Breaking the drought

It’s been a while since my last post – Tuesday June 10th in fact! Lots has happened and I have not had the energy to blog, sadly.

Last week…

…I had a work dinner on Wednesday and had half-a-glass of red wine with my delicious ravioli. It was a good wine, a Rupert and Rothschild. Note to self: NEVER, but NEVER EVER drink red wine again, even if it’s expensive! It’s simply poison for my system. The next morning my sinuses had swollen up, my face was puffy and I had nausea, sinus, neck and shoulder pain. Almost like I had a hangover but with half-a-glass of wine! Have you ever…!!??

Last weekend…

… was a long one in South Africa and we went away to Mount Grace in the Magaliesberg. It was wonderful, just being pampered and doing nothing all day but lie in the sun topping up on Vitamin D reserves. Che and I had a pamper session at the spa on Saturday morning and I spent the rest of the time catching up on items on my WordPress Reader – so I know what’s been happening with everyone else. I can recommend the a la carte restaurant Rambling Vine where we enjoyed 2 excellent 3-course dinners – without wine for me!

A new lens…

Prior to the weekend I bought a new lens for my camera  – I’ve always wanted a 50mm-300mm lens so on Friday morning before we left I snuck out to the electronics shop and bought a Sigma lens.

I’m really still learning about photography. For years I was a point and click photographer – too intimidated by the complicated features of an SLR camera. Eventually even I got frustrated with the slow response of the point and clicks. The picture I saw and wanted I simply wasn’t getting. So I bit the bullet and got a DSLR.

I’m not much of a manual reader and definitely don’t have the patience for photographic courses so I’m going it alone. Che is a very proficient photographer (he did photography in school and even developed his own pics back in the day) so I have a source of ready info at my finger tips.

So the weekend at Mount Grace also turned out to be a photographic lesson from Che Hubby. I enjoyed it and I’m sure that I got a whole lot better. I played around with Bokeh after reading a post on Cee Neuner’s site. I had loads of fun on macro setting. Here is a pic I experimented with.

WIldflower of the Magaliesberg - succulent from the Aloe family I think...
WIldflower of the Magaliesberg – succulent from the Aloe family I think…

Hunting for heat…

We travelled back to Jhb on Monday afternoon. It was cold and we hadn’t yet replenished the gas bottle for the heater. At 8pm when normal people were having dinner and watching TV I was driving like a lunatic around the neighbourhood looking for gas. I went to 4 service stations before I found one which still had stocks.

Sinuses again…

Well, the sinuses never really cleared up. They were really bothering me, I had symptoms of fever, hot and cold all the time, it was so bothersome. On Thursday morning I woke up feeling nauseous and sweating like mad – I actually woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and had to peel off the soaking PJs to put dry ones on. In the morning I had pain in the head neck and shoulders as well. I know when left untreated sinus problems can become secondary infections, so I decided to stay home and go to the doctor. I don’t like antibiotics, I much prefer the natural way of treating things, but sometimes I know it is necessary and this was one of those times.

Today I am still off, panicking because of unfinished work at work. And tomorrow I’m not going to Wintercon, Toastmasters club officer training. Last week I was elected President of Talk with Purpose toastmasters club but I’ve been President of 2 other clubs before so I should be ok.

Cheerio for now friends!