AUTUMN

It looks like Autumn is early this year, the leaves are already falling and have been for about two weeks. I first noticed the leaves turning yellow on a potted tree in the courtyard and then about a week later the leaves from the big "Stinkhout" off the patio were also falling. This is about a month early, I hope we are not in for a long winter. The rest of the world has had severe weather, but the weather in Gauteng has been pretty much normal for the season.

I have two Barberton Daisies, one is flowering. They remind me so much of my Grandfather as he had loads of Barberton Daisies. He also had loads of Amaryllis in pots on the wrap-around patio of their home in Kimberley. My Mom gave me some Amaryllis from her garden but they haven't flowered. I first had them in the ground and then I potted them but to no avail. I need to read up on them as I'm probably doing something wrong.

I have a whole lot of cacti in pots at the braai. They seem to love it there and flower with little or no attention.

I stopped working officially the end of March 2010 and had to be available to the company for 3 months thereafter. I can't believe how time has flown, although we have had a roller coaster ride for the last year. Joce and Simon were pregnant in January 2010, Mom was in hospital in January, I stopped working in April, Rich was advised that his position at work had been down graded and he would have to find something else from April 2011, Simon was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus (stage four) in June, Linda, Celio and Alexander came back to SA from Dubai in about July and Liam was born in September. Quite a lot for one family. Simon's illness really floored us and with Joce being pregnant it made coping all the more difficult. Simon is on the mend, he has "chemo" for three days every second week and the last scan showed that the only area still infected are the lymph nodes on the oesophagus. The next scan is in March, hopefully he'll be clear enough for them to operate.

I'm slowly finding my way after working for about 30 years. Retiring has been a huge adjustment, although I do enjoy the freedom. When I worked, I often thought about how much I would get done in a day if I didn't work. Now I'm at home, I find that my days are still too short for all the things I want to cram in. So I'd better get on with it. Never got to gym yesterday!