Blessing Our Sisters

This is a little mentioned part of The Gathering's ministry to the neediest women & girls in our community.

For a few years now we have regularly been collecting sanitary pads and other sanitary products to give to the neediest and most vulnerable women in the community.

Initially this was aimed at the older girls attending our Homework Club because so many teenage girls simply miss school when they're menstruating because they have little or no access to the necessary products to help.

Early Morning Ride

I'm really enjoying my unicycling and loving going for longer rides over 10ks, especially since I've had to stop running due to my back.

Yesterday morning's ride was just over 16ks and I got to enjoy seeing the sunrise reflecting on Table Mountain which is always a treat. It's nice to be riding so early too because it means there are few people out and about so I don't have to dodge so many pedestrians.

Getting There

Ever since the beginning of lockdown well over a year ago, and then particularly when I herniated a disc in my spine, I've been battling to get back down to my pre-lockdown weight.

During the lockdown I hit a high of 95kgs (15 stone), but I know this was a result of depression connected directly to my back and the fact that I couldn't run or box. It was a deeply frustrating time and one I have no wish to repeat.

Free Books

There's much that can be frustrating about life out here, but when your health insurance starts giving you free books it makes the world a much better place.

So I was very happy to swing another voucher from our them last night to get my third free book in a month.

Reflections On The A To Z Challenge 2021

Firstly, it's eight years since I last participated in the Challenge. Quite why left it so long I'm not really sure, though some of those years were quite lean in terms of blogging. Sadly Facebook became my main thing followed by Instagram. Things came to a head in 2019 with a record low of just 13 posts for the whole year. At that point I seriously thought about giving up on the blog.

Z Is For Zebra

Z is for Zebra

I could have painted some black stripes on my car to make it look like a Zebra, but actually, this post is not about Zebras at all.

Truth be told I couldn't think of anything better and it seemed like a good way to say a bit about my upcoming adventure with my oldest son...

Joel turned 18 in March and as part of the celebrations of this event, we (he & I) will be going off on a three week off-road wild camping trip right around South Africa.

Y Is For Youtube

Y is for YouTube

Really, this should be W is for worship, but I only thought of that after the event, so here we are with Y for YouTube.

At The Gathering we're not blessed with any musicians that can lead us in our worship, so we use worship videos downloaded from YouTube, and then we sing along to them on Sundays and any other event where we would like a time of worship.

X Is For eXercise

X is for eXercise

In early January 2019 I made a life changing decision to get fit and healthy and had no idea just how timely and beneficial that decision would turn out to be. In fact, without meaning to be melodramatic, I'd go so far as to say that decision saved my life.

I had stopped all forms of exercise several years earlier, I used to cycle a lot and do a few other bits, but for a number of lame excuses gave it all up and became a couch potato piling on the weight. Because I'm quite tall I appeared to carry the weight well and no one ever said anything about my expanding beer gut.

W Is For Washing Machine

W is for Washing Machine

Why do washing machines do this?

I guess I should be happy because at least there's one sock that's not gone missing, but seriously, with all the tech that is packed in to the humble washing machine these days, why does this nonsense still happen?

V Is For Vinyl

V is for Vinyl

I love vinyl!

I think my main reason for loving it so much is the fact that playing a record is an occasion in itself. In our digital world it's too easy to pop some music on as background noise and then skip through songs without really giving it a second thought.

U Is For Upside Down

U if for Upside Down

Before I started this year's A to Z Challenge, I did say my theme would be random, so just in case things haven't been random enough so far...

Several nights ago I woke up just after 5am needing to wee, but for a moment or two as I lay on the bed I was a little disoriented because as it turned out, I was upside down on the bed. Apparently I had been that way since at least 1am when Paula got up to wee (oh the joys of being in our 50s!).

I have absolutely no idea how I ended up in that position on the bed or why, but it got me thinking about being upside down.