My Life's Winding Roads: January 2026

Hi folks, what happened ? I suddenly just realised that today was the 1st and January was actually finished. Ho hum and here is me with my ambitions to make more time for myself and tthe things that fulfill me ... I am getting there. Right now s l o w l y but I will get there. January was, you guessed it, busy . So much so that this morning I decided that I need to make notes / bullet points somewhere on a weekly basis in order to remember everything I want to share here 😂

The weather - oh HELP it has been ridiculously hot, with really high humidity levels and, not a lot of wind. The sun has been so intense that even thinking of getting into a pool is too hot. I kid you not.

We had Princess and Sunshine here for 2 nights (it went way too fast and was way too short). Such a special time and we packed in as much as possible. As usual when they visit we played a card game every night. We know it as Nurch and it can get quite loud and energetic 😂. Thinking back, Princess was 3 years old when we started playing and used to add to the chaos by climbing onto the table, 2such precious memories. We did a girl's coffee date which was very special, to just sit and chat and catch up, a year is a long time to store up things to say and remember. A few months ago JB and I "discovered" a new, to us beach which can only be accessed at low tide. One of their nights here the wind miraculously dropped enough for us all to take a lovely walk. It turns out that it is actually the bottom end of Main beach. The tide was out, there were lots of shells to pick up, the sun was dropping. Charlie came with and we realised that he gets absolutely frantic when the family is together but some walk ahead or onto the rocks, or lag behind. He barks and barks and goes crazy, which means he ends up in "air jail" - picked up by his harness. We walked along until we came to a small lagoon kind of sheltered between the dunes. It is not open to the sea at the moment and comes down from one of our three lakes. We also saw a small, sadly, dead baby seal which had washed up to the water line. I reported immediately to the relevant authorities as there has been a serious outbreak of rabies among the seals here in the Cape. At the end of the walk we figured we had walked about a kilometre. It was a super duper walk. Princess had a dental appointment on Monday and in Wednesday had three wisdom teeth removed under general anaesthetic. Praying for quick healing my angel 🙏🏻

JB and I also did two trips to Hout Bay. One really quick 2 day visit and then 2 weeks ago a week longer trip as Mama Bear had to go to Jhb for the week. Our little Munchkin is growing so, so fast. His words are growing daily as well as his skills and everything else. He runs fast, and is everywhere. Each visit is different and such a joy. We tried to explain to him that Mama went to work in an aeroplane. Thereafter whenever he saw a plane, he would point and say Mama. The child probably thinks when his parents go away they circle Hout Bay in an aeroplane all week 🤣. It was a very bookish week as that was what Munchkin was into.

This last week was busy with some sewing and getting personal mending done. With regards to Hooked in Luv there is quite a lot in the pipeline. My web domain has been secured. I have added to the Hooded in Luv family with Willow the Whale as I want to expand the range to include brothers and sisters and older children, even some adults haha. Pic of Willow Whale below.

Currently we are enjoying have Miss Muffet here from London, until Tuesday. From here she spends time with other family. It has been a long time since we saw her and it is special catching up. We went for lunch at the Penguin Colony. The food was lousy but seeing the penguins is always special.

So as you can see it has been super busy and we landed in January running. This week we are off to HB again as PapaBear is in the USA. He just video called and apart from wearing four layers and a Norweigen snow jacket he is freezing.

Folks some pics of the month below are and I will end off for now. Have a super special February, stay healthy and safe. Ciao ciao.

Walk on the beach with Grandkids.