Acceptance then role reversal

Floor and general cleaning day. I do NOT enjoy the task, but today was made enjoyable for me by watching the progression in the dog vs cat saga.

Clawd is obviously gradually losing his fear of the dogs, and they are reluctantly accepting his presence in what they consider to be their territory. After lunch this afternoon, Clawd jumped onto my chest for his usual cuddle. Jealous Abi saw it, and jumped onto my lap for a cuddle as well. This joint cuddle was repeated later on in the day. Cho gets her cuddles from Graeme and any visitor with an empty lap.

During the course of the day, I spotted Clawd creeping up to a sleeping Cho, and sniffing her.

Then, the role reversal : I took the dogs and cat outside to do their business. Abi was walking around and enjoying the fresh air while Clawd ran and pranced around in the wet grass. While Abi's back was turned, Clawd stalked her and took a tentative swipe at her curly tail... Who knows who will be chasing who by the end of the week.

Dogs and cat

Abi got a spanking for chasing Clawd. Now Clawd seems to challenge her by sitting just within sight and staring Abi down... Abi tries to chase him quietly i.e. without snorting, (hardly possible for a pug) in the hope that we won't hear. (And they say that animals are innocent?!)
At one stage, Clawd went and lay down next to the dogs' food bowls, and looked at me, with the dogs standing next to me, with such a smug look on his face. The dogs whimpered and looked at him, then to me, and back again. I could almost hear them begging "Can we chase him - can we - can we?"
The next funny incident was ice cream time. When Graeme and I indulge in this treat, we always leave our pets the last lick of ice cream. Cho and Abi obviously remembered their special treat, because they started snorting happily when I started dishing up ice cream into our bowls. But then.... horror....!!
Abi saw me put a little ice cream on a teaspoon and hold it aloft for Clawd to lick while he was sitting on my shoulder. She started howling in distress. How could I give what she considered to be her special treat, to a cat?

Besides trying to get our pets to accept each other, it was a very busy Sunday. Graeme preached and played his trumpet in 4 services, and played his trumpet and listened in another. He is preaching through the epistle to the Galatians in our churches, and I am thoroughly enjoying his messages.

There were 6 children at Sunday School. And, as before, they came over to the manse afterwards. The difference was that they didn't bother to ask if it was ok, but simply followed me from the church to the manse, as if it was the most natural thing to do. (I found out that some Saints say that I look like Mother Hubbard, with my little group of children following me down the road)

Saturday

We had one new child at Good News Club today - 6 year old Renee invited 14 year old Sebastian (known as Bessie). The big attraction seems to be our pets, that are played with after the lesson - first it was the kitten, and now it is the dogs (pronounced "douwgs")

Pugs are heavy breathers, and I was told that "the douwgs sound is pigs like".

While Good News was in progress, Graeme had closed the dogs in our bedroom in order to give Clawd some time to play freely in the lounge. No problem to the 5 children who had arrived to play with them - they simply all trapsed upstairs and sat in our bedroom playing with the dogs, while I was downstairs with 2 more children, playing with the cat. (Luckily, I grew up in a home where there were often a number of our friends filling the rooms at one time. My mother always welcomed them and made them feel at home. One 8 year old German little boy, Thomas, used to visit her because she gave him the centre of the cabbage to munch on when she was preparing supper)

Vontray is becoming very comfortable in our home, and often just pops in for a short visit. Today he offered to help me weed my garden. Then he went home for about 30 mins, only to come back and present me with a tomato plant that he had pulled up out of his granny's garden.... He stayed for lunch, then watched a DVD with Graeme, with Cho sitting comfortably on his lap. At 5.00pm I had to insist that he went home.


The dogs were more accepting of Clawd today, and there were no mad chases. They seem to want constant attention, though, and jump on our laps as soon as we sit down anywhere.

The Girls are home!

At last, the day of release from emprisonment has arrived! The Girls are free!!

See them having their first taste of freedom, sniffing the grass on the outside of their enclosure for the past 6 months.

On the way home, they snorted and "smiled" and stuck their faces out of the car window to feel the fresh air blowing their ears back. Of course, I was holding tightly on to their harnesses.

When we got home, they gave the cat a quick glance, but were more interested in getting to know the place, and enjoy our company. We gave them their first bath in 6 months. They seemed to enjoy all the attention, and stood still while we lathered and rinsed them off, and snorted happily while I rubbed them dry with a towel.

All was still fine between the dogs and the cat - the dogs were uninterested, but the cat was nervous. Then the Clawd's nerves gave in and he hissed at Abigail and dashed away down the passage. This was Abigail's signal - she gave chase with much enthusiasm. From then onwards, the cat has kept a good distance from the dogs - often sitting on my shoulders for protection - and Abi gives chase as often as she can. Cho (the black pug) is more calm and accepting towards Clawd.

In the evening, Madison dropped by to meet the dogs. We decided to give the cat some space, and her and I took Cho and Abi for a walk (all harnessed and attached to leashes) to the wharf. They were so excited that they ran, pulling us along, most of the the way down i.e. in between stops for various Saints who wanted to pet them and ask about them. On the way back, however, they needed almost as many stops to regain their correct breathing rhythms as I did.

It was a busy day, getting everyone used to each other, but it was a happy day. Everyone is smiling (except Clawd).

The dogs slept in our bedroom - initially on their beds that we brought from SA - but later on, after we were asleep, they snuck up onto our bed and finished off their first night back at home wedged between Graeme and I. Clawd disappeared, but came out from his hiding place in the morning to take a swipe at my bare legs as I went to the bathroom.

All's well that ends well.

Birthday girls

Sandy Bay BWA. I started trying to teach the ladies to do cross stitch embroidery on a sample piece of fabric. 2 ladies did very well, but the other 3 struggled. The idea of the crafts is to expose the ladies to different things, and in so doing, find out which disciplines suit which lady. I am not a natural teacher of crafty things - I prefer to work on my own, and improvise and change patterns as I go. My task for the coming week is to mark out 6 patterns on 6 pieces of cross stitch fabric for next week's meeting.

5.00 pm. Instead of the usual Bible study, we had a combined birthday party at Cape Villa. 4 of the ladies have a birthday in one week. Felicity turned 50, Anya turned 23, Stephanie turned 60 and Miss Yon turned 92. See photo of Anya, Stephanie and Miss Yon. Felicity had the day off and was not with us.

On the way home, Kate and I chatted about what keeps her so fit (I don't know her age, but she lives at the old age home) As there were no cars or even public transport in "days gone", all of the children used to walk very long distances on a daily basis e.g. Felcity used to take the "short cut" up Jacob's ladder on her way to school each morning, and then home again in the afternoon, and Miss Yon walked what amounted to a cross country mini marathon each day to and from school. But Kate also believes strongly in "greasing" her legs every night after her bath. She rubs methylated spirits into them, if she has any spirits available. If not, "anything that is available - even margarine" can be used.... A novel beauty routine, but it obviously works for Kate.

Wit Weekend

Saturday. Good News Club was attended by the regular group of about 12 children. It was a "strange" meeting. All 12 of them paid attention throughout the lesson AND the serial story that I read to them afterwards.

Sunday. 4 children showed up for Sunday school. A few minutes later they disappeared.... They had gone to fetch 2 friends so that they could qualify for the little gift for those that bring a friend. The whole system of stars, stickers and gifts as rewards seems to be important to them. Once again, after the lesson, I was asked whether they could come over to the manse to "play with the kitten". Clawd does not play well with strangers - he claws them, and attacks them. (He especially loves diving into, and hanging from Megan's waist length hair.) They simply wanted to spend time together at the manse.

Monday. Our last visit to our "girls" in quarantine! They come home on Friday.

We are sure they understand us when we talk about it. Abi has started peeing in her food bowl - an act of defiance.

We discovered a rabbit's hole in the enclosure today. There is also a mouse that we have seen sneaking in from the grass outside and into the area where their food is kept. A myna bird also visits them regularly, judging by the pile of droppings on their dog box. They do not lack visitors.

Graeme used an old pair of shoes for his quarantine visits. They have to be dipped in Jeyes fluid when we enter the enclosure, and again when we leave. Obviously not the best way to preserve shoes. They have JUST held out for the 6 months.

Cho listening while we told her that we will fetch her on Friday.

Our girls.

The Saints take the Anglican Christian calendar very seriously. Thurs was ascension day, and the shops and schools closed mid day. Today is WitMonday (Sunday was WitSunday, or Pentecost) and it is a public holiday.

St Helena Day

St Helena Island was discovered 508 years ago by the Portuguese. Today's celebrations started off at 10.00 am with the sound of the RMS's hooter as it dropped anchor. Immediately after this there was a procession with all the scouts and guides marching to the Mule Yard, where there was an opening church service. Graeme read the Scriptures and played in the band. Bishop John Salt brought the message. (Photo taken after the service)
At 4.00pm floats started a procession down Market Street, through Jamestown and on to the wharf.
So as not to look too drab, I tied a bright scarf around my head, and joined the happy march. Music, dancing, singing, wearing outrageous outfits, photo taking, and fair amount of drinking are what the procession is all about. It felt as if the whole island's Saints as well as a good number of tourists where all out on the street.
Graeme and I spent the evening listening to a DVD, then doing prep for the week end's messages, Good News Club and Sunday Schoool.