Cool weather, and fibre (the internet kind)on one day!!

Photo by Katie Goertzen on Pexels.com

I am enjoying a wonderfully cool and cloudy day. 🙂

We had fibre installed today, after 4 years of intense frustration as far as internet goes. Our previous service provider was our erstwhile national telephone service, Telkom, but they’ve been going downhill over the last number of years, to the point where just about nobody uses their services anymore.

So, after the years of anger and frustration, I am sincerely hoping that we are at last going to be able to connect and stay connected without the continuous dips we have grown to expect. I do need to be able to have stable internet so I can talk to my children in Canada and Ireland, something which has been close to impossible the last few weeks. And since fibre has at last come to our town, it is time to upgrade!

About them feelings – I know that when you are in a situation that you can do nothing about, it does not help stressing about it. If you are not able to change anything, do not get upset or angry. That is, my head knows all of that. My heart is another matter. My heart is a rebel. My heart wants to get up and shout obscenities to the stupid people who are so inconsistent with their rules and regulations regarding Covid. They are messing with people’s lives. I would like for them to explain to the world how they figure out some of their crazy rules. And my anger and frustration will continue flaring up from time to time until this madness ends.

Mostly my head manages to control my heart, but I feel like a ticking time bomb most of the time. It has to stop soon…

On to the guesthouse. It is still not quite finished. Little things are stopping it from being operational, and somehow we (and by we I mean me) are just not getting around to it. The only big thing still to be done, is I have to buy a bed for the second unit. And I keep putting that off. I will just have to go out and get that dang bed, so I can start advertising and hopefully get some guests in.

A day of mixed feelings, but overall a good one – we’ve got fibre now!! And I’ve got a date, honey and nut loaf in the oven! Soon to be enjoyed with afternoon coffee. 🙂

I hope you are having a good day out there. Let me know!!!

Friday ‘fun’.

Triple therapy – wine, knitting and my garden. (An old pic, but you get the idea…)

The cat is back!

I’m hoping that we are done with the vet now (nothing against the vet, she’s awesome!), and I’m hoping there will be constant improvement and healing for the next few weeks. I wonder how many of his nine lives our Roomys (Ice cream) have used up now?

It is a cool, windy day here. It was supposed to be hot, but I’ll be the last one to complain about the wrong prediction! This steady cooling down, albeit with a spike of heat here and there, is heaven to me. I’ll live happily in a place where the temperature never goes below 0°, and never above 28° (Celsius, of course!)

My little table painting project bummed out completely. The guy at the hardware store obviously gave me the wrong undercoat to use. I did the undercoat, and waited the appropriate time for it to dry. Then I started painting – three layers, and waiting patiently in between for every layer to dry. It was looking good, just needed a soft sanding to be perfect. And that is where the pawpaw hit the fan… As I sanded, the paint started coming of, and I could peel it off in big plastic sheets!!! So I ‘peeled’ the whole table. And now I have to start all over again. Aaaaaarrrrggghhhhh….

To make it usable for the guests this weekend, I put a tablecloth on the table with a plant on top. You’ve just got to love life’s little curve balls….

Fortunately, it is Friday afternoon now, and in a couple of hours I can pour myself a cold glass of fabulous South African wine, put my feet up, and start enjoying the weekend. Bliss. 🙂

Notes on a Thursday.

I couldn’t resist posting another pic of my hydrangea – this flower has grown huge! And it is so beautiful.

Wow, Thursday already!

Well, just to let you know, the cat is back at the vet’s today for a check up x-ray on his pelvis, and some medical assistance since the poor guy hasn’t been able to poop since he came home. (Is there a more polite way to say that? Make a poo-poo, do number two, take a dump…?) Actually, probably not since his accident – and it is a week ago today!!! Once again, he is not a happy feline. He has been walking slightly easier since yesterday, though.

I might have to start a crowdfunding project once this is all over…

The weather is slowly changing for the better, which to me means it is starting to get a bit cooler, especially at night – huge relief!

I’ve been doing some knitting, as usual, but not as much as I could have. I find myself staring off into space a lot… I might have to chuck the ‘therapy’ and move right on to a straight jacket…

I was probably a bit too optimistic about the table project I spoke about yesterday. As usual. Although I’ve started and it is well underway, I have to let each layer of paint dry properly before I do the next one, and I might not finish everything by tomorrow afternoon. Darn…

But hey, it is nearly weekend, I’ll have guests in my guesthouse, and I am planning to see my kids on Sunday! So all is good!!! 🙂

I hope you are all having a cracking Thursday, if not, at least have a safe one. 🙂

Cape of Storms.

Stormy weather in the Du Toit’s Kloof Pass.

I am back on the topic of weather. I am told that it is a much safer topic than religion, politics and finances, so I’ll stick to something safe. For now. 😀

We’ve had fantastic Cape winter weather the last few days! Only, it is supposed to be Spring, and since we are in a winter rain region, the rain should be coming to an end now.

Yesterday we’ve had ferocious winds over a large portion of the Western Cape, and some rain to go with it. The Cape is notorious for its bad weather since early days. There are numerous shipwrecks around our coast that is testament to the fact. It is also one of the most beautiful places on this earth.

Sir Francis Drake, English explorer said of it :“A most stately thing and the fairest Cape in the whole circumference of the Earth.” I tend to agree with him, and so does a whole lot of other people on this planet, since Cape Town has been voted Best City in the World for the seventh year running.

But back to the ‘storms’ part of it – over the years the winds and extreme weather around Cape Town have often made it into the news – people get blown over and tossed around, trees are uprooted, it causes accidents and damage to properties. Yesterday we were on our way to Cape Town and saw a big truck (a link!) blown over just outside the Huguenot Tunnel! Fortunately nobody was injured. For some interesting reading, here is a link that explains a bit of the geography and reasons behind the weather: https://capepoint.co.za/cape-of-storms/

To be fair, this gorgeous part of the world is also known as The Cape of Good Hope, because of the possibilities that opened up to Europe when the route around the Cape was discovered – trade with the Far East and India became more than a dream.

All of this information is just so I could post the picture above! I needed a good reason to do that, so… 😉

Me time.

Not what I’m busy with at the moment, but you get the idea…

It is early (ish) Saturday morning. The wind is blowing fiercely outside, with intermittent gushes of rain thrown in for good measure. My kind of weather, because that gives me a reason to not go anywhere, and just huddle and be cozy.

For instance, I woke up earlier than normal because of the wind. I lay, comfy in my bed, listening to the efforts of the wind to dislodge the roof of my house, got up to feed the cat and the dog, made myself some coffee, and hopped back into bed with my laptop. And here I am, sitting in bed, chatting to you. Cozy. Comfy.

I am alone, obviously. My SO* had to leave to attend to some business on the other side of the country, which is fine by me, for now. It gives me the chance to do things one hundred percent my way, like writing a post in bed, or going to bed at one in the morning after watching a whole season of Top Chef.

Being married or in a relationship, means compromise. Which is fine – that’s the way it should be. Give a little, take a little. Argue a bit, give in or let it go. What shall we watch on TV? No, not that, I hate anything to do with gangs and Mafia. No, not that, I’m tired of cooking shows… You know what I mean. Even after years of being together, it doesn’t necessarily mean things get easier. I will try and sneak in cooking shows, and he will continue liking the mafia stuff. And we will battle to find something that we both feel comfortable watching, which is no mean feat in this house! 🙂

Hence the pleasure of having some time out. For the next few weeks, we can watch whatever we want, eat whatever we want ( I love pasta, he loves potatoes), sleep how, when and where we want (he likes falling asleep on the couch). A recharge of the relationship batteries, if you will.

And then, just when I start thinking that this being alone thing is totally crap, he comes back, and we can happily argue over what to eat and what to watch on TV again.

Enjoy your Saturday, I know I’m going to – huddled at home, with my knitting, and the wind howling outside…

Until next time, stay safe. 🙂