Moving on

Our month at home is over and although I have not done much blogging, I have been busy doing lots of wonderful things like ......of course it has to be quilting!

Going to the Book Boutique is a weekly fix. The ambience is pleasant and conducive to good conversation. It is a great venue to meet up with friends and to enjoy a cup of coffee. Regularly writers are present at the Book Boutique to launch their new books. I missed Peter Dirkie Uys and Tony Parks. Two writers whom I would have loved to have met and heard speak.

I managed to get to the monthly cross stitch meet up, but I do confess that cross stitch no longer interests me. I thoroughly enjoy the company and take along some other handwork. Our mouths tend to work more than our hands!! Just going along and seeing the wonderful work the other ladies do is such an inspiration.

The Post Card girls also had a get together although only three of the original group attended. The idea is that we make fabric post cards and send them to each other. Each month we have a different theme and this month is "Bubbles"! I am up to date and in fact I have completed next months challenge too, which is "Landscapes". We are looking to expanding our group and interact with other quilters elsewhere!

(these are not ours but belong to the Pleasuretime Quilters.)

 

 

Bridget turned forty a while ago but chose to have her party during September when Spring was in the air. As she was to have an "Enchanted Forest" theme and it was to be held in the bottom of her garden the last thing she needed was rain. Bridget worked so hard planning and making decorations. She also did all her own catering and made costumes for her and Peter. I assured her that according to Swazi belief if it rains on auspicious occasions good luck will reign forever. It happened to be one of the wettest weekends ever....the wind blew and the rain poured on and off. It was chilly and the enchanted forest turned into a dripping forest, but Bridget gritted her teeth and continued with all her plans, which included putting up gazebos. By four thirty, with thirty minutes to go before everyone arrived, the sky cleared, the wind calmed down and everything was ready! We had a lovely evening. Everyone dressed up and even the children had loads of fun. What a star Bridget is....and may she enjoy all the luck in the world.

(Not sure that we look like Forest Folk.)

Scottburgh Pleasuretime guild held an exhibition of lovely quilts. They too had the misfortune of rainy weather. However It stopped raining long enoughorder the organizers to go ahead with their plans. Congratulations

Spending time with my sister has been great. Her and her hubby travel away as we do! so when we happen to be in Toti at the same time we like to do things together.

 

An artist on our beach showing that if you have the heart and desire you can create anywhere!

 

Soon it was time to start packing for our trip to the Bush House. Time flies when you are having fun!!

 

Catching up.

It amazes me that I allow negative comments to affect me at my age and stage! A while ago at a dinner I had organized, I had to hear some rather negative comments by a "friend" about blogging! While I argued back and tried to shrug off the rather critical comments e.g. "why would you want strangers to read about your life" it left its mark and I have battled to put pen to paper.

The question to myself is, why do I blog? I love writing and while the form of my blog is more a visual record of my travels, my quilting and in general, my life, it is fun and creative! It is wonderful to connect with other bloggers and read of their lives. I read blogs about quilting, sewing, reading, travel, thinking, cooking and just plain family life. I have my favorites, of course! I used to write group letters so this form of writing has replaced that form.

The people who criticize Blogging, Facebook and other forms of communicating are often the people who never participate anyway so possibly they have no idea what fun it is and how it opens the world up for the likes of me. I am going to shake off those feelings of self doubt and continue doing what I really enjoy. Blogging here I come!

Another reason for the delay in adding to my blog is the fact the Internet connection we have at home is rather weak which results in my only using it to check my Inbox. We spent almost two weeks at our flat on the South Coast and the weather was awful. The rain and wind pounded our sea facing windows and I found it a little depressing. The weather, together with the adjustment of being back home, far from our families, made it all rather unsettling.

The most amazing thing in Toti is no matter the weather someone is always on the beach defying the weather conditions.

 

The worst day ever in Toti was last Thursday. Not even mad dogs and Englishman would venture out. However, down on the beach there was this lonely figure. He seemed to be wearing a thick coat or cape and he lay In the surf and let the freezing water cover him. He stood and then walked deeper and deeper and then he came back out. I really wondered if he had the death wish and was about to take his life!! Do I call the life savers, the police or who....no one would venture out in this awful weather. This fellow must have been there for about an hour!! I wonder if he survived.....?

On other days it LOOKED lovely outside but putting a foot out of the door, you just knew the best thing was to stay put and do things at home. Some friends suggested bed, choccies and cup a soup. I was itching to use my sewing machine after an absence of seven months and while I have a few big quilts lined up to do I decided to do some fun things. Thus i started my "Owl" project.

My dear niece Unity got quite excited and put in a request for an owl of her choice and chose the fabrics from my stash and I had fun making it for her new home!

He does look wise and watchful!

I also love pickling and made a few bottles of beet root and pickle onions, stocking up for our weeks in the bush.

And the last thing I did was visit the local library which is my favorite haven. I never fail to tell the staff there how much I love coming there and they always give me a huge smile and say REALLY? What a difference a compliment makes!!

After unpacking, sorting cupboards out, getting rid of seven months of dust, spending time with friends, we repacked our cases and then set off back to Johannesburg to babysit Oscar while Sarah treats her staff to a weekend in Maputo!

Now that I have caught up with my blog and got issues off my chest I will write regularly and continue doing what gives me and hopefully others pleasure. Thank you for reading my entries. Happy Blogging fellow bloggers!!