A bit of history...

This is a bit of a history post and one that I've wanted to put together for a long time and finally remembered to take some pictures to go with my story, so bear with me...

Many years ago, Moeka & Papa Louis, as they were commonly known, immigrated to South Africa from Belgium.  Jake's grandpa (Jacques' dad) was about Jake's age at the time.  They lived on the outskirts of town for many years and eventually moved in just 4 doors down the road from Jacques' parents.  Jacques had a very close bond with his grandparents and, growing up, spent a lot of time with them.  It's no secret that Papa Louis had a soft spot for and favoured his name-bearing grandson.  And thank goodness Jake was a little boy - Papa Louis was super chuffed!

This was our first visit to Moeka & Papa with our precious newborn son.  Jake was exactly 6 days old in this picture, I can't get over how tiny he was back then.  It feels like yesterday...

Visiting Papa became a regular part of Jake's week. Moeka was fairly frail for many years, but Jake adored Papa and we tried to visit at least once during the week and once on the weekend. As he grew older, Jake developed such a lovely little routine on his little visits with his Papa. Although Papa's been gone for a good few years now, Jake still remembers him well and often talks about the fun things they did when we visited.

When we rang the bell at Papa's door, Jake'd hide away and I'd have to pretend that I'd come to see Papa alone.  Papa would have to pretend to be super disappointed and then as he unlocked the gate for me, Jake would jump out and give him a fright and laugh and laugh.  As soon as we'd walked in the door, Jake would to rush over to the cupboard in the kitchen, open it and get the biscuit tin out.  Papa had to open it for him though, he couldn't manage on his own...

There was always a treat in there for him and he'd usually walk out with a handful of something nice and a full packet to take home...

 From the kitchen, it was outside into the garden to pick Papas cherry tomatoes, which I think he planted especially for Jake...

 Then the tomatoes had to be watered so that they didn't die before our next visit... 

All that was followed by cool drinks (usually coke) from the fridge and crisps out the lounge cupboard.  Needless to say, Jake very seldom needed lunch or supper after a trip to see his Papa!  From food, they'd generally progress into the garage.  Papa was a carpenter in his day and loved building things with Jake.  It was their special guy time.

This is one of the last photos I have of Jake and Papa; I can still hear Papa saying "that's my boy"... 

Anyway, I'm getting a bit side-tracked here, back to my original story. When Jacques and I started dating more than half my life ago (true story), we used to frequent his grandparents house after school for lunch.  Their home was always well stocked with good food and we certainly took advantage of it.  They always had a variety of cold meats, cheese and bread, so it was too tempting not to pop in for lunch.  We sometimes popped in for breakfast on the weekend (Moeka's bacon & syrup pancakes were legendary), but we were there for lunch more often than not. Being a growing boy, Jacques' way of eating was to 'go large, or go home' and his lunchtime sandwiches at Moeka and Papa's were no exception.  They were layered with cold meat, cheese, real mayo, tomato, gherkin, more cold meat, more cheese and crisps.  It had to have crisps on it.

Jake and I still make sandwiches like his dad used to; we've named them Jacques' sandwiches and Jake is always excited when I make the suggestion.  You can put anything on it, or nothing at all, but it has to have crisps and mayo on.  After a quick braai for lunch on Sunday afternoon, neither of us were particularly hungry, so we had smoked chicken, cheese and tomato rolls for supper.  Jake added crisps to complete our Jacques sandwiches...

 You have to have a big mouth to get one of these whoppers in - just like his dad, I swear it...

Funny enough, whenever I make Jake a Jacques sandwich, he eats well and usually asks for seconds.  I think he just likes knowing that he's eating something his dad loved so much.

Sue X