Hello All.

I never get colds.
Ok, that is no longer strictly true.
For the last few days I have had head cold from hell.
Very hard to be upbeat and to blog when disgusting stuff is blocking your brain waves.
Mex was not very sympathetic.
Kept saying it is only a cold.
Today he thinks he is getting it.
Hehehehe.
Of course, being a man, it will be flu!

It has been an eventful week.
Starting with a massive storm in Cape Town.
They also got rain.
All they sent us was the wind.
Selfish buggers.

Then the fires started.
Fanned by the hectic gales.
Have shot up several hundred kilometres.
At frightening speed.
Whole towns have had to be evacuated.
Hundreds of homes razed to the ground.
Lots of people have died.
All so very tragic.

The fire is now close to Port Elizabeth.
Where I now live.
A big private school burned to the ground yesterday.
Hopefully, the wind has died down and they will be able to contain it.

Then there are the leaked e-mails.
Implicating our president and his family.
And a great number of his cabinet.
State capture by the slimy Gupta family appears to have been proved.
Politics promise to be very interesting in the weeks ahead.

Hello All.

Yes, and now for the nasty stuff.
I am going over to Dad just now to start clearing out Mom’s cupboards.
Tomorrow is the funeral.
It is going to be very small.
The minister is coming over to Dad at three o’clock.
Apparently, he wants me there too.
I have no idea why!

The undertaker(lovely man) says he will give me the death certificate tomorrow.
Then, on Friday, it will be off to the police station to have a whole heap of certified copies made.
Also, copies of both parents identity documents.
Then I need to get Dad to the executors.
And I need to go to the bank to freeze her account.
Etc, etc, etc.
I will try to do as much as I can but, unfortunately, he will have to come with me for some of the stuff.
I just hope he is going to be able to handle it all.
The poor darling is shattered.
His partner of 61 years has gone.
I have a horrible feeling he will follow her in the not too distant future.
I will have to mother him for the next few months.
A good thing I have loads of experience at mothering.
Or, maybe, I am just bossy.

Before I go.
I discovered, yesterday, I can bend and move quite fast.
Even at my advanced age.
Came out of the shop and spotted a R20-00 note on the ground.
In two twos I had it in my hot little hand.
There is always an upside.

Hello All.

The above pic was taken a few weeks ago.
And, now, she is gone.
She slipped away at three o’clock this morning.
At the ripe old age of 89.

I went through to see her, on my own, after work, yesterday.
She stared at me but I don’t think she knew me.
I stayed with her for an hour.
Holding her hand and stroking her head.
I do hope she DID know I was there.

Rest in peace Mom.

Hello All.

Yes, it has been a wild ride this week.
Took Dad to see Mom on Saturday.
We were horrified.
Her colour and her breathing were bad.
She was sitting slumped in a chair.
Her only words to me were ” I want to get into bed”
I got a nurse to help me and she promptly fell asleep.

Dad and I spoke on the way home.
We decided it was time to make arrangements.
I feel so sorry for him.
It must be SO hard when you have been married for over sixty years and see your partner like this.

So, I went onto the internet and started phoning undertakers.
Well, someone has to do it.
First I phoned Doves.
One of the biggest undertakers in the business.
And, it IS a business to them.
The number was constantly engaged.
Eventually went onto their website and left a message to call me back.
Which they did.
From a call centre!!!
The woman told me they were closed and said I should phone the next day.
I scratched them off the list.

When I phoned the second one I got a message to say the number did not exist.
Scratched that one too.

The third one I phoned did not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Today, I got one (recommended by my boss’s wife.
A world of difference.
Have nominated them.

After all that, we went to see her again yesterday.
She looked great.
Good colour.
Good breathing.
Still no talking.
However, I told her a joke.
Quietly, so the religious lady in the next bed wouldn’t hear.
And she laughed.
Kept staring at me and smiling.
Which is really disconcerting.
Kept wanting to look behind me!

So, after this rather macabre post I shall leave you.

Hello All.

Yes, let’s talk about the old age home Mom is in.
I think it is pretty good.
The matron even phoned the hospital to find out how Mom was doing.
Which shows a level of compassion.

Mom is in a room with four other ladies.
In the bed next to her is a lady about the same age as mother.
Very emotional.
Gets all teary when you give her a treat.
Thanks you over and over.
She is a Jehovah Witness and, one visit, read me a very long poem about dying.
Her stepson and his wife moved into her house to look after her.
Then said she was tying them down.
And put her in the home.
I am being EXTREMELY nice to my kids now.

On the other side of Mom is an elderly lady who has completely lost the plot.
She grunts a lot.
It drives Mom crazy.
However, if you give her a treat her mouth opens immediately.
So, I guess there is some comprehension there.

Next to her is an elderly African woman.
She sleeps a lot.
When she doesn’t sleep she tries to escape.
The nurses are constantly bringing her back to the ward.
She also has a disconcerting habit of standing at the end of your bed and staring at you.
I feel very sorry for her.
In the old days the grandmother in the family was venerated.
She just wants to be at home.
Sadly, times appear to have changed.

Finally, in the other corner is a sweet old duck.
She plays with a toy dog.
Feeds it imaginary food from her pill bottle.
And talks to it.
I like her.
I always make a point of waving to her.
It takes a while for the penny to drop but then you get the most amazing smile.
I gave her a treat the other day and she said ” I could pray for you, but you don’t need it”
Well, she said it in Afrikaans so I THINK that is what she said!

Hello All.

One of my favourite photos on MY beach.
Really miss that place.

So, on Monday I left for work at ten past six.
In the morning.
Yes, some people do that.
Actually, judging by all the cars on the highway, lots of us do it.

There was call on my phone.
But I don’t answer calls when I am driving.
Especially when I haven’t had my coffee.
Got to work and saw it was from the old age home.
And, I thought “oh shit”
Phoned them right away.
They said my Mom needed to go into hospital.
Said they would arrange for an ambulance.
But, a family member needed to be there.

Called the old man and he insisted he wanted to come with.
And, I thought “oh shit” again.
Now I had TWO old people to see to.
Drove all the way back to fetch him and then set off for the 40km drive.

To cut a long story short.
Well, shorter.
She is ok.
She came out today.

The old man went with her in the ambulance and I met them at the hospital.
What a super hospital.
Everything new and sparkling.
The staff were lovely.
The food was good.
Am trying to figure out how I can go and spend a few days there.
On medical aid, of course.

Since moving here I have seen a lot of hospitals.
And, ALL of them have passages that go on forever.
You walk for ruddy miles.
I think they are designed that way.
They hope that some of the visitors will collapse and they will get a few more patients.

Anyway, I went again on Tuesday and again yesterday.
Hence the frazzled bit.
Last night I arranged for an ambulance and told my brother to go over and see her back to the home.
Which he did and I have had a break today.
I will take the old man again on Saturday.

Before I end.
There are amusing bits to dementia.
If you look hard enough.
She informed me that someone phoned her.
She has been left an estate in Scotland.
Doesn’t think she will take it.
She can’t ski!!!

Hello All.

So, today was Mothers Day and history was made.
ALL my kids contacted me.
Even my stepson’s wife sent me a message.
Lovely girl.

I need to elaborate.
Younger daughter phoned first.
Said “this is a short call…happy mothers day…now I am going back to get under the duvet”
She lives in a cold place.
I can relate.

Then elder daughter sent me a nice message.

Then big surprise.
Elder son sent me a message.
He does not believe in mothers day.
Neither do I.
Commercial crap.
His message said Hippy mothers day.
And a picture of an Indian/Muslim saying “I could make fun of your mother but cows are sacred”
A good thing he and I share the same warped sense of humour.
I loved it.

Then the granddaughter I adopted phoned.
And, finally, her father phoned me.
Have I forgotten anyone?
Damn I have a lot of offspring.

All in all, not a bad day.

Hello All.

Yes, and then it was over.
Having said that, I wasn’t too sad.
I LOVED seeing all my family.
And being surrounded by love.
Such a nice fuzzy, warm feeling.
But, when all is said and done it is so good to have your own stuff around you.
And, my computer.
And, my own bed.
And, my own toilet.

The trip back was not so nice.
It was a public holiday.
Only an idiot travels on a public holiday.
Especially at the start of a long weekend.
Colour me stupid.

I spent most of the trip in the yellow lines, letting people overtake me.
And muttering when they didn’t flash their lights to thank me.

Oh yes, the photos are at Storms River.
My last stop on the trip.
I didn’t want to stop, but, once again, bladder won the day.
It took me seven hours again.
I have definitely slowed down and am more cautious.
Sign of age?
Or common sense.

Someone posted a comment on one of my “memory” posts.
So I went back and read it.
Anyone remember them?
I think I need to carry on with those posts.
In case I forget.
I left those posts on a bit of a cliff hanger.
Because I just felt I couldn’t talk about what went down.
I think I now can.

But first I shall regale you with a couple of stories about the old age home where we have my Mom.
I always try to find the humour in every situation.
You have been warned.
It might be slightly black humour.

 

Hello All.

Day five was a peaceful one.
Elder son, younger daughter, DIL, and grandson all came to younger son’s plot.
They stayed for a couple of hours and it was super to see them one more time.
I was so touched that they made the effort as it was a long way to come for coffee.

I might have stayed another day but Bart got a call from his foreman.
Lightening hit an Oak tree about four metres from where he was standing.
To say he was shocked is an understatement.
So they had to cut their break short and head back to Cape Town the next day.

Friends, from the plot next door, came for supper.
And the Cape Town storm hit us.
With a vengeance.
It bucketed down.
And I had visions of being stuck on the plot for a week.

DIL working in her garden.
Good thing they do not read my blog.
Not sure she would be happy with a pic of her butt.
They cannot wait to retire to the plot.
And I don’t blame them.

 

Hello All.

Day four started with us packing up.
Then elder son and I drove through to Napier (not the one in New Zealand) where Karen and Teresa had a scrumptious breakfast waiting for us.
And, yes, my jeans ARE feeling a little snug.

Then we set off for the farm where elder son and HIS son now live.
But first he filled my car with gas (such a darling)
The two of them live in a little cottage on a huge wheat farm.
Where they run a sawmill for the farmer.
And grow stuff.
And are as happy as sand boys.
The farm is totally different to the plot where younger son lives.
However, I found it beautiful as well.

In a different sort of way.

It was incredibly peaceful
The stars, at night, were awesome.
Son said that if I ever needed to, I could stay with the two of them.
He would build on another room for me.
It is nice to know I have options should the need ever occur.
I love the sea but I also love farm life.
What can I say?
I am easy to please.

I was reading a book when I looked out the window and saw this chap.

A Secretary bird.
I had no idea they were so big.
They catch snakes so I am a big fan.

The farmers wife came down to meet me.
And the next morning she dropped off a cooler bag with two huge piece of lamb.
Sorry to any vegetarians.