Uh-oh!

 Dear Blogger friends. AGAIN, just when you thought it was safe to read Jo's blog without a post on the Parkrun, there she goes. Again.

I must explain here. Most gym clubs, yoga classes, weight loss societies, etc. take a break over the festive season, All, except Parkrun. It's a like an analog clock. It just keeps going week after week! 

Today was our Christmas Parkrun and Winterton, being in the tourist belt of the Central Drakensberg, we always have plenty of visitors at this time. 

Today was also a very special day for Skabby. The weather was cool; the sky overcast, and I decided to take him along. He's been staying at home since mid-November when he developed a hotspot and was under veterinary treatment. The hotspot has healed, leaving a great white scar in his black skin. Just as a precaution, I covered his exposed flanks and back with total block out cream.

So excited to be included in the Parkrun outing again!

Skabby and I both wore Christmas adornments to Parkrun

A friend brought a Christmas gift for Skabby. A natty water bottle with a sprinkler stopper. So cool! 

It had been raining all Friday night through Saturday morning. Until 7am. So, although we'd not had to walk in the rain, the going was very muddy and slippery.

My Weigh-Less Group Assistant, Esme, and I did today's Parkrun together

I believe Skabby enjoyed today's walk because of the cooler weather. I know I did! 

WISHING MY BLOGGER FRIENDS A MERRY AND BLESSED CHRISTMAS

Just when you think...

 ... it's safe to read Jo's blog, there's ANOTHER Parkrun post!

Apologies, dear Blogger friends. Parkrun is my most favorite leisure pursuit (an oxymoron if ever there was one, LOL!) as one of the only TWO leisure activities (another oxymoron!) I take part in on a weekly basis. 

Parkrun is what I do every Saturday. And Taigelates is tri-discipline class where I join five to six lovely friends in the Valley every Friday morning. 

I'm still trying to catch up on my life since I posted about Mary's memorial service in early November this year. After the service as is traditional in South Africa, we moved to the church hall for tea and eats. By 4pm I said goodbye to Mary's daughter, Trasi, now owner and chairman of Weigh-Less and set off for Howick. I had phoned ahead to [Aunt] Gill to say I would be with her in under an hour. 

I popped into the supermarket and bought a pizza and some dessert for our supper. Gill and I spent a lovely evening together. 

Again, I was near a tour Parkrun and after conferring with my dear friend and Weigh-Less member, Judy, I arranged to collect her at 7.30 on Saturday morning. She would show me the way to the Hilton Parkrun. She had registered on  the site and this would be her first official Parkrun. 

It was a very different venue to the one we have in Winterton and looked a lot easier than my first "tour" Parkrun a month before. You started out on a school sports field, walked down a grassy track, through a forest (Hilton/Howick abound with pine forests!) and then out along the school grounds perimeter. And back to the start at the sports field. 2.5km. A marshal guides you to the tunnel which takes you onto the sports field again and you do the whole route a second time. 5km total. 

Judy and I started together and although she said I should go at my pace, I told her I was staying with her. When we reached the grassy track which took us up to the first 2.5km point, Judy said: "Jo, I think I will wait here while you complete the Parkrun." I told her no way do you stop now, let's hit this second 2.5km.

 Which we did. 

When we returned to the start, the volunteers applauded loudly while we skipped into the finish paddock! I had done my second "tour" Parkrun and Judy had done her first official Parkrun. 

Afterwards she said to me, "Not only do you watch what I eat but today you made me stay and finish the course."  

I nodded sagely! 

Judy and I at the end of the Hilton Parkrun on 4 November 2023

Once I'd dropped Judy at her home, I drove back to the retirement village where I had a final cup of tea and a chat with Gill. 

I arrived home on the farm by mid-afternoon. I popped over to my neighbors, Ron and John to tell them I was home safely and tell them about the memorial service.

Regarding my Taigelates attendance. The classes take place on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I work the first three days in the farm office, so Friday is the only day I can attend.  Our instructor, Caroline has returned to Australia for two years. She sends two WhatsApp messages of 30 minutes each. Estelle, another dear friend of mine, attaches her mobile phone to a bluetooth enhancer and with this in the center of the room with our mats in a circle around it, we follow her instructions as if she is in the room with us!

A few weeks ago, in one discipline she exhorted us to, while sitting on our mats, to place our heads on the floor and then on each knee (leg straight), while gripping your toes. She said it was quite a challenging move and if anyone managed to get close, she would like photos. 

Unbeknown to me, the other "younger" mid-sixty year-old ladies, and Estelle (my contemporary at 70 plus years) were struggling to do this.  And photographed the person who was able to do it!

Mmm, one thing about a close up of one's feet, you realize that

 not only your hands give away your age! 

This Friday past was our year end breakfast at the restaurant adjacent to where we exercise. 

But...

first...

We had an hour of exercise. Because it was my last session with the girls, and because of the season, I wore an appropriate head decoration. Estelle was so impressed; she wanted a photo of me to send to Caroline. 

As Estelle aimed her phone at me, Anne said "Estelle, you stand with Jo, and I will take the photo." Then Monique, arriving that moment, said, "You three stand there and I will snap you." I said, "Hold it,  girls.  I'll set my phone up on the selfie function and a 10second timer; we all pose and ALL will appear in the photo." They had never heard of this before but trusted me and we got our group photo! 

We had a group photo to share with Caroline, thousands of kilometers Down Under! 

We certainly enjoyed a wonderful year together and rounded it off with a jovial breakfast!

HAPPY SUNDAY TO YOU ALL! 

Another double walk weekend!

 Dear Blogger friends. My cleaning and prepping at The Bunker  worked out well this month. Guests are already in and settled by Friday, so Thandi and I complete all on a Thursday. I have belonged to the Valley ladies workout class since its inception in February 2019. While I was managing Steve and Estelle's art shop in the shopping center, it was easy for me to attend the hour-long session from 7.30am and then still open the shop at 9am. 

However, from June that year, I started working on the farm for three mornings a week: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays.  I have Friday's free and if I don't have to clean and prep for guests, I am able to attend the class, which on that day of the week, always takes place outdoors and is followed 5km walk. 

Now this is an exciting new place Mum has brought me for walkies!

This past Friday I took Skabby along to the ladies walk. Estelle and I walked together with the boy straining at the leash! When we were a distance from the main tarred road, I let him off and he ran around, joyfully sniffing at all the exciting new smells. On the return walk I clipped his leash on again and when we ended back at the starting point, he happily jumped into the back of my car. 

Me and Estelle after our walk

Estelle and I arranged to me at a cafe in the shopping center for a cup of tea. Estelle's SIL Barbs, is the manager at this eatery. We sat outdoors so Skabby was able to join us! 

Barbs provided water for Skabby. He drank two of these big bowls 

and then lay quietly at my feet while we had our tea

Come Saturday morning, which is Parkrun day, I leashed Skabby up and into the back of the car he went. No flies on this dog. Have walk, I'm in!

Skabby and I restarted Parkrun on 12 August this year. Our time that first day (which was my Parkrun #101!) was 53minutes. The next two weeks we managed to cover the 5km in 52minutes, 16 seconds. Last week in 50minutes, 22 seconds. 

On Saturday, as we started out, I could feel Skabby's bristling energy at the end of the leash. And by chance (or perhaps because of a formal walk again on Friday) I felt ready for a good walk. We finished in our best time since my injury and his hot-spot issue. 

Today we clocked in at 48 minutes. Whoohoo! 

I'm so grateful we have an event like Parkrun where there is no pressure to overexert yourself.  I'm also grateful that after my cracked knee surgery, I am able to regularly walk 5km every weekend. Twice!

HAPPY SUNDAY TO YOU ALL!

Eish...

 ...a nationalized South African word meaning surprise, annoyance, resignation. 

Eish! 

When I use this expression, I tend to stamp my foot in frustration; slap my palm against my forehead with exasperation, 

I never meant another two weeks to elapse before posting. But here I am again.

Apart from my work, I have returned to my weekly exercise classes in the Valley.   After our seven-minute-drop-a-dress-size-warm up- video, we set out in twos and threes to do the Friday 5km walk. 

I find since my knee injury, I am not at all adventurous any longer, no trying to better my time, etc. Fortunately, Estelle walks very slowly and she and I caught up on all the news while we covered the distance. Ironically, this was the FIRST time I attended since the last week in May; and we had a farewell brunch afterwards for our coach, Caroline. 

I know how to pick my events! 

Caroline is seated second from the end on the right of this photo. She has returned to Australia for two years

Estelle is continuing with the classes and to prove that I can attend functions and workouts without the lure of a meal, I joined the girls last Wednesday. It was a public holiday, the temperature sub-zero, but I enjoyed every minute of the exercises. I joined them this past Friday again and will continue to attend regularly, cleaning schedules permitting. Estelle supports my Weigh-Less group and I need to support her in this.

Meanwhile, during July and this far in August, I have had full house at The Bunker.  Thandi and I have cleaned after guests checking out and prepped for the next ones checking in.

 

A perfect 10 and positive review from guests is always appreciated 

Last week I offered to do "tea" after the church service. I supplied the sandwiches and scones and poured cups of tea after  attending the service! No freeloading this time, LOL!

The day before this, I did the Parkrun again after a long layoff. I'd had Skabby groomed and took him along: HIS first time back too. I don't know who was more excited: Skabby being back on a LONG walkies or my friends who had gotten to know him when we walked on my quest to achieve my 100th Parkrun!

The reason why Skabby hadn't been at Parkrun during the hot summer months is that I was trying to get his hot spot healed. Not just a teeny, little red dot. It was a HUGE raw area which took four months and many trips to the vets to heal.

Skabby's left shoulder area which had become a huge raw sore area

His left rump which was also a large painful area of raw skin

To add insult to injury (although it was for his own good), Skabby was fitted with a clone. This was to prevent him licking his wounds. The vets also bandaged his left rear foot to prevent him scratching the itchy areas and causing more problems.

Throughout this whole traumatic time, Skabby never once showed anything but a sunny nature. The surgery personnel marveled at how happy this dog always was, even when his mum brought him in for MORE injections and more treatment. And always he'd greet the vets with a lolling tongue and a wagging tail.

Finally the day arrived in mid-August where he was back at Parkrun. 

Cooler weather and a happy dog with a beautifully sleek coat

 

 HAVE A GREAT SATURDAY

Winter with a vengeance

 Good morning, dear Blogger friends. Winter has arrived. Last week the temperatures dropped drastically from Tuesday. On Thursday, the sun didn't even bother to put in an appearance, leaving us with a whole day of dark grey cloud, drizzly, freezing rain and very cold air.  

Friday dawned. Some of the clouds lifted. And the mountains were white!

The Central Drakensberg last Friday

The same snowy peaks taken from a private property in the Valley

As can be seen from the second photo, the snow only appears on the high Berg and peaks. As soon as news of the snowfall hits the socials, prospective guests from the coast, phone asking that, if they came, would their children be able to play in the snow in garden! As can be seen in the photo above, you'd have to drive to the end of the tarred road, get out and hike at least three hours up into the mountains, before getting to the snow. 

With our warm sunshine the snow soon melts and only the high areas in Lesotho remain covered for longer. 

On Sunday I attended a church service held on a farm about 30 minutes' drive from the farm. I rode with a friend who had asked me earlier if I knew how to read pin directions. I can and she was fascinated that the voice emanating from my phone directed us to the garden of our hosts!

As I normally am cleaning The Bunker after guests and before the next ones check in on Sundays, I don't often get to church. This weekend I had guests staying until Monday, so I managed to get to this service, which had a braai (BBQ) and social get- together afterwards.

Thankfully, when it came to taking communion, we were asked to file past the priest and layman. Although my knee is quite mobile, I still find it a challenge kneeling on it.

Communion with a difference

I'd already been up for communion when I took this photo above. Sitting in the warm sunshine in a beautiful garden, I was reminded of Grant. In 2012, while we were touring London, he expressed the wish to take communion in St George's Cathedral. We visited this beautiful house of worship and read that there were several Eucharist Services in a given day.

I remember filing past the priest with hundreds of other communicants, partaking of the bread and wine.  Grant got his wish! 

100th Parkrun

 Good morning, dear Blogger friends.  For those who have followed my blog for the past six years (since I moved to the Central Drakensberg) will know that in December 2016, Grant and I joined the newly formed Parkrun in Winterton. Grant became one of the regular tail walker volunteers.  I walked with our friend, Ant while we tried to better our time! 

After Grant's passing, I did three weeks of volunteering in his honor. In between I continued to walk my weekly 5km when work constraints permitted.(I was managing the Art Box for friends, Estelle and Steve at the time). During the winter of 2019, I was diagnosed with cancer. After successful surgery, I got back into Parkrun, reaching my 50th Parkrun in December 2019. During the ensuing months I reached 70 Parkruns. 

Lockdown April 2020 put paid to my job in retail as everything shut down. I was offered a position in the farm office, just across the lawn from my cottage. It also banned all sports and Parkrun was put on hold.

In October 2021 the Run Director asked me to join her and the two men who had been timing runners prior to Covid. We uploaded an app on our Smartphones and were ready to time parkrunners (and walkers) digitally from that weekend. 

I love numbers and statistics. In August 2022, I realized that I had reached 70 volunteering stints; I had stopped "Parkrunning/walking" at 70. My 70th birthday was approximately 30 weeks away.  With Skabby as my walking partner, I started on my quest to reach my 100th Parkrun milestone around the time of my 70th birthday, I started to walk the course again! 

At the Christmas eve walk, Skabby had developed a horrific hotspot ** so I stopped taking him along. The weather was terribly hot and even we humans were suffering out there. 

Training at the beginning of February, floods in mid-February, which caused Winterton Parkrun to be cancelled for the first time ever, and my Avon event at the beginning of March, meant I turned 70 but hadn't reached my 100th yet. 

Finally on Saturday 25th March, I was on the track and set out alone to do my hundredth Parkrun. Not far into the walk, I suddenly doubled over with severe chest pains. My friends Helen and Marelize were just behind me. Helen asked if she should accompany me back to the Waffle Hut. I shook my head, thinking IMAGINE having to turn back on this auspicious walk! 

As I stood up and relaxed, the chest pains subsided (turned out nothing serious, a rumbling ulcer😰) I started to walk with my two friends. On the last 400 meters, our photographer, Ann, was waiting to snap me

The ladies in blue and yellow. were instrumental in getting me to the finish line! 

Moi, after my 100th Parkrun achievement, with

Ezmarie, our Parkrun Director 

The two Run Directors congratulated me on my 100th and both said, "Now you can come back to volunteering! "

Don't miss the next post...

Note: ** Skabby is 100% healed. We will be going back to walking the Parkrun again during the cooler months. 

Avon awards in the city

 Good morning, dear Blogger friends. Thanks for the warm welcome back. 

My next event happened not long after my birthday week. As a top seller in Avon, I was invited to a special luncheon at a three-star hotel in Durban. Saturday, 4th March, (my 51st wedding anniversary, to boot), was IT.

Last year in June, I also attended a similar event but made the mistake of driving back to the farm that afternoon. Meaning I arrived home after dark! This year I arranged with dear Gill to stay over halfway - at her cottage in the retirement village. 

As always when I have an occasion looming, I think of what I am going to wear. I have an original saree which Grant bought in 2012, in India for me. I NEED someone to dress me in this glorious creation. While I was doing Weigh-Less training in Pietermaritzburg in February, I passed an Indian shop with several punjabs displayed on the dolls in the window. I tried one on; the young assistants were very helpful and convinced me to buy jewels to go with this lovely outfit. 

Leaving the farm at 6am...

Imagine Jo's trusty car in the lane on the left of this photo 

'The national road between Durban (on the East Coast Seaboard of South Africa) and Johannesburg, our largest city, is always a challenge. Especially to a farm granny like me. It teems with 18-wheeler trucks hurtling between these two cities. Add to this  impatienty driven,  privately owned SUV's who flash and hoot at little cars like I drive. However, as the sun rose, the glittery sequins on my outfit reflected on the ceiling of my car, cheering me no end. I LOVE BLING! 

Arriving safely at the venue, I asked a friendly doorman to take photos of me

Moi, wearing a punjab!

 I met Londeka, my "upliner" for the first time at this event

As a Platimun Avon representitive, I was lauded on stage with several dozen other reps from Kwa Zulu Natal

We were treated to a five-course lunch, bubbly and a gift pack of cosmetics and the latest eau de parfums on the range

Selling Avon for the past five years has been a great source of income for me. Two years ago, Avon initiated a rewards system, which is just up my street. Wave a carrot (especially a financially coated carrot) in front of my nose, and I will go for the highest reward. 

AND I CAN DRESS UP! 

Travel and training

💥💬 Good evening, dear Blogger friends. Thank you for your kind concern for Skabby. He has improved quite a bit. However, I was away from home for four days. Although Thandi used the medical spray and powder on his wounds; Ronnie and John, my neighbors kept a close watch on his condition, I am sure he suffers from separation anxiety. I could see that he had scratched the one area badly again. And being home with him last night, it already improved. 

The reason for my trip away from home was to travel to the city of Pietermaritzburg to recruit Weigh-Less Group Leaders which had emerged from my Virtual Weigh-Less Group over the past year. 

What a challenge and what great excitement! I am a Weigh-Less Group Leader myself. The Chairman of Weigh-Less had offered me a Team Leader position in the company, but I prefer to remain a Group Leader. The co

For the first time in 12 months, I DROVE down the National Road, N3. A terribly dangerous freeway. It is bumper to bumper huge trucks; and being the lifeline between Johannesburg and Durban, our harbor city on the Indian Ocean, has hundreds of sedans, pickup trucks, mini buses and more traveling this route. 

But...

I, a real country bumpkin, completed the journey safely and managed to do what I set out to do in Pietermaritzburg.

I first collected my Group Leader, Dalene from Howick and we travelled to Pietermaritzburg together.

I started training Janda, Carey and Dalene from 9am; we broke for a salad lunch; continued afterwards and completed training at 3pm

Dalene and I travelled back to Howick (30km up the hill!) and I launched her with her first meeting at 5.30pm

I had medical appointments for my annual checkups, on Thursday. I stayed with Grant's aunt, Gill who knows everything that has happened to me in the past five years. She accompanied me to the appointments and afterwards we spent the morning at the shopping mall.

On Saturday I travelled back to Pietermaritzburg to launch Janda's first meeting. We were thrilled that the Chairman and founder of Weigh-Less, Mary Holroyd attended this meeting. 

The new Group Leader, Janda, successfully delivered her first message with Mary Holroyd looking on

I arrived home on the farm at 2pm on Saturday. 

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL! 

HAPPY SUNDAY TO YOU ALL! 

Annual Breast Cancer Walk

 Good morning, dear Blogger friends. October arrived and with it the annual campaign to raise awareness for breast cancer. 

 We here at the Parkrun venue, meet at 4.30pm. You are requested to wear pink, pay a nominal fee and from 5pm we do the 5km circuit walk in aid of breast cancer awareness. 

The local news lady took photos. I was flanked by two friends; the one having gripped my waist (I am very ticklish) and caused great hilarity. 

I did the Pink Walk without Skabby but the next morning at 8am, we were all back at the Parkrun venue, ready for the normal Saturday walk.

HAPPY MONDAY TO YOU ALL! 

I'm still here!

 Good evening dear Blogger friends. Yes, I am still on planet earth; I've been hectically busy in the farm office and with accommodation. 

A happy and healthy 2021 to you all!

Re the Covid suspect: yes, the man's wife phoned me on Wednesday 23rd December saying he'd tested positive and they wouldn't be able come after all.  Thandi and I went up to The Bunker that morning to clean after guests who had just checked out. I had already announced on our Berg WhatsApp group that I now had a vacant unit. The Valley community of accommodation owners and hosts were incredible. As they were getting enquiries which they couldn't honor, they passed my number to the guests. A friend, who is a booking agent,  was on holiday in the Mpumalanga, 1000km from the Berg. Such is the world of technology today that it was she who managed to book The Bunker from 24th through 27th December, Another hostess in the Berg contacted her friends. They'd booked to go to the beach in the Eastern Cape, but... our president had closed all the beaches for the duration of the December holidays. So she convinced her friends come to the mountains and to book with me. They stayed from 28th through 1st January. Via the reservation agency, Booking.com I had guests from 2 January through 5th. A Pretoria couple contacted me on Monday and booked from Tuesday until Friday. And so we are back in business. 

On Saturday when Thandi and I cleaned between guests, I heard her cough - through the mask which we wear at all times. I asked her if she felt ill and she said she had a cough and was tired. By Sunday night her sister. Mavis phoned me to say Thandi was too ill to come to work the next day. I arranged with her to meet me with Thandi on the main road inside the township on Monday. I put a pillow and rug for Thandi to lie on the back seat; we loaded her (she was that weak) into the car and I set off to the clinic in town. 

The clinic hours are from 8.30 am until 13h00 every week day. I paid for her appointment and the Zulu receptionist told me I was No 11. I said I would wait in the car with Thandi as she was too ill to stand in the queue on the pavement. Ten minutes later this same lady came out to my car and said she'd spoken to the sister seeing the patients. And had permission to move us up to No 3! She called me within five minutes and Thandi and I waited outside the clinic sister's office. Within another five minutes, the sister came out, asked Thandi what her name was. Then she asked me if I had paid already. I handed over my till slip and she took us into the rooms. 

Thandi didn't have any of the Covid symptoms (although who knows with the new mutant strain rampant in South Africa!) Her temperature was normal; she didn't have a wet cough; she didn't have sniffles. But she had a bad dose of flu. My payment covered a course of antibiotics, pain pills, and a cough syrup. The sister also administered a Vitamin B injection while we were in the surgery. 

With Thandi lying on the back seat covered by the rug, I took her back to the township. I'd phoned ahead and Mavis met me on the road. I told her that Thandi is to go to bed and stay there until she was well again. Mavis phoned me every day, keeping me in the loop and last night Thandi phoned me. Her voice still sounded reedy so I told her to rest at home and return to work on Monday.

So yes, while it's always hard physical work to clean after the last, and prep before the next guests, I've always had Thandi with me. We each have our tasks up at The Bunker. This week I did it all. Back home I also had to wash and iron the linen (Naturally Thandi hasn't been in to iron since our Saturday guest departures and the new arrivals) and I only have three sets of king-sized linen.

Ergh. It was hard work but I believe it strengthened my character! It's definitely toughened my muscles. 

Apologies for the long  (wordy) explanation, but I had to tell you why I have been so errantly absent. 

The beauty of having to rise early (especially early this week !) is that I experienced several beautiful sunrises.  I share one here with you. 

Stay safe and have a great day

Some reading matter

Good morning dear Blogger friends. It's feast or famine in my part of the world. Not only is the Internet erratic, on Sunday we had power outages as well. Living on a dairy farm, all I had to do was wait until afternoon milking time when the generator is activated, and I could get on with my day.

Never a dull moment. 

Today I want to do a post long overdue. About my reading habits. My SIL, Shelley (who helps me with bird ID'ing) was amazed that I have time to read. I DO have time to read. If I didn't have time to read, I would make time to read.  My late Mum told me I could read when I was three years old. I believe her. I cannot remember a day in my life when I haven't read. 

 In 2014, while living in Tanzania, East Africa, I became acquainted with electronic reading. Back in South Africa while on leave, that year, I bought my first Kindle. It completely changed my life of travel between home in South Africa and home on the mine, in East Africa. Up to that point, I would incur my husband's wrath at having overweight luggage on the plane. Which we had to pay for.  All because I packed enough reading material for three months at a time!

From the time of owning a Kindle, I could slip this compact e-book into my handbag (purse) and read on the plane. And read on the mine. To my heart's content. When one book ended, I'd download the next. 

My Kindle lasted until May last year when in mid-read, it froze. No amount of rebooting it or even letting the battery go flat, fixed the error. It is now a relic from a past life, reposing in the bottom drawer of my desk. 

 I'm a voracious reader; because I read two books a week - averaging 400 to 550 words each -  I need books.  

As soon as I wasn't an e-book reader any longer, I now noticed second-hand books for sale at quite unusual businesses: in the Valley laundromat; at the local eatery; at a used furniture and clothing shop owned by two friends of mine. 

What do I read? I enjoy non-fiction and biographies. I love historical novels; I like suspense and mystery. I like stories with court scenes in them. Of course, I love stories about animals. What I don't read is science fiction and fantasy. 

In the first two months of Lockdown, it was no different to any other period in my life. I read my quota of books. Two that aren't pictured here below and stand out in my memory, are  

Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade
and
Rings by Ruth Walker 

The first was a cleverly written work of fiction depicting the well-known Cold War and famous historical figures such as Stalin and Eisenhower. 

The second was about circus life. A young gypsy girl - pregnant and unmarried - is beaten almost to death by her stepfather, stripped naked and left to die in a ditch. A traveling salesman  finds her and his kind wife nurses her back to health. She eventually moves on to join a circus and becomes a famous trapeze artist. 

Clockwise from "6am" 

Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd - 1344 pages - I read this book a year ago and it took me five weeks. It's an epic bestseller of five families through 100 centuries (not years but centuries) encompassing the whole sweep of British civilization through the story of one place - Salisbury - from beyond recorded time to the present. 

For the Love of a Son - Jean Sassoon.  I cannot aptly describe how well this author writes. This is a true story as told to the author by an Afghan woman and the atrocities inflicted upon her by her husband and later by her adult son.

The Queen and I - Sue Townsend. A spoof on the British Royal Family. Humorous and scarily possible. 

King of Torts - John Grisham. Now these are the law/courtroom type of stories I enjoy. A bright young lawyer inadvertently stumbles on  a horrible conspiracy. He becomes embroiled in a case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Grisham knows the law and depicts it clearly and concisely. 

Elle - Maria Barret.  The protagonist is glamorous and rich and the young head of a prestigious banking company, who is ruled by a tangled and violent past. She's bent on revenge in a ruthless search to find her mother's murderer. 

Pandora's Clock - John J Nance: Believe me; I read this novel in December never thinking we were entering a decade where normalcy as we know it, would be exploded by a world pandemic caused by a deadly virus. 

Taken from Google: Pandora's Clock (also known as Doomsday Virus) is a 1996 NBC miniseries based on a novel by John J. Nance about a deadly virus on a Boeing 747-200 from Frankfurt to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Just before Christmas!  Gripping from the first page to the last. 

Maiden Voyage - Graham Masterton.  Maiden Voyage is about the dizzy flappers of the 1920's on  a sea cruise on the greatest oceanliner of them all!  It's the story of the SS Arcadia on her first transatlantic crossing. Like Jean Sassoon, this author has become one of my favorites. I am always on the lookout for more novels by them. This week I found: Railroad by Graham Masterton.

If the cat fits - Chrystal Sharp. A South African vet's wife relates hilarious and oft sad stories about their pets and the animals they encountered in their profession. She had a follow up book called A dog in my footstep.  She and her veterinarian husband, Dave Hartley were instrumental in the rehabilitation of penguins in the '80's .  She relates these stories in: In fool Flight. Sadly Chrystal passed away in 2015 and the young age of 63. I would have liked to have met her. 

The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall Smith. Google: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith set in Botswana and featuring the character Mma Precious Ramotswe. The series is named after the first novel, published in 1998. 

The author is a Scots male and writes as the female protagonist, Precious Ramotswe. I have the whole series and since February have reread each one in order - for the fourth time! 

I love Jeffrey Archer,  Frederick Forsyth and as recently as January, I reread The Power of One by Bryce Courtney. I first read it in 1994. 

I have Born Free by Tony Fitzgerald. The first time I read it, I was living in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. So  I could relate to all the areas he wrote about. I reread it in February. 

I'm wondering if anyone out there has read any of the books or authors I wrote about above? 

Be safe and take care. 

HAPPY MONDAY TO YOU ALL ! 

Virtual graduation during Lockdown

Good evening to my dear Blogger friends. I'm so thrilled I am online this evening and able to post an extra post before joining Eileen at Saturday Critters tomorrow. And of course, on Sunday, Ambrose annexes my blog page. 

As the sign of the times, today I attended a Virtual Graduation Ceremony followed by a delicious lunch. I was the official photographer, using my Canon Camera although the Smartphone cameras owned by family were clicking around me too. 

Derryn, daughter of the younger farmer and his wife, has graduated cum lauda with a Bachelor of Education. 

 The D for Derryn who passed with Distinction - cake . Sweet little mortar board on the tip of the letter 

 Times are certainly different. If you graduated during Lockdown 2020, caused by Covid-19, you had a virtual graduation Ceremony - at home! 

 Congratulations Derryn! 

 11001 students graduated this year. Derryn, one of these, poses her with her pup, Blue

 Beautiful and brainy, Derryn poses with a bouquet from her boyfriend, Jeremy's parents 

 Derryn and Jeremy

 John and Ronnie, proud grandparents, pose with Derryn

 Derryn with her proud parents, Janine and Gavin

 Janine, newly appointed head of the Winterton Primary School, with Derryn 

Derryn was determined to perform the victory throw which students do together. She tossed her home crafted mortar board into the air several times while Jeremy (using her phone) and I with my Canon on sports mode, tried to get the perfect shot. This was my effort. 

 The victory throw! 

 The table setting was exquisite depicting a graduation dinner, right down to the Ferrero Roch chocolates wearing motar boards 

Jenna played a recording of Gaudeamus Igitur, which she, Derryn and Mom Janine sang word perfect while Derryn cut the celebration cake. 

Derryn cuts the graduation cake 

What a wonderful family I live with!