This week Linda G Hill gives us another challenge to get our free writing going.

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “sup.” Use it as a word or find a word that contains it.”

Sup, to an old lady like me means to eat supper or to sip soup.   But, of course, this word is seldom used by young or old these days and the only place we are likely to see it used in such a way, is in well-written novels with a period theme.

My grandchildren frequently greet me with ‘Sup, Gran?”   instead of,
Good Morning dearest grandmother and how are you today?”  Such niceties seldom escape their lips.  They do not mind their Ps and Qs in my presence.  They talk to me about absolutely everything – things I wouldn’t have dared bring up with my grandmother!

I have grown weary of reminding them that I’m old and require them to show a little more respect for my grey hair!   They laugh out loud and say – Get real Gran!

I guess I only have myself to blame.   If I wish to engage them in meaningful conversation then I need to speak their language.

Sup, then, to the young is just a way of greeting each other. So instead of saying Hello how are you they say -Sup.   An appropriate response would be – Same a usual – sup with you?
In South Africa the colloquial greeting would be – Howzit?   In bad English that means – How is it?  In good Afrikaans you would say, “Hoe gaan dit?’  Direct translation to English is – How goes it?  So it has been corrupted to Howzit.

I used to think that I ALWAYS spoke and wrote  The Queen’s English until I visited England and had the locals raise a questioning eyebrow when they didn’t understand a term that slipped easily off my tongue.  Guilty as charged – I speak South African!

I use words like ‘jol’ There’s no better word to put across that you’ve been out enjoying yourself.  I went  “jolling” last night – means I went out on the town.   She’s a ‘joller’  means she’s a party girl.   “We had such a “lekker jol” yesterday,”  means, “We had a very nice time, yesterday.”

Words, that we English Speaking South Africans, have borrowed from Afrikaans, pepper our speech all the time and I love it.  Ja for yes, lekker for nice, vrot for rotten, lapppie for cloth, the list goes on.   Language is what defines where we come from.  Accents do the same thing.  I love Language and I adore accents.

So I will not be offended to be greeted with ‘sup’.   After all, I grew up with Bugs Bunny – and he used it in it’s purest form all the time.

Now he would say, “Sup, Doc!”

Here is my contribution to this week’s stream of consciousness prompt

This week Linda asks us to write about our favourite word.

This is a stunning prompt.  My chosen word escapes my lips pretty often.   I may be lazy about choosing new words but this one describes things I like very well.   You can say stunning is so many different ways.  You can say it in a joyful way, an excited way, a surprised way and even in a sarcastic way.  You can draw it out – Stun-ning. Although for this type of expression I would choose – Fan-tas-tic.  You can shout it, you can whisper it – you can put on a accent with it.  There is a lot of playing around you can do with the word, stunning.

I use the word to describe experiences.  I had a stunning visit with my grandchildren this weekend.  I use it to describe what I eat – The meal at The Black Oyster Catcher was stunning.  I use it to describe how someone looks – Megan Markle looked stunning on her wedding day.

It’s a word that really puts across the emotion, feeling or description.  It’s to do with how it is said and it just gets the message across so much better than any other word.  You can’t help but understand exactly what this word expresses. It’s just stunning!

So yes – Stunning remains my favourite word.

A Stunning View from my daughter’s porch

Here is my contribution to Linda’s Stream of Consciousness Prompt Empty/Hollow

Empty is the space next to Meghan Markle as she walks down the aisle toward her Prince. But the hollow feeling in her tummy is filled with joy when Prince Charles meets her and walks her toward her Harry.   Tears pricked as I saw this austere prince look at her and reassure her that all will be well. And Harry undid me as he whispered – Thanks Pa.   What a charming prince he is!

There’s a lot said about the fact that Meghan’s Mom was the only one of her family members present.   My heart went out to her – she looked so proud of her only daughter.  Certainly her heart was full of love and pride and nothing could take that joy away from her.  From here on the knowledge that her child has married the love of her life will be enough for her.

The streets of Windsor were certainly not empty on Saturday 19 May 2018.   They were filled with well-wishers from all over the world.  History was made when the chapel was full of representatives of many diverse cultures.  There were no hollow feelings when the the happy couple joined their cultures in a most uplifting ceremony.

Congratulations Harry and Meghan. Long may you live in married bliss filling the world with all the love and care you have to share.

My ‘High Society’ friends and I remotely attended the wedding  and dressed for the occasion! The Baroness of The Emporium, The Shipwrecked Princess, The Duchess of Goose Hall, The Countess of Southbound.

The Lady of Milkwood Manor!

My contribution to this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Why

Why am I responding to a prompt so late on a Sunday night?  Well the answer is simple.  Friday 27 April was a public holiday, Freedom Day, which commemorates the first Free and Fair, Democratic Elections in our country.   We are also celebrating Workers’ Day on Tuesday 1 May so the school have been given Monday off too so that a nice long 5-day weekend can be enjoyed.  Our daughter took came up for the weekend and her friends, Cara and Sandy and their parents Doug and Bridgette joined us on Saturday too.

Of course Struisbaai is brimming over with visitors who are making the most of what remains of the  Summer before Autumn says,  “Enough already, it’s my turn to herald the Winter.”  We’ve made sure our guests get the most of what the Southern Point has to offer too and have done the usual touristy things, walked on the beach and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.

Our Guests at the Southern Tip of Africa

The Gorgeous Girls on the Struisbaai Board Walk

But back to Why I am sitting at my computer this late.  My guests have retired to bed.  The daughters  have gone off to the Irish Pub down the road and although they are well and truly adult, someone needs to wait up for them to return home safely.  No that’s not the whole truth.  I had an after dinner coffee – and that’s never a good thing. If I try to go to sleep now, I will just toss and turn for the next three hours so why not write a blog instead!

Why did I drink coffee after dinner when I know that it’s going to prevent me from sleeping!  Because I love coffee that’s why.  And I really enjoy a cup with a small piece of dark chocolate after an excellent dinner with good conversation and lovely company.   Losing some sleep is a small price to pay for the pleasure that indulgence gives me.  Just hang on a sec.  I’m going to pour myself a second cup!

Essential Foods for Teachers

Ah that’s better. Now where was I – Oh yes – why I drink coffee.  Coffee is an essential food for teachers. Without coffee and chocolate teachers cannot do their jobs properly. It has these magical properties that raise the levels of serotonin which make female teacher calm and happy and able to cope with the stresses of their job.   So I got a taste for it in my past life as a teacher of very young children and now I can’t give it up – nor do I want to.  Please do not google the truth of the previous claim – trust me – it’s true.

I had no intention of writing about coffee today but this was the result of stream of consciousness responding to the prompt of WHY!

“Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “spoke.” Use it somewhere, in some form, in your post. “

Here is my contribution to this week’s Stream of Consciousness Prompt

In a stream of consciousness exercise one has to just let the fingers do the typing and write anything that comes into one’s head after being given a word as a prompt.

I think to myself – Spoke – what can I write about spoke.  I spoke to my daughter on the phone yesterday.  We usually keep in touch with text messages.  I like to speak but not on the phone.  I don’t know why this is.  It’s not that I won’t speak over the phone but I prefer to see the person to whom I am speaking.  This is odd because I’m quite happy to text long and involved messages. Most of my friends prefer to chat and they’re the ones who end up saying – enough of this texting I am going to ring you.  And they do and I end up being fine with a long verbal chat.

But texting is still my preferred method of distance communication.  As I write now the reasons for this are flooding my head.   I think it might be that texting is slower, giving one more time to think about the words to choose and being able to delete when you see what one’s saying is not quite right.  Also one can multitask while texting – check on the dinner, talk to one’s husband without saying – not now I’m on the phone!

But back to the daughter with whom I spoke yesterday.  We’d had a lovely text conversation and then the topic of the long weekend came up – and that required verbal interaction. Yes – there are times when speaking one to one is the only way to make arrangements.  Although texting them also gives one a reference especially when one is of a certain forgetful age!

So I spoke to my daughter and I look forward to seeing her in the flesh next weekend and having a proper one to one conversation where I can see her face, and read her feelings and get the full pleasure of proper chat!

The prompt for this week’s Stream of Consciousness  is Passive/Aggressive

Passive/aggressives are not easy to deal with.   I prefer rude and obnoxious to passive aggressive because I don’t feel guilty when I deal with the former.   I can give them back as much as they give me.  But those gentle, sweet passive/aggressives know just which buttons of mine to push.

One tactic I hate is when I offer the individual a treat – Would you like to go for a milkshake with me – knowing she would really love it – and the reply comes – Only if you really want to go.    Like she’s doing me the favour!!!

You see that’s the problem – they look at you with wide eyed innocence and say things like  “Oh – it’s okay – I don’t mind if you go to the movies without me – I’ll just stay here at home with the baby sitter and be oh so sad.”      Of course you go off as if you didn’t care but all the while you worry about the sad little boy you left at home!  Meanwhile, he’s as happy as can be manipulating the baby sitter to do his will.

They’re clever these passive aggressive because they know how to work on your guilt.  You find yourself feeling that you’re the one in the wrong and you keep trying to keep the hard done by passive aggressive happy.  It’s hard not to be drawn into their mind games.  Calling their bluff or ignoring them just doesn’t seem to help!  You’re always the one that ends up feeling guilty!   Aaaah – it drives me insane.   I’ve tried being passive/aggressive back but I can’t seem to get it right. It always seems to backfire on me.  So what to do?   There is no winning so I choose my battles with the p/a’s in my life.  I ignore and fume inside and move on to something else if I can.   OR – I just give in because I love those darn passive/aggressive people  in my life.

I’m a bit late posting my contribution to this week’s Stream of Consciousness Prompt

But here is my take on the prompt – Seasons

The seasons of my life are constantly changing – and each one has shapes my life.  I suppose some can compare their seasons to Winter, Spring , Summer and Autumn but as I contemplate my life I don’t see such a regular pattern as these predictable times in our year.

The seasons of my life have alway been surprising.  I have not been prepared and have had to deal with them as they happen – no storing up during Spring so there will be enough for winter.  Instead it’s been wham – not get on with it girl and make the most of a bad situation!   Never can I say that any season was boring – some have been less frantic than others but boring never.

I have loved the seasons of my life – the raising kids season, the career season – sometimes overlapping with the previous.  I have enjoyed the people who have come for a season then left while others stayed for all seasons – so many friendships made – some continue to this day others not but their value has left its mark on my life.  Sometime one wonders why some people remain in your life forever while others seem to fade away for no reason – there is a reason – they were meant to be just for that season for some reason and then we all move on and there are no ill feelings.  Sometimes they return and you take up just where you left off – other times not – that’s just the way it’s meant to be.

Seasons in my marriage have been the most exciting and challenging – the season of falling in love and deciding to marry, taking on each other’s children, raising them through their different seasons, wondering if you’ll ever get through the storms and then suddenly finding you’re into the next amazing phase where once again the sun is shining.  But then another season of drama follows just when you think the waters are calmer and you can sail into the wide blue yonder.

The season of grandchildren arrives and you find your life totally revolving around them and their seasons too.  Your realise that this is the best season and in fact those previous seasons and experiences have prepared you to walk though this one with ease and when it ends you are ready for the next major change – this time in the entire climate as you move on to the lasts season of your life – Retirement

Is it going to be sunny, calm and slow? I don’t think so – but definitely this is the season for me and I will embrace it as I have all the seasons preceding it.  I will welcome the people who come for a season, not worry about those who fade away I will face the storms and enjoy the sunshine and deal with whatever the seasonal changes bring.

Thanks to Joey from Joefully Stated who is hosting Stream of consciousness this week.  The prompt words are Save, Safe or both

Save was a word I heard plenty of times when I was a young child growing up.  Don’t eat all your sweeties today, save some for tomorrow.   If you want that bicycle you will have to save up for it.   Save was an important concept in those days.  Grandpa saved things that we all thought was just junk in case he could use it some time in the future.  It was not a throwaway society then.  Things were built to last and you saved your old clothes to pass on to others.   Save yourself for that one special person was another mantra that was repeated to me many times by the older women in my family.   Interesting concept in this day and age!

Today SAVE is not such an important word. If it’s broken, we throw it away and buy new.  We spend our money because why save when it won’t be worth too much in the future.   There’s no room in smaller, modern houses to save the junk Grandpa might be able to use later.

What was less worried about was safety.  Children were free to play alone and unsupervised.  Teachers did not stand at the gate while children waited for parents to collect them.  At six I walked to and from school on my own.   Nobody thought it was unsafe!  I climbed the mountain with my siblings and cousins and spent hours unattended by adults on the beach.  Was it safe?  Who knows?  Strangers did talk to us and we spoke back, gave directions or helped them carry groceries.   Instinctively we knew who and who not to trust.   I rode the train alone or with siblings or friends of similar pre-teen age.  I walked home alone in the dark in my teens – nobody thought it wouldn’t be safe.   The world was different then.  By the time I became a young mother I would not dream of leaving my pre-teen child unattended on the beach.  She was taught stranger-danger from the time she could walk!  Save was a concept but not as much a when I was young.   My kids know to save money but other things?  I don’t think so.

And as far as teaching them to saving themselves for that special person?   Well – the choice is theirs – I never mentioned that kind of saving but certainly I did teach them to be picky, take precautions and above all BE SAFE.