Share Your World – 4 September 2017

2017-09-05 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to this week’s Share Your World from Cee

What color do you feel most comfortable wearing?

This question does not ask what my favourite colour is but rather which colour I feel most comfortable in – The answer to that is – Denim Blue! I own a pair of denim jeans and a denim skirt and I wear them both often with many different colours. I love colour! I have a mix and match wardrobe of basic greys, whites, blacks and stone so that I can add splashes of colour to them. If I had a large walk in wardrobe and an unlimited clothing budget I would buy a variety of very colourful clothes.

I loved Thailand because it is a colourful country. Everything is prettied up with colour from Temples to simple abodes and everyone dresses colourfully too. I bought one or two colourful items of clothing at very low prices!

Red and gold harem pants

Colourful summer dress

What is your favourite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal or character in a movie)

I love dogs. My favourite is no longer with us. She was a black mixed breed about the size of a spaniel with the personality of labrador. The Earl called her “Black Dog” but her name was Tammy. What a faithful, affectionate and well-behaved dog she was. I used to jog every evening and she would tag along to protect me. I just had to say the word ‘takkies’ (sneakers) and she’d yip in excitement and the tail wouldn’t stop wagging until we were on the road. I still miss her.

A rather poor copy of a picture taken in 1992 – but you get the idea that we loved this dog!

List at least five favorite flowers or plants.

I am starting a brand new garden so flowers and plants are very much on my mind. My favourite flower is our national flower – The Protea – but I have not planted any in my new garden. They’re expensive and I don’t want to kill them – when I’m more experienced I might try to grow my own.

My next favourite is the vygie – I am trying to grow those in my garden.

Then there are clivias which I’ve just planted and I think they will do well.

I love succulents – they’re easy to grow and very rewarding.

And who doesn’t love roses and carnations? I’m not growing those as they’re not waterwise which is essential in our climate.

Vygie indigenous to the Western Cape – Aizoaceae – The fig-marigold family or ice plant family.

What inspired you this past week? Feel free to use a quote, a photo, a story, or even a combination.

My grandchildren, Shannon and Simon inspired me this week.

Shannon has just completed an arduous three week hike in the Drakensberg mountains with her St John’s College Grade 9 classmates – all girls. They endured cold, heat, snow, rain, steep and dangerous terrain, had only one change of clothing, carried their own back packs, cooked on camp fires and slept in tents except for when it snowed and they were allowed to stay in a cabin that had beds and bare floors and that was it! And she loved it. Her attitude is amazing and in spite of having torn ligaments in her calf she refused to give up and endured it to the end.

Simon is currently on a three week tour with is Grade 6 classmates from Kokstad Junior School. He’s never been away from his parents for so long and is coping amazingly well – he passed through our neck of the woods yesterday so I was able to see first hand how he was coping.

It’s great to see the youngsters coping with challenges and rising to the occasion. I am super proud of them.

Asian Adventure – Phi Phi Day 2

2017-09-01 | puppy1952

Earl insisted we get to the pier early on the morning we booked a snorkeling cruise as we were not sure where our boat would be docked. Well we needn’t have worried. It turned out that we needed to meet at the company’s office which the vendor failed to tell us. Luckily the guides at the pier were clued up and directed us to the correct meeting place
There were about 15 of us on this half day trip. We were the only South Africans. Most spoke other languages and Earl and I were the oldest. It was an inexpensive tour and when I saw the boat I realised why. The windows were cracked and there was a big need for maintenance! To make matters worse we hit high seas and the vessel rocked and rolled frighteningly. Fortunately we were only in open sea for a short time. In the bays it was relatively calm. Most of the passengers paid the extra 400 baht to visit “The Beach” of movie fame. We did not and this was a good thing as one had to canoe to shore and then climb up a steep cliff using a rope net ladder thingie.

I swam here while the younger tourists went to The Beach

I think we have outgrown this kind of climbing for fun

Then there was a trek through bush to get to the beach. While they were gone I swam off the boat wearing a life jacket and hanging onto life ring attached to the boat so that the current didn’t take me out to sea. It was fun. Earl won’t swim because of his ears and the other remaining passenger was out of it with sea sickness.

After an hour everyone returned and we went on to the next bay where most of us did some snorkeling. As you can see from the photographs our travelling companions were young enough to be our grandchildren.

The Earl made sure I had my mask on properly and in I went. It was awesome. You can’t compare it to the barrier reef but it was fun nevertheless. The Earl was convinced I was in the wrong spot and yelled to me to get onto the reef. Well nobody else was there but I knew he wouldn’t let up till I humoured him. Nope – nothing there so back I went to where everybody else was enjoying the colorful fishes.

I was so grateful that the weather co-operated on the days we did tours. No disappointments and really lovely times.
When we got back to the pier we went straight to one of the restaurants for a fruit shake.
In the evening – our last on Phi Phi – we walked to a restaurant that braaied chicken on a skewer – Thai style. We were right on the beach and it was a perfect evening, what a delicious meal.

The Restaurant was right on the beach

Our Chef cooking our dinner

View from our table

Yes – It’s good

Quite delicious, actually

The restaurant beautifully lit up

Afterwards we stopped at a stall where the vendor encouraged us with ‘yum yum very nice ice cream. You want some yes?” He had a yogurt version so we gave in. He took plain yogurt, poured it onto a frozen slab, chopped berries into it and then using a palate flattened it out till it was frozen enough to cut into strips and roll up. These frozen yogurt rolls he put into an ice cream cup and topped it with more berries and berry sauce. He made chocolate ice cream in the same way for Earl. Delicious 😋

Ice cream made while you wait

Roll it up with skill

Rolls ready to be packed into the ice cream cup

End product was delicious

The Weekly Smile 82

2017-07-26 | puppy1952

I am joining Trent’s Weekly Smile challenge this week.

I had a lot to smile about this week.

My first smile is something I’ve been smiling about for a few weeks actually so I’m including it in this post. My handsome husband is now a Cover Boy! He appeared both on the cover and on a centrefold of Ski-boat Magazine. One of his friends quipped that it’s sold more copies than Play Boy this month!

My Cover Boy holding his magazine in our local store

Earl and Willie on Kiora

I smiled this week when I was invited to join a group of ladies at my friend Sarah’s for tea. Back in Cape Town it would be unusual to find the majority of the company speaking Afrikaans but here the English speaker is in the minority. I chatted away in my second language and smiled when I was complimented for doing so. They were ALL prepared to swap to English for my sake! Dankie dames vir julle vriendelikheid. Ek het die oggend so baie geniet.

Bly Kalm

The next thing that made me smile was a visit from my darling daughter. Since she was very little she’s been a whiz at doing jigsaw puzzles. After breakfast on Saturday she decided that she’d buy a big one to do over the weekend. She mentioned this to our host at the coffee shop and he disappeared only to reappear with one he had stowed away – “If you don’t finish it, I’ll come over and do it next week,” he said. The picture was most appropriate – I keep telling my daughter to kiss the frog to find her prince but she refuses to do it!

Getting started on the 1000 pieces!

Almost done – Willie will have to come over to finish it because I am useless at puzzles.

I smiled again when some Cape Francolin visited my garden. They were not shy of us at all and seemed to say thank you for the seed we put out.

When guests come calling you have to feed them

Relaxed enough to show their affection in front of us!

And finally I smiled when The Earl suggested we go away to warmer climes for a couple of weeks. “Where to?” I asked thinking a northern game reserve would be nice. But we’re heading that way in November and he had other plans. “How about a tropical island? The Maldives, Seychelles, Malaysia or Thailand?” We decided on Thailand and we leave next Saturday – I have a very big smile on my face!

Very much looking forward to something like this!

Share Your World 24 July 2017

2017-07-25 | puppy1952

Here are my answers to this week’s interesting questions from Cee

List some of your favorites types of teas

I am addicted to coffee. But I try not to drink too much so actually I drink more cups of tea than coffee. Anne over at Something over Tea has encouraged me to be more adventurous in my choices from time to time – but I tend to stick to a South African favourite – Rooibos Tea (Red Bush Tea) It is made from the needle like leaves of a bush that grows in Cedarberg mountains of the Western Cape. In most South African homes when you are offered a cuppa you’re asked your preference – Rooibos or Ceylon? It is not a true tea but you brew it in the same way as you would Ceylon tea. I like it black with a slice of lemon.

A cup of chai

All about Rooibos

Rooibos is believed to have many healing properties and it is often fed to colicky babies. It is also an ingredient in some South African skin care products.

A variation on my Rooibos may include Chai or lemon and mint flavoured. I also like cranberry flavoured. Green Tea is possibly the only other tea I drink. I never touch Ceylon tea.

If you had to describe your day as a traffic sign, what would it be?

I really couldn’t think of a good road sign to describe me so chose this as sometimes I’m so confused!

What are a couple of things could people do for you on a really bad day that would really help you?

My first reaction would be – Leave me alone. I don’t often have bad days but a few weeks ago I was feeling emotional and was actually in tears thinking about my aunt who was dying. My phone pinged and it was my best friend texting me from England. “Do you want to Skype?” We hadn’t Skyped in months. How did she know I needed her? She said I’d just popped into her head and she felt she had to call me. It was just what I needed.

Irregardless of your physical fitness, coordination or agility: If you could be an athlete what would do do? Remember this is SYW, dreaming is always allowed

I love watching gymnastics and ice skating and that would be my dream skill if I had my life over.

Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up

It’s almost a year since my hubby had his double bypass in Italy. I am grateful that he is now in excellent health. So much so that he suggested another trip abroad – this time to Thailand and today we booked! We will be setting off on 5 August. How cool is it to be retired!