A farmhouse breakfast ? Why, that must mean that it's Sunday today !Here on the farm, one day runs into the next and you tend to forget what day of the week it is. It may sound odd, but I have to check the calendar hanging in my office each morning, to cross off the previous day and take note of what ‘today’ is !
When we first started living in remote areas where days ran into weeks which ran into months with little to differentiate between them (no Friday nights out with friends, no lazy Saturday mornings browsing around the mall with a nice lunch afterwards, no Church on a Sunday) I decided then and there that I would not succumb to poor timekeeping and just get up when I pleased (easy to do, it’s not as if I have to be anywhere at a certain time !), wear what I pleased (easy to do when no one but your husband, daughter and staff see you all day !), eat what I pleased (‘cause no one’s watching!). I decided that I needed to have some sort of control. I suppose, as odd as it sounds, that this is just one small way that I cope with living in near isolation.
So, I get up every morning, work out, then clean up and get dressed, put my make-up on and do my hair. My friends and family think that I am a little crazy doing this, but the ones that live or have lived like I do, understand.
Sometimes it’s controlling the little things that help you to cope when you live in a country where you have absolutely no control over the “big” things that so many people take for granted – good roads, electricity 24 hours a day, clean tap water that is available whenever you need it, smooth roads, decent medical care, phone lines that work, 24 hour shops, friends and family just a short drive away …. when Africa spins out of control around me, I feel like I have some sort of handle on the situation, because I get up at the same time each day and put my make-up on. (Strange, aren’t I ?!)
Anyway, the reason why I started telling you all this is because today is Sunday, and Sunday is the day that we change our routine a little so that we can mark the definite end of one week, and the beginning of the next.
So, on a Sunday I get up a little later (if my husband is not too busy on the farm, he gets our daughter up, dressed and fed and takes her out on to the farm with him so that I can have a lie-in … heavenly !) …. we almost always have a big cooked breakfast late on a Sunday morning, a nice afternoon tea baked treat (like scones) and a roast of some sort on Sunday night. (Just typing that all out made me realize that most of our Sunday routines revolve around food – ha !) Oh yes … I also give myself the day off from exercising on a Sunday, as I usually exercise each morning, 6 days a week. We also look forward to watching a good Sunday night movie on satellite TV. (So you see - it's NOT all food related !)
So, to cut a long story short, today is Sunday and we’ve just had a nice cooked breakfast and are settling down for a relaxing family day at home as it’s pouring with rain and my husband has had to stop all work on the farm as a result. Yay ! I hope that you’re all having a nice, lazy Sunday in your corner of the world, too.
When we first started living in remote areas where days ran into weeks which ran into months with little to differentiate between them (no Friday nights out with friends, no lazy Saturday mornings browsing around the mall with a nice lunch afterwards, no Church on a Sunday) I decided then and there that I would not succumb to poor timekeeping and just get up when I pleased (easy to do, it’s not as if I have to be anywhere at a certain time !), wear what I pleased (easy to do when no one but your husband, daughter and staff see you all day !), eat what I pleased (‘cause no one’s watching!). I decided that I needed to have some sort of control. I suppose, as odd as it sounds, that this is just one small way that I cope with living in near isolation.
So, I get up every morning, work out, then clean up and get dressed, put my make-up on and do my hair. My friends and family think that I am a little crazy doing this, but the ones that live or have lived like I do, understand.
Sometimes it’s controlling the little things that help you to cope when you live in a country where you have absolutely no control over the “big” things that so many people take for granted – good roads, electricity 24 hours a day, clean tap water that is available whenever you need it, smooth roads, decent medical care, phone lines that work, 24 hour shops, friends and family just a short drive away …. when Africa spins out of control around me, I feel like I have some sort of handle on the situation, because I get up at the same time each day and put my make-up on. (Strange, aren’t I ?!)
Anyway, the reason why I started telling you all this is because today is Sunday, and Sunday is the day that we change our routine a little so that we can mark the definite end of one week, and the beginning of the next.
So, on a Sunday I get up a little later (if my husband is not too busy on the farm, he gets our daughter up, dressed and fed and takes her out on to the farm with him so that I can have a lie-in … heavenly !) …. we almost always have a big cooked breakfast late on a Sunday morning, a nice afternoon tea baked treat (like scones) and a roast of some sort on Sunday night. (Just typing that all out made me realize that most of our Sunday routines revolve around food – ha !) Oh yes … I also give myself the day off from exercising on a Sunday, as I usually exercise each morning, 6 days a week. We also look forward to watching a good Sunday night movie on satellite TV. (So you see - it's NOT all food related !)
So, to cut a long story short, today is Sunday and we’ve just had a nice cooked breakfast and are settling down for a relaxing family day at home as it’s pouring with rain and my husband has had to stop all work on the farm as a result. Yay ! I hope that you’re all having a nice, lazy Sunday in your corner of the world, too.
