The last day of 2018

Good morning folks, I hope today's Blog finds you all well and recovering from the Christmas celebrations.  We had a super busy week and it was wonderful having all of my side of the family together for the first time in years, even though it was only for four days it recharged my 'mom' batteries.

One of the highlights of our time together was on Christmas Eve when we all played a game called Mumbo Jumbo, this has to be the funniest game I have ever played and I actually had sore tummy muscles from all the laughing.  We were quite literally rolling on the floor - it requires people to double up into teams of two, one person has to put a plastic 'brace' in their mouth and then read a question from a card - impossible and hysterical.  Proudly Jelly Bean and I won which was a surprise hahah.  On Christmas Day we went for sundowners to our friends D and E, although the wind was howling we still managed to find a sheltered corner and had a wonderful time of fellowship and laughter, soooo much food was consumed over those four days, good grief.  The family were wonderful in that they had planned everything and between the girls they took care of everything in amazing style, people took turns in cooking,  so from a delicious Breyani compliments Big Guy to Roast and Salads - BabyBear and Poppet it was definitely a feast, the organisation and thought that went into it all blessed me out of my socks because it was done with love and the purpose of taking pressure off me and helping me pace myself.  Thank you my very precious family for your love, care and all the hard work.

At the beginning of the week I was connected with a lady who is a Kitty Foster Mom, she has a litter that she rescued at 10 days old, the whole litter were very malnourished (mom is a feral and was tested and sterilized before being released).  In the litter there is one little girl who has very definite growth problems and I am going to see / collect her on New Year's Day.  She has clung onto life and remains unbelievably small but determined to survive, at this point barring any major health downturn I will be bringing her home to love and nurture.  BigBear blessed me with the most beautiful cat carrier when he was here and so I am about 60% ready for her arrival, by tomorrow night I will be ready.

Poppet's toe is healing nicely and the stitches come out on Wednesday, Princess has battled with hay fever / cold since she arrived but is looking better.  Jelly Bean has gone to the 'Bears' for New Year and we will collect her on Tuesday after collecting the kitten and Big Guy is back in Johannesburg and back to work.

Folks that is all for this week, from my family to yours we wish you a very Happy New Year, My prayer for each and every one of you is that 2019 will be kinder to you than 2018, that you will experience good health, less stress, more love and peace in your lives.  Please, please be safe on the roads over the New Year and if you are traveling.  Thank you for your continued support and encouragement over the year and I am looking forward to another year of shared memories and experiences with you.  Ciao ciao and 'see' you in the New Year.

Beautiful pic taken at Delaire Graff Wine Estate by Jelly Bean

Wishing all my readers a very Blessed Christmas

An early good morning to everyone, at last Christmas 'week' has arrived and as of last night we have a full nest.   After an extremely busy week I managed to finish all preparations in time and did everything I needed to do, so am now breathing a sigh of  relief, having Princess around has been so much fun and she has been a huge blessing.  She baked her second batch of cookies yesterday, while I baked rusks and bread so we are well stocked for a day or two haha.

Poppet arrived on Friday night and came through to us on Saturday, well that girl sure knows how to make an entrance.  We have had super high humidity levels and so the weather has been most uncomfortable, all hot, tired and sticky we walked into the house and she literally got four steps in when the packet she was carrying fell, breaking her 'just purchased' bought bottle of wine,  somehow through the packet slicing right through her foot on the outside of her big toe.  Off to the doctor we rushed who promptly put the skin back in place and did a two in two stitches holding it down on four couriers.  Shame, not a good start for someone who planned to go jogging etc,  currently one very frustrated lady as she has to keep the foot up for a couple of days.  The boys arrived last night with BabyBear and to say that the evening got quite raucous would be stating it mildly.

At this moment only my darling Hubby, I and Big Guy are awake hence me getting an early start here.  Big Guy is busily preparing our HUGE pot with a chicken Breyani.  We were awakened early this morning to the sound of a helicopter hovering, only to discover that it was a resue operation.  Last night I saw a light high up on the mountain and mentioned it my Hubby,  apparently 2 teenage boys went hiking yesterday/last night and got stuck.  Well done to the Rescue Team who medi-vacced them down safely, it is the first mountain rescue we've had in BB since we have lived here.

Well folks that is all for this week.  From my family to you all, friends and family, near and far we wish you a very Blessed Christmas, if you are with family enjoy your time, if you are alone please try and use this time for recharging your batteries and as a time of peace.    Wherever in the world you are PLEASE don't drink and drive and PLEASE stay safe.  Ciao ciao for now and Happy Christmas to you all.

Pic taken by Princess

Two pics of medi-vac this morning

Tis the week before Christmss ........

And nothing in our house is still and quiet hehe, good morning folks I trust you are all well and more or less ready for the Christmas Season.  Our house has been under an onslaught of cleaning and preparations and I am happy to say that I managed to do every single thing I had on the list, it seems like it took absolutely ages, but that was because I 'paced' myself and did it day by day.

Last week Hubby dearest went off to visit his friend in town and Jelly Bean and I took ourselves off to Pringle Bay, the next Village, for a bit of a look around and a delicious cup of coffee.  Two Villages eight kilometers apart but so very different, not only in atmosphere but in climate and plant life as well.  On Sarurday before Princess arrived my ever patient Hubby went back with me as they had advertised a Christmas Market - hmmmm, not so much, it was very disappointing but we still managed a nice coffee date.  Now that all the 'up country' visitors have arrived our little Villages feel like they are under an onslaught and everything is sooo busy.

Princess arrived late Saturday afternoon looking very glamorous and oh so grown up, it is wonderful to have her here with us and just being able to relax.  BabyBear flies home on Wednesday, Poppet lands on Friday evening and will come through to us on Saturday and then finally BigGuy will arrive on Sunday and come through with the 'Bears', for a few days of family time and togetherness.  In the meantime BigBear has had a handful of challenges to deal with apart from work, he took delivery of his 'new' car on Friday but also woke up to the flat being under water as the apartment upstairs had 'sprung a serious leak', the water had run down the walls and obviously the ceilings, as well as wetting a whole load of freshly laundered washing.  Pretty much the last thing he needed after a busy week in which they also had BabyBear's Granny's funeral on Thursday, lots of flying back and forth at the moment.

As for the rest of us, everyone is well although tired and looking forward to a little bit of rest after a long, tough year soon guys, soon.  I am getting a number of calls from various Cat Groups now that word has been spread that I want / am willing to adopt a special needs kitten, I spoke to a lady this morning in Malmesbury who has a teeny, tiny little guy called Popeye who came in with both eyes 'popped'.  They have managed to get the one eye back in place and as he is too small to operate on are treating both eyes with antibiotics etc,  at this point they don't know if he will be totally blind or just blind in the one eye, so it is a case of wait and see.  There are so many of these precious little bundles that have eye issues and disabilities it is heartbreaking.

Well friends that's me for this week, it's going to be a busy week but with family that makes it all worth the while.  I wish you all a week of peace and hope things don't get so busy that you don't have time to sit, breathe and just take time to appreciate ALL the blessings you have.  When you start looking for them you will be surprised at how blessed you are, despite the trials and challenges you face.  Be safe out there ciao ciao.

One of my huge blessings the  beautiful place I live in.

It's nearly Christmas time

Good morning friends and family, gee these Monday's just keep on coming haha.  At the moment we are very blessed with the weather, it has been very moderate with a little bit of rain every couple of days or so and temperatures between 19c and about 25c which is absolutely perfect, I can only pray it stays this way.  Today there is not a cloud to be seen, the sea is a dark indigo blue and just a gentle breeze.

Congratulations to our gorgeous Princess who is going into Grade 9 next year, you worked so hard precious and it definitely paid off .  We are very, very proud of you, only five more sleeps and you will be here woohoo.  After all the planning and preparing I can say happily say I am 97% of the way to being totally ready and am quite chuffed that I got it all done, a bit of a personal 'achievement' for me.  The rest of the family are well, and I think are all collectively counting the days until they get here.  BabyBear's Granny passed away on Saturday morning and our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family as they mourn their loss, big hugs angel.  Miss Muffet and her hubby jetted off to Belgium this weekend for a work Christmas 'do', it was the first time they have ever left the boys overnight and it seems that they had an absolute ball and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

We had a fairly quiet week which had a few little ups and downs, nothing too major.  On Wednesday we had planned a morning of shopping in town which involved about 7 or 8 stops, starting off with a quick visit to our friends here in BB to collect something.  Long story short, I got out of the car to fetch it and was standing on the bottom step up to the deck talking to E, as we were finishing I stepped back and totally missed the darn step and fell flat.   Thankfully a big Protea bush stopped my head from hitting the ground but I landed on my hand, lost a shoe and hurt my toes as well, ho hum !!!  Needless to say the shopping trip was a bit of a disaster HAHA, when we got into town my dear Hubby realized he'd left his wallet at home and by then I could not use my hand #facepalm.  Anyway, we managed to get most of the stops done to varying degrees of success before coming home, with Jelly Bean insisting that we should have listened to her and just called it off after my fall.  My toes are getting better and I can use my hand but not for anything that requires any strength.  After everyone (kids) telling me that I need to start being more careful, as if I don't ??  Poppet the very next day managed to kick a concrete slab with her two little toes which are now a delightful blue / green  colour .......... Sweetheart you must be careful please ;)

Needless to say that kind of put a lid on my activities for a couple of days, but things are getting back to normal.  My darling Hubby is still getting wall clocks of all shapes and descriptions as well as watches, so he has no shortage of things to do.  Over the last week I have been offered so many little kittens, in my heart I just knew that however beautiful, none of them were the one for me.  On Saturday we went to meet a little black kitten who has had her right eye removed, she is just too adorable and a busiest  kitten I have yet to meet, apart from the obvious lack of an eye she is not one bit impaired or disabled and I have no doubt she will find a wonderful home.  I also got to meet two little brothers I have been 'following', they both have Cerebular Hypoplasia and are just THE most precious of tiny things.  They are having physical therapy and will hopefully find a wonderful home in time, they will always be kept together.  On the way home Hubby suggested we stop at the Animal Welfare, I  didn't see any of their kitties but did have a wonderful chat to the lady who works with them.  She totally understands my heart in wanting to adopt a 'special needs' kitten and has taken my name as sadly they comes in all too often.  They said they had never had someone come in with this request and they were really excited, I have total peace in my heart that 'my' special needs baby will come at the right time.

Enough waffling for now ........ that's all my news for this week folks, I wish you all a wonderful week, I hope that by now you are almost done with all the running around and chaos of Christmas planning and can soon start taking things easy.  From my family to you please stay safe and aware AND take some time to spread kindness and love around to those you come in contact with.  Ciao ciao for now.

Sunset in BB last Sunday

The Dikkop eggs hatched on Friday and there are now 2 gorgeous little chicks, which mom and dad have moved to a safer place 

Waking up to rain on the roof

Good morning everyone one of the best ways to wake up is to the sound of rain on the roof and I have been up since 4.30 hence the early Blog, between pain and rain, the lounge and my heating pad seemed like the best idea so while the rest of the household is sleeping away I will fill you in on our week.

I'm not sure if you remember the little bird who flew into the house last Monday? Well ........... It would have made a good YouTube video, that little bird stayed in the house for more than eight hours and as night began to fall we started to really worry about getting her out.   We have a double volume ceiling so she stayed well out of reach and evaded every method we tried to lure her down.  Eventually we decided a net might work, not having one we improvised and used an 'umbrella type' food net attached to a pole - great idea but no bird.  Then we asked a neighbour if he had a fishing net, bingo..... so, it's Hubby armed with the net and JellyBean and I standing under the light fitting waving broom handles around to keep her from settling on them, with our neighbour standing at the fence laughing and his wife watching from an upstairs window operation Free the Bird started in earnest.  Problem, every time Hubby managed to actually get her in the net she just flew straight through the holes.  We were waving our sticks, he was leaping around with the net - WAAAAY too much PT and energy being expended.  Eventually he managed to get the net over her and twist it at the same time towards the wide open doors and she flew through the holes and straight outside. Good grief what a circus, my hands were so sore from waving the stupid pole.  She must have spread the word that it's crazy in that building because since then we have not had any more birds flying in, they just sit in a row on the fence either drinking the nectar or looking into the kitchen for us to refill it.

The rest of the week was taken up with what seemed like endless loads of washing as I managed to get all the curtains washed and rehung, which means I am 90% on the way to being ready for the Christmas Holidays.  Now that the bulk is behind me I am starting to get really excited to have the whole family here at the same time.  Princess has finished all her exams and will be here in 11days with Poppet following a week later, Big Guy arriving two days after her and the 'Bears' arriving around the same time.   Woohooo bring it on.  Within the next day or two I will put up the Christmas tree and the house will look Christmassy hehe. My wonderful Hubby is so busy with watches and now clocks, as the word has spread so it seems people have even more big clocks that need repairs than wrist watches, I think he currently has about 6 or 8 he is working on.  I also baked my second ever batch of Christmas Mince Pies which turned out surprisingly well.  A few things I will tweet next time but all in all they were grew.

On Saturday evening we went to our very dear friends for the most wonderful evening. Apart from being long overdue in getting together  due to busy schedules, it was one of those rare, perfect evenings down here where we could sit out on the deck and share a magnificent meal, watch the sun go down and literally forget about everything and just enjoy the time and place.  No wind, no bugs or insects just really good conversation, lots of laughs and a good time, thanks D & E for being such a blessing.

Well folks, it was a quiet week in terms of events and going places, and anything but quiet in terms of what we did.  Hopefully this week will be a peaceful, happy week for you as well as our family, in all the busyness and chaos of the run up to Christmas and holidays please spare a thought for those who may not have family around, for those who are lonely and very possibly in need.  Let's not forget these people, perhaps you can take them for a coffee, invite them for a meal, buy them some groceries, just bless them in some way to make this season a little better and happier for them.  This cost to us is minimal but to them it is priceless.  Wishing you all a beautiful week, ciao ciao for now.

Due to Loadshedding (no electricity) I cannot post my chosen pic this week.  Today's pic is from our beautiful Main Beach