Jake attacked again!!!

Today we go for a walk with Kaylen and ethan and their mom and we take jake instead of pistol as jake is "hardier". As we finish our walk from the golf course, jake grrrrrs at this other dog a Jack russel mixed with something else and this dog growls back. Both are on leashes

If Jake is spiderman slim then this dog is hulk as he had a thick neck and biceps. As we pass this house, this dog was unleashed and runs out to attack Jake! he bites jakes jugular, their maid comes running out, I am pounding this other dogs head with nates tupperware. This dog is biting Jakes leg, Jake accidently bites my finger (ow!). They separate but then the dog goes for jake again and finally they separate, jake is shivering and in shock.

The owners come out to check jake, he is limping a bit, my finger has a small hole but no puncture wound, would likely be a bit swollen. When we get home, Jake is limping and bleeding a bit so I take him to the vet. He has a puncture wound on his bum bum. His back leg seems to be ok but if he still limps tomorrow then its xray time. he gets a shot and some antibiotics and no ball playing again, just rest.

In the meantime, bullet jumps over our 6 foot wall, tries to find us as I took Jake out and not him, not able to find us he is whining, olivia can't find him but hears him, she darts out to see if he is outside but he isn't and he has jumped back over the wall. I wonder now that he knows he can do that, what he would be up to????

All this before olivia's farewell dinner. Took olivia to the hairdresser and she looks alot younger with this stylish short hairstyle. She's all packed and even has a letter to ask for ground support help should she be too sick to get to her connecting flight back to Manila.

Last night Loren came home with a bruised knee and a hole in his pants at the knee part. Apparently adter a client dinner he felt like his stomach was bloating up. He drove back to the restaurant to use the washroom but as he was crossing the road he fainted, got up adn then collapsed again in the middle of the road. Luckily the restaurant people saw him and picked him up, they initially thought he was drunk. He saw the dr today and all seems well and a likely case of food poisoning? or allergic reaction to some food?

The sun is coming up a bit later and setting earlier, its also cooled down alot. It was 15 degrees this am going up to 27 in midday but summer is nearing an end.

The Hardeedar

Here is the bird, if I snuck up on the bird by foot, they usually fly away, this picture was taken with me in the car, slowly inching closer, screening down my window manually (yes these people have not delivered my automatic car), aiming a nokia phone and taking a picture then enlarging the image on photoshop. I got a pic of that bird finally!

Ike is using a binky here, his two front teeth are popping out and they are BIG, I think he may have buck teeth. He is biting shoulders and moving his lips alot.

This is Nate with my hat. I bought in in Taipei thinking it would come in handy here, I have been using it almost everyday. People even stop to tell me its a nice hat. I thought I'd find another hat shop by now but have not bought a spare one. I would hate to lose this one.

When I ask nate where is bubbi coming from, he still says "onetreeall". He also says "Bluedozer" instead of bulldozer. He borrowed Ethan's bluedozer and at bed time asked me to take it away, I think he knows he would be too tempted to play with it and I would have to take it away anyway. I have been putting him to bed earlier at 730pm and he sleeps till about 630am, spends alot of energy in school and takes a good nap from about 130 to 330.

I have also decided to have olivia help me wean ike and so she does the night shift. Am hoping he sleeps through the night and I will have more energy to deal with this house. Averted another situation where the pool would turn into a pond... fished out 2 frogs in 2 days. Still need to pack the library and add some furniture, will maybe wait for marcia and some good suggestions. Finally put some cash to good use as the markets have fallen, have been patiently waiting for this point which isn't so hard when my internet isn't always stable and had a carpenter here to sandpaper down the dog bites marks in some of our furniture. I still have a box of documents to unpack and things to put away properly........

Sculpture

Bid are now open for this 3.5 inch ceramic sculpture of the UAAAARK UAAAARK bird (real nickname the hardydar, I will try and get a picture of the real bird soon) by the artist, nate, pictured with his drinking bottle infront of some horsie stables. The sculpture is a colorful yet realistic rendition of the south african bird with a long beak that comes to feed on earthworms in the rich soils of our neighbourhood. The real bird is grey or black. The artist has artistically expressed his fondness of the bird by making its eye bulgy and giving it a nice red feathery harido. Limited edition of 1. Proceeds will go towards the earthworm orphanage.

The last image is bullet relaxing after a hard chase with the rat.

Rats, snakes and frogs

Here are some photo's of Dainfern, where we live and a shot of the road just outside dainfern, as you can see there is a lot of flat land, apparently over the next 15 years they plan to build 8,000 homes in the area, making traffic alot worse but we will be gone by then. The silver thing that runs across the outside of dainfern is officially a water carrying pipe but others have said it is sewerage. Hope it never leaks! Apparently the silver pipe thing has won many awards. The playground is where I take nate sometimes in the pm, tho now its under repairs.

Nate and loren in our pool and a view of the rest of our garden. They usually go into the jacuzzi for a big bubble bath afterwards (didn't have my camera then!)

Over the weekend we had a huge rat come into the house driving the dogs absolutely crazy (I'm still wondering if its maybe someone's guinea pig?) on sat morning, thembi saw it and ran in the other direction, on sat night the dogs were sniffing up and down and in a frenzy. Sunday morning I sleep in (bad night the night before) and loren went for a run. When I came downstairs, olivia said I had just missed bullet pouncing on a huge rat, she heard a crack (snapping of its back?) and blood flying all over the kitchen. Thembi hiding and throwing olivia plastic bags from a distance.

Bullet had his nose scratched and felt like a hunter.

The heat wave has apparently also driven a number of snakes indoors, we don't live near the nature reserve and haven't seen any but there have been reports by other dainfern residents. But there seems to be a number of frogs, I had to get one out of the swimming pool yesterday. Nomsa is so scared of frogs she needs olivia to escort her to her room at the back during the raining period.

Apart from that we went to a really nice italian restaurant called Casalinga, built around an old stable, beautiful grounds, they grow their own herbs, delicious food and unbelievably cheap wine.

Nate the comedian

Today i left nate with the neighbours (his heaven) to play while I set the house for shabbat. When I went to pick him up I find Shelley (ethan's mom) and Kaila (ethan's sister) rolling on the floor with laughter. As Nate gets more social he will also be reflecting what we have taught him (oh oh!), today it rained after a long dry spell and of course there was thunder.... so Nate was telling everyone that the sky is farting!

I guess if he can relate to that and not fear thunder that is great. The concept is not entirely wrong either since both involve gas molecules bouncing around.

The pictures this time are of Nate having his milk after his nap on his "Car" blanket, he likes Sally the best and she is a blue Porsche. He gets milk out of a bottle still and I see kids here being weaned at a much later age than Taipei. Some bring their binkys to school!

I also went to check out a child friendly gym, they have a separate area where child minders watch the kids for you!!! There is a big ball pit like Tom Dragon, unfortunately Nate has to be 3 before he is allowed in there and they want to see proof of his age. So it will be another 6 months before we join that gym.

Ike is lifting his head and doing some land swimming... Nate is into "peeling" things from lychee skin to hard boiled egg shells, oranges and also Haw flake paper wrappings.

Here is a picture of restaurant play areas for kids to entice those friends with kids to come visit, this place is really child friendly.

Tiao Pi

Here are pictures of the nature reserve near our house, I'd like to walk this area but with nate, he likes throwing rocks into the small stream or larger dam areas so I have not been able to see the rest of this nature reserve. I'd also like to rent a golf cart (can't buy as we have no more garage room!) so that I can explore the rest of this community, there are many other nice trails not accessible by car but to get a sense of the lay of the land by buggy would already take some time.

This week i went to speak to a property broker on whether we should buy here, it looks like although supply is dwindling and demand is great and apparently dainfern is 30% undervalued, the buyer's taxes, income taxes, commissions etc. don't make the numbers that attractive in the time frame that we will be here.

Today I pick nate up at school, I am standing behind the door area so I can only here the group time which is story time going on...

Teacher : and what color are the blocks NATE...
N: yellow
T: class...
class: blue
T: Nate stop that, and what did john then do with the blocks...
T: NATE
T: he stacked them up into a tower
T: Nate please stop that

I can't see what is going on but the other day I could spy Nate eating his dirty toes (urgh). After class I ask the teacher what Nate was up to, she said he is very disruptive in class, he likes tickling or bothering other kids, tho he is adapting better to group time and working indoors more often now. I said his Taipei teacher called him "Tiao Pi" (naughty or cheeky) and his teacher here said, he is very intelligent, we must be firm with him, he likes pushing the boundaries more than normal kids.

sigh... I better go back to reading Dreikurs on pshychology of kids. I have minimised the use of 1-2-3's but may need to reinstate that and also the naughty mat again. How does one stop a kid from whining? He does pick up alot of bad habits from observing other kids whose parents aren't strict and nip the problem at the bud.

So, I have been reading, the biorgraphy of Africa, I did not realise how big the continent is until the author put a map of africa and showed how one can fit the USA, China, India, N. Zealand and Europe land masses to come up with the equivalent size! This place is huge.

We are having our first shabbat tomorrow. I still need to get some loose cushions, some hand towels, mats etc etc etc... but hopefully with the warmth of our home and the presence of good company, food and wine, no one will notice these minor things?

Just to end, wine here is so good and so unbelievably cheap... its great. To all you readers, please come to SA and join us on a drink fest...

Ike is 6 months

and has 6 teeth already, when we take him out, people always ask what we feed him to get him SO big. He's full on to big meals and big poos. Its like russian roulette now, in the am's nomsa will get the jackpot, if pm then thembi or olivia at night, its me, last night I hit the jackpot.

He can turnover from back to front but not the other way and looks like he is swimming on land when on his tummy. Still no "mama" out of him yet, just "uh uh", he seems to smile more easily than nate at the same age who had a poker face.

more pics

Here are more pictures, the first is a wild flower bush at the gate of nate's school, we have been collecting wildflower seeds for olivia as she intends to scatter them allover her fathers land in the phillippines, maybe they will have a large bloom of wild flowers in spring?

The yellow flower is also another wild one near the stream where nate like to throw rocks, this plan attracts alot of bees

Nate and Ethan our neighbours kid who is 3 and Kaylen his sister, who likes to walk and carry pistol.

The background is a small stream and nature reserve area walking distance from our home, nate calls it his pootoom river, "pootoom" for the sound of rocks hitting the water.

some pics

I found out how to transfer pics via bluetooth from my phone to the computer, so there will be alot more photo's on this blog now! Here aer some of nate in school, his sand box and his wheelbarrow. loren went to visit him last week in school and nate was surprised.

Here is one of Ike, the angel, when asleep. His two front top teeth are popping out now so he is all fussy again. He will be fussier later as I take him for his 6 month shots!

The last one is of the fuzzy asparagus plant I bought, strangely once in the bathroom, the new shoot has decided to grow a whole 8 inches longer than the rest of the shoots... and all I did was feed water.

Julia

Some of you have wrote to say the injustice of our neighbours just feeding tea and bread, well employers have to provide a food allowance, which they use to buy food and then on top of that provide tea and bread. Also here are two additional stories from our short time here.

1.) I fired Boni, mainly because the kids didn't like her but also because she was rather inflexible and somewhat ungrateful, Boni was ok on the food front but there were many little things that she would be counting and always to her benefit, she also had a long face and seldom said thank you or please. When she was sick and Nomsa covered her weekend, she would not want to cover Nomsa's weekend and wanted to be paid while sick (which is ok if she worked for a longer period of time), luckily the contract was clear on these things. The agency woman actually told me to be less nice to them as they are prone to taking and taking and taking...

2.) Julia our part time helper which i got to tide us over when we first arrived, she only worked 4 hours a day cleaning for us but her tea and lunch breaks went from only 30 mins to over an hour! but the funny part is this, she ate like a vacuum cleaner. Olivia had a light fruit Xmas cake which we got for her and she sparingly ate a piece everyday, one day for breakfast, she offered Julia a piece, when she turned back around, Julia had eaten the whole cake! Olivia was stunned into silence!

Then after my lunch i would pass her rice to eat and instead of taking a portion she would take the whole plate as her main plate and pile all the other left over food as well. Future meals, Olivia had to make sure she saved a portion for herself.

Loren did not finish his big tub of yogurt, it was expired by a day but still good, she gladly drank down the tub! Olivia thought Wendy was a big eater but at least Wendy did her work efficiently, Julia just lived to eat. Our fridge was getting bare at a fast rate. She would have definitely eaten us poor.

Her second last day with us, we gave her sushi. She didn't come to work the next day, we aren't sure if her tummy did not agree to that? a month later she called asking if we needed a full time person.... yeah right, apart from the food, she was not particularly hard working if she was looking for a job.

I think we are lucky that Nomsa and Thembi both want to lose weight. That should be an interview question!

Titbits

Pic of the dog's beds upstairs, they also have beds downstairs. amazingly they haven't bitten a hole in them like when they were younger in Singapore.

Conversations overheard...

1.) Thembi and Olivia having breaskfast.
T: I am so afraid of Bullet...
O: Oh he looks scary but he is just a gentle goofy dog, not scary at all
T: But his farts smell so bad and they are silent
O: giggling
T: I swear, if there were other people around, no one would believe me if I said it was bullet, they would think I am blaming an innocent dog!
O: laughing with tears....

2.) Thembi and the neighbour's helper (translated), lunch time.
N: Oi... what are you cooking again, it smells so good.
T: eat you own meal ok, stop being so nosy
N: Oi... you guys are killing us you know, everyday the food smells so good and the wind brings over the smell. They only feed us bread here. Oh I still feel so hungry, I have doubled my bread intake smelling your food. I am gaining weight because of you! you make me fat!

The girls feel grateful for they are allowed to eat what we eat, by law we only need to provide tea and bread! Thembi has lost 2kg since working for us and Nomsa 10kg, I think from working and moving and eating better. Thembi said her heart has grown bigger though and she enjoys working here.

3.) Nate in School at story time, teacher finished telling a story about snails (his favourite thing now) and caterpillars
T: Steven, sit down... and so the snail went on its way and what did it see?
N: oooo luulalluuuooo (no idea what he is trying to make out) mao mao cong (caterpillar in chinese) and wo niu (snail in chinese) walking apu the hillu (walking up the hill, why he speaks like a japanese i don't know!)
T: (bursts out into a big smile), Mr. Nate, you are very talkative today.

4.) Dada comes home early to say good night, nate is in bed, they are looking into each others eyes....
N: Rafiyu
Loren: huh? (looks to me) do you know what he is saying?
Me: no idea... oh I think he said Love You
N: (big smile, good translation).
L: love you too
N: Lab you.

Nate's new friend two doors down is Ethan, he turned 3 in January and is slightly taller than Nate and they seem to understand each other. His mom thought Nate was older... so I guess they will still not be talking by 3? I do miss the time from taipei when he would come back with a new chinese word that I have not heard in a long time.

Nate is now into Nemo, olivia seems hooked onto it as well.

Air is SO dry

and it is summer of which it is supposed to be the wettest time. The rains have not come down in 2 weeks, but somehow water is cheap here and everyone's lawns are still green from the sprinkler systems. I need to get Nate used to wearing lip stuff and I need to start wearing slippers too as feet here are proned to cracked heels. i tried but just don't like slippers. Everyone wears shoes in the house and drags dirt in. I also need ot get good hand moisturizers at every washing station, I can understand why people don't want to wash their hands often but maybe the nice smelling moisturizers will help, my finger tips are so dry, they are going to peel too.

Bullet's nose is dry... so is ikes, tho thembi said for their kids, they use a bit of vaseline in the nose and last night that worked really well, he only woke twice, instead of a few times. The meter that measures the dryness in the air is always stuck at 20%, which is the lowest indicator, I wonder if we could be at 10% or lower?

I thought i tossed out my dehumidifiers in taipei but they got shipped here, I tried selling them at cash converters but they laughed and were surprised such a product exsited. I will try and hunt for a large humidifier soon.

I signed nate up for broadacres nursery school, they should have a spot for him next term, which is april. I checked out two other schools but they weren't as nice as broadacres... am happy that ike would also go to broadacres when he is ready. Next step apparently I have to start looking at primary schools as I have to put his name down or he may have no spot when the time comes and if we are still here.

Am planning to tackle our bedsheet and towel situation next, I have not done any shopping in that area as Taipei just had a very limited variety. The bookshelves arrived but I think i made have amde a measurement mistake, they look a bit short will have to think how to remedy that situation.

Settling in

Finally I feel that we are settling in. I bought some plants over the weekend and today took the plunge to buy one of my favourite ferns, they are quite expensive here and in Singapore I could practically pick them off the ground, I may have my mom bring a tupperware of small baby ferns for me to raise. There is one fern though near our house, but it is on a tall tall palm that serves as the mini round about, now way I can go harvest baby ones or pluck that one!

I"ve also been trying to buy baskets, there are quite a number of them but nothing that is perfect yet. The US is still the land of consumers, I clicked on to crate and barrel and there were my perfect baskets!

Some of you asked about the dogs, they are doing fine, bullet today jumped over the pool corner, barely making it, just to try and catch a Uaaark uaark bird. There were 2 in our garden today looking for fat earthworms. I do need to take a pic of them! Jake and pistol both used ot have black fur under their chins but both have turned white now, jakes eye brows and whiskers have also turned white. Ourd dogs are entering middle age.

I have instituted a new way to put ike to sleep, no more carrying and singing and 4 different methods... he cried some on sunday as we now put him down before he sleeps, so he learns to sleep unassisted but today did the best naps so far, 2 solid ones. A perfect nap day.

The bookshelves arrive on weds and then we will be all unpacked! yay.

Posted pics

I uploaded some pictures, some of them are on older posts. I need to figure out how to get smaller image sizes from the camera otherwise the uploading takes a long time!

Here are some flowers in our garden. Its a miracle how they just keep popping up. Nate likes taking the rose petals and throwing them in the air and running through them like a bride, we tell him congratulations and he has learnt the word, he thinks the rose petal game is called "congratulations". After pruning the roses, more buds just keep coming!

Other pics included Nomsa and Ike, Thembi is the one by the clothes line, Peter is the gardener and pool man. Nate likes seeing him everyday.

The dogs went for a run with loren today, at least they aren't barking at other dogs and loren likes to run and now they are passed out.

Ike is growing up

Ike determines to sleep at 730pm everynight, its pitch dark at about 720pm with my new black out curtains, sometimes he appears tired at 630 or 645 and I try to put him to sleep but its a struggle, light still seeps in and he just refuses to go down, thena t 725 he will suddenly put his head down and finallly go to sleep.

Last night as soon as he slept, loren and I went out to dinner. Olivia said he woke at about 915 and was patted back to sleep, he does a first waking at 915 to 930. Then I was so tired I slept, the room has a double bed and ike was right smack in the middle, I also moved his cot there but the girls don't like using it, so I also have a mattress on the floor. I slept on the floor as my new experiment to not wake ike while I toss and turn and vice versa. 1215am, ike asleep, I sleep on, 2am, no noise, this is good zzzzzz. 330am, shirt wet, do I go pump? how come this guy is sleeping so much? hover hover, ike is breathing but sleeping. 345 a stir and feed and change of diaper. Will he make it to 7am??? 4am, argh now I can't sleep, so I am mentally planning his new routine day.

He has more wakeful hours, I have been taking him to nate's school if he is awake during that time, yesterday he went with me to check out the broadacres nursery school, tomorrow maybe i take him swimming, I also remembered that I have a bouncy toy that I should use before he is too big and I think also a new bedtime routine which will include reading. Poor guy just gets led into a dark room. I should try and get him a CD player too for some classical music.

So 430am am at the blog... I can think of a few more stories to write but will save that. I will take the camera with me everywhere tomorrow and get shots to upload. I mananged to hook up the new printer/scanner yesterday and I will try and hit the plant shop tomorrow for smaller potted plants around the house and will try to go when ike is awake, 25mins more and Thembi's shift starts and I can switch on the baby monitor and head back to sleep in the main bedroom.

Will Ike sleep through tomorrow?

This week, while checkin gout the Dainfern nursery (15min walk fm home), the owner called Ike, "fatty". Ike is really not quite pleased with the dr's plan to give him a teaspoon increase of rice cereal a day. Yesterday, he grabbed the spoon from olivia and fed himself. The rice cereal is creating a bit of havoc to his tummy, very smelly farties and just as olivia was preparing a suppository yesterday, he made a BIG one, three days worth for Thembi, the new jackpot winner.

Broadacres Farm Nursery School

It is Nate's mid term and his montesorri school is closed for 3 days, I signed him up for the Dainfern nursery which is a 15 min walk from home or a 2 minute drive in the car. He seems to adjust to the new place really fast, yesterday i got a hug when I picked him up, today he didn't even want to come home! I think he is just hoping to avoid his naps. When his teacher started laying out nap mats, he said "go home". The difference I think is that Nate spends more indoor time and doing indoor things like craft than running around outside.

I also finally checked out the Farm nursery school, its not far from our home, maybe a 10 minute drive, they also have buses doing pick up and nate misses sitting on a bus. Its quite a large place, different sections for different age groups, there are lots of farm animals, a resident hog, a group of geese, ducks, chickens and they get to ride a horse once a week! There are about 250 students but it did not feel like it. It is run by a husband and wife team and they also get healthy meals there. They try to create group pressure to get the kids to learn from each other. There is also the same teachers that teach golf, ballet, action ball, swimming etc here. The school also only closes for the December holidays and none of this mid term then end of term breaks. I really like this school, there is unfrotunately no space for Nate's age group. I think i will just sign him up and then when they do have space move him over.

The other thing I like is that they have big shady trees, his montesori school has some shade but not as much. Some parents I spoke to did not liek the place because they thought it was too grimy but I think it is not much more so than the present school and kids at this age should get grimy anyway.

Bubbi marcia is now booked to come out in April, missing the lovely montreal spring into summer for SA's autumn into winter. I hope I get my car by then, otherwise we will have one man band bubbi....

Ikes first meal and shopping here

Ike at first rolled his tongue about then decided he liked the rice cereal and I saw olivia sneaking him another teaspoon when he is only supposed to have 2 today, 3 tomorrow, 4 the day after and so on. He was not happy when the food was taken away from him, like sometimes when he is hungry and sees me walk in the opposite direction, he gets quite distressed.

He is so plump he has a huge double chin, I got a pic of him eating, now to figure out how to upload!

I also swung by a place called Design Quarters, I feel like I have gone from the home shopping desert of Taipei, where the only exciting shopping is costco and ikea, where if there is an interesting shop, parking would be impossible to malls, malls and more malls with free parking and endless large parking spots.

Anyway at design center, I found many shops to finally buy the things I have been putting off, like replacing our sun bleached pillow cases to finally getting a set of dishes that looks alike, the variety is overwhelming and the pressure now to create a lovely dinner setting for shabbat has increased! Help marcia!

Ike is on solids! yay!

Took Ike for his check up and "poo review" with the dr today, he is now 8 kg which is quite big compared to the dr's daughter who was there and is a 2.5 year old walking child and they are the same size (he says she is on the small side). They had the same sized feet, hands, head... only one was still more of a blob.

Dr is happy with his poo progress and has agreed to start him on solids, tomorrow he will have 2 teaspoons of rice cereal for breakfast, two weeks later then vege's then fruit then progress to dinner by 7 months with meat etc. The time for weaning is near, which spells freedom for me and better sleep. I am so happy that there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

He also ok-ed some dimetapp as he may be getting nate's cold. Nate if his cough doesn't improve by thurs, I'll bring him in on friday. Today nate helped me make lemon and honey juice. The next appointment I bring both of them for the developmental check up with the dr around mid march.

I came home and nate found loren's big exercise ball, which we took out and rolled around the street, nate racing with the ball, bumping into the ball... I also got to admire the rose bushes in our front area, last week nate helped me put the dead flower stems that I cut off into a pile, at first I was reluctant to have him help me as there are thorns but he managed well. This week there are many new buds and we will have alot of roses popping up again.

Nate with his new running speed has also had a number of boo boos. In the last week, he fell and cut his lip twice, his knees are scratched up, now he asks for long pants so they don't hurt as much when he falls, he goes everywhere barefoot but likes to kick rocks so.... a boo boo on his big toe too.

One man band

This is the sound of me and the stick shift car passing through the security gates, within sort of a 20 second range the following tune is played... voom, squeek squeek, click click click, BEEEP, pause pause pause, VOOOM, mama Sai Qe, shuga shuga shuga, pupuupurrrrrr.... and if its raining, add swish swish swish to the background...

voom : changing to a lower gear as I apporach the gate
squeek squeek : as I wind down the window
click click click beeeeep : as I fumble with the access card and beep the gate
pause : 3 seconds for gate to rise
VOOOOM : as I am on low gear and don't want the engine to die
MAMA SAI QE : nate says, mama's sports car!
shuga shuga shuga : as I wind up the window
pupuupupurrrrr : as I change gears again

I can't wait till I get my Scenic, a renault I think with many small compartments to put things away and all the driver does is stick in the key, and put forward or reverse, the car will switch on the lights if needed, switch on the wipers if needed! Its now been in service check for a month as we are buying it second hand from loren's predecessor.

TIA or This is Africa is the latest phrase word from Blood Diamonds or TISA, this is south africa, you can't pay for express service, two weeks delivery means probably three.

Today I snet nate to school and there was a big pile of cut grass, the boys took a wheelbarrow and chucked a pile of grass in, ran to the geese and fed them, i got some pix, now to learn to download fm new camera!

Sniffles

Nate has caught some bug... I hope Ike doesn't get it though he did have a stuffyish nose last night which meant he woke up more than twice in the night.

I found Nate's train set and he has definitely grown since the last time he played with it, he now puts the little sign posts up though he can't quite fix the tracks himself.

My family thinks Ike looks like Wendy so Olivia is now nicknaming him, "wendel".

I finally got to join a yoga class today, it was quite good just to stretch and so when mom and marcia come they can come with me in the morning, half the class time is done outside which is really nice to absorb the positive energy around us from the environment. Bernie can go with loren for the father and son, HOT yoga.

We have several fountains in the garden and I have converted one into an herb garden.

We have our new camera!