Snug and warm as the cold wind blows

Hi there folks, as you can see by the hour, I've had a busy morning hence this being a little later than usual.  So much for the touch of summer we had last week, since then it has just been full on winter haha, we have made a fire every single day and as you can imagine I am just relishing this weather.
I even decided to dust off my dusty crochet skills, I started an afgan throw about 18 months ago which has been one of those projects that I just could not get into, odd as my favourite hobby is knitting.  Anyway I undid the 'huge' total of four squares that I had completed and have already finished three new ones using a different crochet stitch on each square - a total of four colours and four different stitches, we will see how this works out LOL.

We had a very quiet week, truly enjoying our retirement at the moment, we managed to complete a number of small projects, one of which was my darling Hubby made me a long promised easel.  We have had a super time watching the Tour de France as well as all the other sport going on at the moment.  As I am sitting typing, I have Cece on my lap (making typing just a tad awkward),  she had a really good week on the whole with Friday, Saturday and yesterday being very grumpy and unhappy, today she seems very needy.  I suppose the fact that generally she is having more good days than bad is something positive to hold onto.  As for the rest of the 'zoo' everyone is well and hunkered down in warm places as it is bitterly cold here.  For some reason the dogs have worked really hard at learning how to run right out of their jackets, last week Sasha was running around with hers around her hips like a long skirt and  this morning Max was running around with both front legs in one armhole while the other armhole was pointed towards the sky like a big eye #facepalm.

I have had time to cook some good meals but have to ask,  how many of you ladies run out of ideas for meals, even though you have a huge repertoire and/or just get fed up with cooking ?  Someone needs to create a robot whose main purpose is to clean and cook.  You just have the ingredients on hand and it will produce a quality meal every day #ohonecandream.

Friends as I said it has been quiet although not necessarily peaceful, hmmm I wonder who is responsible for that ???    My gorgeous Hubby has put the kettle on and the fire is crackling away, while the wind is whistling and that means I am going to leave you with this thought - there is so much drama, sadness and violence wherever one looks, BUT, that means that we have a million opportunities to step up and help others.  Whatever form that  help takes it is a way of spreading peace, kindness and caring to the world around us, good can and will overcome evil. Stay safe out there friends ciao ciao

We have had enormous sea swells and waves.

A touch of summer !

Good morning all, I trust everyone is well.  I had quite a giggle when I opened up and saw the title of last week's Blog, because today completely opposite, it is hot, with a hot berg wind and we have all the doors open and sleeveless shirts on, oh the delights of living here :).

We had a very nice week where we did as little driving as possible hehe, and managed to get quite a few catch up chores done around the house.  I am delighted to say that #cece_the_blind_kitten seems to be doing well on the 'cocktail' that I am using.  I give her the prescribed calming meds twice a day and then just before bedtime she has one of the Valerian Drops, she has been such a happy little girl.  She will still get frustrated and about once a day have a mini meltdown but nothing near the scale we were seeing.  For the last three days the weather has been idyllic and I actually let her and Jasper out of the house, she just roamed around on the deck rotating her head every time she heard a bird chirp and just generally loved being out there, although not too fond of the sun.  Jasper on the other hand is not quite sure, he goes out but at the first sign of a noise or movement becomes a long Munchkin cat as he goes low and runs inside hehehehe, my big, fluffy braveheart.  We been taking advantage of the mild sun and lack of wind to sit out on the deck, which is rare down here in Betty's Bay.

On Saturday we found ourselves back on the beautiful coast road as I had a Doctors appointment in Stellenbosch and Jelly Bean met up for coffee with a friend from work.  This is interesting - about 16 months ago I stopped eating meat, mainly because I never felt well after eating it and always had a sore stomach.  Well, when I see this doctor once a year he runs a total bevy of blood tests (as in about 24) and for the first time in over ten years nearly every test came back either as normal or with great improvement.  I try and handle the Fibromyalgia as naturally as possible by using Vitamin and Mineral supplements (as determined by the blood tests) and only use two actual medications one being pain killers.  As a rule, despite how huge the doses are my Vitamin B, Vitamin D and Magnesium are always extremely low.  At the moment only Magnesium level is too low out of those. My inflammation levels have dropped, acidity is better and so the rest follow suit.  His exact words when I told him about eating mainly vegetarian (I occasionally have chicken and love fish) were "Well whatever you are doing, don't stop because it is working.  I mentioned that the only meat I sometimes 'crave' is lamb/mutton and he told me it is because that is very high in Magnesium.  Who knew?  I wish I could say that all this means zero Fibro, it doesn't but, it does mean that overall I am healthier than at any time in more than a decade and at some level I am managing the symptoms better.  God is so amazing, He gives us wisdom and if we take the time to actually listen to our bodies we can correct a number of issues.

As some of you may remember it is my favourite time of year in terms of sporting events as the Tour de France has started and this year I get to watch with my precious Hubby.  I am hoping that I can catch up on some knitting  as my hands have been too sore to do any for a long time.

Folks, the rest of the family are all well and flourishing, all the grand children are on holiday so less stress for Moms, and generally things are peaceful and happy.  I am going to end off now as Hubby dearest has just made us tea, he makes THE best tea, and we are going to sit and enjoy it together whilst listening to the waves and all the birds and insects.  Have a wonderful week, please stay aware and always be safe, Ciao Ciao.

My gorgeous Fur babies.
Gemma,

Jasper

Cece_the_blind_kitten

It is cccold here, fire in burning

Good morning friends and family from a bitterly cold Betty's Bay, I hope today's Blog finds you all well.  Gosh we are truly having winter here,  BigBear and BabyBear arrived in Saturday for the weekend and once again were absolutely astonished at the strength of the winds we have here.  Needless to say we stayed indoors, no beach visits right now haha, had copious cups of tea and coffee in front of the fire.  We were treated royally as BigBear had decided to make supper and oh my word it was delicious. He made thick steaks with roasted vegetables which we all devoured, I had not eaten red meat for more than a year and very seldom will have a little bit of chicken - not out of choice but I found that meat definitely makes me feel worse,  dare I say I paid the price (happily) yesterday because it was truly delicious.  Shame, they slept in the caravan even though I had suggested they sleep in the lounge, but 4 am found them battening down the hatches, locking the van and trailing inside.  I woke up to find them curled up on the sofas with an assortment of blankets, I felt so bad for them.  The wind and rain were just to strong, this morning we measured 32 mm in our rain gauge and it is still raining and there is snow on the mountains everywhere.  Thankfully weather wise, this means that the dams are filling up nicely, although water restrictions are still firmly in place until they reach at least 80% capacity.

As far as the week was concerned it passed in a blur of exhaustion and anxiety.  The Vet put #cece_the_blind_kitten onto an Anti Seizure medication which for some reason had the exact opposite affect on her.  As the level of the drug accumulated in her system she began seizing almost constantly, trembling etc.  It was awful and added to that not one night did I manage to get her to sleep until after 2am, which resulted in both of us being beyond exhausted, my pain levels were through the roof with the Fibromyalgia, and energy levels were non existent.  Eventually on Thursday evening I decided to stop all the medication and let it wear off.  Needless to say all this was really disturbing and stressful, after only getting to sleep after 3 am yesterday I decided that rescue remedy was a last desperate resort and ........ peace, sort of, definitely more than we have had for weeks. After speaking to the Vet this morning she has suggested I use the Valerian drops and see how that goes, my precious little bundle is now all wrapped up in her blanket and sleeping on my chest as I type.

Jelly Bean  finished work on Friday and we will be sorting out her training course this week, which I am praying is going to be a good one on every level.  On that note I am going to end off for today, finish my hot cup of tea and try and get warm hehe.  Have a great week folks, stay warm and stay safe out there please, if you are on the roads take extra care with all the snow and ice.

 A peaceful Cece.

Loving winter, hot fires and rain on the roof.

Greetings everyone from a beautiful, cool and cloudy Bettys Bay.  Winter has definitely arrived in the Cape and with it much rejoicing from pretty much everyone.  Winter is our rainfall season and we are having beautiful rain, the dams are filling up nicely although there is still a long way to go before water restrictions can be lifted.  Currently we are making a fire every day which I love as well as the cats, Gemma in particular has taken to lying next to the wood burner and when it gets too hot she then shifts behind it hehe but our 'old' lady knows where her warmth comes from.

Well Jelly Bean has three shifts left and on Friday will be finished and can then move onto her next exciting phase.  I think it is sort of bitter sweet for her as she has made really good friends and will be sad at not seeing them on a daily basis but, the reduction of stress for her will be amazing.  Princess has finished her second term of High School and is now on her winter break, a well deserved rest I am sure.  It is Miss Muffet's birthday today, next year is the big one gorgeous :) happy, happy birthday from us all, we are looking forward to chatting later on.  The rest of the family are all well and flourishing.

This past week has been a bit of up and down really, we lowered#cece-the-blind-kitten's medication in an effort to reduce her circling and meltdowns, which has not worked at all, if anything I would say she is more agitated.  I follow a lady on Facebook who also has a blind, brain damaged kitten and this morning messaged her asking for advice.  She is amazing and has offered so much advice which I am going to take back to our Vet this afternoon and am praying we can move forward from there.  Pupster  has learnt to open the glass door that goes out onto the deck and gets quite excited when it comes to breakfast and dinner time, he will rush in and then when Hubby goes out he finds himself on the wrong side of the door and has to then wait to go out and eat hahaha.  I can say this, our house is a regular circus, between Cece, Pupster, Jasper who has to terrorize everyone all the time, Sasha whose winter jacket seems to come off and then slides down around her hips while she merrily runs around or dances for food, to Max and Gemma the 'oldies' who think the rest are crazy and far too irritating, there is never a dull moment.

Even though I am still fighting a Fibromyalgia flare I managed to dust off my baking skills and made Ciabatta Bread, buttermilk rusks and yesterday some gluten free biscotti, so the tins are full but that doesn't last long here  #facepalm.  When I can manage to do something like that I feel I have a accomplished something and in turn don't feel quite so 'guilty' for having to rest.  My dearest Hubby spent a lot of time last week working on Jelly Bean's car, the brake shoes and wheel bearings at the back suddenly decided enough was enough and they were not going to do duty for the last two weeks of work.

Folks, just a brief update on our week, I wish you all a happy, productive week and please stay safe out there.  Remember, tomorrow is not guaranteed it is a blessing, so never miss an opportunity to encourage someone or tell them you love and appreciate them.  Ciao ciao for now.

One of my favourite views on the way into town.

Tada..... Ciabatta bread. :)

How to get through tough times

Good morning friends, I trust everyone had a good weekend.  Last week is history and this week is just waiting to be written.  As for us last week was fairly quiet being just the normal routine, particularly for me as I find myself in a flare of note and have just been trying to minimise the pain levels and recover.  Added to this for some reason, Cece's medication does not seem to be working as well as it did at the beginning, which means she is having more 'meltdowns ' and her circling has definitely become worse, to the point that when she stops her little head is still going.  I am currently waiting for our Vet to call back so that we can discuss the way forward.   As for the rest of the menagerie all our four footed family are well and enjoying life.

Jelly Bean has only two weeks left at work (and travelling), Big Guy is doing well, Poppet and Princess had a tough week between exams and cars breaking down, thankfully said car is now repaired, at great cost, and after today Princess has only one exam left.  Her exams have stretched out over five weeks so she is definitely ready for her mid year break.  The BigBear family are well, always busy and as far as I recall are getting ready for a trip to Knysna to do a Forest Run which should be very exciting.  Our Muffet family in the UK were actually in Natal for the last week to celebrate a family member's landmark birthday and are now safely back home.

My precious Hubby spent quite some time fixing our generator last week as all of a sudden the entire country found itself back in the throws of Loadshedding with electricity.  Oh Joy .... Not !!!!  Somehow at the exact same time our entire area had power outages due to some breakdown on the system, normally this is not a problem as we have the solar system on the roof and the generator.  Last week however, was very stormy, windy and lots of rain so not much sun to heat the water and then the generator being out of action, it wasn't too serious and we coped well.  The one thing about living here is that I have learnt to be WAY more  flexible with my routine and now do chores / washing etc as and when the weather and my energy levels are amenable.  At the moment with Cece
being extra 'needy' I do sometimes find myself stuck with her on my lap as that is about the only
place she relaxes and is peaceful.  I have even considered making a sling to carry her around in thereby get more done hahaha.

Friends, as I said, it was a quiet week which I am certainly not complaining about, it has given me time to breathe and I think I am going to try my hand at rock painting ...... an odd thing I agree, but due to the abundance of amazing rocks that are made smooth by the sea I think it's worth seeing how it goes.  Watch out Poppet, rocks for birthdays HAHAHA.  I am also slowly getting back into baking our own bread so, there is still a lot happening.

It seems as if almost everyone I speak to is going through extremely difficult times whether it be health, financial, relationship, work etc, and so many people say that they don't know how I cope with Fibromyalgia ........ There is only one reason that I can stay positive  and that is first of all accepting Jesus Christ as my Saviour and having a relationship with Him.  After 25 + years in the Ministry and 11 years of  widowhood and raising four children I learnt that there is only ONE person I can rely on 100% of the time and that is God.  He is my provider, enabler, healer, protector...... everything.  When I did not know where the next meal was coming from He never let us down.  When faced with having to move home in five days, He provided us with a home.  I did learn that God's timeline and mine are nowhere close but somehow He kept us going and looked after.  The more you have to depend on God and not on your own strength the more you will see His miracle working power, the more you spend time learning what His Word says the more your faith will grow because it grows a confidence in His ability to sort out the situation, irrespective of what it is.  God is not some magic potion to try, He is wanting a relationship with each of us individually and that becomes a lifestyle. So, friends if you are facing tough times and feel like you are at the end of your rope, there is One who will always be there for you and will never let you down,  I am going to list a few scriptures below for those of you who may need somewhere to start.

On that note I am going to say Ciao Ciao for now and wish you, one and all a fabulous week. Go out

make memories and have fun.  Thank you for your continued support of this Blog and please stay safe out there.

Taken on the drive into work last week.  The sun only rises at 7.50 am here at the moment.

• Some Scripture references :
• JOHN 3 v 16 .. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that    whosoever  Believeth in Him, will not perish but will have eternal life.
• ROMANS 10 v 9, 10 .. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
• JOSHUA 1 v 9 ..Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and very courageous. Do not be dismayed,  for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
• PSALM 37 v 25.. I once was young and now am old , yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken  or their children begging for bread.
• 1 PETER 2 v 24 . "Who His own self bare our sins in His body on the tree, that we being dead to  sin dhould live unto righteousness, by Whose stripes you were healed.

There are many more but go and read these as a start .

Busy, busy, busy

Good afternoon everyone from a very peaceful Bettys Bay after a super busy weekend.  Gee whiz my head is still kind of spinning as I try and come down to earth.  After a super busy week, on Friday morning early, Jelly Bean and I left for Johannesburg for a family visit.  My dearest Hubby dropped up off at the airport before 8 a.m. and there we sat as apparently the plane had iced over during the night in Jhb and had to be de-iced before leaving, which resulted in an hours delay which I am guessing had a knock on affect throughout the day.  As a result we lost quite a chunk of visiting time with my gorgeous sister-in-law and niece-in-law but, that being said I think between the four of us we managed to squeeze in about two years worth of catch up in two hours.   It was so wonderful and such a yummy lunch, thank you L and B for making the time and being the beautiful ladies you are.  We are looking forward to our 'next catch up'.   From there Jelly Bean and I met up with Big Guy for coffee before trekking across town to the girls, through Friday afternoon traffic we eventually arrived at about 6 p.m.

The one thing we have never done up until now is to have a 'girls' weekend, well there was so much laughter, catching up, tea and coffee and good food.  Our little (she is definitely not so little haha) Princess had to study as she is slap bang in the middle of mid year exams, but being the trooper she is she managed to fit it all in.  Tomorrow is a big day for her as she turns a whole 15 years old, I just cannot believe how fast the time has gone, it seems like just yesterday that I held her in my arms just seconds old.  As for Poppet all I can say is you have done THE most amazing job of raising an incredible young lady who is a credit to you every minute.  I miss you both already and am looking forward to our next visit at the end of the year.  Yesterday we left Pretoria at noon and went to spend some time with Big Guy who had to work a double shift on Saturday, so to say he was  exhausted is an understatement, but he still managed to treat us to a fabulous Italian lunch and we had a really good catch up, lots of chats, ideas and just plain good family time, my 'Mom love tank'is full for a
little while now.  Once we got to the airport and settled down, you will not believe what happened ?  
The people on our flight had already started queuing when a message came over the intercom to say that the flight had been delayed by ONE hour #facepalm, apparently the exact same problem as Friday with an iced over aeroplane early in the morning which knocked on throughout the day.  Yaaaay.  Eventually our flight arrived and all boarded happily, now eager to get home.  Here is a huge co-incidence on Fridays flight we were seated in the same row as a family, mom, dad and daughter - last night after having booked the exact same seats as Friday, we looked across and there was the same family sitting in their exact seats from Friday hahaha.  In spite of the delays I can only give Flysafair a thumbs up for service and  friendliness.  

I do believe my precious Hubby missed us, just a tad hehe, it was SO good to see him there waiting for us.  Apparently Jasper sat at the front door a couple of times meowing for me and dear little Cece only now seems to be relaxing and settling down, curled up on my chest and the moment I move she chirps in protest haha.

Folks those are the highlights of this past week, I am now going to find pain pills and find a comfortable spot to ease my incredibly sore body.  I pray you ALL have a spectacular week, keep those tutus fluffed and don't let  people or situations get you down.  Please stay safe and aware out there.

My view taken last night while coming in to land - looking out towards Cape Town / Table Bay

The new Cat Condo - made by : My Hubby :)

Almost halfway through the year

Good morning all, gee the weeks seem to be whizzing by, it is hard to believe we are almost half way through the year.  Well, we survived a very interesting week weather wise, we have had many strong winds since moving here but last week definitely gets the gold star for the heaviest winds.  It was measured at times to be 120 km ph which I can assure you is pretty windy, add to that driving rain and it makes for quite a noisy time haha.  At one point, I think it was Wednesday evening, I actually had a migraine from the constant noise - we have a flat galvanised roof = VERY noisy, but happily the rain fell in the catchment areas as well and although it has not reversed the drought the dam levels are up slightly and this is just the beginning of winter.

Apart from weather excitement Jelly Bean has resigned her job and is going to do a course on teaching English after which she will be able to teach English to students online around the world and possibly even travel to other countries to teach.  It was a big decision for her but one that she made with complete peace in her heart, so just one last month of travelling back and forth for us all and then possibly a bit more exploring to get on with hehe.  My immensely clever Hubby has just refashioned  and reconstructed the cat's condo, not a moment too soon as Jasper has begun climbing up onto the top of the kitchen cupboards, one precious blue glass bottle has already met with a shattering end.  In the 'zoo' all is going well although always busy, especially during the storms haha.  Cece is a far more settled little girl on her 'happy pills' with much fewer meltdowns.  She is the quietest little thing and has never learnt to meow so when she wants to sit on my lap, she will just come and sit next to the chair until I see her and pick her up (she doesn't jump/climb on and off the furniture).  She also follows me around the house like a shadow, which only gets a bit tricky when I am cooking because she sits next to my feet and I am then always tripping over her  We managed to remove her stitches which were supposed to dissolve after 6 weeks, obviously they did not and so Hubby and I undertook the delicate 'surgery' with great success, the other reason that we removed them is because the Vets are a bit scared of her haha.  Currently as I type this Jasper is in the bedroom on a 'time out', staring at me through the glass door, he is there because when he is annoyed with me he will plan an attack,  take a bite and then run away and I am tired of looking like I went ten rounds with a wild tiger.

Only  four more sleeps and Jelly Bean and I leave my Hubby  #sadface with the zoo and fly up to Johannesburg to visit my sister-in-law, Big Guy, Poppet and Princess for the weekend.......... So excited to see the family I can't wait.

Friends that is about it for today except to encourage you to share some love and kindness throughout the week to those you come in contact with.  Never, never underestimate the power of a smile, a hug or an encouraging word, there are so many people fighting almighty personal battles that we will never know about and you could be the catalyst that gives them hope and encouragement.  Have a beautiful week and as always stay safe.

Gemma posing to say hi to everyone, such a madam