Moving

My daughter-in-law getting really clean with swimming pool water!

Two weeks ago our older son, his wife and our two precious grandchildren came to stay. Because of the dry conditions we’re currently experiencing, the town’s reservoir ran dry and we were without water for the whole day! By the evening, we were hot, sticky and extremely grubby (imagine two young children, 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 years old -ergh!) we loaded the children, soap, towels and fresh clothing into my litttle pick-up truck and drove over to my son’s house. We needed to get clean and and the only way was to bath in their swimming pool. The house sale had already gone through the day before but my son's furniture and effects were still on the premises. We didn’t think that the new owners would have minded (they were 500 km / 312 miles away in Johannesburg anyway!) Those of you reading my posts have obviously realised that life in a small town is very relaxed...
Everyone joined in the fun as can be seen by the barking dog and children climbling poles!

The next day my son had to make the final move out of his house and place his furniture in storage. A friend has kindly offered him secure storage space in two rooms off the side of his house.

While the move was not far (one block down the road), it was still very stressful. Moving always is. My daughter-in-law told me she felt very strange knowing she was packing her possessions into boxes but had no vision for the future when and where she would unpack them.

I arranged for my two gardeners who, with my son’s two gardeners, moved everything out of the house and into storage without any dents, chips or breakages. The piano which I gave to my daughter-in-law in 2006, and which I’d had for forty years, (a story for a later date) was brought back into my house with great difficulty. My husband and I had the two little ones for the day which helped their parents to move easier without children underfoot.

My hubby and I took the children out for milkshakes

After doing our own chores here at home, we loaded the children into “granddad’s sports car” and with the top down; we took them out to the local restaurant for a milkshake. Incidently our granddaughter lost her first tooth during the week and the Tooth Mouse rewarded her in the Drakensberg where it happened but also here in Marquard at Granny and Granddad’s house. She wanted to buy tea and milkshakes for all of us, but my husband expplained to her that she could save her money and spend it later because he wanted to treat us all.

There's nothing like lunch out in the garden to lift tired spirits!

At lunch-time my son, daughter-in-law and their helpers took a break. The four men stayed on at my son’s house to keep an eye on the stuff, much of which was still standing on the lawn, while they ate their lunch. We as a family had lunch in my garden. I served a simple meal of spaghetti with Lynda's tomato –based sauce, (which you can see here grated parmesan and brown bread. A Greek salad rounded off the meal.

Everyone was rejuvinated and re-energised after a relaxing Al Fresco lunch, and my son could complete the task of moving before sunset that evening.