In loving memory

Family visit to Grandpa in 2007

On Wednesday evening we received the sad news that my Grandpa had peacefully left his life here on earth. It was sudden and unexpected. He had lived a full 89 years and was due to celebrate his 90th birthday next month.

He was an amazing man and we have some precious memories of him. As children we loved his visits to Cape Town. My sister and I have memories of a holiday spent with him and my gran when we were 7 and 9. He had a great sense of humour and knew how to make us laugh. He was always up to some kind of trick which didn't amuse gran too much. One evening he was doing a little jig at the dinner table and my sister laughed so much, she spat her soup all over gran....boy where they in trouble!

I remember a trip to my cousins wedding and dancing the night away with my grandpa. That night I was instructed that he should not drive all the way back to my Aunt and Uncles farm in the dark and I should drive the party home. Boy, was I relieved to get there safely after the drive over the mountain with all his back seat driving!

Sadly my gran passed away 18 years ago. Grandpa was not one to be alone and he married a year later at a beautiful Cape Wine farm. It was quite something to be at my grandpas wedding.

I clearly remember his 80th birthday. My little guy just a few weeks old then. Grandpa had just come back from a wonderful overseas trip with his wife. She has lovingly cared for him over the last 17 years. The last few years have not been easy with his increasing age but she made sure that he was well taken care of. I am grateful that he did not live out his last years in an old age home, but at his own home.

A year ago, I had the opportunity to visit him while up in KZN. Over the years he had begun to loose his memory but he held everything together so well in a conversation. At that visit we had talked about his 90th birthday and he was amazed that he was going to be that old. I did not know that it would be our last visit.

My dear mum had a trip planned to visit us, arriving on Thursday morning. With the sudden news of her dad, I was not sure that she would be coming. I am glad that she did come and we are able to be a support to her in this very sad time. She and her dad had a special bond and would have a conversation at least once a week. She is comforted by the fact that their last words were the usual words, "I love you Dad" .... "I love you too"

Bits and pieces

Life with all its happenings has being going on. The children and I have been enjoying our learning times together.

We have just finished reading The Bronze Bow together. It was one of K's literature study books which I thought would be great to read aloud. It is set in Jerusalem at the time of Christ and tells the story of one boys journey from blinding, binding hatred to his acceptance and understanding of love. An excellent read!

Here is my favourite quote from the story, " ...the only chains that matter are fear and hate, because they chain our souls. If we do not hate anyone and do not fear anyone, then we are free"

In Konos we are still doing Honour as a character trait. We have added to our attribute tree and learned much about the attributes of God, one of them being that God is omniscient, and he knows every detail about us. Below Z is seeing if he can count the hairs on his sisters head....

...and attempt to be omniscient!

We read Learn the News twice a week and I have a great resource that the children use to learn the geography of the places we learn about. They get to colour each country as we read a news article pertaining to that country.

This afternoon we took advantage of the glorious sunshine and joined a crowd of moms and kids at a nearby greenbelt for a picnic. This picnic has been happening every week for years now and it has been a long time since we have been. Z was not feeling his best and lay close to me while I stitched up my latest knitted gifts. K enjoyed nearby river and the sunshine. It was great to catch up with the regular moms and to meet a few new faces too.

The gifts are now ready to go and its time to begin a new project.

Cakes and bakes

There has been a lot of baking going on around here to celebrate the various birthdays in the family. Z even baked Roxy a batch of doggy biscuits for her second birthday!

K has been working long hours making the decorations for Z's birthday cake. While I read for school, she carefully sculpts these decorations. She is making him a Mario bros cake. He doesn't even know that this is all for his own birthday cake... he thinks it is for someone else! He is going to be so surprised when he discovers it is all for his cake!

Today she went up to Aunty T to bake chocolate fudge cupcakes for Aunty Tam's upcoming birthday celebration. She surprised us with this mini chocolate fudge cake, covered in white chocolate, for desert this evening. It was simply decadently delicious!

A trip into the countryside...

This morning my dear husband had a houseful of kiddies ranging in age from from 8 to 15, while a couple of moms and myself took a trip out into the countryside. It was just what I needed and I felt the stress of the last while draining away as we headed out onto the open road. The canola fields put on a brilliant display of bright yellow and the arum lilies were out in full bloom too.

We were heading for the opening of Nurturing Fibres Studio! www.nurturingfibres.co.za

Outside the studio this little table and colourfully draped bench just looked so inviting. We were warmly welcomed by Carle and Terri who gave up much of their time to answer all our questions.

Carle selects only the finest yarns and carefully hand dyes them. Her die lots are kept small to ensure a high standard and uniqueness to each skein.

She is inspired by nature and only dies natural fibres that are hand spun at home. The array of colours was a feast for the eyes!

I didn't even know that things like bamboo yarn and banana yarn exist! She had self striping sock wool too. Apparently one will never go back to shop bought socks after wearing a pair knitted in merino wool.

Oh my, I wished my dear sister had been with us!

Carle and Terri have invited us to come out at anytime and sit and knit with them. Carle has promised to send me some patterns and we look forward to taking our children out there to learn how to make dolls,and see the spinning and dieing of wool too.

I came home with my purchase of one ball of rich speckled sock wool with which I plan to make a very special gift. A ball of hand painted merino silk kid mohair spaghetti aran will make another equally special gift. I could not resist a bottle of orange blossom honey from Carle's bee keeping husband and a hand made card with a special message .

Something new

Earlier this week, my little man began a new adventure... He has taken up horse riding. I was so pleased when space became available for him to begin. He has needed something relaxing, enjoyable and new in his life since he has been sick for the better part of the last two months.

It was bittersweet for me when we went to the place where he does his riding. It is the city home of the family whose farm my sister is not returning from. There are memories of time spent together there over the years.

K brought some of her work with her and it was pleasant to be outdoors,soaking up the winter sun, while helping her with her work. The moms chatted the hour away while the children enjoyed their riding lesson.

His teacher is a teen girl we have known for many years who is passionate about horses. She is so gentle in the manner in which she teaches and this is just what our little guy needs right now.

He so enjoyed the hour and is looking forward to the next lesson.

After completing her work, K enjoyed some free time too.

MTN Sciencentre Science Week

This week was National Science Week. It is an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, which aims to excite our youth with science at an early age and to encourage them to develop an interest in studying mathematics and science subjects.

When I asked the children if they would like to ditch their books in favour of lunch out and a visit to the Sciencentre, there was no resistance whatsoever! We needed to spend some time out having a bit a of fun.

My little guy just loved these mirrors!

There were fantastic displays of the earth and plate tectonics. It was great to see some of these models since J has been studying this in his Physical Science course. Z enjoyed making earthquakes on the earthquake generator.

Some geologists were there to chat to the kids and we enjoyed the diplay of different types of rocks.

I think the most fun was had by Z and K who the opportunity to climb into an air force plane and do flight simulations. K needed no encouragement and she is now set on becoming a pilot! It didnt help that the instructor told her she was a natural! She informed me that she doesnt want a car when she is 18 but a plane....

K and Z tried out the gyroscope too. Z didnt last 30 seconds and wanted out! She took the remainder of his turn , her own, and the turn of someone else who backed out before even starting! I could barely even watch the gyroscope withut feeling ill!

Words will not do...

I have been very quiet on the blog front over the last week or so. Words cannot explain the raw emotion and sadness that came with the recent news that my sister and her family have chosen not to return home, but to make the farm their new home. It was supposed to be 6 months, is now 16 months, and who knows if this will ever be "home"to them again...

I have longed for the day they will return so this news has been really hard to work through. The children are equally saddened that their only cousins will not be coming home again. The girls had great plans and I imagined visiting my sister at least once a week when my children go to drama over the mountain where my sister used to stay. It is hard to venture over that side of the mountain now days...

My sister and I have shared so much over the years. We shared a bedroom when we were little. Shared games, clothes, walks, got up to mischief together and used to lie on the lawn laughing until we cried as little girls. We got married a week apart from one another and had our first babies a couple of weeks apart too.We began our journeys of home educating together. She has lovingly cared for each of my children when they were little ones and I had to do some part time work. I have always felt so welcome in her home.

She has been a great source of wisdom, comfort, encouragement, friendship and SO much more over the years.

She is my "little" sister but I have regarded her a big sister as she always seems to have the right answers when I have faced challenges of any sort in my life.

Little sister you will be sorely missed...