World Blood Donor Day

Today is World Blood Donor Day. I had no idea there was such a day but am pleased to see that there is. If you want to know more visit the World Blood Donor Day website.

I used to give blood in the UK but after having malaria in Tanzania the blood service got all snobby on me and permanently struck me off their lists which is a shame as my blood group is Oneg. Thankfully the South African blood service have no such hang-ups and because their screening is amongst the best in the world (if not the best) they know my blood is safe.

Two More Sleeps

We're on the home straight now as we're only two sleeps away from picking mummy up at the airport. Needless to say Joel is really excited but Eli doesn't seem to get it all as he is a bit young.

Joel has really enjoyed his chats with mummy on the telephone and he seems so grown up as he chats away.

Unfortunately Joel's earache turned out to be an inflamed ear canal which seems to be getting worse. Our Dr was great and saw him just after church so he's now got some drops for his it. This afternoon he's had quite a high temperature so please continue to pray for him. Thankfully he's gone off to bed in fine fettle.

Farting Wellies

Once again the Helderberg Nature Reserve comes up trumps as the place to go locally. The weather was totally foul today but we went anyway. Our good friend Jo (in the blue car) joined us, I think against her better judgment, but we managed to have some fun. Somewhere along the line Joel managed to get a welly full of water (see piccy). He was so chuffed when it made a 'farting noise' when he took it off. We made it all the way to the 'climbing tree' where we stayed for all of five minutes before repairing to the cafe. As ever my boys demonstrated their 'uniqueness' by asking for ice-lollies on a cold and miserable day. They truly are odd.

Sciencentre

The weekend has started early for us as the boys school has decided to throw two teacher training days onto the weekend to make for a very long weekend which includes a public holiday on Tuesday. That means I've really got my work cut out as I can't escape during school hours.

Home Alone

Someone once said that being at home with daddy was tantamount to being left at home alone. Not sure who said that but I'm happy to report that they weren't 100% accurate, at least not here.

Surprise!

On Thursday Paula flew to Blighty for a very well earned and well deserved break on her own. Truth be told it was payback for the Cape Epic (in case you missed what that was all about, click here)

Much subterfuge went into planning it especially as we wanted her trip to coincide with the birthday celebrations for Stephen's 50th and Susannah's 18th, so many thanks to Sal for helping with the scheming!

Aunty M

I took a phone call from one of the home based carers last night asking me to come in to Chris Nissen today because the mother of one of our patients who died last year had just been taken into hospital. I went in to find a very classic situation of hopelessness! It seems that Aunty M has classic first signs of Alzheimer's disease. She is not recognizing family members, getting very confused and upset and is generally causing anxiety to everyone around her. The worrying thing is that she spends every day supposedly caring for her 3 year old great granddaughter.

Family Update

We decided to brave the wet and cold and spend a few hours in the Nature Reserve yesterday with the boys! We were the only people there apart from those actually climbing the mountain, so it was a bit weird - but great for us! The Nature Reserve is really beautiful at this time of year. The proteas are out in all their glory and look beautiful against the dark greens of the surrounding foliage and the dramatic dark skies.

On A Hot Tin Roof

One of the best ways to make inroads into a community is to get stuck in and help with practical needs. So this week I've been trying to get more involved in this way. I spent some time with Aunty Florrie this week and with some help from Michael managed to stop two major leaks on her roof. The rains are due back over the weekend so our handy-work will certainly be tested.

We're also looking at how we can practically assist some of our other members especially one young couple who have three kids and no home of their own. Hopefully we can tell you more soon.

Inter School Sports

Joel & Eli's school (International School of Helderberg) has two 'sister' schools in the Cape so today they held their annual Winter Inter-IES sports event with three main events of Football (or soccer as they insist on calling it here), Hockey and Netball. Eli is too young to compete, but Joel was involved in two football matches against Hout Bay International School and Blouberg International School. They won the first one 3-0 and lost the second 4-2.