Cashless journey day 4

Well, so far so good, it's been a really easy journey. I have cash on me, for just in case, but I have not had to use it yet. I needed some nails to put up pictures in my scrapping room today and couldn't find the right ones; I drove to the corner hardware store and after the chap working there had painstakingly handwritten up each item I bought, he took a deep breath and asked if I had cash on me, as their card machine was in for repairs. Sorry dude, no sale. I left and drove a further 500m to a building store where I could get the nails and pay by card. Let's hope the next few days are as simple.

Cashless journey Day 1

Last week I had a coffee meeting with a vendor that I had not met before. We met at a coffee shop, the conversation flowed and it was an easy comfortable meeting. The discussion turned to the demise of the ATM and how little we make use of cash. I said I could easily go a week without using any cash and he said he would love to be part of the experiment. The only rules we would have would be; no cash for 7 days and if we did need to deviate, we would document the fact. I agreed to blog about the experiment.

Day 1 

So far so good, went out for lunch, no cash required, out to dinner and I was concerned that I would need cash for the parking machine but the place we went to had free parking.

The day of the tattoos

It was the 13th February 2013; Richard's birthday and 14 years since he was last with us. We had decided that we were all going to have tattoos that incorporated our family symbol in some way . 8x was always special to Richard and I, and became a family code of acknowledging how much love we felt for each other and our little clan. The 8 and x lent itself beautifully to another symbol that I loved - the infinity sign, so that was what I had done on the back of my neck. 

We went off to the tattoo place, which was at a home in Edenvale that had been recommended to us by Caroline - a precious family friend. I was pleased to see how clean and professional the whole setup was the and was most grateful that I went first. I think I would have chickened out if I didn't. We discussed the position of the tattoo, the size of it and the colour that I wanted incorporated into the symbol. Off I went and had no idea what to expect. 

My prior experience with tattoos was only watching Tarryn and Luke getting theirs done in Thailand in 2010. I'm surprised I ever agreed to have it done after watching Luke's performance! It was a bit painful, but I got through it fine and was very pleased with the result, even though I have never been able too see it, excepting for photos and using mirrors. I often forget that I have a tattoo.

Kiara got a beautiful feather outlined in white ink with 2 beads hanging off it that had the 8 and x in them. Devin got his dad's name and the infinity sign underneath it and Tarryn had 8x on the inside of her middle finger. She also had the go-ordinates of our house above her hip and a beautiful saying that is special to her and her cousin Anthea on her foot.

I loved this ceremony of honoring Richard and having a visual display of our shared family bond.

Our heritage

This months interest of mine is our heritage. I found an app to do a family tree, and so far I have added 105 of our closest relatives. I'm hooked but am hampered by the fact that I don't want to pay money to trace ancestors at this stage. I'm not sure which sites I can trust, so need to do more digging on my own. The most interesting site I have found so far is one that has a project to photograph and document grave sites. I found photos of my dad's grave, all 4 of my grandparents and my great grandfather too. Although the cemetery is not too far from where I live, it's not safe to visit it, I really appreciate their efforts. I remember as a little girl, we would go the the flower shop over the road from the Primrose cemetery in Germiston, every Sunday morning. The shop had wide red polished steps, I think they were curved leading up to the display of tin buckets that held all the flowers. I can still recall the smell in that shop with its red polished floor. I learnt what Glads were (gladioli) and carnations and baby's breath. We would all go as a family with my Oumie (Gran) and my parents, brother, Dolores my aunt, sometimes my uncle George too. Once, my uncle George was screamed at by a person visiting because he sat on the gravestone 😀. He was never too fussed about protocol. There were always 2 old ladies visiting the grave near to my Dida's grave, they would be there in an old VW beetle car. I think they brought their lunch with them. They wore black from top to toe, even covering their heads, maybe that's the reason I still wear black to work every day. From the day I went back after Richrds death, I have never worn any colour to work. I think the word is a mantilla for the head coverings they wore; strange how you remember stuff so clearly from your youth. My Oumie died in 1971 so these memories were from before that.