Cat on Top

Ahhh it is a great feeling to have Wednesday as an public holiday, so much so that I would like all Wednesdays to be holidays. Now wouldn't that be awesome. 

Now to cook some supper but some spider sense made me look up only to find Tiger, one of our cats, perched above the stove like a gargoyle. Uhmmm I am not sure that I like a cat hovering above me while I rustle up some grub. 

Paddy Silhouette

This Monday kicked off a short week with Wednesday being a public holiday as the workers of the world unite. I just want to sit on my patio, enjoy the evening before it gets too cold as winter is truly here. Paddy my cat joined me on the patio to watch the waning light as the bats start coming out to feast on any brave insects still flying in the dying light.

Double Eggs

Sunday evenings in our home has just being a help yourself evening where everyone is still recovering from the weekend as the thoughts of Monday start creeping up. I arrived home just as it was getting dark from the Rand Show and decided to have some eggs on toast. So I took out 2 eggs from the fridge and cracked them into a frying pan only to find one of the eggs a double yolk. Yummy more for me. Strange to think that Matthew never liked the yellow of an egg.

Pinky and the Brain

Has any of my readers heard about Pinky and the Brain? Well Minky, one of our cats shown above, looks just like the Brain pondering on how to take over the world like cats all dream of.

Papa Smurf

Ahhh Friday couldn't have come any sooner. Friday means selfie time and everybody I give you Papa Smurf. My beard needs a lot of training to get anywhere near as awesome as Tormund Giantsbane's beard but for now I'll settle for Papa Smurf.

Strange Toadstool

Our current tenant has moved out although they still have to clean up the place before the new tenant arrives this weekend, so they are coming around this evening to make the place spic and clean. I got home from work before darkness set in and I took a walk around the front garden making mental notes of what needs to be done to the garden. With all the rain lately, our garden has been neglected.

While on my garden walk about, I noticed this weird looking flower on the ground between the wildness of the plants, bending down I picked it up and to my surprise found that it was a mushroom or toadstool to some. To me it is a fungi, a fungi quite like nothing I've ever seen before. Now to quote my favourite author "All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once." - Terry Pratchett.

Lunch Time Snacks

They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so what does 2 apples do? Anyone?

Anyways busy at work pumping out websites at a steady rate that I don't have much time for a lunch, so I eat at my desk, as well as snack without much moving around. I know not good for my health but surely these apples help?

Clearing Up

With all this heavy rain, it was wonderful to see a little bit of blue sky today, although not for long as the clouds started threatening from the north west. Our garden is so saturated and so is the washing which we are struggling to get dry.

On the good news, we have a new tenant which is moving into our garden cottage this weekend while the current one is in process of moving out.

Growing Grass

With all the rains, the grass the Dael planted has sprouted and growing much to the bewilderment of River-Song who doesn't know where to did more of her holes, naughty girl. In some parts where there was already grass, it is getting long and needs to be mowed, soon.

He's Alive

He is ALIVE!

Today is the holiest days in my belief system, Jesus is alive. Every person in this world is born into it and every person dies, but only person who died, rose again from the dead and is still alive seated at the right hand of his father. This fact we celebrate every year on the day.

Storm Brewing

The weather has turned for the worse with stormy weather ahead, not just light rain but heavy rain is headed our way. The Easter long weekend will not be safe with rain putting a spoke in the wheel of those on the roads.

Breaking Bread

Last night many moons ago, Jesus and his disciples met in a small room for the seder meal, and this morning our Connect group met to break bread and have a meal in remembrance of what this day is all about, the day that Jesus gave up his life for me and you. 

Purple Love

Is it only me, that finds the orchid one of the most erotic flowers in the universe and yet this one has a sense of menace in its look. Oh purple love!

We closed early at work because tomorrow is Good Friday, and I took the opportunity to visit my mentor, Tom, and in the entrance hall of his home was these beautiful sexy orchids, they just made my day.   

Hurry up and Wait

Rushing home after work and then waiting for 2 groups of people to come view our cottage, hurry up and wait. The wait gave me time to admire our front garden which has become wild. Walking around I take mental notes of what to do in the garden. oh so much work and not sure when I am going to get to it all. Oh well the single strelitzia flower still gives me reason to smile.

Achoo

Being a short week, my work is piled up, the weather is changing, and achoo, I hope that I am not coming down with anything. 

It has being raining quite a bit lately which has put a spanner in the works as I have to rush home after work to meet a potential lessee and show them our cottage.

Achoo, now where are those tissues, ahhh they are in this house like receptacle next to the bed.  

Stormy Monday

Things are getting a little busy at work and this is a short week with Friday being the start of the Easter weekend, so I am getting a little behind on my posts. 

Heavy rain came through during the day and thankfully stopped for a little while so that I could ride home dry and resumed after I get back home. It was as if I made it while the eye of the storm past over us, but cyclonic storms don't happen much here on the highveld. 

Marco's Cube

It is Marco's birthday on the Wednesday coming up and so we had a birthday espetadas braai in celebration. It was supposed o start at 12 noon but our tenant gave us short notice and a potential lessee wanted to come see the cottage at 3pm and knowing that Marco's braais start at least 3 hours after the due start time, I volunteered to wait and so the lessee around. I finally got to Marco and Robynne's home about 3:30pm only to find Marco still preparing the espetadas.

After a lovely evening of espatadas and salads, a Rubic Cube shape birthday cake was brought out for Marco. 

Red Spider Mites

A few days ago Lynda complained of this baby spiders that had enveloped her roses in the kitchen. She had to cut the buds off to get rid of them. This morning the spiders were back. After some investigations we discovered that these were red spider mites, pests to the roses, so now we have to find a natural solution to rid ourselves of these plant eating pests.

Deluge

Somewhere out there in that deluge is my Vespa. The heavens opened up this afternoon but thankfully stopped before I had to leave for home and only resumed after I got home. When I managed to check the rain gauge this evening it was to the 45mm level. That was a lot of water in just a half a day.

Bean and Dean

Looking at the photo I realize that I need to get a better camera for these evening shots. Anyways I have looking forward to this evening as it is Connect and I have missed the company of friends. It has been a hard month yet God's hand protecting us has been evidence.  

Here is Beanca and Dean sitting opposite me. Okay Beanca spells her name with a "e" and not normally with a "i" and the young couple call themselves Bean and Dean, interesting.

Hump Day Sunset

As I stand at the end of the middle of the week Hump Day, I feel a little pressure off me. At the beginning of the month I didn't know how I was going get through the month and every morning we just handed our problems over to God, this way all fear was gone. 

Now yesterday out of the blue, an ex-client phoned me and wanted to buy one of my domains. A little back story, I looked after this client's website, and did their digital marketing. I also built a lead generation website to help with the client's adwords. Last year when I sent my invoice, the client responded and said he doesn't need my services anymore then promptly forgot to pay me. The weeks that followed he wanted me to hand over my lead generation website details. I the site up for sale, and walked away from the now ex-client about the money he owed me. 

A few weeks back, I got an SMS from the ex-client asking for forgiveness on how he handed the way he ended our relationship. I forgave him and still didn't mention the money he still owed me. And now out of the blue he phoned me wanting to buy my domain and lead generation website that I build. Wow here I was needing more money and out of the blue God answered our prayer.

Now I sit here watching the sunset thinking of how surprised I was yesterday and still am wondering that I should never be surprised with God.

Poor Protest

Protest season has started as we get closer to the elections. This morning it poured with rain keeping the protesters of Alexandra at home while us workers drive to work. Only 50 protesters gathered and they had to delay their march because they had to go door to door seeking the unwilling and forcing them to join. Finally only about 100 marched towards Sandton the financial hub pulling down any other political poster other than the ANC and stomping publicly so that goes to show which political party these protesters belong to. 

Golden Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud when I stumbled into the kitchen this Monday morning only to get an eyeful of a flowering daffodil. We bought Lynda some daffodil bulbs just sprouting for her birthday last Friday and this morning she was blessed with golden daffodils just starting to bloom. 

All about that Bass

It's all about that bass, no treble as Danielle my niece plays the bass. Matthew is boarding at their home while he is studying at university. He has 2 exams this week before the holidays so I had to drop him off, and this is when I found Danielle strumming her bass guitar. 

Elettrica in the Rain

Vespa South Africa held the launch of the new Vespa Elettric today and sadly it was forecasted that today would be 70% rain. From the outset I thought that I would be playing with Elettrica in the rain which didn't turn me on in the least. 

The rain held off and I climbed onto the saddle of the 2019 Vespa Elettrica. Now I am all for this greenification of the motor industry but I was shocked to find out that I could not go over 49km/h on the racetrack. Afterwards I commented to the sales people at Vespa, they said that the speed is fixed at 49km/h, why I never got an answer. Now who in their right mind would ride down a busy South African road during rush hour maxing out at only 49km/h while the cars and taxis are flying past you. Surely it must be more dangerous than playing in the rain with electricity. The range of the Elettrica while in eco mode is 100km but eco mode's top speed is only 30km/h, ouch. Range of electric vehicles have been programmatic, that I knew but such low speeds? To follow up I have read that the reason for the slow speed is for the Elettrica to fly under the radar because in quite a few states in America it can be ridden without a licence as it would be classified as a moped.

Yes on the track the sound from the Vespa Elettrica was only the soft whine of the electric motor and the tyres on the road but I really was hoping for more from this little Vespa. I think Vespa is attempting to attract new young riders as no licence means no insurance, I think. Maybe I just set my hopes too high for a electric bike that the Elettrica has brought me down a peg or two. This is Africa not America, unless you can ride this Vespa without a licence in South Africa too, uhmmm. I wonder if the BMW C Evolution will bring back hope for the electric scooter. 

My day wasn't ruined though as I got to test ride the new Vespa GTS 300 HPE on the track, the brand's most powerful scooter yet. Now this was something I could get a grips with.

Happy Birthday Babes

The month is not going so well but lets put that all aside as today is Lynda's birthday. Happy birthday babes. I arrived home to find that Matthew had made 2 birthday cakes for Lynda, a chocolate and a vanilla cakes. Lynda and I sneaked out of a house full of boys to have a quiet evening alone. Being Friday night most places were full but we found a place at Tony's Spaghetti and settled down for a lovely meal.

Rose for Suzanne

Matthew is home for studies, and the first duty that I got him to join me is for the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch's special trip to the late Suzanne's home where we handed over a rose bush to her family. Suzanne was our councillor for our ward and sadly she past away a few weeks back after a battle with cancer. The rose bush variety is aptly called South Africa.

Grass Rejuvenation

The drought last year had taken its toll on our grass especially under the shade of the trees. So Dael has cut back quite a few of the overlapping branches to get more sunlight to the lawn and now he has planted more grass seeds along with nitrogen grass food. I am not sure how well it is going to take with River Song in residence. 

My Paddy Cat

I know they say you not supposed to have favourite children but only 2 cats are close to my heart and they are Paddington who is shown above and Minky. Both of these cats adore me and I can just about get away with anything with them. Paddy here jumped up onto my lap this evening all wet from the April showers and just cuddled. Afterwards he proceeded to drink from my glass of water because he knows it belongs to his daddy.

Namdipha

Being in a small company there is not many people you meet on a daily basis hence not many people posts from my working day. But here is Namdipha, our char lady who keeps our offices spic and span.