All's well at Hombu. We seem to get more and more birds each year. The Oriole, a new comer about two years ago, is now a regular Spring and Summer visitor, and this is the first season that we've had a Bou Bou calling its mournful song from the trees. The Purple Crested Loeries (now called Touraco) visit us in abundance with up to seven birds calling and hopping about in the trees - and the Weavers descend on the bird baths en masse for an early morning clean-up and a lunch time cool down.
The garden has responded well to the seasonal rains, and weeds, grass and plants alike are shooting up apace. I spent about 5 to 6 hours behind the lawnmower this weekend - with Lao Tze working the edge trimmer. Satisfying work, but those areas will need to be repeated within two weeks to stay on top of the verdant growth.
Week before last I spent a wonderful time on a working retreat with PAWS near Underberg.  It was wet - and MUDDY - but the perfect recipe for fires and hot chocolate. It was a novelty typing away on my laptop in front of a roaring fire… but I must concede that although I did make headway and catch up on my backlog of work, my major accomplishments for the week were lighting four fires, one each night, and getting out of the mud-puddle and slidy-slush without the help of a tractor…
Jen joined me for two days - and her Jag (yes, you read that correctly) had to be pulled out on Wednesday… so she gave me a lift to Underberg to top up on shopping and then dropped me off at the start of the slush road. 
Well there I was, groceries in a packet in one hand, talking on my cellphone with the other, and was stupid enough to brazenly walk into a deep puddle - I'm wearing wellies after all… One slip later - I still don't know how the only thing to take in water was one wellie… but…I just said oops and carried on the conversation.
 Thursday was fine - lots of work and R&R - but Friday morning my back decided to tell me it did not enjoy the consequences of the slip. It's mostly fixed now, but it did progress to be excitingly painful.
Despite getting two commissions for my horse riding story, the horse riding outfit came back to tell me that they no longer had space on the trip (for the dates they had suggested I consider)… Oh well… once I got over the disappointment, I realised that riding with a sore back would not be fun - and confirmed with the magazines in question that I could still write the articles based on other riding experiences…so I don't feel quite so bad. In fact it feels as though I have gained a week.
That big contract I was hoping for has not come in. It is not lost, yet - simply seems that the urgency is not as great as initially indicated. We'll see… I'm hoping to use some income from that to pay for a gardener to do those awful jobs, like eradicating alien plants and weeds, that we never seem to manage to do effectively in addition to maintaining lawns, and buildings.
Otherwise my writing course is on. I've converted air miles for the flight, booked my hotel and paid for the course… so will be in Jhb from 5th to 8th November, and plan to use that opportunity to chase that elusive big contract too.
Bob is well, except for twisting his ankle working in the garden on Saturday. He is slowly putting weight back on after his fast… and is cursing the irony of an injury just when his running was coming on so well.
He's has been running a few extra courses and should soon have enough money collected to enable us to tackle some major repairs - first job will be roof leaks, and scraping down the outside of the dojo, followed by painting both roof and outer walls.
That's about all the news - except to add that my stay in the 'berg has seriously motivated me to be on the lookout for a little writer's cottage in the country. Somewhere away from the uncomfortable humidity of a Durban summer, and I think a fireplace for winter is a must… I would need that elusive big contract to be able to pay for it… so here's hoping… and let me know if you hear of a suitable spot. 
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 21 October 2007 )
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