Bossy looking moody

Me: being more than moody!

..... in response to demands for photos of us ...best I can do!!

Fond Farewells to Finn
How sad Little and I were, to say “farewell” to Finn at Up`s tiny “International” airport, on Easter Monday. An altogether transformed young man from the one that arrived three weeks ago.Now sporting a serious tan and looking strong, fit.& healthy.He had told me, that his stay hadn’t really felt like being on holiday at all…. It had felt like being home. Apart from being a very poignant statement…..and one that still pulls on my heart strings. He was right, we simply slipped back into our established routines of teasing and fiesting, lounging and busying. The boys receiving slaps on the wrists for grabbing at sandwhiches, and my grateful thanks for clearing dishes,& it was all normal and joyous and rather comforting to know that regardless of where in the world you are, and under what circumstances, familial customs and ties hold firm. Finn finally masters the art of "stand up" jet ski ing

The Pied piper of Marchand AKA Moses. [Not sure if “pied” is the correct patterning term though]
“We” are now busy, managing our 4 hectares of vines; they have survived their first enthusiastic pruning, post harvest, and are now being fertilized and sprayed. A reasonably complex process, which involves tables of instructions on volume and types of fertilizer, to be mixed to water. For specific rows of vines, and in a very particular order. Once sprayed., piles of manure are spread around the roots.
Moses has taken on the task of the day to day running of the vines with great pride, and now spends much of his time in the “pump house”, swirling great vats of noxious concoctions, with a sturdy branch, whilst humming to himself in his deep and melodious native tongue. He looks like some kind of Shaman, humming and stirring, completely mesmerized by his work.
If he catches us watching him, he beams one of his smiles and shrieks “Hallo Missus”, waving with one of his vast hands and continuing to stir with the other, then carrying on with his humming, which bounces off the empty walls of the pump house, so that we can hear him all around the farm. .I get the feeling, that he is very pleased with this latest task.
Wherever Moses is, his presence is always given away, by the humming or his gentle deep rhythmical singing…a few days ago, unbeknownst to me, he decided to move his entire flock of chickens off the farm and into the campon, whilst fertilizer was being spread on the vines…apparently this fertilizer is not so good for the chickens, who are normally allowed to peck around to their hearts content during the day…
Whilst mooching outside a few days ago, I heard Moses` singing coming from somewhere deep inside the vines, eventually he strode around the corner of the vineyards, in full song, followed by a large flock of his chickens, I reckon about 50/60, they followed his every footstep, and seemed utterly transfixed by him…It really was quite a sight to behold…He broke the rhythm of his song, to flap an arm in our direction, and shout a buoyant “Mornin Missus”, [at which point most of the chickens, turned and looked in the dogs and my direction as well] then they all pottered onwards, following the chanting of their leader, over the brow of the hill, towards the campong and disappearing out of our sight ,Bongo Bee and I remained utterly static and completely lost for words.
I`m not sure how, but we have discovered that Moses has something of a passion for shoes…not in the Imelda Marcos sense!![ actually, I imagine, that given the opportunity, he may well get there, such is his interest] ,but he does delight in cleaning, repairing and renovating shoes…sitting in deep deliberation, with a large needle and waxed thread, poised in his hand. Moses takes his cobbling very seriously, insisting that all shoes are scrubbed to within an inch of their lives before he sets to work on them. He has re stitched Bossy`s favorite pair of suede moccasins, [that Bongo worked long and hard to unravel,] and all Little’s trainers are sparkling white again…I really don’t want to know how he achieves his results on trainers, but they are spectacular. It may re assure you to learn, that he receives ample recompense, for his shoe fetishism.
He really is a great guy…I have become extremely fond of him, and very often thank my lucky stars, that we have his upbeat, genial & humming company at the farm.

Books , Beasts and The Decent into Hell.
Thanks Amanda!, I read Mudbound a great first novel and beautifully written. The setting of the story ie: wife removed from comforts of refined living, to a mudbound, cotton farm in the middle of no where, ……..rather close to the bone I think! Let’s hope that I don’t make the same choices as the wife!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![Now you have to read it!]
I have several more books on the go, including, Homecoming by Bernhard Schlink, which I very appropriately, finished on our drive back to the farm, from Cape Town. Really enjoyed it…very thought provoking and a demanding read.
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Poe’s: The fall of the house of Usher. Full of overly worked treacley passages, and the author’s obsessive interest in beauty and the bizarre. I keep forging on, on the premise that it may prove inspirational, but have a sneaking suspicion that I shall get irritated before I become inspired.

I found The Divine Comedy,[which I had promised myself I would read after “The Gargoyle” ] & which I had a sneaking suspicion I had on my book shelves. I was right, but its only Book 1:Dante`s decent into hell…I have started reading it, and find that much of the basic story and many of the characters are familiar to me, as a result of the content being referred to so often in other literature/poetry/verse and in common speech. Fascinating….. a very “physical” read [if there can be such a thing].So I shall have to make do with the decent into Hell for the moment, and look forward to finding, “II Purgatory” and perhaps “III Heaven” when next in the UK.
I am looking forward to setting some serious reading time aside, to soak this epic in.
Thanks to Dottie, and coupled with my Amazon purchases, I have plenty more books waiting to be read; I hope that if I ration myself, they will see me through to the end of June, and our return for a few brief weeks.

I have also finished reading a book that was loaned to me by Marica, entitled The Abundant Herds: by Marguerite Poland/David Hammond_Tooke & Leigh Voigt.
About the Nguni herds that I have been rattling on about for the past two posts, and promising to speak something of. So here goes: in as abbreviated form as I possibly manage. You may gather from reading this that I have been developing an increasing regard for these beasts, and having read Marica’s book, I have become even more fascinated by them, and the story of their close association with the Zulu people. Forgive me if I get a little enthusiastic in my account. And please feel free to give me an email slapping when you next write.

Nguni
Nguni`s are a particular type of cattle, that have inhabited Africa successfully for some 1200 years, being of robust build and nature, they have totally adapted to living in the harsher climate of the Northern Cape, traditionally their pastures were the more verdant ones to the East. They are unlike “our” European cows, and more closely resemble the Indian cows, with one very major difference…their patterning, which is truly beautiful.
Great spotted colourful, beasts,who`s individual patterning, is so unique it is like a fingerprint, they can be spotted, splashed, streaked ,striped and pied, a combination of all of these or just a few. In colours ranging from pure white through dun, , yellow, amber orange, terracotta red, a complete range of brown hues from ochre to burnt sienna, to a purply blue/black, again in combination of all the above colours or just a few. Some with and some without the hump on their withers.
Their huge upturned horns and gentle, enquiring disposition have marked them out for particular regard here in South Africa .As they have always been, they are providers of milk and meat, their hide is used for its leather, and hides are used as art objects and displayed for their beauty..Interestingly, these herds remain indicators of wealth, as they have been for hundreds of years. The South African government has recently established support for a breeding program to encourage the increase of pure bred Nguni.
Their origins can be documented way back in the annals of time, but the Nguni are, above all, known for their significance within Zulu culture. For hundreds of years, the well-being of the Nguni herds and the Zulu people have been so closely connected that cattle have become a part of the people's spiritual and aesthetic lives.

The Zulu lived with their Ngunis, herded into a central craal, [circular stock proof fenced area] around which all the tribal huts formed an outer circle, where they in turn, were fenced.
The Nguni were central to the lives of the Zulu, both literally and in every other sense, the people, loved, respected and celebrated the Nguni in a way that recognized their complete co dependence.
This intimacy between Zulu and his Nguni, has given rise to a complex and aesthetically rich naming practice, which has encouraged the Zulu language to develop vivid imagery and lyricism, within its structure.
Apart from the beauty of these herds, this part of the story, I have found utterly captivating..
Each of the uniquely patterned Nguni has a name specifically chosen, and based upon its distinctive markings.
The isiZulu language captures the subtle interrelationship between cattle terminology and the natural world, where the colour and pattern of a hide, or the shape of a pair of horns is linked to images in nature, and forms a unique social/cultural record of the Zulu, of their language, and their poetry.

Here are some of the “names”, some of them so long, that they form small sentences…a bit of a mouthful when you are calling them in…which apparently is done as they are very biddable and respond, much as a dog will do. Incidentally…they are referred to generically, as “Beasts” here in South Africa, as opposed to “cows”…so ,when in Rome!
All names are in italics and in English, as the Zulu is a little challenging.
The eggs of the lark - a creamy coat spotted with fine rust speckles.
The gaps between the branches of the trees silhouetted against the sky - a deeply dappled animal.
The hornbill takes to flight - a dark beast which shows a flash of white beneath its flank when its walks.
What stabs the rain - the upright points of a young steer's horns.
Locust: A black or red beast with white on the back and face
Mole: describes a beast with speckles around the throat. The speckling signifies the lumps of earth thrown up by a mole when he is digging.
Like the stones of the forest: Black,or red with large spots defined by a feint white edge.
Sugarbean : cream coloured beast speckled with red, resembling a sugar bean. Zulu for “Sugar bean” is “Zumba” which is also a great word.
The beast which is a woman crossing the river : the patterning shows red from the head and body to the upper thigh then all four legs are white, the pattern brings to mind the image of a woman lifting her skirts to cross a river.
Like old people: a grey beast tending to white resembling a grey haired person.
Bullrush: Light muddy overall colour without spotting
Beast which has a person inside .White with coloured shape on side that looks like a reclining person.

There are many many more, but you get the picture.
Gerrit and Marica have a herd of Nguni,[I think around 60 beasts] ,I have been lucky enough to find them on a couple of occasions , as they roam the farm land quite freely, often paying a visit to the guests, in the four chalets that are set in the game park at the end of the lake. This is where I took these pictures.

Also some rather random pictures of the departure of some visitors from UP, who arrived at the lake on Easter Monday, in a helicopter. Rather flash don’t you think....but you can see the guest house through the helicopter image.

I was always very partial to walking the dogs on Greenham common, with its resident herd of cows grazing lazily in the long grass and between the gorse bushes, but my experience of the Nguni herd is quite something else. They are very inquisitive, incredibly gentle and have an air of complete assurance about themselves, there is something of the arcane about them ,that is utterly compelling…..Perhaps it’s the heat getting to me…….I have come over all “Cow woman”….[could be my age though]

OLD GEEZERS & YOUNG GEEZERS
Talking of heat…the thermometer is headed downward, as we hurtle through Autumn and head into “Winter”, which is counted in WEEKS in the Northern Cape rather than months!.
Our daily temperatures now range between 25 and 35 degrees, far more bearable than the stonking 47 we hit in February. I notice that the air conditioners are used less frequently in the farm now…I’m not sure if it has to do with getting more used to the heat though.
…just as the temperatures are dropping…the old Geezer, [which was not replaced when they did the renovation works], gave up, over the Easter weekend….resulting in cold showers and lots of pans of boiling water. By Tuesday a team of Geezer boys arrived, and promptly scampered up ladders onto the roof, removing a portion of the same, then heaved up, and in, a shiny aluminum geezer, resulting in more temperate washing facilities…thank goodness.
The raisin coffers are full.
The harvesting/drying season for grapes is now over,Bossy`s raisin coffers are as full as he wants them to be this season, the factory is buzzing and in full swing,running a night shift, in order to process the farmer stock, and get the assorted colours and sizes of raisins “on the water” to their varied destinations world wide. This processing, in the factory will continue from now until November/Dec, with a short break, when the entire process starts again.
Little returns to Cape Town ,and his first Winter.
This Monday [20th April] we left once again for Cape Town. Later than usual as a result of sleeping through the alarm…uneventful journey save for my observations of the “green desert” and even more animals grazing…I spotted: ostrich, springbok, baboons and small creatures who look like stoats, some are rusty red and others are black, also some Dassies, these are like very furry and rather large guinea pigs. They live in rock outcrops and in my opinion are rather sloth like, and not particularly attractive.
Once in Cape Town, we made a hasty dash to the school uniform shop to equip Little with some Winter uniform and a new pair of rugby boots…unsurprisingly the school uni shop does not stock size 12 rugby boots [very scary indeed!],so we hotfooted to one of “ the big five” shopping malls, where we secured a pair of suitably enormous boots to fit this twelve year olds, gigantic feet.
After a rapid name taping session in the comfort of the hotel room, we drove a very nervous Little to school for 5.00 pm, where we helped him make up his bed and fill his cupboard with new uniform….matron now leaves us to our own devises, instead of spinning around us like a whirling dervish, which makes for a far more gentle departure…nevertheless, it was one where I fought to stifle my tears, and swallow down the huge lump in my throat, trying hard to avoid making direct eye contact with Little for fear of setting him off ….as usual he was suffering from dreadful tummy gripes. All this, coupled with ample slaps on the back, and bear hugs from Papa, along with his vociferous encouragement for the school team rugby trials which take place tomorrow. Such is the schools [and nations] fervor for the sport ,they customarily roll out teams A through D .Those of you that know Little, will know that he really doesn’t posses the aggression generally associated with Rugby…this does not hold any sway with the several rugby coaches, who salivate at Little`s bulk, and are keen to get him into the serious winter rugby training program, that all team members HAVE to be involved with.
Despite offers of supper out in Cape Town, I declined… feeling out of sorts, and Bossy and I, availed ourselves of room service and hit the sac early. After several meetings in Cape Town the following morning that ran over, we left late, which meant that the last third of our return to the farm, was in darkness, which neither of us relish. The only highlight of our return was the tremendous greeting we both received from the dogs, who were beside themselves with joy at our return. Bongo…. who is fast catching up with Bees height, cannot understand why he can no longer run underneath her tummy. It was very funny to see him trying to career around the kitchen with her [not diminutive weight] straddled over his back, and her flailing around in a desperate attempt to grab hold of some firm footing during the piggy back ride she was unhappily a passenger to, around the kitchen

Fruits of the farm
I have begun to measure up the back garden, in order to plot it on graph paper and begin to make some sense of it and decisions about its long term layout. There is currently a rickety chicken wire fence that stands about 7 meters beyond the end of the pool and the braii room, this fence stretches out, either side for around 150 meters and then drops at right angles away from the house and down a small incline,for another 100 meters, with a similarly rickety fence running parallel beyond, forming a small craal, directly behind the rear outlook of the farm…the craal, has an old cement watering hole, and the entire space is currently used by Moses when he wants to contain his chickens. Bossy has long term visions of stocking this area, with a few Springbok., but in order to do this we need to carefully reconsider the entire fencing arrangement. I have a feeling that the rather bare crall,which is mostly rock face, will have to be covered in top soil and planted with grass seed ,if we are to get Bokkies to graze happily …another task for the “To do list”.
The back garden is currently the thin stretch of sand that lies between the edge of the pool,and beyond, to the boundary of the craal fence.
Far beyond the house, but within this “back garden” are four or five uncared for orange trees [I didn’t realize that orange trees had thorns….. and they do, very spiteful ones about 2 inches long!]. As I was measuring yesterday, I realized that oranges were ready for the picking and collected a basket full of them…with intention of squeezing them, and freezing the juice. Having been left to grow semi wild, they are all gnarly and not very tempting to eat…so this year they will be juiced….when they have finished fruiting, I have the promise of some expert pruning help, so maybe this time next year, we will have some large ,edible oranges.

Not oranges..but neverthe less "Fruits"...from our randon rock collecting around the farm!

Anyway…back to the garden. Stretching out from these citrus trees to the craal fence is a portion of good unused ground, the builders tended to use this as their dumping ground…this is where I plan my raised vegetable beds…four of them to start with. We have a great deal of work to do here before we can even consider planting. Hence the layout, to see exactly how the land relates to the house.
To my great surprise the development of my seeds is giving me the most immense pleasure…Taz, your peppers have finally germinated and the entire herb garden, begins to look as though something is happening…..Moses, is very amused at how dedicated I am to it…standing for periods just inspecting the growth of my seedlings….he smiles and sais “Its alrrrright Missus” [with that curious rolling “R” that they do here], then I realize that I have been looking for rather a long time at them, and slope off feeling a tad embarrassed.

Vestiges of my days at Klinkenberg UK Ltd and the delights of HM revenue & Customs.
For the past few days I have been trying to pin down the report and accounts for Klink UK..no mean feat since its being done from afar now. Our UK accountants and Companies house for that matter, just cannot grasp the fact that we are now in the middle of the desert and have NO access to FEDEX or DHL in order to get urgent signed docs back to the UK. They guffawed, when I explained that the requested documentation was being handed to one of our lorry drivers, who having trucked 20 tons of raisins to Cape Town harbour,[a 10 hour trip] ,would hand documents over to our freight forwarders, who would then use the services of FEDEX and send them onto the UK from Cape Town…..they commented that it sounded much like the “pony express”….They are right…all other forms of communication are up to the mark here…but to get original documents at speed …..Anywhere [even within SA] requires a little ingenuity.
On this note, I have to just mention something that has amazed me and restored a little faith in “the system”
In order to support Finn with his student loan, I agreed to be means tested by LEA. They had been chasing me for months in England without my being aware of it [our post gets collected for us by the lovely Tony & Inga, and I collect it when I am back in the UK].
Anyhow, the LEA, had become so understandably sick, of my lack of response, that they had simply stopped Finns loan [YIKES!] at Easter. Mercifully Finn was with me, when I opened the rather depressing group of letters from LEA…we both looked at each other and did synchronized screaming ……AGAIN!, then calmed down…not to be defeated, I made a note of what was required and contacted my Tax office on 14th April, someone there, noted my request, explained that it was not a problem, nor indeed was it a problem to send this document to South Africa. Yeaahhh right, was my inward response! And to expect a statement in due course. I sent a cautionary email to the LEA, explaining what I had done and asking them to “bear with me” for a period of 8 weeks.
Today the statement from HM Revenue & Customs in the UK, arrived on Bossy`s desk…only 9 days after my telephone conversation!!!! AMAZED OR WHAT! It has been scanned and emailed off to the LEA and I hope that Finn will be able to eat within a matter of days!!!!!!

Goodbye for now
Sending much love to all, very special Birthday thoughts for Dottie.And a big “Happy Birthday” to Hen.
Pam, I hope that you are gliding around, in a pristine new kitchen space.
Lots of love and wishes of strength to my sisters [painful anniversaries this month]. Jane….are your results out yet ?and Taz, I know it still hurts, but good news there is no lasting damage to your back!
Huge cuddles for Jelly who is now deep into revision mode ..and I know will be at the stage of drinking coffee whilst sitting half way up the stairs.5 more weeks’ darling.
To Tommy, well done for standing firm with your bosses and good luck with your surgeon!!!!!!!!
To Little, work hard and stay happy, and to Finn…well all I can say is…….happy eating!!!!! And good luck with the exams.
As always huge thanks for all the great emails and calls and letters, I really would be bereft without them. As for Skype ,I cant sing its praises highly enough...great to talk with "Family Hall"..lets hope our comms are better next time..same goes for Viki!!!!!
I do feel somewhat errant this month, for not being in such good contact with everyone, but hope I am forgiven ,as a result of having the house a little busier than usual.
Kisses on the Lips for everyone!!!!
DawnXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

PS: Loops and Di, I emailed the lady from Cape Town uni…[despite trying very hard to make the missive unstalkerish]….. she HASN’T emailed me back!!!!!!