This sums up so much!
Another week of crazy work including a big project with a tight deadline, dog fights, finally pay day, accident prone dogs, reunions, coke bottle assaults, horse boutique stables and explorations.
It's been a week and then some! I am starting to get my mojo back with the sadness of the last fortnight finally receding.
Jack, the patriach of our trio of dogs, had a fight with the youngest of the trio, Elmo - Jack came out of the encounter the worse for wear, wetting himself and his legs very wonky and shaky; we thought he had suffered a stroke but think it was just the trauma. He will be 16 ordinary years in June / July of this year so is as fragile as my Mom can be at her almost 91 years old. Poor Jack was not happy and in a lot of pain with soft tissue damage (we think) and when I tried to move him at about 3am on Thursday morning (guess who was not sleeping again!?) he snapped at me so I was in the wars with the nip just to the right of my nose drawing blood and I battled to staunch the blood flow. Thursday Cinnamon who is definitely the most accident prone of all the dogs we have and have had (usually she rolls out these antics when we are entertaining guests at home, with almost the same regularity as Johan doing his magic and card tricks when we have get togethers) - she must have run into something spiky and gouged some skin just below her eyeball (thank goodness) and on Friday she was stung by either a bee or a wasp, thankfully an allergex swiftly sorted that out. The vet prescribed a quarter of a paracetamol for Jack and this is helping him and daily his tag wags a little more and he is more active - such a relief.
The parking area in front of the vet's practice is very limited and on Friday afternoon when I stopped there to collect the tablets for Jack, I parked on the gravel informal "upper level" of the parking - it was an ordeal to get to park and the reason for this was soon revealed; a lady had "run into the vet" leaving her car double parked behind a number of cars at the entrance to the veterinary surgery parking in so many cars and creating such mayhem. I was astounded at the level of rudeness, disrespect, arrogance and her completely unfounded sense of privilege - to add insult to injury she took the wrong bag of dog food and she finally had to move her car into a parking place returning before concluding her business there. She was blind to the evil eye look I was giving her - the look which used to work on my sons before they became immune to it in their teens, prior to their teens they would describe my look as "the look"
It was a short work week for me as I treated myself to a day's leave on Friday. I celebrated the day by having my hair cut and blow dried by Morgan; I am thrilled with my new "hair look" so freeing and liberating and, of course, it was awesome to see Morgan and catch up a bit with him. Tristan who was on leave on Thursday and Friday also arrived at 7 Sins for a haircut so that was equally amazing to see him - seeing my sons is always very special for me, filling my heart and causing my happiness barometer to go into a frenzy. It was also very special to see Bronwyn and spend many precious hours with her at Koekerasie Tea Garden under the beautiful trees in a very tranquil setting where we enjoyed a proper catch up, painting ceramic items (very cathartic and therapeutic) and indulging in delicious pancakes. It was the very best day!
The hot as hades heatwave has continued with seemingly no respite - we are teased with approximately 5 drops of rain and this afternoon the teasing intensified with thunder and some lightning but nothing - so annoying as we are all feeling this relentless heat and humidity battling sleepless nights due to the heat, and you cannot enjoy the cooling effects of a stationary or ceiling fan thanks to loadshedding, and dealing with mosquitoes who this summer seemed to be feeding on steroids as well as everyone's blood supply. And as I type this loadshedding has kicked in so I hope I get to complete this, this Sunday evening.
Last Tuesday I was of service to my Co-Anon support group leading the weekly online meeting where we had the privilege of listening to the recovery story of Toni, who is in recovery from a drug addiction and an eating disorder. Her share was very powerful and vulnerable Her chaotic battle with the disease of addiction was raw, honest and full of hope for the support group. She is a remarkable striking tattooed woman who has 10 million followers on Tik-Tok (true confession : I am not on Tik-Tok or Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are enough for me to cope with!).
I am grateful for Toni's support with my own personal eating disorder.
I am trying to learn about balance in my life, its something which has been and still is like "my chalklines on the floor" boundaries - I am trying and hopefully that counts. Whether it is balance or just choosing where and how to "show up" (for want of a better description) - for example, on Saturday morning I slept much later than intended leaving me limited time to do my morning daily ritual and routine before needing to head off to attend the physical EDA meeting which is a good 40 minute drive from home factoring in dodging potholes, avoiding stupid and blind drivers, and malfunctioning traffic lights whether there is load shedding or not. I could feel my anxiety and stress rising as I did not want to be late but realising the reality was that I would be so I opted to stay home and join the meeting on line. We had errands to run after the meeting and it saved time a well as that precious expensive commodity, petrol to stay home. Maybe that was not so much as trying to find balance but more about recognising my increasing stress and anxiety and taking care to reduce that so practicing self care. The car also got some self-care with a thorough wash, wax, polish, vacuum as it was shockingly filthy and full of dog hair from taking the dogs for their walks in the park, Johan and I had quality time together and some important conversation about our future while sharing an avocado, bacon and feta tramezzini at Silver Birch at the Lifestyle centre before doing some shopping errands at the various shops in the centre. We continued to practise self-care at home in the afternoon with both of us napping on the couch - sheer bliss - so we were rested for the "main event" of the day that of a reunion with Paulo, my "brother from another Mama", amazing friend, pillar of strength, support, light, guidance and wisdom of about 21 years. He now lives and works in Madeira and was here to see family, attend to essential business and thankfully connect with friends. His amazing friends, brother and sister duo, John and Melissa graciously opened their home and hearts to us and it was lovely to see them again and reconnect with another friend whom we had lost touch with.
I always have to make an entrance and last night was no exception - we arrived and had just parked when Tristan and Skye arrived; I got out of the car and stupidly put the bottle of cooldrink we had purchased for them on top of my car (which does not have a flat roof - note to self; remember the roof is not flat!) - I stuck my head back into the car to get a few other things and Johan was sorting out the bags of ice Paulo asked us to purpose. I am hazy on the sequence of events which sent the 2 litre bottle of cooldrink off the car roof, onto the back of my neck and essentially, as bizarre as it sounds, sprawling - I think I try to break my fall by holding onto the car but my legs gave way and I felt back hard onto my right shoulder and upper right arm. Tristan was incredible, racing to my side and helping me up - thank you my Tristan! I think the shock made me feel instantly nauseous but I had to put my game face on to see my beloved Paulo and thankfully it soon abated. It was a pleasant evening sitting in the (thankfully) cool of the evening with lots of incense and candles burning (to ward off those steroids mossies!) amongst the twinkling fairy lights and coloured lights strung in the trees. John and Melissa's hospitality is always 5 star and last night was no exception; we enjoyed delicious salad and sublime pizzas from Gotcha Pizzeria in Linden (https://www.facebook.com/gotchapizzeria/) followed by ice-cream in cones, greek candies and other candy treats. Lots of banter and catching up conversations before we finally headed home a little before pumpkin hour. I am so sad that I was not feeling 100% myself and forgot to organise photos but there is this adorable photo of Paulo and Melissa and John's rescue kitten, Cashmire De Niro (I hope I have the name correct).
Paulo napping with a wide-eyed curious Cashmire
The name "Cash" reminds me of the time whilst listening to a podcast in the early part of 2020 when Tristan was in rehab, a guy said he had a son called "Cash" and I thought that is such an awesome name and if Tristan has a son he could call it Cash (Johan is also a huge fan of the late great legendary Johnny Cash) - but realising that Tristan's surname is "Price" the child would be "Cash Price" it would not work; I must have looked ridiculous laughing so much driving alone in my car and when I told the story to Johan, Morgan and Tristan they thought it was hilarious and sharing this story last night it was met with the same amusement.
While I can still manage to drive (though reversing is a b*tch) getting dressed and undressed is hard so I am trying Johan's patience with helping me on that count. We had an early start to our Sunday (today) with Ozzie, our gardener, arriving and in case you are wondering why is he working on a Sunday, this is something I would not do in the normal course of life but Ozzie works from Monday to Saturday and is happy to work on one Sunday a month for me and occasionally for my Mom. We needed to 'dog proof' a section of the garden to not only preserve our plants there but to ban the dogs from indulging in barking conversations through the wall with Rocky and Storm who are our neighbour's dogs. There are "air vents" in the wall covered by mesh so they can see each other's noses which is enough to send them into a barking frenzy - enough is enough!
Hopefully this will work and Elmo who likes to indulge in high jump antics does not start trying his luck with this barrier - we will soon get a rambling rose or another creeper to grow along the barrier
We delivered Saziso safely to my Mom's to work for her today (she usually works for her on a Saturday as Sunday is her church day) but she needed to deal with family issues yesterday so went to my Mom today so we got to see my Mom briefly before leaving along with Zen ( who arrived via Uber) - we were off on a exploration mission to recce our potential venue for family lunch with my "British brother" Nick in 2 weeks time. We went to Herbland in Midrand along several country roads with mountainous speed bumps, bumping along behind a horse box and suv and being distracted by the numerous horse sightings (me being distracted and subjecting poor Johan and Zen to uncomfortable lift-offs over the speed bumps). There are a number equestrain facilities along the route including a "Boutique Stables" - is this for the "creme de la creme" of horses and what is the criteria for being granted admission to the boutique stables we wondered? We finally found ourselves in the land of herbs, beautiful roses, sineous trees and luscious lawns with no hint of horses or horse manure. We met up with Bronwyn and her mom, Maria at Herbland and we enjoyed delicious food, coffee and a stunning view of the grounds and water features from the deck of Herb Cafe (https://herbland.co.za/) - we highly recommend it and look forward to returning there for lunch with the family and Titan as dogs on leashes are welcome.
Johan's Vietnamese iced coffee
Breakfast is served
Johan, yours truly, Bronwyn and Maria
Yours truly, Maria, Bronwyn and Zen
What am I reading?
Having finished reading the dreadfully sad and deporable, "Cilka's Journey" by Heather Morris I am reading a light-hearted novel by Alan Titchmarsh, "Animal Instincts"
What I listening to (podcast and Audible):
Something was wrong which I have been binge listening to - the last season featured a couple, the wife was South African, who ended up in Scotland founding a church; very abusive father, mother who turned a blind eye, incredible neglect and abuse of their children including exposure to a paedophile who they pushed a friend of theirs to marry ..... of course Zen and I want to know who the people are, what was the church/cult etc!
Queen of the Con
I have to catch up on my other podcasts and work towards finishing listening to Happy Days on Audible by Gabrielle Bernstein.
What I am watching (Netflix and downloads)
Flack - Season 1 and 2 - completed
Usual stable of bubble gum reality tv shows though Southern Hospitality has now finished as has The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City so the reunion show has started sans the one housewife who is off to jail in February for scamming old age pensioners - the entire session she screamed her innocence only to appear in court and plead guilty as her staff all turned state's witnesses
Black Snow
I have started watching Season 2 of Firefly Lane on Netflix (I read the book long before the tv series)
My daily Wordle and Duolingo continue.
New feature :
Hot tips and spots around Jo'burg -
The Reea charity bookshop in Craighall Park is having a 50% off sale on all their books this next week until Saturday, 4 February (best charity bookshop in Jo'burg in my humble opinion)
The Bubble Emporium in Blairgowrie is owned by Melissa and her lovely cousin Helen -
Shop 19a, 70 Conrad Drive, Blairegowrie Plaza (right next to the Spar)
Herbland - a wonderful place for breakfast or lunch and there is Munchies for families with children and an amazing playland (entrance fee of R30 per child during the week and R50 per child over the weekend)
Readers Warehouse - great competitor to Exclusive Books; huge range of of new books at prices cheaper than the eye-wateringly Exclusive Books
Koekerasie Tea Garden - tranquil tea garden with entertaining eccentric waitresses and ceramics to paint at prices which are more than half that of Clay Cafe
Big F Car Wash at Lifestyle Centre or Eagle Canyon Shopping Centre - very reasonably priced; they have introduced a loyalty programme (who doesn't love a bargain and the opportunity for a free car wash etc) and you can shop while your car is being washed, vaccuumed, waxed and polished and you receive a text message to let you know when your car is ready
Silver Birch restaurant at Lifestyle Centre - consistently good service, food and a lovely ambience sitting in the middle of the nursery
Boskruin Vet (http://www.boskruinvet.co.za/) - paws down the very best and most reasonably priced veterinary practice as well as being amazing with your furbabies
And that's a wrap for another funny old week; may this new one and the new month be better in every sense of the word.
For all who are struggling, mourning, recovering from illness, sick, battling the disease of addiction, coping with the numerous stresses and struggles of lives, be gentle with yourself, reach out for help and support and know that you are not alone.
This is so Me - who else can relate!
Maria Shriver "No parent should have to hear the pleas of their child. No one should have to plea for mercy, for humanity from their fellow man. Tyre Nichols deserved to be treated as the son he was, the man he was, the father he was, the human being he was. Let’s keep his memory alive, his dignity alive, and remember him the way so many knew him, as a light in this world, the loving father, the considerate son, and the great friend with a passion for skateboarding and photography. #abovethenoise"
Rest in peace Tyre - brutally and senselessly murdered by USA cops #don'twatchthevideo