My Dollie! My Sister! My Best Friend!!!

Hello my lovely bloggy friends

Today my little sister will be going into hospital for a small knee operation!!! I have a hollow place in my tummy!!!
PS: While I was busy writing this post, she phoned me from hospital and she's out of theatre and doing very well!!! Tears!!! Joy!!! Relieved!!! Oh, so relieved!!!

A broken cartilage in her knee was removed!!
This was as a result of a heavy fall while skydiving!!! More than ten years ago!!! Oh my word!!! Don't even want to go there....

I remember..... 
When I was little, my Mom had a very big tummy!!! She told us that she was growing a little brother or sister for us and eventually she went off to have this little sibling!!!! The only problem was that she came home with a dolly!!! A dolly just for me!!!
I dressed her, I fed her, I bathed her, I walked her .... And I loved her!!!!
I remember.....
How I carried her everywhere, to school that was really far, to church that was even further and up and over a very steep hill!!!! She was just so little and her legs always hurt!!! So I carried her!!!! Stockings, makeup and church shoes, it didn't matter!!! ..... I loved her!!!!!

I remember....
She even went on all my dates with me, school and sport events, it didn't matter, she was always there!!!!  Until the very day that I left home as a married woman, I did all of this....Because I loved her!!!!

I remember......
We got married and moved down to Cape Town, over a 1000 km away!!! I was happy with my new life but I missed my Dolly!!!
I missed my family too but I really missed my little Dolly!!!!
Four months later she flew up and stayed with us for the summer holidays!!! She arrived at the airport holding the hostesses hand and with a big board around her neck saying"FIELD"!!! She was still so little!!!  We had such a ball...surfing, biking, swimming, Xmas, cooking and so much more!!! And I loved her......!!!!

I remember....
This was when my dolly became my sister!!!!!  And so the traveling started!!! By road, by plane, busses.....  And with time the separation became a little easier!!! We both got older and we both grew up!!! And I still Loved her....!!!!

I remember....
This was when my sister became my best friend!!!  And after her heart was broken, she stayed with us for a while 'till she felt ready to face it all again!!! In this time she worked for us in the curio shop and boy-oh-boy, the girl could sell!!! Our leather sales skyrocketed!!! She could sell you ice in winter, I tell you!!! And I loved her...!!!!

I remember...
When we started a family and I saw her dote on my children, just like I did on her!!!  And I loved her sooooo.....!!!!!

I remember....
When she met the love of her life, Alwyn and got married!!! I waited and waited for her to become a mom, but it wasn't to be!!! Why is it that the best parents in the world, don't have kids of their own??? Why???Why???Why??? 
So I share my kids with her!!! And they too became best friends!!! And we love her.....!!!!

Today.....
We go on "smelly highs" anything from candles, body and bath products, fresh linen, food and so on...!!! We swing on vines over the river and walk thru knee deep mud!!! We "speedplay" rummikub games!!!  We sew catnip toys for her cats and...Tah-Dah...she sewed it onto her finger!!!!  Really she did!!!  

We love to go coffee shoppe hopping!!! Coffee and cake!!!!  We can spend a whole day in a bookshop lounge or just a quiet day on the bed, reading!!! We cook!!! We bake!!! We laugh and we cry!!! She's my inspiration and she always makes me feel beautiful!!!!
This is my sister, Zennet!!! She's my best friend!!!!  And I love her....!!!!!!! Always!!!

And now she has a loving husband, a successful career, a lovely home, the most lovable "children" and a family who love her endlessly!!!!

Cousin Joey

Cousin Tammy

Cousin Meew

Cousin Wally

So, now you have met my sister Zennet and you know what??!!!!  I am so lucky!!! because I have another sister, Margaret that I love just as much!!!! and in just a few months she'll be turning 50 and then I get to write an ode to her!!!  And then I also get to do one for my adorable brother, year after next!!!

There really is nothing more important than family!!!  Friends come and go, but family will always be there!!!!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend with your family and love them just a little more, just because you can!!!!

Love you all
AMarie

Everything's going to be OK......!!!!

Hello Again

Well, it's not going so well here in our little corner of the world!!!
Hubby has been unwell for a while now and being the stubborn man that he is, didn't want to go to the doc!!!  As always, he  thought it was something that would just go away!!!  I finally managed to get him to go and just as well!!! 
He was diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic!!!  Big, BIG shock!!!  His blood sugar level measured at 31.6!!!  Normal is between 5 and 7!!!  High!!!!  Very, VERY High!!!
He slept the whole weekend and I had to wake him every so often just to make sure he doesn't go into a COMA!!!  
A very bad weekend for all of us!!!
We were both so depressed about this but then one day, while I drove him around (he has double vision - a side effect of diabetes) we were just talking and trying to make sense  of this whole thing, when finally the penny dropped!!!!
It's not a death sentence for goodness sake!!!!  It means medication and tweaking our lives just a little!!! Mainly on the dietary side!!!  No more chocolates!!! We can soooo manage this!!! AND we can do it EASILY!!!!!!!

Luckily he is quite fit and otherwise has good health!!!!  So really, we both have to just stop wallowing in self pity!!! and get on with it!!!!
And we did!!!! Now 5 days later and of course on medication, he's blood sugar is stabilising and  is currently around 10 AND he's doing just fine!!!!  Feeling much, much better!!!!  And so do the rest of us!!!! Happily!!!!

           ....Tablets 2 or 3 times a day......

 .... A tester kit to measure blood sugar levels:                                               test strips, pricker and  a reader.....

and very importantly, keeping a record!!! These get photocopied at each  GP visit and kept on file!!! Here you can see how up and down it's been and how nicely it's starting to stabilise!!! Unfortunately, we only started keeping records a few days afterwards!!! But that's fine!!!
In about a week's time he has to be back at the GP for the results of the blood tests!!!  These test can tell what his blood sugar levels were for the last 3 months!!!
This was a serious wake-up call to all of us!!!
We have been married for 33 years and he just never ever got sick!!!!  I can count the times he had flu or a cold on one hand!!!  Last year he got seriously ill with appendicitis!!! That was the first time he had been in hospital and his very first operation!!!

Here he is with Amber, our very first tiger we raised , inspecting a broken tooth!!!

He had always seemed indestructible!!!
Playing with lions, tigers, rhinos  buffaloes and so many other dangerous things!!!  But it is his love of animals that have led us to living this privileged life on a game farm!!! 

There was something in the bush!!!  A rhino, perhaps?!!

Yes It Was!!!!

But I also tend to forget that he's not a young man anymore!!!
Needless to say, the girls are spoiling him so much!!!! They have been so wonderful not just with him but also with me!!! Thank you, you're the best!!!!!!!

Cuddling with Caracal Kittens!!!!

But you know what!!!  He's still my man!!!  My indestructible man!!! A super hero!!!
              Now just with .... diabetes!!!!

And that's OK!!!!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend!!!
Love you all, 'till next time!!!.....
AMarie

TAH-DAH!!!! Blanket Love!!!!

A very big Hello to you all!!!

Admittedly, there hasn't been a lot of crafting on this blog but, I'm the kind of girl who likes to finish one project before starting another one!!!  Well, OK!!!  Mostly I do!!!  With this one that was most certainly the case!!!
Now, do you remember this beautiful Mother's Day gift basket??!!

I was so excited, I immediately made a granny square block!!!  I just knew this yarn would feel good on my hook!!!  And it called out to me to be turned into a blanket!!!  A warm and cosy blanket that would feel like a big hug when you cosy up under it!!!  I could see the end result in my minds eye!!!

And the little piles of color just kept on growing and growing.......

I added some more colors to the original basket of loveliness....

And started joining long strips of beautiful color together and watched with giddy excitement at how this little beauty grew!!!

18 blocks of 5 round granny squares grew into long strips of beautiful color!!!  20 Strips in total!!! Aah!!! The loveliness just carried on-and-on and-on, and it was just so easy to make!!! An absolute joy to work on!!!
But then.... Then I started on the border and just nothing worked out!!!!

I tried every pattern I knew!!! Granny stripes in singles, doubles and trebles!!!! Shells, baubles and so much  more!!! Even tassels!!! Just nothing looked right and suited this beautiful blanket of mine!!! I redid the border 7 times!!!  Yes 7 Times!!!  And the last round I redid....ONLY twice!!!!

Then I sat down one afternoon and had a look around the bloggy world to see what's out there!!!  I found this block stitch pattern on Sue Pinner's blog http://8thofthe8thofthe8th.blogspot.com/2012/08/block-stitch-and-interlocking-block.html
and I knew this would work for my blanket!!!  I separated the blanket and the border with a round of white, not a color I used in my blanket, and then followed her pattern for a couple of rounds!!! What a great feeling when it looked right!!!  It worked!!!

Then I ended the border with a double V edging found at Jacquie's blog,  Bunny Mummybunnymummy-jacquie.blogspot.com in the same color as the last round and then.....Tah-Dah!!!!!  It was                       PERFECT!!!! 

Early the very next morning I hung it out to take the final photos!!!! And here it is......

                           Tah - Dah!!!!!!

       It's BIG!!!! And I love it!!!!!

A big warm pile of colorful happiness!!!!

I love the way the early morning shade washed it with shadows and a very gentle breeze made my blanket dance with happiness!!! Happy to be finally done!!!

Notice on the close up photo's a little bit of fuzziness??  I hung my blanket out and got distracted for a while and when I finally returned, it was covered in a layer of dew!!!  It was so beautiful!!!  It took my breath away!!!!

The early morning sun casting shadows.....

and here you can see it covered with a soft fuzzy dew!!!

And the back is just as beautiful as the front!!!

Now.....

Some silly blankie facts:

Yarn: Charity DK from Pullskein

Hook size: 5

360 squares of  5 round granny squares

20  strips of 18 squares

27 balls of 100g Charity DK

Measures: 210cm x 200cm

Bed size: Queen

Weight: 2.5kg

Length of yarn: 6291 meters or 6912 yards when all joined (each ball = 233m or 256 yds)

Time to make: No idea at all but every minute was worth it!!! It really was such happy hooky time spent on this blanket!!!

Cost: Priceless!!! How do you measure love?

Colors: 22 All by Charity: Limedrop, Jeans blue, Tiger lime, Apricot, Mauve, Lemon, Pink, Banana, Tropical, Pepper, Cloud blue, Navy, Camel, Silver grey, Sky, Saxe, Wine, School grey, Maroon, Cream and White!!!

         Aaaahhhh!!!! Such loveliness!!!!!!

And so my friends, what do you think of my blanket??!!! Have you made a blanket like this??!!  I know there are so many of them out there but I do think it's one of those that really should be part of any collection!!!

Thank you for all the kind comments on my last post, I really do appreciate it!!!

Hope you're all keeping well and that the weather is kind to you wherever you are!!! Our days are still hot but the evenings and early mornings are deliciously crisp and cool!!! I love early mornings!!!  The short days have really caught me out a couple of times!!! 

Go well 'till next time!!!!

Love

AMarie

SUNDAY TRADITION....

Hello dear friends

Firstly, thank you all so very much for your wonderfully kind comments and for taking the time to visit my blog!!! I really, really!!!  appreciate it!!!!

Today I would like to share with you my nostalgic childhood memories of Sunday food!!! Our Sunday Lunch tradition!!! This is food that will always remind me of home!!! Food that I grew up with!!! On Sundays!!!  Food that makes you feel fuzzy and warm inside!!!  Sunday Lunch was a tradition!!!  Our family tradition!!!  

I will always remember waking up on Sunday mornings to the wonderful smells from the kitchen, filling the house!!! These were Sunday smells!!! Roast chicken with roasted potatoes, 3 veggies, rice with gravy and a baked pudding with thick yummy custard!!! 

It was always the same and that is how we wanted it!!! We didn't want anything different on Sundays!!! We didn't like a change on Sundays!!!! Sundays was always the same!!! Sunday was a tradition!!! 

It was a Sunday morning ritual, getting ready for church with  the wonderful chaos of who's wearing what, standing in line for mom to do our hair, making sure everybody has their bible, psalm book, Sunday school homework, pennies for the collection box and hankies!!!

It was also my job to make sure my brother and sisters keep clean 'till it's time to go, all the while surrounded by the wonderful Sunday smells!!! Filling the house with Sunday tradition!!! And then all you could think of during the service,(heehee!!!) was that wonderful lunch waiting for you back home!!!  

We use to run home and help mom finish off the gravy or pudding and I remember how incredibly happy we all were!!! It was family time and it was wonderful!!! Margaret use to set the table and then we sat down at our little kitchen table, Dad said a prayer and we ate our wonderful Sunday Lunch!!! 

This is the only day we all sat together for a meal!!!  I don't know why, but we always had supper very early during the week!!! 5pm was supper time and if you weren't there for whatever reason, your supper was put in the oven 'till you were ready!!! Dad might have been on a late shift, or my brother was busy with sport!!!  I often had my supper in my room while I finished off my school work, there was always something going on!!! And no wonder, it was still early!!!  

But Sundays we were all there, a family united around the kitchen table for Sunday Lunch!!!
I have tried the roast chicken myself and it's close - but nobody makes roast chicken like my Mom!!! And everytime I smell this dish I clearly remember those wonderful happy Sunday mornings!!!                      

Now I'm going to share with you the secrets to this wonderful roast chicken!!! 
The 3 things that makes this our Traditional Sunday Lunch Roast Chicken!!!
1) Butter, real butter not margarine.....
2) Maple syrup, not golden syrup, it must be          maple and ...
3) Lemon juice, freshly squeezed!!! 

Firstly, mix the butter with some grated lemon rind and carefully spread as much as possible under the skin, trying to not break the skin!!! (Keep some of the butter for the potatoes the next day)  Then mix the syrup with salt and pepper, a little oil, a spoon of chutney and a small spoon of soya sauce. Rub the outside of the chicken with this mixture, wrap in plastic and leave overnight in the fridge!!! (Mom always flattened the chicken and we use to called it a "flatty") 

On Sunday morning all you have to do is put it in the oven to roast!!! When the chicken is done, sprinkle a little lemon juice over and leave to rest!!!! The skin is deliciously crispy and sticky and the meat is tender and oh so juicy!!!  Just before serving, cut a small slit into each potato and top with a dollop of lemon butter!!! YUM-YUM!!!!!!

The rest of the lunch was just as special!!! Pumpkin with sugar and cinnamon, cauliflower with a cheesy white sauce and minty green peas!!! I loved the way my Mom makes rice!!! It's sticky and yummy and then the gravy was always a golden caramel brown made in the same pan as the chicken and potatoes and it was and still is the most delicious gravy I have ever had!!!!

Then there was the pudding!!! Oh my goodness!!! That pudding was something else!!! Warm, cake-y, caramel-y, sticky with a hint of ginger and topped with sweet thick yellow custard!!! I couldn't wait to pick all the hard baked, sticky pieces from the bowl, it tasted like heavenly toffee!!!
Mom has always made this pudding from memory but I am going to try and get it from her, and then put it on my blog in a future post!!!

Mmm, perhaps a post about traditional South-African food!!!  I wonder how different our cuisine really is???!!!

Do you have foods that reminds you of home or your childhood?! Of wonderful traditional family food?! 

See you soon
Love
AMarie 

PS: When my lovely daughter Molly read this post, she asked what I was going to do about photo's for it?? Of course I don't have any of our Sunday lunches!!!! And she very kindly offered to do these wonderful "Clip Art" little pictures and I love them so much!!!!  Even though  they were done in this "Clip Art" style, I think she captured the essence of this post perfectly!!! Almost like she was there!!!!
Thank you Molly!!! They are truly Perfect and I love you always!!!