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Thursday, 6 December 2018

Day 43 of 100, Wednesday 5th December


I struggled to sleep, yet again. Mewly joined me on the bed and we cuddled lots! I woke at half eight to a ringing phone – my other neighbour, not Rose. Our gardener will be working for him today and he wanted to know if he could come into my garden to cut the Hibiscus, which is growing quite high again. He knows I’m moving, so he’s hoping to get any work requiring access to my garden done before I move – none of the past tenants have ever been approachable, nor have any ever lifted a finger to care for the garden. He’ll take the cut branches away himself – I mentioned that I had cancelled the drum and he thanked me for the use of it while I was here.

I’ve just checked online, and load shedding is still in progress – we should go dark from ten till half past twelve.

Well, whatever spared us yesterday didn’t spare us today. Maybe the twat whose job it is to flick our switch took a day off yesterday. I was prepared, so it was no problem for me. I washed the dishes and then went outside to work alongside our gardener. While he was trimming the Hibiscus I trimmed that other tree in front of the cactus, giving the cactus more room to breathe and grow. Right now, only the cactus is left – the Hibiscus has been cut down so much, it’s no longer overshadowing the cactus. Of course I also got a few cactus prickles in my hands, sigh.

Back upstairs I cleaned the carnations in my vase, then cleaned the beans. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen any decent beans for sale anywhere! These – like all the rest – are scrawny and covered in brown-black spots and white welts. No clue what that is, but I don’t remember when last I’ve seen a shop-bought bean without it.

Rose just called me, she had Shadow in her arms. I picked her up – that poor cat weighs nothing! Like picking up a skeleton with fur! Her spirits are down as well, but otherwise she looks fine. Her gums and tongue are pink, no marks on her, so Rose will try to feed her. If she doesn’t eat, we’ll have to take her to the vet.

Laundry is folded and packed away, beans are steaming, chicken is cut up and ready for dinner – I even cut up some livers and put them aside for mippies treat.

I’ve packed another box, all those bottles of oil, etc. in the kitchen. Right now I can’t decide whether to carry on packing or go outside and move some plants into pots. I don’t really want to do either …

So I had dinner, instead. Added some mayo and some spices – delicious! Better than I expected, actually.

And then I went outside – oh, was Mewly excited when I unlocked the gate! He just loves mommy in the garden, where he can throw himself at me anytime! Oh, and when I start watering – that’s his happy time! I decimated another of the carnation plants, cut it right down to the stubs where new buds are already forming. I gave some to Rose, planted some along the wall and took some more upstairs for my kitchen window. I also pulled two out with their roots and planted them in one of the pots.

Romeo is under my feet, after Ziva, then under my feet again and again. If it isn’t Romeo, then it’s Mewthos! Between the two of them I can barely walk! At least I won’t have any trouble with Lady Jane tonight, Romeo has chased her inside – she’s now on the window sill beside me. I had to chase Romeo outside – he’s now stretched outside the gate.

Again the battle to get my mippies inside and Romeo out at the same time. They loved their chicken liver treat – but seemed to struggle to find it in their bowls? Weird. I managed to shut the door just in time, even though I took the time to give Romeo a few bits of chicken liver as well.

As soon as everyone was inside and fed, I took a bath. Mewthos and Ziva joined me – Ziva gave Mewthos a bath on the mat, it was too cute for words!

Then I started googling some ideas, starting with macramé. I can give it a try tomorrow, starting with the twine I’ve already got, to practice. I stumbled across something interesting: weaving baskets from rolled newspaper sticks! They look just like wicker baskets – personally, though, I can’t say I like the look. I can work on that, though. But rolling sticks from newspaper creates a reasonably sturdy material without much work. Just takes a drop of no-nails glue. I could add a layer of paper mache as a finish; that would combine the sturdiness of the sticks with the pliability for molding an exterior. But those are projects for my new home, not here …

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