E - Vida

While some of us report to work as per usual, and others (in South Africa) enjoy an extended weekend snuggled warmly and relaxing indoors, there is a team of vivacious young ladies tackling ' Project Philippi' - as I've nicknamed it - the makeover of parts of the premises at Phillipi Children's Centre in Cape Town. Based in Weltevreden Road, Mitchells Plain, this Daycare hosts up to 120 children on a daily basis, providing them with basic education, food, shelter and general supplies. A request was made a few months ago for volunteers to tackle this project on the centre's behalf and these ladies; Kim Fisher, Candice Jonker and Ilana Jacobs rose to the challenge. For weeks they have been preparing for this task - sourcing materials, donations and man power to help them serve the staff and children at Philippi Children's Centre in this big way. On Thursday they started by cleaning and scrubbing all of the surfaces in preparation for Friday's plan: Paint! Onc...

My Grandfather's Hands My Gramps' hands They held me tight The day that I was born I'm told he sang a lullaby and drew me close and warm Picking fruit in the back garden And bike rides 'round the block His hands would clean a scrape or cut Soothe when I took a knock When my plaster cast came off His hands stretched out to steady He said, "Move forward slowly girl, step when you are ready..." Gramps' hands provided A light mid-afternoon snack: Half a dumpie guava juice And Flanagans crisps - green pack To keep school extra-mural dates He'd help pick up the pace He'd call me Desperado and carry my violin case Gramps' hands would give me A sturdy birthday shake He'd say, "Another year older...Now behave for heaven's sake!" And as I walked the aisle that day And his hand just brushed past mine I had no doubt of his love for us As sure as the sun would shine! And when he took our baby girl So gently in his care My heart...

As promised (long ago) here are the pictures from when P-J gave the Grade 3 class at Fellowship Bible Church Christian School ( http://www.fbcschool.org.za/ ) a basic home economics class. After washing their hands, they rushed back to the table for the briefing. PJ wants to see them cooking this sort of meal at home in the future... After a quick demonstration, he puts their skills to the test! Kneading the dough - but not too much! A little more flour in that mix, Tina! Learning the Chef's 'Claw' stance from an early age... And then the finished product: Beefy mince pita pockets. Mmmmm, enjoy!

I'm standing on the platform at Plumstead train station - scared and excited. I haven't travelled by Metrorail service since July 2010, and I wasn't alone then! The first thing that I notice is how full the carriage is at 12h30, midweek. It looks like a peak hour. It would seem that students are travelling in to the various campuses only as their schedule dictates as opposed to arriving there first thing in the morning and leaving at the end of the day - like we did in the old days... Although, I can't explain what all the other people are doing on the train at that time! There is no shortage of musicians and singers on offer, with instruments ranging from tambourines to suspended keyboards. And they find enough space to perform from too! The 3rd class carriage is my seat of choice. The seating plan of this carriage allows for more curious observation - like the people who still offer up their seats to pregnant ladies to elderly passengers. Who knew that still happened...

...But last night's meal at our local and loved steak ranch was not worth the R500 that was forked over for it! I think that we'd do a much better job ourselves - if we just put a little more effort into our intentions. There are obvious ups like: having everyone seated around the same table for at least 15 minutes and the no-washing up arrangement, to name a few. But they are not so good that they overwhelm common sense! I love family-time meals...with dessert, nogal! I love preparing meals, serving meals - hell - even cleaning up after the meal. It's the family time that stems from this (with friends and family alike) that makes it all worth it. Now if I could just buy some time in my own kitchen... We may not be able to achieve Spur-status, but that's what treats are for! Let's spend our time, money and effort in a better way from now on. Why not consider it for yourselves? Contribute in craft, cash or kind - there are many elements to a meal. p.s. P-J visited ...

Horses in Elim Jorja moves into her big bed! Snowy, the 'E-bunny' arrives at Bonny Babies Daycare Very, very happy to be awarded some chocolate treats! Public holidays are for relaxing, mos? Picnic lunch with Papu Making memories with Great-Grandpa George Braving the smell to pose for some farm photos Future Miss South Africa's in the making? Almost too cool for school - but not quite, to our relief!

All of these public holidays rolled into 2 weeks has really made us confused! Easter eggs for breakfast and scrambled egg-on-toast for dinner - because that's all your stomach could handle after a day of eating! I must admit, I am quite relieved to know that it's out of the way, that it's back to school and work, that traffic is heavy (but normal) and that peak and off peak periods are reinforced and not just HOLIDAY CHAOS from sunrise to sunset! Don't misunderstand, we've enjoyed some lovely adventures - like a picnic lunch in Elim and sipping hot chocolate drinks while watching the waves at Melkbos beach, the Sonrise service on Easter morning and the Autumn afternoon braai in the rain... All of these (and other) experiences have made the April/May holiday period a memorable (and expensive!) one...and yet, the most valuable times we've spent, was the ones that brought us back to basics - Like teaching a group of youths how to make Palm Crosses: This used to b...