Water lilies

Water lilies growing in the ponds at St Georges Park, are putting on quite a magnificent display at the moment. That is what I love about the Eastern Cape - there is always something flowering, no matter what time of the year.
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Dragon flies - testing patience

Today's lesson was that dragon flies are not the easiest creatures to photograph. Sitting still for a reasonable length of time does not fit in with their psyche (if I may use the term). I can see that I will be visiting the ponds at St George's Park in the not too distant future, to perfect the art.

Matters of the heart - fanaticism pays

It is no just over 16 months since I had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass and yesterday I went for my annual checkup with my cardiologist.

Even though I have taken my pills and been fanatical about my diet, there was a nagging doubt in the back of my mind, "What if things are not right?" I had enough time to think about it, because I had to wait four months for my appointment.

First off was the treadmill and the ECG. It was not a walk in the park, as my heart rate had to get up to 155. Though I was huffing and puffing at the end I felt fine.

Then it was into the consulting room with the cardiologist. He is a man of few words - or rather let me rephrase - very few words. The prognosis is usually, "I'm happy," or "I'm not happy." If he is not happy, you know you have a problem. In my case he actually increased the number of words when giving me his prognosis.

After taking my blood pressure and listening to my heart it was, "Perfect." Not many words but that made me happy. Then he said, "I am very happy with the results of the ECG." More good news.

The last hurdle was the cholesterol test. Again he was very happy.

My cholesterol is still at 3.6, which is the same level it was last year. The LDL remains unchanged at 2.5, but the HDL (the good one) has increased from 0.8 to 1. If he is happy then I am happy, even though I was hoping to get my LDL to below the 2.5 level, but I wont stress, because he is happy.

The last word was that I could come back for my next checkup in two years time.

Life with Suzi - Shopping

I was not able to ascertain whether this sign was put up tongue in cheek, or whether the staff from "Out if the Blue" at St Francis Bay, have had to contend with many grumpy husbands coming into the shop with their wives. It got a smile from me anyway - in fact I ran back to my car to get my camera.

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It made me think of the shopping experiences Suzi-k and I have. Usually we have a lot of fun when we shop together. In fact we can be a very bad influence on one another, especially in book shops.

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But..........then there are the shops we classify as "boys shops" and "girls shops".

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Let's see, a decor shop falls into the category of a "girls shop". The conversation usually starts like this. "I just want to pop in here quickly, do you mind?"

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"No," I lie.

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I manage to whip around the shop in thirty seconds. I take everything in and foolishly think it is now time to hit the road. Alas, Suzi-k has not made it past the first display, so I do many more circuits.

I don't get grumpy. I may just casually remark that I look a lot quicker than she does and she gets a hunted look on her face.

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I think she secretly enjoys the "boys shops", but will never admit it. Sometimes has to restrain me - "We do not need any more camping equipment, let's first use the stuff we already have," or "Haven't you got enough knives?" My stock reply is, "A man can never have enough knives."

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There is one area of shopping where Suzi-k refuses to go with me. That is shoe shopping. Even I have to admit that I am a total pain, because I am so fussy about what goes onto my feet, but at least my shoes are comfortable.

The clouds are lifting

I am back. The clouds of bloggers block are lifting after a few weeks absence, but they have not lifted entirely. There is still a only a small piece of the sky showing through, but I am getting there.

This picture was taken from our sitting room window a few weeks back, looking East over the Bay. We can miss some amazing sights, by looking in the wrong direction.

It's time to take the camera out the moth balls and to get cracking.

Suzi-k and I have also handed the reigns of the Port Elizabeth Daily Photo to Firefly, after 500 posts. I will now be featuring more of posts on our city as these were previously reserved for the daily photo blog.