And then the earthquake came

I hope you have paid a visit to my on-line shop at http://www.booksmatic.com since my last post. I have updated my pets section. At the last widget you will find more items for your pets. Have a look at the Solvit Tagalong Pet Booster Seat. This is ideal when travelling with your pet and comes in small, medium and large.  

Now to get back to the devastation on the sunken toilet and earthquake and the subsequent "modernization" that followed after that. Please first read the link about the earthquake in 1969.

http://www.stormchasing.co.za/articles-and-news/historic-weather-archive/184-tulbagh-ceres-1969-earthquake  

Now, the farm on which I grew up was not far from Ceres and Tulbagh. I would say approximately about a 100 km or so. Give and take a few kilometers. The make-shift toilet under the old pine tree was up running. My dad decided that this is the time to have an inside flush toilet installed. This was a big thing as at that stage we had no electricity and no telephone. At night candles and lamps were used. On Saturday evenings the generator was switched on to generate electricity, but this was switched off at 11 pm.

In the kitchen we had a Aga Stove and a gas fridge. Between the kitchen and the bedroom of the boys was a closed veranda with the door leading to the outside. It was an ordinary week night. Both my parents were out for the evening. I was sitting at the table in the bedroom doing my homework. My sister was helping me. As those were the days before ballpoint pens, the pen had to be refilled each time it was empty (and besides the fact that we were prohibited to use ballpoint pens at all). 

My sister was standing behind me. She was helping me to re-fill the pan. It was then we when he heard this low sound like an approaching train. The next minute the world started to shake around us. We all shouted "earthquake" and made for the door. Dog included. Never mind that half the ink pot was thrown down my back. My brother, sister and I tried to get out the backdoor simultaneously, but got stuck in the door. The poor dog could not get his turn quick enough to get out the back door, missed the turn, carried on straight and ended up under the kitchen table with all the chairs falling on top of him. In the end we all managed to get out the door, the budgie in his cage as well. One of us must have picked up the poor blight in his cage.

Very soon my parents rushed home to see if we were okay. We all were a bit shaken and okay, but not the house. The kitchen chimney decided that it has had enough and it fell over and the rest of the house had many cracks. This was then that my dad decided to demolish the chimney, take the old stove out and lay electricity cables to the house. Now imagine once the electricity was switched on how we went around from room to room switching light on and off. 

At the same time the "donkey" in the bathroom was replaced with an electric geyser. Now those of you who do not know what a donkey is, it is a boiler in the bathroom that had to be stoked with wood chips to boil the water. Maybe today with the high price of electricity this was a much cheaper and environmentally friendlier option.

The best however was the shared telephone line that was installed (how kept up with all this sudden modernization still remains a mystery today). Each person using the share line had an unique ring. Ours was two short rings and two long rings. If you phoned the person sharing your line, it was for free, All other outgoing calls were paid for and the telephone exchange controlled this. The older generation will remember this: "Number please" or if you want to phone you had to pick up the phone and ask: "Line busy?".      

Here at http://www.booksmatic.com many history books are sold as well. Browse and don't be shy.

The recipe today is 

Eggplant with cheese   

Two oven baked eggplants

2 desert spoons butter

1 tin (340 g) chopped tomatoes

500 g fresh grated mozzarella cheese

30 g parmasan cheese

30 g mixed herbs to taste

Pre-heat oven to 200 deg C

Use deep oven dish and butter it

Cut eggplant in slices and place in oven dish

Place tomatoes, cheese and herbs on top

Bake until cheese starts to bubble (about 45 minutes)

Serve warm with rice, pasta or cold with bread

Enjoy just as much as you will enjoy visiting http://www.booksmatic.com  \

                      

The Sunken Toilet

Here at www.booksmatic.com I found an interesting photo. I like it so much that I made it my introductory picture to my home page at www.booksmatic.com. Therefore I have decided to share it with you.

This is so true and I cannot imagine a life without reading. I grew up on a farm here in the Western Cape. It was a valley surrounded by high mountains and the only way one could reach the valley is by means of a narrow mountain path. At places this path was so narrow that a car had to reverse to a wider spot if another car came from the front. In the winter when the mountains are covered in snow and it is raining day after day without end, I took a book and apples. 

We mainly grew apples on this farm and my dad always saw to it that there was a crate of apples in the house. My favourite (no spelling error - UK English) apple was a York Imperial. I do not think one gets this type of apple anymore. Most likely a hybrid of some kind.   

Next to the house we had a dam and the feeding source for this dam was a fountain about a kilometer from the house. In this fountain was a pipe as well that fed the water to our house. To think this mineral rich water I drank as a child and even bathed in it. Today I have to buy this mineral water - bottled! Between the house was our long drop toilet. When the chickens hatched, my mom kept the chickens in a box in the long drop as it was warm in there.

One day my brother went to the toilet and heard a chicken way down there in the hole. He called me and we took a torch and way down on the heap was a chicken crying for help and most likely to get away from this smell. My mom was working down at the packing sheds and my dad was some where on the farm. All in my family are not only big readers, we are also animal lovers. So my brother and I took the road looking for my farther. Shoes was a no no and we ran to my father. He was busy digging holes to plant fruit trees, but when he heard what has happened, he left everything and came home. He took a long pole and attached a tin cut in half to the pole. In this way he managed to get the chicken out.

This chicken had a name after this. "Kakbalie" translated it means "Shitpile". Kakbalie became a pet in the house as we decided to hand rear him. Yes, him as he turned out to be male. he died a natural death.

Now to get back to the toilet between the dam and the house. We were weekly borders and went to hostel on a Monday morning and came home on Friday afternoons. Anyway, this morning we were all in a rush as it goes in a household with four children. My sister went to the toilet and came soon afterwards running into the house screaming that the toilet has disappeared. it sank due to the heavy rain. Only the roof was sticking out. Now we had no toilet. my farther took the tractor and pulled the remains of the toilet down. A temporary one was built out of sink at a different spot under the huge pine tree. 

This, and the earthquake was the start of "modernization" in my household and next week I will tell you more of it. For more great stories visit www.booksmatic.com.

My recipe for the week is:

Ginger beer as it is summer here in South Africa

20 ml fine ginger (1 ounce)

1.6 kg sugar (just less than 4 pounds)

10 ml active dry yeast (1/2 ounce)

10 ml tartaric acid (buy this at your local supermarket)

10 l lukewarm water 

150 g raisins (5 ounces)

10 ml Cream of tartar

Add ginger to water and sugar and stir until sugar has dissolved

Add remainder of ingredients

Pour mixture into plastic container with lid and leave to ferment

Sieve beer through and pour into sterilized bottles

Do not fill the bottles to the top

 Place 2-3 raisins in each bottle

Fastened the top, but only loose

Let bottles ferment for a day or tow at room temperature before placing in frigde.

For more ideas remember to visit www.booksmatic.com

                    

Mr Chameleon has left the premises

For those of you who haven't visit www.booksmatic.com yet, go and have a look. the site has been updated and once a again there are bargains for Africa. Do yourself a favour and click on the side banners on my webpage at www.booksmatic.com. There are more items. These ranges from more bookstores to music, furniture and even art. Don't miss out on new publications.

And it rained this morning here in Cape Town. Not that we are complaining. In South Africa we are always grateful for every drop that falls. Cape Town has been on water restrictions for so long that it has become a way of life. Gardens may not be watered between  10 am and 4 pm. You may not wash off pavements and when you water your garden, you have to use a nozzle that switches off on release. There are enough dams, but the population is growing to fast. At least the garden had a free water shower. 

A week has gone by since I have written about my dog who had to go in for an operation. Well, all went well and three spots of benign cancer has been removed successfully. He was very drowsy, and I had to help him into the car. He slept close to me that evening as I know his every move just as he knows mine. My shadow personified. If I move, he moves. If I garden, he will help me by digging up the plants. What can I do? Nothing, he most likely thinks that he is helping me. I just moan and replant the plant.

Well, Mr Chameleon obviously haven't learned his lesson regarding busy roads. He most likely was thinking that he is a dragon of some sorts and that everybody can see him. He has disappeared. The changes are very good that he has camouflaged himself in the bushes. After all, that is why they are called chameleons. He could be watching me through the window this very minute and I would not even know it.

The recipe I am posting today is a very traditional Afrikaans South African recipe. It is called a "melktert" or milk tart in English. Remember to visit the cooking section at www.booksmatic.com.

Crust-less Milk tart  

Separate the yolk and egg white of four eggs

200 g (250 ml) sugar (7 ounces)

60 g (75 ml) butter or margarine melted (3 ounces)

140 g (250 ml) unsifted cake flour (7 ounces)

5 ml baking powder (1/2 teaspoon)

Pinch of salt

1 l milk 

5 ml Vanilla Extract 

40 g (50 ml) Cinnamon sugar (Mix cinnamon and sugar) (2 ounces)

Preheat oven to 180 C or 350 F

use two bowels of about 1 liter each and rub with butter

Mix egg yolk, sugar and margarine/butter until creamy

Sieve flour and baking powder and salt together and mix well with egg yolk mixture.

Add milk and vanilla extract

Beat egg whites until firm and fold into milk mixture with metal spoon. The mixture will be thin at this stage.

Pour into tart bowels and throw cinnamon sugar over

Bake 40 to 50 minutes in the middle of the oven. 

Serve warm or cold with tea or enjoy as is.  

Have a great week and visit www.booksmatic.com      

        

Reading, my best friend and a recipe

www.booksmatic.com

I saw this poster a while back..................................

......and this could be me. I hang onto books as if they are never going to be printed again. Well, some books will never be printed again. I am always worried that I am going to want to read that book again. Yes, this has happened and I am sure to any reader as well. On a sunny day, you wake up and decide to clean out your bookshelf and wherever you are keeping your books. (This is especially true if the books are "spilling" over onto the floor and every bit of space you have available.) You take a black bag or box and pull the car closer and load the books in the car's boot. Off you go the nearest charity organisation and donate these "excess" books. Just to look again for these same books you donated a few months ago as you want to read it again or lend it to a friend.

I told you a few weeks ago about my visit to the vet for my dog's (see photo below) yearly check-up.

During this visit, a growth was discovered on his leg and after tests, it was discovered that it turned out to be benign cancer. The vet was also worried about a growth that appeared in his mouth after he was attacked through a fence by another dog. Roger has a very placid nature and despite his size, he is something like wimp and will cower and cry easily when he is hurt. This is of coarse when he does not climb into my arms for protection. To get back to my story. These growths are going to be removed this morning. I am a worry pot as this is my four-legged child.

On Friday I was driving down a fairly busy road while looking for a certain street. I passed the street and had to make a u-turn. As I was driving back, I saw a chameleon trying to cross the road in the path of my vehicle . I served the car and missed the chameleon. Fortunately the car behind me realized something is in the road and did the same. I drove on and made another u-turn to try and save the chameleon. In the mean time one car after the other was going up and down the road. By the time I was making my u-turn, I thought the chameleon is a goner. Hold and below, Mr Chameleon was still cruising across the street. I managed to save the chameleon (see photo) and he is living in my garden.

               

Recipe from www,booksmatic.com for the day.

Creamy Potatoes (six people)

Salad: Five medium potatoes, peeled, diced and cooked

30 ml (2 desert spoons) butter

Salt and and freshly grounded pepper to taste

1 green chili pepper

Sauce:

250 ml (1cup) greek yogurt

60 ml (1/4 cup brown sugar

125 ml (1/2 cup)) mayonnaise

30 ml (2 desert spoons)

1-2 green chili peppers. chopped finely and pips removed

30 ml coriander leaves, chopped. 

Garnishing: Black grounded pepper. Coriander leaves 

  

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