Day 1 of Month 6

I can barely believe that almost half a year has gone since our arrival in South Africa. And this month has certainly been a doozy … The house renovations have accelerated, we’ve had our second set of Aussie overnight visitors, we attended an online wedding, and – on a not so happy note – an online memorial service.

My dear friend, Karen, died on 12 July. Complications from surgery led to a cardiac arrest and she couldn’t be resuscitated. Her death came a month before her 60th birthday – way too soon. We attended her memorial service virtually and I have no doubt she would have approved of her send-off.

We also attended a much happier online event – the wedding in New Jersey of my cousin’s son, Andre and his sweetheart, Mikayla.

On the home front, things have moved ahead in leaps and bounds!

We had the chimney of the slow burning combustion stove replaced. So we now have a fully-functional wood-burning stove that works beautifully.

We finally started (and finished) the kitchen renovation!! This was prompted by the sale and removal of the AGA. Anyone who praises the wonder of the AGA has clearly not lived with one. The damn thing is a pain to light, stoke and generally live with. And the wondrous heat? A myth!

We now have the kitchen we want, with way more room. And 2+3 and I did it all ourselves in just under a week!

This is the pond sludge green kitchen we saw when we first viewed the house. (And lived with for five months.)

And this is the kitchen we now have …

Even Beating Bertha, my kitchen witch, is happy!

We’ve also sorted out our reading room, which has exceeded our expectations. We now have a calm, inviting space to enjoy our many books (and enough room for the many more that will undoubtedly come into our lives).

It wasn’t all work and no play! We attended our monthly Salieri opera appreciation gathering and watched Donizetti’s fun and funny, “La Fille du Regiment” (“Daughter of the Regiment”).

And we had Russell and Rose from Australia spend the night.

This weekend we’ll have a house full of lunch guests, here to celebrate my first African birthday in 27 years, and Spring is already in the air. Roll on month 6!