April begins

Hubby's birthday has come and gone...we made a weekend of it, going out to eat, taking in a show, hitting a couple of casinos. It was a great, relaxing weekend.

April in South Africa is roughly equivalent to October in California. The weather is cooling, storms come and go...we've had two bang up rain storms in the last 3 days, one of which has revealed yet another roof leak...and even saturated my convertible sofa. When karma gets around to that lying, cheating, sneaking SOB we bought this house from, he is going to be in a world of serious hurt!!

It is almost too cold for me to go barefoot today, although I am still in sleeveless tops. But before long I will have to unearth my hoodies and long-sleeved Ts, maybe even find my clogs and put away my sandals. Haven't worn my coat in a couple of years now, the cold here is just not that cold, except at night.

The dogs, however, are a different story. Because of my allergies, we have dogs that are single-coated...they never get an insulating undercoat, which means they never shed...but without that undercoat they don't do winter well. The Maltese Mafia have a collection of fleece jerseys...time to take them out and wash and fluff them for the upcoming months...and the Yorkies have velour tracksuits and flannel jammies and nightgowns. Sounds silly, I know, and I'm not trying to fool anyone...my Yorkies wear clothes and I think they look adorable in them...but the winter wear, while undeniably cute, is actually necessary because their outer coat doesn't provide any insulation against the cold. So, they get clothes that go over that outer coat, which then becomes their insulating layer.

We cut a bunch of overgrown trees a couple of weeks ago and uncovered a spindly, sickly little lemon tree beneath the overgrowth, valiantly struggling to find sun. I took a couple of sick-looking leaves to a nursery this weekend and got advice on how to combat the pest infesting it. Just in the short time we've had it uncovered, the lemon tree has begun to thrive. Amazing what a little light and water will do for a plant! Imagine what some fertilizer and compost will do for it!

Little Lovey is growing into a lovely dog. She was five months old a couple of days ago and while she is still brimming over with exuberance and feistiness, she is beginning to "get" the potty pads and such commands as "sit" and "come." She also loves to hear "good girl!"...she gets all quivery and her tail wags like a snapping flag! But she is still a puppy and she is teething just now (time for the big girl teeth) and will chew on anything...last week I caught her chewing on a door!) so she still requires constant supervision (thank goodness for harnesses and long leashes!).

It is overcast today, so I suspect another wave of rain is on its way. I have moved the sofa away from the leaky place and am prepared with pots this time...and I think it is time to go find my slippers as my feet are freezing on this tile floor!

And so autumn comes to South Africa...with luck I'll be seeing a few orange pumpkins in the stores soon (rare here) and then I can make some pumpkin pie (unknown here)...YUM!