Sunshine on my shoulders.....

October 2011

We went up to the plot last week for a few days in this short school holiday. Our tasks were to finish painting some second-hand railings with NS4 and to oil some second-hand wood with Linseed oil. This is all in preparation for Roy constructing a deck on the side of our building. We also painted the second-hand staircase, which we will adapt to give access to this deck. (I just LOVE Gumtree.co.za  !!)   

Spring is definitely in full swing!

Harry Pickstone plums. I wanted to remove them all to save the tree's strength (we probably wont be around to pick the ripe fruit) but my neighbour dissuaded me and I made him promise to pick the ripe fruit for himself in December.

Brown Salvia Africana-lutea blossoms

I was thrilled to see the blossoms on the Wild Pear (Dombeya Rotundifolia) and the Keurbooms (Virgilia Oboroides). 

Wild Pear

One Keurboom, in particular, was just loaded down with pink blossoms. 
I begin to wonder if this one is rather Virgilia divaricata
instead of Virgilia orborides

We tracked down John via the bushman grapevine and he turned up the next day, after first helping to bury a neighbour's dog which had died from biliary a few days previously. (We also learned of the death of a local sheepdog. A driver from the area finally snapped at his habit of trying to round up any moving vehicle on the road and just drove over the dog. Sad. ) 

John's tasks for us included continuation of brick cleaning with Spirits of Salts and then sealing the bricks against the weather. The builders made such a mess with the cement on bricks, that this has been an everlasting task and it is still not completed. (We have to clean off and seal the bricks inside the building too).  He did complete one task from our previous trip though: sealing the top of the walls with membrane and sealant.

Membrane and sealant on top of brick walls for rain-proofing.

In between all of this, we socialised with neighbours and enjoyed the delight of some surprising spring sights which included Roy stripping to underclothes (sadly I did not have the camera at hand), pulling on gumboots, and wading into some of the dams to harvest the last remnants of the Waterblommetjies which the locals had not managed to reach in their pickings. Washed, cleaned and frozen in my freezer here now, I will use them for a delicious Waterblommetjie bredie once I acquire some stewing lamb. mmmmm 

Our neighbours loaded us up with goose eggs in an effort to keep their population down. These are the descendants of the original two we gave them in 2008. The original male died mysteriously within minutes after swimming in the dam one day, the replacement male was carried off in a sack, in broad daylight, by a bandito and, recently, the original female plus all their ducks were gradually carried off in the night by a suspected dog and/or otter. Nevertheless, the geese continue to flourish. 

We returned home on Saturday in time to watch the Springboks lose to Australia in the rugby, and to give last minute assistance to my dearest friend and neighbour of 25+ years, as she left our village on Sunday morning to start a new life in the Karoo.