Goodbyes…

Halfway home….a little bit of sun starting to show.

Yesterday was a shitty day. Because, saying goodbye… 😦

I had a weird few days, actually. Let’s start it off on Saturday. Like I mentioned in my previous post, it was my birthday on Saturday, and I would have been alone, had my sons not decided to come visit. So, the first part of the day was in expectation of their arrival.

My boys and daughter in law arrived much later than expected, but it was glorious seeing them! They brought with them some gifts and flowers, and as a lovely surprise, a beautiful birthday cake! We spent the rest of the day together, catching up, chatting, debating, eating, drinking, you know – all the things people do on birthdays when they haven’t seen each other for some time (thank you Covid! 😦 )

The cake…

But as with a lot of situations, at the back of my mind was the knowledge that these few days together had another purpose, aside from my birthday. My youngest actually came down to say goodbye to his brother and I, as he is leaving South Africa for Ireland. At the moment he is not emigrating, but he might decide to do just that while living abroad. Since it is the second of my three children leaving the country, you could maybe imagine how I’m feeling. (Even as I’m writing this, I find it difficult to breathe…) I do, how ever, wish him all the good luck in the world. I hope it is everything he imagines and more. I hope he will be happy, and successful in all his endeavours. With all my heart.

So, the whole visit was bittersweet, from start to end. We did make a few more special memories together, and we did have fun doing it, so please don’t imagine that it was only doom and gloom the whole time! 🙂 But the whole vibe changed perceptibly as the time to say goodbye drew near…

Yesterday, after saying goodbye and on my way home, the weather was atrocious – wild wind blowing, dark clouds, intermittent rain…As I got nearer to my house, there was more sun and less wind – I did somehow feel it was a metaphor for my feelings and the whole situation – things will get better, and I will get over this feeling of despondency…

It’s been a while…

Photo by RODNAE Productions on Pexels.com

One year, one month, and 2 days, to be exact.

Hi there! I don’t blame you if you had forgotten all about me – my blog never was that memorable to begin with, I know. But here I am again! Just because I need to write something, somewhere, and I haven’t done so in a while – one year, one month, 2 days – but you get the picture, I think…

I have been searching online for remote jobs, and I’ve come to the realization that I’m too old, not qualified enough for anything available (I know that some of the jobs I’ll be able to do, but do not have the ‘proof’, as in an up to date CV), and for some of the jobs available, I don’t even know what they’re talking about! So , that is a mountain too high for me to climb.

I want/need a remote job for a few reasons:

I’ve got the time. I am spending too much time scrolling through social media, watching TV and doing nothing, instead of doing something more worthwhile, like engaging my brain, earning money. Also, my little guesthouse is doing okay, but it is not quite keeping up with the rise in the prices of everything. And there are fewer guests since the economy is hitting everybody very hard. I’m still young enough to want to do things and go places, but for that I need a bit more money than my business is bringing in.

Why not get a ‘normal’ job? Same reasons as above. Added to those, it will also cost me money to go out to do a job in town – I will need ‘office’ clothes, I will use a whole lot more fuel than I’m doing at the moment, and the salary will not come close to what I’m worth (in my mind, at least), or what it’s going to cost me to go to work! Ridiculous, isn’t it?

I do, however, have a huge amount to be very grateful for – I love my house, and I’m so thankful that I’ve got this safe haven that I can call my own. I have food everyday. If I don’t have food, it’s only because I don’t like having to go out and buy it. I’ve got a comfy bed, people in my life whom I love very much, enough clothes, enough of everything, in fact. Except money. Not to buy a bigger, fancier house. Not to buy more clothes with the right labels. Not for jewellery and shiny trinkets. Only so I can go visit my children and grandchildren who live overseas, when the longing gets to much to bear…

Rubbish!

_{The beautiful Koo Valley.}

Literally.

We love driving around the area where we live. There is so much to see and do, and it also keeps changing with the seasons – the colours, the smells, the wildlife.

The topic of today’s post is something very close to my heart and has the ability to really upset me, and that is putting it mildly. It can actually make me really livid. But let me explain…

This past Sunday we decided to take a drive. Just to get in the car and drive around and enjoy the scenery. And we did, up to a point.

We were driving through Montagu, a beautiful historical town close to us, and then on through the Koo Valley, an area where a LOT of fruit is produced, mainly stone fruit. It is a scenic drive, even now with the extreme heat of the past weeks and it being quite dry at the moment (it is a winter rainfall area, and it is, of course, summer now)

When we got to the top of the valley, we stopped to look back, admire the view and take a picture or two. (See the picture at the top of the post ↑) And then I looked down ↓ …

Rubbish!!!

Although this is not the worst drop off of rubbish, it was enough to really spoil my day, because this is a huge problem in our country. People have no respect for their environment, and rubbish is thrown out of cars all the time. They have picnics in beautiful spots, and then get up and leave their rubbish right there, or put it in their cars to throw out somewhere next to the road. Some towns look like rubbish dumps, even when bins are provided!! No thoughts whatsoever that someone has to come and pick it up again – because the world just isn’t your own personal huge, big rubbish dump – and often it doesn’t happen, because these drops are very random and all over.

Why???? Why do people do that? It is soooo easy to keep your rubbish in your vehicle until you get to a bin. After all, it was in your car up to that point, wasn’t it? What goes on in the minds of these people? Probably not much, that is why they do it…

I am not going to go on and on about this (believe me, I can!), I think you get the idea. Where does one start to change this? I’m sure it is something (supposed to be) taught from childhood, by the parents, in their own homes. So how to change the status quo? Any ideas?

Sundown(er).

Of course I had to take a picture…

Of a different kind.

A motorbike ride at sundown/sunset.

Yes, that’s the way to go!!

It has been hot lately – very hot, just in case you missed my previous post. The one very fortunate thing, is that in the evenings it cools down to livable temperatures – so far it has anyway, it might still change. But this post is not about heat. ( I heard that sigh of relief! )

Yesterday afternoon/evening, we went for a ride on the GS (BMW GS, a ‘touring’ bike, for those of you who don’t know) Not very far – to McGregor, a nearby town and back. We did that because my SO did it the evening before, and he wanted to show me the beauty out there when the sun goes down.

The light that changes, the last rays hitting the mountains and vineyards, the quiet that comes with the sun setting. It was truly magic. I loved every single moment of it.

I wonder if he (my SO) realizes that he has now started something that will have to continue, because I loved it so much? It doesn’t have to happen every day, but it will have to happen often.

There really is nothing that compares to sitting on the back of a motorbike, cruising along, and experiencing your surroundings first hand, not through a closed car window with the aircon on. Especially late in the day, when it has started cooling down. Like I said – magic.

This song kept popping into my head as we cruised along…

So, imagine if you can, sitting on a bike, cruising along, the cool air against your skin, the light fading, and this ↑ song playing – like in a movie, you know? 😉

Happy weekend to you all!!!

Hot! Oh, so hot…

Photo by Caio on Pexels.com

Sorry, this is not a sexy post.

But it is about being hot. In the literal sense, anyway…

Up to about a week or two ago, our summer has been wonderfully mild and enjoyable. Now, suddenly, all hell has broken loose! The temps went ↑ overnight!

Temps for the coming 2 weeks.

See? And we had two days in the past week of 40°C temps!!! To me, that is not a temperature that humans can live in. Lizards maybe. Or snakes. But definitely not human beings.

How to keep cool? And keep your cool? I find it very hard to cope, and I get extremely grumpy and lethargic. Useless. We do not have an aircon, but we do have a very old house with thick walls, so it is generally quite a bit cooler inside than out. So, of course, I try and stay inside as much as possible.

I take cold showers before going to bed. Or at least cool showers – juuuuuuuust enough warm water to take the worst of the sting out of the cold water. And that helps to feel more comfortable when going to bed.

I also have a fan. Not the kind that asks to have your picture taken with them, but the boring, ordinary kind that stirs the hot air to try and cool you down. It is constantly on whenever I’m in the lounge, trying to come to terms with the fact that it is summer, and that summer goes with high temps in this area.

The fact that I enjoy cooking and baking is forgotten as temperatures soar. I don’t even want to think about eating food, much less cook it! If I have to plan anything for dinner right now (it is 4 pm here, so getting closer to the time to make a decision), something like tuna salad comes to mind.

One good thing about being this hot, is that I do drink a lot more water. I do often flavour it with Oros, to be honest, but still, a lot more fluids than normal. (Oros is an orange flavoured squash (drink) mixed with water.) Not much else positive that I can think of…

So, I am now living for the end of February, when it should at last start cooling down for winter. I can not wait!!!

SO…

Hermanus – taken on 1 January 2022, while on our trip with the motorbike.

Soooo…2022…

I have no idea what to say about it.

I cannot be happy the previous year is done and dusted, because what if this one is worse? (Remember end of 2020?) I cannot be sad that another year has gone by, because by most standards it wasn’t such a prize of a year. My only point of joy and light was the fact that I could quickly dash over half the world to see my family in Canada for the first time in two and a half years. And the fact that I saw my son, the one in Ireland, twice last year, which will probably not happen again this year. And I got to spend Christmas with both my boys (and their wife and girlfriend respectively), which hasn’t happened in years.

Wait…maybe 2021 wasn’t so bad after all! But, in all honesty, it was also extremely shitty (I’m sorry for those who are offended by me using this word, but it is what it is…) Not one single country on this earth, was consistent as far as their rules and regulations went concerning the pesky Covid virus. Not ONE. They all had the most ridiculous rules in place which made no sense at all to anybody. Did it make sense to them? It obviously did, which is very, very scary – those people make our laws and rule our countries!!!

I’m still wondering if there is something more sinister behind all of this, since nothing is making any sense. I’m vaccinated because I needed to be to fly anywhere. But I’m still not convinced this is on the up and up…

But back to 2022.

My SO and I did not have the best end of year, or start of the new one. I started feeling sick 28th Dec – scratchy throat. Which steadily got worse until on the 30th and 31st, I was mainly lying on the couch feeling sorry for myself. Nothing extreme. The scratchy throat developed into sinus infection, and I was feeling tired all the time. Oh – and headachy. By the 1st, I was feeling well enough to go for a motorbike ride with my SO, and by the 2nd he was feeling grotty. Yesterday and today was his turn on the couch. Probably Omicron, which is thankfully a MUCH MILDER form of the Covid virus, all over the world. I read that as much as half the people who think they have a cold, probably have the Omicron virus.

So I am very sceptical to get excited about the start of this new year. I am absolutely not positive that we have anything to be excited about. Yet.

Unless the world’s governments get together and decide that enough is enough, we should start living our normal lives again, that that is the only way forward. Then, and only then, can we get excited again.

I am excited about my second little grandchild who is on his way – I hope and I pray that by the time he is due to arrive, things have mostly sorted themselves out in this chaotic world.

I’m not huge on sending everybody I have ever met (and not met ) wishes for New Year, but I can make an exception – I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy and safe 2022!!!!