While I was in George, I loved having my morning coffee outside watching the birds while Amelia pottered about. There were so many lovely birds we do not see in Cape Town. There was a rainbird aka a Burchell’s Coucal, which makes the funniest sounds as a warning of rain. There was the black African hoopoe which sounded like a frog to me!

You can listen to the rainbird here and the hoopoe here.

The relationship that Amelia has with Lily is so adorable to watch. Lily is such an excellent Mom. Both of my daughters are such good moms. Amelia is so clever and chatty now and gets very frustrated if we do not understand her when she is taking such care to enunciate so clearly. But when you do figure it out she glows and instantly says ‘Yesss’ in such a sweet way. Usually she stops the frustration immediately. My oldest daughter was like that as a toddler. Once she could speak and be understood, and could understand when you explained things, she stopped freaking out. I think it is a sign of cleverness and she is a very smart little sausage.

Amelia loves her trampoline and jumps every time she can convince someone to accompany her. One day she sat down, removed her shoes and strode down toward the trampoline on her own. Lily asked her where she was going and she said casually ‘to jump’. Then she realised she could not get in on her own and asked for help.

On Sunday she said to me ‘Come Lisi Come!!’ and I went with her down the steps to the trampoline and she went up the ladder and in to jump. She jumped for ages. I made the mistake of singing “Bouncy, bouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun funnn. The wonderful thing about Millie is that she’sssss the only one!” to the tune of Tigger while she did so. She then insisted I continue and shouted SING while she bounced along like a little kangaroo. Eventually she wanted me to climb in with her and I said I was too big to get in the little opening. She would not accept that as an answer until I said ‘I am too fat to fit in the opening!’ and she seemed to accept that and decided to get out and wait for Trevor to arrive.

As soon as he arrived Millie ran up to him and said ‘Trevor Jump!! Elisi Fat’ with a huge shrug of her shoulders and an exaggerated sad face. She is such a hilarious child and a dramatic actress. Trevor looked shocked at her manners until I explained the backstory. Lily was not impressed that I taught her to call people fat. Oops, I was just trying to distract her from forcing my vertigo riddled brain into a trampoline with a toddler.

My son Trevor had come through from Hoekwil to have dinner with us. Lily cooked spaghetti bolognaise and garlic bread. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon even though no one was feeling quite 100%. Trevor was full of flu as were Millie and I and then he was stung by something as well! We were all worried it might have been a spider but it eventually settled down. Of course I teased him with spider man memes.

I kept forgetting that if you did something once and Amelia liked it, you carried on indefinitely. I made a Trombone motion during the slidey sound from her toy piano and I then had to repeat it until my biceps nearly went into spasm. I also was having a song brain day and came up with so many songs with her name in them (“Oh Amelia, you’re breaking my heart, you’re shaking my confidence daily…..” obviously leaving out the girlfriendy kissy lyrics.)

She never misses a thing!! She stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday as she was so full of cold. I thought I was getting better as my nose was still not that funky green until I woke up at 4am on Tuesday and could barely breathe. I was awake from 4 coughing.

I flew home on Tuesday afternoon. It was uneventful and I had a nice seat with lots of legroom. There was a young lad next to me who was flying to Europe. It was only his second flight and we were on his first. He asked me lots of questions and I answered them. I hope I was right and he is not locked in a Spanish prison. I went home and straight to bed. Norm went out to get us dinner and I ate it in bed. We still had no furniture or fridge downstairs.

The builders arrived on Wednesday but I had phoned in sick to work. I stayed in our room where I had gone when I got home from the airport. I saw that SANParks were doing controlled burns opposite our house.

The builders came to put down the skirting boards and discovered that the floor is not level, this is such a skew house. They decided to put the skirting boards in level and fill in the floor underneath with whatever you fill things in with. The eye will be tricked apparently. We have had so many issues with trying to fit things on these wacky walls.

I was still sick on Thursday but did a bit of work when my fizzy meds kicked in. These things do not taste repulsive and they perk you up nicely for about an hour. I took the maximum 3 a day. I also took a Phenergan, an antihistamine, at bedtime. I still felt like death dipped in luminous slime.

When the builders finished on Thursday the skirting boards were almost complete, the toilet was in and the new bathroom mirror hung. The oven door glass had shattered but hey ho.

It was a beautiful warm day and so we decided to have pizzas outside. By the time we had gotten sorted it was too cold to be there seeing as I was still feeling ick. I had half my pizza then went back to my cozy bed.

I was still very sick on Friday but if I take 3 days off sick I have to have a doctor’s note and seeing as I do not even have a doctor, I do not have a note. So yesterday I was back working while hacking like an old miner who smoked a pack of unfiltered woodbines every hour.

I managed to deliver my draft presentation and have a walkthrough meeting explaining my analysis.

While recovering I watched an episode of the new series Real Housewives of London. These women are so fake and pretentious. Everything is performative.

But what I like about the series is seeing the places I have been myself when I lived in the UK. For example, in one episode the women are being catty about being invited to ‘The Palace’. One wife was invited to tea with Queen Anne, and another one was invited to The Queen’s Garden Party. the garden party woman is Panthea Parker , a horrid mean girl type with a common accent. She took a selfie of the King and Camilla when they went past.

On the ride there, her husband (aka her method of entry to the party) tries to tell her to behave and reads imaginary rules of etiquette to her.

Here is the thing I found hilarious. Norman and I were invited to both Windsor and Buckingham Palace on multiple occasions. We attended The Queen’s Garden Party when he was the CEO of British Triathlon. I did not know you had to be ‘special’, I thought it was open to the public, sort of a first come first serve ticketing basis. Oops, us ignorant Americans. I discovered it is to recognise people for their services to the country. We did receive actual tickets, a lanyard and a list of etiquette rules to adhere to. I am pretty sure it said no photos but it was a long time ago, hence not having any actual photos of our attendance. I just remember feeling beautiful in a black feathery fascinator.

Then they all had a tea on the river Thames at the rowing club which is at the end of the Henley Royal Regatta. Julia Mayhew was the wife who hosted this event and talked about her son rowing in the regatta. When I lived and worked just south of London my friends and I lived and played in this area. These were our local pubs and we went to a party at the end point of the regatta every year as our friend knew someone who lived there. I love seeing these familiar spots and appreciating what a rich history of memories I have. I am grateful for these experiences.

Last night Norm started putting up the artwork and curtains and other bits. We watched telly downstairs for the first time in weeks. It almost felt like life was normal again. (It is not.)

Today I am still full of luminous nuclear green emissions and coughing a lot but I do feel a bit better. I am going to have a long scrubby shower and wash my hair as I feel grubby despite showering last night. Today I had an appointment for my monthly facial and I was attending my new women’s group but both have been cancelled so that I do not spread my germs further (not that I was actually up to it!).

Next week the last few bits will be finished. Next project is the outside playroom. We are also trimming our trees next week. The tree dude recommended we remove the giant pepper tree but I am not keen on that as it gives us our only shade. There is a tree which may need to come out as it’s roots are growing under the paving and house. I am sitting with it, asking the Creator and Mother Earth to guide me.

Until Next Time, Kisses from The Kitten xoxoxoxooxox