Sunny winter greetings

Saturday 9 November’13 Good day to you all far and near , family and friends! Winter is here , no doubt about it ,the frost has been present many a morning and the temperatures stay about 6-8° during the day! The sun does shine but very feeble and also very low on the horizon , move very quickly from east to west and by 4pm dusk falls and by 5pm it is dark! There is some hope because the 21- 22 of December the whole lot turns around again and the days get longer and the nights shorter! That is not too fat away! The frost burnt my dahlia and the begonias to pulp, the nasturgiums , where protected are still flowering and the Chrisanthenims are quite lovely! Purple and dark red! I picked my last bunch of grapes and 2 pears fell - we still have 7 on the tree and hope that they will grow a bit bigger and stay put! The trees are shedding their leaves now in droves and at places you drive over carpets of brown and rust coloured leaves. The summer is upon you in the southern hemisphere and enjoy the privilege of having good weather- I know there are places where it is very dry and we hope is will rain there but the pleasure of sunshine is surely a wonderful thing! It has been raining here on and off for the last 2-3 weeks everywhere is wet and there is even algae growing on the front of my car! Needs a wash but the water is too cold!! On the political front the TROIKA said good-bye and wished us well, the IMF is a little sceptical about Ende Kenny’s hope to call it a day on the 15th of Dec and has advised that the government should consider postponing the exit from the IMF until next year. The interest rate has dropped and they hope that people will spend more this festive season as borrowing will be a bit easier on the pocket! Those who have savings can just as well draw the money and put it in the ground – it will grow there better than in the bank! The woman found in a distressed state in the streets of Dublin thought to have been 14 yrs of age ( It is still a very strange thing for people to have thought that she was 14 yrs old –when they showed her picture you could immediately see that she was much older) and was under the care of the HSE should be in Australia by now! How she got here and what she was doing here is a bit of a riddle! There is something else that has been in the news and for me and my Christian back ground and present beliefs very difficult to swallow-it the ‘Same sex marriage’ business on which Ireland is now going to have a referendum on, in 2015! If the Lord was distressed about the way the Israelites were living then I do not know how painful all these happening must be to the Lord in this age! We are extremely privileged to have Hildegard from my Br Mendel visiting us tomorrow! It is going to be so exciting! Even more good news is that her sister Anette and husband Michael will be with us in December! Wonderful! What a wonderful happening to look forward to! We Skype with the grandchildren and They are as ever very cute and lovely! Birthdays! It has come to light that there are quite a few people who I do not have on my birthday calender and one of them is Mrs Ingrid Scholtz from Belgium/Holland who had a birthday on the 3rd! Many congratulations and may you have a good and healthy year ahead! Happy Birthday also to: Rob Harding on the 12th, Annalize Verasamy the 14th, Attie (snr) the 16th ! best wishes to you all! Thank you to all who so diligently and with great humour keep the contact alive! It is wonderful , News letters from all over the world! Many thanks, every- one is read with enthusiasm and eagerness! I have not been back to work again since last week and still enjoy being at home- the Manager keeps me busy(Barry) I am forever tidying up and discarding things- fortunately we have our own incinerator which helps a lot- We also brought big bags of clothes and shoes to the charity shop and hope some-one will have joy in wearing it! This brings me to the end of my story and we hope that all who are sick and in recovery mode, Karin after her neck operation on 7th,Attie en Hanlie and all the others that I am not aware of- get better, be patient and enjoy the spoiling! Be careful in all your doings and conduct- drive safely and do not take a chance- lock the doors and be alert! Sunny winter greetings from us in Cranleymore Barry & Christina