Maggsbunny

I never thought I would enjoy gardening this much! I never struck myself as the type

I waited all Winter for October, the rose month. I counted each bud that was formed with glee. (By the way, don’t count your buds before they hatch bloom, take it from me).

Last time I counted, they tallied at roughly 150 buds. Probably more.

Then came the hail storm. Some of the bushes were really roughed up. At least the ten or so in pots behind a wall were largely untouched. But all in all, rose-month was severely diminished. Still, they are rallying nicely now, and I expect there will a nice flush at the end of the month, or beginning of November. And there have been lots of nice blooms anyway and none of the plants were irreparably damaged.

I was lucky. A lot of people’s gardens were completely annihilated, with barely a blade of grass remaining. I just had a bit of a setback, but nothing too catastrophic that would break a fledgling gardener’s spirit.

Apparently, the hail brings nitrogen to the soil, so what it doesn’t kill outright, it does make stronger, true to the old adage. The new growth is quite impressive, I must say.

Last week, I did that stint as an interpreter for that young girl doing her grade 4 Royal schools piano exam. I was fairly nervous before, as I’d never done anything like it, but it went really well. It was interesting to sit in on the exam and I didn’t actually need to do much translating as it turned out. I think I was helpful in calming the student down, at least. I joked with her beforehand, and during the exam shot her encouraging smiles. She played liked a star, I think she will do very well. Maybe even merit, I think.

Anyway, I was paid R100 for it. Like I said, I wanted to buy a rose with a musical-sounding name, and had settled on Harmonie – a beautiful-smelling rose of a strong coral, salmon colour. I did a search on the net to find photo’s on Flikr of this rose. I typed in Harmonie rose photo’s which usually yields good results. I  hit enter and hundreds of links appeared, to my surprise. And not only photo’s, but videos, too, which had me flummoxed. I wasn’t quite sure what a video of a rose would entail, but I was game to find out. But just before I clicked on the link, I read the ‘blurb’ on it and made the connection.

Harmony Rose is a popular porn-star. Hahaha. What are the odds?!

But like I told Michael, “Um, I was just looking for photo’s of my rose, hey.”

How was I to know a porn-star would have such a classy name, lol. Harmony Rose indeed.

Yesterday I went to buy my rose. Far from putting me off the rose, I was even more adamant to buy it, since it now had such a classic story behind it and was commemorative of my brief stint as an interpreter

When I got to the nursery, there it was. Wait, let me go and take a photo of it…

And a close-up (courtesy of Nokia N95):

The guy at the nursery told me that they had a huge amount of hail-damage to the their roses. They actually lost the whole lot and had to get new stock.

Michael remarked afterwards that they should have sold those roses at a very reduced rate. Even if they were knocked down to the ground, they were likely still salvageable, if given some TLC.

But the funniest was the way he put it: Kom hael vir jou ‘n special!

I can’t possibly translate how funny this is to non-Afrikaans speaking folk.

And here is the lovely Miss Rose herself (courtesy of Wikipedia). I’ll leave you to decide whether she is as lovely as the flower.

Harmony Rose

Michael says my ‘award’ was spam-generated. He’s probably right.

Do I care?  No

Will I be taking it down? Hell, no. I like it. It looks good on my blog

Sometimes we go visiting my parents or Michael’s parents,  both of whom have dogs.

When we get home again, there begins a sniffing frenzy of note by Beary,  sussing out where we have been and who we mingled with. Of the canine variety. Very interested, sniff-sniff-sniff.

So while Michael was being interrogated by means of sniffing (insniffigated, if you will), he jokingly told Beary, “Yes, sorry Beary, but I have been seeing other dogs – I’ve been cheating on you.”

To which I added (brilliantly), “Beary, your daddy’s been having an af-fur.”

I thought that was really a top-notch pun! But Michael could hardly be bothered to twitch a corner of his lips to acknowledge it.

And I’m always kind enough to laugh loudly and heartily at the corniest of his jokes

Anyway, I thought I’d blog about it so I could get some kind comments saying how outrageously funny that pun was.

(I’ll accept mildly funny, too)

Anything, really. Just delurk and say ‘hi’. That’ll be fine, too

I’ve a good mind to take back the nice things I said about Michael He can be such a grumpy and facetious old boots, lol.

And my temper is pretty flammable, too, when he presses the right buttons. And I somehow get the impression that he delights in pushing those buttons, sometimes. Ha ha.

BTW if you’re reading this on a feed reader, you probably won’t notice the strategic strike-throughs. Suffice it to say that I am not exactly amused.

Are we cross with each other? Why, no. But it is still The Itchy and Scratchy Show* going on ’round here at the least provocation. I think sometimes we just enjoy getting on each other’s nerves. I hope I’m wrong, but it could even be a hobby

Can’t wait for him to get home so’s I can challenge him to a game of table-tennis :-p

It is  not  boring around here. Since his management course, Michael is being even more infuriating because he is practising his new techniques on me ( in a very calm manner, I might add) and it has reduced me to a state of door-slamming pique.

But how can I be angry with someone who comes and wakes me up in the morning to tell me how much the dog enjoyed him brushing her this morning? And to tell me he loves me.

We went to our Tswana evening class last night. We are never in the mood to go. (I mean, who feels like learning a new language at 7pm on a Tuesday night?) But we always end up enjoying ourselves quite a lot. And somehow (through absolutely no effort or diligence on our part, must be some weird process of osmosis) we are starting to pick up a lot of sentences and vocab words. Last night we decided that we are going to start taking it seriously. We are doing a test next week, and the person out of our group of four who gets the least correct answers has to buy everyone else a chocolate the next lesson. (This might have been my idea, lol)

* He is Itchy and I am Scratchy. Or it might be the other way ’round. Our relationship can be a bit volatile sometimes when we are not being sickeningly lovey-dovey, is what I’m saying

♥ you, Honey

Every now and then I have the privilege of discovering some really great music that I never knew before.

M and I have been through many ‘phases’ together. Johnny Cash was a good one. Theuns Jordaan singing Koos du Plessis was a more recent one. He introduced me to Queen when we met and accompanied me on my Queen phase. (We played I want to break free at our wedding reception. Oh, how we laughed, although that laughter nearly turned to tears a year afterwards. Thankfully the song didn’t turn out to be prophetic, as it nearly was).

This week, I have discovered Rolf Harris.

Actually, it is my Granddad Barry who introduced him to me.

Granddad loves Rolf Harris and has been listening to the same audio tape of his music since the late eighties. It is so stretched now that it won’t play.

So I am giving him a CD of Rolf songs for his 88th birthday next week.

I listened to a couple of the songs. Didn’t think it was my cup of tea at all.

Even though I am very broad-minded when it comes to music.

Anyway, imagine my surprise when I listened to the unlikely titled number Two Little Boys and it reduced me to tears. Been humming it ever since.

I don’t even think it was me being hormonal or anything. It is just the sweetest song. You’d have to have a hard old heart not to be moved at all by it.

Then I got hooked by Jake the Peg. I just love the way he sings it. I have it playing in the car and it’s just the most infectious tune. I was delighted to discover a video on youtube earlier of him performing Jake at the Royal Albert hall with gusto. Do check it out, it’s so well done:

This is cool music and no-one will convince me otherwise

Sometimes Michael can really infuriate me. When he is stressed, he has a temper like a stick of dynamite with a very short fuse.

But.

I know without a shadow of doubt that there is no-one on the planet that is more perfect for me.

Seriously, it is quite scary how well-suited we are.

Plus he’s cute, sexy, hilariously witty and, dudes, he can be deep. And, like, insightful.

And clever, the man’s no dumbass.

I miss him. Does it show? He’s been away for three days and it kinda makes one re-evalute one’s relationship.

Michael’s nice. I can take him places. And know that everyone will love him and think he’s cute and funny. Like I told him, it reflects well on me. He was a hit at my ten year high-school reunion.

Plus, no matter how we get on each other’s nerves (and believe me, on an off week that can be about 83% of the time I know he always has my back. Always.

I want to grow old with this person. ’nuff said.

As a bonus, he keeps me in chocolate. He knows that’s all I really need to be happy

Plus, he totally rocks as a co-parent to the chow. (By the way, I’ve had to eat every smarmy word – and there were a lot – I ever said about people who treat their dogs like kids. Although, we don’t really treat her like a kid, just the very much loved pooch that she is. And refer to each other as mommy and daddy when we speak to her which is something else I vowed I would never do. What can I say? Apart from, “Daddy’s coming home today, my poochie-pie!” Ha ha.

I ♥ spending time on my own. I revel in it, actually. But dammit, I still miss my man. Bloody institution of marriage, that makes you feel like you’re missing an arm when your spousal unit is away.

Michael stayed all on his own at the guest house he was booked into. The manager goes home at night and Michael was the only (paying) guest. Not my idea of fun, being in an empty (apart from yourself) house that you don’t know in Jo’burg. M admitted to being a bit nervous.

Bloody crime in this country, making us afraid to go to sleep at night lest we get murdered in our own beds.

I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat myself if I’m alone at night. How I cope with it, is I stay up really late, playing my piano or messing around on the net until I am so tired I just plonk my head on the pillow and go straight to sleep with no anxiety at the odd creaky noise in the house. That’s Beary’s job, anyway.

Last night though, I couldn’t even be bothered being scared or nervous. My newest relapse is starting to hot up and it occurred to me that, if anything, I should be more scared of what’s happening in my own body than anything that may or may not happen in the night.

In the end, I opted out of both and just went to sleep. If I’m going to be murdered in my own bed, I’d rather not be awake for it.

What a beautiful story I came upon earlier, entitled: Will he hold your purse?

I actually thought it would be a humorous  story, maybe a fun little quiz to do about how handy your man is, etc.

Then I read it and had to wipe away a tear.

Michael has been holding my purse (or handbag) since before we even started dating.

Shortly after we met, I went on a couple of dates with his best friend. Funny thing though, Michael was present on nearly all our dates. (Well, three out of the four, anyway).

One of these outings was to the fair-ground at the local show. And when Gordon (the friend) and I went on one of the rides, I asked Michael to hold onto my handbag for me, which he did.

The relationship with Gordon soon petred out as we realised that we weren’t remotely right for each other. And not too long afterwards began the big, swept-me-off-my-feet, romance that only happens once in a lifetime.

And Michael has been holding my bag for me ever since.

Yes, in waiting rooms at the doctors’ suites, but also when we go to the mall and I want to go to the loo. Or whenever the occasion warrants it.

And my heart always gives a little squeeze at the sight of my big, manly man unselfconsciously clutching my handbag for me.

Love is truly in the little things.

Day before yesterday the biggest hail storm in years hit our town. There was so much damage to cars, homes, businesses… sjoe!

Michael and I were lucky. Kind of. I narrowly missed being caught on the open road right slap bang in the middle of the storm. I was visiting family and had only just gotten to Michael’s work place when the storm hit with a vengeance.

Michael tried to park the car in the warehouse, but the gate was locked and the guy who had the remote key was taking his sweet time, so M found the nearest tree and parked the car under it.

Unfortunately, it took a hammering anyway and the paintwork is full of pock marks where the hail connected. It is to cry over.

But some had it far worse. There were cars parked in underground parking that were all but submerged in hail and are write-offs. Others had the roofs of their homes collapse from the weight and force of the hail.

Hundreds of dead birds lying all around town. It is so sad.

My rose-buds (which were tallying in at +/- 150 buds) were mostly decapitated, so the big bloom that I was looking forward to in October (the rose month) will be severely reduced). The bushes themselves are okay, though, albeit stripped of most of their leaves) so I’m not complaining too loudly.

Poor Beary was all alone during the storm. Luckily she was in the house though.

She got her ‘Summer cut’ yesterday at the doggy parlour. Photo’s to follow. As soon as I get off my lazy behind and blue-tooth them from the cell-phone to the pc. (My camera is still without batteries, so been using the cell’s camera).

I just found out a short while ago on the internet that I passed my Grade 7 Unisa piano exam! I am beyond stoked; this was such good news.

It was a bit of a scrape through, but considering all the obstacles I had in my way I am thoroughly delighted.

I prayed a good deal for help with this exam and I believe that without God I would not have succeeded. I truly believe that. My faith can be a little rocky at times, but with this I have no doubt. He helped me every step of the way and He sent me the kindest examiner in the country, who was so patient with me. If I had had an examiner like some of the ones my sister had, I would not only have failed, but would have been traumatised and put off music for life

I feel very, very happy right now. One of my big goals for 2009 has been achieved, which motivates me to tackle the others head on. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and I so have.

It may not be a big deal to other people, but this is huge for me. It represents a whole lot more than just a certificate with the words Grade 7 written on it. It symbolises me moving on with my life. MS may be coming along for the ride, but I’m going anyway. No more putting my life on hold till I feel ‘better’. I feel good enough to live my life.

Thank you to The Daily Reviewer.com for my Top 100 award, in the category ‘MS blogs’.

Thanks also to Lisa Emrich for her Carnival of MS bloggers and the hard work she has done in tracking down all us MS bloggers on the web. Over 200 so far and counting.

I logged onto my wordpress dashboard earlier and noticed that I had 12 comments in the ’spam queue’. Thought I’d better check and see if there weren’t any actual comments in there, and lo and behold, not only were there a couple of really nice comments from readers I haven’t ‘met’ before (saying nice things about my blog, too) but there was a message notifying me of my award and supplying me with the html code for the lovely widget.

And to think I nearly missed it!

I ♥ a good award as much as the next blogger.

Michael is away from home at the mo playing in a golf competition in Bloemfontein. He left yesterday already so that he could map the GPS co-ordinates for  his  Golf GPS, which is also his part-time career, as he agents it in SA. Today is the competition and I so hope it is going well and not raining. The weather forecast said 30% chance rain, so I hope that it doesn’t materialise while he is playing.

Funny thing, but when Michael is away overnight, Beary takes her guard-dogging extremely seriously. She’s normally a good watch-dog, but when it’s just the two of us here and the Alpha Male a.k.a. Michael is away, then she is super vigilant. Don’t know what I ever did without a dog in the house. I feel so safe with her sleeping outside my bedroom door

I’m having a pretty good time on my own. The house is looking nice and spick and span, what with a man not being in residence and all, lol. Picking up all the sports paraphernalia lying around is a full-time job on its own

I have two great books that I am reading. The one is Katie Alender’s book, Bad  Girls Don’t Die, which I have been wanting to read for ages. Katie and I became blogging friends about a year ago and I have been dying to read her first book. Finally ordered it on Kalarhari and I am so impressed with her lovely, accessible style. I’m only a 100 pages in and it was all I could do to wrench myself away from it to have lunch and do a quick blog post. (Well, it was gonna be quick, but then I discovered my award

The other book I am reading is the autobiography of Pattie Boyd, 60’s supermodel and ex-wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton. My mom ordered this book when I ordered mine. She read it in an evening as she is a superfast reader and then passed it on to me. It is shaping up to be such a good read and provides a lot of insider info into the rocking 60’s social scene. I wouldn’t have thought that it was quite my scene, but it is riveting reading! So well written, very engaging.

In between reading the two books, I make baleful eye-contact with my theory of music textbooks, lying neglected on the table. *sniff* Unfortunately, the competition is too stiff for the poor theory books to be contenders in the readathon. A fact I will probably bitterly regret while sitting the three hour exam on October 14. Oh well, Annie is coming to visit on Sunday and has promised me a crash-course and some of her old notes from when she was doing Four-part harmony.

My back is sore again. I think my sacro-iliac joint is a bit inflamed again, actually. Earlier in the week, one of my Crocs slipped in a smear of water (which may or may not have been dog drool) in the kitchen. My foot flew out from under me at lightning speed and I fell down heavily on my left knee and my hand, Luckily I didn’t fall backwards or it would have been a lot worse. The knee pained for a day or two and then it shifted to my lower back. I seriously need to get to the gym’s swimming pool to stretch it out a bit. It gets so tense and sore when I’ve been sitting in front of the pc for a while like I’m doing now.

Just before I sign off, a quick update on the poo situation: Much Improved. (Note: that’s the cow poo in the garden I am referring to, btw).

It doesn’t smell anymore and the grass is growing like there’s no tomorrow. Well, except for the bald spot which was the reason I got talked into fertilizing it in the first place! How annoying.