Burglaries, braces and bothersome things!

To cheer me up after the death of Shakespeare, my friend Sarah invited me around for a “cheering up dinner” – delicious prawns and a bottle of lite white wine especially for me – so kind. Johan also made it home earlier than expected so I was not all alone that night as I had expected (kids had gone to various friends).

All started to look rosier until the next morning when we discovered the horsebox door and the caravan doors swinging open – we had had uninvited visitors! All the camping gear had been removed from the caravan and out of the old trunk from University days that I used to store all my camping pots, pans etc in. Blast! Plus - the kids bikes were taken. No cut in the fence so we’re not sure how they got in – and what did the dogs do? Anyhow, thank goodness the caravan and its contents are covered by insurance but there is the bother of having to estimate all the replacement costs – as if we don’t already have enough to do!

Sam had her braces put on, on Thursday – kids can choose the colours of the elastics nowadays so braces can actually be a bit of a fashion statement! However, she really was ion a lot of pain that night and wanted them taken off and “how long was she going to have to wear these dreadful things!” But, 4 days later and they seem to have settled down and don’t hurt so much – she’d got class photo’s being taken today so I’ll scan one and put it on for you all to see.

Lots of rain at the moment – which is good, we need every drop. Even though we have had a lot of rain this season the rivers and dams are still empty which shows that the water table is very low – too many people sinking boreholes and too many eucalyptus trees! So Sam and I spent most of the weekend standing on the veranda doing flower arrangements for the Donkey derby – they are actually starting to look quite good now – at first they looked like a donkey’s dinner!

Am thoroughly enjoying my stained glass classes at the moment – last Monday I finished another panel of Sams lampshade – only 5 more to go and then it will be done – a whole 7 years after it was first started!