Do you ever feel like you are just barely keeping your head above water? That if you stop flailing madly about that you will just sink deep into oblivion?

No?

Just me then? Sometimes I feel I’m just managing to cope…life can be overwhelming. But I get up and I keep moving. That is half the battle won, just showing up. 

Speaking of drowning, when I left the office on Monday evening it was pouring rain. Really bucketing down. The 15 minute walk was accomplished in as little time as possible but with 2 busy roads to cross it still takes a good 10 minutes. I not only didn’t have a brolly I didn’t even have on a jacket. I was sodden, water sloshing in my boots. I was squelching and my hair looked like I had stuck my finger in an electric socket.

There was so much rain there was a huge mudslide near my house as a result of a dam bursting.

I was rather miserable when I came home. 

Still, I made dinner for Norm and I and a chicken curry for the following night and let the flavours set in the fridge overnight.

For our dinner that evening I made Mexican beef salads from the remainder of the roasted sirloin from the Sunday roast.

Tuesday I was much better prepared for the weather, I wore a raincoat and carried a brolly.

It rained not a drop.

As if Tuesday wasn’t annoying enough in it’s lack of cooperation, I had a near miss accident Tuesday morning. I have to make what is a complete turn round on a busy dual carriage way. There are 2 lanes which turn across a busy road on a filter light and an Ilios tourist van turned and pushed me out of my lane.

  
I was almost pushed into the wall of the hotel where I park. I wrote to the company who apologized but wow I was pissed off. It scared me.

That night we had the curry I made and to go with I made cauliflower ‘rice’ and a spinach and cream purée which was so yummy.

  
I had enough for lunch the next day luckily.

Norm had to come into the city on Wednesday so he came to my office and took me for a coffee which was a nice treat. It was Cordelia’s birthday on Wednesday so we bought her a potato salad, roast chicken and a birthday cake to take home so she wouldn’t have to cook that night. We also heard that day that our friends had been broken into and robbed the previous day. Luckily no one was at home. Still it’s a horrid thing to happen.

Norm went to get Cassarechio take aways on Wednesday evening, Caitlin and I shared lasagna and spaghetti gamberi. The lasagna was delicious but the prawns were small, frozen, chewy and oddly flavoured. We threw them out. Blech. 

Norm went away for work to Tunusia on Thursday. Or Tanzania. Damn I’m not sure! Something with a T. Either way we managed to cope. I cooked whatever was in the fridge on Thursday.

  
I mixed gem squash, cream cheese and bacon and baked. We had red cabbage, mushrooms, zucchini and avocado.

As my hairdresser was going on holiday I had to leave work early Friday and get my hair done. I’ve noticed my hair is thinning loads, my hairdresser said I have a lot of new growth. I was afraid I was going bald. I wasn’t sure if this was yet another symptom of menopause or what was going on. I also have a really itchy scalp, so much so I asked Leandra to check me for lice! I’m clean as a whistle so who knows why I’m so itchy.

Friday Caitlin stopped at Mimmi To Go to pick up pizzas. I had the Pavarote which is bolognaise and mozzarella, Lily had Hawaiian and Caitlin had the chorizo. We were all tired from our busy weeks and had a quiet night in. 

On Saturday my friend Retha and I decided to go on a bit of a road trip. We are surrounded by amazing vineyards and quaint little shops. You could hit a different wine farm every weekend. 

We drove off to Franshhoek and had a drive through there. It is such a charming little town. The leaves were all changing colour. I always like the white sign on the side of the mountain heralding that you have arrived.

  
Then we decided to drive over towards Stellenbosch to Hillcrest Berry Orchards where there is a divine little tearoom.

We were given a table out on the verandah overlooking the valley.

   
   
We decided to share the fish and the platter.

The fish was silverfish which I thought was this critter:

  
But I discovered it’s just another name for Sea Bream.

It was beautifully prepared, perfectly cooked, moist and firm. It had a sprinkling of spinach gnocchi, was on a bed of spinach and bok choi and was topped with crispy kale.

  
It was amazing! 

We also shared the cheese and charcuterie platter.

  
It had seed crackers, Melba toast, smoky olives, tart pickled zucchini, Brie, salami, roast beef and some sort of creamy cheese spread. It was very pleasant and my only criticism is the lack of any fruit, jam or compote to balance it. I prefer figs or cranberries but neither were served and as its a berry farm I find that odd. But what was on the platter was divine.

We finished off with a hot chocolate to warm us up in the cooling afternoon air. We shared a slice of Banting cheesecake with cherry coulis.

  
We had a little bird keeping us company.

  
We finished up and had a little stroll to stretch our legs then headed back to Hout Bay.

Lily and I were home that evening. We still had Caitlin’s hard drive and we watched several movies. 

The problem with this approach is no trailer or description so we just randomly picked things, with varying degrees of success.

We watched Willow Creek which was a ridiculously slow ‘horror’ about Bigfoot.

  
It was a waste of a portion of my life but we laughed a lot. For that reason alone I give it about a 4/10.

We also watched The Honeymoon which was equally dreadful.

  
It was about a couple on their Honeymoon in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. The wife is taken over by an alien.

It was really bad. A 3 out of 10.

Then we hit on the gem Walk of Shame with the lovely Elizabeth Banks.

  
Maybe it seemed great in the shadow of its predecessors, but I loved it! So funny, quirky and almost impossible to imagine it was a lot of laughs. 

I would rate it about 8/10. A real surprise.

We just threw together some nibbles for dinner. 

  
I fried up some chorizo til crispy, threw in some olives, made some deviled eggs, made crispy crackers from provolone and had those with smoked mussels and creamed cheese. It was quick, easy and filled a gap! 

Lily and I got up and out of the house on Sunday. We went to China town at Sable Square. We had a few odds and ends to get and for treats I got a new top and Lily some boots. We had lunch while there at Sake. We didn’t go for the All You Can Eat bar as I can’t eat enough to justify it. We each got a little plate of sushi, 4 delicate little salmon roses for me and Tempura California rolls for Lily. He got the order wrong and doubled her order so she had 8, but she managed to eat them. We shared some beef noodles and headed back to the south.

It was a stunning day. Warm, sunny and not a breath of wind.

  
We completed our other errands and finished up at a little boutique market by us called Alphen Farmstall and shopped to keep us supplied for a few days. 

We just had a quiet evening at home tonight. Tomorrow we are all back at work so we should probably get to sleep.

I hope you had a great weekend, mine was brilliant.