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!