Mid September greetings

Saturday 17 Sept’11

Good day to all, family and friends!
Rugby takes the prime spot in my letter today with SA beating Fiji and then the news of all news
Ireland show Australia how to do it 15-6 Wow!
The Irish will do post mortem of their performance for the next 72 hrs intensely and then less frequent for the next 5 days or until the next game.
We have sudden showers with sun in between and when the sun shines it is lovely we cannot complain- the temperatures may drop at night below 10 but overall an average of 15-17 during the day. The nights have become much darker and longer and of course days much shorter. The leaves of some trees have turned within a week’s time into gorgeous autumn colours a feast for the eye. In between the dark green of the other trees are still very vibrant. Most of the fields have been cut for a 2nd time and the grain fields are now only stopples on the ground.
The wind blew last week at some horrific speed, settled a little this week but as we are in the pathway of every tail-end of most weather systems we experienced a very “unsettled” weather patron at present. We also have to get ready for the possible snow predicted for early October.
The chimney has been swept and the fire-lighters have been bought. The shed is full to the brim with natural fuel, turf and wood as well as the oil tank. We are ready for whatever is thrown our way! Have to say I love the sun! But on the other hand the winter has its own beauty!
Garden news. I still picked some sweet-peas yesterday and rescued a few roses from the rain and wind. Some of our flower pots were blown over and off the wall which broke branches off some of our bushes and the poor begonias got hit the hardest as they came tumbling down.
The roses are still in flower and have been now for a good month, for the 2nd time this year. The vegetable garden looks very good, the cabbages are filling out and the Brussels sprouts are forming –so are the cauliflowers.
Our animal visitor population brings us great joy! Blackie and Professor cannot stand each other and every now and again they arrive at the same time- an authoritive Blackie make sure that Professor leaves pretty quick and then remarked the whole territory, while the foxes stay hidden until the boss takes his leave! Hours are spent watching the foxes- you have to have excellent night sight to distinguish these animals from the background vegetation- they arrive usually minutes before darkness fall and their ritual stay the same- we were very surprised as we thought one of the young ones were killed on the road but on Wednesday night both of them arrived- may- be it was the mother that died. They are in peak condition, their fur is shining and their tails magnificent. We feed them with scraps from the table and what- ever is available- while we have changed to tinned cat food for the other two. They used to get tuna but it has become a bit expensive- so they eat the tin food just as happy!
At the hospital the Emergency Dept has taken off and we have had every possible admission under the sun from overdoses to 95yrs olds that stopped eating and drinking with the earnest wish to die! In between the 50 cases for theatre a day continues and the staff works very hard, my last 3 nights were out of this world. I cannot even get out of the car when I eventually arrives home at 09h30 in the morning as I am so stiff after a night full of events-trying to keep an Alzheimer patient who had a prostatectomy from getting out of bed and pulling his catheter out to haughty tauties who thinks they own the hospital- we work without a carer at night and you have to do everything and I mean everything. From doctors rounds to giving them their tea and everything in between! Another 2 years maybe three then I will call it a day! The last night I was on my own with 8 patients- I kicked up some mud but there is no-one that can come and help as we run on short staff as normal.
I still have a job and enjoy my work just sometimes you realize that things could have gone wrong – thank the Lord nothing has so far but still patient safety becomes an issue. There are many people who has no work and I gladly do my share- hopefully for as long as I can!
The Presidential election is near but the nomination of candidates is a circus!
The lots seems to be so ignorant of the fact that the President is the 1st Citizen of the country and should be a person of good standing and integrity able to meet any-one and every-one. Some of the candidates make me shiver- I dread the outcome of this election, instead of being proud of your President we might like to dig our heads into a bog! I just hear the voice of Martin Mc Guinness the 1st Minister of NI who has become Sinn Fein’s candidate- now there is hope!
We are both well and enjoy our little estate in the country! The Lord has blessed us in so many ways that my moaning is really not fair. The grass when cut looks like a carpet- the birds sing and the berries are red what more can I say! Last week Barry picked every blackberry and raspberry along the hedge and I cooked jam- there was just a little too much fluid left and I said to Barry when I sat down I must get up in 5 min to check the jam but I started reading my book and the next thing the fire alarm went off! Needless to say - I turned the jam into stone! It took us 3 days to get the pot clean and the stone was given to the birds and bees.
The next lot I treated with great respect and stood over the stove until ready to go into the jam jars! This time we are enjoying our own blackberry jam!
The swallows left their nest and has departed from the donkey house, they have been gathering for some time in great numbers and will soon leave!
Tomorrow is the best day of my week and I will sit in a pew far away from every-one so that I can sing and praise the Lord. Joy is playing the organ and we have tea afterwards. Next week is the event of the year when we have our Harvest Thanksgiving Service. As it will be in the form of Hymns singing Joy and I will share the duty of organ playing. Afterwards we will give tea and cake to all the visitors!
Three of the Potgieter family will be in South Africa in the next couple of weeks and we wish them a safe journey and Christopher that is there since end August- enjoy the hot weather!
Every-one of you are always in our prayers and especially those who are having birthdays. Adelbert on the 20th and any-one else who I do not have a record of! Enjoy your day! Congratulations to Bianca and her husband with their Irish citizenships.
Remember your safety and those of your families.
Take care in every way!
Autumn regards from us in Cranleymore!
Barry & Christina