Catch-Up

It's been a while since my last Backward Glance... here's what's been happening in our part of the world:

•  Eden's trip to Italy went off very well!  She thoroughly enjoyed herself and learned a lot!  She did miss home after a while, and missed my cooking (proud smile...).  I missed her very much the second weekend - the household just isn't the same without everyone in it!  She brought back presents for everyone, and we're all waiting for warmer weather to wear our 'Italy' t-shirts!
• We took off the full 3 weeks of school holidays, the same as the government schools.  It makes more sense to me to stay with the government's outline, because the music lessons usually follow the same holidays, and it's nice to have a holiday from everything!  I had planned to only take off two weeks, but Eden was very tired when she got back, and needed a week to settle down again, and if she's off school, well... we might as well all be off!
• I took the boys ice-skating the day the schools broke up, and we got there early (10am) and had the rink almost to ourselves for about 2 hours before the hordes arrived.  Lots of fun!!  It really is something we need to do more regularly.  (Note to self:  In future, take something to sit on, something to cover your legs with, and at least two flasks of coffee or hot chocolate...!!)
• The weather was pretty cold for much of the holidays.  We usually average about 17C here in winter, but it was more like 14C most days. And as I've complained about mentioned before, we don't have central heating in our homes!  It is often colder inside than out, because the house takes longer to heat up once the weather warms.  It's a bit crazy, "Put your jacket on if you're going inside!"  It warmed up in the last week (just before it got cold again..)
• Last week there was actually snow in the Drakensberg area of Kwa-Zulu Natal!! (We of course didn't get snow - just the icy wind..!)  It brought the N3 highway to a standstill, and people were trapped in their vehicles.  The army had to go in and rescue them!  I know snowstorms can cause traffic havoc even in countries where snow is common, but you have to feel sorry for South Africans when it snows .. people here just aren't used to it at all!!!

And that's about all I can think of!  I wish there was a way to transfer my blogging-thoughts directly to Blogger... I would have so many more blog posts.  There seems to be a blockage somewhere between my mind and my keyboard...  And then there is the time factor...  sigh!