Negative Soundbyters – a fine (spring?) Good Evening to you all! I am at the kitchen counter; to the right of the scribe machine is a small class of reasonable plonk – Porcupine Ridge – from the winelands in South Africa and to the left is a little dessert – a lemon tart – a leftover from one of Mrs H’s dinner party creations. I feel so very spoilt in this regard. That said I did try and contribute when I volunteered a chocolate mousse as part of our offering to our guests. “But we are having lemon tart,” came the reply. That ended the discussion on the constituent parts of the evening’s menu. Instead I was put on drinks duty to make me feel like I had a role to play which I carried out with my usual aplomb although we did run out of bubbles. I am not in charge of inventory; I am a follower when it comes to all things DP related; Mrs H pointed to the white wine so I opened that and poured generously. A few glasses (and maybe a bottle-or-three) later our guests, well fed and watered, fell out of the front door into the night; job well done!
We are also a week back now and our holiday to South Africa feels like a distant memory; the swamp tends to muddy fine memories! It was a lot of fun to show Rafe where I was born and for him to spend time together with Nannie, Granny and Grandpa. And he got to wear a t-shirt and shorts at the same time – and bare feet to boot – for more than two consecutive days. (In the UK he will be a lucky to get two consecutive hours!) I am sure his finest memories, apart from charming his grandparents, were sticking his finger up the priest’s nose while being christened and doing the wine tour in Franschhoek. OK maybe the latter was our one of our favourites, but he buzzed off a few sips of sparkling water. Forgettable moment; Papa almost submerging him while taking to the waters of the villa’s swimming pool together! (See Edition 65)
The swamp was becoming more bearable in the early morning because the sun was just beginning to make an impact. You combine a few bird tweets and a sky that appears a softer shade of dark, and the spirits are immediately lifted. However courtesy of a New Zealand entomologist, George Hudson who first proposed modern Daylight Savings Time in 1895, my spirits have regressed and I trudge to the train station in a dark shade of dark. As Wikipedia would have it, Hudson's shift-work job gave him leisure time to collect insects and led him to value after-hours daylight. Others credit William Willett, a prominent English builder, outdoorsman and avid golfer no less, who disliked cutting short his round at dusk. His solution published in 1907 and independent of Hudson, was to advance the clock during the summer months.
Imagine if life were that simple today: “I propose altering time because I prefer collecting insects and playing golf in the late afternoon.” Love it….
And now to this week's anecdote.
Big Love to All.
Hoddy X
Reading.
My hope is that Rafe becomes a “reader”. I have always loved reading and while time has been a little short of late, I do try and get a chapter-or-two in before going to bed or while sitting on the train in the morning.
Rafe has a few books in his toy basket alongside various objects that beep-and-bop. If there is one subject that Rafe is going to be intimately familiar with by the time he is one, it’s animals. In Cape Town Mrs H acquired a compendium of children’s books that will keep the little man wrapped up in the wonder of nature for many hours to come – a mini Attenborough if you like!
But his favourite book at the moment is “Baby’s very first touchy-feely book” with a bumble bee smiling on the front cover. Each page has a picture that describes some sort of “touch” sensation. So “bumpy” strawberry has a picture of a strawberry and if you touch it, it feels “bumpy”. I would have gone with “bumpy” road, but then artistically that probably doesn’t work as well as a strawberry; hence why I haven’t made a small fortune in creating clever ways for babas to interact with books. That said I do hope that if he does come across a “lumpy” crocodile one day, he doesn’t attempt to stroke it!
Rafe sits on my lap and we read the “touchy feely” book together. However his preferred approach to reading is different to most. He likes to close the book as soon as I open it. I go “Come on Rafie, sit with Papa; look at this cool book – it’s your favourite…”, and turn to the “squashy” boots page. He looks at me quizzically, takes the book in his little paws, and closes it – and then tries to gnaw the spine of the book with his gums. After a good suck, he likes to drop it on the floor. He then peers intently at the discarded book from his vantage point on my lap and waves his hands frantically – as if signalling to me pick it up and start the process all over again, which of course I do.
This time I keep the book out of harm’s way and we touch each page – I go first and then I guide his little fingers over the illustration. My favourite is “furry” penguin; I think he likes “soft” butterfly. It is the perfect number of pages for his attention span; eventually he looks up at me and I know that he would like to hold the book now – so that he can, yes you guessed it, close, suck and drop!
I do hope that in time he prefers keeping his books open as opposed to closed, but isn’t that the beauty of childhood – things are not necessarily done for rhyme nor reason, it’s just the way it is.
OUT
Pics of the Week
Having my bath on my grandparent's deck...
