Off to the Bush.

After a week in the city spending lots of time with our Oscar who has been SO sick it is time to set off for the bush. Sarah took her staff on a team building exercise to Maputo. She is so impressed with the development in Maputo. The group also spent a few days in Belem which she. Said is great for a beach holiday! The night before we left it so happened that we were to have dinner with a former pupil, then fellow team player and now good friend Midgie. He was so proud and pleased to hear of Sarah' s impressions of Maputo because in the late sixties and early seventies his folk came to South Africa to find a safe haven and start their lives afresh due to the civil war that raged in Mocambique.

Midgie took us to a restaurant in Kensington, Johannesburg where we used to live and he says the area has become very Cosmopolitan with great Portuguese and Italian restaurants and coffee shops. He was recently widowed and is retired so he meets his buddies at the coffee shop next to the restaurant and it gives him great comfort.

Early the following day with a VERY loaded car we bade farewell to the city and set off for the Bush. It is a beautiful drive for the second half of the journey with Dullstrom and Sabie look so lovely with bougainvilleas and hibiscus in full loom. The countryside is green and lush with every shade of green in evidence. This is such a beautiful time of the year in the Lowveld. I am so happy to be hot.....for the first time since we left Malaysia. I do enjoy the heat....but enough of that.

Just before turning into Sabie Park I spotted an elephant wandering through the bush on the opposite side of the road.....this augers well, that is for sure!

After we had unpacked and getting sorted the noses zebras came sniffing around. What a lovely welcome. We also spotted a few impala later once the sun had gone down. It is full moon so it never got very dark which is so lovely. It is lovely to be back.

 

Blogging

I am so pleased that after my last little vent, to have received some pleasant notes from friends afar encouraging me to keep writing. As it so happens, yesterday I was "car guarding" our over loaded car while en route to the Bush House and hubby was doing the shopping, when I happen to tune into SAFM. Nancy Richards has a show " " and the topic of the day was Blogging. Nancy had been to a conference on blogging recently and met some of South Africa's top/ popular bloggers and was interviewing them on her show, on the radio. The questions being addressed were a)why people blog and b)how to blog. The technical "how to" info was not all that helpful for the complete novice but the " why" was most encouraging!

The bloggers being interviewed had slightly different ideas and interpretations as to why people blog but the discussion was most helpful and encouraging and the following are just some of the points I took away.

# Blog as if no one is reading your blog.

# Blogging is the new form of praying!!!

# Many people use it as a form of venting!

# Blogging is learning to live in purpose.

# It should be done with passion

# Blogging is sharing your journey

# Be authentic

# Keep it topical

# You never know everything!

# Enjoy what you do!!!

The point I would add is have the camera charged and ready ALL the time!

I think these pointers are food for thought and most encouraging. I am glad I was at the right ace at the right time!

Regarding security....I liked what one of the bloggers being interviewed said:

Although there are bad elements out there often the Internet is made out to be a much bigger Bad wolf than it really is!! After all someone looking for porn is not really going to look at a blog called Mommies Craft class or like mine "Beyond the Quilt" ....maybe if I called it "under the quilt"...it would be different!! So that put that one to rest.

Thanks Nancy for the most interesting show and hopefully many more South African women will find the time to blog!!

 

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!!

 

Back Home!

After spending time in Johannesburg we are heading home tomorrow.

Spring is in the air, however in comparison to the weather in K.L., I have found it dry and just a little chilly. We have had loads of fun with Oscar and have enjoyed seeing a few of our good friends. I guess these are some of the things that make coming home so special.

Family.

 

Friends.

More Friends

 

Fun

More fun,

And even more fun!

Food!

And a few familiar sights!

We will be back soon Oscar, to have even more fun!! (note the sox).

 

A storm in a tea cup!

After six months of travel and eating all sorts of different food I can honestly say that neither of us has been really ill or bed bound. I had to see a doctor for a spider bite and Warren had cut his leg on coral and it became infected. Other than that we are the picture of good health, until a week ago!

 

After the Royal luncheon, I could not keep my food down. My throat and oesophagus felt as though the lining had been scraped off. I had to go on a milk and yoghurt diet as everything that I swallowed, burnt. I googled my condition and this is common in Malaysia after Hari Raya as the spices used to prepare the dishes are strong and dangerous! So for a week I felt rather miserable and uncomfortable. This, I confess, was a wonderful way to shed a few kilos and kick start my healthy eating regime!

 

As Nick works in a medical centre he offered for us to go for full check ups as it costs a fraction here of what it would cost back home. Warren was keen but I was not interested until this setback. In particular I wanted to have my headaches checked out as I was worried I might be suffering from Blood pressure and I was nervous about our impending flight home. So I requested just a BP reading. This lovely doctor we visited insisted on doing an ECG as well....a first for me.

 

Lying on the bed with all the pads connected to my body I was not really worried as I had never had reason to believe I had anything wrong with my heart. The nurse takes the first reading through to the Doc, comes back, repeats the process and then tells me to dress as the Doc wants to talk to me. This Doctor has the most beautiful face and as he takes my hand and gazes into my eyes he says "I think you may have had a heart attack!" WHAT? what did you say? He then tells me I need to see a cardiologist immediately and has arranged for a driver to take my hubby and I across the city to see the right person. If I hadn't had an attack I was about to! It is Saturday morning, we fly in three days time ...what to do?

 

So off we go in a state of shock, my mind reeling and wondering exactly when this attack could have happened? Several strange scenarios take place in my mind I can assure you! Some funny and some not so funny. But it was not the time to get the giggles....we arrived at the most exquisite hospital ever. Evidently it is known as the Hotel hospital and is outlandishly expensive. We go off to the specialist and after fifteen minutes see this youngish fellow. He looks at the ECG results we have brought along with us, shakes his head and says the results indicate that I have suffered an attack, could be a week ago, a year ago, twenty years ago! The next thing to do is an Echo cardiogram. I slow him down and ask how much all this will cost as we have have just run out of our medical cover which was only valid for 200 days and we are just over that time period. With the consultation this investigation would cost six hundred ringgits which is about one thousand five hundred Rand which we thought is probably a fraction of the costs back home. So it Is agreed that we have no option but to proceed!

 

Once again my top is exposed and prepped for the Echo cardiogram when the nurse comes running through and says to hold off on that test and to just do another ECG. After reaching 65 and never having had an ECG, I am now having my third!! To cut a long story short, this specialist had worked out by looking at the original readings and then the new readings that the nurse in the previous rooms, had attached one of the pads upside down thus the strange results which led to the doctors thinking I had had a heart attack. In fact my heart seems fine. Much relief and without any further fuss we went home to lick our wounds and celebrate our good health! it really was a case of human error and at least I know what an ECG is now!

 

The above images are not mine but borrowed off the Internet!

 

 

 

A little escape.

To fully enjoy these holidays we booked into the local Hyatt which is situated on the Beach. I have never been up to this part of the world and as always I love nothing more than finding and experiencing new places.

The hotel was great and Joshua loved spending hours in the pool with his Ten Ringit fishing rod. He is swimming like a little fish himself so while we keep an eye on him he is reasonably safe.

 

During the day was lovely. Malaysians love flying kites. At times the sky was full of beautiful kites which are so lovely to watch as they fly around in the sky. While watching them on one occasion was amused to see a real live Kite ....as in bird flying attacking these kites as she was obviously concerned about these foreign objects entering her territory! She would bomb them and bomb them trying to defend her territory! One of the ladies near me reeled her expensive kite in as she was not prepared to have it damaged! Who would have thought?

 

Both the big boys and the little ones had fun with the kite.

At night the troubles started. The fireworks and crackers never seemed to stop exploding into the night sky. Asians love their fireworks and don't stop until The early hours of the morning! I guess it's fine if you are outside and part of it but if you are trying to sleep it can be most irritating! The worry is the animals and the sleeping children. That is another difference. Asian children seem able to stay up all hours of the night, certainly longer than I can!

 

While I was not particularly well, I really loved being at the seaside and having this little quality family holiday., just before we leave Malysia. Thanks Nick and Moira. Thanks for the fun Johua!

 

A Royal Affair!

There was such a grand build up to Hari Raya or as it is known in the rest of the world as Eid-El- fitr. The shops were jam packed with shoppers buying table linen, crockery and cutlery. It is traditional for everyone to have a new outfit and the pantry to be stocked up. As Hari Raya, which translates into "days of celebration", fell on a Saturday and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were public holidays as well. The city folk took good advantage of this situation and lost no time of heading off to family homes for this special time!

We had been invited together with our Malaysian Family to attend a luncheon or "Open House" at a real "palace" to celebrate this esteemed holiday. I confess I was extremely excited and just a little nervous! Do you bow, curtsy, kiss the hand? Do you dare to chat? What do you chat about? And of course the age old question, what to wear?

There is no way anyone like me can compete with the wonderful outfits worn by the Malaysian women and one wonders what the Royals will wear. I have a beautiful mustard yellow top given to me by my friend Cynthia when we visited the family in Bangalore. I had kept this for a special occasion and was dying to wear it. Just ours before setting off I show Moira my outfit and she laughs nervously. Evidently only members of the Royal family are permitted to wear yellow!! Back to the drawing board and out comes my good old faithful red top which was fine!

Even little Joshua was in traditional clothes and looked so cute!

We had to drive a way to get to the function and wherever we looked,the buildings and flags were decorated with the National flag. It all looked so festive. In Malaysia it is traditional to have an Open House to which friends, family and neighbors are invited. When a member of government holds an Open House it literally means it is Open to everyone.. There is no pomp and ceremony. You arrive, eat and leave. Some people bring gifts of flowers and biscuits but there are no expectations.

The tables were set with lovely fresh white linen and there were many dishes to feed the masses. We were ushered into the inner chambers and into a lovely banquet room, furnished beautifully. The room was carpeted with a magnificent blue carpet and had huge blue chandeliers. The entire Family had arrived from all corners of the world and the wife was such a gracious hostess. She chatted easily and described some of the newer dishes she had included on the menu. She loves cooking and has written several cook books!

Malaysian food is HOT! I was very cautious taking just a little of this and a little of that. One of the safer dishes is satay which also has a little chili in the peanut sauce. The array of deserts was amazing including lovely fruit cake minus the alcohol....(whispered to me by the Hostess.) my photos are few and not that detailed but we decided not to appear rude by snapping away during this esteemed time. It really was fun and the memories of this day will be with me for many reasons!!