Birds and breakfast

I don't have the best camera for photographing birds, but I got some good photos anyway on my recent walk at the Botanical Gardens.

This is the Cape Bulbul.  In Afrikaans, it's known as 'bottergat' (butter bum) and this photo shows the bright yellow bum beautifully.

 

My new favourite breakfast at the botanical gardens - French toast with mince, cheese and red chillies - delish! 

 

In total, I walked about 10 000 steps on Saturday; my foot was tired and a bit sensitive in the afternoon and on Sunday, but fine again on Monday.  I'm am so glad that I had foot surgery to remove the Morton's Neuroma, and very blessed to find a great surgeon (Professor Nick Saragas at Linksfield Clinic).  Thank you Lord! 

 

 

Hello muscles

After not exercising for 7 months (because of my foot surgery), I got the green light from my foot physiotherapist to slowly start exercising again on 1 February.  Walking has always been my exercise of choice, so that's where I'm starting.  I'm only supposed to actively walk for 20 minutes once a week for 6 weeks, and then increase it to twice a week for the next 6 weeks, and so on. 

 

What is working for me is being generally more active.  My job is quite sedentary, sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time during the week.  So I get up and walk to the copy machine often during the day, I take the longer route to the loo, I do some slow mall walking during the week.  I'm moving again...

 

I bought a little Fitbit Zip which I'm loving, I didn't want the big chunky (ugly!) Fitbit bangle.  I clip the Fitbit Zip to my bra under my clothes and off I go; it tracks my steps, mileage, and calories burned each day.  I also add how much water I drink.  I sync it at night to my iPhone and I can see how I'm doing on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  As my foot gets better, I'll increase my daily walking distance. 

 

Having the Fitbit Zip also helps when my foot gets sore; I check back and see what distance I walked over the past 2 days or so, and I've usually overdone the exercise, so I know that I need to slow down a bit. 
 

 

 

I've also added a 7-minute workout to my walking routine.  This is a free app which I downloaded to my iPhone.  I've lost a huge amount of functional fitness over the past 7 months, so just 7 minutes of exercise was exhausting for me when I started on 1 February.  7 minutes of jumping jacks, sit ups, lunges, plank, pushups, step-ups, squats, side plank...oh my gosh, it kicked my butt!!   Slowly slowly...making progress.

 

 

This is awesome (simple) technology, I love it!

Foot surgery

By the time you read this, I will already have had foot surgery at Linksfield Clinic to remove a Morton's neuroma from my right foot. 

 

 

It started about 4 years ago while we were hiking at Groenkloof Nature Reserve, and has gotten progressively worse over the years with almost constant pain in my foot.  After walking anything more than about 2km's, my toes go numb, my foot burns and it feels like I have a hot coal in my shoe. 

 

The surgeon did a cortisone injection into my foot before my recent Alaskan adventure; it reduced the pain a bit, but not a lot.  Many days I just pushed myself to keep going while on holiday, and occasionally took pain killers.

 

All the non-surgical treatments no longer work - heat and ice packs, I now wear a bigger size shoe (and I look for wide shoes/boots/sandals so that my foot is not compressed - remember the 'ugly shoe' blog post??), and I've also tried using orthotics.  Nothing really works, so the surgeon is taking the damaged nerve out of my foot. 

 

I'm looking forward to walking regularly in my neighbourhood again, and doing some gentle hikes once my foot has healed.

Botanical Gardens

It's a tradition to start the new year with a walk at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens, and this year was no different.  Lynn and I met at the Gardens at 8 on 1 January 2015, and strolled in beautifully cool weather.

 

We tried out the new outdoor gym - it's lovely and lots of fun!

The wild flowers are gorgeous at this time of year!

 

We then strolled up the hill, past a tortoise (going up the steep hill!) to the waterfall. 

 

It was starting to rain by now so we headed to the restaurant for a light breakfast.

 

I love this place!  It makes me happy to start each year here

 

I found it

My sister Caron, Lynn, Connor and I intended to go for a walk at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens on Tuesday 16 December - the Day of Reconciliation in South Africa.  I wanted to actually see the summer cuckoos that I hear calling all day in my suburb. 

 

But it was raining when we woke up so instead, we had breakfast at Lifestyle Garden Centre. 

 

Caron and I - LOVE this  lady!

Lynn and her son Connor 

We pottered around the shops.  And then I found it!  The walls of my bedroom have been bare since I moved in 2 and a half years ago.  I've been looking for a picture of a King Protea for my bedroom for ages.  I found this gorgeous painting in one of the shops at Lifestyle.  And it was on sale.  It looks fabulous in my bedroom!  The navy background of the painting has inspired me to add some navy blue to the colour scheme of my cream and pink bedroom next year.  I'm still on the lookout for another painting or two of proteas

 

 

Botanical Gardens

It has become a tradition to go for a walk at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens in Johannesburg on New Years' day with my friend Lynn and her family. 

 

This is one of my favourite outdoor spaces in Johannesburg, and there is always something interesting to see. 

 

After our walk, we have breakfast under the trees at the restaurant, and talk about our plans for the new year.  I love the ritual of ushering in the new year in a gentle, thoughtful way each year.

 

 

I've been coming to the Gardens for years, and this is the first time that I've seen a tortoise here