What's up?

Yeah, I got obsessively carried away building up the fellowship. Every night I’d go to bed thinking ‘That’s it. I’ve done all I can, now it’s just play’ and then I come up with another avenue to explore … and off I go again. Wednesday night I finally got to the point where I knew there was no further avenue left to explore. I woke up at six on Thursday, and re-emerged to real life. Went to get cat food – and got Ziva a flea collar. Spent a couple of hours in the garden.

Came back upstairs only to learn that a new Adventure starts on Monday! Oh, and our Archmage came online Wednesday night – only to hand over the burden to me! I have no real support – the other Mage just wants us to get to the top prize in tournaments – we’re doing a lot better than ever before! But won’t pool HER resources. Turns out, I’m the only one who does – so there’s that strategy down the drain. So, on the one side she’ll expel member for not being team players, while at the same time … Ah, well. It’s a game. A TEAM game! Her first reaction to the new Adventure was ‘Oh no – let’s skip it! Oh, I’ll help, if we decide to go for it …’ that was a lovely slap in the face.

Rant over.

My porch light blew the other day, I asked our gardener to replace the bulb – but the whole thing is … hanging by a thread! You can’t get the bulb out, when he tried, the whole thing started coming apart, so we left it. Anyway, I had put a new bulb in last year, so there’s definitely a problem.

One of Rose’s geraniums blew over and broke off, she was going to throw it away (she’s got so many, and no space) so I cut myself a load of cuttings and stuck them in the vegetable patch along the wall and in that bed, where the Nasturtiums were last year. All new Nasturtiums coming up in that bed are covered in those black lice or whatever parasite they are.  Maybe the geraniums have a better chance.

Today, I first pulled all the Nasturtiums out of the lawn and the path and planted them in the bed opposite the Spekboom. If the garden demolishers come tomorrow, at least they won’t be mowed. Then I cleaned the bed, starting at the end, working my way towards the courtyard. I cut all the dead stalks, leaving room for the new sproutings, and removed as many wilted leaves as I could. It’s looking a lot nicer – and the path is nice and open again! Those seeds don’t care where they land, they just push forth new flowers anywhere they like, he he.

The Mips are as troublesome and attached as always! They go out when I open the door – and within an hour they come back for play! Not cuddles anymore, now they want play. Well, except Mewthos – he puts on a show of wanting play, but really he just wants to cuddle in our cuddle cave! He gets incredibly dirty in such a short time! He comes back half an hour after I let him out with his nose all black – like he’s trying to plow with his nose! But I shouldn’t be surprised – after all, I can’t water the garden without watering Mewthos! He is fascinated by the ground changing colour (when the water darkens the soil). So much so, he pays no attention to the water coming from above causing that change! And he trots around in the wet soil – then looks at his paw in disgust for getting wet!

Lady Jane now just loves me to dangle a feather around the mini-scratcher I had bought so long ago – she tires herself out clawing her way round and round and round again! She’s still not able to stay completely away from my toilet paper, though – sigh. The other night she again checked that I was fully in the bath before settling down to a leisurely claw at it! Oh, and I don’t think her use of alternate litter places had anything to do with the state of the box; I think she was trying to let me know that something was wrong. Every time she did, there was some blood in her stool. There hasn’t been a recurrence, though. While that was happening, I saw her use the litter box as well, and saw no blood those times. She did throw up in the garden yesterday afternoon though. That worries me a bit, I’ll have to start checking the patch by the wall – she brought another piece of garbage from next door this week, again, even though I’ve closed that hole. So they must be throwing odd bits into my garden now. She would be so easy to poison!

I had some issues getting them all in last night, but even Ziva was indoors before dark! I put the collar on her – and boy, oh boy am I only in the dog box now! She is highly displeased! You’d think I fitted her with a cone of shame! She shrinks from me, if I try to touch her! She’s slunk away and has been sulking in the cat carrier – except when it was time for treats!

Coopers Kloof

I woke nice and early after good night’s sleep. First up for breakfast was Romeo! My girls seem quite besotted with him – they are forever sniffing his butt! I was not so happy about him going for Mewthos, though.

Just before eight, I tricked my Mips with a sachet, so I could sneak out to go and get groceries. Snoopy was sitting on the mat outside, but not making any move to come in, so I left him there.

Shopping was unpleasant, to put it mildly. First, I forgot to stop at the corner shop to get electricity – so I’ll have to detour on the way back. Then I take a wrong turn – instead of going straight to Makro, I took the left fork going to the pleasant Spar. So I detour to Makro. Only to find the gates closed! Turns out it’s a public holiday, and they’ll only open at nine. Okay, so I go across the road to get groceries, first. That actually worked in my favour, as they had a special on cat sachet treats – worked out cheaper than Makro would have been, so I saved a few bob. But then, at Makro, they don’t have my cigarettes – she called and said they do have at the Liquor Store, though. So, after I finished shopping, another detour, though on foot this time. I usually park by the exit, and the Liquor Store is past the exit, past the entrance, down the corner! By now I’m just about done in, but still, I detour and stop to get electricity. The perishables are about as much as I can carry in one trip, so I leave the non-perishables in the boot.

Snoopy is still patiently sitting on the mat, waiting to be let in! He is just smitten with this idea of ‘toys for cats’! Yesterday he played with the glove toy, I’ve hung on the scratcher pole – just happily played for ages! Wish mine would learn to play without me! Lady Jane keeps mipping at me to play wand games – but as soon as we start, Mewthos shows up and she retreats! He gets a bit too boisterous for her. He huffs and growls and throws himself at whatever toy we’re playing with!

Well, I’ve unpacked my shopping, had breakfast, caught up with my games, caught up with my blog – and in just over half an hour I’m off! Rose has invited me on another historical outing! The wind is quite icy, so I’m trying my new work jacket. I put it on and went downstairs to see if I can feel the wind through it – and Mewthos ran away from me! Ai ai ai!

The afternoon I enjoyed a lovely outing with the local historical society – this time to Coopers Kloof! The wind was biting cold, though, so we all took a mental snapshot of the Kloof and retreated to Champions pub, where we then got a lovely talk about the buildings, the history, what was, how it came about – with some lovely personal memories from the speaker! I, again, thoroughly enjoyed it – as well as the coffee and chat afterwards! On the way back, we stopped at Spar and I couldn’t resist treating myself to Sushi for dinner. Ziva thought it smelled delightful!

Still escaping real life

I got caught up chatting till way past my bedtime Tuesday night – so Wednesday was kind of … bleh! So I just faffed around, played games, played with Mips – I invented a new game which seems to keep Mewthos quiet: Cuddle-cave! When he comes in mew, mew, mewling, we go through to the bedroom where I’ve made a cave under the feather duvet, he climbs in and we cuddle. That seems to be all he needs.

He is seriously not pleased with Snoopy, though – he attacks him, when he tries to come in and just won’t let him be in peace. Since Snoopy isn’t my cat, but Mewthos is, I think I’ll jut leave him to it without interfering. He doesn’t seem to have a problem with Romeo though, which I find strange. Snoopy is such a placid, passive, non-aggressive cat – if I raise my voice at Mewthos, he gets up and goes away. He doesn’t like loud noises, raised voices and such. Whereas Romeo is caterwauling almost non-stop! Well, I do have my hands full with my lot – no need to burden myself unnecessarily!

With that awful Home Affairs application looming large in front of me, I escaped back into Elvenar, where no such horrors intrude. I’ve spent the day trolling the ranking list for potential member and inviting active players, who are currently not in any fellowship. It’s laborious work – but made a lot more accurate by a new website, where you can look up players’ statistics for the past 3 months. Still, out of the 400 unattached members, I found only 28 potential candidates. Well, 29, one player already replied saying he’d rather play alone than join a fellowship. I’ve got 15 invitations waiting for replies, I will keep them open for two days, then delete them & invite the next on my list. We’ve got 3 spots open at the moment, but we have two players, who aren’t participating in the weekly tournaments – so, they’re on the ‘to boot’ list.

Once I have filled those 3 + 2 spots with active candidates, we can start tackling the high-ranking non-team players. We have some five players, who have been with the fellowship from the start (about two years ago?). They’ve stayed through thick and thin, but have lost real interest in the game. They only do minimum about once a day – and persistently do their own thing, when it comes to team activities. They rarely take trades, rarely even put up trades, their participation in tournaments is no more than usual – they don’t pool their resources by taking unfair trades from smaller players nor do they meet our new target, which is slightly above their average. Instead of spreading their wealth, they hoard it. But get the rewards the rest of us achieve by compensating for their lackadaisical approach. Which is becoming an issue – not only with me, but with those who go the extra mile to compensate. So, I’m afraid, when the time comes, they will have to go … there are loads and loads of lackadaisical, relaxed fellowships out there. Nothing wrong with that – it IS a game, and should be fun! But the majority in this fellowship want to play and grow, not only themselves, but be part of a growing fellowship. It will pull our fellowship score down – quite substantially – but that should only be temporary.

Rant over. I just had to let it out – and since nobody from the fellowship reads this, it’s a safe place to vent.

Snoopy spent the night with us again, last night – to the disgust of all my cats! He’d been sleeping on the bed most of the evening, so when I went to bed, I put him on the blanket in the lounge, then sat with him for a while, brushing him – just to let him know it’s not rejection. Lady Jane had brought in a gecko the day before, and when it was half-dead, left it. It had managed to get up the wall and was teasing her from the ceiling half the afternoon! She’d sit looking up at it, meep, meeping away! Last night, while I was sitting with Snoopy, it somehow ended up on the floor – and an excited Mewthos was trying to dig under my legs to get at it. He got so excited, he completely forgot to hiss at Snoopy! While Mewly was looking the other way, I picked up the gecko and put it outside the window. Mewthos didn’t even notice, he kept looking under Snoopy for it – again, completely forgetting to hiss at him!

When I went to bed, Ziva sulked in the cat carrier and the Mips cavorted around the lounge – so Snoopy came to snuggle up to me on the bed. When Mewthos finally chose to come to bed – he was highly displeased! Curled up in a sulk and wouldn’t purr for love nor cuddles! Snoopy, on the other hand, was in heaven! He purred and purred and purred like a diesel engine! This morning he mipped to go out, and we had the usual cat-exchange: Snoopy out, Romeo in. As it was overcast, mine didn’t perform their morning ‘I must get out of this prison’ drama! It’s really annoying, but I’m adamant they don’t go out till after eight. The Mips are exploring farther and farther, and I do NOT want to risk either getting run over in the morning rush-hour traffic! I worry enough about Ziva, especially when she’s late in coming home!

I decided to take a shower this morning, it was quite hot last night – the weather is really flopping between the seasons like a dying fish! One day it’s freezing, the next it’s hot. Anyway, as I started drying myself, Lady Jane comes in crying for attention! I explained that I’m busy, but kept a wary eye on her – and true to form: when I was bent over to dry my hair, she leaped to jump on my back! That could have been more painful, if I hadn’t been expecting it – I straightened up before she was on and she fell on the mat, no claw-action! Only, I banged my knee against the bath. That nearly brought tears to my eyes – I already have quite enough trouble with my knees!

Oh that Lady Mip! She just brought in what looked like just a scrap of plastic. When she lost interest in it, I picked it up – and found it covered with … urgh, I don’t even know what! I threw it away – only to watch Lady Jane bring in another piece of rubbish! Curious, where she could be getting it, I went downstairs to investigate. Turns out, she crawls through the water drain hole in the fence to the neighbours behind me – who seem to just throw their rubbish out of the window into the garden! There’s a whole heap of plastics and … urgh. They throw cigarette butts and empty packs into my garden as well! Anyway, I looked for a large rock with one flat side, so I could place it across the water drain, blocking the hole but not blocking the water flow. Only, there’s a little wall in front of the dividing wall – and Lady Jane can still get through that gap. So, I’ve now blocked that temporarily with small rocks – I’ll have to make another plan, since I’m now blocking the water flow.

They are strange people, those next door neighbours. Fortunately there’s no means of contact between us, since their entrance is in the road behind mine, and between us is that wall, rather than a fence, like between Rose and me. We’ve picked up cigarette butts along that wall before, and now that whole pile of rubbish – though that, at least, is in their own garden. Last night I heard them banging on the wall quite late, not rhythmically (if you know what I mean), just as if they’re throwing a ball against the wall at odd intervals. And stomping footsteps – with a bit of imagination, I could almost pretend I’m in a haunted castle!

I’ve just changed the sheets on my bed, and it was just such a perfect example of how my life has changed, since Ziva came strolling in to stay! Nothing I do is boring, everything I do is watched with excitement and investigated thoroughly! I’ve always got interested company who happily do their best to participate! I water the garden? Mips stick their head under the stream because they want to see those drops falling on the ground! Weeding? Mips will climb over me, when I least expect it – both Mewthos and Lady Jane! Bent over weeding? Lady Jane jumps on my back! Drying my hair after a shower? Yeah … not such a happy ending. Sit in the bath? Mips come strolling over mommy, investigating the water! Changing the bed sheets? Ooh! Lovely! Are we building a fort? Folding laundry? Ooh! Mips sit on the folded pile so I won’t need to iron (not that I ever iron, anyway!). No task is too boring, in their opinion! Between Lady Jane and Mewthos, it’s sometimes a miracle I manage to get any task finished! Washing the floor? Mippies watch, then when I’m done, stroll in to inspect. Vacuuming? I show mommy how brave I is! I sits and watches! Scooping the litter box? Oooh! Nice! Lady Jane will check to see if I did a good job! Ziva tends to do her own thing most of the day, and shows little interest in anything I do. Except when I’m cooking MY dinner, and when I’m eating MY dinner! I already dread the day, when I have to take them somewhere to stay, while I handle the move. I know the separation will be traumatic for them – but being around during the move would be even worse! They are so attached to me, and so afraid of all strangers! I wonder if they’ll ever outgrow their attachment to me, or their excitement over everything I do?

Hmm, my roll of toilet paper is nearing the end again – I could hear Lady Jane unrolling it happily! The look I got, when I rolled it back up and said ‘Not yet!’ just melted my heart, so I gave her an old one with only three of four sheets left on it. Where do I find an old roll of toilet paper? Ha Ha! I know my Lady Jane! So I don’t throw them away, but keep one or two for her as a treat!

Work Intrusion

Would you believe the cheek of it? While I was in the bath last night, Lady Jane came in, checked that I’m really immersed in water – and then, bold as brass, she starts pulling down my toilet paper and shredding it! Happy in her favourite pastime and the certainty that mommy can’t stop her now! She has evidently come to the conclusion that the toilet paper should be shared, since this is the second time she’s taken down the last few bits of a roll! I may have most, but when it’s low, it’s hers. I may have a klutz and a Ladyship – but I sure don’t have stupid cats!

This morning I woke in time to enjoy the sunrise, again. Snoopy popped in for breakfast, followed by Romeo a little later. Since they both show up before eight, my cats are not too pleased that those two may go out when they are still kept inside – and Mewthos has taken to defending his territory against these intruders.

I got caught up in Elvenar again, working on my spreadsheet – I had cobbled together something to keep record of weekly tournament costs and performance, since I’m trying to build up the fellowship. Now I need to expand it so I can keep record of cost for past tournaments as well as the current one. What I really need to work out, is how many days it will take to recover those costs. And when I’ve got a good database, I can plan accurately. And hopefully guide less mathematically gifted fellows.

And then, work intruded on my life – again! The local guy finally realized that popping in AFTER going to the site means he doesn’t have the printed inventory lists, he needs on site! Ha Ha, I had realized it, but he wouldn’t let me get a word in edgewise, so I had to wait until the penny dropped! Still, no problem – so he popped in today to get the lists and his time sheets signed. He’ll call tomorrow after he’s been, to let me know how it went.

While he was here, my phone rang – again! And again it was work related. This time it’s the company who moved our office containers from the top onto the ground – asking about payment. Sigh – I saw this coming! The project manager had assured me, he’s setting it in motion – that was a month ago! I’m also told, that the German company had asked the client if they can keep the containers on site till mid July – at first the client said okay, but now they need them moved asap. I can see trouble brewing … and I can also foretell who will most likely be asked to get things done: Kippie, aka moi!

Before that happens, though, I want to have that application with Home Affairs. I’ve slacked off on it, today, but I’ll have to pull up my socks and get it done. Tomorrow.

I’ve made time for the Mips several times today and I’ve come to realise it’s not about the game for them, it’s about spending time with me. They no longer come for regular cuddle sessions – they’re teenagers now. Teenagers don’t cuddle. But they still need time with their fur-granny. So, I have to adapt.

Then I got obsessive over the game again – I found data that lists all requirements right up to the last Chapter (for now, new Chapter due in a couple of months), so I entered it all into my Spreadsheet. Of course, with new targets it now looks like I’m way behind … again. But I’ll catch up!

Mewthos had been napping on the chair next to me, when it started getting dark – and I noticed Lady Jane kept coming in to look at me, then going back out! She was waiting for ‘play time’ to stay in. Ha Ha, they really are not stupid, are they?

Ziva stayed out quite late, one time, when I opened the door to call her, Snoopy came strolling in! Had a bit of a munch and went to sleep on my bed. The Mips didn’t take notice at first, but when I went to the bedroom to put on my jammies, they made their displeasure known! I better carry him through to the lounge when I go to bed. Let him sleep here. He is such a sweetheart!

Handing over

I woke up nice and early this morning, and even took a few photos of the sunrise. While I had my first morning coffee, fears, stress and worries flooded my brain until I could barely think straight. There is so much that I want to do, and such a lot that I need to get done – like the whole, onerous passport nightmare. And then there’s the financial fears: How will I cope with another move? And then, there are new activities I need to try – and since it’s a ‘need’, I balk. Childish, I know. So, what?

Well, it’s all getting too much for me, and I’m turning into a bundle of stress – shouting at my Mips for wanting attention when I’m busy … yeah, not who I want to be, or how I want to live. So, how do I solve this dilemma? Well, that’s where I’m one of the lucky ones: I’m an alcoholic! I know of a simple twelve step program that will solve all my problems. I know it works, because I’ve worked it – only, I’ve been slacking off for a while. That’s why stress and worry and fear are filling the gaps I should be filling with faith. Faith in what? I still don’t know. I just know that it’s not faith in some benevolent father in heaven – that image doesn’t work for me. It’s not natural. Anyway, I don’t want to debate beliefs here. We each have to find our own.

In between trying to write this, Mewthos is driving me up the wall! Our gardener is working for Rose today, so the Mips feel their playground invaded – and seem to think that it’s my place to provide their entertainment. Lady Jane keeps running into the bedroom for wand-play – only: they have pulled every last feather off their wands, and don’t want to play with featherless wands. Mewthos just wants my full-time attention – I must play, play, play with him. Where are those aloof cats that only want a lap to sleep on, occasionally? None like that in this place!

I took a stroll through the garden, it’s lovely and warm in the sun! The carnations seem to be doing well, the Spekboom are looking alive, and so I strolled up to the Cactus and Hibiscus. It’s looking much better on the right side, where I’ve already cleared out the Tecoma; though it would be good if it could be cleared further up as well, leaving just a row by the fence. I can’t clamber around there, I’m just not light enough on my feet anymore – I’ll ask our gardener to do that, next time he comes to me. And we need to do the same on the left side – give the Hibiscus room to grow.

Then I sat on the stairs for a bit, soaking up some sun warmth. Mewthos flopped around, enjoying my company.

Back upstairs, I cleaned out the bird cage – poor birdie! Then I scooped the litter box and topped it up with a new bag of sand – which received only lukewarm appreciation from Lady Jane. She went in, scratched around a bit and stalked off!

Then I started tackling that Home Affairs Form – what a nightmare! My father apparently never had a birth certificate, my mum’s? I have no clue where that would be – well, my guess would be, since it was needed for her death certificate that it was handed to Standard Wank, who handled her estate. And they were such a callous and incompetent pack to have to deal with … let me stop that train of thought before it turns really ugly! Anyway, when I’ve got everything I need, I’ll be sure not to take any original documentation to Home Affairs – only certified copies.

When I had had enough of that particular task, I had just gone to the bathroom, when my phone rang! That is such a rare occurrence – it warrants special mention! Even though it was work-related. One of the local guys went to site, on request from one of the Germans, and he got cornered by the client about removing the containers. He agreed to go in on Wednesday to make final preparations, as requested by the client – he needs me to a) print the lists and b) sign his time sheet. He’ll pop round on Wednesday. No problem.

Then I went and took the rubbish downstairs and asked our gardener to take it outside – that way, I can avoid walking outside the garden and don’t have to shut the Mips inside. They follow me everywhere! Remember Lady Jane’s habit of hopping on my back whenever I’m bent over? Well, last night, Mewthos took a stroll across my chest while I was in the bath! They literally walk all over me!

Outside, I saw some Spekboom cuttings on the table – our gardener had trimmed one of Rose’s Spekboom and she’d asked him to put the cuttings aside for me. So I went and planted them as well! Oh, in case you don’t know what Spekboom is, the horticultural name is Portulacaria Afra. It’s also known as Pork Bush or Elephant’s Food, and it’s indigenous to the Eastern Cape. It’s hailed as a wonder plant, because it reduces even more carbon dioxide from our atmosphere than any other tree. On a hectare by hectare comparison it is ten times more effective than the rain forest. That’s not why I’ve decided to plant them, although it’s a nice bonus. My reason is quite simple: they are easy to grow, Rose has an ample supply of cuttings for me, and they are hardy enough to survive where nothing else thrives. Oh, and they’re pretty!

I feel much, much better than I did this morning – better than I have in quite a while. Handing over works for me, I just have to keep it up, and not take it back.

I even found time to start clearing out my hard drive! After that fiasco with all those photos I took of my hoard before I got rid of it (loosing all those photos!) I seem to have got a bit paranoid – I have several copies of too many photos in a variety of folders! Time to get rid of all those duplicates and organize them properly. I also came across those precious few photos I have of my Mynx. Awww, I do miss him. Still.

Well, I’ve heated up leftovers for dinner – I do tend to cook once for a few days. Cooking when hungry leads to too large quantities! And then I’ll have a nice hot bath before I go to bed.

Sunny, but windy

Having gone to bed rather late last night, I woke a bit late as well – just before eight. Opened up to let the cats out – and Snowball (aka Snoopy) comes strolling in, followed shortly by Romeo.

Outside the weather looks fine, bit of a breeze but not too cold. The weather is really strange – one day I’m freezing my butt off, under thick layers of clothes, and the next day I’m in a sleeveless top in the garden. Today is somewhere in between.

As I’m sitting here having my second cup of coffee, Mips stroll in, followed by Ziva and Snoopy. I rub my hands in glee, shut the door and get ready to go out! I need some groceries, and it’s not yet too late – traffic should be endurable.

It is! Not many people on the road or at the shop, yet, so I take a leisurely stroll through the aisles. I get lucky and find some Chamomile tea – I’ve been searching every store for it, so I take the last two boxes on the shelf. I see they also have the Ultra Fine cat litter – I’ve got three bags at home, but … well, better to have than to need! I don’t want to find nothing but empty shelves when I need it next time!

Back at home I get some reproachful looks – but everyone’s still alive, he he. While they all rush out, I take this opportunity to check on the birdie – I’m afraid he died. I want to clean out the vegetable bed by the courtyard today, so I’m off into the garden while that patch is still in the sun!

I was a bit too late and that patch was already in the shade, but I cleared it out anyway. There wasn’t much to do, just a few weeds poking through here and there. No need to sit down for a thorough weed, just bend over and pick here and there. And that, of course, is irresistible to Lady Jane! Having her jump on your back while you’re working bent over … takes some getting used to! And then, today, for some unknown reason, she sat on my back and started playing ‘catch’ with my bum! I was not impressed having claws coming into play unexpectedly!

I’d had Gem Squash last week and had saved the seeds, so I put them in the patch, and then put a row of peas in front of them. Then I watered the three beds – yesterdays’ carnation bed, the newly planted Spekboom and today’s veggie patch.

Rose had asked me to help her put something up – being tall can come in handy – so I went upstairs to wash my hands and then went to visit Rose. We had a lovely chat, but after a while I wondered why none of the Mips were around? So I wandered outside, and as I came round the corner I heard a long, happy meep! And Lady Jane came shooting down the stairs and over the fence! Poor girl had been looking for me and was quite upset that she couldn’t find me! As was Mewly, who also came running down the stairs at the sound of my voice! That was one of those ‘Awww!’ moments.

Back upstairs, I start re-arranging my Elvenar city, following the layout I have so laboriously designed … and then: Aargh! I made a small mistake! It won’t fit, after all! So, I spend the rest of the afternoon and evening obsessing over a way to fix it!

Back to real life

I’ve spent the past couple of days immersed in the game world of Elvenar. It has paid off – our fellowship exceeded themselves! There are still too many ‘duds’ for my liking, but I think if we keep up the activity, they may leave by themselves … trash taking itself out. If not, we’ll boot them – but only once we’ve attracted more active players & need the room!

I also spent hours and hours obsessing over my city’s layout. Every time you level up, buildings change their size when you upgrade them, and until now I’ve pretty much just muddled along. It works, but it’s not efficient – I’m low on some needed buildings, not having them is slowing my progress down to a crawl. Well, I’ve finally found a way of squishing everything in, so now I’m working on re-arranging my entire city. It’ll take a while, too, because I need to upgrade some buildings first – and at my level, it takes nearly a full day for each upgrade! I can do 3 at a time, at the most. But, at least I now have a plan!

What about my German Passport, you ask? Well, for that I need only three items, my birth certificate, my passport, and … a document from the South African Home Affairs Office. Sigh. It’s called ‘Determination of Citizenship Status’ and for that I need my whole family tree! It’s going to be a nightmare – so I’m procrastinating. I have got the form and a list of needed documents, but that’s as far as I’ve gone. For now.

Today I’m spending some time in the garden, tending to the carnations in the first bed. Ziva caught a young pigeon, Mewthos & Lady Jane stole it off her and brought it into my kitchen – it’s still alive! So I took it off them, put it in the library on a towel with some water and seeds. And opened the window. I don’t know how badly it is hurt, it’s missing a lot of feathers on its back. For now it’s in shock, so I’m keeping it warm and hydrated.

Right, that’s it for the garden, I’d say. The bed is in the shade now, and that makes the breeze quite cold. Well, I’m happy with my progress: I’ve untangled the carnations in that bed, pulled all the weeds and then planted some more peas! In that far bed on the other side, where only the hardiest plants survive, I’ve not stuck some Spekboom cuttings in the ground and watered it well. On that side of the path, I really struggle to get anything to grow – even the Nasturtiums are now being attacked by parasites and not coming up again. So I’ve decided to try growing a nice little Spekboom hedge there. Rose has quite a few Spekboom and my cats just love to sit under them! She generously gave me some cuttings and offered I could help myself anytime. Once they’ve taken root, they should also survive the garden demolishers, since I’ve cut some nice thick branches.

As I’m cooking my dinner, Mewthos goes and steals a piece of my sausage! He is becoming quite a brat! Since I’ve changed over to the Royal Canin, he no longer bawls for treats half the day – and I only give them a sachet at night. And tonight they polish off two in a row! Cleaned out their bowls completely. So, I give them a third sachet, and only Mewthos and Lady Jane eat some of it – Ziva is full.

Just photos

The Aloes in Rose's garden
catching the sunlight

Lady Jane lovingly washing her Ouboet

Ziva playing!

The look I get when I'm
eating

Equally rare sight:
Ziva cleaning Mewthos

I don't see how he can get any real sleep lying like that

Just run your hand over his fur and he
shows his delight!

The catnip chaser - another toy Ziva plays with!

Isn't he just too cute for words?

We're waiting for our treat!

Sibling love!

Front legs, rear legs - what's it to you how I hug my sister? 

Snowball in sunlight 

Mewly's paw = the brown is that gunk that built up
while it was in the cast

It didn't look nice 

Lady Jane again lovingly washing her Ouboet

Lady Jane in the window

Yup! That's it, that look!
I'm eating dinner again!

Snowball managed to get the ball out of the
catnip chaser!

He is in love with ALL toys!

Yes? Did you want something?

Rainflowers - they open and soon it rains!

This is the only sign that his left paw is not quite right,
he walks on it, but sits with it like this

Snowball's beautiful blue eyes!

I only have to open my underwear drawer the tiniest bit
and Lady Jane jumps in looking for her feather wand! 

Got it!

Mewthos followed Lady Jane
and took the wand off her

Then he ran off into a corner to sit and grow!