Hospital again

What a lovely way to spend boxing day!!..  3 days of liquids only, a drip in my arm, and the most disgusting medicine every few hours.  And all this only gave me partial relief...

The doctors are not sure what is causing the problem, and I am scheduled for yet another day in hospital on the 14th January.  If they still cannot get to the root of the problem, I will have to leave on 31st January on the RMS to go to SA to see a gastroenterologist. The problem with St Helena is that, if you have a medical problem that is slightly out of the ordinary, they do not have the facilities to diagnose or treat you properly.

I am praying that I will NOT have to go off island, but am feeling very drained and tired.

Christmas

The favourite Christmas dish on St Helena is goat meat curry.  Needless to say, I tried to find more traditional ingredients for our Christmas meal, but ended up with a strange mixture of dishes - all based on the ingredients that I could find on the island.  I made an Hawaiian cake, baked rice pudding, fruit salad (a real treat here) and cooked a piece of gammon, on the 24th.  On Sunday morning, I went with Graeme to 3 services at the 3 Baptist congregations.  Here is the view from the Head O'Wain chapel.

I made it to the kitchen at about 12 noon.  I then put a chicken in the oven, cooked carrots, roast potatoes and green beans, and microwaved 2 shop bought Christmas puddings.  Danny's parents brought a large bowl of curry and rice. We managed to eat at about 2.30pm.

I had a rest after everyone had eaten, as I was due to spend the next 3 days in hospital again.  This time because of a severely impacted bowel.

Hannah's first birthday

Hannah's first birthday celebration was held at the public swimming pool.  She arrived dressed in a Chinese little dress.

Trying to look Chinese

She was given 2 birthday cakes.  Here she is with the one at the swimming pool

Hmm... what should I wish for?

Happy family

I know what!!

Birthday cake # 2

What started off as a lovely day, ended with Arthur becoming faint and dizzy for no apparent reason, and being admitted to the hospital for observation.  I spent the afternoon driving around, getting Art to the hospital, and then driving out to Levelwood to get his PJ's and toiletries, and Danny and Hannah's things to sleep over at the manse.

By that evening, I was feeling pretty sick myself.  So, when they discharged Arthur from the hospital the next day, they admitted me with a chest infection that was bordering on pneumonia. I slept and slept, and was discharged 2 days later.

Baptist service with a diference

When Graeme and Vince were on Ascension Island, they had problems getting a venue to hold their meetings.  The school room that was previously used by Nick Cleveley, was refused to them this time around.  Much to Graeme's pleasant surprise, the Catholics offered the use of their church to them, and even advertised that a "Baptist meeting" was going to be held there.  Just to make sure that he would not be stepping on any unnecessary toes, Graeme contacted the bishop in charge, (Monsiegneur Mc Partland) and got his happy permission to go ahead with their meetings.
Monsiegneur payed a short visit to St Helena, and in reciprocation to his kindness to Graeme, agreed to have him in our pulpit.  They agreed on the subject matter of the sermon, and all was arranged.

He preached on prayer.  I was challenged by a comment that he made :  Whenever we pray, we engage the Trinity.  For all prayer should be addressed to the Father, through the Son, by means of the Holy Spirit.  Prayer is therefore one of the most important activities that we should be engaged in.

Police Constable Arthur B Beckett

38 years together

Today was our wedding anniversary - 38 years of marriage.  The experience has been much like a fruit salad - some fruit is too tart; some fruit is bland and uninteresting; and some fruit is delicious - but the overall combined taste is good.

To celebrate, we had lamb curry that I brought home from The Consulate, and a lovely fresh fruit salad with ice cream.  It took me a few days of going from one shop to the other (and a gift of a paw paw) for me to collect the ingredients for the fruit salad - a paw paw, 3 tiny scruffy little bananas, 2 kiwi, an orange, 2 plums.

Here is a copy of an ecard that was sent to us by our friend, John, who also happens to be a photographer. It is a photo of an African violet growing in one of Anita's flower pots.