prepare myself for the day's gardening, as we had no power and we don't have a gas stove. Pulled out the gas bottle to boil water for tea but wasn't going to all that hassle to make myself a fried-breakfast-for-one!

So ... I had it last night!!! .... Oh it was yummy! Loads of bacon! Had to finish the packet of course - and then an egg - just one .. need to watch the cholestrol :) !

... so there I sat ... in the dim light with my music and incense ..... munching on my toasted egg and bacon sandwich !!!! .. oh yes .. and a glass of smooth Shiraz - (De Waal Shiraz from Uiterwyk Wine Estate)

It took me back to the days when we (my brothers and I) were little .... it was a HUGE treat for us (my brothers and I sitting in the back seat) to go the Fritz Drive-In Restaurant on 13th Avenue/Rhodes Street, Bulawayo (Rhodesia/Zimbabwe) and get take-aways!!!! We either ate our food there .... with the little tray attached to the window ... or if we were in a 'hurry' we would munch on our food on the way home. Goodness knows what we would be in hurry for in those days .... maybe to catch the news on radio - no radio in car ... no TV at home ...

... so ... down memory lane I went .... I could even smell my Fritz' egg and bacon roll wrapped up in it's paper bag .....

I still have a menu from Fritz! That egg and bacon cost 2/3d in 1969 - that's the year I went back there when I was a madly-in-love-with-a-boy-who-never-gave-me-a-glance teenager on New Years Eve before we went to watch the sun come up at the Matopos Hills - in fact at the sight of Cecil John's Rhodes grave (founder of Rhodesia) - where the view is spectacular!

... and then my thoughts came back home to events of the day when I couldn't get hold of my usual electrician who repairs the bits and pieces that go wrong in the house. Haven't needed his services for ages now ... but needed him yesterday - hubby is away remember! No .. and it's not what's going through 'some' minds - I needed an electrician to fix an electrical problem!!!

What a shock I got when heard that he has cancer and is gravely ill in hospital - never to go home again. Such a nice man - hard working ... always worked on his own and always chatted while he worked. Elaine and his son went to Primary School together right from Grade 1 to Grade 7 and came to one or two of her birthday parties before they became 'girls only'.

My thoughts and prayers are with you Peter and your family.

Down memory lane ... and splashes of garden

A very relaxing weekend started off with Bradley's graduation ceremony where one of the songs they sung began with :- Boom, boom, boom .. boom, boom, boom, .... and I had that song in my head the entire weekend -

Win or lose, sink or swim

One thing is certain we'll never give in

Side by side, hand in hand

We all stand together

Play the game, fight the fight

But what's the point on a beautiful night?

Arm in arm, hand in hand

We all stand together

La la la ................

(Written by Paul McCartney)

Rupert the Bear and the Frog Song ... 'I remember that' Elaine said with great big grin and eyes lighting up, 'from when I was little' !!!

At the graduation, all the little kiddies sang with such gusto, it brought tears to my eyes, especially when they linked arms and sang loudly ' we all stand together' - words to live by in this country of ours. This generation WILL make a difference!

And then they sang our National Anthem - Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrica - hands to hearts .. loud and proud ! A very special evening!

Sunday was spent doing ... um ... nothing much !! So nice, for a change! As hubby is away on a business trip, it's only Elaine and I, and the doggies, at home and we had absolutely no plan for the day. When that happens I tend to spend the day ..with dirty gardening gloves, secateurs, spade, fork and my 'gardening bucket' in hand.

Elaine's boyfriend, Bryan, popped in on his way to work (he often goes to work on Sundays), for breakfast .. and never left. We sat, even me, and did the unthinkable for a glorious sunny day -watched a home video! Elaine wanted to show Bryan what our labrador, Robbie, was like when he was a pup - in 1997. I kept passing the TV area and glancing at the antics of this cutest little puppy .. all fluffy and chubby with the cutest eyes and ears .. and nose .. and then couldn't take any longer ... just had to sit and watch. We watched the whole tape! Haven't seen those old videos in years - oh my, how time passes !! And oh my, how we have all changed!!!! Jeanette had recently got married, Carl was still living at home, studying for his B.Tech in Emergency Medical Care, and Elaine was 10 years old! So glad I did all those videos in those days but I need to convert them onto DVD's !!

Robbie - 6 weeks old with Elaine and her cousin, Daniella

After going down memory lane for a bit - and it's good for the soul to do that once in while - I left the 'love birds' watching TV, then attempted to do my gardening. Kept stopping to grab my camera! Exciting .. now that I can share my garden, plants and flowers with all of you !!! Although Jeanette has done the honours many, many times !!!! When I see her walking down the driveway with camera bag slung over her shoulder and says those four little words - "I need a photo!" ... it's either the garden's turn, the children's turn, or the dog's turn to be the photographic subjects!

Agapanthus "Blue Velvet"

Wild Iris (this one is the pale yellow variety altho' it looks white here)

Flower of the Philodendron selloum