It was the strangest wedding ceremony ever! With the poor bridal couple hanging on to the gazebo, and the wedding official hanging onto the table arrangements, it was like some bizarre comedy, and I am sure I wasn't the only guest having a struggle to keep a straight face! But what made it even stranger, was that the gusts would stop for a few seconds, then,  every time when Jan tried to put the ring on Erna's finger, up would jump the wind, and the couple had to grab hold of the gazebo again. After a few seconds the gust would die down, the couple pulled their clothes and their dignity straight, and the official would hold out the ring again. And time after time the same thing happened, and I had the most bizarre thought, and that was that Nina was cross with Jan getting married again, and was trying to prevent the marriage! Afterwards Trienkie told me that she had the same thoughts! Weird!
That made us remember again something strange that happened a day or two after Nina died. We were all sitting in my sitting room, very sad and in shock, when a toy that was lying on the dresser, far from any of us, and that said a few sentences when pressed on its tummy, suddenly said: 'Pickaboo, I see you!' Gosh, we were so shocked, and until today we can't work out how the toy came to talk, with not one of us near it!
After the wedding, which in the end was quite a rushed affair, we all drove out to a wine farm just out of Noordhoek where the couple live, and had a most delicious picnic meal. Erna has a beautiful, caring family, and they are so nice to Jan's kids. I am sure that it will be a very happy marriage.
As the couple could not go on honeymoon at the moment, I volunteered to look after the kids for the rest of the week-end so that they could at least have a few days on their own.
Then it was back to Haarlem, but before I could leave we had another death, this time my best friend Edythe's husband Cliffie. That was so sad, as he was the most beautiful and honorable man ever, and I knew that Edythe would have a hard time living alone, as she is definitely not one for that. So I had to stay in Cape Town till the funeral, which was very, very sad, But they are in their eighties, and had a good innings! On the foto Cliffie and Edythe came to visit me, but the weather was so cold they had to be covered up all day long, and that was mid summer. Haarlem has a stranger than strange climate!
Haarlem was hot and dry, and I found most of my plants in bad shape, and my poor hanging plants quite dead. Luckily I had no veggies planted, so I didn't cry too much.
I was now waiting in suspense for my new neighbor to arrive, and was quite eager to meet her, as, according to Ronalee and the agent, she was a very strange woman indeed!