The Schaapkraal Diaries: Canned fruit, jelly and Ideal milk

In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful.

18 February 2015.

Alhamdulilah I am thankful. For our iLABS projects and good camaraderie in our projects team despite feeling a bit of pressure now and then and frustration with outages. The electricity cuts are playing havoc with our electrical appliances - the washer is bust so is the micro wave and we have to change light bulbs all of the time. So I commit myself to patience in the hope that as South Africans we can start addressing this 'crisis'. If it is a drain to an ordinary household, what must it be doing to our economy?

Class was good today but so hot that most of our young leaders were looking rather drowsy- nothing that a brisk walk to the bathrooms for a face splash and an energiser could not remedy. Shukran said one of the young men just for letting us step out and stretch ha ha, "that's my job to know when you are affected by the heat and energies take a dip this time of day." Reminds me when we teaching at the College of Joburg in Langlaagte. One does expect just after lunch time that energies dwindle and we feel lazy. So the class and I would sometimes take a brisk walk/some would jog around the field and then refocus on class.

Methinks the garden is also losing some energy thank goodness deep watering helps them rise and shine again. The cats are the coolest lying stretched out in the shadiest places, on the cold tiles and yesterday found Wolverine lolling over the fence which brought a cool breeze to his belly.

Our house hunting continues and this evening we went to view a house and about 8 other couples were there, ja, finding good accommodation in Cape Town is tough. We have been viewing for weeks now and hope inshaAllah there is a place set out for us, duahs.

But life goes on in Schaapkraal. We had a birthday celebration on Tuesday and we all opted for cool desserts instead of birthday cake-cake we can have the weekend. So I rummaged through the grocery cupboard - found jellies and evaporated milk. We went off to buy some canned peaches and guavas and had an awesome dessert, old school, how many of you remember those days when this was the average household summer Sunday dessert. Besides jelly is packed with Vitamin C and its quick and easy and no hot oven thank you Allah.

When all is said and done, the gardens inject a spirit in me that cannot be quenched. The rhubarb stems are turning red (Rhubarb jelly soon); the bright red chillis hang in multitude; the bougainvillea blossoms continue to bloom on new growth; a lonesome caterpillar chews on the orange leaves and tomatoes hang heavy. Wolverine poses for a shot with fuschia while Abu is drenching the strawberries.

As I am writing I pop down the passage because I remember there is still some dessert left. Aaah is life not beautiful.