Keerbergen
Belgium
April 2007
Outside it can still be somber and cold. The noise of a windy April rain shower and the hail stones against the window don't exactly point to the fact that spring is on the way.
And still!
When we, in between the rain showers, take a nice long walk, we can hear the happy "wietoewiet" from a couple of Kiewiten.
Hearing that we know that spring can't be far away!
The coming back of the Kiewit heralds the start of the spring in the Low Lands.
There is this tradition in some of the northern provinces of Holland that once the first Kiewit egg is found, spring has officially arrived. The person who finds this egg takes it to the Town hall where it is, with much ceremony, handed to the Queen's representative of the province.
Well, it is so far!
The egg has been found and handed over, the trees and bushes are full of blossoms and the tulips, crocuses and a host of other flowers are adorning every garden you see. Our alarm clock is packed away because we are once again woken up with the birds singing in the trees outside our bedroom window.
Now that it is spring we can enjoy the incredible colours of the blossoms on the trees and shrubs. Bright yellow, deep pink and, well, too many to mention. Just have a look at the picture on the left!
This morning when I woke up at around 2 (like I normally do) I looked out of one of the upstairs front windows. There were Mr and Mrs Duck waddling across the road with their brood! It is amazing sometimes.
You can be driving on a major road and all the traffic will come to a halt. When you get out of your car you see that some ducks are crossing the road. And they can take their time!!
With the incredible weather we have had most of our garden is ready for the summer! Most of the winter rubbish has been cleared, compost heap moved (to the neighbour's garden with his kind permission) and the patios cleaned with the high pressure hose.
As you can see on the right June certainly did her bit!
All that remains to be done is to plant some bulbs and fill the flower boxes with our summer flowers. These go in front of the windows and also in the balcony gutters upstairs.
A couple of weekends ago Tony, Catherine and the kids came to stay. It was a long time ago that I almost saw the sun rise and my head is still sore! June made a "Pap en Vleis". Excellent as usual and so were the "smoothies"!
So, here we are, all ready to enjoy a bit of warm weather.
I know that a couple of years back we could not get enough of the winters here. I suppose it was the sun in our blood that made us yearn for snow and rain and nice cozy evenings by the open fire. We still love that but a bit of warm weather will be very welcome right now!
And then ....
It's our birthday this month. We are all of 12 years old!
So, have a look a bit further on what we have in store for you!
How time flies. I can still remember those early days when we first started with the web site and the biltong makers. We knew absolutely nothing and learned through making mistake after mistake. In the end it worked out not too bad I hope!
April promises to be a good month. The Boerewors and Droëwors orders are flying out of the door and ...... very shortly we will have biltong as well! Yep, believe it or not but after all these years we finally took the plunge and imported a pucker biltong drying cabinet.
So, all you people in Europe, you can start emailing your orders through. There won't be endless stock and we will have to restrict people to 2kg each in the beginning.
The biltong will be packed in vacuum packs of 200 gram which will cost € 7.00 each.
Orders will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis so be quick!
The Teddy Bok
Let me end on a little more serious note and make a a request for all of you to support a very worthwhile cause.
In 1980, Morne du Plessis, the then captain of the Western Province rugby team created a fund to support and take care of all rugby injuries from school age right up to professional players.
Morne started this fund after two wellknown rugby players, Chris Burger and Petro Jackson died of their injuries sustained while playing rugby.
One of the Fund's missions is to instruct children at as many schools as possible how to prevent neck damages.
Rugby coaches are trained at school and club levels. Workshops on prevention are held all the time, all year round to create a safer rugby.
You can read more on the great work of the Players Fund on their web site
www.playersfund.org.za
To generate an additional income for the Players Fund a fluffy toy Springbok called the "Teddybok" was created. The "Teddybok" became the official mascot of the Chris Burger/Petro Jackson Fund two years ago.
Come on people, stick your hands in your pockets and order a "Teddybok". It is available in small, medium and large and it can be ordered from
www.villagers.co.za
Well, that was it for this month.
Keep well, have a good April and we'll speak again in May!
Take care,
Lo
Was I in for a surprise that morning.
And......... we are going to make you part of the celebrations with some very special prices on most of our goodies!
So ..... what are you waiting for??
It is now more than a third of a century since Pioneer 10 was launched by NASA - a spacecraft designed to travel beyond our solar system and into deep space.
Koeksisters
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, " Daffodil Garden ." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
Our customers took heed and came in their droves to stock up for the Easter Weekend!
Our spices are of course imported especially from South Africa so you will get the "real" thing!
