...in the eye of the beholder....

 

a few weeks ago ,while working at the local hospice this trunk was bought in containing old clothes . once 

the clothes were sorted, the dilapidated trunk was ready for it's last trip.my sweet breeze took one look at it and exclaimed 'what a beautiful trunk' to which i intelligently replied "huh?' and so it was purchased, loaded into the little car and brought home. when breeze's mom saw the old wreck she asked ' are you throwing it away?' 

at this time i wish to take you on a small path called digression. the sorting of the donated clothes at hospice is done in a single garage, no ventilation, besides the door and is hot and humid. it is full of donated things...known and unknown.. as one moves things around one has to be aware of the unknown...let me introduce you...

meet geko a cute lizard that harms no one. just runs up and down the walls and tries to keep the storage space bug free...with no success. one of the reasons being that some of the bugs are nearly as big as it is.....the kzn cockroach.  it can get up to 4-5 inches long. loves to hide between the clothing and run across your hand as you try to move things around.

the first 2 are not a real problem but the snakes which may be seeking comfort amongst the piles of things may be. thank goodness none of these have been seen by me.......... yet or else that high pitched screaming you might hear will be me saying ' hello snake...goodbye snake' all in one long breath...

back on track....

breeze is a perfectionists perfectionist, with an eye for detail and the ability to see the end result in her mind.  we started  by sanding the sides of the old basket case (the trunk not me), removing the tattered cloth covering.  then i was left standing in my sweetheart's dust as she started to,measure the silk,match the pattern, thumb tack the cloth in place and then start painting on the decoupage glue.... and there was i still trying to ask what must i do next?  so with discretion i stepped aside and watched as a master created an object of beauty out of an eyesore.

note the precise pattern...each panel is a separate peace of silk, cut and matched.

now to the moral of this story.....i learnt a great lesson about what we see and how we see it. i saw an old trunk ready to be discarded...my breeze saw potential and went about bringing out beauty and giving it new life....

as she has done with me.

who's the boss..........

i have always regarded pets as an unnecessary accessory until i visited my little,bigger brother and his family in canada. there i started to learn the answer as to who owns who.
i will start with the most junior owner of their family...the fish (photo unavailable when going to print) it was bestowed on my nephew, asher as a party favour by a young friend. fish did not impose to much on the family. he only expected his meals  of 3-5 pellets twice a day. not more and not less. if more, he would turn up his nose at the excess and let them sink to the floor of his room to mold, thus insuring that his water was changed and home cleaned and that you understood that the extra work was of your own doing ..the cause overfeeding.

meet winston, a descendant of george's dragon. note the lack of hair and the whiskers...remind you of anyone?
he is the second most senior in the ownership line.he spends his day perched on a branch in his office in the household kitchen. he seems to keep a beady eye on all who pass by and watches what is done, by whom and how much is removed from the fridge (he has an excellent view of that) his demands at meal time.....crickets...not the world cup type ,the chirpy jumping ones......and as many as possible and, if it were up to him, as often as possible.

while visiting there i tried to ease the families workload by serving and feeding winston.at first i put on a brave front, as i was weary of this hairless ,whiskered boss. when serving a meal...done by grasping a cricket between the thumb and forefinger and holding 2 inches from his nose and waiting for him to open his mouth ,extend his tongue to remove same from hand....and hoping that it wont be' remove hand from same.'

as i lost most of my fear i came to enjoy this silent stately gentleman.

 the big boss...frodo.....and yes, the hobbit was named after him.
he has a chair and a blanket in the tv room, all of his own.warning ...do not under any circumstances sit on that chair.he is a bit temperamental but does have his redeeming qualities,such as after supper you say 'treats' and he runs to his eating bowl ,sits erect and waits patiently for a 'doggy treat'.

now to the most disturbing part of serving this master( warning if you are of a sensitive nature skip to the next paragraph.) at night frodo is taken for his evening constitutional know as 'walkies'. when i first saw roy perform this ritual i wondered what the small plastic bag was for. to my amazement and horror i soon found out.the canadian's and not the pets, demand that you follow behind your master and pick up after them....yes pick up after them...and yes pick up after them. that is what the plastic bag is for.my second question to roy was'what do you do with the plastic bag once your and the pet's duties have been performed.?'..his answer 'put it in your pocket!'
well i might be a bit slow but even i did not fall for that one. my next question to all .........how is plastic more eco friendly than manure???

the next step in my education came once i had returned home to africa( here plastic bags are used  to adorn the side of the road) i met and fell in love with my sweetheart, breeze.she of course took the chance of taking me  home to introduce me to her family and most importantly, get the approval of her three owner cats,sox, didi and dexter. (2 of whom were introduced in previous blogs.)

 here is dexter the man of the house...because the ladies allow it. he is the most vocal... at meal time ...and any other time come to think of it....an air bag..ladies? he is the hunter. at night when one fetches water ,turn the light on as you might step on a dead rat..some of which are almost his size(an exaggeration perhaps?..well a little)

didi thinking she is doing yoga

didi climbing into a box...whats new!

didi, not the brains of the outfit, but the one with the biggest heart and loudest purr. always loving,caring and forgiving when you unintentionally step on her tail.a milk addict deluxe.

she and dexter are siblings,one got the brains the other the looks.

sox posing as an ornament

this is the lady of the house. she is regal, refined and a bit anti-social.sox is her name.

once the formal introductions were made and a lot of pleading and begging for acceptance into the family on my part, i approched the three on bended knee and ask for their maid servant, breeze's hand in marriage.they were not at all put out as they now had two servants,but before giving their blessing they made me contract to,(as happened to jacob of old,)work for 7 years for each of them.so 21 years of sevice for me,but as i get to work side by side with breeze i dont't mind in the least.

part of my duties is to play pillow for dexter to sleep on,be a scratching post for didi to rub against and make my cupboard available for sox to nap in.

see where i keep my sox!

but, and this is the part i am gratfull for :


   i dont have to follow them with plastic bags!

brotherly advice?????????

big and little

little and big

i have a brother ,roy ,who is a few years younger than me.in the photo on the left he is the little one on the right..i am. so the question is who looks up to who.

we share more than lineage,blood and hair..lesness. we both suffer from headaches.
sometimes chronic becoming migraine. to those who don't know what a migraine feels like.follow these steps. 1. take a air hose place it in your nose and pump your brain to three times its normal size,2. take a hammer and a few 8 inch nails and starting at the side, hammer them in to your head ,working clockwise or anti, whichever takes your fancy.3.add in a good dose of nausea for fun and you have a migraine.

why do i tell you this? listen closely roy it works!

about 2 weeks ago my beautiful wife,breeze told me that she had chatted to a lady that too suffered from headaches.her cure was ...cayenne pepper. she had run out of the capsules so she drank the pepper with water and it helped.my helpmate gave me this advice and said tablespoon of cayenne pepper in a glass of water will help my ailment.trusting her as i do i took my tablespoon of pepper in the water and...one..two ..three swallows all gone.....not so ba.......................a nuclear bomb exploded the size of which was big enough to destroy africa and half of europe....lucky for all it was contained in my mouth and throat.

i staggered to my breeze..sweat running down my face.... eyes and nose watering smoke pouring from my ears. i opened my mouth and said.........nothing...my voice box was destroyed in the devastation.all i could do was open and close my mouth like a stranded fish. a good while later i could manage a squeak that would of made a mouse proud. my voice did eventually return.

so the next step google. what is cayenne pepper good for???????

apparently anything from asphyxiation to xenophobia..the dosage'
'The optimal therapeutic dose is one teaspoon in water'

ok....so i exceeded the dosage...

now the advice. i went and purchased cayenne pepper capsules and have been taking 3-4 a day.
no burning mouth ,throat or stomach and...a great relief from the frequency of headaches....true...believe it or not!!!i

so to my little bigger brother and all that suffer as i did, try it ....you have nothing to loose.

p.s forget the drinking in water bit!!

remember when....

i help out a few hours a week at the local hospice,sorting old clothing and books for the hospice shop to sell.
i had the opportunity and privilege to work with the sweetest old lady sorting books. she comes regularly and always has a smile and a cheerful word for all. the only thing is she suffers from alzheimers.
she chats away and does not realise she is telling what has already been told and forgets little things that need to be done,but no one realy minds.....it can happen to anyone.

it got me thinking about being able to recall things that have happened in my life, both good and bad.

growing up we had no television only radios.......not that we could not afford a t.v there was no television in south africa. we only got it in 1976. i remember sitting and watching the test pattern ...yes the test pattern.

what we did do growing up was listen to the radio...radio theatre and imagination..spending time with the family listening and talking.http://www.springbokradio.com/SPRINGBOKDIGITAL.html   this radio station closed down many years ago but has been resurrected on the net and brings back those distant memories.

childhood fun of playing outside.riding bicycles and climbing trees. as young boys  we played 'clay lats' you take a supple tree branch a metre long and as thick as your index finger. put a blob of clay on the end ,bring back over your shoulder and whip the stick forward sending the clay flying like a projectile to your intended target. endless fun. then when the fun of hitting tins wore off. teams..... and you guessed it...bruises and welts all over your body.
the games children play.

comming back to that special old lady, i am so gratful to be able to remember those moments and treasure them.for her hers are gone.

mark and the dragon?

it was a sweltering day in empangeni, zululand. for those that might not know ,zululand is the home of the zulu people,the once fiercest fighting people in africa, and the famous/ infamous king shaka(who i am told lived two doors down from where i stay)
it is a lush land of endless green....trees,shrubs and grass(both types)....and the home of many,many snakes.

i was sitting minding my own business when a cry for help was sounded.a snake had taken up residence in one of my mother-in-law's guest rooms. bravely i stormed to help, but when i saw the snake and its vicious attitude, i did the sensible thing.....turned and ran, heart thumping, to go and find my weapon of choice. in this case a floor mop with a rubber sponge end.i thought of using the bucket as a helmet but sidelined that as it would obscure my vison.so i returned armed and ready.

i saw the giant monster, writhing and jaws gaping....hearing my beautiful wife screaming and pleading 'dont hurt him...please don't hurt him!' i attacked with my sword....er...mop...the snake's jaws snapped closed on the mop. i quickly lifted it up...ran to the fence and flung him over...


i stood back panting...and turned to my princess and swelling with pride i said 'did you see that'
she looked at me lovingly and said...'i hope you did not hurt that tiny, little house snake . it was all of 8 inches long and scared out of it's wits'.

well one dragon down what next?????

if all else fails........

as the wise say 'if all else fails read the instructions'........i was sitting and spitting and fuming 'why won't this blog page load a visitors counter for me?' and the sleepy voice of didi, the 'blonde' cat of the family answered and asked' have you read the instructions?'...........'huh' says i !!!!!

to introduce this lady of the house. she is a cat that is legally blonde and is proud of it.she has on numerous occasions tried to jump through a closed window............... with a bang and then a shake of her head she ambles away as if to say" i wanted to do that". she has a beautiful heart and a purr that is the loudest i have ever heard and is the most gentle,loving cat it has been my pleasure to meet.she can smell milk from a hundred yards away and knows when meat is being cut as she is the first one there and gets the choice cuts........so..........who is the blond one ?????????? 


to answer the question i look in the magic mirror and receive the answer...'you of course'..............'why' you may ask........i took the valued advice and read the instructions and found a window attached to my blog that says in large letters 'stats'...and is just that..stats of how many of you are out there and which part of the world you enter the realm of blog from.


so thank you my wise ,sleepy friend who looks at me as if to say' who's the blond one now!'

cynic or sage?

i was sitting and enjoying a conversation with sox, a wise, stately old cat. ,(  a lady never reveals her age,) who has enjoyed a long life and  seen and experienced much. now she is a lady of leisure. sharing  an apartment with two other cats and two human servants.(of whom yours truly is one)

i had finished serving breakfast when the question of life came up.


i asked her 'ladyship' why she only stayed indoors and hardly ventured outside...to which sox replied..'the apartment is where i live life the world outside a giant toilet!'

so......sage or cynic?

baby steps

well as i started wondering along the road of blog' i thought what do i need now?'....a visitors counter.....my sister in law has one and it looks cool....so...i followed all the directions faithfully on how to install one on my page and...........frustration....how do you insert all that mumbo jumbo onto the page????

i even resorted to trying to write it on my screen,but it did not work either! so until i have learnt to walk the walk on the road of blog i will go on faith that you are out there!

First Steps To???????????

         here i take my first steps on the road to the interesting 'other' world of blogging. i have heard of the spirit world, real world, fantasy world....now the world of BLOG.soon i to will be a traveler via the portal of 'publish post'.what strange new adventures await and odd new creatures to meet.

        not as easy as one would expect talking to oneself while imagining others reading your one sided conversation.i sound nearly as mixed up as alice.

       before i take that leap into that unknown realm i sit here listening to the wind chimes tinkling in the wind and the cat egging me on saying...... now or is it meow?

       it is somewhat like the feeling one gets waiting to have an operation....do i do it...or just run!!!

HERE GOES................PRESSING... publish post........