MAY 2020 - Dear Emily

Hello my darling Em,  

We've had  Level 4 restrictions from1 May to 30 May.  This meant we could leave our cottages again or walk in the village at Sandown.  Now we are allowed to exercise - walk, jog, cycle between 6am and 9am within a 5km radius of our homes.  People who work are not happy.  They have to leave early to get to work and can't exercise after 5pm.

Next month we could go to Level 3 and then we might be allowed to travel out of our municipal district.  If that happens we might go to iMfolozi for a day visit.  We still can't stay overnight anywhere or drive out of our province which is KwaZulu-Natal.

I ordered a Corona Fighting Princess face shield for you and your Mom and Dad got you a face shield as well!

Gumpie and I are wearing our masks all the time too.  Because we can't go out to buy potting soil, and garden stuff isn't 'essential' we still can't buy any soil or compost.  So I've started collecting the sand from mole heaps near the ponds.  Don't you think I look like a robber!

It was Greg and Sharon's wedding anniversary on 2 May, your Dad's birthday on 15 May. (This day we were supposed to fly from Paris to Biarritz to start our Camino adventure). It is Tammy's birthday on 24th,  Greg's birthday on 26 and and your Mom and Dad's anniversary on 30 May. 

All these special dates with no parties, no visitors, no real presents just online gifts
or money deposited by EFT.  😞

On Friday nights we 'meet' on Google Duo at 6:30pm and have virtual sundowners 

for a couple of hours so we are able to say Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary on camera.

Ha, ha Em!  Do you know what happened to us the other day?  Some of us ladies from Line Dancing decided to join a walk in aid of Guide Dogs South Africa.  You can walk, jog, run, skip, jump - anything so long as you count the steps.  

We thought it would be a good idea to do an on-the-spot dance for two minutes so that we could collectively increase our step count.  Guide Dogs have asked people to post videos of their activities on their website so Gumpie took a video of us 6 ladies - some over 80 - while we did the steps to Tina Turner's Nutbush City Limits.  

Well, we got busted!  The Village Manager heard about it and said he could report us to police for having more than 4 people exercising together.  I told him to go ahead, and suggested it would make a great newspaper headline, "70 - 80 year-old women busted by manager doing a 'makierie-pas' in their Retirement Village."  

He then reported us to the Trustees. One of them phoned me and we had a very nice conversation about it.  He sympathized with me and asked that we wait until we go to the next level before we try another dance! [The funny thing is that the trustee is an ex-policeman who grew up with your Granny Laura and her sister Coleen and who Tammy worked for at his Security Company.]

You and your folks decided to paint your room a lighter colour - it was dark blue.  A little friend from your village also helped.  From the photos it looks much better.

 

Your hair was getting quite long and  Mom did some curls for you.  VERY pretty!

Then you cut and coloured your hair with a wash-out colour rinse.

May was quite a sad month for our doggies.  Ossie wasn't well and spent days in the Westville hospital.  They think he has a growth on the brain which is making him walk around in circles.  

Muffin was in and out of hospital for over a month and on the 28th May she finally crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to be with her sister Puddles and her friend Josie and maybe your Hamster as well.  

RIP dear Muffy.  You were Shaun's girlie, then Patty's girlie, Beryl's girlie for a year and then you went to your forever home with Mark, Tammy and Emily.  

We always remember our special furry friends.  

♥♥♥