Almost

After quite a lot of socialising this weekend, today I am taking time out to prep my term plan for next year and wrap Christmas presents. I also will carry on with water colours to illustrate a friend's story about her grandson in Oxford. It is warm and very sunny out, but we really could do with some rain. Hopefully later this week, although the sunshine is glorious.

It was the Sorella's Pizzeria and Cafe's Christmas fundraiser for The Yellow Bus Trust on Thursday. You could each as much yummy Sorella's pizza as you liked and the money raised goes towards equipping rural schools and teaching street kids in Zimbabwe, so a very worthwhile cause. The raffle turned into an impromptu auction and everything from pizza to chameleon safaris with Rob Jarvis were up for grabs. Was a fun evening.

Went to Christmas carols in Monavale on Friday which was lovely and reminded me of my childhood growing up with our horse Fantasy at the back of Colston Hill and spending lots of time with the Makings. It was close to the Buddhist Centre and temple where I house sat this year. Friends sang a very funny Zimbabwean 12 days of Christmas and I met some new people. One is a journalist from Finland and we talked Finnish politics and climate change. She spoke of the difference between Zimbabwe and Mozambique based on their colonial pasts, was very interesting.

On Saturday I went with friends to the Mann Friday concert launching their new album, Brindgenorth Road. Was great to see my friend Ryan Koriya playing in the band and it was a feel good concert with the money all going to Zimbabwe's SPCA (awesome). I really liked the song about the Chimanimani Mountains with photographs projected behind and then the cover of Imagine Dragons' song Thunder that had visuals of Zim of both the beauty and dereliction. This is the third Mann Friday concert I've been to. I missed the one in 2017 which apparently rode on the euphoria of the coup and was very emotive with Olive Mtukudzi (who has sadly now died) performing.

Had more invitations to Christmas social occasions this year than ever before. Yesterday went to a Christmas braai at my friend Trudy and her mum's. Her mum was a geography teacher at Convent and she actually also taught my mum as a student teacher in Umtali. It was very funny that the first thing she and my mum did was go and look at a map of North America (they both are geography teachers and they couldn't have been more stereotypical). My mum and I are having a quiet Christmas with a close family friend on Christmas Day and I've been invited to drinks in the evening. On Boxing Day we have been invited to two more engagements. So I had best get on and do term planning now so that it is not all left to the first two weeks of January.

It is my mum's 70th birthday in May next year and we are booked to fly to England to celebrate it with my sister. We are going to go to Cornwall and have a lunch with friends and family closer to London. I am going to also go visit two good friends in Frankfurt am Main.

And then it all came down

Had a walk around with people at The Corridor Gallery this morning before I took the exhibition down. Three more pieces found new homes. From the exhibition I was commissioned to do a surprise birthday painting for a friend's wife. I painted a banner for a youth group's christian camp at Resthaven and my next project is to illustrate a story about a three year old and his toy owl in Oxford. So the exhibition has definitely given me exposure.

Heard of three separate armed robberies that happened last night in the Greendale area where I am house sitting. Guess who will be taking the panic button and be putting it right by my bed from now on. Have been feeling a bit jumpy at night when there have been odd sounds while I'm lying in bed. You can't live in fear but I will be happy to have my friend Bronwyn with me from Friday.

Felt a bit Christmas-ed out after all our Phoenix Choir concerts and singing lots of carols in it. Tomorrow I am going to the Sorellas Pizzeria all you can eat Christmas party and then on Saturday a group of us are going to the Mann Friday concert at Tin Roof (will only be about my fourth visit to Tin Roof ever, usually somewhere I would avoid). They have put their album online for free on http://onelink.to/ncby9h and https://www.dropbox.com/sh/unkaspad4gzcwv0/AAAq0u6oClI1GxnSICm52TjWa?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR2M99HehNupZjyfSIlj0eNEpqdt3Mkk99iY8w-ssHSCqK1p3NrbRKaUrBo

Got home from taking the exhibition down to electricity so got all my ironing done, turned on the borehole pump and boiled water. Make hay while there is magetsi. I keep thinking what else I should do while there is ZESA. Luckily the house has got solar so it is not like I go without but you can't run the washing machine, boil the kettle or iron when the main power is off. At least I haven't had to get up at strange hours to do things when electricity is on between 10 pm and 4 am.

'tis the season

The school holidays have finally arrived after a very long 14 week term. By about week 11 I was feeling pretty exhausted. So much so that I was invited out for drinks for a friend's birthday and when they changed the time to a bit later, I lay down with the intention of having a quick nap and I woke up the next morning. I did feel bad. The last weeks were a bit chaotic with the school play, my first solo art exhibition at The Corridor Gallery and then Phoenix Choir concerts. We had our last choir concert at Chapman Golf Club yesterday. I haven't been back into school since we closed but might need to just go touch base and see who I am taking next year so that my planning doesn't all get crammed into the first two weeks of January, but I needed to rest and have a break.

I house sat at the Buddhist Centre in Monavale in October and I had the perk of getting to feed some semi tame bush babies every evening. They would suddenly appear just as the light had almost gone and I had fun improving my photographic documentation of them. Think that was one of the best house sits to date. The actual house was a collection of roundavels and very different too. Last week I house sat for the family of one of the students I give extra lessons to. They have a beautiful Neopolitan mastiff puppy whose coat reminds me of the plush velvent bunnies they sold at Crafty Bugs. The puppy along with two dachshunds. All was going well there until in the middle of the night the dining room ceiling caved in. They had actually warned me that this might happen but I didn't quite believe them and had been happily working away under it that afternoon. They also told me after I finished that when they got home they had discovered a snake under the generator. I may have freaked out a little if I had found it when turning it off in the evening. Thankfully it wasn't me who found it.

And so it is Christmas almost and the year is almost over. It has been a long and hard year for me. I hope for better things next year. I am house sitting once more in Greendale. It feels rather far flung from what I know. Went to meet someone for NILD stuff today and it was good to get out the house as it felt like cabin fever was setting in. Have to be very careful with fuel though as petrol is very scarce. My good friend Bronwyn will be staying with me from Friday over Christmas which will be nice.