Childhood Playmates

I miss my playmates who lived right across the road and whom we also considered as some far-off cousins because the people in our neighbourhood were kind of related in one way or another! Some kids climbed trees, we ate aratilis fruits – sweet tasting berries found in every city garden. We also discovered that the nectar of the santan flower was just as sweet – of course we did not tell this to the grown-ups. I miss making our own bubbles with things found around the backyard - a tin can (where to mix things up), a stick (to mix things up with), gumamela- a native flower’s petals and leaves (the secret ingredient) a dash of detergent & some water (for some bubble action), a rock (to pound things with) and a wire (for your bubble blower). We also had our own version of a tea party – except we always had a feast “cooking” pebbles and leaves in miniature earthern ware pots and plates. We were careful of course not to step on the little creatures in the garden – you know them, the good elves hiding themselves among those branches.