2009 – a year in pictures

I cannot believe it is the end of yet another year. This year has been interesting in so many ways, and we, as a family, have gone through so many changes.

January

 

My birthday month. I pretended that I turned 8 this year, and we had a proper 8th birthday party, with balloons, streamers, hot dogs and an airplane cake.

We also said goodbye to Loki. We still miss him.

January is also supposed to be our most glorious summer month, but we actually saw very little of summer. We should have realised it was an indication of the weather for the rest of the year.

February

February was a tough month. Financially, things were very tight, and with very little money we celebrated Sinead’s 12th birthday and attended my cousin’s wedding, all the way in Bloemfontein.

We also participated involuntarily in the Great South African Wealth Redistribution Program. For me, this was the low-point of the year, but at least we got through it unharmed and our insurance was great, so all our possessions were replaced.

March

 

March was very much a tech month. First, we attended the Windows 2008 road show at Monte Casino, and later in the month the Digital Life expo.

We were also lucky enough to see Emm when she and her hubby came out to SA for a visit. I have missed her every day since she moved (back) to the UK.

 

April

In April, South Africans flocked to the polls for one of the more interesting elections we’ve had in recent years. Jacob Zuma did become president of the country, despite a lot of opposition, but the ANC lost some ground and didn’t retain the 2/3 majority, which made the rest of the country happy.

May

Quentin had a little gardening incident, and we had to rush off to the hospital. He got five stitches.

 

We participated in Sinead’s annual Big Walk. Or, at least Quentin and Sinead did – I had an asthma attach not far from the starting line and had to turn back. We also went to the Zoo for their annual Mother’s Day concert with our respective mothers.

  

We went to the Parktown Girls open day and all three fell in love with the school. The architecture is simply beautiful and there are just so many activities, other than school, that anyone can participate.

June

In June, the gardening madness started. I started with the first batch of seedlings and haven’t looked back since. The newest member of our family, the Dude, also came to us in June.

July

 

In July, Winter had, unfortunately, set in completely. It meant lots and lots of layers of clothing when we wanted to go out. Sinead also went go-carting for the first time.

We said goodbye to Quentin’s maternal grandmother this month. Ouma Lilly, you are missed by so many.

August

 

Sinead and I went to the first Jozi Book Fair with my mom. She gave a wonderful talk about her book. We also reconnected with some family.

 

The first hail fell this month, and we pretended it was snow. We then cleaned out the bed where the hydrangeas slept for the veggie garden.

September

September is officially the beginning of Spring here, and I transplanted the first seedlings into the newly cleaned bed. We also moved the rogue spinach from the lawn to the new bed.

 

We said goodbye to my mother. She didn’t leave us forever – instead, she moved to the coast. This picture is of her dog, Puppy, who seemed very sad before the move.

October

 

Quentin started his new job at the company I work for and fell in love with the grounds (and everything else). The grounds are gorgeous and spring was in full force – so who could blame him.

  

The transplanted veggies were also doing exceptionally well, until the next hailstorm. This time we didn’t have to pretend it was snow – it covered more of the garden than the snow did a couple of years ago. And, unfortunately, it took a fair number of the seedlings with it.

 

Sinead was awarded full Academic colours again. She is such a star.

Sinead and I also attended our first Blogging Girls Meetup, and Sinead went to her first evening party.

November

November was mad. It was supposed to be mad, because Sinead and I planned on participating in NaNoWriMo. I even went to the first meet-up, hosted by our lovely ML, LyonZA. And then everything else went mad to. Quentin and I attended a function hosted for us by our customer, the weather went nuts, work went insane and time warped itself.

December

 

This is also my final garden update for the year. Despite the hail and other strange weather we’ve had this year, our veggie garden is actually producing results now. The corn is just about ready for harvest, and we will have ripe tomatoes in a week or so as well.

 

We attended The Killers’ concert in Jo’burg earlier this month – this was Sinead’s first real concert experience, and the band blew us all away. Sinead was also awarded triple gold again at the school’s prize giving recently, and she also received the Best Speller award.