May Day, May the Force be with you and Mayhem ....
- beehelm0410
- Jun 15
- 8 min read
May ..... A month which started off as a public holiday in South Africa (Workers' Day) with May Day which soon morphed into "May the Force be with you" on 4 May (National Star Wars day and no, I am nowhere close to resembling either a Warsie let alone a "Trekkie) and the entire month I wanted to yell "May Day" as in the distress signal as work for me was even quieter than April and my April month-end invoices to my clients were only paid more than halfway through May so I was a tad stressed to say the least!
May highlights:
Morgan officially adopted Saint on 1 May from the SPCA (known as RSPCA in other countries). Saint is a beautiful American Bullie who was surrendered by her previous owners because "she grew too big". As Morgan said, its like acquiring a cute pot bellied piglet and being astounded when it grows into a somewhat obese porker! Saint is a beauty and so sweet; she is enjoying being given regular walks and runs and Morgan has started taking her to training. She has already charmed all the clients at Morgan's hair studio and when I got to finally meet her on 14 May, when Morgan and I met for coffee, she was already obsessed with Morgan, straining on the lead and looking for him when he went to collect our coffees and I was outside, in the sunshine, with Saint on her lead.
On a very cold morning with autumn masquerading as winter, Johan and I met up with Donald and Carol (yes, Donald my former boss and his wife) for a Johannesburg Heritage Society tour of Lindfield House, a Victoria House Museum. This is such a fascinating place to visit; approximately 10 years ago, when my Mom was in Jo'burg visiting from Cape Town, we went and had tour of this museum and afterwards were served tea, scones, jam and cream on the sunny verandah of the house.
It was interesting to visit it again and for Johan to experience this museum.
The owner, Katherine Love, was raised in the house from the age of 13 and has continued with the collection of all items Victoriana which her parents had started. The house is deceptive as it looks quite small from the outside but there are a myriad of rooms all of which are quite dark, cold and overflowing with Victorian furniture, art and artefacts. It is very educational, interesting and entertaining. I highly recommend booking a tour of this unique establishment.
Johan, me, Carol and Reem - Lindfield House
We emerged from stepping back in time blinking in the sunlight, to travel to the mixed-use development fusing downtown urbanism with a subtle sophistication, namely the iconic 44 Stanley – an assortment of curated, bespoke and unique stores and independent restaurants where Carol and Donald treated us to lunch at Salvation Café. Blankets and a nearby mushroom gas heater kept us warm in the restaurant’s courtyard where Johan and I opted for Croque Madames as our mains before sharing a slice of Salvation Café’s famous cheesecake (it was voted the best cheesecake in Jo’burg by a local radio station).
In May 2025, on the global arena, wars continued to be battled; in the USA, it was reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 216 children had died in the flu season, making it the deadliest since the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Adverse weather events, mass stampedes, the yo-yo-ing of tariffs increases, mass shootings, elections and general mayhem were the order of business on the global arena.
The conclave in Vatican City began on 7 May to elect a new pope; an event which, for the first time ever, I was more interested in, not only because of the setting being Vatican City, Rome, but having watched the movie, "Conclave" , which gave all its viewers a better idea and understanding of the proceedings. I was also really interested to see who would be elected to be the next Pope - someone who would continue in the same progressive direction as the late Pope Francis or someone ultra-conservative who would try to undo all the positive progress directed by the late Pope Francis? I was amused by the surname of one of the contenders "Pizzaballa". I missed witnessing the emergence of the white smoke as I was driving home from my Mom's as I had taken her weekly groceries to her and delivered Saziso to her, to be her caregiver while Thembi was off for a few days. I was ignorant about the background let alone biography of the newly elected Pope; who chose Leo as his papal name. The more I learnt about Pope Leo, the more I approved of the new Pope and look forward to watching him humbly continue the humanitarian work he has done in the past and retaining, maintaining and progressing the legacy of Pope Francis.
Mother's Day was celebrated in South Africa, Europe, USA, Canada etc on 11 May 2025. We were invited to afternoon tea at Trish and Tristan's. Before that we surprised my Mom by arriving with her favourite Turkish Delights, and having tea with her - the plan was for Morgan to join us so he could see his Nana on Mother's Day but he was plagued with a headache-from-hell and nausea so he did not make it to either his Nana or Trish and Tristan's.
Trish is an incredible event planner and organiser and her decor on all occasions is top-notch; Mother's Day was no exception. Trish's Mom (Mandy) and Gran (Carol) were there and Trish and Layla had made beautiful mosiac gifts for Mandy and Carol (the gorgeous gift bags in the photos below were also for them). There were delicious eats and treats but sadly no photo opportunity for this Mom and her son, as I am still too nervous to ask about photos and again, comments were made at a forthcoming function again poking fun at my constant desire for photos with my family, but it is not fun, it is hurtful.
At least I got a photo on Mother's Day of my Mom and me!
Morgan and I had a belated "Mother's Day" get together on the Wednesday afternoon; and it was on this occasion that I got to meet the lovely Saint and was treated to delicious pistachio gelato which was Morgan's gift to me for Mother's Day - he knows his Mama!! We enjoyed coffee sitting in the sunshine outside Seattle Coffee at Ferndale on Republic and I was relieved Morgan had made a full recovery from the ailments which plagued him on Mother's Day.
Morgan and Saint, they are justifiably besotted with each other
Trish's 40th birthday was on 14 May 2025, we were privileged to be invited to her birthday lunch on Saturday, 17 May at a relatively new restaurant in Dunkeld, Pink Mamas. Morgan and Isabel had already booked to go away for the weekend so sadly they could not be in attendance and my Mom had also extended her apologies to Trish. The restaurant is next to a number of padel courts and next door to a children's entertainment venue. Pink Mamas is housed in what was, once upon a lifetime ago, someone's home. Some aspects of the original "bones" of the house have been thoughtfully retained, for example, stained glass windows and fireplaces. Johan and I share a carbonara pizza and a side of zucchini fries as well as cannoli for dessert. It was a great celebration of Trish, a gorgeous person, inside and outside.
Trish and Tristan - Trish's birthday lunch, celebrating this beautiful person
May ended with me getting sick - everything from an internal infection to a throat infection and sinusitis; which caused me to lose my personality and sense of humour. Thankfully it was not the flu, swine flu, RSV or Covid all of which are doing the rounds and afflicting people. The same week I was sick, 50% of the workforce in Johan's company were on sick leave (and there are about 30 employees).
I was so thankful to see 2 very special people in the last week of May before my enemy Sinusitis came knocking and accosting me once again. It was amazing to see my beautiful friend, Kerryn, for brunch at MastroDeli - no photos as we were so busy talking and catching up; and she ended up leaving later than she should have, to get her daughter to university. Kerryn and I have enjoyed a friendship spanning 2 decades and she is a truly incredible soul who is battling stage 4 cancer; but it does not stop her from owning and running a successful clothing business and organising and curating bespoke markets. She is one remarkable Warrior Woman. My route home, that particular day, took me passed Salute hair salon where I stopped in to see Bernadette, who had worked with Morgan at 2 hair salons and recently gave birth to beautiful Mikayla. I had a somewhat belated and overdue gift for Mikayla so it was the perfect opportunity to see Bernadette, ooh and aah over all the gorgeous photos of Mikayla and talk about babies, life, families and more!
I was also privileged to be invited to celebrate Lindy's son's Connor's 7th birthday at the Delta Cafe where coffee and pancakes were the perfect treats on a winter Saturday morning celebrating this little man's birthday.
I continue to hustle for work, and each day starts with tea, the New York Times Wordle and Mini-Crossword, the Daily Maverick quick crossword and my Duolingo Italian lessons.
My writing of my second book has started but, very much, in 'fits and starts' as when I am stressed, then fear, anxiety and all other negative emotions come out to play, crippling my creativity and motivation and this is why this particular blog has taken me so long to write - my apologies!
Did you know? Quiz Night Trivia :
8 May 2025 :
80th anniversary of Victory in Europe (VE Day) (World War II)
19 May 1536:
Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII's second wife, was beheaded in London. She was only 29. T The charges brought against her included incest with her brother and four counts of adultery. These were all made-up charges fabricated by King Henry because he was wanting to marry another woman and he did 11 days after Anne's beheading .....
On 30 May 1536, King Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, former lady-in-waiting to Anne.
On 31 May 1902, the Peace of Vereeniging ended the Boer War, in which 450,000 British troops had fought against 80,000 Boers.
What did I read in May 2025?
Collected Stories of Carol Shields by Carol Shields
An Englishwoman in New York by Anne-Marie Casey
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny
What podcasts did I listen to in May 2025?
Blood Vines
Bronwyn
Deep Cover: The truth about Sarah
Don’t Cross Kat
God's Banker
Mushroom Case Daily (the trial of Erin Paterson, the accused triple murderer)
Stalked
Ongoing podcasts : 48 Hours, Betrayal, Damage Report, Dark Down East, Dateline, Gone South, Meidas Touch, Scamfluencers, Slow News, Something was Wrong, The Bittersweet Podcast, The Daily Beast Podcast, The Mel Robbins Podcast
The highlights and recommendations - what I watched in May 2025?
A Deadly American Marriage
Anatomy of Lies (brilliant documentary series about a con artist who was a writer on Grey's Anatomy)
Death Valley
Happy Face
Sirens
The Fall (Seasons 1 - 3)
The Game
That's all folks, till the next blog .....
June, summer for some, winter for others .... sunshine or snow?
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