Random trivia about me which you really do not need to know :
What have I done?
Its been a buckle up, put on your crash-helmet kind of week for me in terms of work but I emerged still breathing and miraculously intact by Friday evening. Bleary-eyed resembling nothing close to being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed I was at the office last Monday by 7.30am for a team meeting and breakfast; thank goodness there was free food and cappuccinos to sweeten the fact that I had to leave home by 6.40am to trek to Sandton – since lockdown and working from home, traffic is so annoying and just rude by that is me; I get a bit twitchy but I cope and listen to either audible or a podcast while driving since the radio in my Noddy car has decided not to work – well technically the speakers are permanently on mute.
I did not manage to attend the co-anon online meeting on Tuesday night; two nights of not sleeping well meant that by Tuesday evening I was pole-axed with exhaustion, my body ached and generally I was out of sorts and so I was M.I.A from the meeting. I was not able to attend the Saturday morning meeting either – within myself I can tell when I have missed out of the meetings; the meetings help to ground me and keep my focus and intentions sharpened – I have no clue if that makes any sense at all or not!
It’s been a week of juggling work, housework, cleaning up the grass (polite way of describing cleaning up after our 3 furry kids), watering the garden, preparing meals, more work, housework and the hamster wheel continues.
My work boundaries were far too fluid this last week except I was proud of myself one evening ignoring the 8 voice notes I received throughout the evening from my boss – they were listened to the next morning when I started my workday. Boundaries and when “going the extra mile” becomes something taken for granted – I will dedicate an entire blog to that subject and talking of blogs, it’s been a week of awesome members subscribing so thank you so much, grazie mille and benvenuti a tutti (welcome everyone!)
The Tolling of the Death Knell Part II is a work in progress and will be published during the week. Death is a tough and gritty subject and I am taking my time with writing it as it means confront a lot of loss, sorrow and grief.
My Funny Old Week Highlights:
The highlights of my funny old week was definitely a “Sip ‘n Paint art event” on Saturday. It was held at Koekerasie Tea Garden which is this hidden gem where the food is lovely, very eclectic décor and feel to the place and you can paint pottery items which are glazed and fired (or is it fired and glazed?) and you collect the item. Very Clay Café vibes but at a fraction of the cost. Yesterday’s event was organized by Kerrin Few of Girls Got Wine; who decided to organize creative events to support small businesses and to provide a safe place for ladies to meet other ladies and potentially make new friends.
Skye, Carol G, Lindy and Angie joined me and we had so much fun – I am so not artistic; a stick figure is a challenge to me so my painting was very basic. Other pottery pieces were so creative and beautifully painted; I remain so impressed.
It was a really awesome event and we all had lots of fun.
It was NOT a highlight returning home to our Trailer Trash aka Shameless (as in the tv show) neighbour who was entertaining; nothing wrong with that of course but we do live cheek by jowl in our small complex and 5 children screaming and sounding like a band of 100 banshees shattered the usual peace and quiet of our corner of the complex; and the adults were all dressed in really bad neon 80 inspired clothing – don’t know if they were having or going to a party was the theme for Worst Dress from the 80’s or not; the 80’s were desperately calling looking for their clothes back. There are so many reasons why she is the Trailer Trash aka Shameless neighbour and Johan and I are not alone in having these sentiments.
I donated blood this morning for the South African National Blood Service – I should have donated 2 weeks ago but because of my demented dental dilemma I had to wait. I always think of my late Dad when I am donating blood as in the last 8 months of his life, he regularly received blood transfusions which helped prolong his life.
My Mom surprised me by spontaneously inviting Johan and I out to lunch – the 3 of us went to the Silver Birch which is a lovely restaurant with consistently great food and service.We had a great time and when I took my Mom home (Johan having walked home after lunch as the weather was looking dodgy so he opted to walk off his lunch to get home and bring the laundry in), I had to get the tweezers out and help her by removing some of those pesky facial hairs which sprout with great abandonment when you are in your golden years; just like men in their golden years have to cope with hair growing out of their ears – I was always trimming my Dad’s ear hair even in his last days in his hospital bed; I was determined that he could retain that little bit of dignity when all the rest had been extinguished by his cancer.We had a tweezing session and 2 images came to mind – approximately 18 years or so on the school and work run, we were in bumper to bumper traffic crawling down Conrad Drive in Blairgowrie and the lady in the car to the left of us was busy tweezing her chin whiskers in the traffic.Morgan’s comment was so on point “Some things should be left to be done in the privacy of your home!”Another image is that of Morgan’s godmother and my unofficial second Mom, who always seemed oblivious to her hairy chin – enough to be in competition with a gent’s beard and it was made worse by her husband taken an electric shaver to her chin!!! By the time I get to having the “Golden Age of Facial Hair” challenge I hope there will be some medical procedure to resolve that …. Which brings me to my Mom asking me how I felt watching her age.I told her that its part of life and we have to accept it – no-one has mastered the art of reversing the ageing process and no matter how many face lifts and other anti-ageing creams, lotions and potions people use, there isn’t one to stop you ageing.
My Mom is 90 and has not driven for 6 years now, in the last year or so has started driving a walker and its something we have had to accept because of her age and her health challenges. She still lives independently, gardens, potters around, loves watching You Tube and doing her art so she does have an amazing zest for life and a purpose. Is the secret to longevity and coping with the ageing process to have a purpose in life, a reason to get out of bed every day? In my humble opinion I think it is – there are Hollywood actors and actresses, for example James Earl Jones who at the age of 91 is still active, in 2021 he reprised his role in the remake of the “Coming to America” movie. Surely he is financial stable not to have to work but you can be a billionaire and have no purpose, no reason to get out of bed in the morning and I think it is inspiring that James Earl Jones is still participating in productions. I remember when Morgan, Tristan and I first arrived in Johannesburg and at my first job, there was a retired partner who still drove to the office daily, had lunch at the office and went home – he climbed Melville Koppies once a week and always climbed the stairs at the office when everyone else used the lift. His age? Well he was 95 years young – he was defying the ageing process through his daily routine.
Podcasts:
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
The Damage Report
The Daily
Scam Fluencers
Fed Up
Dear Gabby
The Ed Mylett Show
The Bittersweet Life
The Mayor of Maple Avenue
In the Land of Lies
Audible:
Taste : My Life through Food by Stanley Tucci – honestly took me a while to warm up to this but I am loving it now; still think you need a copy of the book because of the recipes and he has no filter in parts which is hilarious.
Netflix:
Heist
Chesapeake Shores – new season and only 1 episode a week is released thank goodness so no opportunity to binge it
My weekly Bubblegum TV and other tv programmes:
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
The Real Housewives of Dubai
Below Deck Mediterranean
Southern Charm
White Lotus – Season 1 – I am hooked
What I am reading:
Italian Neighbours by Tim Park (still!)
I have finished The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris – it is the true account of the story of a Slovakian Jew in the concentration camps who becomes the Tätowierer. I have been wanting to read this book for so long and was so excited when I discovered it in the library. Its harrowing and there is a tv series or movie which I know I cannot watch; too many documentaries of the horrors of the concentration camps and news reel clips we had to sit through and watch for 3 years of history from Grade 10 to 12 in high school. Images tattooed in my memory forever and one of the reasons why, despite loving history (and it was one of my strongest subjects in high school mainly because I had an excellent teacher) I not happen because I had temporarily lost my mind and reasoning – was OBSESSED with the History Channel; he had it continuously and of course documentaries are repeated ad nauseum .... spare me the continual repeats of History's Greatest Mysteries and reenactments of plane crashes.
"Every day is a chance to get better" (Alamy)