Water restrictions and solar power

GOOD morning friends I hope this finds you all well and rested up for the week ahead. It seems that 2017 is going to be as busy and interesting as last year, there is never a dull moment in our house. Hubby dearest has been plotting and planning for months to add a Solar System to our geyser and the time eventually arrived. He has been a super busy chap for the last week in his garage and up and down to the roof, we are now in the last stages of the installation as he is busy connecting the electrics before installing the solar tubes and doing the big 'switch over.' Have I ever mentioned how blessed I am to have a husband who can do just about everything?

In addition to all the goings on up on the roof the whole of the Western Cape is in the middle of a critical water shortage (we are in a winter rainfall region) it has been a very dry and hot couple of months which has also led to massive wild fires everywhere. Last week further water restrictons were imposed in the Province and as is typical in the Cape people are really coming together to do their bit as well as sharing how they are saving water. On Saturday Hubby installed a 'grey water' adaptor to our kitchen drain, we have had grey after run off into the Fynbos next to our house but have now re-routed it to the garden as the grass is as dry as potato crisps. There are many other measures we are taking and hefty fines are being imposed on those who use water wastefully or outside of the restrictions, being Cape Town people are not ashamed to name and shame schools, golf courses and the like for having sprinklers on. The only way we can drop water usage is if everyone does their part and it makes me crazy when I drive past and see someone standing outside vaguely flapping their hosepipe over their car or garden.

For the last week I have had a 'mumps' type of infection which the Doctor put me onto antibiotics for, the only problem is I have had a bit of a reaction to them which means I still look like a chipmunk but now have a super sore throat and raw tongue, aargh. Hopefully now that I have just had my last pill I will actually start feeling better. The highlights of the week have undoubtedly been this little fur ball, Jasper, who is always happy to give love and cuddles and never tires of being held and kissed. Jelly Bean is obsessed with his tummy which I agree is THE softest, warmest, furiest, most kissable tummy. Max in the meantime has been up to his old tricks and discovered that he can CLIMB the wire mesh fence, I kid you not. He got out a few times and on Friday spent the evening at the Animal Welfare in Kleinmond as he escaped while we were out and someone found him and took him through, we got home after they had closed and after a worried night found out where he was on Saturday morning. That means it's back to the drawing board for a successful method of keeping him in..

Last week we also took a drive through to Caldeon, a small town about 3/4 hour away. It is an inland town, very hot, but a typical South African little 'drop' which also has a Mineral Spa. We had lunch at the little Mall and looked around before coming home to a delightfully cool day as Betty's Bay was misty the whole day. We have also had some glorious rain, not nearly enough, but every drop is a help, which means that generally our weather has been cooler and very pleasant for the last week. On Friday my darling Hubby went to a Car Show near Cape Town with a friend and Jelly Bean and I grabbed the opportunity, and the car, to go into the City. We had a very particular destination in mind which turned out to be a fabulous little mall in the City, we were going for the bookshop and ended up looking around at all the shops then having lunch at one of the restaurants before fetching the guys. The journey home proved to be a nightmare due to a major traffic hold up on the highway where it took us 45 minutes to travel less than 5 km, I never question our decision to retire to Betty's Bay. The peace and quiet of nature and the ocean is like a healing balm to my soul and it is always such a joy to get back home. On Saturday we had BigBear over for lunch (BabyBear is in Mauritius on a work course) so we had a super afternoon of catch up and visiting befor going into Kleinmond for a sundowner on the seafront. One of the pro's to the sun setting later in summer is that the afternoons are that much longer.

Friends, as I said it is always busy and never dull. I wish you a wonderful week, where you will trample every mountain flat and find yourselves filled with peace. As always please stay safe.

Hubby took this pick of one of our resident Buck just around the corner.


Jasper enjoying cuddles

Solar power, kittens and exploring

Greetings from the Western Cape. What a beautiful day it is here in Betty's Bay, we awoke to a heavy mist completely blocking the mountains and the ocean from view, one of my favourite things when it is misty is how quiet and still everything is, it's like we are the only people on the planet. Sadly we chose today to explore the nearby town of Caledon where it just happened to be scorching hot, go figure. We had a lovely drive through all the dormant wheat fields and were quite surprised to find that Caledon is much bigger than expected, they even have a fair sized Mall with a good selection of shops. It is your typical small farming town with a lot of old buildings and due to the fact that there is a Hot Mineral Spa, there are a lot of B & B's and hotels. All in all a very pleasant days outing (except for the heat). As always it is SO good to be back home where the sea is still very misty but unfortunately no wind so quite humid.

Well friends among all the normal goings on Hubby dearest is busy installing a Solar system on the roof which has taken up quite a big chunk of his time and attention, shortly we will be up and running with that. Little Jasper has managed to commandeer a LOT of my time, which I admit is freely and happily given. This little kitten has completely stolen my heart and is even making progress with Gemma (the Ice Queen). He has already learnt to 'high five' for his meals and is now completely settled in the house, when he hears me call him or work with his food bowl he comes running up to see what's going on. He has also discovered a passion for left over cereal milk and yoghurt, my breakfast is a great adventure as I am trying to teach him the art of waiting hmmmm he hasn't mastered that yet. Jasper has one terror and that is any loud machines eg vacuum cleaner, hair dryer and so forth. This morning when Hubby brought the vacuum cleaner into the house Jasper ran up and sat next to me on the bed, I picked him up and held him tight as he was trembling at the noise, shame such a gentle little soul. One of his favourite things is to be carried around in my arms but don't get me wrong he is as playful and mischievous as any other kitten. Thankfully he does not 'draw' as much blood as Kiko did but he has left his mark haha. Dear old Gemma's patience is being sorely tested, last night for some unknown reason she came and sat on my lap and Jasper jumped right on top of her in order to taste test her ears. She growled a bit and only when he kept coming back did she jump off very indignantly, riffing her back and flicking her tail. They do however give each other nose kisses quite peacefully, it's when he wants to take it one step further towards playing that she gets fed up and stalks off.

I am quickly getting to the point of starting a new project - what that project is I am not entirely sure yet but I am leaning strongly to knitting a blanket of colour coordinated squares with each square or colour having a different pattern. This will be a super easy project as the squares will be light and easy to knit unlike the Pure Cotten Throws I knitted the girls for Christmas. We are also planning how we are going to enclose the deck with glass/sliding windows to maximise the outside feel and the sea view. This will give us an extra room as well as utilise that space more than we do now. , All very exciting I can tell you.

Friends that is the short version of my week, I hope you are all ready to tackle this new week and conquer any battles that you may find in your path. A meme I saw recently really stood out it says "On particularly rough days when I'm sure I can't possibly endure I remind myself that my track record for survival so far is 100%, so I've got this". Whatever this week throws at you friends, you've got this. Have an amazing week and always please stay safe.

P.S. For a video on Jasper doing his high five please go and look at my Facebook page or my Instagram page. It will not load onto the Blog for some reason

Jasper 'posing' for his photo.

A quiet week of bonding

Greetings all from a quiet and very windy Betty's Bay. Currently we seem to have one or two hot windless days and then a couple of cool and really windy days which I am not ashamed to say are my favourite. It is so very dry down here that the wild fires have been a huge problem and obviously the wind does not help at all. On Tuesday of last week I read that 162 fires were attended to in the Western Cape, the tragedy is that so many of these are set on purpose or through sheer carelessness with absolutely no thought or concern for the damage caused. What we are praying for in earnest is rain and lots of it.

Our week has been extremely quiet (as planned) with most of my time spent looking after and bonding with my little kitten Jasper. It has been such a joy to watch him come out of his shell, he is a timid but very playful little chap, and the minute he hears my voice or I pick him up he starts his little purr motor, we should have named him Purrcy haha. Jasper is not the most sure footed kitten and seems to think he is half cat half lamb, in that he never walks but skips and gambols along wherever he goes. Once I managed to get rid of all the fleas, which included him being bathed, very indignantly, we got down to the serious business of finding his way around the house, using the litter box and discovering that he could eat without being bullied out of the way, Little Jasper has very quickly wormed his way into our hearts and established his own little quirks and routines. He has decided that a shelf next to my bed is his safe/quiet place, he loves going into his cat box at night to sleep (I keep it next to the bed) and Praise the Lord he is quite happy to sleep until we wake up. In fact the other day Gemma woke me up early to go outside so after opening her window I opened the door on Jasper's box for him to get up if he wanted, he was having none of that and just stayed quietly curled up. When I got up sometime later I took him out and put him in the litter box and his response was to jump straight out and go back into his box and sleep, this little fellow decided about 20 minutes later that NOW was the time and got out, did his ablutions and then came for cuddles. As I type this he is curled up on my lap fast asleep. The good news is that it looks like he and Gemma will get along much better than she did with Kiko, she will growl at him but very quietly and he actually managed to catch her tail yesterday, he stalks her which is extremely funny to watch.

Hubby dearest has been busy with odd jobs around the house and is currently on his way home after picking up all the goodies that he needs in order to install and convert our geyser to Solar Enegy, I expect that wind permitting this is going to take up most of his time this week. It was Big Guys 40th Birthday on Friday, such a milestone birthday and I was unable to be there, the sad, ugh part of living in another Province. By all accounts he had an incredible Birthday and received some beautiful gifts. Happy Birthday again son!! We also had a long Skype session with Princess and her Mom on Saturday, it was so good to see their smiling faces and catch up on their news. Thank goodness for technology and what it allows us to do nowadays such as Skype, and message at any time, it certainly helps to stay in touch.

Friends, as I said a very quiet, uneventful week on my side. I hope that you are all back into the swing of things as far as work and school are concerned. As the pace of life picks up please take time to apprciate your family and those around you. Life is too short and it is up to us to make memories, remember that a kind word, affirmation or a smile can totally change someone's day. I wish you all a fabulous week and please stay safe.

Jasper posing for Mom. Looking like a big boy when he only weighs 830gm.


Jasper's favourite position, such a serious little face.

Back to normal, what is normal?

Hi folks, I am guessing most, if not all of you are now back at home, work, or about to start school and the holidays are going to become a pleasant memory. The reason for this early post is that we are about to leave for the airport to drop our little Princess of to fly home to Mommy. In one way it feels like she has been here for ages and yet on the other hand it feels altogether way too short, so bitter sweet having to say goodbye. Already the house is looking different and emptier. That however is going to be somewhat short lived as once we have seen Princess off we are going to collect my new 'baby' Jasper, we went and had a look at kittens on Saturday as I have been in touch with all of the rescue organisations for a couple of weeks. This little guy could not be more different to Kiko in looks as he is a teeny tiny little Tuxedo with the biggest ears (hopefully he will grow into them). I was so stressed in the run up to seeing the kittens because all I wanted was a connection with 'my' kitten irrespective of its looks. We saw his litter first and from the moment I picked him up he just sat and cuddled in my hand, actually half falling asleep. The one thing I really was hoping for was a kitten with single layer fur which is super soft and guess what ? He has single layer fur, just a total cuddle bunny. After seeing him I had to see a kitten which has been 'reserved' for me to view and the more I picked her up the more she struggled to get down - decision made and complete peace in my heart. No cat could ever replace Kiko but I pray that Jasper with his own unique personality will be just as unique.

As for the past week it has been quite busy with taking Princess surfing, we went through to Hermanus, in general quite a bit of activity. Added to that I have been dealing with quite a severe Fibro Flare so at times it was down to Grandpa to do the activities, so frustrating for me as I hate missing out on anything. It was also quite a tense week down here on this side of the Cape, we had massive wildfires along the Helderbeg mountains which badly affected Somerset West, Grabouw, Sir Lowry's Pass and that entire district. About 150 firefighters were brought in from other Provinces to help, at one point we had 350 firefighters on the ground, there was some damage to property which included two famous Wine Estates. Yesterday fires broke out about 20km east of Betty's Bay towards Hermanus and because it is so dry and the wind kept changing direction they very quickly got out of hand. I find it heartbreaking to see these fires raging and the damage they cause. On a positive note I have to say that living here in the Western Cape is a whole new experience in terms of how people react and how quickly things get done. We were warned that there could be electricity outages if the fire reached the power lines, which eventually they did. One of the main Kv 66,000 lines was destroyed which resulted in no power to Kleinmond, Betty's Bay, Pringle Bay and Rooi Els. If this had been Gauteng we would still be sitting without electricity, but after having been kept informed throughout the afternoon they switched us back on just after 9 pm a whole hour earlier than expected. Kudos to the firefighters, Eskom workers, all the locals who went and assisted with the fires, all the people who live in these areas who, within an hour set up feeding points and residents then go and donate water, food, eye drops, sweets etc to keep the teams on the go. It truly is good to see that there is a good side to humanity and people can and do still come together in unity. Well done all and thank you.

One of the things that has been on my heart since New Year is that 2017 is a brand new, blank slate waiting for history to be written. If we bring that down to individuals, tomorrow, this month, this year is a blank canvas and it is up to us to decide what painting we are going to create on it. I truly believe that our thoughts control our emotions and therefore our actions and reactions. Even when things go wrong if we maintain a positive attitude we will find a way to turn lemons into lemonade. I read a short article recently where a lady decided that she was going to stop saying sorry and replace it with thank you, in other words instead of saying "I'm sorry I'm late" she changed it to "thank you for waiting for me" and so on. This in turn had the most amazing affect on her thoughts and actions, we all know that words are creative, so here is a challenge for you (and me) start speaking positively over your life, start looking for how you can turn situations around, build others up and encourage those around you. Who is up for the challenge?

On that note friends I am going to love and leave you for this week. We have places to go and a new family member to collect, I wish you a wonderful week and, wherever you are please stay safe and alert to what's going on around you.

Happy New Year

Hi folks here is wishing you all a very Happy New Year and praying that 2017 will be an amazing year for each one of you. One of the things that I feel are very significant is that this is a brand new year and it is up to us to write our own 'destiny'. We can decide if it's going to be a good year or not so here is hoping you make it an epic one. Gosh it feels like so much has happened and I keep losing track of which day it is. We had a busy time last week between taking Princess to the beach (mostly Grandpa takes her) to boogie board, we've shared some delicious new meals with each other namely - Big Guy made a Lamb Ragu and Poppet making us a Chicken and Chorizo Jambalaya neither of which I had eaten before. I added a Portuguese Chilli Chicken to the list yesterday so it's definitely been a time of tasting new things - I could get used to this. Apart from being unusually humid we have had ALL kinds of weather from pouring rain which was awesome and so needed, to blazing hot scorching sun that had us scurrying back home rather quickly. We have walked on Silversand Beach which is a very long beach and searched for shells on our Shell Beach which never fails to yield some of its glorious treasures. We also went to Hermanuspietersfontein Night Market which was something very different and a lovely experience. They do a wine tasting for those who want and there are food stalls which serve a variety of cheeses, meats, breads etc although, the words Night Market are somewhat misleading as the sun sets after 8 pm here which means that the market is held while it is still bright but it in no way deters from the atmosphere.

On Saturday I helped while Poppet sewed her first dress and did an amazing job - it looks stunning on her. I'm not sure how you all celebrated the New Year but we tend to keep it low key by staying at home and having a good meal (Jambalaya), then watching some really good TV and went to bed before midnight. Some might say perhaps we are getting old, but we've never made a big fuss of staying up. Yesterday was a total lay about day where we did as little possible apart from cooking and I made a fruit cake seeing as the last one was finished and my precious Hubby kept saying he had not had nearly enough, actually he said he had hardly any which was a little true because he kept forgetting that it was there haha. Let it be made public that there is a fresh fruit cake sitting on the kitchen counter in a cake container there for whomever would like to partake.

What would our lives be without some excitement? This morning just after 1.30 am I was woken by Poppet (very gently) asking me to follow her which I did. Well .......... as a send off somehow my daughter was bitten by a Centipede three times, by the time I had registered what was happening and what it looked like she was slightly panicked as well as being in a considerable amount of pain. Apparently these creatures are venomous but thankfully not badly enough to cause serious damage to an adult. The first thing I did was find a Anihistimine and put ice on the bites - BAD idea. Ice makes the pain worse, so back to google and I read that hot water and soap or shampoo are the required treatment, so at 2 am she found herself standing under a hot shower. Once we were all settled and the nasty little creature (dead) was in a box it took the both of us quite awhile to get back to sleep. Never a dull moment or should I say never a dull week.

Our house is feeling rather empty at the moment as all the tall people have gone home, so we are planning a 'house to beach back to house' kind of week. Folks I am going to end off for now as I should probably think about getting some food onto the stove for dinner. Have a wonderful week, those of you who are traveling please go safely, those who are back a work try not to get too stressed and for those of you who are still on holiday enjoy the last few days. Please stay safe and avoid any Centipedes hehe.