Blessings and abundance

2015 is nearly upon us. We can say goodbye to 2014, an inauspicious year for humankind. 2015 has a good ring to it and I believe will be a great year for us all. We need only adjust our attitude to events and focus on creating a new world rather than concentrating on what is wrong with the old. Begin each day with the intention to be the best person you can be that day, and end with a brief note of what you had to be grateful for on that day. These two simple actions can lead to amazing results in your life and should not be sneered at.

Believe in yourself and take no notice of what other people expect you to be. We are all sent here to fulfil our own purpose, not to be one of a crowd. Don't be afraid to stand out, to speak up for those who cannot, to extend kindness to all you meet. Turn the other cheek, for it is true that a soft answer turneth away wrath, and the strong are those who can forgive and forget.

Use the gifts you have been given for the greater good of the world. Everyone has talents; some do not believe this and so never find out what they are. If you are one of them, service to others is a talent that will lead to all sorts of good things in your life.

Enjoy the simple things - a flock of birds, the wind rustling the leaves, a stunning sunset. But party as well, as life is for living and for enjoyment - the only provisos being respect for yourself first and then for others.

Blessings and abundance to you all in the year ahead! I leave you with a real hallelujah sunset for reflection.

Beating up the bougainvillea

It is said that the best way to get your bougainvillea to flower is to snap off branches and beat around the bush with them. This form of plant abuse apparently brings out the best in it, and the rewards are splendiferous. I remember from my youth that a neighbour in Clovelly got magnificent results from this treatment which we all enjoyed in the view from our lounge (the flowers, not the beating).

I have never had any success with these showy climbers, but every so often try again. When we first moved here, I planted a rampant-growth variety on the south side of the house, where we seldom go, and it is no exaggeration to say that I never ever watered it and definitely didn't feed it, so neglect was the order of the day. It seemed to thrive, as on the rare occasions that I looked in its direction, its growth was both rampant and heading for the top of our double storey. But never once did it flower.

It eventually grew taller than the house and the southeaster gave it a natural beating against the house, causing vast amounts of twigs and even thicker branches to be snapped off. These bear the most vicious thorns and as we have started to use the area in the last few years, and I never wear shoes at home or in the garden, I have done quite a bit of tap-dancing when being spiked by them. The only solution is to wear gardening gloves and pick up every single twig and burn them in the braai - an ongoing task now that the bougainvillea is so huge.

It was only last year that I started to notice the bright pink flowers (bracts) scattered in the garden after a strong wind and a walk up the road revealed that I do in fact, have a magnificent bougainvillea. The only problem is that it has grown completely across a large section of the roof and is invisible to us. At least the neighbours up the road and on the hillside can enjoy it!.

Feasting on red gold

When we first moved to Kommetjie and had a boat, and crayfishing was unrestricted for recreation (I don't recall there being poachers in those days - law enforcement was still effective), we had an unlimited supply of crayfish. The modus operandi was that everyone (friends and local kids) would turn up after work, nets would be filled with bait bags on the trip down to the beach for launching and within about 20 minutes the first nets were laid. It was a smooth operation of note, and the boat was called "Smooth Operator" for good reason.

Within an hour the boat was back, washed off and reversed into the garage, nets rinsed and hung up on the fence to dry for the next day, and bait bags refilled before being put back in the deep freeze. Then it would be time to light the fire in the boma, put on the big pot and cook the catch. I of course played no part in any of this, having two small children to attend to, but I recall that I nearly wore out the stairs carrying trays of food and clearing up afterwards! So I had a purpose after all.

Eventually we sold the boat, crayfishing become severely restricted for the common man, and we didn't miss eating it as we had feasted so often on red gold.  Nowadays, we may go out on someone's boat once or twice a season, or even less, and have started to enjoy crayfish again. It's our son's turn to do the hard work of crewing now, and we just have to dismember the cooked result!

This is all that is left of the legs and body, both of which are filled with the tastiest meat, and the shells were then consigned straight into the soil of the vegetable patch. They make the most wonderful fertiliser and in the old days, truckloads of crayfish bodies were brought over Chapman's Peak drive from Hout Bay to be dug into the soil in Noordhoek by the vegetable farmers. No wonder the ground is so fertile there!

Beach beauties

Didn't achieve too much on the home front today, but socialising hit an all-time high. We got up early to go and buy paint for a little internal refurbishment and on the way home, my son suggested a spot of breakfast - never one to pass up a chance of cappuccino and an omelette, we pulled in at the local restaurant, much featured in this blog. Of course, at the time of year one can expect slow results from the kitchen and nobody really minds as long as the weather is good and their is plenty of chit-chat between the tables. However, I was in a bit of a rush as I was heading back to Fish Hoek beach for a mini school reunion and I barely had time to shovel in the last of the omelette before taking to the road again.

By now the traffic had increased considerably, and I can only be grateful that we weren't meeting in Kalk Bay, as the chances of getting there in a hurry were looking bleak, to say the least. The queue to cross the railway line onto Fish Hoek beach was snaking back towards the station, but I spotted a parking space close by and did my best bit of rally driving and was facing the other direction and parked in a flash.

Arriving at the beach bistro, it soon became apparent that this was not the best day to be there, with wall-to-wall holidaymakers and a table for 6 needing to accommodate about 12 of us. We didn't let it put us off, though, and soon people switched tables and were very accommodating so that we could all yak and catch up on a few years of our lives. Unfortunately, the service, which is sketchy even in the middle of winter, was non-existent and we placed our orders for coffee after about 45 minutes. Another 45 minutes passed and we were getting parched from too much talking and, due to a mix-up with the delivery of the order, the coffees were taken to the wrong table and sent back to the kitchen. Eventually all was sorted out, but waiting an hour and a half for a coffee went way beyond bad service.

The good part was that we all had a great time and in fact came across more old school friends nearby - it being Fish Hoek, after all - and have already planned to do it again next year.

Calmer days

More gardening, composting, planting, etc. today. I took the gap this morning and went to give a friend in Noordhoek a few bags of clivias and bromeliads that I don't have space for any more - they multiply very rapidly it seems and I have no more shady areas!  Her daughter, son-in-law and twin grandsons are down for the holidays and we spent a pleasant hour or so under the shady oaks at Noordhoek Farm Village, where my friend has a beautiful home in the grounds. The restaurant was buzzing, with perhaps 200 people being served, and fortunately we only had coffee, as I am sure the wait for food must have been fairly long.

We were seated near the playground area, which has at last, sensibly, been refurbished with astroturf and so there is no longer dust blowing into the food and your eyes when the southeaster is doing its thing. The playground is a boon for parents who are able to enjoy a meal in the knowledge that their children are in a secure area with no danger from cars, as they are well within sight and behind a sturdy fence.

The two little boys, who are just shy of their 3rd birthday, are not identical twins and their personalities are as different as two siblings could be, but they were both extremely well behaved and nice to be near, and I can only compliment their parents on a job well done so far! A firm yet loving hand was evident, and the twins can look forward to a very happy childhood, I think.

After a day in the garden, it was time to walk the dog and we set off into a rather strong southeaster to clear the cobwebs. The massive seas have subsided and it is now just a normal summer sea, with spray blowing off the crests of the waves in true white horse fashion.

The pictures show the sea on Friday and today.

 

A bit of this and a bit of that

After some intensive gardening in the morning, I took the opportunity to take a nap yesterday afternoon, while HWCFA was snoozing under a tree. I was lulled to sleep by the sound of the immense seas outside my window, but it wasn't 20 minutes and I was unceremoniously pulled back from the Land of Nod by another sound outside my window. It was the local minstrel troupe doing their Boxing Day thing, wandering the streets of Kommetjie and entertaining us with their own special renditions of Christmas carols and other festive favourites.

Unfortunately I find the dreary, somewhat off-key playing of the trumpet to be both mournful and discordant to my ears, and I would gladly have paid them to take "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" further down the road, but they must have decided to take a rest, as there was a lengthy pause before I heard them strike up another jolly tune about a block away.

With all chances of sleep blown to the wind, there was no alternative but to get up and make tea, and by then high tide was pushing and it was time to go down to the sea again and watch the waves and the surfers and take another 300 photos with my 10x zoom lens, standing next to a man with a tripod, on which was balanced a camera with a lens about 50cm long with a 15cm aperture. Feeling suitably out-zoomed, I retreated to the seclusion of my balcony, where I enjoyed the view with a cup of tea and a mince pie.

A fairly uneventful day, but pleasant

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Surfing in heavy seas

Kommetjie residents awoke to a scene of chaotic kelp this morning, after a particularly boisterous spring high tide during the night and early morning. While some of us can reminisce over previous lashings the path along the bay has received over the years, it was a matter of some excitement for those who are not used to seas of this immensity and power. The waves at the lighthouse washed up the rocky embankment (some 10 metres or so high) and scoured the sand under the boardwalk, while the backwash as the tide receded looked as though it was the precursor of a tsunami - today is the 10th anniversary of that disastrous event. Seaweed was piled high on both sides of the path and every so often a wave swept over it, catching early spectators unawares and wetting a few.

The onset of the southeaster changed the waves by the next high tide but they remained impressive and by then every surfer available had headed for the Inner Kom! Spectators lined the rocks and a festive atmosphere prevailed as surfers rode in on the waves, clambered out (not too difficult as they were pretty much deposited on the path) and jogged back along the path, boards under arms, to start again without the effort of paddling out against the surge.  We certainly love the spectacle of powerful nature - from a safe distance!

Perfectly peaceful Christmas

Another Christmas has come and gone. The carol services, shopping, Christmas trees and decorations, present wrapping and unwrapping, brightly lit homes and gardens and frantic rush to fill the fridge before the shops close for just one day are over. Dinners have been consumed, wrapping paper and containers consigned to the recycling and leftovers are the order of the day for the next few days. It's time to relax a little, go back to simple eating, enjoy the chocolates before the New Year's resolutions kick in and reboot for 2015.

The next week will be taken up, in households all over the world, with lists of New Year's resolutions. Some will last forever and some will be fleeting, but it's good to know that every day is the beginning of a new year and we can all start again at any time!

Today's family gathering was smaller than usual as the family extends through marriage and births into an ever wider circle, where everyone needs to be accommodated. A new group of children has appeared to take over from my nieces and nephews and it is their turn to be the younger generation. There was a three-year gap between each of the grandchildren, which enabled each child to receive their share of the attention and limelight before the next one arrived, and it seems as though they are now continuing the tradition of the three-year gap!

As always, Christmas lunch consisted of leftovers so no one had to do anything particularly strenuous, and the day passed in idle conversation, as all good days should.

The garden makeover continues

Re-modelling of the garden continues unabated! Yesterday a fence was put up between us and the neighbours to hide the view of the back of their house - the trusty little domestic cement mixer was hauled out of the shed and put to good use - and I relocated the clivias and bromeliads that have been suffering from too much sunshine to another shady part of the garden. HWCFA and Robert worked like Trojans, sieving the soil to a depth of 30cm and ridding us of 30 years of roots, odd rubble and mussel shells and replacing the soil so that I can put new plants in - perhaps hydrangeas in this difficult area (full sun in summer and full shade in winter).

I helped with removal and replacement of bricks and many fencing poles and planks made the journey from the top of the van to the back of the house until we are ready to put up the next section of fence. Then it was sweeping and watering to clean up the mess, and - wonder of wonders - time for Christmas Eve dinner, which I had cooked while helping in the garden.

Dinner was demolished in no time, pronounced to have been delicious and then we all went to bed, having worked far too hard and eaten far too much!

Fa-la-la-la-la

I went to our family church Carol Service last night – the whole point of Christmas is lost if there is not an acknowledgement of the reason for this celebration, which has become lost in a quagmire of forced consumerism – a time to spend whatever you managed to save during the year (or use the last of your credit limit) to buy gifts way beyond what is required by the ordinary man.

I am not the least of these offenders, although the list has shrunk considerably over the years, because I like to give presents, even without reciprocal gifts. But wait! I have completely gone off the track!

As I was saying, the point of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus, upon whose teachings the Christian faith is based, although interpretation and adherence can best be described as thoroughly interfered with by man. And once again, I drift off the track! That is the subject of another blog, maybe or maybe not.

Mom and Dad, now in their mid-80s, have been stalwarts of St Margaret’s for more than 50 years, and still sing in the choir. Most important events in the family have been celebrated there – baptisms, confirmations, weddings (no funerals that I recall). Sitting in the pew behind me was a woman who I remember from way back in the 60s and it struck me that we have both been in that church together on various occasions for more than 50 years.  While I freely admit to being slack in the churchgoing arena, I am more than happy for everyone to do whatever makes them secure and particularly if it is something that contributes to the greater good of the world.

I still enjoy singing the carols that I remember from my childhood – they have not changed although the odd word or two has been modernised, for no good reason – and look forward to this annual celebration in old, familiar surroundings where I can sing as loudly as I like and know that I am no worse than the person doing likewise next to me.

For those who observe this season from a different angle, it remains a season of peace and goodwill towards man.

In the dark again

Who needs Eskom's load-shedding, which sticks to a boring schedule, when you can have your very own, personalised, random and always of uncertain duration, power failures here in the old part of Kommetjie near the lighthouse. We were just treated to one for the last two hours.

When we first moved here 32 years ago, we were advised to buy plenty of paraffin lamps and keep them in strategic places for just such an event, and this was years before the current (excuse the pun - it was not intentional) incumbents in charge of such an important part of a country's infrastructure had an opportunity to wreck the system. Those paraffin lamps were used many times and are still on the top shelf of the kitchen cupboard, ready to be used. We have just moved on to battery operated lights, or regressed to candles! Prefer candles, I must say, but difficult to read by and definitely won't connect you to wi-fi.

Power failures don't faze HWCFA, as he goes to bed with the sun (you might say he is solar-powered - oh, my goodness me, after all these years, I have hit the nail on the head - a lightbulb moment).

The kids took the gap and hotfooted it up to the pub, which is in the area of Kommetjie that doesn't have power failures, leaving Mother alone and in the dark! Nice. We'll see if Santa Claus visits this year.

Jokes aside, a few hours without power can be coped with, but it always seems to be after dark, and that is the annoying part. And I really felt like finishing off that pile of ironing!

Cleaning up

The cool weather is perfect for gardening at the moment, and He Who Can Fix Anything decided to take a hand in my apparently insufficient attempts to tidy up and remodel same. Sleeper benches were moved, paving lifted and re-laid, unruly growth chopped back relentlessly and branches removed to ensure a perfect umbrella-shaped canopy under the milkwood in my little zen garden. A trip to the local nursery yielded a bird bath, cunningly styled in the form of an old tree trunk, and a few extra pavers to complete the look.

While all this was going on, I disappeared to the back garden and re-planted some lavender from pots into the ground and put new flowers in, put in rows of spinach and then snuck inside for a cup of tea.My friend arrived with Cedric the Tortoise in a box to install him in his new home for the next week - our old chicken run - while she is away. We fed him another red hibiscus flower and there is no doubt that this ranks up there with caviar on a tortoise's food list! Biggles was fascinated by this new and strange creature and lay next to the cage for a long time before eventually losing interest and setting off for pastures new.

Meanwhile, HWCFA had brought out his favourite toy, the high-pressure cleaner, and was blasting away at the brick paving, walls, sleepers, my legs, basically anything that could withstand the pressure, with the result that everything looks like new again.

A job well done, and even better, I didn't have to do it!

Up a gum tree!

The birds were all a-twitter in the old gum tree this morning, in the way they behave when a boomslang (snake) is around. There were grey-headed sparrows, a house sparrow, red-faced mousebirds, doves, a pin-tailed whydah and a double-collared sunbird hopping from twig to twig, and it didn't take long to trace the source of the commotion!

Mango thought she was well hidden behind that little bit of greenery, not realising that the rest of the tree is dead and so she was basically out in the open! The birds knew they were not at risk of becoming breakfast, even though Biggles followed soon after, as the higher they climbed, the thinner and weaker the branches became, and there was one tricky situation that involved clutching with claws to prevent an unseemly departure to the ground floor by Mango. She was extra cautious after that and the birds gave up their teasing and flew off to find their own food. Biggles lost interest right from the beginning. 

Hopefully they will confine their tree-climbing activities to the gum tree and not take an interest in the Christmas tree!

Reflections

At last the end of another working year, particularly busy and somewhat stressful, but overall turned out well. Met up with old friends, and made many new ones, all of whom are bringing something special into my life and allowing me to give something in return. There is no greater gift than giving.

Salaries are paid and there is food in the cupboard. My Christmas tree is the prettiest we have ever had, and the saying 'lit up like a Christmas tree' is very apt, as we have three sets of lights this year (so there, Eskom) and it's such a pleasure to loll on the couch under their glow in the evenings, enjoying the wonderful pine scent of the resin, surrounded by our pets.

The days have not been too hot, just perfect, and a nice shore break ensures a constant rumble from the bay as the waves turn in on themselves, sending invigorating sea air onshore. Partly cloudy conditions make for great sunrises and sunsets, and the boubou is still competing with the rooster in the early morning. The berries on the coprosma are ripening to bright orange and the Cape white eyes are having a feast - every day is Christmas for them, with the milkwood berries coming into season a bit later.

It is a time to reflect on the abundance in our lives and be grateful for life's small mercies. A season to practice peace and goodwill towards man - never before has it been needed so much. Let's give it a try.

Winding down

Just went for a brisk walk to the lighthouse. I needed to blow away the cobwebs after a day spent peering at figures on the computer and bits of paper - reconciling accounts is not my favourite pastime, but I think I have got myself quite organised for this year end, or else I have trained my mind not to overreact to seemingly difficult situations. That is the secret - training the mind. Learning to let go of what's actually not real. Perceptions can be changed through taking on a different attitude and it definitely lightens the mood. I really believe that if people were encouraged to follow a path of inward reflection, there would be less need to rely on mood-altering pharmaceuticals. Meditation (simply sitting quietly without thought) should be a subject taught at schools - this would equip young people to cope with the stresses the world presents and which are all a result of incorrect reactions through repetitive responses.

Every day is an opportunity to change your life. It is simply not true that you have to accept what is thrown at you. Strive to see things from a new angle and imagine a different outcome. Our reality is, after all, a product of our thoughts and we have free will to choose those thoughts. No one can impose their thoughts on you unless you allow them to.

Think about that.