March Catch-Up

I have been very bad at keeping up to date on my blog, and I like to because it really is a diary of sorts for me and I like to use it as a way to journal my experiences  achievements and thoughts and to be able to remember them and to go back and relive them when I want to! I also refer people to them sometimes if they ask questions about stuff I have done or places I have been. So it's time to catch-up on the past month or so.

The past month has been so busy in fact that for the first time ever I did not specifically commemorate/ celebrate Angelique's birthday. It passed in a blur on Sat 23 March. It was her 15th birthday though. Can you believe it? So Happy Birthday darling blessed baby girl. I still think of her a lot and she is still (obviously) hugely meaningful to me. But there is no sorrow there. Just peace, acceptance and love. We did visit her mountain (Lion's Head - where I have a memorial tree planted for her) the week-end before, when I lead a small group from work on a hike up and down and got this gorgeous sunset shot on the way down right near her tree.

Just after that my parents arrived to spend a week with us. We hadn't seen them for about 18 months and have really missed them, so we were thrilled to have Granny & Grandpa Fraser here. My father is a wonderful father and fabulous Grandpa (although he has decided he is now officially 'grampa' now) and Granny Rose is awesome too. Although we had to carry on with work and school we got to chat, laugh, cook and eat and also went out a fair amount.Including a wonderful day out to Franschoek for wine & chocolate tasting at La Couronne followed by lunch in the main street.

 We then drove back through to Cape Town for a stunning sun-set stroll in Sea Point - the weather was simply perfect that day!

After that we went on to the Fugard Theatre to see 'Master Harold and the Boys'

http://www.thefugard.com/whats-on/item/master-harold-and-the-boys

http://www.capetownmagazine.com/events/Master-Harold-and-the-Boys-at-the-Fugard-Theatre/2013-03-04/11_37_54979

Set in the St. George’s Park tea room in Port Elizabeth on a dreary, wet afternoon in 1950, Master Harold ... and the Boys tells the story of three friends, one a 17 year old white boy and the other two the black servants he has grown up around, whose relationship is put to the test by societal and personal forces. The play devastatingly reveals how racial prejudice, especially legislated racial prejudice, insinuates itself into every social sphere of existence, until the very language of ordinary human discourse begins to reflect the policy that makes black men subservient to the power exercised by white men. As with all of Athol Fugard’s work, the brilliance of Master Harold ... and the Boys lies in that it deals not with political issues, but with individuals, and their struggles for life and happiness in a world that is set up to deny them these basic human rights.

Directed by Kim Kerfoot (you is in my yoga class)

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It was very good, although being a Fugard play was pretty heavy and emotionally draining.

We also got to have a big dinner at my house with Granny, Grampa, my sister Belinda and her 2 munchkins Alastair & Juliette. It was actually really nice to have a full bustling busy happy house.

All to soon we had to bid everyone goodbye and I went straight to an empty nest with everyone gone. Grandparents left to continue their holiday up the garden route and my sister went back to her home and then both boys went off on camp and it was just ME at home. I had plenty to keep my busy though as I was scrambling around finishing off work and making last minute plans for OUR holiday.... 

The plans and co-ordination was rather hectic the visas took ages and were ready only the week we left and both boys came back from their respective school camps on the day we left. Quinn was (alone) on an earlier bus back from his Knysna camp over night and Griffin was being brought back a few hours early from his camp in Stellenbosch by a kind and helpful teacher. I had to be up at 05:30 on the morning to get us all packed, and make sure to get both back and cleaned up and ready to go by about 10am.

But thankfully everything came together just right and just in time for us to head off to...INDIA!