Keep Calm and Scary On

I’m so thankful to you all for your good wishes after my eye operation. I really appreciate my wonderful friends on WordPress, and am happy to report that my sight is improving every day. Although I still have the gas bubble bobbing around in my right eye, it is definitely getting lower, and it now seems that I’m peering over the top of it. Hopefully it will soon disappear altogether,  and my eye will be back to normal.

I just wanted to wish you all a happy Halloween and to show you the pumpkin carvings done by my three NJ grandchildren. My son sent me these photos yesterday.

I think that five-year-old Max did a scarily good job.

His older sister Taylor, managed to come up with an awesome owl/bear.

Big sister Sienna, created a very good likeness of herself, inside her pumpkin lantern.

My sister has driven down the hill to see me, a few times this last week, and on Wednesday our daughter is flying down from Johannesburg to spend a few days with us. I also see my eye doctor on Wednesday morning, and will then find out how soon I’m allowed to fly. We are hoping to leave on November 15th for England to see hubby’s 103-year-old Mom, and will then be back home in Florida on the 22nd.

Hope you all have a great week, and that tonight is just scary enough for you who are celebrating Halloween.

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Sunrise, Eyesight and Monkeys

I can only come up with one positive aspect to being woken up at 5 am by people stomping around in the apartment above ours. I rarely see a sunrise, so decided to make the most of the situation by taking a few photos.

I think sunrises and sunsets over the sea are quite hard to beat.

My ‘holiday’ by the sea isn’t turning out to be quite as relaxing and carefree as I would have liked. I’ve been experiencing a problem with the vision in my right eye for a few months, and thought it was something simple like a bit of scar tissue after my cataract and lens implant operation three years ago. We have medical insurance here in South Africa, so I went to see my eye surgeon soon after we arrived. It turns out that I have a small macular hole which prevents me from seeing fine detail and reading. Today I am going into hospital for a ‘vitrectomy’ which has a 90% success rate of closing the hole by inserting a bubble of gas in the space behind the retina. It sounds as though I may have to keep my head bent forward for quite a few days, and even sleep face down, which I really can’t contemplate as I usually sleep on my back. Anyway, it is what it is, so I’ll keep thinking positive.

I was rather amused by the welcoming committee which was lined up to greet us when we visited our friends up the hill in Kloof. Looks like we all have our wildlife, wherever we happen to live. I’m really missing my Iggys and Sammy squirrel. I wonder if they’ve even noticed that I’m not around to take their photos.

Hope you’re all having a good week. I’ll let you know how everything goes.

WPC: My Local Beach

Here I am back at my ‘local’ beach in South Africa for a few weeks. Since I last posted, we’ve spent time in London, then visited our daughter in Johannesburg, and now we’re happily ensconced in our beachfront apartment with a view. Umhlanga Rocks is the seaside town we called ‘local’ for fifteen years.

It seemed like we’d never been away, when on our early morning walk, the iconic red and white lighthouse came into view.

There were fisherman on the rocks and cargo ships waiting to go into port, just as there always were.

A prayer meeting of huddled worshippers was in full swing, their voices clearly audible above the sound of the crashing waves.

The familiar sight of the pier with it’s whale-bone shaped arches, really made me feel  nostalgic.

Looking down at one obviously very dedicated sunbather, was quite a ‘sight for sore eyes’ as my Granny used to say. Hubby told me that his scanty swim suit is what is known as a ‘Budgie Smuggler’, which made me laugh out loud.

As we wended our way home for breakfast, the sky had turned a gorgeous shade of blue, and my favourite lighthouse in all the world was looking its very best.

So, no Iguanas or Sammy squirrel here to show you, although I have seen a couple of local monkeys around. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get some photos if they stay still for long enough.

Wishing you all a very happy weekend. Tonight we’re meeting my sister and her husband for dinner at one of our local restaurants.

I participate in WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge 2016

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Macro Monday: Sammy is Samantha

Sammy squirrel has once again managed to empty the bird feeder in record time, and yesterday found something else to eat. Sitting on  the ‘Top of the Rock’, I got a really good look at his/her chest area, and came to the conclusion that Sammy is actually short for Samantha. My blog friend Robin of ‘Witless Dating After 50’ blog had mentioned that this might be the case, after looking at one of my earlier photos.

She looks to my unpracticed eye to be pregnant, which is probably why she has been attacking the bird seed with such gusto. I have to admit that unlike Sammy, I was never able to run up a palm tree or hang upside to eat when I was expecting my babies.

A sad ending to my story is that I have just this minute received a phone call from one of the Board members of our community, to say that bird feeders are not allowed here, as they may attract rats and geese. I told her that I’ve never seen any rats and that it’s hung much to high for geese to reach, but she said that it’s a general rule and there can be no exceptions. I’m feeling more than a little fed up about it, as I so enjoyed seeing the beautiful birds flying back and forth, not to mention the antics of Sammy squirrel.

I wish you all a great week. Now I really must get on with some packing of cases.