Flower Treats

For my recent birthday, these are two of the flower arrangements I received.  The purple ones from Penny at work and she even wore a purple outfit as she remembered that it is my favourite colour.  Then when I got home the rose arrangement was waiting for me from my good friend Desire and I am certainly going to enjoy eating the huge apple in this arrangement!!

I also received a lovely purple pair of soft slippers, a purple check pair of pyjama pants, a sleeveless windbreaker, some scrapping goodies, a chocolate, a Milady's shopping voucher, some money from Dereck and a two foot single slipper (you put both feet in it when you are watching TV or crafting!!)

Flower power birthday girl signing off ....

Durban Beachfront

Today was such a lovely, sunny day, that we decided to go down to the Durban beachfront to see what it looked like at the Fan Park before one of the soccer games at 1h30.  We parked at the Suncoast Casino and then walked along the beachfront to the Fan Park - about 2 km.  We really enjoyed the sights and the improvements that have been made to the beachfront and the Fan Park was already very festive and I am sure would have been even more so later on when people got there to watch the soccer game.  After looking around, we headed back to the Suncoast Casino where we went to the Circus Circus restaurant and had lunch.  Thereafter we headed off home where I made some soup. 

Here are some pictures of the beachfront area ...

This is at the Fan Park where there is a huge bit screen and stage where the soccer games are broadcast.  There was a lot of entertainment going on in this area.

The MTN entertainment - these guys were quite funny they way the mooved these "men" making them look like they were walking and dancing!!

Jennifer and I waiting for Dereck, but enjoying watching what was going on.

These guys who do the sand art are quite amazing.  The picture above is of the Moses Mabida Statium including the arch and flags.  The guy sitting in the car below had music playing and he was bopping and bouncing as if he was driving a car - it was quite funny to watch him.  Every now and then he would put his hand behind his head and lean back like a real cruiser!!.

Of course the dolphin display at the entrance of the Suncoast Casino Complex had a make over to blend in with the whole World Cup Soccer theme - I must say they do look rather nice and hope that they stay like this after the soccer is over.

Durban fan signing off ....

A bit of painting

I recently finished this plate, which I painted onto ceramic and then had it glazed.  I will be using it in my kitchen as a spoon rest as the traditional spoon rests always seem to break their handles and are a bit small.  I had fun painting this fat lady and my teacher - Susan - helped with painting the outline and doing the face features.  I had another appointment to go to and knew that I would take a while doing the outline and face.  I am quite pleased with the finished product and I know that it is going to be well used ...

Fat Lady painter signing off .....

World Cup Soccer - 16 June 2010 Spain v Switzerland

Grant and I got the tickets from Dereck to go and see the Spain v Switzerland soccer match at 4pm at the Moses Mabida Statium in Durban.  We got a lift to the Pavilion and then caught the shuttle bus to the Workshop and then another bus to NMR Avenue and then had about a 1.2km walk to the stadium.  After we went through the South entrance there was a long walk way to the stadium and everyone was in such a festive mood!!  These two Swiss guys were bouncing around and some people asked them if they could take a picture of them.  I went up to them and squeezed myself between them and Grant took the photo!!

Then we headed on up to the stadium and this picture below is just before we went through the turnstills....

We found our seats easily and there were lots of officials available to assist if needed.  We had a lovely view and as you can see we didn't have to squeeze past anyone.

All standing for the national anthems....

A near goal ....

There were 62453 people attending this game.  It was a very exciting game with Spain dominating the field by about 83%.  They had some many chances to score, but unfortunately the Swiss just held them off.  The Swiss on the other hand managed to score a goal early in the second half.  The end result 1-0 to Switzerland.  Oh, by the way Grant and I were supporting Spain.  We were both kitted out in the supporters shirts and Grant had a hoodie flag.  We were given a neck warmer and Grant had fun making different outfits for himself ....

After the game, we had a long walk back along NMR Avenue all the way to the Workshop where we caught the bus back to the Pavilion where Dereck came and fetched us.  What an amazing experience!!!!  The sound in the stadium was awesome and I didn't even need to wear the ear plugs that I had.

The organisers have certainly done a great job as everything was well managed and totally under control.  There was a big police presence and they even came to sort out two guys sitting in the row behind us who were horribly drunk and smoking (the statium is non-smoking). Everyone clapped when they took them away!!!

Soccer fan signing off ....

Soccer Friday - 11 June 2010

All the staff in the office building at 6 Inkonka Road, Kloof took time out at 10:00am to have tea in celebration of the start of the FIFA World Cup Soccer.  We all brought something typical of South African and Mexico food - samoosas, milk tart, boerie rolls, vetkoek, natchos, guacamole and of course soccer ball chocolates.  Most of the offices closed at about 1pm so that staff could go and watch the opening ceremony at 2pm.  Our office also closed and we all went to Julian and Debbie's place to watch.  I left the game at half time to go home and watch with Dereck (who is sick with flu) and as I walked into our house, South Africa scored the first goal!!!  I even sat and watched the rest of the game and boy was it exciting.

 Back to the work functions ... we decided to dress up the statue in the entrance hall ..

Then we made Julian pose with his 'Makaraba" on, next to the statue ....

Me, Gerry and Campbell ...

From L - R - Julian, Paula, Penny, Debbie, Gerry, Campbell and me

It was a really special, festive day and a lot of fun had by all.

Soccer fan signing off ....

More card making

On 21 May 2010, I went for another card lesson.  These lessons are held at the Pigeon Club, in Durban North with Bee and the next one is on 17 June 2010 at 5:30pm.  They cost R120-00 and you do three wonderful cards.  It is lots of fun and very motivational.

These are the cards we made that evening ...

This is a little box that you could fill with sweets, or a small gift.

A waterfall card.  You pull the little pink tab at the bottom and the various tabs flip up revealing your quotes or other decorations you want to put there.

This was a card that had an envelope built into it.

These are the cards I made at the class in April ....

Pull the tab at the top and voila ....

And another cute card.

Card maker signing off ....

My Flower Pot

I recently finished dry brushing my ceramic flower pot.  This is the end result and I must say I had a lot of fun doing it ...

Not too potty, signing off ....

Poor Izzy

Izzy my little mini sausage dog was attached on Friday morning about two weeks ago by our other sausage dog, Jemma, for no reason whatsoever.  Dereck heard them growling in his office but he thought it was Jemma and Zippa playing and when he turned around saw that it was Izzy, but the damage had been done. Dereck got involved and managed to separate them, but in the process stood on his glasses which had fallen off.  He managed to get my maid Theresa to phone me and I met him at the vet.  Poor Izzy had a huge hole in her rump and under her tummy near her back legs, plus a bit hole in her forehead and a few other gashes on her back.  The vet set her up on a drip and gave her some medicine to calm her down and then looked at her wounds.  She noticed that she had lost some teeth - top tooth and four bottom teeth, so now she dribbles a bit and her tongue hangs out even more when she relaxes (it looks cute though!).  She had to stay there while they monitored her.  We were advised that she needed to be operated on to sort out the two big wounds that she had but they could only do that once the swelling had gone down.  I went to visit her after work and managed to get her to eat her food.  She was so excited to see me and just wanted to climb out the cage to get to me.  It was very sad seeing her like that.  We went to visit her on the Saturday morning and she was certainly a bit more perky but had lots of bruising on her tummy and had a pressure bandage around her tummy because of all the swelling.  On Sunday when we went to visit her we were allowed to take her outside and let her run around on the grass and as she wasn't eating, was told I could bring some of her favourite food, which when I gave to her, she guzzled it down.

On Monday evening we brought her home to sleep with us and she went back to the Vet on Tuesday morning and she came home again on Tuesday night.  On Wednesday they operated on her and were pleased that there was not too much damage and then stitched her up.  Due to there being so much fluid on the rump injury she had to have a drain put in her and then had to wear a collar to stop her licking or scratching the wound.  She did not like that at all, but even the smallest collar did not stop her from being able to reach her sore to lick it.  All the licking probably healed it as the next morning, it was not oozing and certainly looked a lot better.  The day before she had to go and have the drain removed, she pulled it out herself!!

Here is what she looked like with her collar on and her face shaved where the wound was - definitely not a happy doggie ....

The bandage on her front leg is where the drip had been and the plaster was sticking to her.

She is certainly on the mend and is due to have her stiches taken out on Monday. 

Sad doggy mommy signing off ....

 

A bit of a winning streak

About three weeks ago I attended the KZN Masters Athletics luncheon held at what used to be called the Pinedene Lodge (sorry, I just can't remember what their new name is.)  I had a painting lesson in the morning and went straight from there, so was a bit late - everyone had already finished their starter.  It was a great day and was good to see everyone getting recognised for their athletic achievements.  Sharon Fuchs was the most improved athlete with her racewalking times.  Jeanine le Febour was going round to everyone to get them to buy raffle tickets for two raffles they had which were tog bags filled with goodies.  I took four tickets and when they announced that they were going to do the raffle and explained what it was, I looked around and saw one of the bags was grey and purple and my immediate thoughts were "well, maybe I should just go up now to collect".  They drew the first name and it was ........ Michelle Ramsay.  I could not believe it.  Here is a picture of the bag ...

On opening the bag, it was filled with all sorts of goodies ....

Then the following week-end we went to a baseball fundraising evening with wonderful live music and lots of lucky draw prizes and I won a bottle of champagne ..

So all in all a good, profitable 2 week-ends.

Winner signing off ....