Resurface after a VERY long break

I have had a VERY long break from blogging.  "Life" just got in the way.  Well, here goes to try and give an idea of the happenings within the Beckett family on St Helena over the past few months. I will start with the most recent, and then move on backwards in time.

11 Nov 2012   The people that were responsible for arranging the remembrance day parade ( a big affair on St Helena) felt that the bag pipes should not be included in the ceremony....  So Graeme and John Reid (his bag pipe teacher and new found friend) decided to have their own ceremony at the back of John's property at Luffkins. Graeme sounded the last post, then John played the pipes (I forget the name of the piece of music).

Then the minute's silence, then Graeme played reveille.

Afterwards, Graeme had a blow on the pipes.

5 Nov 2012   The Beckett junior family after one year of marriage

Graeme has started learning to play the bag pipes!!  For those of you who know Graeme better, this will come as a big shock.  Here he is waxing cord to fix the fitting of the pipes into each other.

The Parade   Soon after John's departure there was a parade in aid of cancer awareness.
Arthur and Abi dressed for the occasion.

Danny with her mom and Hannah, watching the parade go by.

Other scenes from the parade

 Hannah's impression of all the fuss...

13 October 2012  The farewell to John was difficult for me.  Here are a few photos at the wharf before him and Tetyana left to spend a short holiday in SA before returning to their home in The Netherlands.  Only God knows when we will see each other again.

Just before John went back to Holland, Arthur shaved his hair off.  So.. John followed suit.  Don't I have handsome sons????

My Sunday school classes are not limited to children only...
A class made up of a baby, a dog and a teenager.

A class where the cat supervised the handwork.

One day John and I went over to Levelwood to help Arthur set up home.  Here John and Art are up to mischief together.

Towards the end of September, Arthur received a call from Social Services offering him government accommodation in Levelwood.  It is an old school that has been converted into small flats.  Here is the view from the back of their new home.  It is VERY cold and wet in that area.  It takes about a 25 minute drive from the manse to Arthur's home

A close up of the peach blossoms at the back of Arthur's new home.

Before coming here, John asked what the weather was like.  I told him to expect hot, tropical weather.  I was WRONG.  It was cold and wet most of the time that they were with us (it still is).  Graeme took John and Tetyana and me on a drive around the island.  As you can see, it was cold and windy.

After the cold trip around the island, we stopped at Knollcombes.  Near Charles Thomas's house I saw olives on a tree for the first time.

  A lonely little red flower.  It reminded me that I must bloom wherever the Lord "plants" me.

13 September 2012  I just happened to have the ingredients in my kitchen to make borsch (a Ukranian vegetable soup that includes beetroot), so Tetyana showed me how to make it.  Here we have Arthur looking on rather dubiously as she dished up the rather red soup.  Tasted good.

John and his partner, Tetyana (Ukranian) arrived on 13 Sept to visit us for a month.  Here are Danny, Arthur, John, Tetyana and Hannah on the wharf shortly after their arrival.

Hazel and Hannah having fun together

01 Sept 2012   Although Clarence (Danny's dad) is older than both Graeme and I, he is fitter and more agile.  He offered to help clean the manse windows before our son, John, came for a visit in Sept/ Oct. 

Baptist Coffee Morning

We held another coffee morning followed by a gospel sing-a-long this morning.  As usual, there were other activities on the island, so we were competing for numbers.  There was a children's party, a funeral, and the RMS was in James Bay.  We had a good time, and raised 261 pounds towards the building restoration fund.

It is almost 3 years since 3 tons of rock fell onto our chapel and manse, causing extensive damage.  Through fund raising efforts and the generous giving of friends, we have replaced the roof, and now have a carpenter who will be starting the repair of all the wood work - the gallery, floor boards, railings and window frames.  That just leaves the paintwork, new carpets and light fittings, and HALLELUJAH, we will be able to reopen the chapel.  Graeme and I have never worshipped in it, but we are sure it will happen before the end of this year.

window frame that needs replacing

A photo showing the lovely new roof, with the broken gallery railing at the back.

Ooooh, we love onions

The island's "onion-less" state has come to an end - for now.  We were without onions for 6 weeks because someone in SA did not complete all the necessary export paperwork - so the SA officials would not allow our consignment of onions onto the RMS.  After our "onion famine" I plan to use them at every meal time.

Hannah and Gammy's hands touching lovely onions

Hannah is growing

delighted to see her mama

My favourite little baby girl is getting so cute.  Apparently, according to the clinic, she is too tall for her age...  73cm tall at 7 months.  Anyway, she is sitting, has 2 teeth, and is communicating more clearly.

carefully choosing a block

handing blocks to daddy

Saturday school

Last night Graeme and I went to Bishop Richard and Jane Fenwick's home for supper. Graeme especially enjoys their company as they are both accomplished musicians - Richard has a marvelous organ and Jane plays an rather large harp.  Needless to say, their instruments take pride of place in their lounge.
As it was the opening night of the olympics, we hurried our supper a bit so that we could watch the ceremony on the tele.  We had dessert on our laps.  It was a most enjoyable evening.

Saturday morning dawned cold and wet.  So I unconsciously shelved the idea of clearing out the store room, as planned.  Then the door bell rang, and I was faced with 4 children dressed in jackets and boots - who had come to help me clear out the store room!!  I felt so bad, that I offered to take them to Sandy Bay beach in the afternoon - no matter what the weather was like - Josh had never been to Sandy Bay.
At 2pm sharp, the little rascals pitched up.  We put 2 in the boot, 3 in the back seat and Danny and Hannah in the front.  It was a 30 minute drive on very windy and steep and narrow roads to the beach and it was cold and overcast, but the children were happy to run and play in the black beach sand and wade in the cold sea.  

Sandy Bay valley



A stark, black beach

wading in the cold sea

The landscape is very stark and barren in Sandy Bay, but if you look, you will always find a plant of some sort growing in the sand.

succulents growing in the sand

Hannah keeping warm in the boot

On the way back, I spotted a shrub with fruit on it that neither the children nor I had seen before. It had l-o-ong thorns, and sweet smelling fruit that tasted something like sour plums.  Apparently, the Saints call them curry apples.

inspecting the fruit

scary thorns

Sock chimes...

We had a more conventional Sunday school today.  The activity afterwards was to make "chimes" out of felt.  The package that the materials came in, called them "sock chimes".  They blow noiselessly in the wind....

New Style Sunday School

We now have 3 or 4 children that attend Sunday School.  After sussing them out as to what activities they enjoy, I decided to change my teaching style.  Instead of formal lessons, the children meet at the manse, and we do gardening, baking, sewing, picnicing etc.  While we are busy,  I try to use our activity as the practical part to a spiritual lesson.  The children seem to be responding better to this approach.  The first Sunday we made crumpets; the next we weeded the back garden - it had been raining and the ground was soft.  Then we made chocolate brownies.

 The girls are good at entertaining Hannah.


 The boys are the best at cracking eggs.

  Karla stirring the pot.

Last week we transplanted spring onions and prepared little pot plants in which we planted pansy seeds.