Saturday January 14 2012
Dave and I are keeping well and are back fully into our gym routine. We are both feeling better for our exercise and we realize that this has to be a permanent part of our life as we progress into this delightful old age!
I worked Wednesday and Thursday this week and then I have had the weekend off. Yesterday we just lazed around the house and relaxed although we did go out at one point to a few furniture shops to look for a desk. The varnish on the big desk in our study started to peel and the shop where we bought it, took it back to repair it, only to damage the leather insert on top and so they are giving us our money back. However, that leaves us with the chore of shopping for a new desk. So far we have not found anything that we like so we keep looking. Then last night we went out to a pub for dinner – just had burgers and a beer and cider and came home again.
Rambo has discovered that beside squirrels, we also have moles in our garden! So a few days ago he spent a very productive hour outside digging a 2 metre long trench, chasing a mole….needless to say he was chocolate brown after that and he had to have a bath. He really is a spunky little boy and keeps us entertained. Every day we take him for a walk around an un-developed housing division just below where we live. In this area we can let him off his lead and he runs crazy exploring and chasing various scents along the way. He certainly is a constant joy in our life and because we talk to him so much, he really understands a lot of what we say to him….he can collect about 3 different toys on our request for example his red toy, his dog or his chicken and he certainly knows who Daddy is and Mommy so I can for instance send him to Dad and he will go and find Dave wherever he is in the house.
This morning we met Kate at 10am to look at another home to buy. I just wish Dave would make a decision on a place, as we need to invest this money that we have here in the States but by the same token, I do not want him to make the wrong decision so I will just have to be patient and wait for him to decide.
Although the skies are blue and the sun shining, outside is too cold to be pleasant and the garden really goes into hibernation in winter with most of the plants dying off. So, there is no gardening to do and I have a lot more free time which I find depressing…. Anyway I have taken the opportunity to do some extra reading and I am enjoying my kindle that the kids gave me for my birthday last year. The other thing that I did this past week, was make contact with Doug Eglington via FaceBook and then we emailed each other a couple of times. I think we will definitely try and visit them at some stage in Canada while we are here in the States.
Saturday Jan 21st 2012
Dave and I have had a lazy week….in my off time we have watched a 7 part mini series called The Winds of War which was all about the second world war and was just my kind of story with a bit of romance and true life drama along with a true historical setting! So I have enjoyed the long saga.
We also did a bit of weeding in the garden – trying to get ahead of the weeds before spring when everything starts growing like crazy again. Dave also trimmed all the bushes and shrubs back with the electric trimmer the one day when I was at work so that was a big chore done.
Rayanne writes her big Board exams on Wednesday and Thursday and then she starts ‘work’ on Friday at UCT – I think she is so sick of swotting at this point in time. The amazing thing is that she receives her first pay cheque on Thursday – the day before she actually reports for work! She is very excited about launching out into the real world!
Last night Dave and I went to a party at a ‘cigar & martini’ Bar thrown by our friends James and Kate – James is our attorney and his wife Kate is our estate agent. It was to officially launch their patented cigar called ‘Southern by the grace of God”. We had a really good time – although it was extremely smokey!!! I even had a puff of a cigar, which was fun, but not to be repeated. We learnt a whole lot about cigars and also met a bunch of new friends so that was great. The dinner was provided and they did a whole pig kind of on the spit but not quite – the roasted pig was brought in and they then chop up the meat ‘southern’ style – rather than carve it. The meat is then served with spicey baked beans – also a typical southern dish. Luckily, I was off this Friday, as I had had to swap Wednesday and Friday with my partner as she had a meeting on Wednesday and I had one on Friday, at our head office for some continuing education program. Otherwise Dave and I would not have been able to make the cigar party. This coming Tuesday night we have a date with one of the couples that we met at the party – Dave and John are going to play racquet ball and his wife, Emily and I are going to do some swimming training in the pool at the gym so that should be good.
Saturday January 28th 2012
This week the girls and I had a happy ‘memory recall’ that brought a chuckle to our day…..it was when CJ got her first pay cheque and we went shopping at Mr Price and my mother took photos of her and all her shopping! Well, Rayanne got her first pay cheque on Thursday and I told her to be sure to go and buy herself something special, and that was when CJ remembered her shopping with her first pay. Rayanne got a lovely sleeper couch so she is very chuffed. All the exciting steps that we take in our journey of life.
We have had a good week – on Tuesday I found a lovely cheval standing full length mirror for my bedroom which I have been looking for for a while so I bought that. Rambo is being kept very busy as he sits for hours in front of it just looking at his friend! Poor boy, occasionally he gets so frustrated with this non responsive friend that we hear him crying – in fact when I was at work all day, Dave shut the bedroom door so that he couldn’t go and see him.
On Friday we signed for another investment house – a very good deal and this one is definitely going through so we are delighted. The house last sold for $242 000 and we got it for $185 000 so that is a very good price. The home has 5 bedrooms plus a study and on the top floor it has a media/play room as it is a triple storey home! It is really a beautiful home and we will probably let it to executives that come from Germany to work at the BMW head quarters here in Greenville as Kate, our estate agent, has contacts to help us with this. Anyway we will see…we should get occupation in about 2 – 3 weeks time. This Wednesday we are having the home inspection where an inspector goes through the home with a fine toothcomb and gives us a 20 plus page report on the house also specifying anything that is wrong.
Yesterday we also bought a new desk for our study. We had one but about 4 months ago we had returned it to the shop as the wood varnish was peeling and they were going to sort it out. Well to cut a long story short we finally got a refund and after a lot of window-shopping we finally bought one yesterday. It was so nice to be able to tidy up and sort out our study once again.
Tonight I am going out with about 7 other ladies on a night out on the town so that should be fun. Dave is going to go to movies with our neighbour, Richard so they can go and see a real ‘boy’ movie!
Daryl has decided on tentative dates for his visit here – 8th till 29th July although he is wanting to stop off in Europe for a week to visit Bradley Adnams. Anyway we will have him for about 2 weeks, which will be very nice. We are planning to visit SA from about Dec 20th till just after New Year.
Rayanne’s exams seem to have gone quite well and she officially started work yesterday with a staff meeting at UCT! Apparently she was the ‘entertainment’ as she was late for the meeting due to oversleeping from having had too good a party on Thursday night! Luckily the lecturers all know her well and so it was all just a big joke- anyway her real work starts now on Monday.
Blog Archive
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
End of 2011 and beginning of a new year
Sunday December 4, 2011
Our flight back home to the States was long but not too bad as long haul flights go .. Dave managed to pre book us seats right behind first class with an exit in front of us (no seats) and so we had lots of leg room. We landed in Washington at 10.30am and luckily all went smoothly through the customs even though Dave had some vacuum packed biltong! We caught our connecting flight and landed in our home town at 2pm where Malcolm was waiting for us. After we dumped our bags in our entrance hall we literally jumped straight into our car and went off to collect Rambo! He was delighted to see us and rapidly licked up my tears of joy.
Work has not been too bad and most of the customers were really pleased to see me back – it is so much easier now as we feel like we know people and kind of belong here now. I also got a pleasant surprise on my return as I had won $250 in a lucky draw at work on a national level for having done some continuing education on line. Anyway the end result was that I was $250 richer and so I went out and spoilt myself buying a jewelry amoire which is a piece of furniture similar to a chest of drawers but just narrower and used exclusively to store jewelry – I am really thrilled with it and it looks good in our bedroom.
Last Saturday Dave and I did our weekly weigh in only to discover that our holiday had cost Dave 4kgs and me 2kgs!! So, due to our weight gain and our general feeling of aging, what with sore backs etc, we took the plunge and joined a gym up the road from us. The gym is really nice and even has 3 racquet ball courts with quite an active club going so Dave and I are going to try and take up this racquet ball which is fairly similar to squash. The good thing is that the gym provides the racquets and the balls etc so we do not need to buy anything. We have also been to two pilates classes which is similar to yoga and is designed to strengthen your inner core muscles and so help with backache etc. I am so stiff at the moment so it must all be doing some good.
On Friday night our neighbours on the topside invited all the residents of our cul-de-sac for Christmas drinks and snacks. We did have two empty houses in our cul-de-sac but while we were away the one house got sold, so there is just one unoccupied house now. So the 5 couples had a good evening – it was very pleasant. Our road has gone all out with Christmas lights and so Dave and I went on Saturday and bought our tree and have put that up too on our front porch. Dave also took the lights that we had from our first Christmas here and ‘framed’ our tree, so it all looks very festive. On our mantelpiece inside, I have hung up some Christmas ribbon with my Christmas balls with the kid’s names on…. I have to get a ball for Trish and Teagan to make it complete.
The temperatures here are cold now with the minimum about zero and the max between 10 and about 18 degrees. We have central heating but we also have the gas fire place in the lounge. It is like our gas fireplace at Goodwood but the gas is piped to the house and we get a monthly account so no gas bottles are needed. Also the fire works with a thermostat so the fire just automatically turns on when the temperature inside drops. At first it was quite crazy to wake up in the middle of the night and see the light and shadows from the fire burning in the lounge! But it certainly makes the house very cosy.
Last night we took Rambo and went to downtown Greenville for the annual Christmas parade. Town was packed with all the local families out to see the festivities – they have a float parade which includes about 3 different brass bands, drum majorettes, organizations like the SPCA with dogs in tow and of course all the council members including the mayor who drive various vehicles waving and wishing everybody a ‘Merry Christmas’ All very festive and reminds us so of how things used to be at home with the Azalea Festival and Rag floats etc. Rambo loved the whole outing as he is very gregarious and loves people – of course little children just love him and he is very good with them – he never snaps or anything, all he does is turn tail and come back to us if the kids get too boisterous.
Saturday December 10th, 2011
This past week has been my busy week with me working Monday, Tuesday and then again Friday, Saturday and Sunday (tomorrow) so I do not have a lot of news.
On my days off, Wed and Thursday, we went to gym – the one day we played a game of racquet ball and the next day we had a consultation with a trainer to give us a programme to do a ‘full body workout’ on the weight machines…needless to say, I have discovered a whole new set of muscles in my body that are now so stiff!! Anyway, we are both feeling so much better for all our efforts.
On Wednesday night we made a flask of coffee and set off with Rambo to go and see some special Christmas lights at an animal shelter called Holley Wild. It is about an hour away from our home so we stopped on route at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then went on to the Christmas lights. The lights were very pretty – similar to the ones that we saw in Lexington during Christmas 2009. But the one difference was that they had an area where you could feed some of the animals from your car. We had such fun feeding the deer, zebra, horses and even some huge cows. The one cow was very keen on the food and literally stuck his whole head into the car, which of course got Rambo very excited indeed! Dave and I laughed ourselves silly. Poor Rambo eventually tried to attack the cow and he was completely hyped up and shaking for a while after we had left.
I also went shopping and bought some fabric to make a table runner for our dining room table. We got some gold and black fabric and some matching fringe type tassles to finish off the ends. It looks really nice on the table with a black and gold glass bowl in the middle and a pair of ‘elephant’ wooden candle sticks from South Africa on either side. I enjoyed sewing it and it was nice to use my sewing machine. My mother gave me a giraffe that we brought back from SA in November and we decided to put him on the stairs. He can be seen from downstairs too and he looks very good.
We are having 3 couples for dinner this next Friday, other friends for lunch on the Sunday and some others to stay over the next week on Wed Dec 21st so hopefully they will all be impressed with all our new décor!
Dave has had a bit of a frustrating week as he found a really good deal on 2 apartments that were bank repossessed, put in an offer which was accepted and so was very excited. However, although we were pre approved for a mortgage, it seems that there is a hiccup with this particular development as less than 50% are owner occupied and the banks are not prepared to do any more loans there. Long and short, I think we are going to lose the deal so he will have to keep looking.
Saturday December 17th
We have had a very lazy day today as we had a very late night last night as our dinner guests only left at about 1 am! The evening went off very well starting with delicious gluwein that Dave made. I made mushroom starters in little rumican dishes with puff pastry tops and then we had curried pork chops and veggies for dinner followed by chocolate mousse and ice cream. It all turned out very well and everyone enjoyed the evening. We had Malcolm and Thelma (Dave hikes with Malcolm), James and Kate (James is our lawyer and Kate our estate agent) and Leon and Melissa (South African friends who have lived here for about 20 years). We got a couple of gifts last night too, so those have been added to our pile under the Christmas tree.
Otherwise, we have had a quiet week just going to gym each day that I was off work. We also bought some Christmas gift tins and then I made rusks the exact length to fit into the tins. So I have a collection of gifts to give people. Dave used some off-cuts from our blinds to make me ‘ruler’ type cutters that I use to cut the rusk dough in the baking tins in nice straight rows and to the exact size that I need, so my rusks look very professional now. We enjoy the rusks as I put a lot of health seeds, raisons and nuts etc in them. Rambo absolutely loves rusks too! And this last time I baked them; I made some little bite size ones especially for him – spoilt dog!
Tuesday December 27,2011
On Wednesday last week we went up to Biltmore House, which is the biggest privately, owned home/estate in the USA. It is just 1 and ½ hours north of where we live. The home was opened in 1895 by a George Vanderbilt, who had inherited his money from a grandfather who made his money from laying the railways here in the States. Biltmore is a 8 000 acre estate and the actual home has 250 rooms and has 4 acres of floor space. The entire home was decorated for Christmas so it was really special. We met friends of ours there and so it was nice to spend the day with them. We went out for lunch after touring the house and then in the afternoon we went around the hot houses before heading for our home. Just as we got to our home, Keith got a call to say that his mother had passed away in England, so that was a bit of a dampner. But, they still spent the night with us and then headed home the next day so that Keith could organize a flight home to England to his Dad. We had planned to go to Keith and Dalena for New Year and we are still going to go even though Keith will still be in England.
I then had to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the hours were a little reduced so it wasn’t too bad and in fact it was better that I was very busy so that I didn’t have time to feel miserable. On Christmas morning we woke up early, opened our presents and phoned a lot of family and friends around the world. CJ and Mark gave me a lovely hand made leather bag and Dave a very nice long sleeved shirt. Daryl and Trish wanted us to get a bread machine but Dave wanted a special base speaker for our TV/ music system so we got that instead and we are very pleased with that. Rayanne and Don gave me a blouse and a lovely grey jersey and Dave some chocolates from SA and a new gym shirt. So all in all we had some very nice pressies.
We had a lovely breakfast and then when I returned from work at 3pm we went straight next door to Rich and Dominika where we had a super evening starting with snacks and drinks and then a glazed gammon with veggies followed by dessert and some eggnog – very American! We had plenty of Gluwein and by the time we rolled home next door I was very mellow – a Christmas very different with no family around but still enjoyable and something to add to our memories of this journey called ‘Life’.
The new year beckons and Dave and I have lots of exciting plans culminating with us being home in SA for Christmas in December 2012.
Saturday December 31st,2011
We have had a very quiet week but we are off early this morning to go and visit our friends in Aiken, which is about 2 and ½ hours south of us. Rambo is also coming with us for the night and he is sure to have a good time as they have a small dog called Daisy, whom he knows but they also have 2 cats who he has never met before!
The weather here is cold and we are spending most of our spare time curled up inside in front of our fire – eating, reading and watching TV. Next week we will have to get back into regular eating and going to gym etc.
Rayanne is back in Cape Town and studying very hard now for her Board exams at the end of January. Daryl is away down at the Transkei and CJ is of course in Escour.
Saturday January 7th 2012
CJ and Mark had a hectic night as their one dog, Tala had to be rushed to the vet in the middle of the night with a serious case of biliary. Anyway, I trust she will be much better this morning after being on a drip all night.
The weather here has been really mild and quite warm during the days – not nearly as cold as last year. On Wednesday, which was my day off we had a day at home with me washing and trimming Rambo and Dave cooking up a storm making bean soup and an Irish stew – all good wholesome winter meals. We had had a two week break from the gym as Dave had hurt his neck, but we also started back at the gym so that is a good thing. On the Thursday night we went to another branch of our gym and Dave managed to get a game of racquetball with some other guys, which was good for him as he is a bit stronger than me and needs to play with some stronger players. The guys playing racquetball at this gym seemed to be a lot friendlier than at the other gym, so we will go back there again to play. Our home is slap bang in between the two gyms so it does not make much difference which one we go to.
Dave is a bit frustrated as he is still trying to buy another property – the one good deal that we put an offer in on last year; the bank did not accept the offer. And then the second good deal that we were excited about, we could not get finance as there were already too many investors in that sub division and the bank would not loan to investors only to a person who was going to live in the house! Anyway, he keeps looking and something will have to work out soon. He has bought himself a radio controlled helicopter and is learning to control that – quite a skill is involved – as he also has a plan to get into some videography from an aerial point of view – perhaps to do when we come back to SA.
I am excited as we are planning a trip to Washington DC for about 5 days in early April to see the Cherry Blossom Festival and all the sights that DC has to offer such as the White House etc. Dave’s cousin, Kerrigan and his wife Charlotte are going to join us, so that will be lots of fun. Then in September we are planning a trip with CJ and Mark to New Orleans and Key West before they come to visit us here at our home. Daryl is maybe coming over in June/July and Trevor says he is coming to visit us in August and Sheila in May so all in all we have an exciting year ahead.
Our flight back home to the States was long but not too bad as long haul flights go .. Dave managed to pre book us seats right behind first class with an exit in front of us (no seats) and so we had lots of leg room. We landed in Washington at 10.30am and luckily all went smoothly through the customs even though Dave had some vacuum packed biltong! We caught our connecting flight and landed in our home town at 2pm where Malcolm was waiting for us. After we dumped our bags in our entrance hall we literally jumped straight into our car and went off to collect Rambo! He was delighted to see us and rapidly licked up my tears of joy.
Work has not been too bad and most of the customers were really pleased to see me back – it is so much easier now as we feel like we know people and kind of belong here now. I also got a pleasant surprise on my return as I had won $250 in a lucky draw at work on a national level for having done some continuing education on line. Anyway the end result was that I was $250 richer and so I went out and spoilt myself buying a jewelry amoire which is a piece of furniture similar to a chest of drawers but just narrower and used exclusively to store jewelry – I am really thrilled with it and it looks good in our bedroom.
Last Saturday Dave and I did our weekly weigh in only to discover that our holiday had cost Dave 4kgs and me 2kgs!! So, due to our weight gain and our general feeling of aging, what with sore backs etc, we took the plunge and joined a gym up the road from us. The gym is really nice and even has 3 racquet ball courts with quite an active club going so Dave and I are going to try and take up this racquet ball which is fairly similar to squash. The good thing is that the gym provides the racquets and the balls etc so we do not need to buy anything. We have also been to two pilates classes which is similar to yoga and is designed to strengthen your inner core muscles and so help with backache etc. I am so stiff at the moment so it must all be doing some good.
On Friday night our neighbours on the topside invited all the residents of our cul-de-sac for Christmas drinks and snacks. We did have two empty houses in our cul-de-sac but while we were away the one house got sold, so there is just one unoccupied house now. So the 5 couples had a good evening – it was very pleasant. Our road has gone all out with Christmas lights and so Dave and I went on Saturday and bought our tree and have put that up too on our front porch. Dave also took the lights that we had from our first Christmas here and ‘framed’ our tree, so it all looks very festive. On our mantelpiece inside, I have hung up some Christmas ribbon with my Christmas balls with the kid’s names on…. I have to get a ball for Trish and Teagan to make it complete.
The temperatures here are cold now with the minimum about zero and the max between 10 and about 18 degrees. We have central heating but we also have the gas fire place in the lounge. It is like our gas fireplace at Goodwood but the gas is piped to the house and we get a monthly account so no gas bottles are needed. Also the fire works with a thermostat so the fire just automatically turns on when the temperature inside drops. At first it was quite crazy to wake up in the middle of the night and see the light and shadows from the fire burning in the lounge! But it certainly makes the house very cosy.
Last night we took Rambo and went to downtown Greenville for the annual Christmas parade. Town was packed with all the local families out to see the festivities – they have a float parade which includes about 3 different brass bands, drum majorettes, organizations like the SPCA with dogs in tow and of course all the council members including the mayor who drive various vehicles waving and wishing everybody a ‘Merry Christmas’ All very festive and reminds us so of how things used to be at home with the Azalea Festival and Rag floats etc. Rambo loved the whole outing as he is very gregarious and loves people – of course little children just love him and he is very good with them – he never snaps or anything, all he does is turn tail and come back to us if the kids get too boisterous.
Saturday December 10th, 2011
This past week has been my busy week with me working Monday, Tuesday and then again Friday, Saturday and Sunday (tomorrow) so I do not have a lot of news.
On my days off, Wed and Thursday, we went to gym – the one day we played a game of racquet ball and the next day we had a consultation with a trainer to give us a programme to do a ‘full body workout’ on the weight machines…needless to say, I have discovered a whole new set of muscles in my body that are now so stiff!! Anyway, we are both feeling so much better for all our efforts.
On Wednesday night we made a flask of coffee and set off with Rambo to go and see some special Christmas lights at an animal shelter called Holley Wild. It is about an hour away from our home so we stopped on route at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then went on to the Christmas lights. The lights were very pretty – similar to the ones that we saw in Lexington during Christmas 2009. But the one difference was that they had an area where you could feed some of the animals from your car. We had such fun feeding the deer, zebra, horses and even some huge cows. The one cow was very keen on the food and literally stuck his whole head into the car, which of course got Rambo very excited indeed! Dave and I laughed ourselves silly. Poor Rambo eventually tried to attack the cow and he was completely hyped up and shaking for a while after we had left.
I also went shopping and bought some fabric to make a table runner for our dining room table. We got some gold and black fabric and some matching fringe type tassles to finish off the ends. It looks really nice on the table with a black and gold glass bowl in the middle and a pair of ‘elephant’ wooden candle sticks from South Africa on either side. I enjoyed sewing it and it was nice to use my sewing machine. My mother gave me a giraffe that we brought back from SA in November and we decided to put him on the stairs. He can be seen from downstairs too and he looks very good.
We are having 3 couples for dinner this next Friday, other friends for lunch on the Sunday and some others to stay over the next week on Wed Dec 21st so hopefully they will all be impressed with all our new décor!
Dave has had a bit of a frustrating week as he found a really good deal on 2 apartments that were bank repossessed, put in an offer which was accepted and so was very excited. However, although we were pre approved for a mortgage, it seems that there is a hiccup with this particular development as less than 50% are owner occupied and the banks are not prepared to do any more loans there. Long and short, I think we are going to lose the deal so he will have to keep looking.
Saturday December 17th
We have had a very lazy day today as we had a very late night last night as our dinner guests only left at about 1 am! The evening went off very well starting with delicious gluwein that Dave made. I made mushroom starters in little rumican dishes with puff pastry tops and then we had curried pork chops and veggies for dinner followed by chocolate mousse and ice cream. It all turned out very well and everyone enjoyed the evening. We had Malcolm and Thelma (Dave hikes with Malcolm), James and Kate (James is our lawyer and Kate our estate agent) and Leon and Melissa (South African friends who have lived here for about 20 years). We got a couple of gifts last night too, so those have been added to our pile under the Christmas tree.
Otherwise, we have had a quiet week just going to gym each day that I was off work. We also bought some Christmas gift tins and then I made rusks the exact length to fit into the tins. So I have a collection of gifts to give people. Dave used some off-cuts from our blinds to make me ‘ruler’ type cutters that I use to cut the rusk dough in the baking tins in nice straight rows and to the exact size that I need, so my rusks look very professional now. We enjoy the rusks as I put a lot of health seeds, raisons and nuts etc in them. Rambo absolutely loves rusks too! And this last time I baked them; I made some little bite size ones especially for him – spoilt dog!
Tuesday December 27,2011
On Wednesday last week we went up to Biltmore House, which is the biggest privately, owned home/estate in the USA. It is just 1 and ½ hours north of where we live. The home was opened in 1895 by a George Vanderbilt, who had inherited his money from a grandfather who made his money from laying the railways here in the States. Biltmore is a 8 000 acre estate and the actual home has 250 rooms and has 4 acres of floor space. The entire home was decorated for Christmas so it was really special. We met friends of ours there and so it was nice to spend the day with them. We went out for lunch after touring the house and then in the afternoon we went around the hot houses before heading for our home. Just as we got to our home, Keith got a call to say that his mother had passed away in England, so that was a bit of a dampner. But, they still spent the night with us and then headed home the next day so that Keith could organize a flight home to England to his Dad. We had planned to go to Keith and Dalena for New Year and we are still going to go even though Keith will still be in England.
I then had to work Friday, Saturday and Sunday but the hours were a little reduced so it wasn’t too bad and in fact it was better that I was very busy so that I didn’t have time to feel miserable. On Christmas morning we woke up early, opened our presents and phoned a lot of family and friends around the world. CJ and Mark gave me a lovely hand made leather bag and Dave a very nice long sleeved shirt. Daryl and Trish wanted us to get a bread machine but Dave wanted a special base speaker for our TV/ music system so we got that instead and we are very pleased with that. Rayanne and Don gave me a blouse and a lovely grey jersey and Dave some chocolates from SA and a new gym shirt. So all in all we had some very nice pressies.
We had a lovely breakfast and then when I returned from work at 3pm we went straight next door to Rich and Dominika where we had a super evening starting with snacks and drinks and then a glazed gammon with veggies followed by dessert and some eggnog – very American! We had plenty of Gluwein and by the time we rolled home next door I was very mellow – a Christmas very different with no family around but still enjoyable and something to add to our memories of this journey called ‘Life’.
The new year beckons and Dave and I have lots of exciting plans culminating with us being home in SA for Christmas in December 2012.
Saturday December 31st,2011
We have had a very quiet week but we are off early this morning to go and visit our friends in Aiken, which is about 2 and ½ hours south of us. Rambo is also coming with us for the night and he is sure to have a good time as they have a small dog called Daisy, whom he knows but they also have 2 cats who he has never met before!
The weather here is cold and we are spending most of our spare time curled up inside in front of our fire – eating, reading and watching TV. Next week we will have to get back into regular eating and going to gym etc.
Rayanne is back in Cape Town and studying very hard now for her Board exams at the end of January. Daryl is away down at the Transkei and CJ is of course in Escour.
Saturday January 7th 2012
CJ and Mark had a hectic night as their one dog, Tala had to be rushed to the vet in the middle of the night with a serious case of biliary. Anyway, I trust she will be much better this morning after being on a drip all night.
The weather here has been really mild and quite warm during the days – not nearly as cold as last year. On Wednesday, which was my day off we had a day at home with me washing and trimming Rambo and Dave cooking up a storm making bean soup and an Irish stew – all good wholesome winter meals. We had had a two week break from the gym as Dave had hurt his neck, but we also started back at the gym so that is a good thing. On the Thursday night we went to another branch of our gym and Dave managed to get a game of racquetball with some other guys, which was good for him as he is a bit stronger than me and needs to play with some stronger players. The guys playing racquetball at this gym seemed to be a lot friendlier than at the other gym, so we will go back there again to play. Our home is slap bang in between the two gyms so it does not make much difference which one we go to.
Dave is a bit frustrated as he is still trying to buy another property – the one good deal that we put an offer in on last year; the bank did not accept the offer. And then the second good deal that we were excited about, we could not get finance as there were already too many investors in that sub division and the bank would not loan to investors only to a person who was going to live in the house! Anyway, he keeps looking and something will have to work out soon. He has bought himself a radio controlled helicopter and is learning to control that – quite a skill is involved – as he also has a plan to get into some videography from an aerial point of view – perhaps to do when we come back to SA.
I am excited as we are planning a trip to Washington DC for about 5 days in early April to see the Cherry Blossom Festival and all the sights that DC has to offer such as the White House etc. Dave’s cousin, Kerrigan and his wife Charlotte are going to join us, so that will be lots of fun. Then in September we are planning a trip with CJ and Mark to New Orleans and Key West before they come to visit us here at our home. Daryl is maybe coming over in June/July and Trevor says he is coming to visit us in August and Sheila in May so all in all we have an exciting year ahead.
Monday, October 31, 2011
October 2011 Update
October draws to an end and I am about to pop out of my skin with excitement to see my chickens, parents and friends! I really need to hug all these people for a good long time….enough to see me through the next year. We deliberately kept ourselves extra busy during October; otherwise I would not have been able to contain my excitement. So, we started off by spending a full day in our yard, over seeding our lawn, which is a ‘winter’ grass, and it is looking wonderful now. Dave is the main keeper of the lawn and all his research on the Internet has really paid off as one year after we inherited a completely dead lawn, we now have a lawn to be proud of.
We attended our first American Football match at Clemson University with our neighbours, Rich and Dominika, and what an experience that was? This was just a regular Saturday match in football season and there were over 70 000 spectators there complete with a 100 piece orchestra and all the cheerleaders! The magnitude of the event totally amazed us, as well as all the ‘tail gating’ around the venue – definitely a must see if any of you visit us during football season.
Of course it is change of season now so we took two trips up into the mountains to see the Fall colours. Dave and I went up to visit a fellow South African pharmacist in a town called Banner Elk for 2 days in the middle of October and then 10 days later we went with friends, Keith & Dalena for one night in a hotel. On both occasions the leaves were spectacular and we really enjoyed our time out in the mountains. There is a highway that runs from South Carolina all the way up to Virginia called the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is purely for sight seeing – no commercial vehicles are allowed on it. It is 469 miles long and traverses the mountain ridgeline with look out points every few miles. So, on each occasion we drove a different section of this road. There is only about a two-week window in which to see the Fall colours at their best – a bit like the Namaqualand daisies in Namibia. So it was well worth the double trip.
We also attended the annual SA gathering that is organized at Leon and Melissa’s home here in Greenville and this year they had a potjie competition. Of course it is always great to catch up with South Africans and it was a really fun evening with plenty of good laughs, delicious food and wine.
Ellen, the lady who we fostered the feral kittens for in July, invited us for dinner which was an interesting evening as she is American but her husband, Steffen is a German so we had lots of interesting things to chat about. It was good to get news of the kittens – they are all doing very well in their new homes.
This coming weekend we are going to a Halloween Party in downtown Greenville and we have gone all out with our costumes – I am going as a ‘She Devil’ with red hair and horns, black high heeled boots, red cape and Dave is my Devil partner also with a wig etc. There are big cash prizes for the best dressed but knowing these Americans, we do not stand a chance of winning. Anyway, we are looking forward to seeing everyone dressed up.
Our children have had a very busy month. Rayanne has been writing her final exams for her honours in Accounts and so now she is finished and will be starting her articles at Price Waterhouse Coopers next year, although she is doing her 1st year of articles as academic articles at UCT and will only do 2 years with PWC as such. However, she is employed as of January 1st and is very excited to be finally independent! Don is very pleased as he is captaining the UCT rugby team for the upcoming Varsity Cup and he hopes to get a lot of TV exposure. Daryl has formed a partnership with another videographer, Grant and they are really doing well and have even employed a graduate from Durban Tech on a full time basis. So he has had a lot of things to sort out and work out with the merger. Of course he has us laden down with electronic equipment once again on our return to SA. Trish is studying through UNISA and working so she is very busy now with exams as well. Carmen-Jo has had a torrid time at work this past month as there was some ‘inside’ thieving at Eskort and she had to fire 2 staff members which has led to a lot of stress for her and in turn, I think, for poor Mark! However, Mark has found time to dig CJ out a lovely veggie garden and so the Kotze veggie patch contest continues, as Daryl also has a veggie garden going!
Hopefully we are all going to have a good break at the beach when we are home in SA.
See you all for a glass of wine, chat and most importantly a HUG!
We attended our first American Football match at Clemson University with our neighbours, Rich and Dominika, and what an experience that was? This was just a regular Saturday match in football season and there were over 70 000 spectators there complete with a 100 piece orchestra and all the cheerleaders! The magnitude of the event totally amazed us, as well as all the ‘tail gating’ around the venue – definitely a must see if any of you visit us during football season.
Of course it is change of season now so we took two trips up into the mountains to see the Fall colours. Dave and I went up to visit a fellow South African pharmacist in a town called Banner Elk for 2 days in the middle of October and then 10 days later we went with friends, Keith & Dalena for one night in a hotel. On both occasions the leaves were spectacular and we really enjoyed our time out in the mountains. There is a highway that runs from South Carolina all the way up to Virginia called the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is purely for sight seeing – no commercial vehicles are allowed on it. It is 469 miles long and traverses the mountain ridgeline with look out points every few miles. So, on each occasion we drove a different section of this road. There is only about a two-week window in which to see the Fall colours at their best – a bit like the Namaqualand daisies in Namibia. So it was well worth the double trip.
We also attended the annual SA gathering that is organized at Leon and Melissa’s home here in Greenville and this year they had a potjie competition. Of course it is always great to catch up with South Africans and it was a really fun evening with plenty of good laughs, delicious food and wine.
Ellen, the lady who we fostered the feral kittens for in July, invited us for dinner which was an interesting evening as she is American but her husband, Steffen is a German so we had lots of interesting things to chat about. It was good to get news of the kittens – they are all doing very well in their new homes.
This coming weekend we are going to a Halloween Party in downtown Greenville and we have gone all out with our costumes – I am going as a ‘She Devil’ with red hair and horns, black high heeled boots, red cape and Dave is my Devil partner also with a wig etc. There are big cash prizes for the best dressed but knowing these Americans, we do not stand a chance of winning. Anyway, we are looking forward to seeing everyone dressed up.
Our children have had a very busy month. Rayanne has been writing her final exams for her honours in Accounts and so now she is finished and will be starting her articles at Price Waterhouse Coopers next year, although she is doing her 1st year of articles as academic articles at UCT and will only do 2 years with PWC as such. However, she is employed as of January 1st and is very excited to be finally independent! Don is very pleased as he is captaining the UCT rugby team for the upcoming Varsity Cup and he hopes to get a lot of TV exposure. Daryl has formed a partnership with another videographer, Grant and they are really doing well and have even employed a graduate from Durban Tech on a full time basis. So he has had a lot of things to sort out and work out with the merger. Of course he has us laden down with electronic equipment once again on our return to SA. Trish is studying through UNISA and working so she is very busy now with exams as well. Carmen-Jo has had a torrid time at work this past month as there was some ‘inside’ thieving at Eskort and she had to fire 2 staff members which has led to a lot of stress for her and in turn, I think, for poor Mark! However, Mark has found time to dig CJ out a lovely veggie garden and so the Kotze veggie patch contest continues, as Daryl also has a veggie garden going!
Hopefully we are all going to have a good break at the beach when we are home in SA.
See you all for a glass of wine, chat and most importantly a HUG!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Sept 2011
We have had a busy and exciting month – the weather has cooled down somewhat, which is really great as we can turn off our central air conditioning and just enjoy the outside air. Rambo continues to be our very spoilt little boy and I now have his grooming mastered and am managing to give him a very smart ‘haircut’ while Dave has bought some doggie clippers and is keeping his claws trimmed – I am too scared that I will cut his quick! We decided that he needed some new toys so we each chose him a toy when we went grocery shopping – of course then it was a contest between us to see whose toy he preferred! Dave’s ‘chicken’ won hands down as Rambo just loved it, but he also chewed and destroyed it very quickly, so at the end of the day, my ‘duck’ has been the better toy this time round! The things we do for fun.
Our humming bird feeder was getting mysteriously drained overnight and so we resorted to ‘google’ to discover that there were two options – either bats, but this was on the west coast of the USA or raccoons. On closer examination of our feeder we found the tell tale little muddy footprints where the raccoon was tipping the feeder and have a long thirsty drink of all the syrup each night! So unfortunately for Mr. Raccoon, we are now bringing our feeder in each evening after dark.
On the 9th September we drove to Charlotte to a Jason Aldean country music concert. It was great fun especially the tailgating before the concert. Tailgating is the American term for braaing in the car park before or after an event. The atmosphere was very festive much the same as in South Africa but the one difference was a game called ‘Corn Hole’ that nearly everybody unloaded and set up in their picnic area. It consisted of two wooden boards about one meter by 2 meters in size, which were placed on the ground at an angle and about 8 – 10 meters apart. There is a hole in each board and the game consists of throwing some little beanbags from one board to the other, trying to throw them through the hole.
The concert itself was wonderful although the beers were extremely expensive once we got inside the stadium - $ 13 for a 500ml beer! Anyway that’s life. I had the unfortunate task of driving us back after the concert and a 2 hour drive starting at midnight was not fun so I don’t think we will be going to another concert in Charlotte unless we sleep over.
In the middle of September we were very excited to have Sean Mc Gladdery and his girlfriend, Amy to visit us for lunch. It was wonderful to see Sean and I, especially was so excited to see Sean – it helps a little in my longing for my own chickens! Dave and I really appreciate the effort that people make to visit us – thanks Seano.
The big adventure of this past month has been our trip up to Niagara Falls. We left home at 6am on Friday Sept 23rd and first dropped Rambo off with friends for the long weekend, before heading for the airport. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain and Dave likes to cut the timing very fine - it took us longer than expected to get to Charlotte and we missed our flight! Luckily they accommodated us on another flight but it entailed us waiting a few hours in the airport – Dave had his laptop and I had my kindle so we were entertained! We have decided that we need to reach a compromise – I am always over eager and get us to airports far too soon and Dave cuts it too fine – anyway we always have fun and enjoy ourselves from when we leave home. We finally got to Dave’s cousins home at 7pm in our hire car and had a very pleasant evening with Kerrigan and Charlotte. They have been living in the States for 22 years and it was wonderful for me to meet them and for Dave to catch up with them.
On Saturday we went to visit Letchworth State Park where the Genesee River winds through a gorge and there are 3 waterfalls to admire. It was a lovely morning with some hiking to the falls and just breathtaking scenery over the dramatic cliffs and walls of the gorge. We then all made the hour and a half journey to Niagara Falls as Kerrigan and Charlotte were joining us in Niagara.
Unfortunately, Dave had not realized that SA passport holders need a visa to cross into Canada and so he could not go into Canada – so we had to stay on the USA side while Kerrigan and Charlotte had booked a hotel on the Canadian side. Anyway we had dinner and spent the evening together at the casino before they went over to Canada. Sunday was the day for exploring the mighty Niagara Falls that actually consist of 3 falls – the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls on the USA side and the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. The actual full view of all 3 falls is the best from Canada but we made the most of what we could on the USA side. We took a full day tour that included the Maid of the Mist, a boat trip right to the base of the Horseshoe Falls, which was quite exciting as you were right in the swirling churning water with the spray soaking you! Luckily they gave you rain jackets. We also took a lift to the bottom of the Bridal Veil Falls where a system of wooden walk ways have been constructed, that enable you to walk right to the base of these falls – once again we really experienced the power of the thundering water. These walkways are apparently dismantled every winter as the region gets 30 meters of snow! Amazing to think of all that snow and how life still goes on. The rest of the day tour included seeing the Hydro power plant a few kilometers down from the Falls. During the day 50% of the water is diverted via ducts to bypass the Falls in an agreement between Canada and USA so that they can both generate power, and at night about 87% is diverted. So these days when one looks at the Niagara Falls we are only seeing half the amount of water that should flow over the falls. Apart from generating electricity, this reduced water-flow over the falls means that geologically the falls are receding at a much slower rate. Who knows if that is a good thing or not? There is a very tiny island called Luna Island between the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls and this island has been stabilized with cables and re enforcement rods a few years back – once again, human intervention.
We had a lovely day on Sunday and a relaxing evening going to look at the Falls once again to see them all lit up with coloured lights that shine over from the Canadian side. All in all ‘food for the soul’. Monday we headed back to Buffalo, the city that we had flown into, returned our car and flew home – no mishaps this time round.
Our humming bird feeder was getting mysteriously drained overnight and so we resorted to ‘google’ to discover that there were two options – either bats, but this was on the west coast of the USA or raccoons. On closer examination of our feeder we found the tell tale little muddy footprints where the raccoon was tipping the feeder and have a long thirsty drink of all the syrup each night! So unfortunately for Mr. Raccoon, we are now bringing our feeder in each evening after dark.
On the 9th September we drove to Charlotte to a Jason Aldean country music concert. It was great fun especially the tailgating before the concert. Tailgating is the American term for braaing in the car park before or after an event. The atmosphere was very festive much the same as in South Africa but the one difference was a game called ‘Corn Hole’ that nearly everybody unloaded and set up in their picnic area. It consisted of two wooden boards about one meter by 2 meters in size, which were placed on the ground at an angle and about 8 – 10 meters apart. There is a hole in each board and the game consists of throwing some little beanbags from one board to the other, trying to throw them through the hole.
The concert itself was wonderful although the beers were extremely expensive once we got inside the stadium - $ 13 for a 500ml beer! Anyway that’s life. I had the unfortunate task of driving us back after the concert and a 2 hour drive starting at midnight was not fun so I don’t think we will be going to another concert in Charlotte unless we sleep over.
In the middle of September we were very excited to have Sean Mc Gladdery and his girlfriend, Amy to visit us for lunch. It was wonderful to see Sean and I, especially was so excited to see Sean – it helps a little in my longing for my own chickens! Dave and I really appreciate the effort that people make to visit us – thanks Seano.
The big adventure of this past month has been our trip up to Niagara Falls. We left home at 6am on Friday Sept 23rd and first dropped Rambo off with friends for the long weekend, before heading for the airport. Unfortunately, it was pouring with rain and Dave likes to cut the timing very fine - it took us longer than expected to get to Charlotte and we missed our flight! Luckily they accommodated us on another flight but it entailed us waiting a few hours in the airport – Dave had his laptop and I had my kindle so we were entertained! We have decided that we need to reach a compromise – I am always over eager and get us to airports far too soon and Dave cuts it too fine – anyway we always have fun and enjoy ourselves from when we leave home. We finally got to Dave’s cousins home at 7pm in our hire car and had a very pleasant evening with Kerrigan and Charlotte. They have been living in the States for 22 years and it was wonderful for me to meet them and for Dave to catch up with them.
On Saturday we went to visit Letchworth State Park where the Genesee River winds through a gorge and there are 3 waterfalls to admire. It was a lovely morning with some hiking to the falls and just breathtaking scenery over the dramatic cliffs and walls of the gorge. We then all made the hour and a half journey to Niagara Falls as Kerrigan and Charlotte were joining us in Niagara.
Unfortunately, Dave had not realized that SA passport holders need a visa to cross into Canada and so he could not go into Canada – so we had to stay on the USA side while Kerrigan and Charlotte had booked a hotel on the Canadian side. Anyway we had dinner and spent the evening together at the casino before they went over to Canada. Sunday was the day for exploring the mighty Niagara Falls that actually consist of 3 falls – the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls on the USA side and the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. The actual full view of all 3 falls is the best from Canada but we made the most of what we could on the USA side. We took a full day tour that included the Maid of the Mist, a boat trip right to the base of the Horseshoe Falls, which was quite exciting as you were right in the swirling churning water with the spray soaking you! Luckily they gave you rain jackets. We also took a lift to the bottom of the Bridal Veil Falls where a system of wooden walk ways have been constructed, that enable you to walk right to the base of these falls – once again we really experienced the power of the thundering water. These walkways are apparently dismantled every winter as the region gets 30 meters of snow! Amazing to think of all that snow and how life still goes on. The rest of the day tour included seeing the Hydro power plant a few kilometers down from the Falls. During the day 50% of the water is diverted via ducts to bypass the Falls in an agreement between Canada and USA so that they can both generate power, and at night about 87% is diverted. So these days when one looks at the Niagara Falls we are only seeing half the amount of water that should flow over the falls. Apart from generating electricity, this reduced water-flow over the falls means that geologically the falls are receding at a much slower rate. Who knows if that is a good thing or not? There is a very tiny island called Luna Island between the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls and this island has been stabilized with cables and re enforcement rods a few years back – once again, human intervention.
We had a lovely day on Sunday and a relaxing evening going to look at the Falls once again to see them all lit up with coloured lights that shine over from the Canadian side. All in all ‘food for the soul’. Monday we headed back to Buffalo, the city that we had flown into, returned our car and flew home – no mishaps this time round.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
August 2011
Another month has flown by and all is well with Dave and I. The most exciting event this past month was Doreen’s visit to us here in the States! It was really good to catch up with my sister and we chatted non-stop for the full four days. We spent the Friday night in downtown Greenville where we met up with Amy and Scott and a very good time was had by all! Doreen and Amy are both party animals and we really laughed till we cried with all the antics at various pubs. On the Saturday us two girls went shopping while Dave watched the rugby and then in the evening we had a South African braai at home and had our neighbours over to join us. On the Sunday, I had to work from 10am till 6pm, but Dave took Doreen off for a day trip in our little Merc with the top down and country music blaring! We now have converted Rayanne and Doreen to loving this country music that is just Dave and my best! They took a drive up to Chimney Rock which overlooks Lake Lure which is where the movie Dirty Dancing was filmed. On the Monday we just relaxed at home and then of course we had to set off on the journey back to Charlotte to drop Doreen at the airport – so sad but all good things have to come to an end. Rambo has got quite used to having visitors now – he absolutely loves the extra attention and readily runs upstairs to the guest room in the morning for extra hugs although he never normally goes up there.
This past Sunday we went with Rich, Dominika and Nick (our neighbours), to Lake Jocassee for the day and we hired a pontoon type boat for the day. It was a glorious day and we had lots of fun – really brought home memories of all our happy times at Midmar Dam. There are a few waterfalls that fall into the lake and so we went around to two of them and had great fun swimming under the falls. The water was quite cool and of course Dave didn’t venture under the stream of water as he hates cold water, but I had an absolute ball.
Last night we went to the last of the series of the free summer time concerts in downtown Greenville. We have really enjoyed these outings on Wednesday nights and next year we intend to go to all the ones that I am able to, that is every second Wednesday. It is very relaxing to sit on the lawn and listen to music from 7pm till 9pm and just share some wine. Also it is so nice to see all the families and kids having fun together – last night there was a little girl of about 2 who just couldn’t stop dancing – just so sweet.
The weather is definitely turning and it is quite pleasant that it cools down in the evening now. We are heading up to visit Niagara Falls in 3 weeks time and I think we will really feel the change to autumn when we are there so far up north.
This past Sunday we went with Rich, Dominika and Nick (our neighbours), to Lake Jocassee for the day and we hired a pontoon type boat for the day. It was a glorious day and we had lots of fun – really brought home memories of all our happy times at Midmar Dam. There are a few waterfalls that fall into the lake and so we went around to two of them and had great fun swimming under the falls. The water was quite cool and of course Dave didn’t venture under the stream of water as he hates cold water, but I had an absolute ball.
Last night we went to the last of the series of the free summer time concerts in downtown Greenville. We have really enjoyed these outings on Wednesday nights and next year we intend to go to all the ones that I am able to, that is every second Wednesday. It is very relaxing to sit on the lawn and listen to music from 7pm till 9pm and just share some wine. Also it is so nice to see all the families and kids having fun together – last night there was a little girl of about 2 who just couldn’t stop dancing – just so sweet.
The weather is definitely turning and it is quite pleasant that it cools down in the evening now. We are heading up to visit Niagara Falls in 3 weeks time and I think we will really feel the change to autumn when we are there so far up north.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
July 2011
The big milestone of 50 has come and gone and of course I feel just the same as I ever did! But what an exciting month we have had with Rayanne’s visit. It was absolutely wonderful to spend 2 weeks of real quality time with our little girl – lots of late night chats, baths together, all of us cooking in the kitchen, showing her our day to day life, introducing her to Rambo, walks around our nearest golf club, sharing my new favourite country songs with her, mowing our lawn, shopping and more shopping with Dad for electronics and with me for clothing, cocktails by the pool and of course endless GnT’s – it was all so ordinary yet so special. Hard to believe that the long awaited visit is now history? Anyway, we are now looking forward to Doreen’s visit and then it will not be long before we are winging our way home to South Africa to see all our family and friends.
Our blue bird eggs all hatched on the 6th July, my birthday! We were so excited and Rayanne was thrilled to see them when she arrived. Every few days we checked on their progress and they were doing so well – at a week old they had most of their feathers and were starting to develop some colour; when tragedy struck! A black rat snake raided the nest over night and all that remained was the torn-out nest lying on the ground below. We are not sure what happened to Moma bird but we have not seen her since although we have seen the suspected snake climbing up our trees supposedly looking for more midnight snacks. I was so upset but I suppose that is just the course of nature.
We had my 50th luncheon on the middle Saturday that Rayanne was with us and it was very enjoyable with about 30 people for lunch – people we have met through the SA club, our neighbours, customers I have befriended and even our lawyer who has become a good friend to us. I made babotie and lasagna, Dave made paella and we served them with salad and rolls. Rayanne made carrot cake cup cakes that we served for desert along with chocolate cream éclairs and fudge. All in all it was not too much work and it certainly allowed Rayanne to meet most of our friends in one go. The party prompted us to really stock up Dave’s pub so now we have a fully stocked Kotze pub like back home in South Africa. I was very spoilt with presents and still have some gift cards that I can enjoy spending in the future. My children spoilt me TOO much getting me a kindle AND a computerized sewing machine so I am a very lucky Mommy! Somehow between the pre discussions of getting one or the other, I ended up with both! My manipulative skills must be pretty good.
Dave has let the investment house that we bought here in Greenville and so his business, Kotze Rental Properties is well and truly launched. He is now going to start looking for a second property to buy. He is playing golf most weeks now with either one of our neighbours and he is now shooting around 100 so he is very pleased with himself.
The other main news is that I volunteered to foster some kittens for a customer who rescues cats. So we now have 3 kittens to look after until homes can be found for them. It turned out to be a little bigger task than I had imagined as we didn’t get told that these kittens would be semi wild! Anyway we have all survived and they have all stopped hissing now and are quite tame – the one is especially tame and he really loves playing with Rambo. Of course in the beginning Rambo was beside himself with excitement but now he is quite calm again. I don’t think we would have coped in the beginning if Rayanne had not been here to help. The one kitten is going to be adopted on Monday and then we will just be left with 2 and hopefully they will find homes in the not too distant future. The lady, Ellen, who we are helping out has arranged for us to take them to Pets Mart each Saturday, starting next week, where people can adopt them.
Otherwise our life has settled back into our normal routine and all is well with both of us. Our walks around the golf course have been notched up a level as Rayanne instructed us (via Donovan’s superior knowledge) that we had to do short bursts of ‘power walking’ – so now we power walk up all the hills and I must say that we are definitely getting more of a work out. Not sure if Dave is too pleased about this but I am chuffed.
Our blue bird eggs all hatched on the 6th July, my birthday! We were so excited and Rayanne was thrilled to see them when she arrived. Every few days we checked on their progress and they were doing so well – at a week old they had most of their feathers and were starting to develop some colour; when tragedy struck! A black rat snake raided the nest over night and all that remained was the torn-out nest lying on the ground below. We are not sure what happened to Moma bird but we have not seen her since although we have seen the suspected snake climbing up our trees supposedly looking for more midnight snacks. I was so upset but I suppose that is just the course of nature.
We had my 50th luncheon on the middle Saturday that Rayanne was with us and it was very enjoyable with about 30 people for lunch – people we have met through the SA club, our neighbours, customers I have befriended and even our lawyer who has become a good friend to us. I made babotie and lasagna, Dave made paella and we served them with salad and rolls. Rayanne made carrot cake cup cakes that we served for desert along with chocolate cream éclairs and fudge. All in all it was not too much work and it certainly allowed Rayanne to meet most of our friends in one go. The party prompted us to really stock up Dave’s pub so now we have a fully stocked Kotze pub like back home in South Africa. I was very spoilt with presents and still have some gift cards that I can enjoy spending in the future. My children spoilt me TOO much getting me a kindle AND a computerized sewing machine so I am a very lucky Mommy! Somehow between the pre discussions of getting one or the other, I ended up with both! My manipulative skills must be pretty good.
Dave has let the investment house that we bought here in Greenville and so his business, Kotze Rental Properties is well and truly launched. He is now going to start looking for a second property to buy. He is playing golf most weeks now with either one of our neighbours and he is now shooting around 100 so he is very pleased with himself.
The other main news is that I volunteered to foster some kittens for a customer who rescues cats. So we now have 3 kittens to look after until homes can be found for them. It turned out to be a little bigger task than I had imagined as we didn’t get told that these kittens would be semi wild! Anyway we have all survived and they have all stopped hissing now and are quite tame – the one is especially tame and he really loves playing with Rambo. Of course in the beginning Rambo was beside himself with excitement but now he is quite calm again. I don’t think we would have coped in the beginning if Rayanne had not been here to help. The one kitten is going to be adopted on Monday and then we will just be left with 2 and hopefully they will find homes in the not too distant future. The lady, Ellen, who we are helping out has arranged for us to take them to Pets Mart each Saturday, starting next week, where people can adopt them.
Otherwise our life has settled back into our normal routine and all is well with both of us. Our walks around the golf course have been notched up a level as Rayanne instructed us (via Donovan’s superior knowledge) that we had to do short bursts of ‘power walking’ – so now we power walk up all the hills and I must say that we are definitely getting more of a work out. Not sure if Dave is too pleased about this but I am chuffed.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
June 2011
Today we woke up and had early morning coffee in bed and then I was out into the garden to get a couple of hours of weeding, watering, dead heading etc done before it got too hot. The garden is definitely my escape valve- I just unwind and take care of my yard with Rambo running around and the birds and squirrels all very busy foraging for delicacies – definitely takes my mind off of any homesickness or longing for my chickens! At 9.30 I came indoors to make cheese muffins for breakfast and Dave and I sat and had a leisurely late breakfast with a pot of tea! The weather now is really too hot to be out during the middle of the day, with temperatures going up above 35 C most days. The next time to be outside is between 7 and 9 pm when we either potter around the garden or go down to the pool with a couple of sundowners.
Dave has had a very busy month as we have set up a LLC (limited liability company) called Kotze Rental Properties and opened all the relevant bank accounts etc. On June 15th we signed for our first investment property and applied for the mortgage. We have been very fortunate as the lawyer who we used to register our home last year, has been an absolute gem – he put Dave in touch with a realtor who happens to be his wife! Together they have introduced Dave to all sorts of other relevant people – tax advisors, rental agents etc – who have all been SO SO helpful and with absolutely no benefit to themselves. On June 30th Dave signed for and took possession of our first investment home. Amazing that the whole process took 2 weeks from beginning to end! Everything is in both our names as I have the social security number but it is Dave that is actually running the whole show. At the moment he is busy trying to find a tenant – he put up a “For Rent” sign outside the house yesterday and today he has listed it on Craig’s List which is an internet based advertisement channel. Hopefully we will get a tenant soon. The rental return here is very lucrative and as soon as we have this property occupied, Dave will move onto looking for a second one to buy.
This weekend is a long weekend with Monday being the 4th of July which is Independence Day here – huge celebrations with fireworks etc. Most people are very patriotic and have USA flags flying outside their homes. We decided that we wanted to also fly a flag so we bought a beautiful big SA flag and an American one and we have both flying outside our front door! It looks really festive and we are pleased with the overall effect.
Rambo continues to be our spoilt baby – the latest ‘spoiling’ is that we bought him special doggie cookies – never mind that they are double the price of our cookies! So when we sit and have a cookie with our mid morning coffee, he does too.
Yesterday, on our 45minute walk around the golf course, we counted and he cocked his leg 37 times!! Unbelievable? No bush in our path is spared, although by the end there is literally just a drop or two coming out.
Shame last night we were out in the yard talking to our neighbour’s mother who is visiting from Poland, and he was stung by a hornet on his back leg. Anyway this morning the swelling has gone down and he is walking on his leg again – poor baby.
In the middle of June we went to a music concert right here in Simpsonville with the main guy being Willie Nelson who is a really old country singer. Well, most of our entertainment was looking at all the spectators as this concert certainly attracted all the ‘red necks’ in their droves – old and young but weather beaten people covered in tattoos and dressed like you can’t believe. Dave and I could not believe where all these people crawled out from, as we certainly don’t see them around town on a daily basis. When old Willie Nelson finally came on stage, he was completely past it, but seeing as he is about 77 that is not surprising. The evening was certainly educational! The main problem was that you were not allowed to take your own drinks and then they really killed us with drink prices - $8 a beer!! We much prefer the free music concerts in downtown Greenville every Wednesday evening during the summer, where you can take a picnic supper. We have been to one of those during June and we are definitely going to go when Rayanne is here. Only 6 more sleeps and my baby chick will be here – I just can’t wait! It is going to be so magical having her here with us.
CJ told us this morning that she was making a beef curry for dinner and so Dave said he also felt like one. I have just been busy in the kitchen putting that on to boil and it brought to mind that I just had to boast about our veggie garden once again! This past month or so we have eaten lettuce, zucchini, potatoes and tomatoes all exclusively from our own garden. I have just gone down and dug up another potatoe plant and got a harvest of about 12 beautiful potatoes plus every day I pick about 6-8 cherry tomatoes. And as for the zucchini, well we are eating zucchini bakes, crumbed and deep fried zucchini(which is Dave’s favourite) and of course normal zucchini and cheese sauce and we just can’t eat them all even though I give to my neighbours as well. So our veggie garden has been a real hit and all grown from seed. Mark actually gave me the confidence to try seed as he gave CJ a whole lot of seeds for her veggie garden and they were so successful that I gave it a go and I have been amazed with the results.
Dave has had a very busy month as we have set up a LLC (limited liability company) called Kotze Rental Properties and opened all the relevant bank accounts etc. On June 15th we signed for our first investment property and applied for the mortgage. We have been very fortunate as the lawyer who we used to register our home last year, has been an absolute gem – he put Dave in touch with a realtor who happens to be his wife! Together they have introduced Dave to all sorts of other relevant people – tax advisors, rental agents etc – who have all been SO SO helpful and with absolutely no benefit to themselves. On June 30th Dave signed for and took possession of our first investment home. Amazing that the whole process took 2 weeks from beginning to end! Everything is in both our names as I have the social security number but it is Dave that is actually running the whole show. At the moment he is busy trying to find a tenant – he put up a “For Rent” sign outside the house yesterday and today he has listed it on Craig’s List which is an internet based advertisement channel. Hopefully we will get a tenant soon. The rental return here is very lucrative and as soon as we have this property occupied, Dave will move onto looking for a second one to buy.
This weekend is a long weekend with Monday being the 4th of July which is Independence Day here – huge celebrations with fireworks etc. Most people are very patriotic and have USA flags flying outside their homes. We decided that we wanted to also fly a flag so we bought a beautiful big SA flag and an American one and we have both flying outside our front door! It looks really festive and we are pleased with the overall effect.
Rambo continues to be our spoilt baby – the latest ‘spoiling’ is that we bought him special doggie cookies – never mind that they are double the price of our cookies! So when we sit and have a cookie with our mid morning coffee, he does too.
Yesterday, on our 45minute walk around the golf course, we counted and he cocked his leg 37 times!! Unbelievable? No bush in our path is spared, although by the end there is literally just a drop or two coming out.
Shame last night we were out in the yard talking to our neighbour’s mother who is visiting from Poland, and he was stung by a hornet on his back leg. Anyway this morning the swelling has gone down and he is walking on his leg again – poor baby.
In the middle of June we went to a music concert right here in Simpsonville with the main guy being Willie Nelson who is a really old country singer. Well, most of our entertainment was looking at all the spectators as this concert certainly attracted all the ‘red necks’ in their droves – old and young but weather beaten people covered in tattoos and dressed like you can’t believe. Dave and I could not believe where all these people crawled out from, as we certainly don’t see them around town on a daily basis. When old Willie Nelson finally came on stage, he was completely past it, but seeing as he is about 77 that is not surprising. The evening was certainly educational! The main problem was that you were not allowed to take your own drinks and then they really killed us with drink prices - $8 a beer!! We much prefer the free music concerts in downtown Greenville every Wednesday evening during the summer, where you can take a picnic supper. We have been to one of those during June and we are definitely going to go when Rayanne is here. Only 6 more sleeps and my baby chick will be here – I just can’t wait! It is going to be so magical having her here with us.
CJ told us this morning that she was making a beef curry for dinner and so Dave said he also felt like one. I have just been busy in the kitchen putting that on to boil and it brought to mind that I just had to boast about our veggie garden once again! This past month or so we have eaten lettuce, zucchini, potatoes and tomatoes all exclusively from our own garden. I have just gone down and dug up another potatoe plant and got a harvest of about 12 beautiful potatoes plus every day I pick about 6-8 cherry tomatoes. And as for the zucchini, well we are eating zucchini bakes, crumbed and deep fried zucchini(which is Dave’s favourite) and of course normal zucchini and cheese sauce and we just can’t eat them all even though I give to my neighbours as well. So our veggie garden has been a real hit and all grown from seed. Mark actually gave me the confidence to try seed as he gave CJ a whole lot of seeds for her veggie garden and they were so successful that I gave it a go and I have been amazed with the results.
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