My Life's Winding Roads: Murphy interferes

My Life's Winding Roads: Murphy interferes: Wow, what a week - good morning everyone, I hope that this finds everyone well and ready for the new week. Last week we had a Sub Arctic c...

Murphy interferes

Wow, what a week - good morning everyone, I hope that this finds everyone well and ready for the new week. Last week we had a Sub Arctic cold front blast through and sweep up into the rest of the country, this front well and truly dumped winter in our laps 😁. I said to Hubby on Friday that it was the coldest weather we've had since moving down, one of our locals recorded a temperature of 3c at the beach at 18.00 on Thursday evening, that is not extremely low as far as the rest of the country is concerned but for here it was a new low and inland temperatures of up to -15 c were recorded in various places. There is snow on all the surrounding mountains even though the last two days were deliciously moderate - cold outside and warm in the sun. I'm not sure about everyone else but for me, this year has been much more difficult than last year on many different levels. In preparation for a scheduled surgical procedure today I spent the entire week catching up with the baking (Hubby has to have his store), cooking, washing nails, hair etc. I figured that if everything was done and dusted then I would be able to convalesce with a clear mind....... well clearly in typical Murphy's Law fashion nothing ever goes according to plan. On Friday the three of us 'hitched the wagon' early, embracing the bitter cold and set off to do the monthly grocery/everything shop (all part of my plan). With the impending surgery (more about it to follow in a future blog) I had to go for a CoVid test 72 hours before admission, not a problem, I wasn't exactly pleased to have to do it but was in and out in literally 7 minutes before we 'hit' the shops and ran ourselves ragged eventually arriving home after 15.00 and then the task of unpacking and storing everything away. By that time and on Saturday I was in a full on flare and exhausted but thought it was worth it. Until late Saturday afternoon ...... I received a call from a number I did not recognize to hear my Surgeon on the line, she was phoning to tell me that my CoVid test was positive ????????? After more than fifteen months of CoVid lockdowns and barely going anywhere, just when I needed things to go smoothly this, I was actually speechless especially as I am A Symptomatic. Good grief. I am now on a half a dozen more vitamins and immune boosters , and under her orders to take it easy, as well as the fact that the three of us are now isolating and Surgery is postponed. This has loomed up for weeks now, and just on Saturday I thought to myself "ok,in two days this is going to be history" ..... well not quite, apparently. Because I am A Symptomatic and 'intend' staying that way 🙂, the Surgeon is hoping to have me retested Wednesday or Thursday and all being well, then scheduling the Surgery for the following week. I am standing strong on God's Word and promises of healing although I will admit to feeling very frustrated and emotional. To take my mind off things yesterday I began crocheting the little cat cave/nest for Zeepha, It takes great concentration to follow the pattern 😄😄. Poor little Zeepha she really struggles with the cold and despite wearing her jersey I still find her sitting next to the cooking pot or in any available patch of sun. Last week whilst loading some of the building supplies he needs for the deck, my dear Hubby managed to slice open his ring finger on galvanized flashing. He arrived home with a blood soaked handkerchief wrapped around it and not particularly bothered. When I looked I was not happy, anyway against my request to go for a stitch, I cleaned it up and put plaster etc on. The next day it was still open and bleeding but by then it was too late for stitches so eventually I sent him off to the Sister at the chemist who used steri strips and a splint and gave him a Tetanus shot. Praise the Lord it has healed well and is now closed although I am insisting on him keeping it wrapped. Such fun ...... not !!!!!!!!!! Apart from BabyBear having had some form of food poisoning over the weekend whilst they were away, she is on the mend thank God, as is everyone else who went with them. The only person not to get sick was BigBear. It was also our little U.K. Grandson's 11th birthday on Friday, it feels like one minute he was five and now he is about to start high school, it was really good to do a quick face to face chat with them in Saturday afternoon and he seems so grown up, where oh where does the time go? Well folks, a very different kind of week for me, but it is what it is and now it's time to get on with a new week and find myself things to keep busy with hmmmmmm 👀🤔🤔. I want to wish you all a wonderful week, please stay safe, keep sanitizing and social distancing and stay well. Weather wise I think it will be a quieter week so stay warm folks and as always thanks for your continued support and readership of these glimpses into my life, you guys rock. Ciao ciao. View of the snow on the Greyton mountains on our way home on Friday.

My Life's Winding Roads: A week to remember.

My Life's Winding Roads: A week to remember.: Wow, good morning folks so much has happened between last week's Blog and today. As most of you know large areas of South Africa in pa...

A week to remember.

Wow, good morning folks so much has happened between last week's Blog and today. As most of you know large areas of South Africa in particular Gauteng and Natal were besieged by rioters and looting on a horrific scale, Praise the Lord that in the Western Cape there has been not one incidence and I truly believe it is due to the fact that our Province is ruled by a different political party. In general it was a week of terror, shortages, destruction and fear BUT the one thing that I tried to focus on whilst reading and seeing all the photographs and videos was how this has pulled our country together like few other times in my living memory. Within one day entire communities of every race rallied together to clean up and bring order. People arrived on streets, at Malls, Warehouses and basically any area that had been burnt and vandalized, with brooms, black bags, gloves and got busy working side by side, young and old, completely cleaning and clearing all debris with the exception of not being able to repair glass doors or restock shelves. The rest of the country rallied on an magnificent level sending in trucks, big airlines, small planes all carrying food and necessities, babies products and everything else needed for people to begin the challenge of starting over. One of the most surprising things was how the taxi industry became involved in bringing order and helping the residents, Community Policing Forums, Neighbourhood Watches and the police maintain peace and protect shopping areas, suburbs etc. The Taxi industry in our country are notorious and generally feared by all so this has been an incredible sight and also done a lot towards people's mindset towa do them. People posted easy quick recipes on how to make bread, milk was transported in, people set up kitchens where in one instance they had 25 enormous black Poitjie pots making stamp and hot food and in another volunteers were gathered and learnt how to make Roti's (an Indian flatbread) which they were supplying one hospital, an old age centre and children's home with, they were making upward of 500 Rotis per day. I am so very proud of this country because we may get knocked down, bowled over BUT we always rise up and come back with a vengeance stronger, wiser and more united than before. I would like to believe that this past week can and will be a turning point for South Africa. On the home front all has been quiet, challenging in the sense of not allowing fear to gain a foothold, for some members of the family it was very difficult but in true family style each one of us is feeling better. I had asked for and we were organizing a family lunch for yesterday and it was the best timing, we had a fabulous day where everyone was relaxed and the food beyond compare. Thank you Poppet for hosting the crowd yet again and to everyone else to contributed in every way, food, jokes, laughter, hair styling ....... in general a truly well needed and thoroughly enjoyable day. For me the only downside was not having Big Guy, J, and C there with us. I give God unending thanks for blessing me with such an incredible family. There are a couple of private challenges being faced which I will soon share with you all, in general we are all good and standing strong. We have been on the search for months for doors for our deck and yesterday on our way to Poppet's house we stopped in at a 2nd hand building supply and the perfect pair were sitting there jus waiting for us. As they need some beautifying we were even given a discount, and drove home with our long awaited doors and frame tied to the roof of the car. Now we can close up the deck completely, quite a bit of work, but the end is in sight, I am so excited and yes, I admit I am kind of pushing Hubby now to get it done. In all the drama and hoo haa last week we had the most amazing three day visit with Princess, it was so special and just what I for one needed. We had two cold fronts roll through with huge winds and loads of rain, even leaving light snow on the mountains behind Somerset West. Right now I am busy rushing two loads of washing as the next two huge cold fronts make landfall tonight/tomorrow bringing rain, wind and more snow whoop, whoop. Well folks I am signing off for now, today I am taking the day to rest once all the chores are done. I wish you all a really good week, please stay safe and well. Ciao ciao 

Two pics taken yesterday.

My Life's Winding Roads: When Monday is Sunday

My Life's Winding Roads: When Monday is Sunday: Good morning family and friends from our delightful wintery seaside village, it is sooo good to have all the rain and cold and to know that ...

When Monday is Sunday

Good morning family and friends from our delightful wintery seaside village, it is sooo good to have all the rain and cold and to know that winter did not just disappear.  We have really had some very extreme winds and heavy rainfall which of course Is exactly what we need being a winter rainfall area, it brings such joy to see the waterfalls coming down the mountains and everything turning green and growing 😍.

As usual, there is always so many things that need doing (I don't know who did them before we retired) but they just keep popping up.  This week saw Hubby up on the roof yet again with his new paint-on sealer before the storm made landfall,  I will say this, a lot of the leaks appear to be gone but there are a couple that are beyond stubborn and seem to defy the laws of gravity and repair - it also depends largely on which way the wind is blowing the rain, such fun!!  Sadly I just read a post of someone in the village whose home was completely flooded - under six inches of water on Tuesday evening, this is the downside of the much needed rain sadly.  A lot of BB is built in and on marsh/vlei and the low lying homes are especially vulnerable.  

We had another Embroidery Stand order which was a super result of someone seeing a post on FB by lady who was showing off her work - it is such a blessing to see how excited the ladies get in waiting for their stands and obviously to us as well. 

On Wednesday Sasha and Charlie were booked for a grooming session and all I could do was pray and hope that it stopped raining long enough for the groomer to finish, she has a lovely trailer and comes to the house which is much less stressful for the dogs - Sasha saw the trailer pull in and literally shook her head and ran off in the opposite direction 😂.  They both looked beautiful and pranced around very proudly afterwards.

As for me ...... a lot of cooking, knitting and experimenting with Gluten Free recipes, yesterday I made oat crunchies but instead of flour I used oat flour and blitzed the actual oats in the food processor to make them a littler 'finer'.  I was not sure how they would work but was aiming towards making them the same as a delicious box of GF crunchies I purchased a month ago, the result .....SUCCESS they are delicious,  yaaay another one onto the menu.

Today we have Princess coming to spend a couple of days which is going to be just awesome, I hope we can get a break to make a quick visit to 'our' shell beach.  With another huge cold front due to make landfall just now I spent most of yesterday doing three huge loads of washing and for the first time in weeks it was all dry, because of that I decided that today will be my Sunday, and once the house is clean I am going to pick up my knitting and get that shrug growing.  It's a bit of a shock to the system after working with the bulky Tyarn and how quickly it works up to now knitting on a size 7mm needle hahaha it feels like I'm knitting with baby wool.  Talking about the Tyarn, I am expecting a batch to arrive this week and my next project is going to be crocheting a cat cave that I saw years ago but could never find the pattern in English, two weeks ago I found a translation of the very same cat cave so, watch this space.  

Jelly Bean and I went into Kleinmond on Thursday and then had to go to Hermanus again on Saturday, I am so 'over' malls.  I've never been fond of them but Saturday was enough to last me another year.  There were one or two things we needed and I was looking for winter pajamas, naturally I found a pair at the very last clothing shop in the mall and I mean truthfully, I went into every single clothing store 🤦🏻‍♀️.  This pair don't know it but they had better last a good, long time haha, we eventually got home at lunch time both exhausted, peopled out but satisfied that we had accomplished everything we went to do and don't need to venture out again for the foreseeable future.

The family are doing well with things continuing to roll along, as with so many, many people some of them are more affected with CoVid lockdown more than others and I am focusing my prayers on them for new opportunities for work and increased business.  It has been wonderful to see locally how the small businesses have adjusted to this latest change to Level 4, with coffee shops and restaurants adopting the old roadhouse systems thereby keeping their staff employed and their doors open - basically curbside service with a smile.  One of our local restaurants usually does a full Sunday roast and I saw their ad yesterday that they are continuing with it, one just needs to phone in the order, bring your own dish/plate and they will serve you at your vehicle.  May the rest of industry in our country also think out of the box and do all they can to keep their doors open.

Well folks that is just some of my news, there is a lot of stuff going on which I will share in a couple of weeks.  Right now Hubster is off to SW in the search for a glass door for the deck, we need the door first in order to build the wall and insert the windows according to its size.  He is then going to collect our young guest and will hopefully be home before the worst of the storm hits. 

I wish you all a good week, please stay well and safe, if necessary increase your sanitizing protocols and be warm and dry. Ciao ciao 

Magnificent rainbow on Thursday in Kleinmond, wind blowing too hard to get out of the car.

Charlie looking like a Pom Pom.

My Life's Winding Roads: Winter wonderful winter

My Life's Winding Roads: Winter wonderful winter: Good morning everyone, gee whizz I can hardly believe it is the second half of the year already the months just seem to fly by. What wonde...

Winter wonderful winter

Good morning everyone, gee whizz I can hardly believe it is the second half of the year already the months just seem to fly by. What wonderful weather we have had for the past 10 days or so, so much blessed rain and some really chaotic, strong winds. When the wind is howling in full force it sometimes feels like the whole house vibrates. Hubby has decided that he is going to add more screws to the deck roof, it has stood strong and sturdy but really takes a hammering so for extra peace of mind and strength there will be some more hardware added - our gale force winds here go to 100 km and over at times, so no exaggeration. He had to drive between Betty's Bay and Rooi Els twice this week and both times it was a physical struggle to keep the car steady on the road. Thank the Lord some of our historical roof leaks are now fixed but, oh my word this week we 'grew' some new ones in the strangest places, so back up on the roof with a magnifying glass as soon as the wind and rain stop. Currently we are trying to track down either sliding glass doors or double glass doors for the deck, Hubby can't install our beautiful windows until we know the size of the doors and once we do that then we are close to sealing up the room from the elements which will be an enormous blessing. I am also trying to find a glass dome, I think I mentioned that one of the clock clients had given him a box of clock spares in order to fix an Anniversary Clock they had - this clever man fixed the clock and managed to rebuild an identical one for us which is now working, all that is missing now is the glass dome to fit over the base, it is like looking for chickens teeth 😂😂. The two Embroidery Stands we sent out to private clients were received and both ladies were absolutely ecstatic and beyond excited to have them, they even posted pics on FB of their work clipped in and in progress 😁. The family are all doing really well, with Princess now on school holiday after receiving a wonderful report, especially as her new school is a completely different education system. The girls spent time here with us this weekend and apart from Poppet cooking the most delicious meal, Princess made the hugest and most decadent brownies, I figured it was worth the tummy ache for the once off indulgence yum YUMM, it was so good to spend some chill time with them. Our Grandsons in the U.K. are also growing so jolly fast and between school, football and all their other activities they are now well on their way to being accomplished little skiers, they are taking ski lessons and have made so much progress. Well done all of you for being such awesome human beings. From my side it was not the easiest of weeks but I still managed to get quite a few things done and am well into knitting Jelly Bean's shrug wrap. After one or two false starts I got going but was having difficulty with the needles being too heavy, I've never had this problem before, anyway I happened to ask my dearest Hubby to get me circular needles and then forgot all about it. On Thursday when he got home from the shopping he had not forgotten and presented me with the correct size circular needles. What a difference !!!!!! The needles are just the right length to fit my hands and now that all the weight and pressure if off and I am positively motoring along. On a quick side note our little Zeepha is just the cutest cat, she feels the cold terribly and is not by nature a lap cat, in winter I usually put her 'jersey' on - she is not crazy about it but it certainly helps a little. This week I have watched her become a true little sun follower, every ten minutes or so she changes position around the room as she follows the sunbeam as it moves across, some of the places she perches on are quite ridiculous but as long as the sun is there she will sit. Jelly Bean even found her sitting ON the gas plate on the stove (the gas was off), I have said to Hubby that we need a metal 'lid' to put down on top of the burner plates when they are not in use and when the lid is 'up' it will act as a back splash screen 🤔🤔. It has also been really encouraging to see how restaurants nationwide and especially locally have adjusted to the new lockdown Level and are doing everything they can to keep business going. There is one thing I can say for South Africa, we don't give up and are an innovative nation, we will always a way #proudSouthAfican, we don't get many things correct here but when we are pushed against the wall we pull together and many things can and are accomplished. Well folks we are at the start of a new week, a new month, the second half of the year and I wish you all a truly blessed week. May the work of your hands prosper, the peace of God fill your hearts and homes and please stay safe and well. Ciao ciao. Gorgeous view on our way into town on Friday - Clarence Drive just after the Blousteen cave.