Memoirs: Superpower

Superpower is a new term for our modern times. These powers could be people with iron hands, flying people, people who are robots and what else!

My “superpower” lies in my natural consciousness of winning people over. I first would watch the cat in the tree before I would jump in and help it.

Some examples:

While still in school my parents started farming with Saanen milk goats. I began my own stud while still studying. My first two ewes/nanny goats were two wild as could be goats. Fresh from the field. Never been handled by humans.

We lived near Pretoria on a smallholding. My Dad bought me two ewes from a farmer near Britstown. We had to go and pick them up, about a thousand kilometres from us. It was a good outing. We slept halfway and one night in Britstown, then straight back because we had the two animals in the back the UV.

The farmer brought the two ewes/nannies from the field the day before we arrived and locked them in the barn. When we had to load them,  there was no way that the two would let us catch them. My “superpower” kicked in and I approached them slowly. I talked placately to them. In the end, they came to me on their own, and I could hold them one by one so that they could be picked up and put into the back of the UV. The farmer couldn’t believe his eyes!

The next was when I was looking for a house to buy.  The realtor agent and I got out of her vehicle. She warned: “Do n’t go in the back. There are two dogs.” She had made an appointment to meet with the owners ahead of time. They were not at home.

“We could just peek over the fence between back and front.” We did. We moved still in the front to the other side of the house.

Guess what appeared around the corner? A huge Rottweiler. He made no sound. Just walked and stood at the front door. Then all hell broke loose when we dared to go further. Dog number two stormed around corner barking feverishly.

The first dog also came menacingly closer.

The agent who was standing behind me made a beeline out the gate. I quietly stood still with my handbag as protection in front of me. As soon as I moved the dogs came closer growling. When I stopped, they’ll stop too.

The agent kept on: “Ineke, get out. Run! “

NO WAY, my  ‘super feeling’ said:” Run, and they will grab me.”

Inch by inch, I moved backwards. Each time calming the dogs.

It was a relief when I stood outside the gate, and the two were barking at us from behind the closed gate.

Afterwards, I was grateful that there had been no holes or bumps along the escape route. Can you imagine what could have happened?

Then in today’s world, I deal with five-year-old children who don’t want to be at school, let alone early in the morning before school and afternoons too.

Sometimes, especially in the beginning, my “superpower” won’t kick in. I have to hold the child and speak in an angry voice: Don’t run after your dad or don’t go outside.

My last one at the moment is a little girl of five. She clung to her father and hiding behind him. I could see in her eyes how frightened she was. To make a long story short. My superpower won at the end. I’ve got her in my bag(pocket). She even now runs from the gate to me. Not even waving goodbye to her father. The first she’ll grab an iPad. I have to sit next to her and help her choose the right letters to make words. I have a terrible finger which frequently wants to type the wrong answers. Then it comes from her:”Naughty finger! Don’t you dare!”  She would chase him away and keep an eye on it so that it can’t be naughty again.

My Super strength is definitely in Courage, Cheerfulness and calmness of spirit.

Mother Nature-Train Of Thought: Week 06

https://www.nitinnairwrites.com/2018/01/06/mother-nature-train-of-thoughts-week-06/

This weeks prompt is MOTHER NATURE.

You can’t fight nature. If mother nature decides to go this way humans can’t go against it.

We, as humans keep on trying to change natures way without thinking about the consequences. My piece of writing happened in 2016. After the few horrific days, I’ve written it down as follows:

Earthquake

13/11/2016 and after

Sunday morning 10:30 am, I reported at Plateau School. Yearly Gala!  I was responsible for the bouncing castle, 11-1 o’clock.  It rained, stopped, drizzled and a bit of sunshine during those two hours.

The afternoon my children dropped in for a cup of tea. My border came home just after seven.

Sunday evening(13/11/2016) after a busy day, I went off to bed at about 10:30 not knowing what the night would bring two hours later.

I woke up just after 12 o’clock. My bed was swaying, Trompie, my dog, picked up his head. I felt the bed moving and the walls shaking. It sounded as if the house was going to collapse. Then Trompie gave a fierce bark. Earthquake! We jumped out of bed. I did not switch on the light and told Trompie to get out of the way. He kept close to me. I stood in the passage waiting for the worst.The shaking subsided.  I decided to go to the bathroom because nature was calling.

It kept on rolling underneath. We went back to bed. Then my border came out of his room. He got a message from his wife in Christchurch asking how he was. He told me that it had been the worst quake he had experienced.

We went back to bed. The whole night aftershocks kept on rolling underneath. One of my pot plants had tumbled to the floor, and my books on my bookshelf moved and nearly tumbled down.

Monday morning my alarm went off. I did my usual morning rituals.  My border told me that he could not go into Wellington. The news on the radio said that no trains were running and the roads into Wellington were closed down.

Just after seven, I received a call that there would be no Before School Care but the school would be open. I told the secretary that I would anyway go in case some parents had not received the message.

It is about ten minutes drive to school from my home. I arrived just before 7:30 am. At 7:45 am a board member came to check the building. He brought his two young children with him. While he checked the school, I kept an eye on the two boys. Then a parent turned up with his little girl. He had not read the message about Before school care being closed. I told him it would be okay; I would look after her and keep her safe.

Teachers started to arrive just before eight.

I went home at 8:15. Aftershocks kept coming and going. I went back to After School Care in the afternoon. There were twelve children till about 4.30 that afternoon.

Tuesday morning I went back for Before School care. It was wet; heavy torrential rain kept pouring down. I was so tired and did not feel up to going back for the afternoon session. Lucky for me the school called, I did not need to come because most children were picked up before lunchtime. Everybody was warned about the oncoming bad weather. The rain caused havoc with flooding and causing slips on the roads. Wellington was cut off. In the meantime, more earthquakes kept on coming and going. Two strong quakes shook us at 1.15 and 1.30 pm.

Now it is Wednesday evening, we survived another exciting day of tremors and a bit of dry weather. I am happy to say that I am well but tired.   Looking after children and keeping them all safe and content for the last three days was very stressful.

This happened a bit more than a year ago.

 

Gift – Train of Thoughts: Week 05

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https://www.nitinnairwrites.com/2017/12/30/gift-train-of-thoughts-week-05/

GIFT

Childhood Gift

I still remember my best childhood gift. A sleeping doll with a soft green dress!

She was so beautiful I could not keep my eyes from her. When I held her in my arms, like a baby, she would close her eyes. Then when I kept her upright, she would look at me with bright blue glassy doll’s eyes. She also had long curly golden nylon hair.

In 1952 my family moved to South Africa from the Netherlands. It was at the beginning of February when the journey started. My 6th birthday was going to be on the ship!

Next door to our home lived two sisters who, to me as a nearly six-year-old, looked very old. They were friends of my parents. A day before our departure they came over and told me that they had a present for me because they won’t see me on my birthday later in February.  I opened my present,  and guess what? In the box, all dressed up was this most beautiful doll.  Her body was soft, and her head, hands and parts of her legs were made from porcelain. Her face was beautifully painted and then those glassy blue eyes! I will never forget her eyes. She even had on some white shoes and socks.

I loved this doll so much. I never liked to give it to my sisters to play with. A year or two later one of my sisters played with it outside. She forgot to bring it in and the early morning dew ruined my lovely doll’s face. She was never the beauty again.