Greetings from a wet Cranleymore

Saturday 18 June’11
Good day to all, family and friends
I would like to have a chat to that weatherman that promised that June and July will be sizzling- we are waiting patiently for it to happen, in the mean time it has been raining hour on, hour off, at least it is not freezing like last week but still no summer yet. Between 4am and 8am is the best weather, clear skies and beautiful sun rises and then the wind comes up and blow the clouds in from either side east or west and all promise of a lovely day falls through a big hole.
It has been ASCOT week in England and we were entertained on TV by every possible kind and form of hat possible, clothes that fits well and other that needs definite attention and in the interim we look at the horses running. Mostly ‘different’ kind of people involved in the fashion and then the horsy people which is a breed on their own. We just love to look at the movement and beauty of these well bred horses. We do not like it when the jockeys whip the horses and the officials are very strict on this point and many a jockey has been suspended for using the whip to much or in the wrong place. The Queen and dignitaries arrive everyday in a carriage and she looks like a new sixpence, every outfit looks inherently the same but differ in detail and colour, quite an experience.
We do not have Sky and will not be able to watch the golf, USA open where one of our young golfers are presently leading the field and we hope he holds his nerve. There was a very lovely article about Ernie in our main newspaper last week – the heart ache being parents to a child with autism.

We have been eating produce from our own garden and found that the taste is different to the vegetables you buy. The carrots are sweet and taste like carrots. The spring onions are crisp and sharp, the spinach the best! The peas have started flowering and yes we tasted that the radishes are not as sharp as the red ones, Nine, and lovely that you have heard a cuckoo calling, even though it was long ago.
Our baby swallows are growing fast and furious they are a week old and the parents are very busy feeding. Our own little swallow that has been having conversations with Barry arrived late but he made sure that we take notice of his presence.
The roses that were not injured by the wind are gorgeous and smell wonderful- the petunias and sweet peas are flowering, tiger lilies, and nasturtiums are very colourful. The hanging baskets are still very lovely but require constant attention, picking out the old flowers.
The strawberries are big and sweet- lovely, the apples are growing and we hope to have a few this year.
We bought a melon at LIDL which looks like a ‘spanspek’ from the outside, very tasty, I kept some of the pips and hope to get something growing from them and I have been promised ‘skorsie’ seeds from Bianca – the tomato plants are 4 feet high few flowers on and wonder what will happen- saw 3 tomatoes hanging, they are protected against the elements of the weather on the porch but I am not sure if it is the best thing to do.
I am also back at work which is always a good thing- I have to admit that the atmosphere at work is not conducive to morale- just lost its spark of happiness, the joy to be at work is missing-you are not allowed to laugh because that is not professional! I go to bed having conversations with this new owner in my mind telling him how wrong his attitude is....but that is where it stays in my mind!
Tomorrow is the best day of the week and we are really looking forward to soul food- last week turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as there was a guest speaker from TEARFUND which in our minds is a sales talk for collecting money and we were very upset- he should not substitute a sermon for people like that.
I understand that his time is limited and that he has to be on his way not a minute later than 11am but to with held our soul’s food is not on! Not for people begging for money and they do that very well in this country.
I will be member of the congregation and will be able to bring my praises with a singing voice.
Birthdays: Isabelle Cooper will be 1yr old tomorrow and may this birthday be a joyful occasion for Oupa Gerlof and Ouma Sandra as well as for Tim and Kathleen.
Sue Parsons in Canada has her birthday the 20th! Hope your day will be lovely!
Our little Lukas is nearly 14 months old and is very cute- a great joy to his Oupa and Ouma.
It was also wonderful to hear Thilo’s voice on Skype- did not know what I did wrong but could not get the video going but we had a great chat.
It is with concern that we read about Malema and his utterings, it does not seem if any-one minds that he has this idea that ‘apartheid taught the whites racism’ . I just wondered what the South of Africa would have looked like now, in 2011, if Jan van Riebeeck never landed there in 1652
Ireland’s new government was in power for 100 days yesterday and have to admit that nothing really changed- we are still in a financial crisis with unemployment souring, in the mean time the bank managers are prospering and the share holders who lost all their life savings are furious and I do not blame them, fortunately we were never rich and were never affected by the Celtic Tiger and crash there-off- life goes on as it has since the time of arrival in spite of the fact that I lost 15% of my salary since 2008. We thank the Lord for all his blessings.
Thank you for all the lovely letters- it was so lovely to receive so much mail!
I have come to the end of my story and hope that all will be careful on the roads and keep safety uppermost in their minds
Keel well
Regards from us in a wet Cranleymore
Barry & Christina