My Life's Winding Roads: A satisfying week !

My Life's Winding Roads: A satisfying week !: Good morning friends and family, how is it that the days just seem to roll by faster and faster, Mondays come around before I blink hehe. ...

A satisfying week !

Good morning friends and family, how is it that the days just seem to roll by faster and faster, Mondays come around before I blink hehe. I am taking much delight in the fact that the weather seems to be slightly cooler even if it is only by a few degrees, I take that as encouragement that summer will come to an end. Here in BB we have actually had a few evenings where the mercury has dropped below 20 c what a blessed relief, there have even been a few showers of rain . We had a relatively peaceful week where I got quite a few things accomplished in the house, I find that there is always something needing to be changed or modified and finally worked out what it is. When we bought our furniture and set up home in Boksburg, we bought everything for 'that house' so to speak and it always just worked, I never needed or had the urge to change things. Since coming down here I'm constantly re-evaluating the rooms then, on Saturday when chatting to Poppet I realized that it is because this house is completely opposite in style, dimension and even colour. Now that I've figured it out I am even more excited to bring about changes, my long suffering Hubby supports most of my ideas but I do think he cringes when I say "my love, I've ......" or "what do you think of ...." 🤣🤣 This past week we've removed the carpet that was down in the lounge and are thoroughly enjoying the screeded floor, the bedroom carpet is next 😉. In the bathroom from intending to just paint the 'offending' wall we are now planning to screed over the floor tiles, paint the wall and then retile the entire shower with the excess white tiles that the rest of the room is done in, big job. I also intend to get started this week in stripping the paint off a very old wooden unit that I've had since the late 80's (it was old then). Poppet has had it for years and now sent it back as she does not have room for it, so it is standing on the deck awaiting my ministrations. Hubby finally finished their meranti sever, he has been busy building it since December and it is another beautiful piece of furniture. On Saturday we had to move and transport it to Poppet's house and decided that her vehicle would be the best form of transport as well as her extra hands. It took the five of us to lift it and get it into her car with a LOT of stops and huffing hehe, when we got to the house Princess came out and proved to be as strong as Poppet, Jelly Bean and myself put together. It was a much smoother transfer but did result in some aches and strains here and there. See pics below. We then spent the rest of the afternoon with them enjoying a delicious braai and I managed to get lots of kitten cuddles and loving 😍, I was also really happy to see that Charlie paid little to no interest in the kittens even with them walking and sleeping on me. There is a new initiative in the Village aimed at rescuing lost and abandoned pets and, because I was involved in trying to find a litter of kittens a few weeks ago I am now down to foster any little/needy baby kittens that might be found, until they are ready to be homed. In amongst all the activity I even managed to finally finish a quilt square, set up and start another one, they have been a little slow over the last two months but I'm back in production. A few weeks ago I saw and fell in love with a gorgeous long sleeved, loose fit top and due to not paying proper attention and an unusual web site I ended up buying it 🤦🏻‍♀️. I was like ..... OOOPS what did I just do? Well it was a case of wait and see as it was not a local site and was in dollars. Over the course of about six weeks I've had occasional updates but not really held out much hope of A. it arriving anytime soon and B. Fitting. On Friday I received an SMS to say it had arrived at a local store and could be collected, oh my goodness the time of reckoning had arrived. Hubby had to go into town on Saturday and so collected it for me, I opened it slowly having convinced myself I would be re gifting it to one of the girls. It is everything they advertised and size wise is even slightly big for me, what a bonus and a surprise. I am absolutely delighted with their service and the product whoop whoop. Well folks, that's quite of lot of news and I will keep you posted on the renovation of the wooden unit as well as all the other projects. Hubby will also be picking up his hammer on the deck again and so more progress there to follow as well. Have a wonderful week and please stay masked, safe and healthy. Ciao ciao. Meranti Server (designed and made from a picture)

My Life's Winding Roads: Interesting visitors

My Life's Winding Roads: Interesting visitors: Good morning everyone I hope you've all had a good weekend and are ready to face the new week. We have had quite the hottest weather s...

Interesting visitors

Good morning everyone I hope you've all had a good weekend and are ready to face the new week. We have had quite the hottest weather since we moved down four and a half years ago, it has really been unbearable. Thankfully yesterday dawned cool and wet and I could not have been happier, what a relief to just be able to breath in cool air, even the cats showed some of their 'winter behaviour' so the animals are feeling it just as much as we are. Oh how I am counting the days until winter shows her beautiful face..... Dear Jelly Bean eventually got to see the dentist last Wednesday after being in the most excruciating pain for over a week, we are so blessed to have such an incredible dentist in a small town and my goodness me I've seen the best and the worst. When I called him early Monday morning he immediately wrote her a script for antibiotics and pain killers and then when she saw him it was even more that what he had guessed. She had developed a large access on each root of one tooth and due to the fact that her teeth have very long roots what had happened was, as the abscesses grew so they pushed down on a nerve which is what has caused her lip and chin to go numb. He did all the necessary and packed it full of medication and she will return in two weeks. Praise the Lord that at long last she is starting to look and feel a little better every day. Due to the intense heat we/I did not a accomplish a great amount, even Hubby would work and then come in for a rest before going back out. I must say that Poppe's server is now ready to be sealed and is looking absolutely incredible. The fun begins when we need to get it into the back of my car and transport it, it is solid Meranti and weighs a ton 💪🏻. On Wednesday Charlie and Sasha had their Spa day and were much happier little pooches after shedding all their fur although, Charlie is hysterical to watch for a couple of days after he's been groomed. Because the fans were on constantly he would be sleeping and then all of a sudden swing around and look accusingly at his back because the 'wind' had blown across his almost bare skin. Poor little guy, he had these imaginary 'things' tickling him 🤣🤣. Sasha just spreads herself out on the concrete like a white frog to cool off. While Hubby was out during the week I heard the dogs making an almighty racket next to the garage, it is an area of about eighteen inches along two sides of the garage against the fence which we have blocked off to keep the dogs from getting in there. Well, all three were going crazy barking and carrying on so off I toddled to investigate only to be more surprised than the dogs at the sight that greeted me. As I looked around the corner expecting to see a tortoise or a snake I was met by two little heads peeping out of the wall itself ???? It is obviously a double wall and has drainage spaces which look about half a brick in size and we have a family of Mongoose living in the wall completely protected from the dogs, or so they thought because even as I was looking right at them both Max and Charlie got through a hole that either they or the mongoose or both had chewed through the fence. Both faces disappeared as the two confused dogs ran up and down trying to find the 'visitors, there I am with an obstacle fence between us, I can't reach the dogs and obviously they weren't particularly interested in obeying me. Eventually I managed to get each one by the scruff of the neck and hauled them over and while I was trying to find something else to block the hole up they were off and into forbidden territory again, aaarrggghhh all this in 32 c blazing midday sun. Armed with a plank I again finally succeeded in catching both dogs and deposited all three in the house so that I could cover up the hole and protect the Mongoose family, all the while with one or two little heads peeping out and keeping an eye on me, they are so cute and I am beyond chuffed that they have a safe little home in the back of our garage wall. We have often seen Max barking at the wall and suspected mice or even a snake but no, just a little family although even with only half of a bottom jaw Max still considers himself capable of licking through the bricks and cement to get to them 🤦🏻‍♀️ On Friday Jelly Bean and I braved the heat and went into SW to do the groceries and also collect a friend of hers who spent the weekend with us, just an indication of the heat - in SW it was 33c and when we got home it was 23c but with extremely high humidity. In the 1980's when I lived down here there was never any humidity, I can only put it down to global warming 😰 The family are all doing well, squaring off to challenges and riding the waves. Princess is still adjusting to her new school and slowly starting to make new friends, her one heart ache is that sport does not seem to be a high priority at her school and so they are looking at club sport for her to join and participate in, she badly wanted to be able to get her full colors in the next two years for sport but as I said to her she could get Provincial colours or even higher if she finds the right sports club 🙏🏻 Folks that it for now, at last CoVid numbers are coming down in the Western Cape and especially in our area, I pray it continues along this vein for the rest of the country and yes even the world. In the meantime stay safe, masked up and sanitized. With love from BB I wish you a good week, Ciao Ciao One of our little visitors watching me

My Life's Winding Roads: Time to B.R.E.A.T.H.E.

My Life's Winding Roads: Time to B.R.E.A.T.H.E.: Wow, good morning everyone, what a whirlwind week my head is still spinning.   I hope you are all well and strong 💪🏻. This was the first t...

Time to B.R.E.A.T.H.E.

Wow, good morning everyone, what a whirlwind week my head is still spinning.   I hope you are all well and strong 💪🏻. This was the first time in weeks that I felt halfway like myself and I had planned to ease into the week, but it was having none of that, it was run, run from the get go.

Monday Hubby had an appointment with the Retinal Specialist and I had to go in case they did any procedures on the eye.  As is usual we combined what needed doing with this trip to Somerset West, needing to restock on some towels and sleeping pillows. If I told you how old our pillows were, I don't think you would believe me.  Anyway a quick stop at the Colibri Towel Factory Shop 😍 the only place I will buy from in future, their stock whilst a bit limited in colour was amazing and I am delighted with the luxurious quality of the bath sheets we bought. From there some crafting items and then we discovered a smallish Woolies which had the pillows we were looking for, in fact we were so quick we had time to spare and even more because someone who was supposed to meet me regarding couch slip covers I was selling, couldn't make it.  That gave Hubby and I an extra half an hour until his appointment which we squandered by buying soft serve ice creams and sitting in the car at the beach just watching the water.  Off we toddled to his appointment and five minutes later he came back to the car because the appointment was NOT for Monday but for Friday -oh joy 😬.  Tuesday passed with housework, washing, washing, washing and more washing,  couch covers being sold and collected and much activity, also Hubby is almost at the sealing point with the big server and still managed to get a whole load of watches and clocks out and delivered. Thursday I needed to get Jelly Bean to the Dr as she had severe neuralgia/sinus so that ended up taking a a whole morning, Friday it was back to SW to the real dr's appointment and the weekly grocery  shop which I tried to do as quickly as possible. Praise the Lord Hubby's eye is much improved and rather than doing a further further procedure to clear the remaining debris they have decided to wait three months and then see how it is doing. On Thursday we also managed to have our first walk on the beach in well over a year, oh what joy to get my feet in the sand and water #myhappyplace.  Charlie was nervous at first but when I waded into the little pools he bravely followed me in and thoroughly enjoyed himself, little beach baby poodle 🐩. 

During the week Poppet also collected her two new babies Beaux and Bella who are absolutely gorgeous and just 'melt my heart cute', happily Princess flew back on Friday evening feeling much better and eager to meet the babies.

We were due to go through to the Bears for lunch yesterday but BigBear came down with a cold/flu and it was decided that the way of wisdom was to postpone until he is better, a big disappointment for all as we haven't seen them since Christmas or their new home.  Then Poppet phoned and invited us for lunch at her house which was absolutely delicious, thank you Angel.  We had such fun with the babies and whilst I was trying to eat my pudding, Beaux jumped up onto my lap and literally pinched my entire mini eclair, I  pulled it out of his mouth immediately but from then on was very popular hehe. They are small for nine weeks and oh soooo busy, but move a plate or mug and he is there's like flash.  They were thrown away by the previous people that had them and despite such a rough start are just the most loving, adventurous little cuddle kitties.  Hats off the the amazing foster careers at Raise n Rescue for their love and dedication.

Jelly Bean was unable to go with us yesterday as she had a reaction on Friday/ Saturday  to the medication the Dr prescribed and was feeling really  awful including her bottom lip being numb. Today my first call is to the dentist as we think it might be an abscess and to the Dr re the medication 🤦🏻‍♀️  

I am not going to say the words but I have no further plans for the week 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

On the drive in yesterday firstly, it looked like the entire population of CT was out - beaches were full, the roads were crazy busy and in general everyone looked happy.  I have always had a love for dolphins and  since we moved down my deepest wish has been to see them, somehow I always miss them, even when we did the boat  cruise years ago JB and Hubby saw a whole bunch and I missed it.  On Friday we saw something in the water but could not make out whether it was a seal or a shark trying to eat a fish but yesterday in the same spot we saw loads of dolphins obviously feeding on a shoal of fish.  Hubby was able to pull over and although they weren't jumping high out of the water we got a glorious sighting - I was on such a high afterwards 😂😂, I am going to put one of the short videos I recorded on my phone at the bottom of this Blog, where was my camera when I needed it ???  On the flip side I don't think my Charlie is too impressed with me as I had to leave him behind four times this week and he was sulking the whole of last night 😢🐩. 

Well folks, not what I had planned for the week but what happened, my head is still whirling a little and my body doth protest madly but a new week it is and I am ready to face each day as it comes.  Please look after yourselves, stay safe and keep your masks on.  Until next week Ciao Ciao.

The new babies.  Beaux is tabby, Bella is white.

Dolphin sighting

My Life's Winding Roads: Fun and games, whats new ?

My Life's Winding Roads: Fun and games, whats new ?: Good morning world, I truly hope today's Blog finds everyone well and raring to go. I am 90% ready to start this new month/week hehe. ...

Fun and games, whats new ?

Good morning world, I truly hope today's Blog finds everyone well and raring to go. I am 90% ready to start this new month/week hehe. Well...... I don't think it would be classed as a heatwave but it darn well should have been. We have had the whole of summer condensed and intensified in the last ten days, oh my goodness it has been unbearabley hot with high humidity levels UGHHH. I remember in the '80's when we lived here there was never a humidity problem, how things have changed, I am waiting for winter with open arms and a telescope. Yesterday late in the afternoon the temps dropped a little and we had a few drops of rain, not even enough to wet the bricks 😢 but naturally, just enough to make the windows a mess 🤷🏻‍♀️ We had a fair week all in all, Hubby has been working non stop on the server and clocks so always busy there. He had to have a check up at the eye surgeon last Monday who is very happy with the progress of his left eye but, has nevertheless booked him an appointment today with the Retinol Surgeon for a double check 🙏🏻. Two members of the family were ill with similar symptoms to what I had (I haven't been near either of them) and also had to have CoVid tests, Praise the Lord both tests came back negative and they are recovering daily. So many people are blasé about CoVid but trust me when it touches your family, loved ones and friends there is absolutely nothing to laugh about. I just wish those same people would mask up, sanitize and social distance correctly. On Thursday Jelly Bean and I took the bull by the horns / car by the steering wheel and mosied around the mountain to do some long overdue shopping and catching up. Firstly the weather report said it would be 25c, HA. 31c in Gordon's Bay. We think we did very well, with strict instructions from Hubby to walk slowly and take things slowly we ticked off each thing in the list in good order, we then went to pay Poppet a quick visit and refresh our very dry throats before stopping to do the weekly grocery shop and heading home. Naturally I did not take Charlie as he is not allowed into the supermarkets, but when we left and got to the second corner from home we closed the car windows because we could still hear him crying, even though he was with Hubby, it breaks my heart to see that. When we came home Hubby came to the gate holding Max who has been looking and behaving very old and doddery of late, as I pulled the car in he put Max down and he was gone like lightening with Sasha hot on his heals. Immediately I reversed and set off in hot pursuit, please bear in mind that Charlie had jumped into the car and was trying to smother me with licks. As I got to the first corner Sasha stopped and we picked her up, so now two excited dogs in the front of the car. Dear 'old man Max' ppffttt, had already turned the second corner and was running down the middle of the main road at full yorkie speed. I eventually caught up with him about 500 m down the road and pulled over to the wrong side in order to cut him off and pick him up. As I opened the car door Charlie jumped out, my sunglasses fell off and Max ran back in the opposite direction 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️😂😂. I was not amused...... and in the time it took to turn the car around a lovely lady in a little red car coming towards us had seen the whole debacle and she stopped, in the middle of the road with hazard lights on, got out and of course he willingly went to her to be picked up and she walked him over to us, still with Charlie going ballistic in trying to kill me with kisses. Talk about Betty's Bay local circus, entertainment for free folks just watch our house. 🤣🤣. Max had run so fast and so far I thought he would keel over from a heart attack. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ On that note yesterday I actually laughed out aloud, I was standing at the sink watching the sugar birds trying to drink from their bottle. the North wind was quite strong and most of them despite furious flapping were just hovering in the same spot. All of a sudden a bird went flying past the window, backwards - it took me a moment to compute what I had just seen but he obviously misjudged something and came flying past me wings flapping, but going in the wrong direction. Eventuly he managed to get a break and ended up in a bush near the bottle, it was really very funny to see 🤣🤣🤣 I actually did some baking on Saturday and restocked Hubby's Rusk addiction, made two ciabatta breads and discovered that I can make and mix my dough and then keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks. This makes such a difference because I can now just cut off the amount I need every second or third day and bake that 👏🏻👏🏻. In discovering this and also due to a book that I am reading - Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes (the movie is based loosely on her story) I found a recipe for a traditional Tuscan Salad which is how they use up their one day old bread. It is called a Panazone Salad, I made it yesterday when Poppet came over for a braai and it is delicious. I will post the recipe for any who want to see it. As most of you have gathered by now for all five years of me blogging, can you believe it's been that long ? I have not received comments on the actual blog and have wondered so many times as to why. It often felt like I was throwing this Blog into the ether and some people read it but that was a small circle, well I was wrong and it was all my fault. I discovered last Monday, by mistake, that I had a little box in settings which was not ticked and therefore I never received notification of comments or saw them. When, with the help of BigBear I corrected that, lo and behold a whole lot of comments came through, some dating back 2 and 3 years. I did then reply to each and every one and also put up the 'Important Notice'. If you have ever commented on any of my Blogs and I did not respond, please forgive me. I was totally unaware that there were any comments anywhere. Happily I can now see all comments and reply immediately, so please keep them coming. On that note folks I am signing out for today and wish you all a wonderful, healthy, peace filled week and month ahead. Please stay well and stay safe Ciao Ciao. Zeepha found a cool spot

This doddery old soul still knows how to run. That is a curl of sawdust stuck on his nose. 🤦🏻‍♀️