Life With Basil!

To those of you who love cats but do not have a ginger one, I say, get one! It is now just over three months since Basil Jones (to give him his full name) arrived on our doorstep and life has never, but never, been the same! We have had kittens before, many times, but we have never encountered one who is so involved in every aspect of our lives! Our other three simply get on with life, they arrive for breakfast, sleep most of the day, pop in for a little nibble now and then, sleep, lie around at night, and  sleep.

Basil, aka Captain Chaos! (All pics, thanks to Rob)

As I write this, Basil is upstairs batting an empty eye drop container round the bathroom floor. He arrived in a rush as I was cleaning the bathroom and dived into the rubbish bin. He 'helps' me sweep, dust and wash up.

Washing up duty.

Happy Margaret Day!

Yes, it's 'Margaret Day' again! Four years since the enormous mother barge carrying twelve barges and two dry docks broke free from her towing tug and ended up on our rocks! And I remember it as though it was yesterday! After a night of gale force wind, heavy seas and rain, and a Spring Tide to add to it all, our neighbour phoned to say that there was a container floating towards the shore. We rushed out to see and were confronted by what looked like a multi-storey car park wallowing close to our bay. In the distance we could see the tug that was supposed to be towing her to Rotterdam, but in the high seas the barge had broken free and was now unstoppable! That is, until she arrived on the rocks and then she sat tight.

'Margaret chooses Jacobsbaai', the headline in our local paper.

By this time our village was filling up with people. How word spreads! In no time our roads were clogged with cars, they were driving over the dunes to get a closer look, and some brave souls were wading into the sea to 'salvage' huge planks of wood that were being washed off, obviously from between the barges for protection. Sadly for them, the Customs Officials were waiting just round the corner to relieve them of their catch, and probably some money!

The view from our house!

On-line Shopperholic!

I have become an 'online-shopping-groupie' at my age! It all started when I wanted to buy a new pair of Birkenstock sandals. I bought a pair when I was in Dubai two years ago and except for showering and sleeping, they never left my feet! So when they finally gave up the ghost (or should I say the sole), I looked around in SA to replace them. I found two outlets, one in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg, very close to where we used to live. A friend went to price them and left very hurriedly after hearing that they would be over R700, gulp! So, Plan B. On-line at Amazon.com!! Yes, there they were at less than half the price, in my size, the colour I liked, everything! But, when I came to give my address.............they don't ship to SA.

'Aha' said my daughter 'But they do ship to Dubai!' So, on to Plan C. My shoes began their trip halfway round the world. From the USA they went to Dubai and from there they travelled with Stuart in his luggage to Johannesburg. He had his business meetings and posted my shoes. And they arrived safe and sound. And the best part is that they fit! And they are perfect!

Beautiful Birkenstocks!

Hospice.

I had a busy week last week! Monday I helped with the annual Stock take at the Hospice shop. We counted everything that we possibly could. We counted and recorded the totals of books,belts, shoes, clothes (mens, womens and children), ornaments, bedding, kitchenware, sportsware, you name it and we counted it! All the shelving and fittings were recorded too, and our plastic 'models' were not forgotten. In between we had coffee and tried to keep the rain out of the container that houses our overflow of goods to sell. The trouble was with the door closed against the rain, we couldn't see to record the contents of the boxes!

On Wednesday Gail, my fellow-Thursday-volunteer came over with packets of Marie Biscuits, marshmallows, icing sugar, decorations, sticks, little plastic bags and coloured string. We then got stuck in and made 63 'suckers'!

Before the icing went on. We didn't use this one, it broke!