Real Life

 You find  true  joy and happiness  when you give and give and give and go on giving and never  count the  cost........... ( Ellen Caddy)

Well,  holidays  are  long  over,  and  it has been  back to the real world  for the past few weeks,  one thing I hate about going on holiday  is the  197 emails  when  I get back to the office, that  have  to be  answered  and actioned,  and the in tray  that would put the leaning tower  of Pisa to  shame...........  it  is  like  when I am gone  all the  queries  slither  out of the wood work  and breed on my desk,  it is  almost like a conspiracy theory ...... paper  versus  the  empty  in tray.............. and the paper  wins............   so  to catch  up  I  have  to put in  some  serious  effort,  hence  the length of time between  my blogs......    and then .........
my eldest  daughter  has  decided  that a half hour at the gym each night  is no longer  sufficient  so now  we have an  hour each  night  and  as  I type  this, my body  is  so  stiff  that  I  am convinced  that rigor mortis has set in........  can that happen  when  you  are  still alive............ I think i am  witness to the fact that it can.
it  was  great  to go to Sunday service  again,  we are doing a sermon series  on fasting, and I really miss the  fellowship when  I don't  get  to church  when  I am away , I  was so happy when my  minister  said  he wanted  a chat with me...........  I was convinced  that he had  missed  me  and  wanted  to wish  me all the best  for the new year.................  he  asked me  to do the evening  service  on  Sunday evening as he was going away.  For me it was amazing,  I think it was one of my best messages  ever,  and I ended with a challenge  to everyone,  that  we all had to think  and  talk  only positive  thoughts  for an entire  day,  but if you had a great day because  of it,   then  you had  to do it for an entire  week.   Try  it............  not one single  negative  thought  or word  for a week................
My youngest  daughter  is  back at  school after  the long  summer  holiday,  she is   now  in her  final  year  at  school  so next year  is  university,  it was  just  like  yesterday  that  she  was born, and now  she  will soon be  a  young  woman  out on her  own......she was  elected  deputy  head  girl  at her  school,  so she  too has a whole  load  of extra  responsibilities,  are you ever  too busy............
On Friday  I am going to a funeral,  Billy  a  friend  from  work  passed  away  on Monday  morning,  what a shock although he has been sick  for a while,  you don't really ever face the possiblity  of  death.......  gone forever.............. it makes  me realise  just how  precious  life  is  and at the end of the day,  it is not about the worldly stuff, who has the biggest  car,  or  nicest  house,  or  better  job,  clever children,  pretty daughters  or  handsome sons, it is  all about  who you  are,  and  what  you  are,  it is about  honesty,  integrity, it is about being  the  bigger  person.......
  This is the bible  verse that has  been  laid  on my heart for this  year,  I just  know  that the pain of  2010  is  gone,  and  2011  is going to be an absolutely amazing  year for me ............

Holidays - Part2

After  the  marathon  day  of the  28th,  the  29th  is  one  of  our  rest  days,  so  all the  "none morning"  people  slept  in  and  only  started  surfacing  at  around  9.30  which  for  me is  like the middle  of the  day,  because  the  weather  was  overcast  and  raining, spending the day on the beach was  not an option  neither  was  going  up  Table  Mountains,  so those  who  wanted  to  fish  went  off to  fish,  and  those  who  wanted  to  shop went  down  the  road  for  about  an  hour  to a  beautiful  little  fishing  village  called  Hermanus

which is famous  for  its  whale  viewing which  unfortunately  finishes  in November  so  we  were  not  fortunate enough  to see a whale  here.  The  town  is  beautiful little  cobbled  walk ways,  with  tiny  little  shops,  selling  everything  from  candles  to  helicopter  trips, the  place  is  beautiful...........  so  beautiful  that  we  found  ourselves  a  little  coffee  shop  called  Memories  and  sat and  watched  the  world  go  by  from  there. We  were  there  for about  4  hours  and  apart  from  doing  all the  whaling  museums,  I  just  love  museums  and  art galleries  we  actually  only  got  to  do  about  a  block of the  shops  because  of  the  sheer  number  of shops.  We  had  just  been  in an  amazing  beach  shop  all done  out  in  blue  and  white  and  on the  way  back  to the  cars  for the  trip  home,  we  saw  a  beautiful  "shop" exactly  like the  beach  shop  all done  out in the  blue  and  white.  Lorraine  was  first one in the  door  and  I  was  right  behind  her  and we  were  looking  at the  picture  on  the  wall and  Lorraine  asked  whether  is  was  for  sale,  a  gentlemen  sitting  on a  chair  said,  "This  is my house  I  live  here".........  did  we  laugh  all the  way to the  car.  We  then  realised  we  should  have  suspected  something  when we  went  in  and  he  was  sitting  with  a  beer  in his  hand,  we  thought  he  was  just chilling  waiting  for  his  wife..........
The  30th  up  early  and  today  was  the  day that  we  hit  Cape  Town,   firstly  to the  V & A  waterfront,

  then  to the  Castle

  then  to  Green  Market  Square

and  then  to The  Company  Garden , and  then  to the  Eastern  Bazaar  for  supper,  which  we  had  to eat  the traditional  way  with  our  hands......  not  sure  whether  that  is for  me.

and  then  to the  flea  market  on the  main  street  at  5pm  they  close  off  Adderley street  and  it becomes  a  flea  market  and  at  8.30  the  Christmas  lights

go  on,  the  to  Mitchells  Plain  to  meet  Wayne's  Mom  and  then  home just  after  12,  everyone  exhaused  but  what  a  day.  We  wanted  to  do  Signal  Hill and  the  Noon  gun  as  well,  but  there  was  a  fire  on  the  hill  and  no  traffic  was  being  allowed  through  although  we  did  get  some  amazing  pictures  of the  helicopters  and  crop  sprayers  trying  to  put  out  the  fire.

31st  was  a  chill  day, with  just  a  trip  to a little  town  near  by  Kleinmond,  to  get some  groceries  and  then  off  to the  Stand  to  set  off  fireworks  to  let  the  New  Year  in,  which  was  quite  an  experience,  there  were  some  young  adults  setting  off  fireworks  which  turned  out to be  quite  an  experience  as  they  obviously  had  none,  firstly  one  of the  girls  turned  towards the  people  while  holding  a  live  hand  held  firework,  everyone  ducked  and  screamed,  quite  hysterically  I  might  add ,  then  they  set  off  a  flare  which  was  really  beautiful,  then  they  set  off another  flare,  which  was  caught  by the  wind,  and  blown  under  a car,  which  caught  fire,  thank  goodness  the  fire  engine  was  on the  beach  so the  fire  was  put  out  with  minimum  damage...........  now  I remember  why  I  dislike  fireworks  so  much..............................
Then  the  1st  of  January,  the  weather  was  perfect  and  so  the  cable  car  on  Table  mountain  was  open,

so  off  we  went  (  without a bath  I might  add  because  their was  no water  there  was a burst  pipe,  I  very  uncomfortable  feeling  to be  sure) what  an experience   nothing  can  describe  what  it  looks  like  you  can  almost  see the  entire  coast line,

what  a  fantastic  way  to  end  a  fantastic  holiday.......   everyone  was  on their  way  home  on the  2nd  and  we  were  on  our  way  to  Port  Elizabeth  to  visit  some  family,  another  800km  trip...................