Mild and cloudy greetings from Cranleymore

Saturday 2 June’12 Good day to all those who does read the letter. I am sitting outside in the garden, the sun breaks through the clouds every now and again but the wind is not blowing and it is wonderfully mild outside, temperatures between 16-19°.the promise of rain is ever so definite in the air but may only happen late in the afternoon, coming from the south 300km away. We just returned from a visit to a rural school cake and plant sale where we bought cakes, home- made bread, still warm out of the oven and apple sponge, everything of course excellent for the waistline but Ooooo so lovely to taste. St Thomas school has 2 teachers and every-one is very worried that the school might lose the 2nd teacher if the numbers does not increase for Sept intake which will be catastrophic of the children as well as for the teachers and the community. These small schools has become the target ground for the minister of education for closure to save money instead of letting the teachers that are over 70 years old, retire. O yes they do retire but the next term they are back in the office because.....there is not anybody to fill their place which is such a lot of nonsense – the young teachers are all standing in the queue in front of the unemployment offices to receive their unemployment money. The school is situated between the farm lands and more country like you cannot have-absolutely beautiful. No doubt we supported them well. Apart from the nice stuff be bought we also acquired some tomato plants and a foxglove which will be planted after lunch and the completion of this letter. Many of the church children are going to this rural school St Thomas and one of the members of the church, wife is a teacher there. We also discovered that Matt the husband of Joy who plays the organ, when I don’t, has his own green house and has a thriving business which we did not know about. We spend very many hundreds of €’s with Larry in Abbey-Lara this last week and will in future also support Matt. Bartering went on between Larry and me- I gave him 6 orange trees I grew from pips for the grape vine that grows 2 inches every day. Barry marks it on the wood panel behind the vine, astonishing how fast the things grow if the sun comes out and of course because of the long days. Nights are now about 5 hrs in total. 13 Baskets are hanging all around the cottage. 4 In the front and the rest on the wall of the shed and the fence between the back garden and the front. It was hard work, bending and carrying and lifting but we slept well that night! The barrels are also in place and we only have sweet-peas and nasturtiums in the barrels with a bright pink petunia which trails. We also got some Lupines with brilliant colours and have planted 2 in front of the kitchen window, to be looked at every day of the summer. The roses are in full bloom and such a joy, the potatoes are starting to flower and the onions can nearly be pulled up. Peas are growing well and we replanted the carrots after the last lot were eaten by our friends, the slugs! We counted 20 apples on the one tree and 40 pears on the other tree. The other 2 trees are a bit slower and we hope they will also produce a crop. Patience is a virtue, and in this case we honestly waited patiently! I am on 2 weeks holiday and enjoy every minute of it. We hope to make a few day trips next week after all the tasks we set out to do this last week have been completed. In the back ground I hear the British anthem being sung by Katherine Jenkins for the queens Diamond Jubilee! What pomp and great festivities! I mentioned last week that the birds were suffering greatly from the cold and rainy spell we had in April and May and the Wild Life Soc requested that people should continue to feed the birds as there is not enough food for the young ones and on ‘Spring watch’ we saw what happened to hatched birds which did not get enough food and where the river pushed high against the bank and the Kingfisher could not get to the nest, very sad. We lost 2 sets of baby birds but the 2nd lot of Blue Tits fledged successfully yesterday morning a- mid great excitement. Since we started feeding again the bird population has increased again to a good lot- we also have 6 green finches feeding young. I have started a new blog with daily happenings for those who want to follow the “ Daaglikse lewe in ‘n vreemde land” under the blog of www.tawwetienie.blogspot.com Just click on the web page and it will open for you. I have to spray myself with fly and insect repellent here where I sit as the midgets and horse flies are in abundance and just loves my blood – must be very sweet .The problem is that I react so violently to these bites and have to have antihistamine ready if I should get bitten. We are very glad that Thursday has come and gone. We were so disillusioned with the lot of politicians either for the ‘Yes’ vote of the ‘No’ vote as you cannot trust them- the language of the ‘Stability treaty’ needs Oxford interpretation and for the normal person on the street these thing just do not make sense. The % of voters in the country was in our region only a 3rd. and of those 2/5’s voted no and the rest yes. (This comma in front of the ‘and’ is called an Oxford comma!) The problem is not the outcome of the voting but what is to follow-some said that we are now definitely the sole property of Europe and they can demand and command us as they wish. If that is true then we are in for a tough time. Austerity measures will increase and taxes are sure to rise! Wednesday morning as we were about to do our morning prayers and scripture reading Barry looked up and saw a beautiful animal, a first visit for us, a mink, right in front of us, sniffing at the bird seeds on the grass- yes we know that they are little devils but the fur coat was so beautiful that you can understand that people used to breed them for the fur. That apparently was the case near us – some of them got out and is now in the wild. We fortunately do not have any poultry around and as far as we know no one in the near vicinity have any hens, ducks, geese or turkeys so they live on frogs in the streams, small rabbits and mice. I was not quick enough with the camera and missed the opportunity to take a photo what a shame! Our residing preacher is not well and we are entertained by visiting preachers and the choice of Hymns is left to us, Joy and me. While I am on leave I take the responsibility on my shoulders to give her a break as she often has to stand in for me on short notice! Birthdays are few and far between for the coming week. Hope I do not miss some-one who will have a birthday but if so Happy Birthday! Our children and grandchild will visit us next Sunday, in the mean time we have to be satisfied with a phone call and photos! I am glad to announce that our nephew Nicholas brain surgery went very well and that he is already home and recovering well t home. If there are readers who are not well and are concerned about something I am always just an email or a sms away and if I can help I gladly will! We watched the inferno of Princess Shopping centre in Ontdekkers road as it unfolded on the computer, very sad, we knew quite a few people who had shops there. To those who are going to travel drive safely. To those who are writing exams, just the very best to you! For those awaiting results- may it go well. For those who are preparing to become grandparents enjoy the excitement! Cloudy but pleasant regards from Cranleymore Barry & Christina