Please do not laugh, but sometimes staying in the Karoo one is confronted with huge dilemmas and hectic problems.

So, our crazy Labradors want to jump through the windows all the time, and loads of visitors peeking through our windows to see if we are inside… what do we do? First we had boards on the inside which sorted both problems out, but Elmarie said it look bad and wanted to paint something on it.

Not that she has any time to do it. She suggested painting cats or fat ladies on the boards. I did not like the idea, in that some people are scared of cats and it might look like a crèche. I then suggested she paints us looking out at the visitors, while they looked in to see us.

She did a terrific job. It was so funny that one of my regular wood sellers were trying to sell wood to my picture in the window one morning! He was getting very frustrated that I was not talking back and buying the wood until another passerby explained to him that it was not me, but only a picture.