Date: Mon Dec 22 2008 - 07:54:32 PST
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Dear Friends
You know you only know how many friends you have when (a) they all phone you
on your birthday, and (b) you write them your Christmas letter. In the case
of (b), isn't it good we can do everything in one go, as long as people pass
on the letter to people who don't have e-mail addresses?
The last time I wrote to you (I think) was when I asked you to forward the
link to my website business tp everybody in your address book. Then I don't
remember (onset of Old Timers' Disease) whether I went to the trouble to
tell all of you that this business lasted *9* days, because the Mother
Company in America closed the South African company down, so all the
enormous energy was for nought. I lost the cost as well the value of the
time I put in. So there you go.
Well that was the flavour of the year. I earned well *below the breadline *in
this financial year, so guess who is heavily in debt to the bank, and family
bank, and ex-husband bank. Mom's estate is quite considerable but I still
have to wait for it to be wound up. It should pay for my house and all the
debt. All Mom's estate is going into cash for me, while my sisters are
keeping the shares etc, so we are all in a different place. Needless to say
i won't be able to visit my community this coming in January--usually the
high point of my year,
I went to see Mom for the three days before she died, and was so glad that I
did: I had an extended opportunity to as God to take her home, and I believe
that Daddy came to fetch her. She still knew who we were still, which was a
blessing both to us and to her. Otherwise her quality of life was simply
appalling. We had a lovely memorial service led by the lay preacher who very
often takes such services. I had a chance to give people an overview of
Mom's life, and I had also made a big arch-lever file with pictures going
back to my great-grandmother.
My garden is looking something fantastic: I worked out how much I must have
spent thousands of rands on it during the last 9 years. Mom sent money every
year which I spent on flowers and shrubs, and last year did entirely SA
(indigenous) shrubs, which have really thrived, especially in the terrible
heat which we are experiencing. Jean and Tony have sent me money this year,
so I can continue the tradition. I couldn't do this work of course, without
the help of Francis, my Malawian gardener, who does all the heavy work. He
loves opening new beds though, and so i have 13 altogether... . But an
abundance of grass which helps.
I have a new cat now, in addition to Tabitha, Timothy and Clemmy. Bess is
quite the biggest cat I have even seen--I am sure she weighs about 7 kg. She
got her name because I got her nearly fullgrown and she is so gentle--out of
this gargantian mouth comes tiny "meap"s.
I did do some travelling this year though. In January I went to see my
friends in Edinburgh for a week before I went down to Rempstone for a
fortnight. Then in September I went to San Diego with an ex-student, for a
4 day conference. Going there wasn't a problem, as we had an extra night to
catch up with sleep. On the way back, I was so tired that I thought that I
was going to die. I had some some extra sleep before we travelled back but
I was still very tired and jetlagged, the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue,
which had gotten better came back with a vengeance. So if I go to
California again, I shall definitely try to break the journey into two or
three days, catching sleep along the way. But the conference itself was
super and I saw many I know on the e-mail discussion group I belong to, many
of which I met in Seville in 2005. The next one is die in 2011 in Rome and
I hope to go to that--for one thing I will be able to travel there without
too much stress.
This comes with all God's blessings at Christmas time, and health and
happiness in 2009.
Love,
Carol
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-- Visiting Researcher, Wits School of Education 6 Andover Road Westdene Johannesburg 2092 011 673 9265 082 562 1050
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