On Tuesday I went to visit the staff nurse at my client to have her take my blood pressure. I had not had my BP meds that day and my BP was still within acceptable parameters (118/84). The nurse told me I should never just stop my BP meds, but then told me not to take them this week. Errr…huh? She then lectured me about glucose absorption, food metabolism & diet. She is a rather large lady who says she lives off of salad, fruit and ‘breakfast biscuits’ (which are just cookies with the word ‘breakfast’ in the title). She finished off by telling me that being menopausal I need to be careful not to lose any more so that my face doesn’t sag from the weight loss (it is obviously better to die of an obesity triggered heart attack than to not be attractive? God forbid we women don’t please the masses with our physical appearance!). What a bizarre & totally unhelpful experience, luckily I understand Banting and didn’t listen to her advice. I went to the GP later that day to discuss what I should do in a sensible manner.

I told the GP that I didn’t take my meds that day and how ill I felt lately and that I suspect it is due to low BP from taking my meds. He said I must stop the meds and monitor my BP for 4 weeks. I’m so pleased. He told me the weight loss cured my high blood pressure. He just kept saying ‘you lost a quarter of your body weight!’ I’m so glad I didn’t end up walking the path of my Dad and dead of a stroke before 50 due to obesity. I’m breaking that cycle. I love food and to me it is my reward, my celebration, my way to show love. It’s got to be looked at differently, eat when hungry and not eat sugar. Simple one would think, right?

I sent a tweet to Professor Tim Noakes who promotes the Real Meal Revolution. We had a Twitter convo where he explains that the dietary change rather than the weight loss is what resolved my blood pressure issue.

This week Norm finally went to the physio for his sore shoulder. I told him it is his neck, and indeed the physio clicked his neck, massaged his shoulder muscles,  did a bit of acupuncture and then taped Norm up.

Hopefully he has some relief as he has been very sore.

Again this week the headlines were full of people telling young women what to do, how to dress. That being themselves was not acceptable. But this is on my doorstep rather than France. Fighting in Africa to be African. That colonial repression. Pretoria Girls School pupils were protesting having to wear their hair straightened or in ‘white hair’ fashions. Not allowed to wear an African style.

They set dogs on these girls for their protests.

That would never happen with white children who protested.  

This week we were going to order our kitchen cupboards and wanted to go first to have one last look and agreed to go Thursday. If time permitted we we would also go view the  granite for the countertops. I had a back appointment and two meetings but I cancelled all in order to accommodate Norm’s schedule but he had not made plans in advance with either of the contacts to secure our appointments and so no one was available. Then he insisted I follow him on the motorway across town to see the granite, I told him the granite places were at Paarden Island and he said I was ‘ridiculous,  of course they aren’t’.

I’m visually challenged and don’t cope well with driving to places I don’t know. I am phobic about driving on the motorway since I had a woman side-swipe me. He made me follow with no clue where we were going for me only to be told we had to go to (you guessed it) Paarden Bloody Island. I wanted to garrot him with my phone charger.

I got over it, as I always do. I did sulk for a few hours first though. 

But he lived. 

Small things.

On Friday I booked a half day off in the afternoon to go and redeem the prize for a VIP tour of Klein Constantia a huge sprawling beautiful estate just over the mountain from Hout Bay. 

I won the prize on Crush Mag Online.

We were given an explanation of the different areas of the vineyard as shown via a large aerial map. Different varieties of grapes are grown in different areas depending on climate and sunlight. 

We got in the estate truck and drove to the top of the mountain. The view was spectacular even on a cloudy cold day.

We parked beside a little man made dam. 

 We popped some of the estate’s bubbly. It was crisp and dry and smooth.

It is on average 5 degrees cooler up there so we didn’t stay long. The wind was howling straight in from the sea.

We drove down the mountain and had a tour of the entire process.

We finished in the VIP wine tasting room. 

They took us through 3 Sauvignon Blancs which were all delicious. Then a Chardonnay, a Chenin blanc, 2 reds then ended with a gorgeous dessert wine. 

We were given the very special wines which aren’t usually on the pleb tasting menu. We loved our visit!

Then as we were leaving they gave me 2 huge bottles of their wines.

We had a fabulous time and I felt a bit tipsy so we stopped for a coffee at Green’s Constantia. We were naughty and had cake. I had Orange Cake.

Norm had apple crumble with berry topping.

After we left we went home to take Cordelia home and feed and walk the dogs. We were attending a mafioso themed party for our friend Andy and his twin Bennie so got ready to go out.

Everyone made a real effort at adhering to the theme.

It was such fun. The pool area was decorated so beautifully with a tent stretched over the garden.

There was a DJ.

And fake money, dice and silly mustaches to play with littered the tables.

Norm looked like John Cleese.

There were beautifully prepared finger foods being circulated. The vibe was fab. The surprise was when Travis flew in from Dubai to surprise his Dad.

It was very sweet.

My daughter Lily and her fella Josh had driven down from the Garden Route and brought my son Trevor so we didn’t stay long at the party, we came home to be with my kids.

We had a nice evening with the family. The next day on my birthday the kids and Norm spoiled me rotten! Beautiful Moroccan style lanterns, a gorgeous necklace, an orchid, birdbath and a beautiful candle holder by Carrol Boyes, one of my fave designers.

The girls fixed my Chiwara masks – the baby had broken off. I love these and they cannot be found any more. This is one of my ‘Save in a fire’ items. I actually bought them in New York when working for a buyer at a mart. She let me use her license as these cannot exchange hands without a museum or art collectors license these days. I adore them. 

That morning I received some beautiful flowers in a sweet blue vase from Amber, Trevor’s girlfriend.  They have a very sick kitty so she could not come down.

The kids had to go to the mall and brought cinnamon rolls home. Oh wow. Sugar. 

Saturday we had booked my birthday lunch at Quentin’s Oakhurst Barn for 1pm.

We were given the choice of inside the barn or out, as the patio is sheltered from the mad wind that was blowing, we chose the outside.

We settled in.

Retha joined us.

She brought a lovely present for my birthday.

We had a variety of starters. 

I had the scallops in burnt whisky butter.

Several people had the avocado ritz. Caitlin felt it needed more avocado and less Marie Rose sauce.

The kids had mussels.

Retha had the lobster bisque.

We had a lovely relaxed meal. 

And acted silly.

For our mains, 3 of us had the fillet steak but Lily ordered her steak well done and it was a bit pink, while the boys ordered medium rare and got well done.

Trevor said it was so nice a cut it didn’t really matter.

I had the prawn curry. It was quite dear at R255 but nice.

It was more Thai style than Malay but really tasty.

Retha had oxtail.

Norm had the lamb.

We decided to go full piggy and get dessert and coffees.

They were divine and worth the non-Banting slip. 

We headed home and watched movies and some of us napped. Later Wes, Caitlin’s fella, came round. He brought me a huge beautiful bunch of lilies.

Later that night we ordered pizza from Massimo’s. I had half Manuel and half Hot Latina. It was so good but I couldn’t eat it all as I had such a big lunch.

We played a few rounds of pictionary and then we played this crazy game where you each write down 10 words, then you have a variety of rounds. There is a round of 30 seconds, a round of pictionary, a round where you can only give a single word clue, one where you can only use facial expressions and not speak and one where you can only use hand puppets.

We had such a laugh. I have such fun with my crazy family. 

Today the kids went back to the Garden Route. Caitlin and I went to Muizenberg to see a new flat she is keen on buying. The traffic was very busy so we got back late to Hout Bay and Norm and I shot off to the shops. All of the cafes were already shut so we went to the Woolies coffee shop. We had a bacon and mushroom omelette with avo. 

They were exceptional. We were so pleasantly surprised. 

We did a shop then came home. We had a lazy afternoon. After our busy weekend, we deserved it. It was a stunning day.

I noticed the snippings I planted have taken root and are thriving.

This evening I made a roast chicken, roasted garlic aubergines, steamed broccoli and some spicy coleslaw so Norm and Cait had dinner and there was food for my lunch tomorrow. I dread weighing tomorrow but I’m back on the banting wagon after a free weekend of cinnamon rolls and daily cake.But for your birthday you should be able to not worry about it. As long as you pick back up after it is all fine. 

That’s the motto for life, just keep trying!