To go on with the topic of the working relationship between Ronalee and Bush, and how he came to leave Sheila's service for that of Ronalee. Sheila , a very feisty and quite short tempered lady, was having trouble understanding Bush, who is definitely not the worlds fastest and most enthusiastic worker, and on top of that, he was a dreamer! I watched him many a day, leaning on his spade or whatever he was using, staring into space, a smile on his pitch black face as if he was seeing straight into heaven, while the animals ran riot around him. I have sat outside catching the heat from the first sunrays many a morning, when Sheila's exasperated voice would drift over, shattering the stillness of the morning and scatterring the birds that were giving such a display of feathers and chirps, and I would know that either Josie, the most spitefull of the cows had kicked the milk bucket over while Bush was dreaming, or he had clean forgotten some important duty! One morning I was having my elevenses down the sunny side of the house, when the quiet off the morning was brutally shattered by a bellow from Sheila, and I was still wondering what on earth was going on, when I saw Bush come walking slowly down the dirt road, his head hanging, his body emanating dejection and sorrow. He did not as usual come for a chat on seeing me outside, but sort of skulked into his little house without looking left or right.
I heard from Sheila later, that while she was busy in the kitchen, Bush had to first feed the goats, then do some weeding in the enclosed veggie garden. But halfway through all this, Bush sat down for a wee rest, forgot that the gate to the garden was open, and while he was dreaming about his beloved Zimbabwe she supposed, the goats got into the veggie garden, and demolished every bit of green sticking out above ground. Of her lovely veggies there was nothing left, and they also got to the plum trees, torn off most of the branches, and devoured all the half ripe fruit! That was enough for Sheila, and according to what Bush told me later, she almost clobbered him with a spade!
So Ronalee, a much more patient person than Sheila, took him on, as help was scarce, and as the two small houses that was to be guest houses were almost finished, she was in a hurry to get her garden into shape. As Ronalee was also outside most of the time, she could keep an eye on the big dreamer, and every time she saw his mind wander, she would say 'Bushy!!', and Bush would jump to attention, and go on with his job. It must have been hard to keep on reminding him that he was working, and not on a dreaming trip, and I took my hat off to Ronalee!
Bush was a bit upset with his work at Ronalee, and he told me with a face as long as the roads between the little villages in the Karoo that he had actually to plant and weed flowers, and could just not see that people would plant so many flowers instead of maize! I then understood why he always shied away when I asked him to plant roses or other flowering plants for me!
 This is Irma's house from my side, and I wanted to take a photo of the moon that was so pretty. In this it can be seen how dark it is in Haarlem, and why I still locked myself in when dusk fell!