No way to start the week.

Good morning family and friends and so the week begins in earnest.  This morning saw Hubby and I up at sunrise and off to town as Gemma was unwell over the weekend, she had gone totally off all food and would only drink a little bit of water, so after speaking to the Vets yesterday we were at their rooms at 7.45 is morning.  After doing an initial biliary blood test which was negative, the Vet sent us off for coffee while she ran a full panel of blood tests.  She then called us back and gave us the very bad news that Gemma was in kidney failure, with her creatinine  and urea results off the measurable charts.  We had to make the decision then to put our precious girl to sleep, as there was no way of being able to reverse the damage.  Although,  as Princess says she was a real grump and had mood swings she was a very precious, beautiful baby and we will bury her near to CeCe, I have had enough of losing my babies now for more than one life time.

It was a very busy week, but  a good week at the same time, we had Miss Muffet come through to spend two days with us which was a truly precious time.  She had some good one on one time with her Dad and it was good to see her relaxed despite the unfortunate reason for her flying visit. I also had a check up visit with the Dermatologist who is delighted with my healing but has put me back on the pills for a further two weeks because it was so aggressive and the odd stubborn spots which itch Between that and all the usual day to day adventures it amounted to a very busy few days.  Yesterday my talented Hubby started to remove the awning frame that has been on the deck - a HUGE metal thing which is our first step towards building the deck, the awning frame will in time, become a carport in front of the garage.  All the family are well, working hard and naturally today, very heartsore.

Jasper outdid himself this past week in terms of 'fails' and on many occasions embarrassed himself thoroughly e.g. Trying to jump over a board and missing by a mile so that he was left hanging by his nails (more than once), trying to jump through the trellis door and a closed glass door, being chased by Zeepha and skidding out of control around a corner, and quite a few other incidents.  Little madam seems to have grown so much in the last month but is still just a wee little thing, a very adventurous little soul and definitely not scared of heights.  About two weeks ago after much deliberation we changed the dog's food from dry pellets to raw meat/chicken because of their constant scratching and licking.  Sasha was the worst and it seems to have only gotten worse since we've lived down here, I am delighted though to say that the raw food diet agrees with both of them and there is now hardly any scratching, the other plus factor is that it works out cheaper than the dry pellets.  The bigger pet shops down here sell the frozen food in 500 gm and 1 kg packs, which makes it convenient to purchase as well as better for Max and Sasha.

Folks just a quick Blog today, I wish you all a wonderful week, please stay safe out there and when you get home go and give your pets a big hug of appreciation for their love and devotion to you.

R.I.P. My beautiful Gemma.

New endeavors.

Good morning everyone, every day that passes brings me closer to winter and so far the main thing keeping me sane is the fresh South Easter that comes off the sea, it's been hot and for me a very long summer haha.

Well there has been so much happening it's a case of where to start.  After finishing the design of our 'enclosed deck' my extremely talented Hubby went off to town, list in hand and bought the first amount of timber needed.  This is going to be SO exciting to see go up and much more so to have the extra space.  Currently our deck is a 6m X 5.5m open  space which we plan on enclosing with glass and then putting in an L- shaped bench with storage underneath, maximizing  our space to the fullest and keeping our view, wooohooo.  So, apart from the watches, clocks and normal day to day things that's the big project currently underway although how he/we are going to lift the 6m roof beam remains a mystery to me.

On my side of things I've had a productive week.  After having being told by my  Nail Technician that she did not want to do my nails in case "I infected her and her other clients", and this long after the Dr cleared me and after being with her for more than 2 1/2 years, I decided that I will learn to do them myself.  I already had the correct lamp, purchased the necessary extras and on Thursday my 'private salon' opened LOL.  I will admit that it took me the whole day but the end result is fabulous and looks no different to a professional overlay.  So, no more having to rely on someone else, waiting for an appointment, saving a ton of money and no judgement.
On Saturday I took another chance and made my first ever jam,  we had some plums that hadn't been eaten and I saw a recipe in my Bread Machine book so quite literally 1,2,3 and put it all in, left it to cook and voila we have a super yummy plum/tangerine chunky jam.  I could not believe how simple it was - one adjustment for future making though will be less sugar, I cut the sugar by 200gm and added a squeeze of lemon juice but it is still just that little bit too sweet for us.  I am super chuffed with the result.  At the same time I restocked the rusk tin and baked a wholewheat bread (also a new, easy recipe plus it's not baked in the machine) which was a total hit as well, so I am figuring it was a good week for new endeavours.

Poppet and Princess took delivery of their new car which they love, Big Guy worked too hard and is counting the weeks until his overseas holiday.  BigBear flew up to Johannesburg to spend most of the week and Valentines with his gorgeous wife and Miss Muffet landed this morning in Cape Town for a quick visit as her Nana has been unwell and she wants to spend some time with her, we are praying for a full speedy  recovery for Nana. Jelly Bean wasn't well but seems to be doing better and I am pushing through the current flare with all the above distractions.

Little Zeepha has had quite a growth spurt and actually topped the 1 kg mark, she now weighs a whopping 1.060 kg at the ripe 'old' age of 4 months haha.  This little treasure just keeps getting cuter and sweeter by the day.  In her opinion everything I eat is rightfully hers as well as her food of course, she has found ways of getting up onto the kitchen counters and that means I have to use the island counter to keep food safe, she has even developed a taste for popcorn and will squeak to let you know it's time to give her something.  Despite this obsession with food her favourite time of day is still her 9pm syringe of diluted kitten milk which just puts her into pure heaven.

Folks that's it for this week, I want to leave you with this thought.  I saw a Facebook  post yesterday that was addressed to husbands the title of which was 'Ten ways to kill your wife's love'. It is an excellent read and got me thinking about how once people settle down into marriage all 'courting and the little extras' seem to fall by the wayside.  I really believe we should never stop courting our spouse, ladies do you still put make up on if it's just the two of you, do you still make little treats for your husband, surprise him with a coffe date etc?  Husbands do you still make an effort to look and smell good, open the car door, buy her flowers, take her on a coffee / dinner date, surprise her etc?  Something to think about and perhaps put into practise ????  Ciao ciao and please stay safe.

Little Zeepha sunning herself on the kitchen counter 

The beginnings of our enclosed deck.

I can't believe it is mid February already

Good morning folks from a slightly cooler Bettys Bay after a seriously hot and busy week.  Gee whiz it was a really busy week with trips to Hermanus,  a day in Somerset West (exhausting) and then yesterday we did a visit to Elgin,  more on that later.

As for the family everyone is well and as usual busy, the girls should be getting their new car in a day or two which will be a relief  for them, it's been a crazy two weeks.  My precious Hubby is very happy as he has had a number of watches,  fit bits, clocks and even a cuckoo clock in to repair - all of which are complete and either delivered or awaiting collection, well done my Angel.  He has been designing the enclosure of our deck and will hopefully be starting on that this week, wooohooo, I cannot wait for it to be up.  After all the activity I find my self in a flare #facepalm, which I need to work through, and the itchiness  aaargghhhh.  After eventually getting hold of the Specialist I was told that I might need a longer course of treatment, due to the fact that I had such a severe case.  All the spots have healed but every day random scars will have bumps on them which itch like crazy, then a day or two later they are gone and come up on a different scar.  I have an appointment with him at the end of next week so we will see then.

As for our mini zoo all the residents are well or in various stages of healing.  Jasper is looking much better, Gemma is actually nose kissing Zeepha WITHOUT a growl which is historical, Sasha has a bump/sore on her head which we've been treating but might have to take her to the vet to check it out and Max is ........ Just Max.  I eventually found little Zeepha a harness, for hamsters, LOl which fits and she is currently running around in it and trying to get head rubs and bumps while I am typing causing all kinds of problems on the screen, this week I hope to take her out and introduce her to the great outdoors.

Yesterday we awoke to a beautiful cool, wet day and decided to go through to the Elgin Railway Market in ....... Elgin.  They have converted a huge building in steam punk style and it is truly gorgeous, there are lots of different food stalls,  live music which was nice and created a fabulous atmosphere.  I must say I was disappointed in the market stalls as they were more like exclusive shops and not in the least like a market, with the exception of the leather stalls.  At some point they advertised that there were vintage clothing and vintage jewellary stalls but we did not see anything close, that was a disappointment.  I would definitely say though, that the building is the 'draw card' and on Saturdays a Steam Train comes in from Cape Town which is obviously a special experience.  What we saw of Elgin as a little village was absolutely exquisite, they have managed to maintain an almost English Village look and feel to it.  All in all it was a lovely, relaxing day before coming home and curling up with a good book.

Folks that's my news for the week, hopefully this one will continue at a more sedate pace as  I do some rest and recovery.  I wish you ALL a wonderful week please take care and be safe.  Ciao ciao.

Elgin Railway Market

Beauty through the ashes

Good morning friends and family on this gorgeous sunny morning.  We woke up to the sound of gentle rain yesterday morning and it continued though most of the morning, we had 32 mm, giving us the most perfect cool day. The electricity was also down which just added to the relaxed feel of the day - it was off for just on twelve hours which is a tad long but we relaxed and enjoyed the peace haha.

Well, a fairly normal week for us, my darling Hubby had a steady stream of watches and clocks coming in which makes him very happy. The one mantel clock handed in has apparently not worked for years despite being sent back to the factory and yet in a matter of hours he had it working again, a very talented man.  He also got in his first cuckoo clock which he is just itching to get to.  After Poppets 'little' car accident the previous week her insurance decided to write off her vehicle which was a total surprise and they are now having to decide on a new car.   Jelly Bean and I were invited out on Wednesday to our friend who used to live in BB, their house was damaged in the fires and they are currently staying in a Golf Estate just the other side of Kleinmond.  Well, we had ourselves a mini half day vacation lol, after some serious catch up and chatting we meandered down to the Hotel/Spa where both of us jumped into the glorious swimming pool (salt water) and had a delightful time cooling down.  It is too many years to count since either of us were in a bathing suit much less a swimming pool, on a blistering hot day it was sheer indulgence. Thank you for a wonderful day E.  The rest of the family are well with our UK family freezing whilst we are cooking in the heat - oh how I am praying for a cold, WET winter.

On the health side, all my spots have healed except that I now find I get itchy bumps on the scars which don't seem to develop any further except to itch, I am waiting for a reply from the Dermatologist on this.  Last week we found that dear Jasper, our scaredy cat, also has ringworm so now he is on the medication along with myself and Zeepha.  Speaking of whom, I was in complete shock on Friday.  We had ordered a new electronic kitchen scale as our died awhile back, when it arrived the first thing I weighed was this little madam who, I might add had already eaten her three meals for the day - she weighed in at 850 gm.  I truly thought she had reached close to a kilogram but apparently this little one is always going to play in the lightweight division.  Bless her heart, she is such a joy to us all, including Jasper who is so happy to have a friend to play with, when things get too rough for her she dives under the nearest piece of furniture and leaves him looking totally confused.  This little Squeek has a love for food, particularly mine haha and her biggest weekness is her bedtime Kitty Milk, she appears to be in NO rush to ever give it up.  She gets about 20 ml of Kitten Milk at 21.00 before bed, in a syringe, and heaven help me if I forget or am a little late in getting it.  She will follow me into the kitchen squeeking all the time and then runs ahead of me to the chair and jumps on before I can even sit down, that's when the fun starts because she looks just like a starving baby bird the way her head bobs up and down trying to find the syringe, once she has it the ears go flat, and her little purr engine starts up until the syringe empties then it's all paws, clamping onto the syringe so that it doesnt get taken away, this gets repeated FOUR times as we go through the milk.  EISH.  Last week I bought her a kitten harness so that she can get used to it for going out to walk etc, well ........ I bought the smallest they had and even after trying to make it smaller she just walks right through it, so back it goes and we will try a hamster / bunny harness  hahaha.

It is such a beautiful thing to see people starting to rebuild their homes after the fires and even more precious is to see how quickly the fynbos is healing.  Don't get me wrong the whole one side of BB looks like a war zone and is still all black, but to see plants coming up and flowering just barely two to three weeks after being destroyed is an example of how now matter how many times we fall, it is the getting back up that is important.  Nature is an incredible thing and far stronger than we think, just as we humans are - just when we think we cannot take another step, or this is the end of the line, there is no further hope, God will give you the extra boost, strength and determination to rise up and fight again.  There is no situation we face that is too bad that our Heavenly Father cannot fix or turn around, it just takes us to believe and have faith in Him.

On that note folks I am going to say Ciao Ciao and wish you a fantastic week.  Go out there and turn situations around, trust God to give you the wisdom and the strength to help you overcome every challenge and obstacle that comes across your path.  Please stay safe and as always be aware of your surroundings.

Two beautiful pics that prove there is hope

Little Zeepha posing