SHED-ing

Hi everyone, I'm SHED-ing. The process comes from a book that Alison gave me. Of course it's a self help book and its purpose is to "shed" all the old useless stuff in your life, physical, schedules and habits. I am going to approach the physical by dividing the house into rooms and taking them one at a time. So far I have done the front sitting room. Before starting this process, you have to decide on a goal to define your new life. Mine is creativity. You look at or pick up each object in the room to decide whether it will fit with your new self. One category she lists which suits me to a tee is bad furniture. I have several examples of that category. I took some half broken side tables to the tip today and I plan to continue in that vein. The most difficult room will be the back room with all the books and papers. I am leaving it to the end so that I can see some progress as I move along.

More pics

This is the lovely young man who took us on a tour of Soweto


Colleen and I in the shadow of Mandela


This speaks for itself


Here I am feeding the giraffe (not in the wild)


Ditto


Now I have posted nine pictures - only 520 to go!!

Pictures

Here am I getting up close with a couple of lion cubs. The full grown white lion was observed from the safety of the car. The zebra were in the visitors enclosure but not close enough to touch. The bats were in a belfry where we stopped for lunch inside Kruger game park.

Back to reality

I was two days back from South Africa and went to an all day Tapping class. Okay, you don't know what that is do you? So I'll tell you. It is a method for dealing with all sorts of problems, both physical and emotional. I heard about it from Jane Frances and was sufficiently intrigued to sign up. Essentially, it is some kind of weird way of defining a problem and then going through a tapping sequence on the meridian points while repeating a version of the problem with the addition of a self affirming phrase. Okay, you think I've lost my mind but I did a round of it on the pain in my right leg that has been bothering me for quite awhile and it had gone away by last night. So there! doubting Thomases. Next I'm going to work on my bad attitude. I love this crazy stuff. I'm even thinking of doing a little Past Life Regression. Don't worry. I have a firm grip on reality; I'm just having fun.

South Africa

Tomorrow is my last day. I will be back in the UK early on Thursday. Too much has happened for me to write about here. I'll do it when I get home and I'll have pictures then. I have taken about 400 pictures. I love my camera. I also love my inlaws. Excellent people. See you soon British friends and relations.

A quick update

I've been here since Wed morning and I'm having a wonderful time. It really couldn't be better. On the way back from the airport we drove around the bits of Johhanesburg where Malcolm had lived as a child and gone to school and university. I took lots of pictures but I haven't had a chance to look at them yet. Yesterday, Eric (Malcolm's brother) and I did the sights of Pretoria and had lunch at his club. Today, we three went to a wildlife park and patted lion cubs and fed giraffe (they have rough tongues). Later we went into the wild bit and saw a male lion with his pride. They were lounging on the grass until he got up and nudged one of his wives who did her wifely duty. He was right on top of her having a go. Apparently you don't see this very often so I felt priviledged. I also got some pictures, I think. After the wildlife park we went to the Cradle of Mankind. This was a superb display of our origins complete with skulls and bones, etc. It was beautifully done and a real pleasure for all of us as Eric and Colleen had not been before. Then We came home and here I am.

Off to South Africa

I'm leaving to catch the bus to the airport in about 1/2 hour. I will arrive in Johannesburg tomorrow morning. Malcolm's brother Eric and his wife are picking me up. What an adventure. I'm not bringing a laptop with me but I think they have a computer and internet so I will try to update. At the very least I shall Twitter.

A sad week

I spent most of the day yesterday regretting that I hadn't gone to my brother's funeral. At 3:30 (10:30 in Toronto and the time of the funeral mass) I decided to take a walk to the local church to have a sit down and my own little remembrance. I tried two churches and both were locked up tight. I wonder if god was telling me something. I haven't believed in a personal god for 45 years - maybe I'm getting my comeuppance. I went back home and carried on with the preparations for my dinner party. Well before the death I had organized for some of my friends to come for a meal and I stayed with this plan. I'm glad I did because we had a great time. There were nine of us clustered around my excellent square tables. Today I'm clearing up and getting ready to go off to Brighton for a couple of days. I want to see A,S & H before I go to South Africa on Tuesday.

Spring has sprung

This is my magnolia tree in all its glory.

A bad week

As I said in my last entry, I had a great day in London on Saturday with Chloe. On Monday I had a call from my sister in Canada to tell me that my brother George had died in the night. Apparently he went to bed on Easter night and never woke up. He had some minor health problems but nothing urgent so it was a huge shock for all of us. Because of my imminent trip to South Africa, I did not feel that I could go to the funeral in Toronto. Luckily, Daniel is going so he will represent the family. If you look at Jane's blog (chairitable), she has a couple of pictures of George when he was much younger. The one of him running down the road was taken at Malcolm's and my wedding in 1971. God we're old. It is a very sad business to lose a brother. He is the first of our generation to go.