Red wine and good friends

 I love a glass of red wine and have for years now been an only-red girl. I don’t like the taste of white wine, even though in our youth Richard and I only drank white wine. Kupferberger was one I remember and that weirdly rounded shaped bottle of Grunberger that everyone used as a candle holder after they had finished drinking the wine.  Pic below from Google.

During covid in South Africa, buying alcohol was banned and many of the wine companies lost millions of rands. I managed to secure a case (6 bottles) of the most beautiful red from Saronsberg called Full Circle. I had been to the estate and enjoyed a lunch and wine tasting there. I opened drank bottle on my birthday and another for New Year.

This year, one of my favourite friends Peter came to visit and I opened a bottle to celebrate. We shared a bottle of the wine and Kiara ordered sushi that was delivered to us, my mom joined in on the evening. We sat outside on my patio and had my new festive lights on. 

It was a lovely, special evening shared with a wonderful friend. 

I saw a bottle for sale at Checkers today and took a photo of it so I could remember the price. I can’t remember how much I paid for it originally, but it’s worth every cent. I promised that I would share one of the bottles with an old work colleague of mine Brian,  we are just waiting for us both to be available for the event.

The Nutcrackers

 I have always loved these, but they have not been easy to come by in South Africa until recently. I got mine in Australia, I think it was at a boxing day sale and I just fell in love with it.

I brought it home and on my next trip I found smaller ones that were also on sale. I managed to get 3 smaller ones, and they were just perfect to complete my family. 

We have Tarryn, the Baker and Kiara the glittery musician and Devin the Peter Pan looking one.

Love these so much.

Dawsonbunch timeline

 I started this on an excel spreadsheet a number of years ago so that I could keep track of things that happened in our lives. I have kept up the practice and its really cool to look through years and see what happened. I shared it with the kids so that they would have it too.

I find it very helpful when I am trying to remember when some event happened. I separated the months so it’s easier to view and highlighted when I went overseas and when my grandchildren are born 😀. I like that it’s so easy to update.

Here is an example from 2022

Jan	Natasha still in Australia	Nerine dies
Feb	Nanna Natasha Pine Lake and Marloth Park
Mar	Natasha weekend with Karen and the lions	Dev Namibia c license
Apr	Luke Tarryn and Cali here	Tarryn & Luke Easter pregnancy announcement
May	Luke Tarryn and Cali here	Natasha to Chakas rock	Cali's 2nd birthday here
Jun	Got a generator	Dan
Jul	parkruns, Linda	Clearing out, making pasta	Sandhurst massage day
Aug	Natasha Oudshoorn	parkruns, Gerrie, caves, Peter
Sep	Scott plays for RSA hockey	My Cyprus band from Costa breaks	started Walk 4 Life	Tyler visits
Oct	Palace and Sun City	Swaziland	made tshirts for Cali and Kora	Kora born
Nov	Australia met Kora	visited Jacs
Dec	Mike & Rene wedding	end Dan	got shingles

 

Bear

 He is the latest addition to the Dawsonbunch, and he arrived in September 2024. Kiara bought him from a school friend breeder. Bear is a cross Belgian Malinois and Dutch Shepherd and this cross breed know as a Mali-Dutchi. The breed is very intelligent and is a working dog, so Kiara has her hands full with keeping him exercised and interested. 

So far Bear has been through teething and he chews everything including shoes, socks and inflatables meant for the pool. He loves sneaking inside my house and heads straight for my study, where he steals a teddy bear and runs outside with it. Luckily Kiara has been good at teaching him the command ‘drop it’,

From the start she taught him to sit, give paw and lie down. I hope he loves official training when he starts and that they both get much joy from the relationship.

 

My parkrun journey

I registered for parkrun one night when I was working at Bank City and my friend Almanda was also working. I didn’t really know her well and she came to sit in our area and started talking. I registered and printed copies of my barcode and was ready. I decided to do the Ebotse parkrun on my own the following Saturday morning. It was the 22 April 2017.

I wasn’t sure what to expect or whether I could walk 5kms and wasn’t really sure that walking was acceptable at an event called parkrun. I arrived and listened to the first timers briefing and then joined the crowd and did my very first parkrun. My time was just over an hour, I was proud that I completed it and have been hooked ever since. I got several PB’s (personal best’s) in a row after that and got my time down to 46m53 by December of that year.

Since then, I have gone on to do 124 different parkruns in 10 different countries.

The countries are 

South Africa

Swaziland

Namibia

Italy

France

Australia

Scotland

Netherlands

Denmark

Russia

I’ve met lovely people along the way and things have changed a lot since I started including Covid, where we couldn’t have parkrun at all, Russia being kicked out of the parkrun community, France not starting up again because they need medical certificates for people to run, new countries added, a wonderful new app called 5k that keeps all your starts and your barcode. In the early days, if you didn’t have your printed barcode you could not be credited for a run at all and people would have copes of their friends’ barcodes just in case.

Tomato soup

 I know this seems to be an odd thing to blog about but when I think of a favourite childhood meal, it’s always this one that comes to mind first.

I’m about 5 or 6 years old and go to Kensington Ridge primary school in my checked pink and white uniform dress that has a matching belt fitted through the loops in the waist. Black buckled school shoes and short white socks complete the outfit.

After school I go to my grans house next door to our house and go up her stairs into the entrance hall and down the red Persian looking carpeted passage into the kitchen. A big wooden table is on the one side of the room and square checkered tiles of red and turquoise glitter on the floor. In the white cabinets I recall a tin of Pawmag? I think it was blue and white and helped with acid, I’ll google it. Strange thing to remember, I don’t ever recall ever having any.

Found this on google!

On the table would be a large cream coloured soup bowl with high rims and the outer rim had little pink flowers with greenery. Inside the bowl would be my beloved tomato soup, rich and glistening and a swirl of cream in the center of the bowl. On a side plate, white sliced bread or toast cut up into soldiers to eat with the soup. I can go right back to that time in an instant when I eat tomato soup. 

These days, the easiest version comes in a plastic container from Woolworths, but the feeling it evokes is just the same.

I have lots of photos of tomato soup on my phone because a friend of mine Peter, also loves the tomato soup served with a grilled cheese that you get at our Mugg and Bean restaurants in South Africa and whenever either of us order this, we send each other a photo. It’s a nice tradition that reminds me of favourite childhood moments and how they are woven into modern memories and friendships.

What I learned during my Australian quarantine

    - I can be alone

- I can keep calm when fire breaks out on our floor

- Balcony visits are a life-saver

- Human contact is essential

- I love not wearing shoes and 2 weeks of this was wonderful

- Fairy lights delight me

- Kind people do exist and I’m lucky I related to so many of them

- I love watching planes

- Gratitude always helps

- I can exercise anywhere

- Protein bars microwaved inside apples makes a delightful desert

- I’m resilient and creative

- I can live in an apartment

- Having something to look forward to is essential 

- I don’t talk out loud to myself

- I love learning new things and there is so much to learn

- I can sweet talk people into delivering ice cream to my friends and I everyday

- I can stand up for myself and fight against injustice

- I don’t need a lot to be happy

- I can find the good in every situation

 

My good and bad habits December 2024

I have quite a few of both so let’s start with the bad habits

I can procrastinate

I buy sweets and then think I will save some, ha-ha, however big the pack would be how much I finish in one sitting.

I leave wet swimming costumes around outside for the times I swim with a costume on, you can see why my preference is to do without a costume.

I don’t like brushing my hair, so once I have washed and dried it, I don’t brush it again until the next wash.

I binge watch tv series to the detriment of anything else including sleep.

I also get very enthusiastic about a project, then around the 2/3rds mark I lose interest and pack it all up or must get help, not one of my favourite things to do.

I’m very good at convincing myself to do good or bad things so that self-talk is where I have to focus to lean more to good/healthy choices.

On the positive side, one I have decided to do something I generally do it, especially if I have added it to a list.

I have had a bucket list /101 goals list for about 15 years now and if I put something on the list it mostly gets done.

I do a meditation everyday using the Balance app and I love that

Duolingo has been my daily wake up friend since July 2018

I write 3 gratitude’s every day and have done so for years

Tarryn bought me a 5 year diary and I have kept it up for 3 years so far

I keep in touch with friends

I reply to messages, calls and emails

 K

The Midmar mile 2019 written December 2024

I decided to add this as an item on my bucket list and like anything else that gets added to the list, once its written, the universe seems to align to make it happen. I decided to do it and started training. My work colleague Peter Ponsonby, helped me with a training plan and later gave me the number of a coach in Edenvale. Kiara came with me for the weekend, and we stopped in Harrismith. An ostrich laid an egg while Kiara watched! We went out for a lovely Italian dinner and enjoyed being out in nature. We drove to the parkrun called Piggly Wiggly the day before and it had a monstrous hill just before the end. I managed to finish the parkrun, and we had a good day swimming and relaxing.

We went to the start of the race, and I was quite nervous about putting my bare, unprotected feet in the mud and reeds, but I just tried to talk myself through it when we got the go ahead and I think I started to swim in about 50cm of water, just so I could get my feet up. I had a great time in the water, no one tried to pull me under or swim over me, I took a left to get out of the way, and then headed for the finish.

As I got near the inflatable finish line, I lifted my head and saw Kiara in the VIP section taking photos of me. She put her fingers on her lips to show me not to make a fuss and carried on as if she was supposed to be there. Apparently she walked into the professional photographers are with a group of official photographers and she had my canon camera around her neck and looked so confident, no one questioned her right to be there. I made the swim in 53:33 so could tick it off my goals. I got the best photos at the end with my very own photographer!

 

Christmas gifts 2024

I loved all my gifts this year so I want to document them to remember how each one made me feel. I have just recovered from flu where I lost me sense of taste and smell, so I was even more grateful for the gifts that required these senses that I could enjoy.

I got a beautiful bottle of Diemersdal Merlot Malbec which combines my two favourite wine type from my friend Linda. She also got me a lovely strawberry travel gift set from the Body Shop that has body butter, hand cream and shower gel, a beautiful self-care journal that I cant wait to start and perfect slices of Christmas cake that I enjoyed with coffee on Boxing Day morning, so that never made the pics 😀

Devin and Kayleigh got me a swimming costume with a sarong type wraparound that just reminded me of holidays in Greece and I tested out my lovely costume Christmas night. A Yankee candle, Pink sands my favourite and I can smell it, it’s burning in my room as I type this. Devin made homemade cookies and Kayleigh bagged and labeled them, I love homemade gifts. I also got the most perfect gift vouchers from Devin that he made himself on Canva that include a coffee date, a breakfast at a restaurant of my choice and dinner at Kolonaki in Parkhurst. I can’t wait to redeem these!  Time spent with my family is the best gift.

Kiara got me a lovely margarita desk candle, and a beautiful travel jewelry box filled with amazing rings and earrings. She’s going to help me to re-pierce my ear-lobes. I got a delightful glittery pool tube that I also tested out Christmas night and the today again

.

Santa got me a handheld steamer , some black plastic drawer organizers and a Glasshouse candle, passionfruit and lime, another favourite of mine.

I am abundantly grateful for the gifts and will be enjoying them for a long time. Love my family too much.

 

Dining at the White Rabbit, Russia – 2024

 

This was one of the most memorable meals of my life. The fact that it was in Russia made it all the more extraordinary. Luke’s sister, Ebony, suggested we try to dine at the White Rabbit during our parkrun trip, and we eagerly embraced the idea. Coincidentally, it was my new (at the time) friend Selma’s birthday, and we decided it would be the perfect place to celebrate. To top it off, the restaurant was within walking distance of our hotel.

From the moment we entered the shopping center and stepped into the lift, we knew we were in for a special experience.

The Setting

The entrance to the lift set the tone, leading us into a space where the décor was nothing short of spectacular. The attention to detail was flawless, with stunning views of Moscow from the 16th floor. 

 

Glass-domed structures framed the skyline, while the interior boasted intricate wooden carvings, scale models of iconic buildings, and Matryoshka dolls depicting famous figures. The centerpiece was a beautifully crafted wooden bar, overflowing with charm.

The mastermind behind this culinary haven, Chef Vladimir Mukhin, has earned numerous accolades, including being ranked No. 13 on the World’s Top 50 Restaurants list.

The Food

From start to finish, our dining experience was impeccable. The butter with salted walnut paired perfectly with the black bread, while the mashed potato with truffle was, without question, the best I’ve ever tasted. Each dish was a masterpiece, but the amuse-bouche stood out as a delightful prelude to the meal.

To celebrate Selma’s birthday, we were treated to a special dessert that made the meal even more magical. The bill arrived with a basket containing three orange balls, served on a bed of greenery. When placed in your mouth, they burst with a cold, refreshing explosion of incredible flavor—an unforgettable finale.

The Verdict

Every aspect of the outing was a delight, from the ambiance to the food and the thoughtful service. If you ever have the opportunity to dine at the White Rabbit, I couldn’t recommend it more and enjoying the experience with Kobus and Selma made it perfect.