People often ask me why I bothered to get diagnosed with Autism and ADHD at my age, did it make any difference to have a label? For me it clarifies why I do some of the things I do or think the way that I think. For example, I can just sit in my fairy garden, or move plants around, or just watch the birds and that is enough to make me feel unbelievably happy. If I plant something, especially a tiny clipping, and it grows, it makes me so happy and I mentally mark their growth like a proud parent on a pantry doorframe. These plants are like my little pets. If they are unwell I fret about them. I have a few who are not doing well and I am worried I cannot save them. I am not very good at researching things, I so often just rely on my instincts. I did download an app this week which is helping a lot. It told me my pig’s ear is sunburned and over-watered. I have moved him in the shade and he is better already.

I love how my teapot shelf is thriving! These plants do better when ignored and not overwatered.

I have so many interesting interactions with nature. While praying on Monday, I was facing the East and a group of four fat Cape Robins were singing loudly, then they flew into the tree next to me, then into the hibiscus nearby, then away from our garden. They returned a bit later but with less drama. I looked it up: ‘the Cape Robin is the Stonemason’s spirit guide and guardian. The robin is a symbol of perseverance, awareness, growth and and contentment. A Robin crossing your path can be seen as a lucky omen and is associated with the end of an old phase in your life and entering of a new.‘

That is so appropriate at this moment in my life on both a personal and professional level.

Then I was sitting in my back garden and thinking about something related to energy (what a surprise #SpecialInterest). Again, I confirmed in my head that I am not powerful enough energetically to generate an actual physical reaction. As I did so I looked up and saw a gorgeous little swee waxbill sitting on the stem of the bird feeder in my fairy garden. He grasped a little piece of strawberry in his beak. As my mouth dropped open with amazement, he hopped onto the ears of a big white bunny, then he hopped onto the next white bunny, and then the next. I did not have a camera with me but it was so cool!!

I looked up the waxbill’s meaning spiritually: ‘From a spiritual perspective the bird suggests that there is help in guiding the way. If you see one in the wild then this denotes that you will be able to judge how people are acting around you, what they are really thinking. This totem suggests that you will observe a number of things. The Waxbill symbol is a sign that spiritual strength will enable one to succeed in life.‘

I feel the information from these interactions, however it may be received, I accept it.

I am now seeing the little swee waxbills often at the back garden feeder.

Of course I always have dozens of lizard sightings each week. I watch them do amazing feats of aerial stunts. I giggle at the shapes of the giant shadows their tiny bodies make. Yesterday I watched one jump out of fright because a leaf blew next to him. I know of spots where there is almost always a lizard nearby, assuming it is near their ‘home’. One lives in the roof covering over the back patio and usually chills on the post so I always make sure I am not putting my hand on him when I use the rail. I love them so much!!

Can you spot one below?

When I am at the front of the house I also sit and watch the light changing across the mountains for hours. I now know that this is a form of meditation, it clears your mind and allows thoughts to come and go, focusing only on those which we wish to and letting the others float past. I am very blessed that almost every angle of view from my house has something beautiful to gaze upon.

Of course, I spend a lot of time playing with the little Princess. She brings me things to throw as that is her fave activity.

We have had so many powerful series of events energetically. February 17 was the start of the Lunar New Year marking the rare, 60-year return, of the Fire Horse. “A year associated with intense energy, rapid transformation, and bold action. The Fire Horse represents independence, passion, and, for many, a desire to move forward in life. This year is expected to be fast-paced and transformative. There was also a ‘Ring of Fire’ solar eclipse with a new moon on February 17, 2026 which offers new beginnings.‘

This aligns with the shifts in my life. I feel so positive and light about everything. I am looking forward to skilling on a new tool, working with a new client, in a new industry. I think in order to feel happy and fulfilled in life, one needs a purpose, and mine has always been work. At this stage of my life I am happy to focus on my family, but as I must work for a while longer, I am glad I enjoy what I do. I have never been one of those women whose entire identity is based on my relationship to someone else.

Last weekend was such lovely weather. It was quite hot on Saturday but not unbearably so. I was feeling unwell so I just lay in bed for ages, then watched telly from the lounger. The new season of Love is Blind is on Netflix so I watched a few episodes of that.

Then I had chicken soup and toast since I was not well. I sat outside for a while watching the dogs and my mountains.

On Sunday I did some gardening and watered all of the plants (there are a LOT of plants so it takes ages). I took a pic of Blue chilling and posted it with a background song about ‘Soak up the Sun’ and as I was doing so it started pouring with rain. I thought that was funny that the one day I make sure every plant gets water, it rains.

I felt well enough to eat dinner so Norm cooked some fillet steaks and halloumi and I made a salad. The shop only had small little fillets, and Norm bought three of them so I was happy with that. I do not usually eat a large steak, I save half for the following day. I managed this small one easily and Norm just had two of them. Mine was perfectly pink inside and my halloumi was crispy.

It was still lovely and cool with barely a wisp of wind and it was very pleasant outside.

Even Norman was happy outside, at least he was until he finished eating dinner. Then he was hunting mozzies.

Poppy was an absolute nuisance. Luckily she is so small that she is easy to ignore when she is dancing around on the periphery of the table.

Luckily Finn is a polite young man and lay on his hill watching the gates for any potential marauding steak thieves.

We sat outside until the sun went down and then went inside. At some point in the night it must have rained some more because the signs were there the following morning but of course it quickly dried once the sun was up.

On Monday Chichi came to work and she was much calmer than last week. Last week there was a shooting right outside of her shack and she was still traumatised and spent most of her day on the phone with her friends. She said it is so scary now in the township because people just start shooting. I feel for her I can only imagine what that is like. People always go on about how risky it is to live in South Africa, but the numbers of crimes in the informal settlements are far higher than the crimes in the suburbs.

This week there was a body discovered in the village. It was on the Hangberg side of the valley where several of my friends live. The body was identified as belonging to Amiena Swano, a young 17 year old girl. Three older people have been arrested. It is so sad and tragic that she had her life ahead of her yet her life meant nothing to the animals who killed her, stuffed her into a box, and hid her in an empty flat. I have such sadness for her mother and the rest of the community who knew either of them.

Monday evening was warm so we just felt like a salad. Norm ordered a Chicken Caesar for us both from a local spot. What arrived was definitely not a Caesar and the warm chicken made the rest of the items all wilted. It also contained tomatoes (I am not a fan). I ate it as that was my only option for dinner but I did not really enjoy the texture of it and left about half for Norm.

But it was a lovely evening with very pretty clouds so I enjoyed dining outside with the gorgeous view (my husband arrived just after this to join me and my view was him AND Table Mountain💜).

Finn was happy to hang outside while we were there. He has to be near his Norman at all times.

Tuesday was my on site meeting in town. We were away early and Norm found the location, popped into Bootleggers to grab a coffee and a bottle of water and then dropped me off. The offices are in the same complex so he parked and went to Bootleggers to wait for me to finish.

I finally got to carry one of my new leather bags. I love the scruffy leather.

The laptop bag went to the meeting with me and it easily carried my laptop, mouse, power cable, water bottle, glasses case, A4 notebook and pens. I wanted to carry the other bag to conceal my bright pink 1.2 liter thermos water bottle (what do you call those giant insulated cups?) but Norm said I would look odd. So I just took my handbag and Norm picked up a bottle of water in a reasonable size for me. Can you imagine me bouncing through life without him to keep me in check?

I was the first consultant to arrive. I wore a black linen dress with red lipstick, red necklace, bracelet and ring. I felt very professional yet elegant. Putting on my professional look for work got me in the right mind frame. The offices are lovely and modern. There were 7 of us in the meeting and it went very well. I then went down to meet Norm and off we went back across the mountain to Hout Bay.

That afternoon there was another fire in Hout Bay’s informal settlement. This time there are over a thousand people effected. This weekend I want to shop for a donation to drop off at Thula Thula but for now I just did a quick financial contribution using Snapscan which literally took 10 seconds. If you are local can you please also contribute if you are able to do so.

Wednesday and Thursday were a bit overcast and cooler which was lovely! After work I could work in the garden.

I took some clippings of this little green and red plant and here is one for me to track it’s growth.

I did a repotting of a plant that was in isolation as he was full of sticky little bugs. I took the plants out and gave them a bath in soapy water.

Then I gave the plants a cull of critters with the little tweezers. In addition to all of the tiny mites I also found a spider, it was transparent and it stared at me aggressively. I did not like him. The dirt was full of giant slug like creatures which make me heave even now when I think about them. I am not sure if that was just the full experience of one creature’s life cycle or multiple creatures all working towards the collective goal of eating my plants.

I washed and scrubbed the pot, put new dirt into it and replanted the clean plants. Let’s hope this gets rid of it. It is like when your kids get lice from school and it just goes around and around the school? You do your best but the little suckers will just jump back on. I have kept the plant isolated until I can see how it recovers and if it seems pest free before he can come back to the folds of the gardens.

It is a hard world in the plant kingdom.

I also cleared out an overly full plant pot which had no room and therefore the plants were starting to get ill from the damp. I cleared the old plants out and then removed the dead leaves and replanted with fresh earth.

Norm was in meetings one night this week so I ordered a curry for myself from Curry Mafia. I love their branding.

I had the butter chicken. The chicken was tender and the flavours were tasty.

This morning I went for an eye exam and I ordered new reading glasses. I wanted giant black square ones but they did not suit my face. The heavy part over the brows looked a bit like I had a unibrow. I tried on loads and finally ordered this pair. I also need new everyday glasses but they are expensive so will wait a few months then go back and order those.

After we finished at the optician we went for brunch at The Pelican which is run by our friend Anton. We got a table in the shade.

It was a little windy and I was eating copious amounts of my hair, luckily I had a hair clip in my bag.

I ordered an iced coffee and Norm had a cappuccino. Norm ordered a plain omelette and toast and I had a Bacon Benedict on sourdough. The hollandaise was gorgeous and the eggs were cooked perfectly.

When we got home the dogs acted like we had been away for years, not just a few hours. It is still overcast and cool so I will be able to garden as long as it does not rain.

Next week I have to go in to the CBD to Salt River for three, 2-hour long workshops. Two of the workshops are on the same day but hours apart. I will have to see if I can cope with staying in town from 11am to 6pm as that is a long day for me to be surrounded by people. I do not want to burn out before we even officially start.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and week ahead. Until next time, Kisses from the Kitten xoxoxoxoxoxo