BEACH, CAT AND HOME - OCTOBER 2010

Prior to us starting to build we went for our last fishing and day at the beach trip! It would be a while before we will be free on Sundays, so we decided to have a last braai and relaxing Sunday.

That is the nice thing here in Swakop, you can go to the beach and literally set up camp and have a lovely braai whilst trying to catch some fish, the beaches are so long that you can be totally alone with no-one around for kms, we love it and it is my time to sit and read and relax while I am silently praying that today Günther will catch a fish. We normally go very early (yes 6 a.m.a!!!) in the morning and then start braaiing at about 11 so by 2 p.m. when the wind comes up we can pack up and head home and still have a Sunday afternoon snooze.

Here everyone is well prepared, with wind shelters, umbrellas, tables, chairs, fridges and everything, we normally just take the necessary, but even we are starting to collect more and more to make it comfortable out there, many people will stay over on the beach at night, but that I have vowed, I will not do.

Well what can I say, time flies!! No understatement, has been a month since I last updated my blogspot and a lot has happened: We have finished the final building and are now slowly doing the little things that makes a house a home!

That is the fun part and there is no rush, it can take years!

On the 12th of October, we have adopted a little Mitzi (who I believe is in teenage stage - terrible moods!) from the SPCA and he is keeping us on our toes.

I have forgotten what it is like to have a kitten in the house, Tati was so docile and did her own thing, this little guy however, constantly wants to eat and wants to be cuddled and demands attention, thinks this house is his domain!

Was actually quite scary though, when I saw him at the SPCA, he was so lovely and playful, he had a 1x2m cage with mesh wire and low walls, and when I got him home he was petrified, not use to high walls and he kept on staring up the walls, we thought he was a little mental, furthermore, he constantly tried to hide for two days I had to search for him in every little hole where he could possibly crawl in, especially in the spare bedroom as everything was stored in there during the building and had lots of hiding space.

His favourite place was the lawnmower tray, he crawls in there and sleeps, one Saturday evening, Wulf, Imogen, myself and Günther had to walk around the complex looking for him as we could not find him in the house, eventually we gave up and went back home, to find Mitzi looking at us through the sliding doors. Only the next day did Günther and I find out were he was, we heard a racket in the garage and saw him lying in the mower tray!

During the name-giving stage I thought we should call him Hodini! However, in the end Günther decided it will be Mitzi! Unlike Tati (I know strange names for cats) who always was fiercely independent, this one wants to cuddle up inbetween us at night, first night I threw him off the bed a 100 times but he just kept on crawling back and I thought, eventually, for either of us to get sleep I will just have to let him sleep there, talk about pajama drill!

The first week was trying we thought there was something wrong with him, as he was so scared of everything, Günther said he did not want a crazy cat - but I could never take him back to the SPCA, now he is settling in slowly but surely, still petrified of things and some people...... but he is getting more adventurous, he has now learned to climb through the bedroom window and has come to terms with the lawn, was a strange thing for him too and plants were something he has to investigate to the extent that I am now fighting with him as he is climbing on them and sitting on top of them, my poor yuka which was growing so beautifully he seemed to have taken a liking to!

Boy, the budgie also had to look out because he would run up to Boy and bump his cage but a couple of times' shouting and chasing soon made him realize that boy is not to be played with - one thing about this cat, he learns very quickly, a very very bright kitten. One day we put him in the bedroom and closed the doors as the painters were busy in the lounge, next moment we heard someone opening the door and out came Mitzi looking at us as if to say how can you lock me up - so now we lock doors! In the two weeks that he has been here he has crawled into our bed and our hearts, being alone at home he drives me mad at times but he talks all the time. He had his little operation to make sure he does not go and wander around and his shots, it is the one thing the SPCA actually insists on, soon Mitzi will have to go for another round of shots costing us a total of R600 on medical! Who said cats cost you nothing!

So the building part of the house is finished, it was wonderful not to have people here all day long, in and out and making a mess, it is the nicest feeling to have your privacy back again, especially if you are living in a small space. Some of the work was done very well others Günther had to fight and shout and insist they redo, mostly though we had some good labour and it went very quickly, however, never will I ever live in a house where renovations are being made to it! Insanity, you are constantly cleaning and washing and yet you go to sleep with the dust, with time you mellow and sort of deal with it but never accept it.

The best time was when they came to lay the lawn, now for those who have been to Swakop, you will know that greenery is a luxury, what with the shortage of water and desert all around, mostly you see browns and beiges and it gets to you!

Both Günther and I love green lawns, they day they came to lay our 30 square metres (front and back) the two of us had huge smiles, we could not stop looking at it, at present the lawn is lovely, Günther waters it religiously twice a day. The wind here dries everything out and you have to, yet you have to be careful as water is quite pricey here. They have sewage water that you can use for watering lawns, etc. only but where we are that water is not available, so we are grateful for the postage patch lawns we have. Never have I thought so much about the miracle of greenery, God surely knows what he was doing, it is so soft on the eye and the most beautiful thing - ok I know I am going on about it but when you look around you in every direction, it is just desert sand - ABSOLUTELY NO GREENERY! The town obviously has gardens, palms, etc. but other than that we have sand - lots of it!

So we are settling down nicely - a bit of bad news, however, is that Günthers mom had a stroke, she is 85 and we had to put her into frailcare at Prinzessin Rupprecht Heim, a lovely frailcare facility, the gardens are amazing for Swakopmund, a real English type garden, with poppies, cockleshells, kappertjies, roses, you name it and it is growing there, it is so beautiful and i could not believe some of the flowers growing there. The care given is also very good and we know she is well looked after, we do not know whether she will ever get better, she is lame on the righthand side and cannot talk, but she does recognize us, so we pray that she will get better and hope that she does not have too much pain. All this makes you think about the fact that we will not be young forever. Edda and Gerd came up for the week to help sort out all the papers, etc. another thing that made me realized one should be prepared!

Right now I am on my way to Cafe Anton, for cake and coffee, Edda and Gerd's last coffee and cake at Café Anton for a while.

Till next time LOL!