It is starting to feel a bit like summer is finally here, our weather has been stunning this week if a bit windy.

As my new client has a stricter dress code I have been digging into my cupboard to find clothes that are appropriate. Usually I wear jeans and a T-shirt to work. This week I wore a chocolate linen dress and jacket that I have had for over 25 years! Quality always lasts.

We have made a bit of progress on the project but it has been slow going. It is a rather chaotic environment. I was asked to go to a interview at another client next week but it is even further away from where I am working currently which has added two hours of travel to my day. I told my contract house that I was unwilling to drive even further. My last client also wants me back as the next phase is kicking off there but I am now committed to my current client. There are too many clients who want my skills but I can only be in one place at a time! It is a nice change from having several of us on the bench, I prefer to be busy and have something I can sink my teeth into.

Load shedding has kicked in this week and we have had several instances where we had no electricity. It is so much easier if it happens in the day time as you can always amuse yourself, but if it happens at dinner time or during the time of the evening when we are chilling out and watching telly it is rather annoying! It happened on Thursday night from 8pm to 10.30pm just when we were relaxing and it was so frustrating. Norm read to me while I played games on my iPad. I love the sound of his voice so I was OK with that form of entertainment.

Norm has been busy with work so wasn’t able to shop and cook every evening but he did his best.

Monday night he cooked a delicious pork fillet, fried sweet potato slices, mushrooms and brussel sprouts. This was another attempt of doing the sprouts in the air fryer and it’s the last attempt as they were not nice. The outside leaves get a bit charred and the inside remains too crispy for my taste.

On Tuesday he made chicken, spinach and feta sausages with cauliflower mash and steamed broccoli.

The rest of the week we had takeaways. On Friday I had sushi from K1 in Hout Bay and it was all very fresh and yummy.

I had salmon roses, prawn roses, king nigiri and cucumber roses topped with prawns.

On Saturday I met my friend Bronwyn for breakfast at Hout Bay Manor. First I delivered my Operation Shoebox parcels for the little girls as the Manor was the drop off point for Hout Bay.

It was a beautiful day and Bronwyn and I sat outside.

Bronwyn ordered the Eggs Benedict but with potato rostis as the base instead of an English muffin. She added bacon and it was R78.

I chose the El Pixo which was R75 and consisted of Sweetcorn fritters and feta, chilli, spring onions, avocado, streaky bacon, 2 poached eggs, grilled baby tomatoes and fresh coriander.

Bronwyn was meeting some other friends at 12.30 and invited me to stay and we ended up hanging out til 3pm! Bjorn works with Bronwyn and his friend was over from the UK.

The guys had lunch and Bronwyn and I had cake and coffee. Bjorn’s friend had a curry and Bjorn had a delicious looking duck breast.

We chatted about so many things, spirituality, astral traveling, anxiety, past life regression, gender based violence, the different beliefs of the many cultures in South Africa and so many other topics and the time flew by.

It was such a relaxed day spent with lovely people. It was good for my soul. I am able to vent and be myself with Bronwyn, there is no judgment or need for holding back my true feelings or my wacky beliefs.

After I went home I relaxed while Norm pottered about and then we ordered take away dinner from Massimo’s and we watched a bit of The Sinner. I had watched it ages ago with Lily but there is a second season available and as Norm had not watched it we started watching from the beginning again. I read that there is also a third season but that has not been released here yet. It is intense but very good.

Today I was due to go to my Drumming Circle but we had committed to go to a party at our Scottish neighbor Kate’s. The timing would have meant I was rushing around if I tried to attend both so I gave drumming a miss.

We had a bit of a downpour of rain late morning but it cleared up soon afterwards and it was bright and sunny after.

We went down to Kate at about 1.30pm and arrived to the sound of bagpipes.

There were many other Scots there so Norm felt right at home. We found a seat in the shade and grabbed a drink.

Everyone was asked to bring along a bottle and a plate of food to share. After the piper finished there were a couple of young girls who were DJing. There was lots of dancing and everyone had such fun.

Except maybe the doggy. He howled when the piper played. Everyone is a critic.

The view from Kate’s garden is the same as ours obviously just a bit lower down the mountain. She has a stunning garden.

We had such a lovely afternoon chatting to everyone, drinking and dancing. Kate is such a brilliant host.

We staggered up the hill just as it started to drizzle with rain again. Norm walked and fed the dogs then crashed. Afternoon drinking is not for the weak. As I have a long drive to work and an early start tomorrow I limited myself to just two drinks.

We had a bit of progress with the wedding planning. After last weekend’s wedding dress adventures Lily finally decided on her wedding dress this week. I wish I could show you but obviously I can’t but it is so beautiful on her. She is going to be such a stunning bride.

I’ve had such a delicious weekend and hope that you all have enjoyed yours too.

Until next time Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxo