Sojourn in South Africa 2010

It is with somewhat of a heavy heart that we take this trip to South Africa in July 2010.  Mom J is moving from her own apartment where she has been mostly independent and free to make her own choices about when to eat, what to eat, when to go out, etc.  The only thing she still broms about is not having a vehicle any longer - from her perspective she needs it to gad about.  From our perspective - with her compromised vision, slow reaction times, directional challenges - amongst others - not least of which is being 78 years old - we think that the roads and highways and their various motorists may do better without her chorrie being added to the mix.

She has had a few set backs that have required hospitalization and while she is now medically stable, she has become frail and weak.  She really does need to have the 24 hour assisted care level that comes with her retirement home.  

So we have made the journey to close down the apartment, sell up or store her possessions and mover her down to 24 hour care.   It has been made a little easier as she recognizes that this move is in her best interests and she is not fighting it.  We have set up her TV, her phone and mobile, her clothes.  We have bought her a wheelchair so that she can still "gad about" on four wheels.

It was wonderful to have Tiffany with us this time.  We showed her some of the sights of London on our stopover too.

In Cape Town, we did all the usual sights: up Table Mountain, down to Stellenbosh to the Wine Farms - we even met Halle Berry and her daughter at the Leopard Sanctuary.  We took multiple walks on Blouberg, and had the opportunity to watch Tiffany surf.  We spent some great evenings with family in restaurents eating our favourite prawns, kingklip and South African steaks.

The best part - reconnecting with family: Lesley and Garvin, and even Leigh and Jo-Anne flew down to be with us, and Mom H stayed with us at the Blouberg apartment that we rented.

All in all, a very good trip - despite the reason for the trip we all had a very good time!