Had a busy morning chasing cows! in Haarlem of course nobody except  Sheila keep their animals in some kind of a camp or some such thing, and this sometimes result in the animals breaking the fences if it is not strong enough, But this time a big herd of cows came through the river again, and when I got up they were munching away on the peach blossoms that they could reach.
So, even before I could wake up with a cuppa, I had to don my outdoor shoes, that being a pair of platform step-in swede shoes that had seen better days, and are now used outside, because on days like this day, time to sit and fasten laces may result in big losses! Actually, my shoes are not that old, but I had bought it on a hot day when my feet were a bitty swollen, with result that I now have to wear them with thick socks, otherwise my feet slide forward, resulting in my toes peeping out so far that they actually touched the ground! As I can't go to town with step-in shoes over thick socks, I now use them outside, and feel that at least they were not a waste!!
This herd of cows are quite cheeky, and I don't blame them for not wanting to leave, as it was very dry up to now, and as the owners do not feed them a bit of extra hay or so, they are always hungry, and looking for a place to raid! So I was running around like a bally mad woman, as the herd had, I think, a quick talk, and decided that as there was no other human in sight, they would resist being thrown out. Luckily for me the cheeky young bull that gave me one terrible fright before, was not with them today, probably slaughtered and eaten by now, so I was not at all scared as I raced from one fruit tree to the other shouting abuse loudly and angrily, as I was never at my best before I had my coffee! But the beasts just neatly avoided my rocks that I threw at them, and laughed, I thought, at my attempte to chase them off.
In the end I resorted to the hose again, but for that I had to run all the way up to the opposite fence to open the irrigation water, as that was very strong, and the cows usually leave after a good squirt, I think it must have hurt a bit. But all this is hard work, as the heavy irrigation pipes had to be dragged all the way down to where the cows were, and only then could I open the hosepipes connected to them.
So by the time I had made my coffee, I had just enough energy to creep down to my wee lean-to, where I sat slumped, too tired to quite enjoy the beautiful songs my birds sang to me!
Then I saw a big, overgrown snail gnawing at one of my almost ripe strawberries, and I got so cross, I chucked it in a bowl of water, as I had no beer to drown it in!
So now I couldn't really enjoy my coffee as I should, as my mind was racing like a mad thing, trying to remember where I had put the little calico squares that I used the previous year to tie around the ripening strawberries!
Must say, Haarlem is just not the easiest place to try and be self sufficient, as between cows, and moles, and pigs, and snails, and goats and horses, and donkeys, and the owners of the life stock, you just need a lot of guts!

It is now three weeks since Bush went to his home country which is Zimbabwe where the headman of his tribe had died, and he had to go home for the funeral. Africa still has the forefather culture, and the people believe that their lives are guided by them. So of course sending a dead person off on the trip to meet his forefathers is very important, but it does not help me with the onions!
This crop needs a lot of hard work done in the weeding side, as the weeds that was dormant untill now, had decided that the onion fields are just the right place for them with lots of manure to feed on! I had now sat on my knees weeding for two days, and I am not even half way through. Because of all the weeds the onions do not grow as it should, and will now not be ready for another six weeks, if ever.
I am also cross with bush, as the last ones that he planted out will never be able to form onions, as he did not remove the stones before planting them. As we live on the foot and between two mountains, there are a lot of stones in the soil, and as this is just about jam packed, nothing can grow inbetween them.
But I have reason to smile, as my broadbeans are doing well, and I have already harvested quite a lot. Today I saw some of the plants were wilting, and found them riddled with aphids, and all the beans on them black and underdeveloped. I powersprayed them off, that is after I gave them a good dose of washing up liquid and left it for an hour. Hope that it did the trick, but I couldn't see any after the water spraying.
I am now doing with the broadbeans as I have so far done with the cherry tomatoes, and that is, I shell them and also freeze them in a plastic container, That way, like with the tomatoes, I just take out a handfull as needed, and hope that it works as well as the tomatoes!
The little Emil is now so very cute, and I sometimes feel very sad thinking that he doesn't have a mother to appreciate all his antics. But his gran and Berty his nanny make up, or rather try and make up for the absence of a mother, and as he is a happy, outgoing child, I think we are not doing to badly!
I am so amazed at my son, who, after the initial shock, just took charge of the kids, that is the two older ones, but now Emil is mostly sleeping at his own home, as we don't want him to feel that he has no place there, but that my house is where he belongs! So now Jan has full charge, and he is coping so well, and the fact that he had met Erna, who is just perfect for him and the kids, meant that I can now relax in the thought that all will be well!

I know now how tap dancing was first found out! It is all about moles! To my thinking, way back, somebody's garden was as riddled with moles as mine is at the moment! Every morning nowadays I walk up and down inbetween the veggie and onion beds, as well as my flowers, shrubs and young trees to flatten the creeper moles's little tunnels that criss cross all over the place, leaving the poor vegetables with no soil around their roots.
So, to the amazement of the village folk, who stand gaping at me as if I was some strange animal or some such, I do the mole dance. Every morning of my life! This is done as follows: resting your weight on one foot, the other one's toes are used to flatten the little tunnel, then you go over to the heel, and this is used to trample down the soil good and solid! So I call it the mole dance, as it is, toe, heel, step- toe, heel step, until the end of the tunnel, where a neat turn is made on the stepping foot, before starting off down the row again, this time doing your wee dance the other way round! So that is why I think that long ago, another irate gardener, good and solidly tired of moles ruining his crops, did the same kind of thing, and ho there, tap dancing was born!
It is really a problem, and so far I had not murdered one of the critters with the chappies bubblegum, but had not yet started to dispair! It is early days yet!
One thing that is a tiny bit in the moles's favour, is the fact that as they move into some really hard clay soil, it doesn't take long before they have worked it into a soft and useful piece. If only they were not so destructive, one could use them to plough your land! Lol!!! But really, they could be beneficial. Another thing that struck me about the moles, is the fact that where they are at their busiest, a large number of earth worms are concentrated. I know that they eat earth worms, but now I have started to think that maybe they kind of culture the worms for their cullinary pleasures, as the worms just get more and more, instead of their numbers falling, and this is always just where there is a large concentration of moles1
Jan is still intent of moving, and his house is getting emptier every week, as he packs the car to full capacity with boxes, and some of the smaller furniture pieces. And every time they drive out of the gate, I get a little sadder, as I knew that it wasn't long now before they would be gone forever.

 Erna is such a nice person, and the kids just adore her, and she also have one child, a girl of five, who is a lovely little thing! At least we now have a little girlie also!

So, with the bally pig contained somewhere, as nobody now of course had a pig escaped during that night, and all the halfdead nuzzled out onions planted out, I am not altogether a very happy woman! My back feels as stiff as a ramrod, my face is fried like a half done steak by the hot sun, and my vocabulary had increased dramatically this passed few days! A woman can only take so much, and this woman had reached that stage, and from now on I will shoot every strange animal on my land! Ha-ha!!
But really, between the moles, the peacock, the pig and the cattle, I thought that things would from now on stabilize, as I am pretty accurate with my catapult, and the poor old peacock walks around keeping a wary eye out for any flying stones coming its way! Now a new hazard had appeared, and that hazard was Sheila's chickens! I do not worry about Danny's flock of small, midget like chickens that scratches around my veggie beds, but this things that Sheila had now aquired are like bally monsters, with huge red belle hanging from their ugly heads, and feet like a dinosaur's. On top of that they have shifty eyes, and when they come onto my property they kind of walk sideways, watching me warily through that cold round eyes!
But I soon showed them who was the boss around here, as I nearly had a fit when I looked out of the window and saw this troupe busily scratching between the onions, the ones that I had just replanted, and onions flying in all directions! I bellowed like a soul in torment, and ran for my catapult! Like a thief on a mission I skirted the house, and then made my way slowly to the clump of shrubs close to where the invaders were scratching and clooking merrilly! My first shot was one mighty fine one, and I saw the big red cocky cockerel take to the air like a fighter jet, while the other stood looking foolish, so I took aim, and my stone must have hit one of the others, as they all started cackling, and then stuck their necks out, and pulled their wings back, and legged it to the safety of Sheila's plot! I was furious! After two cups of strong coffee, I donned my working jeans, and started rescuing the poor onion plants for the second time!
The war against the mole are still going strong, and although Ronalee had two dead ones after feeding them chappies bubblegum, I had no such luck. I spent a whole morning lifting rocks to find the holes of this little critters, and stuck bubblegum into every one I found, but so far I had no luck! No dead mole to make me smile!

I was feeling so sad, as Jan had now decided to definitely move to Cape Town, as it was just too difficult with his work and the kids, as he had to go to Johannesburg a lot. As we have no other family close by, it does pose a problem when I am away.
So, every time he goes visiting Erna, a few boxes goes with, and I cried a wee bit! But that is life!

There are fools, and there are fools, and I am one of these! And all this because I have with time became just a wee bit hard of hearing, and not only that, I have also lost my ability to extinguish words when on the phone,
When Irma, my eldest and Karel, her Belgian hubby moved to Belgium, they didn't sell their house, hoping to come back one day, but in the end they decided to sell, as they want to buy a house over there. So one morning Irma phoned, and asked me whether I could go and remove the furniture that was still inside, only a few pieces, and store it, as they would like to ship it over to Belgium later. The house had been sold, and the new owners wanted to start renovating, so Louise, my friend, said that she would take me, as she has a small truck, and Johan, another friend who lives just around the corner from Irma, said we could store the stuff with him. All good and well. But what I did not know was that the new owners had brought some tools and a ladder, and also some plumbing pipes, with the result that I thought everything belonged to my kids!
I gave to the neigbour's son, who came to help load, a few things, but decided to take the ladder to my house, thinking that it was Karel's.
A few days later Johan phoned, but with my hearing problems, and Johan's kind of mumbling talk, I only heard something about a ladder, but did not take much notice. Then Johan arrived for a visit, and he said that he would take the ladder to the new people, as they needed it badly. I was up in arms immediately, and said no, they could have it after Jan had fixed my roof! Johan left with a few snorts, and rolling eyeballs, and I thought, 'what a bally cheek!'
Then on Sunday my granddaughter Kristani came to visit with her hubby and baby, and she asked whether I had given back the ladder. I sat up straight, ready for battle! Told her that I would lend them the ladder when I am good and ready, and Kristani burst out laughing, and told me through some heavy outbursts that the ladder belonged to the new owners, and they had been to see her, and asked her to try and get the ladder away from me!
Oh good heavens! I phoned them on the spot, and begged a thousand pardons, and explained all, and luckily they saw the funny in the situation, and laughed too.
Kristani then fixed my voicemail that went a bit haywire, and I listened with a very red face to the guy's pleading with
me to please give back their ladder!!!

Dark clouds are forming around me, as Jan was now very serious about Erna, and was talking about moving to Cape Town as soon as the children's exams were finished! My heart was aching, as I knew that once they move, I will not see them enough, as it is too great a distance away. But life goes on, mine as a rule flowing gently like the river down under the huge Poplars, but this last almost two years it had a few rapids for me to navigate.
However, I still had to live my own life at haarlem, and between all the hazards, there is luckily not too long a lull in the everyday run of things for me to worry too much about things. Berty, Emil's nanny, is trying hard to convince Jan to take her along to Cape Town, but I was nagging him not to, as once there, there would be no-one to keep an eye on her, and as I had caught her a few times now neglecting Emil, I was not keen at all about her going with. Here I am always at the alert, after the first time she left Emil in the cot, and walked down the road for a visit with Danny's wife. I went over to see where the baby was, and found him screaming his poor head off! She stayed away for over twenty minutes. We had a good talking to. Then one day while Jan was in Johannesburg, I went over to see how Emil was, and could hear him scream, but the door was locked. After I almost broke the door down, Berty opened the door, and I found that she had pulled a chair in front of the tv, and sat watching the screen with her back to the child, who was again standing in the cot!
I told her then that this was the last time she kept Emil cooped up in the cot, and if I come over and found she did it again, I would ask Jan to let her go!
It went better for a while, but I found her too lazy to play with the child, and also lazy too cook vegies for him, so I did that.
I am such a ninny! Two weeks ago the person running a Saterday market, once a month, in de Rust, a thriving little town with a lot of tourists passing, asked me to bring a few paintings and also bags, and take a stall there. So for two weeks I worked till midnight, as during the day I have a lot of gardening to do, and also had to replant the onions, And as old Murphy's law works, Every close by friend had to come and visit, The visits were lovely, and I made lunches, and lots of coffee, but it did nothing to promote the making of bags, or painting.
So on Friday evening I phoned Niekie, the organiser to hear what time I had to be there for him to show me the ropes, and he laughed so raucously that I was going to be annoyed, but had to laugh with when he told me that the market was only the next Saturday! I was so glad, as the onion planting had taken all strength from my body, and I was not really looking forward to trying to make people buy my stuff!

And here I am now, sitting with a koue lappie (cold cloth) on my forehead, every muscle in my poor back as stiff as a bally stick, my hands rough and my nails black, and my patience at absolute zero! I have been replanting onions for the last two days, and as I had decided to replant them inside my home enclosure, very scared of the moonlighting porker, I had to first get the soil ready and fed with cow manure. I am now absolutely finished with Bush, who gave the havock one look, and told me that he can't help to repair the damage, as he was off to Zimbabwe for two weeks.
As it was his idea that we plant onions, me giving the land and pay for everything, while he would do the work, I am really upset, as the onions should have been ready by mid October, but there was still about a thousand seedlings, gone all brown as a result of them too big and of course having been sowed in clumps. So while I was busy, I planted that out as well, and Bush will get a nice surprise when he came back, as he would definitely now not get half of the profits. It is very hard to understand the workings of this people's minds, as to me they just have no ability to be responsible, for I have been cross so many times this past few weeks, when I found the onions all dry and droopy, and then I had to do the watering. Bush would then just waltz in here after an absence of two or three days, and put the sprayers on for a few minutes. That is not enough, and as the sprayer can't reach all the onions, I have told him to use the hand watering gadget also, so as to get to all the plants. But that is also not done, and I found that a lot of the seedlings had given up trying to survive under the hot sun, without water!
He is now talking about the potatoes that we are going to plant, but I have decided not to do it, as potatoes need a lot of work, and he is just too relaxed about everything. I am now finished with helping people, as it had never before worked out, and I don't suppose it ever will!
But, all is not dark and gloomy, as I had just made myself the most delicious pud I had ever tasted! Oranges are very cheap this year, as the farmers could not export their crops, there being a kind of black spot on the fruit, so the Euro lot had decided that they would not allow it to enter Europe! But we are having the benefit of that, and for the first time in years we have some super and cheap oranges. I had to think of something to do with it all, as I got two bags as a present! So, I pricked the skins of a few, then boiled them until the skin was tender, after which I cut them into thick slices. I then bottled most, but got a splended idea, and hoped that it would turn out well.I sprinkled the slices with sugar, the fried it in butter until the sugar had caramalised, and with a dollop of icecream, and a chocolate sauce, I enjoyed a most delicious pud!

To grow anything, and get it to maturity, is maybe the biggest miracle ever! That of course is in Haarlem! I have now taken care of the moles by feeding them chappies bubblegum, the peacocks, cats, and other sly beasties have now I think realised that I wasn't having a play hour with my catapult, specially the poor peacock, who kind of leave very fast and very noisely on seeing me take aim!
I have not had any dead moles yet as a result of the latest sure to kill bubble gum diet I am forcing on the moles, but Ronalee already found two dead ones! That is a small miracle, as in all this years we never could find one of this creeper moles, and I don't even know what they look like. Well, I am full of hope that after one or two died the others would take the hint and relocate!
But, now I am again in a state of shock and horror! I woke up by grunting noises outside my window, that is at four in the morning, to find the big white and brown pig nuzzling up the soil in one of my flower beds. I had it in my place the previous day, but then it was content to eat the acorns, and I couldn't get it to leave, me of course being scared after Kevin bacon, Jan's pig bit me, but it then it was content with eating the acorns, so I left it, and later it left on its own accord.
So at four in the morning, with a cold clammy mist covering the earth, I went out to see where the pig got in again, as I had closed the gate and secured it with some wire also, as the new gate that Danny made for me was waiting on me to put on a gadget to lock it! I tried to shoo the pig out by making the strangest and most scary noises I could master, but this thing was as friendly as my best friend, and came galloping at me grunting happy goodmorning wishes, but I took to my heels, the marks on my thigh from Kevin's teeth strong in my mind! Pig must have thought it a before dawn game as he followed me until I was safely inside my house!
When the first rays of sunlight started to chase away the mist and the darkness, I had already had two cups of coffee, and looking out I saw that the pig had left, I suppose to sleep off his nightly kapperjolle, so after checking that all was back to normal, I went out to see what the pig had done. I cried! And cried! All my young trees and shrubs that I had planted during the week were nuzzled out of the ground, as the pig supposedly looked for earthworms, or maybe he was after the bonemeal that I use when planting.
But that was nothing to the shock on seeing my onion field! About half of the beds were completely destroyed, the soil having been nuzzled up, leaving a scene of utter devastation behind, and I got completely hysterical, thinking of the beautiful plants that stood so beautifully the previous day, and all the hard work, and money that went into getting it thus far!