July has blown in

 Hi folks, happy Monday to you all.  I am a little late today,  apologies it has been a rather busy month.

With winter throwing all of its might at us throughout the month of June, the last two days have been like spring 🤷🏻‍♀️.   It has been the first proper winter since we moved down. Raining for days on end and gale force winds kept things interesting - I am absolutely revelling in it.  We lost a couple of plants but nothing serious.  My heart breaks for the people who were flooded and lost their homes and possessions .

Today was my last 'screening test' (I pray) for the year.  I had a Mammogram and Sonar and everything is normal. Gee it feels like the last six months have been one test or procedure after another. But, Praise the Lord I am fine and everything came out normal.  Fibro definitely upped its game though and so I have been trying to keep things as controlled as possible, not always successfully.
The girls moved on the 19th , we are praying that is is the last time in a while 🙏🏻.  They are now in a stunning apartment much closer to the sea in Somerset West and are so happy and content there.  The ten days before they moved both of them were in Pretoria and Jelly Bean, Charlie and I house sat and oversaw the packing up of the house.  We tried to get it to a state of just the big stuff to move on the day, and I would say on the whole succeeded. It was a smooth and hassle free event. By that night everything was unpacked, all boxes flattened and removed. Barr one or  two mirrors and art work they were done and dusted.  It seems that is just how we do it as a family. Haha. Humph flew up to Pretoria the day before the girls and is now staying with Princess' boyfriend in readiness for her move at the end of the year to go to Varsity.  I cannot believe  she is now 20 (she had her birthday in June) and on her way to study.  I know I am going to miss her dreadfully, we all will.
The rest of the family are doing well, working hard and in general keeping the work/play balance healthy.  At least Big Guy will be close to Princess when she moves.  She was an enormous blessing to her mom ahead of and during the move, organising, packing and doing the running around.  Well done my angel, I am so proud of you.  As a result of said move our house has filled up just a tad.  We are using Poppets huge fridge / freezer (ours is in the garage), her dining room table/chairs and benches have come here and look perfect on the deck, it is nice to sit and eat out there. We are storing quite a bit in the garage loft as well so it has been a bit of a knock on effect

A day or two before JB and I went through we had coffee with a very old friend of mine from our Bloemfontein days.  Oh my what a wonderful catch up and chat time we had with her. It really recharged my batteries.
The last Sunday in June the girls, the Bears and the three of us all met up for a delayed birthday/Fathers Day lunch at the Spur steakhouse on the beach on Gordons Bay - it has been about 7 or 8 years since we went to a Spur and it was lovely and relaxed, and again soo good to be together as a family, as usual missing those who live far away.

After really dragging it out I eventually finished my abstract Diamond Dot Painting.  I had a very clear vision of how I wanted it to look but alas when it arrived there were no gold drills.  I placed an order for gold and the wonderful woman that I order from, knowing what I was trying to achieve added a packet of deep yellow Aurora Borealis - AB -  drills at no charge, she truly knows her products.  I had left the gold until last and when I put the first few in they just disappeared in the design.  Taking them off and placing the deep yellow AB drills was absolutely perfect.  I am so happy at how it has turned out 😁.  Now onto my custom print, I started last week and am thoroughly enjoying the diversity it is giving me.  It has given me a challenge in the way the symbols are marked, my normalbway of labelling just was not working.  On Saturday I sat and relabelled all 44 colours with a different system and that has made it much easier.  My next challenge is finding non reflective glass for framing them.   In between DDP and everything else I am learning new crochet stitches.  I have a few projects awaiting me and want to do something different with them.  I made JB a bath mat and want to do one for our bathroom, except I want it to look like it was knitted. It shouldn't surprise me but there are a number of stitches that will give this effect.  I have a sampler next to my chair and when i get a chance I practise on the latest stitch I have seen.
What would my life be like without a bit of 'drama' or the unexpected.  We had two enormous ugly spiders, one whilst JB and I were away and one last week. Oh my goodness they are not good for my peace of mind LOL.   Then last week I could not find Zeepha.  I kept asking if anyone had seen her and Hubby said he had heard her scratching in the litter box.  By supper time she still had not out in an appearance and we went around checking her usual haunts only to come up empty.  As I walked past the deck I remembered taking something out from one of the benches earlier that morning.  Upon unclipping the latches and lifting the lid, guess who jumped out ?  🐈  Little Z had been in the benches all day and the scratching Hubby heard was her, just not in the litter box.  This is a cat who can't meow above a whisper 🤦🏻‍♀️.  We also realised, after a visit from the girls that Jasper has picked up quite a lot of weight.  He has always been a huge cat and we had noticed he was looking definitely more avocado shaped but didn't realise it was extra weight.  A whole 2 kgs.  What makes this a mystery is that he eats the same as Zeepha who still only weighs 2.8 kg.  A mystery for sure. He is an indoor cat so doesn't get to eat from neighbours etc.  We have changed his food to a weight management type and are watching to see if it makes a difference.  ⚖

Well folks a little bit late but I got it out.  Have a wonderful week and wherever you are please stay safe and well.  Ciao Ciao.

Abstract Diamond Dot Painting

The latest addition to the deck.