Caitlin and Bree came around last Sunday to celebrate Father’s Day with Norman. He is so humble and he hates any sort of attention but a low key pizza and chat is his style.

I miss my own Father, who I actually did call Daddy as many southern girls do. He has been gone for more of my life than he was here for it. I wish my kids could have known him, he was such a cool dude. I get my black hair as well as the gray stripes from him.

Before Caitlin and Bree arrived I was gardening, treating aphids and repotting plants. I redid a pot from my kitchen window and cleared several other pots of plants and treated them for pests.

This one is back in the kitchen window and now has a little ‘hen & chick’ aka an House Leek, 2 clusters of jelly beans, a very sad aeonium arboreum zwartkop aka Black Rose and some little climbing things which I bought many years ago and it has birthed many clippings all over my garden. I will see what survives.

I took some cactus mixture, some regular potting soil and some perlite and added my new clay beads to the bottom of a big clay pot. I then added a bit that had decided to toss itself out of another pot, a 6 pack of succulents I had bought and some other odds and ends.

While Bree was napping Caitlin, Norm and I were sitting in the back garden and a pair of Southern Boubou came to eat at the bird feeder. They are such beautiful birds. They were quite a large pair and I was surprised they were so social as to come and settle so near us. The apple bits I added to the feeder must be irresistible.

The weather was stunning, it was actually too hot to sit directly in the sun. Luckily it is protected from sun, wind and rain at the back.

Poppy was loving running around after Bree. Bree was loving a new environment of things to see and explore. Her eyes were like saucers while viewing the fairies and bunnies and she sang ‘Hop, hop, hop’ to them.

Poppy told me many tales after they left.

Chichi came on Monday to clean the house and she mentioned the protestors who are looking for anyone who is not South African born and ‘reporting them’. It is as menacing as it sounds. This is happening to the Africans who live in the townships, they may be pulled from their jobs or their homes and reported for being here illegally. Rumour is there is a bounty for anyone who is reported who does not ‘have papers’. The problem is that many people have been trying to get legal residency for years. The inefficiencies of the Visa department are legendary.

Our President addressed the issue in his speech to the public early in June.

Many people question how I ended up in South Africa and the ‘original’ story is very complicated, however when I came back here in 2009, I decided on the spur of the moment. I had been made redundant from a consulting house and the time felt right. I went to a psychic before I left the UK and then when this experience actually happened it gave me the confidence that I had made the right decision. Many years and 3 grandchildren later, it was indeed the best decision I could have made.

The other morning I watched a young African mom cross the road with her small baby on her hip who looked about the same age as our Roo. I thought about what a challenge my girls have with getting up, dressed, ready and getting their child ready in the mornings. My girls have hot running water, they have a toilet, they have a kitchen with space to prepare food for breakfast, a kettle and a stove to do so. Mothers in the townships wake up in a cold metal framed shack, they have to go and collect the water to make breakfast and wash, all without electricity, running water or any other convenience. Yes many people may have an extension cord with a few things plugged in to help them but it is so far from ideal. I thought about what a challenge these mothers have every morning. I am so glad my children have an easier life.

We all know I am the Queen of Manifestation. This week one of my Elder’s Meditations reminded me that belief is part of my heritage. I believe prayer is just manifestation. I have 2 friends who are ill. I pray different things for them every morning. One I ask for the illness to just stop where it is and not progress further, the other I ask to become completely well. Different treatment plans for different manifestations. Every morning I pray for my daughter to get a house of her own. I pray for healing for a different loved one in a different way entirely.

This week Kim came and worked on clearing the last area of raggedy grass outside of the gate on the verge. The weather was overcast but the skies quickly became dark, the wind came up and it started raining so we told him he must finish early.

Norm went to the shop when he dropped Kim off and he picked up dinner and cooked for us. We had a perfectly cooked fillet steak, potato croquettes in a creamy spinach sauce and steamed broccoli. All I had to do was put it on my plate and I still managed to drop my potato dish on the counter and had to scoop it up onto my plate.

The next day it was again miserable weather, cold and drizzly with rain.

Norm built a fire for us on both Tuesday and Wednesday. I painted my nails since they have grown so long.

This week I noticed a ‘new’ stim, by which I mean I noticed another stim. I tap my teeth together in time to music or sometimes just to as beat in my head. It is called Auditory Stimming: Because you can hear the internal tapping or clicking, it provides consistent, predictable sound input. Some people even use their teeth to simulate complex drum beats or internal melodies. When I read about it in a group, I was actively doing it. I have never noticed it but now I notice I do it almost constantly. If someone randomly yells ‘dance‘ I can plug in a tune in my brain and hear every beat of it.

I have ordered a 48″ mini rebounder and it should arrive on the 29th. I am going to commit to 10 minutes a day of gentle health bouncing, just to get my body used to it and to see what effect it has on me. I am very excited to potentially find a way of exercise that I enjoy. I read that trampolining is a stim so that is maybe a thing in my favour.

My blood tests came back. This is the email: “Good news the thyroid function is completely normal- so the nodules seen on ultrasound are not causing any issues. The screen for rheumatoid arthritis is also negative. The only results of concern are your cholesterol levels- total and the bad cholesterol LDL are both quite elevated. With your family history of heart disease I would advise going a statin to lower your 10 year risk of heart or stroke events.”

So she wants to put me on a statin. These often cause digestive issues and as I already have so many this causes me concern.

I have committed to rebounding and going lower carb as has Norm. I have been more ‘conscious’ of my choices. We had a take away from Massimo’s and I had 3 different tapas items: calamari (granted it was fried), spinach with pine nuts and a salad.

We had to pop out to the shops on Thursday and we stopped for a coffee at Allegria Cafe and decided to have breakfast. Norm caught me sneaking a pic.

We laughed about my nonsense. I had mentioned something and then managed to turn it on him and call him a gaslighter, all jokingly and luckily he realised that so we started laughing. A man who understands my need for dopamine and drama without bringing danger into the equation. With me always err on the side of ‘she is taking the piss’, because I usually am.

I kept it low carb and ordered an egg, bacon, mushrooms, tomato. I did not eat the sourdough.

It was an absolutely stunning day and got up to 19℃! After days of freezing cold it was a relief.

On Thursday evening Norm and I babysat Bree at Cait and Wes’ house. She did not get upset when they left, Norm was carrying her around their garden on a Hadeda Hunt. If you do not know about the South African bird then here is a link to hear them. They are taller than Poppy, they are large birds. Bree loves them and every time she is at my house she shouts ‘HADEDA’ when she sees the metal one in my garden.

She and Norm walked around the garden on various hunts and then they played ball for a bit. It started to get chilly so we all went in and played on the climbing frame which she bravely ran up and down expecting Norm to stop her from launching off and landing on her head. The child has no fears. She wanted us both to read a Dr Seuss book and she looked at the pictures and chattered away. She then climbed up on her new kitchen stand and spotted a banana and started shouting NANA NANA NANA over and over and ran into the kitchen. We gave her a banana and then she did not eat much of her dinner. Oops. I am not good at saying no for something harmless, bananas are good for you!

After dinner she was having her bottle of milk and our takeaway arrived. She insisted on sitting in her high chair once again while we ate and when she saw me bite my burger shouted “BITE!!” I told her it was spicy and she said ‘spicy bite’ so I ignored her but she insisted. I tried to give a bite of just the bun or the cheese but she insisted on the burger. She did not like the burger and was not a fan of chips but she loved Norm’s creamy chicken pasta and the prawn and line fish cakes we ordered to share. She ended up eating quite a bit so I did not feel bad about her not eating her own dinner. It all works out in the end.

After eating it was time for bed so we tidied up and went into her room where she was very cooperative while I changed her nappy and put on her sleep sack. She chose a book and we read it, then we read two more all while saying ‘ok last one’. She wanted another one but we agreed on a compromise that she could read it to herself in bed as it was 8pm. She often messes about for ages but this time she ‘read’ her book a bit then flopped down to sleep.

Caitlin and Wes were home just after 9pm and Norm and I headed home. There was next to no traffic on the roads. We came off the motorway at Ladies Mile and when we got to the roundabout by the shopping centre, a woman in a blue mini just drove straight through the roundabout. Luckily, Norm had slowed down at the junction so we were a bit delayed. If he had not slowed she would be dead as we would have T-boned her tiny car. She was coming from the direction of Peddlar’s so I suspect she had been there drinking based on her driving. It shook us both up so badly we did not speak the rest of the journey other than to periodically exclaim about it again.

This week I discovered there is a pair of Cape Robin Chats building a nest by my fairy garden. First I noticed that one of them perches on this branch and sings late every afternoon about the same time.

Then I noticed that they kept popping down into the hedges by the shed but assumed they were eating the berries off of the bushes. But the longer I watched I noticed they were carrying something back from the hedges and realised they were making a nest!

It was warm and sunny on Friday but there was a weird mist over the valley. The dogs played for hours with a cardboard loo roll.

Finn is so gentle with Poppy. In fact they are a bit like Norm and I: Poppy is full of drama and nonsense and Finn is calm and stable.

This week I treated myself to a subscription to WOW Presents Plus. I am obsessed with RuPaul and everything drag and struggle to find a way to view the shows so this means I can view them easily. I am worth it.

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