Cantankerous old mule

Joy and laughter live in this home. As does my friend Wendy.

I love being back in South Africa - with people who understand me and laugh at the same jokes, with food that I understand and enjoy, and with vehicles driving on the left side of the road (which is the right side) and not the right side of the road (which is the wrong side).

Last night I went to visit Wendy, one of my oldest friends. Okay, perhaps that's the incorrect use of the word and she would be offended to hear me calling her that... not oldest, "most longstanding". The friends I saw for lunch on Sunday say that Wendy and I have one of the most bizarre relationships they've ever seen, but she's nice to me, feeds me, and seems to enjoy my company, so I'm stubbornly holding on to her...

(It took her dad around 10 years to build the quaint little abode, seen in these photos, for his daughter but Wendy has since transformed it into a simple place of creative flair).

And so, there I sat relaxing after a phenomenal supper of soup and fresh bread (with a glass of red wine in hand) on an evening that was more wintry than it should be at this time of year, when a fellow friend and teacher (we'll call Shirley "Anonymous" to protect her identity) threw a vicious barb in my direction - she called me cantankerous!

And there it was, out there in the open, like a prickly pimple in the middle of one's nose - absolutely impossible to ignore or shake.  One of the other guests reached for her phone to look up what the word meant, and then everyone proceeded to cackle with glee at the description - "disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish: as in, 'a cantankerous, argumentative man'."

Oh how they all laughed. Oh, how they all nodded liberally in agreement!  

But at least "Anonymous" found such a descriptive word to differentiate me from others. Imagine if I was just "ornery", or even worse, "nice"?

"Anonymous" with Wendy under the sign that typifies the home - Live Well. Laugh Often. Love Much

A window-sill filled with little knick knacks gathered from around the world

Above the fireplace...

There's even a little piece of Madagascar in one of the corners.

Framing love

The wrong date but never out of date

 

Friends ...

I still haven't been feeling wonderful, and so had a lazy morning yesterday, but the rest of the day was filled with friends:

First-up I stopped by 3Ci, to visit my former colleagues and specifically the amazing Russell, juggler of at least three people's work! And somehow he even managed to fit in a semi-deep and profound conversation with me...

Then it was off to Thorsten, aka T-Bone, to celebrate his birthday with him. Another amazing man with a passion for God and a heart for the hurting. Paralysed from the chest down in a motorbike accident several years ago, and suffering from all sorts of regular health complications, he nevertheless remains the heart of the party, has a wicked sense of humour and is humbly working at being the best husband and dad possible (despite his self-admitted shortcomings). This is him in his special wheelchair that allows him to "stand", which helps keep all those pesky internal organs doing what they should do.

My next stop was a serendipitous cappuccino with a friend before I ended up at supper with my two beautiful girls and their mom. Whenever I need some lung-crushing hugs and amazing food I can't go wrong with stopping by their house. Here Kimmy shows her delight at her mom's home-made butternut soup.