well i typed a nice long newsy post a few days back but it somehow dissappeared? woo hooo...

are there gremlins in the works?

so here's another version:

-we went on a tour of a big 3-mast ship: the "Rainbow Warrior", owned and operated by Greenpeace. it was an early morning, a really hot day, a wonderful trip, a great get-together of familiar and not-so-familiar faces. a great opportunity to expose the kids to a whole new world!

-playgroup/ swim at yck after was absolutely appreciated! the water was cool and the kids frolicked to their hearts' content! afterwards, the craft activity upstairs was a pleasant surprise!

-deepavali 1: a long lunch at great-grandma's with all the extended family.  an incredible spread of vegetarian food and cakes, yet the kids were content with plain rice...

-deepavali 2: a pleasanat dinner at dadima's. a smaller gathering, with the kids playing non-stop, then amusing us all by singing nonsense at the table.  the highlight of the evening was an array of candles on the dining table, on the balcony, and outside the front door.

-deepavali 3: kids and i went home and took out all our candles and lit up our living room. candles danced on the dining table and from candelabras on the walls. we switched off all the lights in the house.  the kids pulled up chairs and sat side-by-side in the dark, quietly staring into the flickering candle-light. it was mesmerising.

-international night at our church- St Georges: what a fab time! an exotic plethora of cuisine from all over the world. we also had live country and western music, some jazz, japanese songs, and piano classics to entertain us while we ate. the courtyard was really buzzing. i chatted in afrikaans and engish with a dutch family who hv just recently come over. their young daughter opposite cd not yet speak english, so she was amazed that i cd actually understand her... and even reply :)

food was plentiful. it was a bring-and-share arrangement... i'd brought along some koeksisters, biltong, and murrukku, for the south african and indian stalls. kay cdnt stop eating biltong, while ky was happy with a breadroll, pasta and some of that chinese stripey jelly. kay was qt outgoing and willing to try e south african sausage, jelly, pasta, heaps of biltong, and many other things which she wanted to try, but i knew she wdnt hv space for! desserts were overwhelming. i settled on tiramisu, peppermint, caramel  and banana pie,  milktart, pumpkin pie, and some spongecake with maple syrup which i thought the kids wd like. they didnt. they were full. only had spacee for icecream... almost.

when it was dark, we went outside to watch the bamboo-stick/ and country-and-western dancing. afterwhich we made some paper-decorated blown eggs. we hurriedly rushed off for a taxi when i noticed the time drawing well past 8pm. along with us, a crushed egg. a wholemeal cookie, and some wonderful south african bobotie kindly packed up by the minister for the seafarers mission... an old south african from howick, near where i was born and raised...(dh had arrived home weary and hungry, back from a challenging school retreat at ubin.)

-bath farewell; tonight we shifted the candles to the bathroom, and ran a deep, warm bubblebath. then out came the chocolates, marshmallows, lemon-tea, apple juice and ribena (everyone had his or her own preference ;))  the kids got in 1st, and savoured their treats, while i captured their farewell messages on video.  we reminisced about all the fun things we'd done in the bath, snapped a few photo's in the candle-light, then i joined them. we had a giggly last nurse while the two of them held hands behind my back and tickled. :)

-our rooms have shape-shifted... my bathroom goodies have upped and walked to dhl's shower. so his place now looks lovely and homely, while the master-one is completely bare. (for the 1st time since we moved in all those years ago!...and this is our 1st renovation too, all-be-it minor.)  half our master-bedroom is is in the livingroom and playroom, with the other half under dust-sheets where it belongs. the kids' bedroom has become the family bedroom, with ky on the top bunk, dh on e bottom, and kay and i on mattresses on e floor. (knowing kay, she'll likely spend e next few days playing musical beds between dh and myself :)) it looks very cosy. i'm just not prepared for the dirt track that's going to be layed through my house tmw... rt from e front door, through the lounge and master-bedroom, and into the bahroom... add that  to the noise and flying dust from hacking...  aargh... makes me want to shape-shift with the neighbours for the day!