The past week was very busy so it flew by!

Lily and her friend Talya drove down from the garden route on Thursday as this weekend was Lily’s hen party. When Lily arrived no one was home and it was load shedding so she could not get in the house as the electric garage door wouldn’t open and she does not have a key to the front door. The Pomeranians were able to get out of the doggy door to go and visit with her but big boy Nav was trapped inside and was going crazy, bless him. They all love Lily so much.

Once I arrived home we hung out on the patio until the sun went down.

Caitlin came over after she finished work. She was so stressed out due to work pressures and organizing Lily’s hen weekend that she had been rushing and managed to break a bottle of red wine in the floor of her car and her car reeked. She was trading cars with Norm for the weekend as she had loads of things to take down for the party. She raided my house for boho style candle holders, blankets, pillows and other items.

Norm steam cleaned her car this weekend and the smell is not too noticeable now. He’s a nice step daddy.

We ordered take aways for dinner that night. The girls and Norm had melanzane parmigiana, Talya had a pizza and I had sushi.

We stayed up far too late chatting and catching up.

The next morning Lily had her final wedding dress fitting and Talya had errands to run so they were away separately and Norm came with me to my appointment with an ophthalmologist at the eye clinic.

I suffer from severe myopia, I cannot see to walk across a room without my eyeglasses. I also have Posterior Vitreous detachment. I have intense pain if I look at a strong light and I have a lot of floating spots. My eyes hurt so badly sometimes they just weep, especially if I have been staring too intently at a screen. As I am a data analyst I stare at a screen all day. My grandmother had macular degeneration and my mom has iritis so I wanted to check the overall health of my eyes.

Dr G did all of the tests for cataracts and glaucoma, he did a vision test and a general exam of the health of my eyes. He said that all of the symptoms I have are due to the severity of my myopia. He says I also have severe dry eye syndrome but that I have no structural issues. He prescribed some drops and gave me a script for reading glasses when I told him I can no longer read with comfort. I asked about whether I would be a candidate for Laser surgery and he said it would be the worst thing I could do as I would struggle to see my computer screen afterwards due to my issues with reading.

At least all of these symptoms are nothing serious, I was sure I had something dreadful going on and that is why I have put off going and why I dragged Norm along. What a relief.

The girls headed out around lunch time. There were 10 girls who attended Lily’s hen weekend. Caitlin had booked them into a beautiful villa in Gordon’s Bay called La Vue Parfaite.

The girls said they had a relaxing Friday night swimming and chatting and then on Saturday they had a boho style picnic. As the weather was dreadful they had it inside.

The girls looked stunning and sweet in their boho style outfits and the food all looked so pretty.

I’m so glad they had such fun.

Norm and I also had a lovely weekend.

On Friday there was load shedding from 6 to 8:30pm so rather than struggle to cook we joined our friends Dave, Darren and Julie for dinner and jazz at Hout Bay Manor hotel.

It was a warm lovely evening and we were seated on the patio in the shade.

Darren ordered a Thai curry but the rest of us are eating low carb and we ordered the crispy duck. It was served on a bed of stir fried vegetables and came with a divine sticky sauce on the side.

It really was perfectly cooked. The skin was crisp, the duck was not overcooked or dry and the vegetables were al dente. It was really delicious and gets 5 Kitten Stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The next morning we woke to an overcast sky and drizzling rain. I was off to the city to get my hair cut and colored. The dogs gave me a sad faced send off.

Cape Town was very busy and I struggled to find parking and ended up blocks away. Walking to the hairdresser was fine but when I left there my newly styled hair took a beating in the wind and rain.

On the way to the salon I was walking behind a person with lovely lush red hair who was wearing a sweet floral summer frock. They turned around and I was surprised to see that it was a dude with a full beard. I’m glad that usually Cape Town is accepting of people just being themselves, but I hope no one gives him attitude as not everyone in Cape Town is accepting of people stepping outside of gender norms.

After my appointment I collected Norm and we went down to the village to return the clothes I bought online that I did not want. As we were both hungry we stopped for brunch at Allegria Cafe. We sat outside as the tables are undercover and protected from the rain and it was a warm muggy day.

I ordered an omelette with emmental cheese, crispy bacon and caramelised onions. Norm ordered the chicken salad from the specials board.

After we finished eating, our friend Bronwyn walked past and we called her over for a chat. Hout Bay has such a cozy village feel, we almost always run into someone we know. The previous night we also ran into friends at the jazz. I love that about Hout Bay. Except when I have dirty hair and no makeup on, then it’s not a plus.

We went to the shops after brunch and took back my items. They had a sale on and I bought a cute summery dress, Norm found a nice shirt and I got something for Trevor’s birthday which is in June. We bought a few essential groceries and headed off.

After we got home Norm set up Amazon Prime on our telly. We spent the afternoon trawling through the listings and getting familiar with the interface.

Norm went to Massimo’s for takeaways for our dinner that night. I had a tapas portion of calamari and a Sofia Loren salad and it was very tasty.

We had such a chaotic week we ended up getting takeaways most of the week but we stuck to low carb as best we could.

We made our low carb pizza crust with a high fat topping on Tuesday. We used pancetta and it was so delicious.

It has been a sad and emotional week in South Africa.

Despite the promises of our president to ensure that men who perpetrate violent crimes against women and children will not be given bail or early parole, there were several instances of his broken promises resulting in the death of children.

Moehydien Pangaker (54) was arrested for the murder of eight-year-old Tazne van Wyk who had been missing for weeks. Tazne walked to the shop and was never seen again. She was murdered and shoved into a storm drain.

Pangaker’s prior convictions:

Ladismith: 2015: possession of a stolen vehicle – guilty and sentenced

Ladismith: 2015: driving a vehicle without authority – guilty

Ladismith: 2003: assault – sentenced

Elsies River: 2003: breaking correctional supervision – guilty

Kuilsriver: 2001: murder – guilty and sentenced

Ladismith: 2001: culpable homicide, abduction, child neglect – sentenced

Laingsburg: 1998: housebreaking – guilty and sentenced

Ravensmead: 1988: assault – sentenced

Kimberley: 1991: theft – sentenced

Elsies River: 1981: theft – sentenced

Elsies River: 1981: housebreaking – sentenced

According to the National Prosecuting Authority, Pangaker was sentenced in 2008 at the Bellville Regional Court for kidnapping, child abuse and culpable homicide. The victim was his own son. Pangaker was sentenced to 10 years for culpable homicide, with the kidnapping and child abuse count running concurrently with the culpable homicide. He was released on parole but absconded in 2015. He was placed out on parole supervision at Ladismith Community Corrections between October 2016 and May 2019. He then also absconded supervision and a case was opened at Ladismith for absconding.

The members of the Elsies River community were so angry that another of their children was murdered by a man who should not have been on the streets in the first place.

Another example is a father accused of killing his 4 kids. He was out on parole for another child murder at the time he committed this horrific crime against his own family.

How can these monsters be allowed to freely roam the streets of our country? Do the lives and safety of women and children matter so little?

But there are so many women who are angry and unwilling to be the next victim. Women who are rising up and raising their voices to protest the lack of governmental change or support.

This heartfelt rendition of the song ‘I Heard’ represents what many are feeling. It was written by the beautiful Bianca Flanders.

A collective group of women is a powerful thing. We must keep writing, talking, singing and protesting about this issue until our justice system wakes up and comes to the table and stops giving reduced sentences, parole and freedom to men who should never be allowed near women and children.

Hold your loved ones close.

Until next time, Kisses From The Kitten xoxoxoxo