Glimpses of Paradise (Present)

Every 2nd Friday, I have the wonderful privilege of drinking coffee with my darling friend Nan.

She is 86 years old, and we have adopted each other as family. My grannies have long since passed away, and her grandchildren are mostly overseas.

On Friday, I proudly walked in with a sheaf of papers. On it, my blog stories of the last 2 weeks. The last time I visited her, I had printed the beginning. She was highly concerned about my new venture, since she was convinced the Prof would do something bad to me for all this writing business.

So, to quell her unease, I printed it out and took it to her. I actually paid little consideration as to where I left her in the story line - after all, she knows the story, she knows the end.

I was quite surprised to find her very unhappy about the blog on Friday. The story made her sad, it made her cry, she said.

No amount of persuasion as to where I was now, could change her mind. "You must stop the blog" - she was adamant!

So, I gave her comments some thought (no I am not stopping the blog - this is way too much fun), but the story really is in the depths of trouble right now. So, I wanted to write something completely different, and show you a glimpse into the paradise I now live in. Even I need a change of scenery!

But, since I love stories so much - a story treat for you too. I am taking creative license and calling it:

The Bee Keeper

The photo you see above, is of our bird feeder. Werner and I have discovered a love of bird watching in the garden. To this end we put up the feeder, we have a lovely water fountain (which the Prof would probably have nicked if he could have managed to move it), and finally we installed a nesting log last summer.

Oh great was our delight when the Hoepoe we had been watching started pecking at the log. He managed to hollow it out, and just when he was done, he got chucked out by a Crested Barbette, who moved in. Shame - laws of nature I guess. The whole summer long we watched the Crested Barbette flying in and out the log, but never closely enough to know if any young hatched from the nest.

This past weekend we have been having such fun. The garden is full of flowers, and Werner has been taking so many photos.

Here are a few samples of the photos he has taken. IF you look carefully at the bottle brush photo you will see the start of our troubles - a BEE!

So, the stage is set. A garden full of flowers attracting heaps of bees, and an empty nesting log.

Wala! Yesterday a bee hive moved in (sorry Crested Barbette - laws of nature. I guess you could say - what goes round, comes round!)

Um, well what now, we asked each other. We are alone this weekend. ALL the kids are off with the other parents. Thinking about the kids we realised, we had better do something about this. What a pain.

Did you know it costs a whole stack to get bees removed? Things are never dull at our house, that is for sure.

This morning the "bee keeper" arrived. The poetic licence is because they are pest control people (but really - I want to call him the bee keeper, because he takes them away - alive, and gives them to a bee keeper out in Muldersdrift. Anyway - a much more romantic title than Pest Control).

The Bee Keeper guy is very friendly. He has an odd, slow way of talking, but his eyes have life.

He walks through the garden and says - you have a paradise here. I look at the garden with an outsider's eyes, and mumble - you are right - a paradise - in more ways than you can know.

Somehow - as always happens when people wonder through our gates, I begin telling him my story. His eyes fill with tears, and I hasten to add - but wait, it has a fantastic end. Won't you have some coffee, let us tell you our story.

So, this morning, time stood still for a little while, as we tell him our story. His smile returns as he heartily shakes our hands. What we do not realise, is that he too has an amazing story to tell. But his is told quickly, and almost without emphasis, as we move towards the car, and towards his departure.

In his slow careful way, he tells of a time where he did a good turn for a man in a wheel chair. For several weeks, he gives this man a lift to Westgate. On about the 7th run, as he greets this man and turns to his car, there is a man waiting for him, with a long coat. The man lifts his coat and pulls out a gun. He was told to open the car, where there were another 2 men waiting for them.

"Please," he pleaded, "here are the keys, take the car, but leave me here. Please don't kill me".

They are oblivious to his pleas, and force him into his car. They drive some way, before telling him to slack off and pull to the side. They pointed their guns at the back of his head and shot him. I think the intention was to leave him by the road side, but now things went wrong for them. They ran away from the car.

The Bee Keeper remembers nothing, except waking up in hospital, and the stories his family have told him. The doctors had no hope for him, and did not want to operate. They gave the family 15 minutes to decide what to do. His nephew went one side, and started to pray to God for his life.

When the doctors returned for the family's decision, his nephew spoke up. "God has promised to guide your hands, operate this man".

Today, evidence of the damage, is a hole in his skull, and I guess, the rather slow speech. He does a job which might be deemed "unworthy", by many today. Yet he does it with a thankful heart.

He has a little boy at home. The Bee Keeper looks at his sleeping son, and is thankful for the food he can provide. The crowning glory for him is the glass of milk he can place by his son's bedside each night.

The Bee Keeper greets us with a smile, and leaves us with the words - God Loves You.

So, he came into our world, into our paradise, and encouraged us with love. He is truly humble, truly amazing, and above all, a walking miracle.