Rain, glorious rain.

Good morning everyone from a gorgeous cool BB,  what a complete antithesis of last week.  Yesterday we awoke to  soft gentle rain and a mist covered mountain as the first cold front moved through the Western Cape,  it truly gives me hope that cooler days are ahead 😁. 

Well certainly a productive, busy week behind us and probably a similar one ahead.  My main occupation last week was the stripping of the chest, I spent hours stripping and scraping and was beginning to feel I would never get finished haha.  On Friday Hubby and I went for a cup of coffee and also to get the correct sealer and tint, I am learning as I go on this project.  When  Hubby dearest helped me by sanding the lid right down to bare wood I thought perhaps we had sanded too far down and was worried about how I was going to match the colours - hmmmm apparently I am supposed to sand right down 🤦🏻‍♀️.  Armed with this knowledge,  on Saturday I was out early and determined to finish this part of the project, it took me until lunchtime and I don't think Hubby or Jelly Bean have ever seen me so dirty 😂 but, I finished sanding down all four sides and the sides of the lid.  For hours afterwards my hands still felt like they were vibrating. After a good steamy shower and fresh clothes I spent the rest of the afternoon on the bed and admittedly was much the same yesterday being in a world of pain.  All that said it is worth it for the sense of achievement and seeing how beautiful it is starting to look now.  This week I am going to clean up all the brass plates, then get to the best bit .... staining and sealing woo hoo.

Between us there were also quite a few trips into town as I had to go to Hermanus on Tuesday with Jelly Bean and then Somerset West on Wednesday to the optician.  That was a pleasant visit compared to the past.  In the last two years there has been an insignificant change in my short vision and a minor change to distance vision, so much so that my glasses were ready the next day.  In the past it was always bad news and it took six to eight for my lenses to arrive as they came from either Israel or Germany. 👀

Hubby has been busy clearing the backlog on watches and clocks and has also made some headway on the deck by enclosing the bottom and starting to prepare for the windows. He also made two trips to town for wood, watch spares and various other errands.

The family are all doing well, Princess is settling into school and doing very well in her tests, she is also going to Hockey trials this week.  As her school does not specialise in sport she is going to be joining a Club, I could not be happier for her as that is where she is happiest, on the sportsfield.  

The Bears took their kitty to the vet as he has lost weight and generally been under the weather, thank goodness they did because he was  diagnosed with Diabetes and is now receiving insulin injections twice a day, poor old Gandalf, at least they know what it is and it is treatable.

On an entirely different note - on Clarence Drive (the coast road into Gordon's Bay, SW etc) there are many pull over ares for people to picnic, take pictures or just enjoy the view.  At the highest point, right above a very popular surfing  spot there is a Shark Lookout Hut which flies various coloured flags informing the public of the status of the water, shark wise.  It is almost 99.99% of the time a black flag which means no sharks and bad visibility.  Wednesday on my way in they were flying a white shark flag and on the way home a red flag.  The various flags are as follows : 

A red flag – The most serious of all beach warning flags, red flags warn swimmers of serious hazards in the water. One red flag means that the surf is high or there are dangerous currents, or both. Though you can still swim if there is a red flag, you should use extreme caution and go in the water only if you’re a strong swimmer.

A green flag means that the spotting conditions are good and no sharks have been seen. 

A black flag means that the spotting conditions are poor, but no sharks have been seen. 

A white flag with a black shark diagram means that a shark is currently near the beach, and beach users must get out of the water. A siren is sounded and the white flag is raised. 

It is exciting because the Orca whales have killed off and chased all the great white sharks from False Bay, hopefully things are returning to normal in the Bay for the marine life.

Well folks, I think that about sums up my week, hopefully next week I will be showing you photos of the finished chest 🤞🏻.  As South Africa has been moved to Level 1 I want to encourage everyone both here and overseas to continue taking all the same CoVid  precautions and not relax your protocols,  perhaps if we all do this a third wave can be avoided or at best minimised.  Stay safe and stay well, I wish you all a wonderful week.  Ciao ciao 

An epic sunset we saw a few weeks ago. Clarence Drive looking across towards Cape Point.

Gandalf the Great