A bit of this and a bit of that

Good morning everyone on this last week of September, I don't know about you but it has been a very long month as far as I am concerned. As I type this I look up out of our roof height windows and the mountain is shrouded in grey cloud, looking beautiful and dark. Weatherwise we have been really blessed with mild temperatures, some rain and mild winds, just what I call comfortable 🙂 After many times of crocheting and undoing the Cat Cave I eventually got it just right and oh my word was I a happy camper. The pattern is now amended properly and I should be able to knock the second one out this week 🤞🏻. Zeepha took such a liking to it that I have decided to undo her's and remake it according to the new, amended pattern before I go into hospital. I got some baking done and quite a bit of catch up within the house. Hubby spent the majority of the week working on clocks and watches and has come a long way in clearing the queue that had begun to build up. I would say that production wise, we had a good week. Sasha has been 'coughing' of late and we noticed that it seems to be more prevelant when the temperatures drop or it rains so, on Thursday we took her into the Vet for a checkup of her teeth and the 'cough'. Seeing as she is now 12 and apart from vaccinations this is her first ever visit to the Vet, I think she is doing very well and is still very active. The diagnosis was that she needs to have her teeth cleaned as the back molars are in a bad state and the Vet believes that this could also be the cause of her cough, kind of like a post nasal drip. Her heart sounds good and so this morning Hubby is taking her in and they will do her teeth under anaesthetic and I pray that will fix it all, poor old girl. After the check-up Jelly Bean and I were dropped off with the girls where we were able to relax while my very energetic Hubby did all the stops that seem to accrue with annoying regularity. Just going in exhausts me at the moment so I really appreciated the down time at Poppet's house. Friday was a Public Holiday and we invited the girls over for a braai which turned out quite different to what we had planned. At the last minute we decided to use the Air Fryer instead of making a fire - we do not eat a lot of meat but oh gosh, the lamb chops and pork steaks were absolutely delicious, done to perfection. The more I use it the more uses I find for it 😁. The rest of the family are doing well although BabyBear twisted her ankle last week and it turned out to be a torn ligament, she is now in a brace/boot and more than frustrated at not being able to exercise and get about. Praying for a quick recovery Angel. Now that I am down to less than two weeks of waiting for my surgery I will be honest and admit that I am nervous, yes a little about the actual surgery but also about the post-op recovery with all that it will entail. I think the wait has just been too long and I will be glad to have at least the first major step behind me and know that I am on the recovery road. It is impossible to 'imagine' how I will feel waking up after the surgery to effectively having lost my 'boobs' but, I am still just as determined to beat this and do it in faith and with grace, I also know that it is going to involve a huge amount of prayer and resilience. Without God I would be lost, it is only in His strength that I can come through this. As a quick follow up on all the drama regarding Scar Face last week, it seems that that the three Villages - Bettys Bay, Pringle Bay and Rooi Els are going to come together to protect our baboons and preserve our Biosphere for future generations. There is still much anger and grief around last weeks situation and the best way to channel it is to form a strong enough group to stand up to those who are totally unscrupulous. Well folks that is it for now , I wish you all a wonderful week, for those who are struggling and hurting in whatever way I pray that you experience the Peace and Comfort of the Holy Spirit and that God Himself will make your road smooth and give you the wisdom needed in all your decisions. Please stay safe and stay well, Ciao Ciao . My Interior Decor is designed around cardboard boxes for Zeepha's pleasure, even if she doesn't fit.

My Life's Winding Roads: #R.I.P. Scarface

My Life's Winding Roads: #R.I.P. Scarface: Good morning greetings everyone, here we are at the beginning of yet another new week and I hope you are all ready to tackle whatever comes...

#R.I.P. Scarface

Good morning greetings everyone, here we are at the beginning of yet another new week and I hope you are all ready to tackle whatever comes with it. Weather wise we have had a glorious week of mild temperatures and strong winds (they do make getting the washing dry so easy). There is definitely a bit more warmth in the air but thank goodness no major heat 🤞🏻. My week started off with a determination to solve the pyjama 'crisis' and my course of action was that on Tuesday I got into my car and drove through to Somerset West to find the appropriate garments. It was the first time since we moved down, I think, that I went by myself into town to do some shopping for myself and was just what I needed. I did try and get some extra Tyarn but that proved unsuccessful so I then turned my attention to my most hated place, the Mall. Clever me, I phoned ahead to find out who had what and bingo ........ I got exactly what I wanted and needed. The store I had called were keeping two pairs aside which I took to try on and whilst walking throughout the shop I noticed a rail pushed to the side with old stock of winter pyjamas, as I ran my eye across I noticed a shorter sleeve and just managed to conceal my delight on seeing that it was last years stock of summer pj's, one size bigger than I wear and THE only summer pair on the rack. Whooo hooo, into the changing room and they were perfect - roomy enough to deal with dressings and drains and extra bonus, R100 less than this years stock. I was beyond chuffed and now have two new pairs 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻. I consider that a successful trip and even though I paid the price the next day physically it was SO worth it, even stopping at the roadside Coffee trailer on the way home and indulging in a steaming cappuccino. I will be honest the waiting is certainly proving beyond tedious and I'm almost down to counting days, currently two weeks and 3 days. On Friday we received an email from the Surgeon letting us know that our Medical Aid has waived all the co-payments for the hospital, thank you Father God. That has been such a concern, now we are praying and waiting to hear about the co-payments for the Plastic Surgeon. Hubby is still being inundated with clocks and watches which is amazing but, also means the deck is on hold added to which it is well nigh impossible to Install glass with a gale blowing. On Thursday for some reason Jasper was very unwell and had a very unhappy tummy, by that evening when he started vomiting we were really beginning to get worried. I continued giving him tummy meds and just plain boiled chicken and happily he is now completely back to normal. 🙏🏻 On Friday our little Village exploded with the news that the baboon monitors (an extremely contentious issue as they terrorize the baboons with paintball guns, trying to drive them back into the mountains) had been given permission to euthanase the one Alpha male called Scarface. He has been a lone baboon ever since we've been here and is extremely intelligent in that he learnt how to lift sliding doors off their frames. To back up a little as most of you know we live in a what has been identified as a world protected bio-sphere. Most of the residents, like us, made a conscious decision to move here for all that being in a bio-sphere encompasses - dirt roads, free roaming wild life, protected vegetation, no light pollution etc. The baboons come with the package and as such every responsible resident has a baboon safe rubbish cage or bin and devices have been developed to protect sliding doors and windows etc. As the population has grown and with it irresponsibility, the baboons have been introduced to human food and will come down into the Village to look for it. There are quite literally a handful of not even full time residents who have not put in place the necessary protocols and they somehow raised enough noise to cause the Municipality to hire a 'firm', the 'monitors' mentioned above. These people will rampage through anyone's property chasing and shooting the baboons in an endeavor to herd them back into the mountain, I know of one family personally who have moved out of BB due to the gun (paintball) toting idiots, the constant sound of said guns firing and the desperate cries of the baboons being hurt. Back to Friday, once it was discovered what they intended doing a group of residents got together to try and protect the troop and Scarface in particular. He has NEVER hurt or attacked a human or a domestic pet, except in trying to defend himself against unleashed dogs. As you can imagine this has caused a complete uproar and by Saturday morning Beauty Without Cruelty had become involved in absolute desperation. After their talks with the Mayor he was given a stay of execution and the decision to re-locate him was made. Relocation as far as we are concerned was just as unacceptable, but infinitely better than being killed. We have local residents who spend all day every day with the troop watching them, following them and where necessary warning residents if they go in amongst the houses. Everyone did absolutely everything they could and just before lunch on Saturday he was enticed into a cage using potato crisps and then murdered. Their excuse was they had caught him and could not keep him locked up with no relocation papers available despite two locations being made available for him. As you can imagine this has left almost our entire village in a state of mourning for the cold blooded killing of a magnificent animal. As I said on one of the forums "It is just as well that humans down through the ages have not been 'euthanased' for being too clever, because if so we would still be living in the Stone Age. All I can do is pray that somehow, somewhere, some organization which is bigger than these bullies will come in remove them and cancel their contract. They were fired from the City of Cape Town for similar unsuccessful conduct on the Peninsular and are now on our side intent on wiping out a species which is endemic only to this area, the Chacma Baboon. As you can probably gather I feel very strongly about this and if I could I would do whatever it takes. Anyway folks, that is my news and my rant for the week, I wish you all a blessed week as God goes before you to make flat all the hills and surround you with His peace. Ciao Ciao 

#Scarface relaxing on the  grass. 

Photos shared with permission #peteoxford

Enjoying the gardens.

My Life's Winding Roads: The walk of faith

My Life's Winding Roads: The walk of faith: Good morning friends and family at the start of another fresh, brand new week I hope you are all ready to take control this week and not be...

The walk of faith

Good morning friends and family at the start of another fresh, brand new week I hope you are all ready to take control this week and not be controlled by circumstances. I know that during these times we are living in so many people feel as if they have lost control of their lives and trust me I totally understand. I believe that it is vital that we choose to steer our lives, as much as possible, in the direction we want them to go and not just lie down and be bulldozed by life. Yesterday I drove through to Somerset West to collect Jelly Bean who had been house sitting, Hubby offered to drive through and or go with me but I really needed to do something by myself and for myself, which he understood. I took Charlie with me in his new car seat and we had a slow, peaceful drive in and a good drive back home. I think for myself, that with things going the way they are and being uncomfortable / limited in what I can do for so long, I just needed that little bit of independence and making my own decision. For many of you this time feels like a loss of freedom, restrictions on the way you live your life, loss or decrease of income etc, so many challenges people are facing right now. Please try and not allow these circumstances change who you are find ways to re-find yourself, your joy and your purpose. 

 Ok then, not the normal Monday start to the Blog but then who is counting? It has been blissfully cool for the last couple of days after one blistering hot day on Thursday and yesterday we had some wonderful, soft rain which was just perfect. The week passed somewhat uneventfully apart from a lot of correspondence between ourselves, doctors and Medical Aid. It is ridiculous the amount one pays on premiums and then the negotiation needed in order to get treatment....... we are praying and I know and believe God is working on all angles and with all parties concerned. Hubby has been inundated with clocks and watches so guess where he is most of the time? Bless his heart he even took time to mow the lawn which was fast becoming a jungle, thank you my love. On Friday we went through to the girls to say hi, then into Cape Town where we met up with BigBear and BabyBear. I thought we were just meeting for coffee but it ended up in having lunch at a super little restauant around the corner from their apartment. What an unexpected treat as we shared two Greek tapas platters and took much longer than I expected, but oh it was so good. On the way home we shopped for a few groceries before dropping Jelly Bean off and eventually getting home after 5 pm, it was a perfect day but as usual totally exhausting for me and I was fast asleep just after 9.30. On Saturday I unraveled the Cat Cave I was making when it became obvious I didn't have sufficient yarn grrrrrr. I immediately began a new one so here's holding thumbs I can get this order out. I also tried my hand at reading a book on my iPad but very quickly came to the conclusion that I am a paper pages and cover girl hehehehe. I have used my Air Fryer every day of the week with perhaps one day where it sat undisturbed hehe, the more I use it the more I discover and find new ways of doing things, it really is a magical appliance. 

 Saturday was not the best day for me as I was tired from Friday and the thought of my recovery coupled with Fibromyalgia and Adrenal Fatigue left me feeling overwhelmed. I got myself into a panic because I have so far not been able to find button up pyjamas for hospital, ridiculous I know but that is what happened. I have no idea how to 'build' my system up further than what I am doing and things seemed insurmountable. I had my little 'meltdown' and some more handing everything back to God and for now I am doing all I can and will deal with the surgery and recovery when it happens, I know God is in control and has already gone ahead of me on this. 

 Well, folks I did say I was going to 'document' this journey I find myself on and hopefully in so doing, someone else will find encouragement and energy and know that they are not alone. I trust and pray that this week will bring you answers to your prayers, good health, God's peace and grace and your needs met before they even arise. Please stay well and keep safe, with love from BB Ciao Ciao 

 Charlie in his car seat (about 10 minutes before motion sickness took over)

My Life's Winding Roads: What has been happening

My Life's Winding Roads: What has been happening: Good morning all from a quiet and sunny Bettys Bay, the weather changes from day to day which is one of the joys of living in the Cape. To...

My Life's Winding Roads: Round One

My Life's Winding Roads: Round One: Happy Monday everyone I hope today's Blog finds you all well and ready for another week. Weather wise it has been a nice week although ...

My Life's Winding Roads: How did we get to September?

My Life's Winding Roads: How did we get to September?:   A cheery good morning to everyone from a still wintery Village, I will admit that I am totally loving this weather of mild to cool days an...

How did we get to September?

 A cheery good morning to everyone from a still wintery Village, I will admit that I am totally loving this weather of mild to cool days and cold nights.  We have had more rain, so much so that on Friday and Sarurday I noticed three houses at the end of our street doing repairs and maintenance on their roofs, it is an everyday occurrence down here to see someone standing on their roof usually with a bucket and paint bush in hand - such is our weather.

After a very sad, heartbreaking start on Monday when we had to have little Max put to sleep, even though we made the decision and knew it was a reality, it hit us all a lot harder than we  expected, he is now buried in the garden facing the sea next to Gemma and CeCe.  As a result this past week was one of clearing domestic backlog for me - baking rusks, dog biscuits and gluten free biscuits, washing big stuff that needs a good wind to dry, doing my and Jelly Bean's hair (no small task) and bathing both the dogs.  Yikes perhaps I overdid it with them because since I bathed them my right arm which had the Lymph Node removed has been very sore when I extend it, so I have scaled back a bit.  A lot of experimenting has been carried out with the Air Fryer and I am totally in love with it, not one thing has turned out as a flop and it cuts my cooking time dramatically. Some humour, I decided to make sweet and sour chicken one night which requires coating the chicken strips and frying them.  There I stood with JB frying all this chicken in batches on the stove, when it was all finished I put the chicken and sauce into the AF to bake.  Once I turned away it hit me ........ Air fryer ..... battered chicken duhhh I  could/should have just fried it in the magical machine 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️, lesson learned and a good laugh on me.  On the subject of the Gluten Free Biscuits a recommendation - Woolworths have a fantastic Ginger Biscuit GF pre-mix which is incredibly quick and easy and tastes better than normal shop bought ginger biscuits. 

Hubby put an ad out for watches and clocks and has received so many I've lost count,  added to which we also had an order for Embroidery Stands so between that and fixing two of the three cars he has had his hands full and been a very busy guy.   Jelly Bean also started her new job this week so it has been a very productive week !  We also discovered that Libraries in South Africa have gone online and by downloading an app called Libby and using your library card number you can book or borrow any library book to read online, the usual rules of having it for two weeks still apply.  I am a lover of books but have done this and don't find it unpleasant, it does take some getting used to but I figure seeing as I am in for a hospital stay it is easier to take my iPad instead of four or five heavy books.

Now that all the running backwards and forwards is over I am coming to terms with my diagnosis, every now and then I would suddenly realise "wow, ok I was diagnosed with breast cancer". it honestly and truly is something I never imagined happening to me, as I imagine most people feel.  It has not changed my  outlook or determination to win this fight, if anything,  my resolve is strengthened and I am even more determined.  A while back Hubby downloaded  Spotify on our tv and I decided to get acquainted with it, what a lovely surprise.  I found a beautiful Worship album and it just plays automatically from one album to the other for the entire day, no better way to build my faith and calm my heart.

Folks there is not a lot of other news beyond the above so I will be kind and keep it short this week.   There are many people who are still being hospitalized with Covid so please don't relax your vigilance in sanitizing and wearing  your masks, I hope you all have an incredible week, please stay safe and well.  Ciao ciao.  

Zeepha has the most gorgeous profile.