I recently watched a film called ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ where the actors were discussing the fearlessness that comes from having survived something of such trauma and heartbreak that you can then endure anything else life may throw at you. Tempered in steel.

Deep trauma changes a person. I know that I am one of those changed by my past. I also know that women are able to endure a lot of pain, both internal and external, mental and physical. Much more than most men can in my opinion. 

The strength of a collective group of women was never more evident than the Women’s Marches which occurred world wide on the 21st January to protest the election of a misogynistic racist pussy grabber to the office of US President and to show solidarity of support of women’s rights. 

I had felt so heartsore over the election of that beast that the images of women united together in spirit from all over the world made me feel a bit of hope. It lightened my despair.

This week has passed in a blur. I just know I seemed to drink a lot of coffee, that is always the case when I have a lot of workshops. They require a lot of energy especially if I am facilitating. We had a battle of the coffee supplier this week with 3 different coffee brands sending in baristas to do tastings for free then allowing us to vote for our favorite. In my opinion the best by a mile was illy coffee which was so divine I had 3 cups. So 5 in all that morning if I add in the others which I sampled.

We had a week of unique and traumatic  wildlife interactions. We had yet another giant leopard toad appear in our kitchen. 

That makes 9 of them already this year. As we take them far down the hill to release on the green this cannot possibly be the same toad reappearing. As Caitlin and I are both phobic this makes for a lot of screaming and hyperventilating when we stumble upon one.

On Thursday night Caitlin had a fright when driving home when an owl flew into her car. Luckily it just scooted across her bonnet and she thinks it was only dazed. How upsetting!

Friday I gave Daren a lift and we drove up Suikerbossie Hill watching carefully for the owl. Next thing we know a minicab taxi is hurtling towards us on our side of the road, luckily Darren shouted and I moved lanes to avoid colliding head on with the van. We neither died, nor spotted the owl. Win. Win.

We tried to keep to Low Carb eating where we could and the hot weather led to us cooking outside several nights this week. Norm cooked fillet steaks and chicken sausage for us on Friday, it felt like a nice way to kick off the weekend.

Saturday morning I was up early to head to Noordhoek to go to the chiropractor with Pixie. She has improved ever so much! She can jump up and is much stronger. She is so sweet. 

She loves that frisbee.

Norm has been working on my kitchen all weekend. He rented a tile cutter and is finishing up the tiling. He dropped me at Retha Saturday afternoon for drinks. We chatted in the sun by the pool until everyone arrived to braai. That’s a BBQ or grill to non-SA people. We had lots of us there but we had a huge salad and cole slaw and plenty of bread to go with the mounds of chops, chicken and sausage so there was plenty to eat. We even had a yummy chocolate cake from Oakhurst Spar. It was a relaxed evening with lovely people.

I had a slow morning today and then just after noon Retha and I set off on a road trip east up the coast. Retha is thinking about buying a small property to rent and we wanted to explore the Gordon’s Bay Area. We stopped at the harbour and parked and walked around hoping to find a table for lunch. 

We tried The Thirsty Oyster which had a waiting list and a host with a rude attitude. We walked to the other side of the harbour and got a table straight away. We ordered a cheeky cocktail.

The view was stunning. 

The food however was far from stunning. 

We ordered 3 starters, we shared the smoked salmon mille feuille and I had the shrimp cocktail while Retha had the deep fried Camembert.

The cheese was nice but Retha wanted bread, the shrimp cocktail was served in a glass which made it impossible to eat. It was bland. The salmon was nice, I think if they added a layer of creme frais to the stack, it would enhance it as it was a bit dry.

For my main I had the Queen Combo, prawns and calamari, and Retha had the Chef’s Combo which is hake and prawns.

The prawns were tiny but nice, however we had to ask for sauce. Retha’s fish looked moist and plump but I noticed she encountered a lot of bones. My calamari tasted frozen. It was very average. 2.5 Kitten Stars.

After lunch we went to a show house and then drove back. It was unbearably hot.

The heat hasn’t helped the high number of fires in the Cape. Suspicion is that there is arson behind much of these. I suspect they are politically motivated. This arsehole from the BLF (Black First Land First) posted about burning white owned farms.

This sort of thing sickens me, destroying things other people work for in order to pay for crimes perpetrated long ago by others. We can only hope they catch them. Our droughts continue and we are desperate for rain! 

Tonight we had a pizza from Massimo. I had the St Hilary. It was divine with figs, marscapone and honey with Parma ham.

Tomorrow I have a busy day but we must get back onto low carb! Sometimes you gotta have a pizza. 

Enjoy your week all!