The funeral

After the heat of the past few days it was very pleasant to have rain and cooler temperatures today. Gavin took Xena for a walk as it was raining and I did not feel like getting wet when I had just washed and blow dried my hair! Poor Xena, day 8 of her season and she is pretty miserable today, she is not her usual exuberant self and has spent most of the day sleeping.  Having a walk in the rain probably capped it for her as the worst day ever, she came home wet and looking even more miserable!

Gavin spent some time getting the technology setup for his mother’s funeral, and then at 2pm the funeral started which we watched on Zoom. About 30 people attended the service in person, with more people dialled in, and it was beautifully done, with photos of her in the church and a slide show of photos of her on Zoom. It was good to see many familiar faces on Zoom, my brother, nephew and sister were dialled in, and of course Gavin’s brother and family in Canada and a cousin in Australia too. Everything went well, Gavin delivered a heartfelt eulogy and managed to hold it together very well. The pastor spoke about how she had been planning her funeral since 2016, choosing hymns, readings from the bible and even the eats afterwards – she wanted dainty sandwiches with the crusts cut off and koeksisters, a family favourite! After the service we came out of that Zoom meeting and immediately dialled into another one with Gavin’s brother and his family in Canada – it was good to chat about the funeral and for the cousins to see each other again.

 We have asked the doctor for the results of his mother’s Covid test a few times, and the doctor says he is told by the lab that it is not ready yet – 8 days later. Apparently, every patient who goes into hospital has to have the test and the doctor said he is not getting any results for any of his patients. I wonder if this is how South Africa is reporting such low Covid results and it is very worrying as I don’t think the true situation is being reported.

After the funeral I baked a cake – a gluten free pistachio and raspberry upside down cake which looks great – Thomas’ girlfriend is coming for lunch tomorrow now that she has finally finished her exams, and as it is her first visit to our home I thought I would make an effort with a cake for pudding, I think it will be delicious served with coconut yogurt. We will eat outside and have a BBQ, and as both Meriel and her are vegetarian there will be a few veggie options too. Meriel is making supper tonight, so that is a lovely treat.

These beautiful flowers were sent to us by Meriel and her parents and I thought they look lovely standing on the piano with that painting as a background.