Goeie dag almal

Engelse week en ek het net nie die moed om alles in Afrikaans oor te skryf nie..dus verdra maar die Ingels .
Eerstens Veels Geluk aan Frikkie en Elmarie se Gerhard die 12 de.Vrolike dag vir jul almal!!! Ook dink ons baie spesiaal aan my liewe broer Gerhard op die 15de.

Die tuin is ‘n moeras ,ek kannie eers by die ertjies kom om te pluk nie die petunias het in die hangmandjies gevrot ek sny uit maar dit help nie meer nie. Die aarbeie het ‘n nuwe plaag, vlieë!!! ‘n sort van ‘n ‘wasp’ !!! Ons het darem bietjie daarvan geniet, sal moet ‘n tonnel kry vir volgende somer…om so te sukkel is ook nie meer lekker nie!!!!
Alles groei so maklik maar die plae is onoorkombaar!
Weet nie so mooi van die somer nie…dit is meer weer soos in November…wonder wat gaan word!

Nou ja die briefies is altyd heerlik om te lees. Nine kyk mooi na jouself. Hester ek hoop jy voel beter.
Liefde groete






Sunday
10 August 2008


Good day to all,
Just back from a magnificent visit to another part of the Midlands!

The country changes as far a s we drive from where we live into hilly area with lakes between the hills –you come over the hill to look down onto another mass of water..surrounded by natural forest and of course wildlife.
The road that took us to Moynalty was like a fairytale… the canopies of the hundred year old trees were interlinked above the road and at times you drive through a tree tunnel of ½ kilometre every colour of green present..

The original plan was to go to Tullamore show ,the most famous and largest argricultural show in the midlands. The Taoiseach(prime Minister) would have cut the ribbon to open the show B U T.. guess what…for the 2nd year it had to be cancelled because of heavy rain!!!!!!! And therefore we could not honour them with our presence!

Last evening there was a down pour in Dublin 56mm in 40 min …the heaviest since 1986 when some or other tornado Charlie went by.
They are so use to rain but still have no clue how to handle it! When it rain like this all gets polluted and drinking water has to come from a bottle then...we have never not in the last 3and ½ yr drank water from a tap in our house! Just not the safe thing to do!!!

Our holiday has been quite exciting up to now and my writings ever so many times interrupted

Monday

To tell you more about our adventures we have to go back to Tuesday last week.A visit to Mullingar where we were booked to have out eyes tested- in itself nothing but for the 2 of us a trip (I work in Mullingar and drive there 4x a week) as husband and wife. While I was in with the ophthalmologist Barry had to give his details and what happened I still do not know but he refused to have his eyes tested. He had to give out phone number and could not remember it –he has never had the need to call me or the landline –so it is nothing odd for him to forget the number but the young girl made out as if he was stupid or something…and her “tone” was not respectful…in anycase..we left, I highly embarrassed and Barry very unhappy..he said she showed no respect for age!!!! They also demanded €30(R300 +/-) as a deposit which we were told would not be necessary anymore as he has a medical card.But that is their practice and that is it. We parked the car and walked many miles all around town to see if anything has changed since our last visit 6mths ago but all seems to be exactly the same. My main aim was to find big enough sheets for the new bed…and were fortunate to visit a store that had a authentic “SALE” and got 2 sets for the price of one.
Got home exhausted…stiff from the walk and very thirsty..4hours later.
Wednesday we went to Longford the nearest town to us to look for an optometrist to test Barry’s eyes in accordance with the medical aid card. There was only one in town and they were very helpful. Completed the necessary form, let Barry sign it and promise to send it away. It will be posted back to us in due time and then he can make an appointment and no deposit is required. He was very happy with that and now we are waiting for the form to be returned.
Thursday it rained continuously over all the country and we played Scrabble!
Friday something else happened and we never left the house but enjoyed some sunshine later the afternoon in our lovely garden. O yes….Eircom came to fix the landline which was not working for a week.
Saturday with dark clouds and bouts of sunshine we decided to leave for my favourite town Athlone…situated on the banks of the Shannon . They also have that enormous store B & Q which covers many square meters.
Back into the town and enjoyed walking along the river.Went into every clothes shop looking for a light cardigan for inbetween weather…but to no avail every shop caters only for the young ones and I will have to go to the over 60 shop here in town to find a cardigan.
Sunday started off well. I choose the hymns and the visiting preacher was happy with my choice and we sang to the glory of our God with a very good message, food for our souls! Showers was promised and flooding worse than Saturday
The afternoon looked a bit brighter and off we went to a place northeast of us 56km ..now that is halfway round the country! To look at a process of yonder years “STEAM THRESSING” there were about 4 of these old steam machine working very interesting. Surrounded by a massive flee market 300 stalls).a policeman doing his walkabouts checking on the travellers(known as ‘tinkers’) for stolen goods their speciality are tools…anything under the sun(clouds).
Hill up and hill down looking at everything till we got to the 500 + Massey Ferguson collection of tractors from the very first to the last on the market I have never seen so many tractors together in one field!!!

Today started off dark and very wet..warning of flooding with heavy showers!!!
After tea at 1.30pm we decided it is bright enough and the sun made its appearance every now and again and it is time to move. A picturesque drive to the south of where we live and on the highest point we stop to take a photo BUT the batteries were flat and the others in the charger at home!! I was near to tears. The view was magnificent.
We drove back home with the showers just behind us we could see it in the rear view mirror. Safely inside the heavens opened..and it rained …cats and dogs!!!!

You must be tired from all this but I hope you enjoyed the trips.
Also received some lovely photos from Angie… It is always lovely to hear from you all.

Hope you have drier weather where-ever you are!!!
Take care and greetings from house to house
Barry& Christina

PS. Photo of Athlone included