Day 532 - Third Birthday In Africa

Today was my birthday. The third one to be spent in Africa. Crazy! Last year I was mauled by lion cubs. This year I was getting over jet lag. Suddenly getting mauled by lions sounds pretty good! Ha ha. 


We slept late. Really late. I think I only woke up after 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I was getting ready for what was left of the day when Petro came & asked if I wanted to come & say goodbye to Gustav, Crystal & Zandrie, as they were leaving for home. So much for the visit! I guess we'll have to make another visit soon!


After they were gone, Jaco & I went to the grocery store to pick up some food. We checked out the new Checkers. The Hermanus Train Station is now a 'shopping mall'. There are about 6 shops & a grocery store. Technically Hermanus has never had a train come through town, but I guess they wanted a train station because... Well, who knows? In any case, it was nice to observe what was new & different in town. We also drove to the beach as the sun set & watched the waves for a while. I love the smell of the ocean & the sound of the waves. It's rejuvenating!


Once we were back at the house, Petro made dinner for us & I warmed up the Malva Pudding. Petro is a great chef & talented baker, so I'm sure my store bought Malva Pudding didn't win any awards, but in any case, I put it in the oven to warm it up. 


Now, ovens are in Celsius over here. I've only baked in Fahrenheit, the few times I have actually baked. I couldn't tell what was bake, broil or otherwise, as the symbols looked nothing like the ones we have at home. I put it on a random symbol & waited patiently. Petro had slipped out for something, so I couldn't ask her & Jaco certainly didn't know. A few minutes later, I open the door to check the pudding & there is a cloud of smoke coming out & filling the kitchen, choking the oxygen out of the room. And me. 


I open the outside door to let some fresh air in & smoke out. That's when Petro arrived. I'm sure she thought me a complete nincompoop. In any case, she flipped a few switches on the oven & no more smoke, just nice heat & warm Malva Pudding. We all enjoyed a nice dish with cherry ice cream. Happy Birthday to me.


I'm happy to have made it to 32 years of age. After this past year or three years, I'm happy to reach another year of life... happy & healthy.


xxxxMaria

Ooooh! Hey there Hot Stuff! 

 Brr! This ain't Barbados anymore!

 Sunset!

 moody scenes

Artwork as life!

Day 281 - Nothin' Like A Good Ol' Thunderstorm!

Another relatively uneventful day... Wake up, check messages, have breakfast, sit outside & read for a bit... Not too enthralling.

I had been up late last night helping Mom rescue one of her hard drives & this morning I took it to her first thing. She seemed quite ungrateful that I'd helped her out - not sure where her head space was at. But then later, all was revealed. She wants to give away Oceana. 

Yeah, I'm pretty much devastated. She hasn't even had her for 3 months & she's already trying to pawn her off. Worst of all on some fellow from her past that treated her like junk... What's he going to do to the dog??? Over my dead body will she give poor Oceana to him!

So, now it looks like I've got 2 dogs. I haven't done any training with Oceana because she's Mom's dog & I didn't want to interfere. I dug out my 51 Puppy Tricks book & the training will commence tomorrow. I get so frustrated with my Mother sometimes. I feel like she tries to 'fix' an area of her life, but gets confused at which one is the most important! The saddest part of all is poor Oceana! She is very submissive & has latched onto Mom like no dog I've ever seen. Mom can't go anywhere without Oceana hot on her heels. 

I'll start taking a list of anyone who wants to dog sit while I'm visiting Jaco this winter! :o) 

I joked with a friend of mine today that I'm sure Mom would have pawned my brother & I off had she been given the chance... Now that I think of it, I do have that one girlfriend who looks A LOT like Mom & she's a few years older... Hmm...

Needless to say, I wanted out of the house, so I put the girls' matching raincoats on & went down to EVIC. The thunder started to roll half way there & we arrived just in time for it to start pouring. We sat inside & observed the flashes while Joe counted the time between lightning & thunder. Some of them were pretty close!

I waited awhile before I walked back home in the rain. The girls didn't really like their raincoats. At one point, I felt like I was dragging both of them, instead of them walking on their own. I turned around & sure enough, I was dragging them! Their hoods had fallen down over their eyes & they couldn't see a thing! All I could see was a red or pink coat with a little black nose poking out the front end & a tail out the back! 

They were both caked in mud & dirt by the time we arrived home, so I carried them straight to the tub. A quick rinse & towel dry & they were good as new. They had a blast ripping around the house playing & drying off. One excited wiener dog is fun, never mind two of them!

I decided to bake something this evening. I found a recipe for banana bread in my Caribbean cookbook (Thanks Winners!) that sounded good. Of course, I don't use the regular ingredients & well, I think I'll have to bake it a few times to perfect it. I used raw sugar instead of light brown sugar, coconut flour instead of self-rising flour, almond milk instead of milk... The flour made things pretty dry. I added more milk & an extra egg. Additionally, it said to grease the tin, so I put olive oil on it. Then added the parchment paper. I'm not sure how it happened, but the bottom of the bread is oily & there was a bunch of water & oil in the bottom of the tin. Let's just say it's edible, but heavy. Next time, I'll cut out some flour & perhaps use butter instead of olive oil?

Seriously, someone needs to invent Culinary Bootcamp for people like me. I could be a Fruigivore like my husband. He'll eat oranges, I'll eat cherries & berries. Lord help us come winter! :o)

In any case, I decided to make myself a routine last night. It works for kids & dogs, so why not me? As I type this entry, I'm about 2 hours behind schedule, but I'll see what I can do to catch up! :o) Part of my schedule includes meal planning for the following day. I liked the look of a lot of the recipes in the Caribbean cookbook, so I'll see what I can find that's yummy! (& healthy!)

I finally hooked up my Magic Jack, after giving my husband grief about not having his set up! :o) I'm pretty excited about it! If you leave me a message, it emails me the message & I can listen to it in my email program! How cool is that? I love Magic Jack! (Did I mention you pay $20/yr for long distance anywhere in Canada & the USA?) And you can take it anywhere in the world & call Canada/USA for that same $20/yr??? What a great invention! **It costs $40 for the Jack, $20/yr or $70 for 5 yrs, plus $10 for a Canadian number** See website for details. Okay, my infomercial is done! :o)

I caught up with a girlfriend from Saskatchewan last night. I haven't spoken to her in awhile & it was great to hear her voice. She has two adorable boys, Buster & Huxley. She has caught a lot of flack for naming her first son, Buster. Agreed, it's not a common name, but it TOTALLY suits him! Last night we Wikipedia'd 'Buster' & there are a lot of famous 'Buster's' out there. Even I was impressed! One from South Africa & one from the UK who was involved in the early developments in IVF! Crazy! I hope her mind is at ease, knowing her son has a unique & meaningful name.

Our conversation was cut short when the lightning returned & every flash I saw made a click on the phone! Okay! Time to go! I fell asleep to the sound of the rain hammering down outside my window.

Have a great Sunday everyone! xxxx

Maria, Valentina & Oceana

Matching jackets for the sisters.

Please, Mama, play with me?

Tangled up!

I've got it!

Tug o' war!