After weeks of unbearably hot muggy weather it has suddenly dropped to the mid-teens. It is like we had a weekend of hot lazy summer weather and on Monday when we woke up it was suddenly winter! The mornings have been around 15 deg C. (Beth to save your need for conversion this is about 60 degrees in Fahrenheit 😉). Whenever people in the US or Europe hear our temps they think ‘well that is not at all extreme or unbearable’, but they do not realise we have no air conditioning or heating in our homes as well as crappy windows in many instances. We had double glazing in the UK so it kept out the chill, the heat, the wind and any outside sounds. We have no such luxuries in our current house, when it is cold you simply wrap up and listen to the wind whistling through the windows. I would never have imagined being inside the house in the UK with fur boots and several sweaters on but that is how I am dressing at home this week.

Norman and I have gotten into the habit of watching a film on Sunday evenings as DSTV shows a relatively recently released film on Sunday at 8pm. Now that we are unsubscribed from DSTV we are carrying on with our habit but with the added freedom of choice we get from Netflix and LookTV.

This past Sunday we chose the film ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ because we wanted something light and I am a huge Zach Galifianakis fan.

I also enjoy Isla Fisher even though I cannot distinguish her from Amy Adams (I am still not convinced there are two of them. I mean have YOU ever seen them both in the same place? Hmm?? I thought not.)

Image credit.

I also enjoy looking at Jon Hamm so I had high expectations for this film. But it was just ‘OK’, it had some funny moments but a bit of a thin story line. I will give it 3 & a half Kitten Stars.

On Monday when catching up on the news I read that at least 82 Chibok girls were finally released in exchange for several detained Boko Haram extremists. There are at least 113 girls still unaccounted for. Some of these girls will never come home as they were strapped with explosives and sent on missions with ‘suicide bombers’.  I cannot imagine the horrors the girls experienced while captive, some of the girls were raped and had babies themselves while in hiding, many were used as sex slaves for the pleasure of the militants, some were starved and some were deafened by the proximity to explosions. Innocent victims of the battle for what? Boko Haram want to create an Islamic State, however there is infighting among this group and it has splintered. I always find it ironic when these militant groups try to force other people to adhere to their way of life but cannot even agree themselves on what their beliefs and principals are.

I have been thinking a lot about how our actions & our energy impacts and influences other people. I have started to notice that our animals get frenetic when we humans are frenetic.  I have been deliberately trying to control and manage my outbound energy. Over the weekend I tried very hard to keep my menopausal outbursts to a minimum and to not be as verbally cutting as I know I can be. Virgos have a nasty tongue and can cut you dead should we go on defence (or offense for that matter).

It makes sense that the pull of my energy which results in random strangers spilling all their dirty little secrets is the same energy that causes occasional chaos around me. I suspect that this is because I do not know how to channel or direct my energy.

I can feel it zinging around me sometimes – it almost feels like an internal vibration. I also call it my spidey-senses just because of the tingle.  I have always assumed it was me reacting to external influences, however I think it is just me!

I have made the conscious decision to loosen my ‘shields’, to let in some of the people & energy I have always blocked. The role of the empath is to help or heal. Norm saw this first hand when we went to the shops on Sunday. Walking through the aisles I had a little old man stop to interact with me. We had a long chat, in fact it was so long that Norm got bored and drifted off with my trolley. I suspect the old man is lonely. The little old man and I both left our conversation with a smile. When I stop to think about all of the lonely people in the world it makes my heart so heavy, if I ‘tap into’ that whirlpool of emotion at a global level I feel so overwhelmed it takes my breath, but if I lighten that loneliness just a little bit for one person then it makes me happy.

So why not? I just need to get out of the way and let it happen. I suspect that much like hypnosis or ‘hearing’ a spirit who has passed over it is all of a similar nature, learning how to let that info flow into you without the obstacles of ‘sensibility’ intruding. Similar to how children and animals can see and hear spirits – they are open and without judgement.

If you had asked me 2 years ago ‘can I hear spirits’ I would have said sometimes but rarely. But after my friend Pierre passed over I have had my eyes and ears opened to receive his messages. I ‘hear’ his words without my ears – they just are there, in my head. I don’t know how I know it is coming from Pierre, but I do. Pierre often uses music to communicate with me, but he uses numbers to communicate with Retha. Do spirits choose the channel they think you will be the most receptive to?  I don’t think I am doing a very good job of explaining it all because I do not have the appropriate words to translate things which relate to spirituality.

I have so much to learn but I am trusting the universe to send me my teacher now that I have accepted this role as one of my life’s purposes. I cannot count the number of times I have been told that I am a Healer and that I am not fulfilling my life purpose.

I have had many detailed visions of White Buffalo Woman and have been told by various other energy workers that I am descended from her and that I have the calling to be a shaman. I once had a therapy done which used essential oils and a sort of reiki treatment and it relaxed me so much I had visions. The main vision was being surrounded by Native American women. The leader of these women had long, flowing grey hair and she came to me with a bundle and lay it into my arms. She and the other Native American women all hugged me, stroked my hair, wrapped me in animal skins and welcomed me ‘home’. They told me that I am a Shaman and kept asking me if I knew who I am and did I understand ‘my purpose?’.

This is a video by Chief Arvol Looking Horse, the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe. He is the leader of the Lakota Dakota Nakota Oyate, the great Sioux nation. He tells us the story of White Buffalo Woman.

I have had several past incarnations as a Native American. I was one of the Cherokee tribe who were sent away down the Trail of Tears. As with most original settlers the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their land once it was understood to be valuable. I had past life regression and I went into that body and that life. The experience was tragic and heart-breaking as my husband in that life (who is a friend in this current incarnation) died in the journey.

I had a very interesting experience this week. I turned to a friend and said to her she was considering looking for a new job. She looked shocked and asked me how I knew this? I cannot explain how I knew other than I ‘heard it’. She said to me that she was thinking about that very thing at the moment I said that to her. It kind of freaked us both out.

Maybe I can be the next Tyler Henry?

I am prepared to just relax into it and see where it takes me.

I had a bit of progress on the house renovation front this week as well. On Monday after work I met Caitlin at a lighting display shop as she is looking for lighting for her new flat. I have been looking for lights for downstairs for ages and I finally found some! I have ordered 2 of the 3 light fixture ones and 2 of the 5 light fixture ones of this same style. They will go in the lounge, dining room, entry and landing upstairs. It is not a great pic but it is all I have at the moment as the lights are still in the boxes unassembled.

It goes really well with our metal stair railings and security gates, they have the same little swirly thing. Hopefully the lights will get up soonest and I will share a pic of them in situ. We are still trying to find a plasterer to come and finish the wall in the pantry as the original plasterer died in a car accident and the 2nd just does not answer his phone. It can be so frustrating trying to achieve things in this go slow country.

After work on Wednesday I went for laser treatments at Skin Hout Bay. My bookclub girls had given me a voucher well over a year ago but I lost it. When we were unpacking all of the last bits of stuff into the new kitchen I found it again and even though it had expired the salon were willing to let me use it. My long term readers may remember when I went for full body laser before with another salon. I spent a ridiculous amount of money and I still look like Sasquatch. (Menopause: The Gift That Keeps on Giving.)

Here I am ‘captured’ on a recent swim. 😉

Skin has offered me a discounted package and I have booked to go back for a few more treatments.

After I came home from my laser treatment that afternoon Norm was in the garden with a guy who installs fireplaces. We have had what we assumed was a ‘leak’ or crack somewhere in the chimney as any smoke spills out into the lounge and into Caitlin’s room which is the bedroom nearest the chimney.

The fireplace guy had climbed onto the roof to have a look and discovered a hotel for birds in our chimney!

We are getting a chimney sweep to come and brush and clean the chimney and we will try to build a fire and see if it smokes us out again. If we still have an issue with the smoke we will have to install the expensive metal flue-thingy-ma-bob-tube which drops down inside the chimney and provides a protective layer within the chimney itself to direct out the smoke (or something like that she says vaguely.)

After the fireplace guy left and things settled down Norm made us the most delicious dinner. He baked a pork fillet and in the same pan he threw in some butternut, chopped peppers and mushrooms. He cooked it in a combo of coconut oil and olive oil.

He made steamed broccoli to go with it. As always my pics are rather rubbish, but the food was yummy!

On Thursday a friend and I walked over to Food Lovers Market at The Towers in the Foreshore for lunch as I had a craving for sushi. We had a young man begging for money on the street, but I will never open my bag on the street. We then went into the building and into food lovers market. A small older man came up to my friend and I and he was holding a tiny little loaf of banana bread about the length of a finger. He had on workman’s clothes and was covered in dust and his hand that was holding the tiny loaf was shaking. He said to us ‘I just need a little money for some food, I am so hungry and I have no money.’ My friend turned away but I looked in his eyes and I saw such humiliation and pain, possibly due to the fact that he was reduced to begging to feed himself even though he works hard every day. I could see that hard work in his calloused hands and dusty overalls. My heart broke and I asked him how much was the bread? It was only about R5 and I knew it would not fill his stomach so I gave him R20 and wished him well. If I meant that he could go a few hours without hunger then it was worth that.

I guess healing can come in many forms?

My friend who turned away was saying after that she is too hard hearted. I just said to her that whatever we put out to the universe comes back to us threefold. If I put out a bit of wealth then hopefully it returns to me, in whatever form that may be. I will accept love in exchange ❤

Thursday Caitlin and Wes drove down to George to spend her birthday weekend there. I hope she has a wonderful birthday weekend, she had won a prize in Plettenberg Bay and they were going to redeem that. Her birthday is today, Friday.

Last night Norm had a meeting and so I decided to see what I could create out of our fridge contents. I had minced beef, chicken breasts, chopped butternut, broccoli and a few odds and ends of veggies. As Caitlin was away and Norm was out I messaged Retha to come round for an impromptu dinner as we had more than Norm and I could eat.

I made two meals so that we did not have to cook tonight but we would not have to resort to a take away either.

For Friday I decided to cook the mince. I did not have the ingredients to do Mexican food or even a cauliflower topped cottage pie. I did have the butternut though and decided to do a minced beef base and top it with the butternut. As butternut soup is nice with a dash of curry seasoning I decided to use curry to flavour the mince. I fried the beef with onions and peppers and added a bit of beef stock and seasoning and let it simmer for a bit. I steamed the butternut and then pureed it with my blender stick and popped it on top of the mince once it was done. Tonight I will just need to heat it and throw together a salad.

For Thursday’s dinner I made the chicken breasts, I just chopped peppers and mushrooms and threw in some seasoning and coconut oil and roasted it all. I chopped up the last bits of random veggies (mushrooms, peppers and a few brussel sprouts) and stir fried them in butter and I steamed some broccoli, we also had a bit of the butternut puree to go with it all.

I was worried I had overcooked the chicken because we were chatting so much but it was only brown from the sauces and it was nice and tender and moist still.

I am finding that I am listening to more music now with our new LookTV as it has a list of online radio channels which mean I can get access to the international playlists while pottering about the house. Regular readers may remember my complaints about the policy implemented by the eejit Hlaudi Motsoeneng who was the COO in charge of the SABC operations before he was finally removed from his post. Unfortunately things have not improved. There are about 5 local artists who get played over and over with an occasional international artist thrown in. They also moved the only decent DJ they have from 5FM to another station. They moved the misogynist toad DJ Roger Goode to the morning slot. I cannot bear the man who prides himself on being ‘Dirty Uncle Rogey’. He makes the most revolting ‘jokes’ but seems to misinterpret smut as humour. His team seem to forget they are supposed to be entertaining the listeners and spend the show chatting to each other or singing loudly. He has 2 incredibly racist characters on his show, both of whom rely on cultural stereotypes as their only form of humour.

Can you tell I am not a fan?

Tonight Norm and I are on our own and are just having a quiet night in. I’m a bit sad that I won’t be spending Mothers Day with my children. Trevor and Caitlin are in George and Lily has gone to PE.

Trevor and Amber did send flowers which just arrived. Aren’t they stunning?

I am very blessed.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend. ❤️