Lunar Raves

Three weeks ago, whilst shopping with Nicki and the kids for their school back-packs in a rather remote area called Pinole, (ridiculous that the only ToysRUs have moved so far north from the East Bay of San Francisco), I came across this sign in front of a large supermarket. I was absolutely hysterical with laughter - I had all the kids, including little Jeddifish, laughing ... at me laughing. Only later did I realise what had happened. Can you spot it? :)

On our visit to the Sonoma/Napa Wine Country, two Sundays ago, we had lunch at the well-known restaurant called The Girl and a Fig - their cheese platters and assortment of fromages - their speciality. An amazing, somewhat esoteric type eatery with a changing menu. We did have to make a reservation about a week in advance. Warren ordered this lamb pate in a crust, (below) - he loved it, I tasted it - not too bad... I'm not very brave with food :). Click on the link to see their basic menu and all the art by Julie Higgins (Girl and the Fig) which is on sale. I bought a selection of mini prints.


Below: the sign for a kiddies clothing store in The Valley of the Moon, Sonoma which you may have seen on my friend half-pint's blog. I took this picture for her.


Above the schematic diagram of the Valley of the Moon in Sonoma County, Northern California. (The Sonoma Valley is the birthplace of the California wine industry and often called The Valley of the Moon.)

And the sign, below (above the stunning flower box), in this beautiful little Moon Valley town says: "If you're not living on the edge you're taking up too much space"

Below: Trip to Lake Tahoe on Wednesday 18 August - on route into the Sierra-Nevada mountain range, a photo-shoot stop revealed Wigwams and log-cabins hidden behind the pine trees, alongside streams of water. Very beautiful - for me, awe-inspiring. On right of the picture, a wigwam, partly hidden behind a Pine.
A totem pole in the same area as the Wigwam, below left.
Below right, my oldest 3 angels standing below the bear 'mascot' for South Lake Tahoe (Bear country - unfortunately we never saw any live ones!) :)

 


Above: The Harley shop - very biiiiiiig in the US of A and the first shop my 3 grandsons walked into on our visit to the little village. The 16mth old Jeddifish was magnetised first, the other 2 walked straight after him. That's Nicki going in to fetch them  Daniel with the yellow hat. :)

Up to the summit of the Sierra-Nevada mountain range on the 19 August, (no snow at this time of the year), by cable car, (they call them Gondolas), this is the sign that greeted us on disembarkation - at this point, we were 9000 feet, I think, above sea level.



I've missed all of you and I'm going to be posting more on Letterdash/Health Blogs - it IS still the best blogging platform for "user friendliness" and personal connections. (Yes, I have blogs on most of the well-known sites - no comparison) -- AND of course YOU ARE the best blogging community in the world!!! 
Hugs,

I cannot say my return to my homeland has been uneventful. I returned to the hospital/nursing/caregiving strikes, school teachers strikes, power failures (is Eskom trying the load-shedding again?), and a shut-down of my ADSL and Telkom landline yesterday for 24 hours. Hellooooo South Africa... Good old South Africa... I am back. I HATE Telkom the most though, (as bloggers here know how much I have battled with telephone and ADSL service over the past 3 years alone... we've actually had these problems for a lot longer).

The World Cup, which was a resounding success not only in South Africa, but across the oceans, where even the most die-hard footballers of the USA are talking soccer and the baseball fans in Los Angeles are blowing Vuvuzelas in celebration of their team wins. Back here in SA as the WC came to an end, so did the positive vibe. All in all, I've had a very distressing and traumatic return to my homeland. Life goes on... fortunately.

More importantly though, I want to wish my dear and wonderful friend, Linnie a very happy birthday and tons more. You deserve only the best my friend and my wish for you, is that your new journey will be a smooth, healthy and happy, but immensely exciting forever ride!

Tonight, at 9 pm, WATCH GLAM GURU! DSTV CHANNEL 111,

My beauty therapist, Madelyn van Zyl is HANNON's guest make-up artist on the KYKNT Channel 111 tonight.
It was recorded before I went to the USA and I thought I was going to miss it. Fortunately I'm back in time :)... I look forward to your feedback. SO... if you do manage to catch it tonight, please do let me know what you think.

It's difficult to type, so I'll end off by thanking you for your kind comments and thoughts. Wishing everyone a marvellous and happy weekend.

~What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul.   - Yiddish proverb

~Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too. -- Voltaire

~Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was. -- Richard L Evans

~If you try to look down at people from up where you are... they will look up at you and see nothing but someone going down! -- Julie Sullivan

~You can take it as understood that your luck changes only if it's good. -- Ogden Nash, 1902 - 1971

~"Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects." --  Will Rogers

~Intelligence is like four-wheel drive. It only allows you to get stuck in more remote places. --Garrison Keillor

~I learned to speak as I learned to skate or cycle: by doggedly making a fool of myself until I got used to it. -- George Bernard Shaw

~Human beings can always be relied upon to exert, with vigour, their G-d-given right to be stupid. -- Dean Koontz

As happy as I am to be in my own house and enjoying the quiet, I'm devastated to be so far away from my children and grandchildren. I miss them so much already. Very hard, this life we lead, but PG we will be together sometime in the not too distant future. And as long as they are safe and happy, I would never attempt trying to get them to come back.

I did, eventually, get to sleep last night at midnight after unpacking most of my stuff. As my char was coming in to day, I decided to put most of my clean stuff in the 'ironing' basket and Frieda ironed whatever needed to be and hung it all up as well as refolding and packing all my other stuff away today. What a pleasure! But I did have an excuse:
[Sadly for me], at 5.15 on Monday morning, as I walked out into the bathroom, I slipped (in the dark) in Pretzel's wee (stupid dog... why me? Why did he do that on Monday morning.. OY!) Smashed my hand into the doorframe and slammed my thumbnail. With blood gushing my poor nail was hanging on a thread - (no, this isn't called hangnail :P~~)
I bandaged myself up and managed to get to the airport in time.

Above Right: My reason for crying: The goodbyes on Sunday night were devastating. The kids were heartbroken and Daniel suprised me more than any of them as he was inconsolable. It finishes me off.

Because I brought some books I'd been given as gifts, also books I'd bought, as well as a rather hefty parcel of books with a Smartpen (Pulse 4G-I'm green with envy), for a friend of mine, I had 56 lbs in 1 case and 54 in the 2nd... if one has 1 lb over the 50 lbs allowed for dometic travel (eg. from SFO to Washington), one has to pay $25 per lb. A moneymaking racket which all airlines have adopted since 2005 in the US!! Fortunately (for me?) I was crying so much by that point at the check in, not only because of my poor aching thumb, that I think the check-in lady felt sorry for me... and never said a word... she just put the baggage stickers on the handles and gave me the receipts and my boarding cards for the long haul as well without a word! Most unusual... it pays to cry it seems... even in America! LOL

This morning, I was woken up at 9 am with a call from my friend. C'est la vie - later than I expected to wake up anyway. The rest of the morning passed in a blur and this afternoon I gathered courage and went to the the doctor. I'd thought he'd remove my nail, but no, he reckons that studies have shown that keeping the nail affixed somehow on to the nail bed as long as possible, is the way to go. As long as the nail bed hasn't been badly damaged, promotes the growth of the new nail. So he gave me 4 lidocaine-type injections into and around the base of my thumb - very eina - to deaden it and then pushed the nail back into and the under the skin and bandaged it with a splint. Have to try and keep it like this for 3 weeks.

Other than that.. I'm tired and mizzies again... about to hit the sack.

Something that made me smile today (besides the lovely warm welcome I got from some of my friends per phone and on Facebook), is this photo I took Sunday a week ago at the winery in Sonoma, near Napa with my new telescopic lens I'd bought for my camera. One can just see the Jacuzzi name on the hillock in the distance.

Hugs,

Monday 16 August 2010 8.45 pm

 Letter to my SA family:

I've been at Nicki & R with all the kids during the week and then with Tania & W on weekends for the past 2. It's meshugge (crazy), here during the week. Running around trying to help (hope I am) :), and playing with the kids, which is of course the reason I come here in the first place. We've decided to go to Lake Tahoe on Wednesday - all arranged yesterday... quick stix. Nicki & me and the 4 kids (nearly wrote 44 .. maybe because it feels like 44 most days!) will drive on Wednesday - Ryan will come on Friday night and Tania & Warren will drive up early Saturday morning to spend the last day with me. I'm busy packing at the moment - huge job - as I won't have time when we get back on Sunday afternoon. I leave early on Monday morning - must leave the house by 6 am.

Also, I'm a legalised Green Card holder now ... my permanent resident's card arrived a couple of weeks ago. Yaaayy me! For what it's worth. The fact that I can work here doesn't make this whole experience any easier. Not even in a good economic climate would we be able to survive in this city.. so for now, we will continue to work for our air tickets in South Africa - and hope we can continue to visit our children in future years. At our age, we have a problem Houston!

I've had lots of good quality time with both my daughters & respective families. Yesterday was wonderful with T&W in Sonoma and we did the wine tasting at the Jacuzzi family's winery - they are the family who invented the Jacuzzis... and Tania, Warren and I laughed all day. Weird and wonderful people I've met on my travels. Obviously my time with Tans & W is much more peaceful and relaxed and very much easier on my old and decrepit back. Saturday night the 4 of them took me out - went to a lovely restaurant in Berkeley, but I should never have ordered meat at a fish eatery. They all loved their meal - I hated mine. The company was brilliant though :). Usually I like to stay and babysit the kids to give them time to go out without worrying about babysitters all the time. So this was fun. We've seen Despicable Me in 3D and taken the kids to Peter Pan (the live show). Nicki, Ryan and I went to see Wicked (live theatre) based on the supposed prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Absolutely brilliant!

The kids are divine and we've had loads of educational days together besides the movie and live theatre -- scrapbooking, cookie making and frosting, reading, bookshop browsing and buying of course. All the kids ADORE books, even Jed turns pages like a pro. When he sees a magazine he touches his finger to his lips and zips the page open.... R is adamant he doesn't do that, but we've seen him in action!
Painting, beading, drawing, singing together and just being. I've made biltong (twice - once for Tania/W and last Thursday for Nicki & co) - it's delicious. Can't wait to make my own at home. I've pickled cucumbers 'til it's coming out of my ears. I've made chopped liver, chicken soup, chicken a la king, marinades for chops (this I think I could patent LOL! - made it up while I've been here and it's a HUGE success) and my own guacamole/tomato recipe (also a huge success - also until it's coming out of my ears).

Below: Tania playing with Jed before dinner on Friday night

I am tired and for that reason only, I need to go home - I miss my house and my stuff and my bed and my TV.. and my other child - I really miss you Doron - and husband. I haven't watched a single TV program since I got back from Palm Springs. Kids programs don't count. (Notice my spelling is American now - but only in America. I even say some words Americanised so I don't have to repeat myself a million times... like Faster (short flat A), instead of Faaaaaster and tomAto instead of tomaaaato). BUT it's going to be a huge wrench to leave them all. The kids are stuck to me like Velcro. I'm so lucky I have such special bonds with them all. All different but the bonds are strong. Even Jed the little surfer dude, has a connection to me and comes running for a hug when I come in. He's so affectionate and huggy kissy. He's hellava clever - understands everything in English and Spanish and says a few words in Spanish. His English vocab has flourished in the last month. I just adore him... and all of them!

Left: I look as tired as I felt that day last week! But happy :)

Sage does her Nakeup with me every day - not makeup - and she wears Jeems - "they're not deMons granny" (when I say denim), they're jeaMmmms! Go figger! [She calls me Granny, the boys call me Granny Di]. And she brings me thlowers from the garden. She washes her face, but bees sit on THlowers. The "fl" sound which starts a word and words ending in "th" are a problem for her. Bath is Barf. The "Supercase" (suitcase) which she's packing for the trip to Tahoe though, is a habit from her toddler days (I think). I have to stop myself from laughing and keep a very straight face. But she's very good about me correcting her if there's no one about. She doesn't always stick to the corrections... but those will come, in time.

Zak is devastated that I'm leaving. He was hysterical when I went to Tania for the weekend last week. This week he told me if I go back to SA, I shouldn't come back here, 'cos it's too hard. My heart breaks. Daniel is handling it a bit better this year, although he has started withdrawing in the last week, as he always does. I'm hoping going away to Tahoe with them, will put my departure out of the way until the last minute.

So now you have it all. I decided to send this to all of you, family & friends, at the same time, as this is a major update from me and none of you will hear from me again before I leave. So lots of love to all (South African and American family & friends) - will talk/write to you next week or the week after PG when I've recovered from the trip and the terrible sadness.
Hugs as always,