End of the week – does it still mean anything?

Peace and calmness…

So, Friday has come around again. And Friday 13th, to top it off!!! (To me a very special day, as it is my daughters birthday today, and since she was born, the 13th held no threat to me anymore – how could it, it was the best day of my life, when I became a mother for the first time!!!)

But back to Fridays, and weekends – are you pleased it’s weekend? Excited? Relieved? Or does it not matter to you at the moment?

Used to be, we all couldn’t wait for Friday to roll around. Tired after a week’s work, excited to hang out with friends or get some well earned rest. Sometimes there were chores to be done around the house, shopping to be done, people to see.

Nowadays, it seems (to me at least) that all the days are basically the same, and whether it is weekend or not doesn’t really matter. In some countries a lot of people have started working again, in others most are still in lockdown, or in lockdown again. Here in South Africa, most of the industries have started up again, so weekends are becoming more important again.

How has this ‘inertia’ impacted on your life? Did/do you find it difficult with most days feeling the same and sort of just flowing into each other? Does it make you upset, not having a routine to stick to?

I like doing my own thing, deciding day by day how I’m going to spend the day. It is not very conducive to earning good money, but in my industry (real estate), most of the activity depends on the amount of buyers that is around – if there is no activity, then also (obviously!), no money will be coming in. And it is only now starting to pick up…

So, for now, I’m fine with being relatively inactive, with short bursts of business. I’m coming to that part of my life anyway, where things slow down, and restfulness and calm take over. If only one got paid for doing nothing…

Until next time, enjoy your weekend! 🙂

Rain and rainbows.

Hey, who erased part of the rainbow? 😀 

 

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” ~ Dolly Parton

Can’t you just hear Dolly’s voice when you read that ?! 😀 But that is so very true. Not that you have a choice though…

I think, how you handle the rain, while you wait for the rainbow to appear, is actually the important issue. 

Like now, being in lockdown, or not being able to see your family, or whatever the situation in your country is – how to handle it, that is the question. I know a lot of people find these unusual circumstances emotionally and mentally difficult to handle, but even if you don’t, how are you managing it?

Are you just lounging around waiting for things to get back to normal, and actually enjoying all the time off? Are you using the time to learn new skills – baking, sewing, studying? Have you found a new passion? Has this event completely changed your life?

I wrote a post on what I discovered about myself a few days ago (you can have a look at it here)  but as far as the above goes, I’m a bit of a mix of the lot – I enjoy lounging around, I’ve tried a few new things and still have some on my list, and I did a bit of studying (politics, if you please!)  I wish I could say that this is going to change my life dramatically, but I honestly don’t think it will. I live a low profile life – I enjoy doing domestic things like cooking and knitting, I don’t like waste, and I try to live in such a way that I don’t partake in anything that can damage the ecosystem and Mother Earth.

A paragon of virtue? No, I’m not. Far from it, but at least I try in my small way…

Stay safe, stay healthy until next time! 🙂

 

The reality of lockdown and birthdays.

The view from the top of the Du Toit’s Kloof Pass towards Paarl and Cape Town.

Yesterday was my SO’s* birthday. Because of lockdown, and the fact that neither of us have had an income for 5 months, we couldn’t splash out and celebrate like we would have liked to.

Instead we had a slow day. We had a late-ish, big breakfast, and then left to go to one of our favourite antique shops – Die Handelshuis (The Trading Post) which is a huge industrial store -like building, with acres of space and always many interesting pieces to browse through.

Afterwards, we started the drive back towards home, but felt that we could at least do a late lunch, so we stopped of in Paarl, a beautiful historic town, and had lunch at Hussar’s Grill, one of our favourites.

Our route back takes us over the amazing Du Toit’s Kloof Pass. If you ever visit South Africa, do yourself a favour and instead of taking the quick (and boring) toll road through the tunnel, go over the pass – you will not be sorry! The mountains are breathtaking, and they put on a different face every single day, depending on the fickle weather. And the views from the top is something else!!! I take a picture/s every time we drive that way, I cannot help myself!

All in all, not a bad day, I think, and still a lot to be thankful for…

Until next time, blog friends, stay safe! 🙂

*SO – significant other.

Introspection – Things I learnt about myself during lockdown…

A part of ‘The Twelve Apostles’ (mountain range behind table Mountain) sticking through the clouds on our drive round Chapman’s Peak two weekends ago.

I’ve learnt a few things about myself during this lockdown period. (One would think I know myself by now, given my age… )

* I need to get a life.

My life hardly changed during this time, isn’t that sad? I always knew I was an introvert that doesn’t like people too much, but I never realized that I’m basically a hermit. I miss my children something fierce, but two of them live too far away to see regularly anyway. I have a few friends that I do feel it is time to see again, except I can’t, what with South Africa’s ridiculous rules around lockdown. I go grocery shopping when I need to, and other than that I am quite content to be home and do my own thing. Maybe I need to get another hobby, one I actually have to leave the house to do… (Oh, I do miss eating out now and then!)

*I am a lot more aggressive than I ever thought

Oops… I even consider closing my FB account, because I can get SO riled up by some of the things I read there! I really try and stay away from the news, because MAN, do I get angry!!! Especially with things happening in our country, that makes absolutely NO sense whatever! I do believe that one has to have an idea of what’s going on in the world, but maybe I should just float along in my own little bubble – best for me, and better for the world around me! (Could I maybe put this down to the frustration and uncertainty of Covid-19 and lockdown?)

*I am a lot lazier than I always thought…

Another oops… Not something I am proud of, I can promise you! I love a clean house, but I do not like doing all the cleaning, all the time. We are spoiled in SA, we have people that come in and clean our houses, should we want that (most people do), and I used to have someone come in once a week to clean, and iron. With lockdown, of course, some of that has changed, so we have to do everything ourselves. And sad to say, I really have to give myself a serious talking to, before I get off my backside to do some cleaning. (I would much rather sit and knit, crochet, or lately, blog.)

*I can get by with a lot less than I thought.

At last a positive!! I know now that we can live on a lot less money than I previously thought. That is mainly because I realized that we need a lot less food than we always have in the house. During this time, we tried to go out as little as possible, so we would try and stretch whatever we had in the house to last another day or two, make plans for meals with what we had around. Which brings me to the last point:

*I am a lot more resourceful than I ever gave myself credit for!

Yay, another positive! Because of the previous point, I managed to make a lot of tasty meals with very little.

I refuse to say that I am glad Covid-19 happened to come along in my lifetime, but it did make me sit back and take stock, it made me think about a few touchy subjects, and it taught me a few things, which is all in all probably not a bad thing.

 

Until next time, blogfriends! 🙂