118 more shopping days to Christmas!!
Now that I have your attention ……
What I omitted from the list of trivia that you don’t need to know about me …..
What I loathe, detest, hate
Rudeness, disrespect, lack of social conscience let alone awareness, don’t tolerate idiots (a trait I am proud to have inherited from my Dad!), cannot stand people who use their influence to deliberately peddle hatred, racism, antisemitism, disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories just to generate clicks and profits; hypocrites and the double-standard brigade and the fact that we still have not been awarded the lotto or powerball!!
What have I done?
Another week in the helter skelter of life, juggling housework, garden clean up, watering the garden and trying to keep sane and positive despite an onslaught of abusive negativity on the work front.
It was a tough week, and I honestly lacked all motivation to work on my blog, very unusual for me. I will find the missing writing mojo as I really must want to finish my The Tolling of the Death Knoll Part 2 blog. I did manage to create another photographic diary post of our Roaming in Rome adventures and despite having done zero homework or preparation, had a great Italian lesson on Friday evening with Giancarlo and I don’t think I ended up with too much of the proverbial egg on my face as I managed to do ok despite zero preparation and revision.
I did attend the weekly Tuesday evening Co-Anon meeting on expectations (another blog post in the making; its still in the thought process stage) and was sad to not be able to make yesterday’s meeting where the topic was ‘boundaries’ as once again it’s been a week of my work boundaries being chalk marks on the floor.
My Funny Old Week Highlights:
The highlights of my funny old week have been listening to uplifting and motivating podcasts; seeing Roxy on Friday for a brief hair pampering session – not enough time to drive to Greenside to have a wash and blow dry with Morgan and so I went to Roxy who is literally down the road; always great seeing her and Sisi at Roxy’s salon gives the very best head massages; my Italian lesson on Friday night, the return of our housekeeper from her trip to Zimbabwe this evening and a reunion with Sylvia who helped me raise Morgan and Tristan for more than 20 years.
Sylvia is back living in Grahamstown (now Makhanda) and is in Gauteng visiting her eldest and youngest sons; tragically her daughter who was 8 months old than Morgan and grew up with him, died of Covid-19 complications in the latter part of 2021. Sylvia had a stroke in December 2019 and her speech has been affected but it has vastly improved since we saw her last year. Mfundo brought her to our home, and we had a lovely lunch in the garden as it was a beautiful day weather wise. Tristan, Skye and my Mom joined us and it was a very special reunion with Sylva.
It was wonderful as always to spend time with Tristan and Skye too; and I got an amazing gift from Skye – a garlic and onion grater. I am thrilled!
There are new plants in the garden as Ozzie, the gardener we employ when we need his services, was here and my Mom and I had visited the nursery on Saturday afternoon and I bought some plants. Hopefully they will survive, thrive and grow and will not be re-landscaped by Elmo, our puppy who is into demolition, destruction and disarray. I live in hope!
Ozzie became a Dad on Monday with the birth of his first child, a beautiful baby boy so yesterday before buying plants my Mom and I bought some cute baby clothes for Sifiso Austin Jr.
Podcasts:
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace
The Damage Report
The Daily
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 – I finished listening to this audio book and it was brilliant; just incredible.
You, Me & Italy by Sue Roberts – a charming rom-com novel set in the UK and in Tuscany. I am almost finished this which after The Empire of Pain and Taste was just pure entertainment.
I seem to be galloping through Audible – I have a lot of credits which I am now putting to very good use indeed.
Netflix:
Chesapeake Shores – new season and only 1 episode a week is released thank goodness so no opportunity to binge it
Selling the OC – I was started off slowly but Bronwyn finished the entire series before me so I had to catch up bingeing my way through it; it was a welcome diversion and distracted after a tough week. My weekly Bubblegum TV and other tv programmes:
The Real Housewives of Dubai
Below Deck Mediterranean
Southern Charm
Making the Cut
Bad Sisters
After the Verdict
What I am reading:
Italian Neighbours by Tim Park (STILL reading it but I am almost done – promise it will be finito by next week’s instalment of My Funny Old Week)
May the winds of August blow all the cobwebs away, may the sunshine warm everyone’s souls brighter sunshine in – a lot of people are struggling with so much, personal challenges, stresses, ill health, difficulties in relationships and it brought to mind this quote ..
