Rock gardens, snakes and mighty gales

Such is life in Betty's Bay, good morning all.  Well ..... It was quite a week in one way or the other, definitely not dull or for the faint hearted haha.  Where to start ?   At the beginning I guess, the week started off as any other, a mild weathered, non eventful week consisting of daily chores (why do they never come to an end?) and the normal routine.  For some unknown reason all that was short lived especially when my Darling Hubby decided to tackle the proposed rock garden. We had been given a number of cacti plants and earmarked a section right outside Jelly Bean's bedroom window as being perfect for a rock garden.  So, armed with the necessary tools and what-have-you he got down to business, pulling up grass and preparing the bed.  I was busy at the time doing my nails so all was peaceful until, Hubby came stumbling in the door holding his hand and saying he had been bitten/stung and it was a excruciating.  Well ..... I flew into action, Jelly Bean joined in as we tried to figure out what had  'stung' him, first off we looked for a sting - nothing, then put his hand under hot water as at that point I thought he had been stung by a centipede.  We have both millipedes (shongololo's) and centipedes down here together with scorpions and all sorts of other nasties.  From experience we know that the centipede sting is unbelievably sore from when Poppet was stung. I think it was the not knowing that got me in a tizz, ice only made the pain worse and it seemed that hot  water was the best.  After a little while it settled down and apart from a small hole Hubby seemed to be fine and his finger was not swollen with no red lines or other marks, so after a rest and lunch he went back out, this time with garden gloves and on going back to the spot he found a small snake all curled up under the grass, before he could catch it or take a photo it disappeared.  Now after much input and advice from locals we have concluded he was bitten by a young Mole Snake.  Needless to say this episode has led to a couple of decisions.  Never work in the garden without gloves. Have an Anaphylactic on hand in the house.  What treatment is necessary for the various 'nasties' and lastly we have read up and learnt how to distinguish venomous and non venomous snakes.  Thank the Lod Hubby is 100% fine, our new rock garden looks lovely and my second hand of manicure is not quite as good as the first LOL.

Well, as you can imagine that kind of caused quite an adrenaline rush for us all which had no sooner subsided than a massive cold front swept in bringing with it gale force winds of about 100kmph and not quite as much rain as predicted, we had lovely rain, just not enough.  Thankfully the weather alerts had prepared us and we were ready and prepared, we kept the fire blazing and settled in with good books and generally enjoyed a relaxing weekend. That is until Jelly Bean and I needed to drive into Kleinmond yesterday morning, we got into my car and ...... click, the battery was dead ARRGGHHH.  Not deterred I asked my ever patient Hubby for a jump start and off we toddled thinking that the drive in would be sufficient to charge said battery.  We got to the shop, parked and went in (completely forgetting the blasted battery), came out and ... you guessed it CLICK!!!  We had the jumper cables in the car so I asked an older gentleman if he would give me a start, shame he was so sweet and so old.  Nevertheless he turned his car around and I got the cables only out to discover they were too short, not a problem as another chap said he had cables and promptly got them out and joined the two sets.  We opened my hood and on looking inside I rememberd my car - Picasso has the battery under the passenger seat, BUT I had just seen my Hubby start the car from the engine so located the plus points......... OMS!  We had sparks and fun and games until eventually I just said thanks to all but to leave it before we totally messed up the batteries.  I put in a distress call to my personal mechanic who came charging through in his white steed of '6 horses', turns out we were creating a direct short by putting both cables on the two points, one had to be earthed #facepalm.  I now know how to jump start my car and or charge the battery.  EISH....... Enough excitement already.

Apart from all the fun and games the family are all good and busy with their lives, Miss Muffet got a beautiful little kitten as an early birthday present and all our four legged children are well.

Folks as that pretty much sums up my week I am going to say ciao ciao for now.  I am praying for a peace filled week of good health and abundance for both my family and yours.  Please stay safe out there and spread some kindness wherever you go.

Photo taken by BigBear last week at sunset in Sea Point.

Breaking with the pattern

Good morning all, isn't it just typical that the moment I mention how every Monday has been wet and cold, today we woke up to a cloudless sky and bright winter sunshine haha.
As today is a Public Holiday in South Africa we are having a slow start and not planning much.  I want to make some marmalade as my precious Hubby bought me a large bag of lemons and also re-pot a plant which I've been meaning to do for absolutely ages.  

Last week was quite busy with one thing and another.  The most important event was Princess's 16 th Birthday.  I cant believe at how fast time has flown especially since we moved down here.  It was a day that she has looked forward to since she turned 15 and ended up just passing in a blur of busyness for her, she had two exams, hockey and then netball which only put them home well after 8pm.  Shame I think it was a bit of an anti-climax but she certainly got to make up for it on Friday.  School was finished for the term and Princess a celebratory lunch with some of her friends at a Mexican restaurant and then in the evening Poppet had organised a lovely dinner for her with their close friends and the BIG surprise was when BigBear and BabyBear arrived.  For me it was a bittersweet week, on the one hand being so proud of the elegant, confident young woman she has become and on the other just a deep sadness that we could not be there to celebrate with her.  The only downside to our retirement is in missing the family.  We had a little excitement of our own when on Monday evening we were in the lounge and heard this really odd sound, almost like a plop and then a sizzle.  After looking all around we looked up and lo and behold one of the three hanging lights had burnt out.  Not a problem you think - on the contrary, these lights hang down but are still about 3.5m high, added to which the actual globe is enormous, bigger than an iPad  (see pic below) and expensive LOL.  The only way to reach it was to put the big ladder on top of the dining room table and with me holding the ladder Hubby gingerly climbed up to get our problematic bulb and then again to replace it. So precarious did it look that Jelly Bean was watching from BEHIND her bedroom door, I'm not sure what she thought would happen hehe.
We made a trip into Hermanus which as always was extremely busy as we tend to 'store' errands and then when going into town it is with a long list and usually a lot of different stops, last week was no exception, we were here, there and EVERYwhere.  We also combined our trip with a short visit to our BB friends who now live on the other side of Kleinmond, a busy day indeed.
Unfortunately one of the backlashes for me after a day like that is a physical crash.  My ever patient Hubby had to go into Somerset West the following day to collect parts he had made for the clock he is restoring which he combined with grocery shopping, finding a new bulb. and a visit to his friend for coffee.  During the week I managed to get quite a few Afgan squares finished and also got myself a Tunisian crochet hook which gives. me a whole new range of stitches I can add, very interesting to do I must say.
One of the current challenges we have is that Jasper has been 'over grooming' and his glorious long coat is now short, I've read that is normally stress related and he has always been what we call a scaredy cat, he will jump at the slightest noise.  Now I have to figure out a way to get him calmer and started by giving him Calm Eeze which definitely relaxes him a little, that ran out last night and this morning I gave him some rescue drops.  I think the only way to physically stop him is to put a cone over his head but am quite sure it will only exacerbate his stress.  Last night when I came through to fetch him for bed he rolled over onto his back and I picked him up, holding him like a baby and then for absolutely no reason he bit my hand and would not let go.  Needless to say he slept in the lounge and I went to doctor a very deep, blue bite.  Joy of joys.

Well folks that's me for today,  I won't rest until the marmalade and pot plant have been done, so it's time to get going.  I wish you all a fabulous week, for those here in SA enjoy your day off and hopefully the short week will go quickly.  With love and wishes from us here in BB ciao ciao, please stay safe out there,  especially  those of you on the roads today.

Light bulb gymnastics, not for the faint hearted

Gales, rain and Afghans

Greeting folks on this lovely Monday morning, I hope everyone had a good weekend and is ready for the week ahead.  We had a super quiet weekend, mostly dictated by the weather lol. Last week was really cold and we had a fair amount of rain.   Friday blew a very brisk gale and was really cold, Saturday was lovely and sunny but not hot and then yesterday we woke up to a gale force HOT berg wind, which called for short sleeves and definitely keeping all the windows closed.  Crazy weather for sure, today is cold and windy.

We had a very quiet week in terms of going out but as always, there is a never ending list of things to be done around the house.  I have spent quite a lot of time doing embroidery and have picked up an Afghan throw that I am crocheting.  I started 2 years ago by knitting it and then last year took all the squares apart and re-started in crochet.  Now I am whizzing along but need to lay them all out and see how many I am going to need to do in total.  When I asked my Hubby last night to try and work out how many he came back with 600 squares, that was enough to almost cause me to give up altogether haha. it has evolved somewhat and I am quite happy with it so far, as long as it does not take 600 squares.

We have indulged in watching a lot of the Cricket World Cup which has been good fun, not that South Africa has won anything as yet.  Miss Muffet and her family are all at the match today between South Africa and the West Indies, hopefully it won't be rained out.  Ever since we moved down to BB watching sport has been almost impossible (we don't have DSTV) but my clever Hubby has found channels where we can watch and have a really good picture as well.  He is currently busy with an extremely old clock that came in for repairs and this morning had another one dropped off because it stopped ticking.  Family wise this week is a very important one for Princess as she celebrates her 16th birthday, it feels like yesterday when I held her in my arms just moments after she was born, I can't believe how fast the time has gone and just wish we were there to celebrate with her.  That is the only downside to having retired down to the coast.  Zeepha is doing so well and is still just as lovable as she was after her surgery, on Saturday Hubby and I played doctor and removed her stitches without any problems, so that is now well and truly behind us now thank the Lord.

Folks as I said it has been quiet but this week is already filling up rapidly.  I am going to sign off for now and wish you, one and all, a wonderful week.  Stay safe and warm out there and take time to tell your loved ones how important they are ciao ciao for now.

Our beautiful mountain which is recovering from the fires, with waterfalls flowing after the rains last week.

Zeepha's nine lives, orca whales - interesting life

Good morning all, I am beginning to think I should write my Blog every day because, for the last few weeks every Monday has been cold lol.  Once we have got the house cleaned and sorted I am asking my ever patient Hubby to light a big fire for us.

Given the busy start to last week it turned into a very peaceful, uneventful week.  Zeepha went in on Tuesday morning for her surgery, accompanied by much prayer, and we decided to stay in town and get a plethora of tasks and errands done to keep ourselves busy.  Eventually, after a couple of calls from me, the Doctor called me back to say that she was fine but, in typical Zeepha style it had been anything but smooth sailing #facepalm.  She had used gas as the Anaesthetic which worked well, the problem however was when they opened her up.  All her reproductive organs were completely filled with pus, and subsequently all removed.  According to the Vet this is a very rare condition in cats (of course it is) called Pyometra,  which very rarely happens when a heat does not result in a pregnancy and there is an overload of Progesterone = Pyometra.  According to our somewhat shocked Vet even a day later and she would not have survived, it was purely God's timing to have had her done last Tuesday.  She had shown absolutely no sign of being ill, except for a slight discharge a few days before the procedure.  However, I am wondering if  her behaviour for the last six weeks or so was related to this, I mentioned last week that she wanted nothing to do with myself or Jelly Bean and would literally walk over me to get to Hubby.  From the minute we picked her up from the vet she has hardly left my side and is super loving, walking over Hubby to get to me - yaaaay hehehe.  I feel like I have my cat back which is awesome.  She is far more active and one would never know she'd had major surgery, although I did have to destroy an old jersey to make her a jacket to stop her from pulling out the her stitches.  I can honestly say I am SO happy this is now behind us and I can just enjoy her now.

The rest of the week was fairly tame in comparison, I find myself in a very painful flare, probably due to stress, who knows!  Anyway, it resulted in me doing a lot of mending and reading.  The family are all well - Princess still writing exams, Miss Muffet and her family were out camping for the week in the UK and from the pictures it looks like they had a wonderful time.  Big Guy flew down to Cape Town yesterday morning as he was hosted by Red Bull for the Formula 1 event they had here.  Sadly his schedule was so tight that we never got to see him, he's already in the air on the way home, but BigBear managed to find him and spent a little time together which was wonderful.

There was a ripple of drama in our quiet Village on Wednesday as two male Orca whales  named Port and Starboard, made an appearance in one of our little bays where they proceeded to feast themselves on a shark. With all the excitement no one thought or was able to take a photograph which is quite sad, we have known they are here as a number of Sevengill Sharks were found on the beach with their livers eaten.  I am glad I do not enter the water haha.

Well friends and family that's  all for this week, time to get the fire started and the week on the go.  I  wish you and yours a blessed week, remember when things look hopeless is when God steps in, if you will trust Him, the darkest hour is always before the dawn.  Ciao ciao for now and stay safe.

Zeepha proudly showing off her jersey the day of her surgery.