Bielie Mielie Fees

We went off to Reitz this weekend. Doug and Fiona were doing a 90km mountain bike ride and Kayla and I went along for the ride. Rietz is this very small dorpie in the Freestate in the middle of farming country. After we dropped Fi and Doug off at the start in Frankfort (about 60kms down the road) Kayla and I went back to Reitz for some Bielie Mielie Fees. It was fantastic! It was so authentically Afrikaans and somehow so simple. I stuffed myself full of deep fried pastry things, sausages, pankoeke en alles. Kayla and I wandered around. I never once said to her to hurry up - we did it all at her pace. We went on the funfair rides and my child proved again the strength of her need-for-speed gene. I went on a big fast ride with her. I squealed my way around the ride (naturally) and she just giggled and giggled. There were these huge farming tractor things that completely dwarfed everything around them. The majority of men were the opitomy of the Boere - wif their kort broek, lang kouse, comb in the socks and the vroumense het baaie mooi kruller in hul hare and baie mooi rokkies. It was such a wonderful experience.
It had been raining a lot and the place was very muddy and wet. Well Kayla found as many puddles as she possibly could and splooshed through all of them. She was sopping wet and filthy dirty and as happy as a lark!
It was a great weekend away is this awesome country of ours!

I feel like such a fool

You know generally I am a pretty circumspect cautious person and not taken in too easily by nonsense. But today I think I was put under a spell - because none, absolutely NONE of the above applied to me for a short period. I have been feeling very under the weather and achey and lay down for most of the morning. I popped out to collect some photos and was really not looking my best. Hair messily up, catepillar eyebrows, pale and wan, glasses, no make-up - get the picture? Now I normally, in a friendly but firm way, say no to the sales people in the shops - you know the ones that want to sell you nail products, great hair dresser products, beds, cars, diaries, books, insurance, pots and pans you name it. But this guy must have waved this hair straightner/curler wand and put a spell on me. Because he called me over and before I knew it I was sitting in the chair (in front of shoppers - horrors of horrors - they were watching me getting suckered and hair curled at the same time!). He was french and clearly a very powerful magician. He said nice things about me and asked me how old I was (I theenk you are about 28 oui - says he) and of course when I laugh at him he says "but you 'ave the body of a 20 year old oui!". There were more nice things said and he was so charming and I felt a lot better than I was looking and anyway before I knew it I had a curler tong thing - a purple one - in an expensive plastic bag and a BIG hole burned in the little plastic card that fits in my wallet.
When I got back to the car I shook myself and thought it was a dream until my phone beeped with an sms message saying I had spent a formidable amount of money.
A fool and her money.....

The experience of discipline and fluffly hair

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel

So I have decided to make February the month of Discipline. This is the intention of experiencing discipline. It will encounter denial but that is not the intention. The 2 main areas I am looking at are getting up earlier to have some quiet meditative time and to not have wine at home from Mon - Thurs. I am not feeling overwhelmed with this challenge which is a jolly good start. At around 5 pm - crazy hour I do start having a debate if I reeeeaaalllllyyyyy need to be disciplined and a glass of cold crisp chardonnay would just be fabulous. One day at a time....

Had my hair cut yesterday - the 1st time in 8 years that I have a different style. I feel pretty and feminine and yummy-mummy-ish!