Having a crack at gardening

After Sunday School this morning, Arthur invited the children to come over and help him create a new bed and do a bit of general tidying up. They all seemed to enjoy themselves for an hour after normal Sunday School.

Danny watched everyone get dirty while she cuddled her kitten.

Tiffany and Karla transplanting spring onions.

Josh and Vontray enjoying the hose pipe

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Arthur the gardener

Arthur has become a bit frustrated with too much time on his hands, and not enough to do - the happy result? He has taken to turning the manse's rather neglected back yard into a garden. He seems to have an affinity to this age old occupation. We now have one little bed growing peas for the pot, milk weed for warts, arum lilies for the vase, and tomatoes for the salad bowl.

In another section he has made a herb bed with spring onions, parsley, mint and sweet basil. Then there are seedling trays with lavender, jasmine, strawberries, cacti, lettuce. There is also a small rubble heap in one section - a left over from the rock fall 3 years ago. He has "dressed" it by digging out the biggest pieces of junk, and then planting ground cover and nasturtiums on the dump.

I am very happy with his efforts, and find myself wandering outside to dig out a weed or two in the evenings.

Christmas in July

We were invited to the enthronement of the new Anglican bishop this afternoon. Graeme accepted the invitation, but I chose to give the asthma inducing incense a miss, and went with a few of our BWA ladies to hand out the "love gifts" to the folk at the CCC.

Over the past few months we managed to make 27 pairs of bedsocks, which we combined with a small box of fruit juice, a small chocolate and little talcum powder or tissues or hankie, to make up a parcel. We also had 14 extra gift parcels without bedsocks.

The old people seemed to appreciate the gifts, and we certainly enjoyed giving them.

Crazy Tuesday

Tuesdays are my crazy days - rushing from one commitment to another. The day starts at about 6.00am - rise and shine and prayer time. A bit of house work (I did ironing today) until 8.00am. Wash, have breakfast and collect my things to go to Sandy Bay BWA. Today we finally made up our "Love Gifts" to take to the CCC on Sunday. 27 parcels in all, consisting of a pair of bed socks, a small fruit juice, a small talcum powder, some tissues or a hanky, and a sweet. Hopefully, we will be able to bring some Christmas cheer in the middle of the year to these old folks.
I arrived back home just after 12.00pm, dropped off the car keys, and did my version of a trot down the road to work.
4.00pm rushed back home to pick up the car and go to the Cape Villa Bible study. We started a series on the life of David.
6.00pm drove back home to get things ready for the Jamestown Bible study at 7.30pm. We are going through the gospel of John (my favourite gospel). This evening we were blessed by a visit from a couple from George, South Africa. They are members of the C.E.S.A. church there, and were due to go back on the RMS on Thursday morning.
The day ended with a read in bed, with my cat curled up and purring at my feet.

Baby things

Although Arthur and Danny do not have two beans to rub together, their baby is going to have plenty of gadgets and things to make life interesting for him/her. Bev Kilner arranged to have some lovely things that her baby has outgrown, dropped off at the manse. Here is a photo of the play mat and mobile to keep the little one stimulated while it is still in the "lying on the back" stage. I wonder how we managed to raise our children without all these wonderful things.

As I walked into the kitchen after work this evening, I was met by a slightly antiseptic smell. Arthur had spring cleaned the kitchen, washed the floor and rearranged things to be more practical - at least according to him. It lifted my tired heart.

Birthday cake

In South Africa, a birthday cake has to be a chocolate one in order for it to qualify. On St Helena, it has to be a multicoloured pink, green and yellow with a slight almond taste and plastic icing. Here is a photo of a slice of birthday cake that was given to Graeme to bring home for me

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Sunday afternoon

After vowing that I would never knit another baby blanket, I started knitting one for my first grandchild.... I found out that Danni has wanted to learn to knit for some time, so I found some scrap wool, and started teaching her the basics. She has caught on quickly, and we spent a few hours on Sunday afternoon, knitting together while we watched a DVD.

Shopping, Saint style

One of the school teachers from Pillings school called at the manse, and dropped off a "Moses basket" and a bouncy chair that she used for her last baby, and no longer needed. Friends have been great in offering new and nearly new baby things to Danni.

Sunna had something else on, and did not come to our Saturday morning meeting. So Danni, Arthur and I went to the Salvation Army sale. Some clothing items are displayed on hangers, but most is left in big boxes that simply have to be rummaged through. The island does not have a shop where one can buy maternity clothes, so we were pleased to find some preggy jeans and 2 tops for Danni, as well as some lovely wooden toys. Here is a photo of the Moses basket with some wooden toys that we bought at the Salvation Army, and our cat, Calvin inspecting everything.