beehelm0410
- May 14
- 13 min read

April morphing into May (9 April to 13 May)

May certainly sprang up definitely while I was not looking. Every year there are comments on "how time flies" and "how quickly is this year going by?" but I feel that this is more appropriate in 2024 than ever before. I constantly feel as though I am playing catch up and I am not even working so don't have that as an excuse to hide behind anymore so talk about "being caught with your pants down" ......

My new weekly routine consists of aqua aerobics twice a week, and attending to various errands for my Mom and the family, and continuing to network so I can find some paying work! Still working on that and hoping that some concrete work will soon transpire as I am anxious about the usual month-end financial commitments but I need to just breathe, have faith, trust the process and be patient. There have been lots of nibbles on the bait, so to speak, but no bites either big or small yet.

One of the perks of unemployment, being able to build a 1000 piece puzzle of the Amalfi Coast in a few days

It was almost a day long process to take my Mom to see Dr Adler, her physician, for a check-up. Dr Adler is happy with her continued recovery and progress. Lunch followed and while my Mom and Thembi (her carer) sat at the lunch table, I did her shopping for her. Fortuitously, simultaneously, my Mom got her new lenses for her glasses so it was a successful albeit somewhat exhausting day.

Tristan launched his side hustle, If Only Landscaping, on 12 April 2024 and received such incredible positive support and response to this new venture, including my former boss, who soon employed If Only to do a clean-up and clearing of his large garden. Tristan and Bruce have been working hard with If Only seeing potential clients, supplying quotes, Tristan designing and attending to various projects for their clients.

A change in Tristan's circumstances in his home saw me exploring charity shops, online market places, online and in-store shopping to ensure that he had everything he needed in his home from a cleaning cloth, buckets, mop, broom to couches and washing machine. As we all now and as the adage goes, "It takes a village" - in this case it was so true as Morgan, my Mom, very good friends all contributed to assisting Tristan in having everything which was needed in his home. We are eternally grateful to those very good friends who gave Tristan bar stools, a table, a coffee table and couch - your generosity knows no bounds and we are eternally grateful. I was so chuffed to find a yellowwood coffee table at the Cheshire Treasure Chest charity shop in Bryanston for only R450 - such a bargain. Another visit there to drop off a lot of scrapbooking paraphernalia as I realised I had done nothing with the scrapbooks in 11 years and was likely not to, had me looking at everything in this treasure trove of a charity shop, which is so well-organised, with space to move and inspect everything (I am a big fan of thrifting and charity shops but I am not keen to have to clamber over mounds of items in a musky, dusty, smelly shop and these do unfortunately exist!) Even when dropping off donations, I like to have a hunt around and was so thrilled to find a stunning authentic Nicole Lee handbag, brand new and with its Paris wording and images on the bag, decided it was a sign it had to be bought by me (since Paris travel is on the horizon in September for Johan and I before continuing to Italy as you may all know - if you have read my previous blogs; nudge, nudge, hint hint!!)

I still have not used the bag yet let alone remove the plastic coverings from the zips but its waiting for a special occasion to be unveiled and used.

Reflecting back at April, it has been a really busy month. Johan's birthday was on Tuesday, 16 April 2024 and we celebrated with Morgan and Alyssa, Tristan and Bruce on the Sunday (Alyssa and I enjoying a pedicure pampering session the afternoon before at Pure Skin in Bryanston; such a spoil and treat from Alyssa which I am eternally grateful for). We celebrated Johan's birthday by meeting the family at Super Sconto for coffee (and collecting a superb dark chocolate and mint cake which I had ordered for Johan's birthday), before venturing to Hashtag Escape in Norwood to attempt the hardest escape room (Johan's choice). It was a lot of fun and really taxed our collective minds; we are keen to return to experience the other escape rooms at Hashtag. Schwarma & Co in Norwood was the venue for post-escape-room lunch followed by cake and present opening. No photos were taken of our lunch which was delicious and there was so much food; really lovely and a fabulous time was had by all celebrating Johan.

Johan's actual birthday was a very relaxed and low-key day; he was on leave from work and he patiently accompanied me to 7 Sins where Morgan treated me to freshening up my hair colour before we ventured off to Rosebank Mall where we had not been for many months and I was keen to explore the new clothes shop, Uniq, which has been opened by Checkers. There are a number of stores open around South Africa - mainly casual clothing staples for children and adults alike and if you have a Checkers loyalty card, you receive discounts on certain advertised clothing specials. We found a great lined hoodie for Johan, perfect for winter and going in search of the tills, we discovered it was all self-service - you take a shopping bag, put your clothing items into the bag and place the bag on the counter where the items are scanned and you are prompted to scan your Checkers card (if you have one) before being prompted to present your bank card to make payment; and once the payment has been processed, a receipt is available and your shopping is done and dusted. Very European and the quality of the clothing is first class. A light late lunch at Mugg and Bean followed before we headed home. Johan thoroughly enjoyed his birthday celebrations and his birthday; and is loving the smart watch the family gifted him for his birthday.

Saturday, 27 April was Freedom Day in South Africa, a national holiday but falling on a Saturday this year did not make much difference to anyone except those who work in the bank or post office. Freedom Day 2024 was the day Morgan and Alyssa, Johan and I ventured to Soweto to attend Sisi's traditional wedding to Teboho. Sisi is Morgan's operator at 7 Sins and has her own blowdry bar at 7 Sins. It was a great honour and privilege to be invited to her and Teboho's traditional wedding. She is Tsonga and we were to wear Tsonga traditional clothing. Sisi helped us out by buying shirts for Morgan and Johan, a stunning skirt for Alyssa and I got a beautiful piece of fabric which I wore across my red dress.

Alyssa and Sisi's niece, Lesedi

We had a wonderful time at the wedding. We were treated like VIP's and it was a really memorable and beautiful event to attend; we ate great food and before the sun start to descend, we booked another Uber and headed home as we need to be home before dark as there were hungry dogs waiting at Morgan and Alyssa's home and our home, wanting their supper as well as attention. And for Johan and I we were heading home not knowing whether or not we would electricity as there was a power outage on Friday which started at about midday; and our electricity supply was only restored after over 50 hours of darkness. The wedding celebrations had continued until the early hours of Sunday morning - we missed the cake cutting and an evening of dancing and celebrating the union of Sisi and Teboho.

The following morning, after popping in at my Mom where we left our laptops, the power supply for our home WiFi, Johan's phone all charging, we headed to Corner Cafe in Craighall Park where we met Graunt and Zen for brunch. Graunt was in Johannesburg on business and it was awesome to see him and catch up with both him and Zen; we were there for a long time enjoying great food and lots of conversation and laughter.

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Tuesday, 30 April 2024. It was a work day for Johan of course and he was at the office, me with my current status, meant I was free to meet Angie for lunch at Silver Birch at Lifestyle which was awesome and she presented me with a stunning fragrant bouquet of beautiful blooms. Our anniversary dinner was take aways for supper as I had to chair the Tuesday evening support meeting on Zoom (I had to reschedule my service commitment to the meeting and it was fine to do it on our wedding anniversary as we had no plans to celebrate that evening). We had plans to celebrate our anniversary on 1 May 2024, another national holiday in South Africa, with friends but cancelled these plans as Tristan would need access to our home to get the items we were storing for him. Instead Johan and I went to Izzie's coffee shop for breakfast and we had a good time before returning home in time for Tristan and Bruce to collect the last of the items. I had been Izzie's on the Monday for lunch with Davida as it had been her birthday on 25th April and I could not attend her birthday celebrations on the Saturday as we were already committed to attending the wedding; so Izzie's two days in one week, but its always lovely going there with consistently good food and service.

Some of the antiques dotted around the interior of Izzie's

Izzie's famous scones, with homemade blueberry jam and cream

Tristan and I also spent a Saturday being interviewed, filmed and recorded by DotDot.direct about my book. It was a long day but was enjoyable and it was really special sharing this experience with Tristan.

Watch this space for details of the finalised and edited interview and podcast.

Sunday, 5 May 2024 saw me going to the Pieter Toerien teatro at Montecasino with Davida, and we met up at Montecasino with Alyssa, Lynn (her Mom) and Libby. We were all attending the performance of Mamma Mia which was also a fundraiser for the Angel Network charity which I have supported for many years. Mamma Mia was a brilliant production and after all the encores and when the curtain finally fell for the last time, I just wanted to be able to press rewind and watch and experience this delightful musical once again. Of course I have been a fan since about the age of 12 (just the other day!) and was an official member of the ABBA fan club from about 1977 (now I am seriously giving away my true vintage).

Libby, David, me, Alyssa and Lyn

I have been doing my fair share of pampering, catching up with friends, twice or three times a week attending my aqua aerobics classes which I am loving, and doing the rounds of having a session with my chiropractor and biokineticist as well as having my very first session with a Body Talk practitioner. I had no idea about Body Talk and how it works but I had an amazing session with my Body Talk practitioner, Mia, and was with her for 90 minutes. What is Body Talk? This is an extract from https://bodytalksystem.co.za/about-bodytalk/:

"The BodyTalk System seeks to address the “whole person”. This means that no aspect of the human psyche can be overlooked, be it emotional, physical or environmental. In BodyTalk, we have developed a whole-healthcare system that supports and promotes the wellbeing of any person, animal, or plant.

As WholeHealthcare™, BodyTalk understands the profound influence the psychology of the body has on our health. Instead of focusing on the symptom, BodyTalk finds the underlying causes of illness by addressing the whole-person and their whole-story. The BodyTalk techniques provide insights to the areas of your body that need attention. What might seem like an obvious problem to you is not necessarily the one your body wants to address first. This is the beauty of BodyTalk. It respects the body’s own needs and determines your body’s priorities for healing. Then with the use of a variety of non-invasive techniques, BodyTalkers refocus your body’s natural healing response to establish better communication within the body."

It was an exceptionally emotional session and I left there feeling depleted, drained, exhausted yet lighter and more relaxed, so a mixture of conflicting emotions and experiences. I need to see Mia in 2 weeks time and in the meantime I am doing the work she encouraged me to do, particularly turning the spotlight on me and loving and accepting me; giving ME unconditional love instead of giving all the unconditional love to my family and friends. I am trying to work on that this more than I did last week as there were certain friends that I needed to constantly check in with and give them my unconditional love and support. This week I am concentrating on ME more which includes not worry about my working future and the financial commitments which I face at the end of May 2024.

I now am the proud owner of a rebounder (mini trampoline) as I raised the possible diagnosis of lyphedema with Mia. I had also spoken to Shane, my biokineticist, about this condition and he asked me to have a serious of blood tests which happened on Wednesday last week as I was not feeling at all well, and giving up trying to self-medicate and conquer my pesky sinus issues, I went to a new doctor (a Blonde Grecian Goddess who is just lovely) who diagnosed sinusitis and after listening to me about the possible issue of lyphedema, organised blood tests for my heart, kidneys, liver and thyroid as conservative precautions. She later phoned me to let me know that the results of my blood tests were all good, the readings were normal and nothing was untoward which was very reassuring. The antibiotic and cortisone she prescribed for my sinusitis have helped me and on Friday I actually spent the entire day in bed - I had been told not to go to my aqua aerobics by Dr Natsis, Johan went to the office, Saziso was looking after my Mom and so it was very quiet at home, the perfect day to stay in bed as much as possible.

Since I got the "green light" to use the rebounder from Shane and Dr Natsis following my blood tests, I am currently spending about 5 minutes a day very gently bouncing on the rebounder while listening to a podcast or my latest Audible listening material, looking at my garden and watching the dogs who are very intrigued by my new "toy". This is an extract from the opening paragraph of the electronic booklet which I received along with the purchase of the rebounder:

"There are authorities in the scientific, health and fitness world that have claimed rebounding to be “a miracle exercise”. The word “miracle” is quite subjective and means a number of things to different people. However, after working with rebounding for many years, Keith and I have personally reached the point where we believe that this little bouncy device - is quite miraculous."

So far so good!!

I have been continuing to do some planning for our European Expedition at the end of September 2024. Thinking about Paris and what we want to explore there, made me remember the beautiful book "The Red Balloon" which I used to love looking at and having it read to me as a little girl. It was in the public library in Grahamstown and I have a clear memory of poring over the photos. The book is based on the movie

The Red Balloon (French: Le ballon rouge) a 1956 French f antasy comedy-drama featurette written, produced, and directed by Albert Lamorisse. The thirty-four-minute short, follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon, was filmed in the Parisian neighbourhood of Ménilmontant. Photographs of the movie stills are depicted in the book. I have been hunting for this book which although available on Takealot at R419 was too expensive and I could not justify that expenditure. I contacted Bargain Books and they phoned me to say that they had a used copy for me, emphasizing that the condition was not good at all and I was happy to pay the R69 for this copy thinking that I could investigate how to restore it. It arrived on Monday and upon collecting it from the store was so pleasantly surprised to find the condition of the book is fine; its definitely be read and enjoyed and that is fine; it is nowhere near the "bad condition" they had described to me. I am delighted to have this historical and beautiful book in my permanent possession and will always cherish it and happy childhood memories it symbolises.

Sunday, 12th May 2024, was Mother's Day in South Africa and I was summonsed to a secret venue on Sunday morning. The secret venue was Buitengeluk in Broadacres which is where we had celebrated my Mom's 90th birthday with a gorgeous afternoon high tea. The weather was so glorious on Sunday morning, very hot and sunny, and we had a table in the beautiful gardens of Buitengeluk. Alyssa had kindly booked a table for us all to enjoy the very decadent and delicious breakfast buffet they supplied for Mother's Day. Johan, Morgan and Alyssa, Tristan, Bruce and I had an amazing time and it was fun to spontaneously bump into friends like Celeste there. This is a venue which has never failed us either in terms of its food, the beautiful venue or the service. I was also spoilt with a gorgeous boutique of flowers including our proteas and loved the bag of healthy snacks and treats I was given.

I am so grateful and privileged to have the family I have. I went to my Mom for Mother's Day tea taking her some eats which we had ordered from Not Bread Alone. Johan was sleeping as he was aleady not well and Morgan and Alyssa and Tristan all had other plans but I had a lovely time with my Mom and Thembi, and she enjoyed her Mother's Day gift which included new rusks from Bakers who have come out with a range of vey sorcery rusks :