Time is flying by.

The last few weeks have just simply flown past. Diane and I have been busy on the computers – me getting all the office work as up-to-date as possible and next month’s returns sorted and Di has been busy with her latest website for Irwin Animal Rescue. In between we have had days of no computer access with all the thunder and lightning around. Most frustrating but at least we are on track and Di’s site is up and running. We had another trip through to Pretoria to collect Diane’s passport stopping to visit Pauline on the way back as she was at home that day. We had a great lunch and chat together before making our way home about half three to avoid the afternoon traffic rush. Lucky we left when we did as it started pouring shortly after and some highways were impassable. Since then we have had overcast, rainy conditions with some good days in between. We had Travis and Josh again last week as Ali needed a few nights of sleep as Josh is not sleeping much at night at the moment. They were here from when we fetched them on Thursday afternoon until Ali picked them up on Saturday afternoon. When we got back home we let them have plenty of fresh air and exercise to tire them out and once supper was over they both fell asleep fairly quickly. Travis was with me and Diane said she would have Josh with her. Travis was out until the next morning but Josh woke after about an hour. We kept him awake until about half nine and all followed not long after. When my alarm went off at six I got up and found a very tired Diane who had been kept awake with Josh’s coughing all night. She went back to bed while I took over and made breakfast for Hubby and Travis. Josh slept a couple of hours during the morning as did Travis. During the afternoon we went up to visit Margie and sat in her garden as it was such a lovely day. Travis and Josh played together under a tree for about an hour. It was quite funny as they actually had a bit of a fight with Josh pulling his hair and Travis smacking him back. Josh has already learnt to turn on the tears for sympathy even though he starts the fight. After our visit we came home for our much needed glass of wine before supper. Both boys were tired after all the fresh air and were asleep early. We were all in bed early but poor Diane had a very sleepless night again. Josh had woken in the early hours and just wanted to play. She ended up sitting watching TV with him to try and get him to sleep again.
When I got up at six she had a cup of tea before going back to bed. I don’t know if looking after the boys has been a good idea for Diane as the last thing she wants or needs is her own kids. She says anytime she wants she will look after them and then give them back – best of both worlds – only occasional sleepless nights. Saturday was spent amusing the boys in between their naps. This is much easier now with Josh crawling around. We put him in the cottage lounge with lots of toys for amusement. Hubby thoroughly enjoyed his playtime with both boys. Ali arrived mid-afternoon and not long after I went to see why Dude wouldn’t stop barking. He had found a rinkhals and it was a huge one. Hubby and Ali came to deal with it and got rid of it. Travis screamed to stay with Ali so I had to stay with him in the background. He was thrilled with all the carry-on and was jumping around shrieking with excitement when the two of them killed it. Typical boy! Ali left not long after and peace reigned once more. I quickly did some clearing away of all the toys lying around before Hubby and I got ready for a night out at a party. We had a really great time and were home in time to be in bed just before two. All the partying couldn’t have been good for us as both Hubby and I didn’t feel well all day Sunday. We just took things easy and spent most of the day reading. The last couple of days has been spent doing more computer work and going in to Alberton to get the license for the mobi-jack. We were so busy all morning we didn’t even eat and stopped to have a meal at Alberton City just before four. I got Hubby a take-away so that at least it saved making the kitchen dirty. The evening was spent watching TV and relaxing.

It is now only three weeks until our trip. We really need to find the time to go through things to see what we must still get. Luckily as we have thought of something needed we have got and put all in a box so it is just a matter of going through it. We are both starting to feel excited now and can’t wait.

Time with Family and Friends

It has been a week of overcast weather with intermittent spells of sun shining through from the cloud cover. Monday I managed to clear some washing and get it dried before we had a downpour which gave another 35mm of rain. The garden is such a pleasure at the moment as everywhere is lush again and full of birds. We are really enjoying chilling under the trees and watching all the birds. Hubby’s foot has healed beautifully and as long as he doesn’t walk too much he is fine. All the anaesthetic and medication is still having an effect on his body though as he is only able to manage half days at the workshop. He has been just going in and getting things ready for when the workshop re-opens next week. Diane and I have managed to cycle a couple of times when the weather hasn’t been too wet and have enjoyed the ride. Amber the cross Labrador/boerbull had a visit to the vet on Monday as her ear had got injured somehow and the underneath was a large blood blister. She has been sleeping in the sun lounge as she hasn’t felt too good and not been eating properly. It really was a battle getting her tablets down her as well. Eventually we found the easiest way was for Hubby to hold her mouth open while I dropped the tablets into the back of her throat. The only problem now is that she has decided sleeping there is wonderful and she is not interested in being a pleb outside with the other plebs. Her ear is not looking very pretty at the moment and I just hope it improves with time.
Thursday Hubby’s aunt and uncle came for a braai and luckily the weather stayed dry until we had cooked the meat. We did have to eat inside though due to the threat of rain and cool wind. It was good to spend time with them and to catch up on the latest family happenings. We really don’t get to see enough of family with our busy lives and daily routine.
Saturday was an old car get-together with about forty people meeting at The Harvard Cafe for breakfast. I was up early to have my chill coffee in the cottage looking out the lounge window as it was drizzling outside. While sitting there I spotted another bird not seen here before. It was a Paradise Fly-catcher which was flitting around between the wall and bushes outside the window. It’s longish tail and back are a brilliant orange. We really are getting a wide variety of birds at the moment. Everyone met about nine and had a great time over a breakfast buffet for the next few hours before leaving in convoy for Johann’s home to see his collection of cars. About half way to his place we rode into rain which stayed with us for the next couple of hours. This did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm with which everybody went around his cars. Johann has a collection of over forty cars all of which are fully licensed and on the road. Each car is washed weekly and kept in good running order. Luckily he also lives on a plot and has plenty of space to store all of them.
Sunday Ali and the boys came to visit for the day and we had a chill breakfast together after which we sat in the cottage lounge with tea and coffee while Ali gave me a much-needed pedicure. As we were sitting there the Paradise Fly-Catcher was flitting around outside the window again. Diane was kept busy straightening Ali’s hair while she was doing my feet and I was looking after Josh. Travis was running around playing with his toys in between watching what we were doing. Ali had finished with me and we put the kettle on for more coffee just as Pauline and Aeron arrived for a visit. It was great to see Aeron again and hard to believe she is now 16 years old already. Her and Michelle had been living in Jeffrey’s Bay for nearly six years but are now living in the Gauteng area again. We spent a great time together catching up on each other’s news. Ali gave Pauline a pedicure as well so she had rather a busy morning. It was overcast and drizzling so we had lunch inside but by the time we had coffee and cake the sun was out and we chilled under the trees while eating and drinking. Pauline and Aeron left mid-afternoon as she needed to take Aeron back to Michelle. Hubby and Ali took Travis for a walk around the plot as Josh was sleeping. They took him on the tyre swing and the only way we could get him off was telling him to come for apple pie and custard. He was dirty from the tyre and by the time he had finished eating he also had custard all down himself so we put both him and Josh in the bath before they left. Travis was so tired from running around that he fell asleep as soon as he was put into his car seat – Ali hadn’t even got in yet. Once they left I cleared up all his toys and gave the place a quick vacuum before chilling with my glass of wine. After our big breakfast and lunch we weren’t really hungry and just had salad for supper before watching TV.
Have a Great Week