This past weekend was just so fabulous. My daughter Caitlin and I flew down to George from Cape Town at an obscenely early time of day last Thursday morning so that we could spend that whole day with Lily, Amelia and Josh. We woke at 4am and just threw on warm clothes and left as we had stayed up late the night before doing our last minute packing.
As we were going through the seated area around the boarding gates we had to pass through a long queue of passengers boarding another plane in order to enter our own gate area. Caitlin must have bumped into this short, greasy-haired, pointy-shoed little fella who was on his mobile phone. He did not realise I was just behind her so when he said he was going to “‘moer’ someone if they knocked into him again” I heard every word. For the non-locals, this means ‘attack’ so when he said this about my almost 7 months pregnant daughter I saw red. I walked over to the nearby row of seats and threw down my bags, took off my jacket and walked back to him until I was standing toe to toe with him. I stood as tall as I could and looked down and said ‘what did you say to my pregnant daughter?’ and he repeated it with his tiny wee chest out. I got as menacing as I could and said loudly ‘aren’t you an asshole’ and he called me a bitch. I got so close that my morning breathe was going up his nostrils. I then said loudly, ‘ahh bless you tiny wee thing, I can see why you have so much hatred towards women,’ I then leaned down looked directly at his crotch, cackled loudly and said ‘yes you have a lot to compensate for don’t you tiny?’ It took every ounce of self constraint not to head butt him and break his overly suntanned face. He looked pretty humiliated though so that had to appease the Mama rage.
I only restrained myself because I wanted to fly. Many people heard it and a few subtly applauded me. An older gentleman even told the boarding agent what happened as we boarded and she asked was everything ok and I told her I dealt with the issue myself. One couple even made a point of voicing support when we got onto the bus to take us to the plane.
Anyway.
Josh very kindly picked us up at George airport and we arrived at their house so early that we got to spend the entire day with everyone. It was a gorgeous sunny day but still very cold. Same as our house and most SA homes, their house has no heat other than space heaters. We are so lucky to have our fireplace. Houses here are usually built to keep them cool in the intense heat, not to keep them warm in the cold.
That night I treated us all to a take away and gave Lily a break from cooking. We all went off to our rooms to watch telly in our warm cozy beds once Millie and Lily went down. Caitlin and I were so tired from our early start that day.
On Friday both Caitlin and I were working so we were logged into our laptops early but when Amelia was awake we took a little break to play with her. She is just the cutest little bear in the world.
She now can sit and amuse herself for ages and crawl about and get into things. She loves books and will get a book, crawl up to you and ‘ask’ you to read to her. She sat on my knee and we (errrr….I) made silly animal noises or goofy voices for the characters which she loved. She is just so aware and funny! She knows she is funny too so she really eggs it up. Hams it up? Ummmm, she is funny. She has a baby Lego set and she expected much celebration if she stacked one, and I mean each and every time she stacked one!
On Friday night Lily cooked an amazing Shabbat dinner. Trevor joined us as well. Josh did the prayers for us and we lit candles and had challah and wine as instructed by Josh. We had roast chicken, rice, roast potatoes, gravy, carrots, steamed broccoli and the challah with lashings of butter. It was gorgeous and so wonderful to have that special time with the family.
Caitlin and I joined as spectators when Lily and Amelia bathed together in the giant clawfoot tub each evening. Amelia loves water and can amuse herself for ages. Caitlin and I read Millie’s bedtime books that night but we did not want to disturb her routine so we let Lily do it the rest of the visit.
Most nights we all went to our beds when Millie went down for the night because it was just so cold and we were all so tired. Babies are exhausting! Delightful, but exhausting!
On Saturday we were having Amelia’s birthday party even though her actual birth date was only on the Sunday. We only invited family. Lily had bought this gorgeous balloon arch for the photos which looked wonderful but had to be blown up by us all. We huffed for so long we got the party started late. Lily took this pic so she was not in this shot, but I can only include the pics where the world cannot see Miss Amelia’s face.
From left to right we have: my handsome son Trevor, Bykki (kid’s stepmom), Hugh (kid’s father), Josh is kneeling in front with Amelia, behind him is his sister Bronwyn and behind her is her fiancé Brendan, then my daughter Caitlin and myself are on the end.
Lily, Josh and Millie are posed with the dollhouse I paid half of for her birthday in this one. The house will last her forever as it is such wonderful quality. Lily found it on Marketplace. I posted a video of the inside of it here if you missed it in the previous post.
We were so busy blowing up balloons and trying to get them hung nicely that we almost forgot about the food. I remembered and offered to sort things for Lily and I was left in charge without a better sighted person to verify things. As a result, I put the oven on 150℃ instead of 180℃ so when Lily checked the bread it was ice cold and the lasagna was not cooked on top. She quickly cranked it up and it all came out brilliantly thank goodness. Lily is such a good cook, she had knocked out this lasagna the previous evening while cooking her shabbat meal. I did make the 2 lovely salads though! The table looked so nice.
Lily had ordered an adult cake and a smaller, sugar free carrot ‘smash cake’ which is apparently now a thing. This is my son Trevor carrying it.
A little photo op area was set up on the downstairs lawn. Amelia was dressed so cute in her little white dress and cardigan, tights and dress up shoes. She got changed after the cake smash.
We all had the lasagna, garlic bread and salad for a late lunch. Lily did great to feed so many people! It was so cheesy and gorgeous. This table is the most divine table ever! It is massive and heavy, solid wood.
It was lovely to get to spend time together as a family. Of course Amelia was the centre of attention as she should be. She was given some very cute gifts, a shopping basket full of plastic fruits and vegetables and empty boxes of things like cereal, a set of tiny metal pots, pans and utensils, a book, a dragon’s tail, some clothes and a little electronic drum set / piano are the ones I can remember. Caitlin had designed a book which was then printed of Amelia’s pictures since birth til now. She was very spoiled.
On Sunday Lily took the monthly pics for the birthday girl.
The kids all hung out at the house for a while, we have to stagger visits when everyone is awake! It was so lovely spending family time. I wish we all lived in the same area and could see each other more often.
On Monday morning Caitlin and I accompanied Lily to Amelia’s swim classes. It was pouring rain and cold, but Millie loved her lessons and she smiled so big the entire time. She can now navigate all the way around the pool holding onto the edge, she can swim with water wings and she can go under with help. She is such a water baby! I guess that is appropriate for a Cancerian Crab?
Caitlin and I flew home late Monday afternoon, luckily without incident. I was too tired for any bullshit and deliberately ignored the eejit nearby watching some sports channel with someone screaming loudly. Why are sport announcers so aggressive? That energy stresses me.
It was so cold in Cape Town and was pouring with rain when we arrived and it has continued that way since!
My friend Tam came for tea on Tuesday as she had been away visiting her family before I had gone away, so we had not seen each other in what felt like ages. While she was there it was raining so hard we could see the rain just pouring into the windows and puddling on the floor tiles.
I was so cold later that afternoon that I wrapped up like an Arctic explorer.
My darling husband built us a fire and the animals all came to cuddle up around us. The two dogs each had a kong filled with frozen yogurt to keep them busy.
The weather has knocked over a lot of my bird feeders, a large metal heart which was hanging from the roof of my back patio has blown down, and a lot of the plants are looking a bit battered and worse for wear. All of the flower pots are over ran with rainwater. The back drain was blocked with debris so a river was cascading past our house. We live on the side of a mountain so the rain gushes off of it and through a drain on our property. Many of our new windows were pouring with rain as was a new door. A part of our internal fence has been blown down, it stops the animals accessing the driveway but is not any impact to our security luckily.
We had a message on our security group that a home was broken into and the owners managed to escape and the house was literally just a block or two below us! We locked up tight, put the alarms and beams on and closed the curtains. With Finn and our security I never feel unsafe.
On Thursday the mobile groomers came to wash Finn and Panda. Despite the torrential weather, no one wants to be stuck in the house with a stinky dog.
I was standing in the kitchen after the groomers left when I spotted my bird friend was back! The quality of my video is even more rubbish than my usual dire quality because I was filming through a wet, dirty window through dreadful weather.
It has now been deemed to definitely be a melanistic Black Sparrowhawk. On one hand I love that he comes to visit, but with a scrawny little thing like Panda running about I wonder how big his prey is! On the other hand I am just so awe struck to watch him.
I did not do my usual orders for food as I did not want the delivery drivers to contend with the weather. Luckily Norm found a gammon (ham) in the fridge and so I cooked that and he popped out to buy some veg to go with it. We had buttery mash, broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce, creamy spinach and some butternut and spinach fritters. It was great for a cold evening and the leftover ham did us for brunches and another dinner.
On Thursday evening I noticed that Finn had something strange going on with his nose. He has been scratching it for weeks and then boom – weird thing appears.
On Friday morning Norm popped down to the vet with him so now Finn is on pills and has a cream for it. It is not contagious, it is a growth of some sort. If the meds do not sort it then we must take him back. It is always something with this lot. Last Monday the cats both got put anesthetised to have some sun damage burned off their little noses.
This week I had 2 very funny interactions in the same Facebook group. It is a group based in my home town of Chattanooga, Tennessee. I actually lived in Rossville, Georgia growing up, but the Tennessee state line is throwing distance from my 1st home with my parents.
Anyway.
The 1st incident happened when I was being nice to some old bloke about security when he posted his DOB and place of birth, full name etc., but it was perceived as condescending because I called him ‘hon’! Such pettiness. Then this nut job comes in to call me a prostitute (‘Jimmie’ is a woman). She then followed me around the group and inserted herself into all of my comment threads on the page, meanwhile telling me I was being rude and telling everyone else I was a ‘know it all’ just because I know proper grammar.
Next, some random dude asked me why I was in a local group for local people (pun intended, IYKYK) if I was South African. I told him I did not need to explain anything to him, but I was born and educated in the South and lived there until I finished university. He then went to my Kitten In the City page and watched various reels where I am doing a voiceover and decided that I did NOT have a southern accent. FFS have you ever been further than your own cul-de-sac you ignorant eejit?
Then this week I was glad I did not let them chase me away as I had a rather fabulous experience! First you need a bit of background. When I was a child I had every manner of pet imaginable. I had every variation of rodent from Guinea Pigs to Teddy Bear Hamsters. I had lizards, snakes, birds, ducks, rabbits, turtles and pretty much anything else I could either catch or convince my parents to buy. However, I had a special love for my snake. He was a harmless little green grass snake.
That snake went everywhere with me. My mom was terrified of him so he ‘lived’ next door at my Grandmother’s in his tank. Allegedly. However, in reality he lived on my body. I put him down my shirt and he wrapped around my scrawny little body. Or he wound himself through my waist length hair and popped his head out of my hair to have a look around. When we went into the pet store he popped out to drool over the mice. These snakes use their tongues to ‘smell’ so his tongue was out flickering. Unfortunately, the sales lady came over to me, saw the snake on my head and got the vapors. They called my mom on the intercom to come and collect me and she was mortified. I found the sales lady over 50 years later in the same group!!!
I found it so hilarious that we have both been telling our version of the story for our whole lives. I love it when something like this validates the crazy stories I tell. Sometimes people look at me like ‘sure that happened’ when I tell them some of my poor past choices and their repercussions. My daughter calls me ‘The Spice Merchant’. Apparently that means I exaggerate everything and ‘spice it up’.
Whatevaaaaa…..at least I am not boring.
Yesterday Norm picked up a second-hand carry cot for the babies when they visit. We have a proper wooden cot but this means we have one for each baba should we have them both here. I do not want the girls to have to cart things back and forth to be comfortable here with the kids, I would like to be self sufficient – just add baby!
The reason my post is out so late is that this morning Norm took me to pick up a little second hand wooden play stove I bought from Marketplace. The seller was an hour’s drive away, but it was such a great price for the quality. It is very basic but it is wood, the knobs turn and the ‘oven door’ opens.
I bought it for our outside room that I want to make into a play room in the summer. Both girls will be able to play there and not worry about the mess when visiting. I have also ordered a set of the same metal pots and pans Millie was given for her birthday as they are brilliant quality. I also ordered a little tin tea set. I cannot wait to have my granddaughters both here to play!! I had such fun with Amelia this visit as she is so interactive now.
While I was there collecting the stove, the seller asked if I had seen the doll pram she had on Marketplace and brought it out. I fell instantly in love but did not have enough cash on me since Norm had used R500 for the cot we had gotten the night before. She could not remember her account number so she said she trusted us to transfer the money when we got home.
It is amazing quality and will last forever! I can just see the grandkids pushing wee Panda around the house.
After we left there we popped in to look at tiles and sanitaryware for the bathroom we want to renovate. I chose a sink and toilet but could not settle on a tile. When we came out of the shop it was pouring rain again and we got rather drenched. Now Norm is working and I am going to cuddle up in front of the fire he made for me when we got home.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend despite whatever intense weather (heat or cold) you may be experiencing. All of my timeline on social media is people complaining of extremes depending on whether they are in the northern or the southern hemisphere.
Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxox
Kitten in the City 
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