This and that...

Dearest Friends,

I do hope you had a wonderful weekend? The sun shone and we spent so much of our time outside clearing last season's garden to make way for the new season of planting what we can. Unfortunately this year we were not able to get in as half as much seedlings as we would have like to due to seeds and seedlings not deemed essential on the essential lists that we have to follow here in South Africa. So with a heavy heart, growing winter cutting flowers will not be part of my adventures for now as I had hoped. The last of the light brown/white discoloured rose petals from my kitchen bouquet have fallen and I may only have one or two more cuttings left from our rose bush for the rest of the season. But with this being said, the Calendula seedlings I planted before lock down have one little bud that might open in the next week or so. I am excited for that.

Today we are back to home school lessons. We have had a well deserved break and we are all now ready to jump in and tackle the term ahead. The syllabus doesn't look to daunting this term aside from Natural Sciences and Technology which seems to be quiet involved and may take up more time than normal and probably makes up for Social Sciences being a little more placid.

This morning Rob left for work. He got the call on Friday to say that they are now listed as part of the essential business that may now operate under certain conditions. We are not sure how today will pan out for him as there will be adjustments made to the structure of the company with many being retrenched or laid off. There are certainly difficult times ahead. We thought we would be more prepared for this but last night we decided we may not as prepared as we had hoped for. I'm sure there are many who feel the same way. I am still wracking my brain to help the household financially now since all my homemade soaps and salves and essential oils that I sold to bring my part financially to our home have been put on hold until further notice.

So, for now I am keeping myself busy baking and adding rows to Danika's Lock Down Pull Over. I cast on for it on the day our lock down started. Another panic for me that set in on the day was that I hadn't thought to prepare my knitting cupboard for this time. So, I am just finding bits n pieces of left over wool from older projects. I suppose this is a better time than any to use it all up and pray for the time to come when I can order more so that I can keep the sanity in me through it all.

Last week we had to take Rob's father (aka Oupie) back to hospital. He hasn't been well and when he finally allowed us to call his specialist I was told to get him straight back to hospital and for them to admit him straight away. All his symptoms on arrival pointed to the dreaded virus, although we were certain he didn't have it. He was admitted immediately and tested at the same time. Of course, the test results came back negative. But, due to his deterioration over the past couple of weeks he does have a lung infection and his kidneys are not doing so well. He has now been put on a dialysis machine. Please keep him in your prayers.

This weekend is Rob's birthday. I am prowling the recipes for the day. We will be having a traditional Afrikaner day which will include a braai and all the trimmings. Oumie (Rob's Mother) is getting out her dusty handwritten notebook for me to peruse through for Afrikaans inspiration. It should be fun and will definitely add a little of our heritage to the day.

Thank you for all the lovely comments on our last posts. AND for the lovely emails and encouragement sent our way. We feel truly blessed to have such a caring community here. May your week ahead be filled with glorious sun shine and each and everyone of you will be in our prayers.

Say safe. With much love,
The Pitout Home.