Charlie's Bird
living the dream with Charlie and Thandi and chirping all the way back to the nest.Archive for July, 2015
Friday feelnogoods
…gosh, I don’t know if its the cold or just that time of the year, but I am feeling so sad and disheartened at the moment. Charlie and I escaped a load shed house last night, leaving Thandi with her Noxy, and grabbed a bite to eat. It was a good time to have a chat and reconnect, and it was clear that we are both feeling a little frustrated and sad with where we find ourselves. For almost a year now we have been compromising, putting a brave face on and making jokes about load shedding, and now it is the middle of winter, we are going through some really bad weather, with lots of snow on the mountains, and goddammit, it’s cold, and merrily, merrily, with their bonus in their back pocket, they are shedding us. How dare they! It’s been a year in which we have seen almost no remedial action instituted regarding our power situation, aside from a worthless, pocket lining (for a select few) nuclear power proposal.
And I am the first to point out that my whinge comes from a well constructed house with all the mod cons I can afford, and with a generator, which we would use if we were to be shed for more than 2 hours. How does the mom in the squatter camp cope with her child who is sick, needing to fed, and all the while being rained upon via her poorly constructed shack roof or, heaven forbid, her crumbling RDP house.
No-one seems to care. No-one seems to have a plan to ‘help’ us. Our quality of life is no longer what it was 2, even 5 years ago. And all the while our president laughs while Rome burns in the distance. And his mafiosa-like gang protect him at all the cost of their integrity, and our land.
Running
…and running, if you know what I mean. I have been battling with some GI issues since I finished that trail run in Knysna. It started with nausea and vomiting on that day, then lots of nausea and indigestion for a few days afterwards. I took it quite easy for the next 10 days, then when I went for a run on Friday morning, nausea set in after only about 2kms, and then the severe tummy cramps started at about 4/5km, cramps that actually had me doubled over. I made it to the end of my run, just, and made it home with some interesting GI antics once I got there. Today, the nausea was a little less severe, starting at about 3km, the cramps set in at about 6km, and once again, had me croaking back to the car and then again these GI high jinx at home. Flip, I feel so washed out and awful. And so miserable that my runs feel so damn awful. This morning one of the chaps came back to fetch me, and he even asked what was happening, I was usually near the front, not stone bloody last! Argh!
Anyway, I will try again tomorrow, and see how I go. My body is probably thinking it’s payback time for all the bad eating of late. I am trying to settle down again, but flip, the sweet tooth is awake and shouting!
It was the weekend, baby!
…and what a weekend it was!
Wow, the whole spa with my girlfriends thing was amazing! 
We arrived on a very chilly afternoon, settled down in front of the fire, drank some lovely sherry and red wine, enjoyed a great meal, and sparkling company! Saturday dawned miserable and overcast (heavy rain started later that day) and after a delicious breakfast we headed p to the spa, which they had closed, just for us. Wow, it was amazing! We were pampered and preened, and topped and tailed to within an inch of our lives! Facial, exfoliating scrub, massage, mani and pedi. 
Yowzer, we were spoilt! Even a parting gift of a beautiful hand oil and a delicious lip balm! We then all melted into our evening, with some more wine retoxing after all our therapists hard work, and another gorgeous dinner! 
An early night followed, and Sunday morning after a leisurely breakfast, we headed home.
I got home to an excited little lady! And as a treat, we decided to take her to her first movie – she was so fliiping excited, we headed off to the Minions in 3D, and it was so damn cute!
She chortled along and had a great time. We finished our treat with an ice cream and headed home into bloody load sheddedness, on a flipping freezing afternoon!
Stats round up
…so Nyamazela asked me in the comments on my blogoversary post to give you guys some stats! So this here post is my 1282nd post. That’s a lot of posts! No wonder I run out of things to say sometimes. I have had 2320 comments, with my most frequent commentator being runnermum, thank you! My most viewed post was this one https://charliesbird.wordpress.com/2014/02/24/mountain-days/ (I’m sorry, I don’t know how to make those nifty little link things)
For me one of the funniest things though to look at is the search engine terms, the things people type into google and they get referred here, although I’m not sure how. Here are some beauts…
- auntay xxxnot – hmm, no xxx pictures here, move along!
- i am so devastated after my ex boyfriend broke up with me i want him back july 2013 – I’m not really a great agony aunt, but along with your happiness, he seems to have taken your caps key, sorry about that!
- how to soften chocolate wine – well, maybe the microwave?
- word fir combination of barking and spoilage – huh? And you landed up here? Try barkage.
- how to make sugurfree Thandi – promise that isn’t worth it.
- i weighed myself i was 83.1 today im 82.9 how much did i lose – calculator, anyone? Simple arithmetic?
- can a hen walk at 03hoo am – why do you need to know this? And why wouldn’t they?
- wailing banshee bird – ooh, I haven’t heard of those, what do they look like? And where would I find them?
- can garlic make birds infertile – check with your vet, but I don’t think so?
- propofol puding – is that something Mich*ael Jac&ks*&on preferred?
Ok, so let Friday begin, for this afternoon I am heading off with a bunch of girlfriends for a weekend of pampering at a local spa! (although given how hard I have been working, and how absent I have been from home this week, makes me feel quite guilty – poor Thandipants!)
Slow learner
… I’d really hoped that by this stage of life I would be a bit more astute. I’ve lived with this old body and brain of mine for 40 years, I really should know a few things about it. Like how much alcohol I can have without feeling atrocious the next day, although that has changed since I lost weight and got fitter; like the fact that too much gluten will leave me bloated and sore and uncomfortable, damn you wine and delicious pizza; like how much sleep makes me a civilized person the next day. I am really a slow learner.
Workdays
…my days are feeling very full again, full of work. I don’t get much chance to catch up on stuff in the day, and come the evenings I am feeling exhausted. What mulls around in my head all day and night are work related things. Flip. Can you tell I haven’t run for 10 days? (A combination of resting, work emergencies and a weekend where I put my family first) So many things I want to control, that I can’t… Yesterday was a 2 baby day with a side of an ectopic pregnancy. And a call out at 3 this morning. Yawn*
Happy Blogoversary
…to me.
Can you believe I have been blogging for 6 years. 6 years??? Seriously. And you guys have been listening to me for that long? That’s crazy talk. Thank you, my loyal readers!
Blogging is a funny old thing. I really started with the intention of a ‘Dear Diary’, which I hoped people would stumble onto, and as a means to keep in touch with my out of towner friends. And it started as a bit of a food and wine blog, morphed into a getting pregnant blog, and now it’s parenting and running, with a side of food and wine.
Chocolate cake for everyone!
Nothing like a
…bit of a rant (or a pedicure) to improve one’s disposition? Not so? I feel better after letting off a bit of steam . Admittedly I’d probably be a bit better after a run too, but that’s only scheduled for tomorrow.
My beautiful princess had her first pedicure yesterday. She was so excited, and watched with rapt attention as her nails were filed and clipped and painted. She chose a lovely red sparkly colour (which she knows mom wouldn’t allow at home), and she loved it!
Red sparkles for Thandi, and Pink sparkles for Charlotte! What pampered princesses we have!
Tired
…worried and a bit stressed…
Physically and a bit mentally tired, trying to get some rest and sleep. Reading a lot to escape my brain demons.
Worried, actually beside myself worrying about my father who is really not coping with his retirement; my mother and her health, which isn’t great and which is sending her to the cardiologist again next week; my practice and the future of my career…
Stressed about work and my family’s finances…
Knysna race reports
…and so we are back from a moderately successful weekend away. I am tired, but my muscles are recovering quite quickly and I even contemplated a run this evening, until I looked at my diary… But enough about that.
Saturday morning started very early for me, I had to get from Plettenberg Bay through to Knysna by about 05h30, to catch a taxi up to the start of the race. I find this whole process all rather frustrating, because to arrive in the freezing cold forest (and admittedly it wasn’t as cold as in previous years) and hang around for 2 hours until the start of the run is just a drag. Yes, the give out blankets, and there’s coffee and rusks and all that jazz, but I think I am just over the hurry up and wait drama. Anyway, the run was ok, I struggled a bit this year, I really do get bothered and distracted by hearing people talk around me. It’s much better when I am a bit stressed and just focus on myself. So I let myself get freaked out by the hills and the weather. There was quite a berg wind on top of the mountains, and it was cold in the valleys, why I obsessed about it, I don’t know. I finished strong and although being a bit disappointed with being slower than last year, I ran a reasonable 2:17.
Saturday lunch was really pleasant, except for a bit of a breeze that came p, and we headed to one of the local vineyards for lunch, Bramon Estate. Ireally can recommend them for a lovely Mediterranean type lunch, with tapas and pates and salad and delicious (don’t tell Tim) bread. We drank some delicious bubbly and relaxed, until the weather turned and things started to look dire…
Overnight it rained and got really cold, we woke up on Sunday morning, got all dressed up again, and off we went, off to Rhenendal to run the Houtkapper Trail run. This time DrHF made it to the start, and we headed off to run our 15km through arguably one of the prettier routes I have ever done. In the forest it was cool and calm, outside the forest the wind howled and witches’ nipples shrieked! Crikey it was cold! I will say there were an awful lot of l..o..n..g… MFH’s in the forest, but still beautiful! The paths were nice and soft underfoot, not too slippery given the rain, really a pleasant experience. And how bizaare, another 2:17 run! (but it was only 15km this time) It was a good team building experience for DrHF and I, you see in November we tackle the 3 day stage trail run, the Fairview Dryland Traverse, around Oudtshoorn. I am pleased to know I can do 2 toughish runs on consecutive days, now to add a few kays to each day and throw in a 3rd run!
To celebrate our success, we headed to Zinzi’s at the Tsala Treetop lodge for lunch, a really lovely spot, which once again proved itself. I, sadly, got quite ill afterwards, not sure if it was the exertion, dehydration, a bug or just a protest, but not a reflection on the meal.
Yesterday it was the journey home and then a good sleep in my own bed…
Charlie's Bird 