After such a beautiful day last Saturday, on Sunday the weather turned again and we woke to rain that morning. Norm and I had planned on having a wander around the garden centre as I had a voucher to spend, but I did not fancy roaming around in the rain so we decided to postpone it once we realised the rain had set in. Instead Norm built a lovely fire for me and I snuggled up with Miss Poppy and started watching the latest season of Ginny and Georgia. I have written about this series multiple times, here is the link to the first time.
Monday Chichi came to work after having a paid day off the previous week as it was a public holiday. She told me she had never been paid for a public holiday before other than easter and Christmas etc., never for all of the others. I told her it was not to my advantage that her day to come to me was a Monday but it obviously was to her, the previous employer did not give her these days off! We coped so long without any help, we can easily cope for a few weeks. Well, by we I mean Norm. I am useless at domestic chores.
The weather continued pouring down on and off on Monday but it suddenly perked up on Tuesday. It was still very cold, but in the sun it was lovely.
Then on Wednesday we woke to thundering rain. It sounded so lovely on the tin roof I did not want to get out of bed. It was freezing cold and the rain intensified as the day went on.
It does not faze Poppy she just lies in it, splashes in it and rolls around in it playing with her toys nonchalantly.
In the late afternoon we had loud claps of thunder followed by flashes of lightning and then it started hailing against the windows.
Norm built a fire and the dogs and I cuddled up nearby.
Poppy had gotten absolutely drenched so she snuggled up on my lap to dry out.
Have you ever had one of those friends who seem to twin or live a parallel life to you? My friend Cathi and I are like this. We have such similar taste and charts or auras or whatever drives decisions and timing? The planets as we were born a month apart?? We both had sexy red convertibles at the same time, then we both had other convertibles, then we both bought Jukes. Our home styles in regards to art and furniture is often the same as are many other areas. I posted about my new lights and Cathi posted hers. How similar??? Except, her room is tidy and mine is littered with dog beds and damp cushions.
This week I was thinking about disassociation when I was, you guessed it, disassociating while watching the lizards. As an only child, I spent a lot of my time in an alternative universe. I disappeared in the morning and only returned back to my grandmother’s house when I got hungry. I imagined myself as a character from whatever I was obsessed with at that age, more often than not I was Mowgli and my pets of the moment were the jungle book characters. I was brown from the sun and even resembled Mowgli and his weird fringe.
Our home was on a 20 acre piece of land that we shared with my grandmother. When my parents were married they were given a piece of land to build a house, which was completed and moved into when I was 3 years old. When my parents were at work my grandmother looked after me as her house was a few outbuildings away from ours. I would wander across the fields to the woods at the edge of the property with the animals all trailing behind me. I traipsed into the woods looking down, scuffing my toes in the dirt for Arrowheads or gun shells, unusual rocks or anything interesting I could find. I often found nothing, however the hunt was the expedition, not the finds. I followed the creek that flowed through our fields into the woods until it turned into a little mountain spring and I hung out there living my best imaginary Mowgli life pretending to catch fish for my dinner. I carefully avoided the frogs as I am terrified of frogs.
I thought about how I played but I had always assumed it was because I was an only child that I had an imaginary life or created games with my pets. Maybe I would have played differently with siblings? I was pretty happy by myself, I never got bored as I had books and my grandmother to tell me stories if the weather did not support me traipsing about outside. My grandma and I were very close.
That was my life in the country 60 years ago. Now the house my grandmother lived in is gone and replaced with a storage facility. My grandma’s old stone archway is still there. It seems that they changed the road layout as the arch used to be very near the road, or maybe I just remember it that way because the postbox was there and I had to get the post out while cars whizzed by so fast.
The local town has slowly slid out to meet the country. Any child growing up there will have a different experience entirely. Now the town where I spent my childhood has pretty much gone to seed. There is a lot of crime and everything just looks sad.
Overall, country life may sound sweet and charming but there are weirdos in the country just as there are in the city. I remember my friend and I riding bicycles to the swimming pool when we were probably 11 years old and some creep stopped his pickup truck and flashed his willy at us both. We were children. We were grossed out and we never spoke of it again, almost as if we should be ashamed, when all we did was exist on a bicycle with a female child’s body. Meanwhile he probably gloated to his pedo friends and they all laughed about it over a beer while hitching up their jeans over their big bellies and scratching their goolies.
Country living was a great way for kids to grow up, and other than the random pervert, it was generally safe back then. Or was it just that there was no social media to tell us about the serial killer that lived in the trailer park nearby? Now if you just breathe in someone’s general direction, someone else will record you and someone else will identify you and boom, you are infamous. Back then you could slither under the radar.
My Mom has left assisted living and gone back to her little bungalow very near where I grew up but one town over which is very quaint. Norm is looking at the cost of flights to go back to help get my Mom set up with Palliative care. We cannot afford the flights for us both and I only have enough leave days available to go once, so we would rather both go at Christmas so Mom is not on her own for the holidays and let Norm go do the legal stuff now. Especially as I do not drive I could not go without him so it makes sense. It is a challenge dealing with it all from here when no one from her medical team communicates with us to tell us what is going on with her health or how serious it is. This week we got hold of my uncle (Mom’s youngest brother) and discussed whether we should fly over. We agreed she really only needs help setting things up legally and medically with palliative care. I am flying to George for Amelia’s birthday so we would prefer Norm go over to the US after I am back from that trip down the coast, but Delta only fly three times a week from Cape Town to Atlanta, so he has to consider that too.
Mom is a beautiful woman and looks amazing for her age. Her mind is sharp and she misses nothing, it is only her physical body which is failing her. This pic was taken when we were in Chattanooga a year and a half ago.
It was my Mom’s 84th birthday on Thursday. We scheduled a family call for 5pm SA time / 11am Georgia time. That meant it was while her great grandbabies were having their dinner. It was adorable to see their little faces chomping on their dinner. My son Trevor also dialed in so Mom got her daughter, her granddaughters, her grandson and her great-granddaughters all on a video call and it made me so happy we all made it. It was so cute watching the babies react to our faces and convos. Amelia said ‘Uncle’ and ‘Bree’ to their pics, it is so lovely watching her develop her language skills. Mom was going for Mexican food and then on to get her hair done with her friend for her birthday which made me happy that she was getting out. We talked until she had to go and get ready for her friends to arrive.
I also delivered my document to the key stakeholders on Thursday. I walked them through the management overview first and then took them through my key findings and recommendations, that way I could explain it as a story in English and then it was easier to follow the rolled up bullets in the findings table. The director told me he actually read my entire document which is amazing as it was 144 pages.
On Friday I loaded all of my other documents to the client’s site. I delivered my word document report but it was supported by documents of data quality rules, data mapping, data analysis, data architecture models and other bits and pieces. That is me finished on this project. From Monday I am ‘on the bench’. The client hinted they will be getting me back, I hope it is soon but you never know with corporates, they have to find funding first before they sign a contract. They also have to decide what they want me to do and who is going to pay for it.
I ordered firewood which was delivered this week. I ordered 20 bags of nice hardwood which was crazy expensive but hopefully will last all of July. As our only heating is the fireplace, when it is bitterly cold it is divine to have a fire blazing. I feel grateful and expressed my gratitude that I could afford to buy the wood, that I could have it delivered to my home, that I have space in my garage to store it where it will keep dry, and that I can get to it from my kitchen without having to go outside and get wet myself. I am thankful. Luckily Friday was payday so that eased the pain a bit.
The weather continued and the rain got so extreme I could not even sit out in the usual protected area.
I’ve booked Kim, the man who helps in the garden, to come on Monday so let’s hope the rain ends by then. Actually, I am attending a birthday party tomorrow so hopefully it stops before then so I do not arrive looking like a damp squib.
There were a few things I wanted to do today but the weather has put me off. There were videos everywhere of the flooding and potholes opening underneath it and with my vision that is my worst nightmare, a hidden lake in the middle of a country road. I do have to pop down to the shops in the village as my favourite necklace needs repairing, even that may have to wait. I hope you all have a good week.
Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxox
Kitten in the City 