Liz has a landmark day

It was Liz' birthday yesterday, what a great day she had too. One of the girls at work baked her a cake, she made a special effort, as Liz always bakes, the cake was very good too. I gave Liz a Canon camcorder, so that she could take pictures of her grandson on something other than her phone. We told the girls at work it was for blue movies, they collapsed in a heap at this, well the camera is blue, I don't know what all the fuss was about. She did not seem all that exited, at this lovely palm sized blue creation, but then Harry, the grandson came for a visit and recording started, now she was impressed. Harry was in full performance mode, and kept flashing his eyes at the camera, he is not camera shy, quite the opposite, when he sees the camera he starts to pose. The 'Old Dragon' also came to wish Liz a happy birthday and even had a little fun with Harry, who she helped to drink her 7 Up, he finished a glass of that and wanted more, I think she was quite taken with him. Catriona and Robyn gave her some lovely wind chimes, the bells, the bells!

The weather has now really started to warm up and the ride to work is no longer a chore. I have recently noticed that there was a pair of swans hanging around some rape seed in a field on my way to work, luckily there was a ditch between them and me, but yesterday on the way home I saw that they had a nest beside the ditch on the other side of the road, it also had at least one egg in it, I wonder if the queen knows? The presence of the swan so close to the road on my route to work has now disturbed me a little, as I know that swans can be very protective of their nests, rather like geese, but unlike geese, they are larger and are not as easy to handle when angry, I feel that should they decide to chase me I shall break all records on my bike as I pedal furiously away from them. I hope never to find out how fast I can ride, I shall keep the chain and pedals oiled so that they don't make any noise as I cycle past the nest.

Summer is here (or is it?)

Well summer seems to be peeking through the door, at last. We have had a couple of good days during the last week, almost went to work without gloves on! The flowers are all starting to blossom although the daffodils are over now, everything else is flowering, including the weeds, the dandelions seem to be particularly prolific this year, they also are short stemmed, I think this is top avoid being cut off in their prime by the random and in frequent passes of the lawnmower. I have heard of some even ducking as the mowers went over them, mine have been attacked by a weed eater (of the Flymo variety), so there was not much of a respite for them, and there are a few dandelion shaped holes in the lawn. The plants have nearly all risen to the top of the pond, although the fish still seem to be rather partial to the fresh young water-lily leaves, I hope to see the leaves eventually make it to the top of the pond unmolested. We have now had a few braais and now have some boerewors in stock. We had a nice little braai last night with a pork fillet and some sadza, pap to the South Africans, and went to see a play in the village hall afterwards, is that classified as dinner and theatre? There was even complimentary cheese and wine, ( that has made me thirsty better get a beer, only Bud though) we were unable to partake, too full from our braai. The play was really entertaining and amusing, far better than sitting at home watching the TV.

The latest story here is the volcanic ash, from Iceland, apparently it would not be a good idea to wash cars at the moment as the ash could cause severe damage to the paintwork, I think it is too late for our car, however. No planes have been flying until recently and the air force announced on Friday morning that they had grounded some of their aircraft, this did not happen until after several test flights over our house at about eleven at night.

Last weekend was a busy one for us, as all the kids visited us at one time and another, Louise and Matt were first and after I made the bacon sandwiches we went to a boot sale and then rushed home for a braai lunch that brought Robyn and Martin. We had a great meal and they all left at about six, only to be replaced by Philip, Ami and Harry. Harry is the apple of his grandma's eye and must have a houseful of toys and books, he is a reading fool. He was a happy little soul, even though full of the cold, which he has passed on to Liz.