I went home early today as I was not feeling well. After over dosing with medicine I crashed in my bed for the entire afternoon only to wake in the early evening. Even though I was not good to look at my Italian Greyhounds appreciated and welcomed me.
That reminds me of a joke of who loves you more, your girlfriend/wife or dog. But both into the boot/trunk of a car and leave them there for and hour. After an hour, open the boot/trunk up and see who is more happier to see you.
Richard, a health consciousness person is doing his utmost to convince me that cod liver oil and ginseng with ginger tea is good for my vitality but they taste vile. How can anything that supposed to be good for you taste as if it has been dragged up from the depths of hell itself? No need take fish from the depths of the sea and make oil to benefit my joints and ticker. Surely goodness has a better taste. Take honey for example, what beautiful nectar created by God's little helpers. Live life in moderation and bring glory to the Creator, surely then would he bless you be it by a long fruitful life or joining Him and His heavenly hosts.
Yes this is the SEO team that I have been working with the last couple of months.From left to right is Richard, Ockert, Vincent, George, Louwellen and me at the back. This is the team that is bringing home the bacon for George's plumbing and electrical companies. There is talk of a SEO company but is this the birth of Oogle?
I am not too sure how long this contract will last but there are signs that it will end soon. I better keep my eyes wide open for other opportunities. The goals I have set for this SEO have been met and exceeded thrice over. In the meanwhile here is Maseka, one of the drivers here. He came round from the Bramely office to pick up Louwellen.
I am still moving my stuff out of the old house and don't know where to put it all. I have still one load left and the curtains.
This afternoon I decided to rest as it has been rather tiring. Just before four, Samantha came round with her dogs thereby becoming my first visitor to my cosy cottage. We scouted the land below the cottage for possible dog walking trails. It is beautiful with long grasses, dams and horse trails. The dogs had a wonderful time and when we arrived back we chatted to my neighbour Jacque who also has dogs and walks them along the trails. Sam said that she will defiantly tell the others about this area.
After Sam left Craig popped in to welcome me to my new home but couldn't stay long as he was off to dinner at Ghazal.
Treesbank Day Two - I spent the morning getting the old house clean and centralising the remaining stuff. Last night while arriving back at Treesbank after supper at Magda's home a large owl with I guess over a metre wingspan flew across my windscreen. I became a little concerned as Jade my smallest Italian Greyhound is small enough to be a good meal for the owl. My three dogs have a very warm kennel outside where they are snug as a bug in this cold winter but now I have set up a bed for them inside. How does this winter sunset look from my patio?
Today was the start of my move to Treesbank. It started on Tuesday when I heard that the truck that I supposed to use for the move was broken. So second option us hire a trailer but when I arrived at the trailer place this morning it was closed down. So third option kicked in, ask friends. Rob kindly loaded me a pickup and two of his labourers and off we went with two pickups to tackle the large items. Four trips later I was finished.
Magda kindly invited me over to dinner but I was a poor guest as I was sore in places I never knew I had muscles. But lucky Magda is a good friend and understood. This is the one part of my view from my patio. In the distance on the far left you can see Sandton while in the middle is Lonehill. Soon we have to have a house warming.
It has been a busy day trying to put enough work behind me because tomorrow I've taken off for the move to my new home for a short while. I never even had time for my daily photos but took a quick snap when Annalize and Keisha arrive together this morning. Well here is to new beginnings.
Oh my word, I have been too busy on my own mission that I forgot to mention that a new lady started at AAA on Monday. Well before I go any further, here is Annalize. So far I can tell is that she is helping Keisha. Back to me, last night was the longest night of the year and I spent most of it all snug as a bug in my warm bed. Well it doesn't seem to be getting warmer but everyday now is one day closer to summer.
On Monday I was feeling very fragile after dropping Matthew off. I had spent the entire long weekend with him. He had given me a framed photo of himself for my birthday to keep me company at times like Monday. For Father's Day I got a mosaic notebook holder that he had made for me (both are shown above).
Yesterday I had stated in on Facebook that I was feeling fragile but in Afrikaans as not to put my heart too openly on my sleeve. Just to get it straight I used the word "broos" not "broeis" which means broody instead of fragile. Anyway today I am feeling a bit stronger with two days under the bridge. Just as Albert Camus once said "In the depth of winter, I finally learnt that within me lay an invincible summer." Kind of ironic that today being the shortest day of the year and it with that it can only get better.
Don't move! Hold your breath Craig. My pokey camera on the Android phone is not that good and any movement is blurry. So Craig and I headed for Nandos after work for dinner and I just had to take a photo of his t-shirt. I wish procrastination was a marketable skill. Don't we all. It is a fitting start to the week.
Father’s Day has become the fitting end of a wonderful long weekend with my son Matthew. This weekend Matthew and I have eaten at an overpriced Italian restaurant, walked Soweto along the 16 June 1976 route, eaten at the best Italian restaurant in Jozi with friends, watched a movie at the cinema, went to church, had sushi, watched the Six of the Best at the Barnyard Theatre and had café late and white hot chocolate at a café with friends. Four days of togetherness, bliss.
So today after BBC this morning Matthew and I went off and bought two large packs of sushi and headed off to the Barnyard Theatre to watch the performance of Six of the Best, a musical tribute to Bon Jovi, Freddie Mercury, Meat Loaf, Billy Joel, Pink and Cher. The performers had the audience eating out their hands, singing along, dancing in the aisles and banging their drinks on the tables. I must say that Matthew was very surprised by Freddie’s choice of clothing.
This weekend was preparing for the move to the smaller home but certain things won't fit so I arranged storage during the week and started thinking out loud of possible things I could sell. Test the waters so to speak. One of the things that went quickly at a very low price was my square eight seater oregon pine dining room table and chairs. Sniff, it was sad to see it loaded onto a pickup. Some things become part of you and to let go is hard. It is like your life is becoming no more, nothing. But I won't be sad for long. I will bounce back twice as strong. :-) The table was just too big to fit into the new place and I didn't want to hold onto things that I can replace with better.
Last Wednesday, Matthew wanted to go out to a restaurant for dinner to celebrate my birthday but my favourite restaurant, Lucio's Pizzeria in Blackheath was full and so we ended up at a Italian restaurant which I think is called Giovannis at Brambury Crossing. The food was well okay but could never come close to Lucio's quality and the price for Matthew and I was R300 with tip. So we decided to book a table at Lucio's for today and invite some friends. Good atmosphere, good food, good wine and good friends made for a perfect evening. To top it all Matthew and my cost came to R200 with tip. I recommend Lucio's Pizzeria as the top Italian restaurant in the whole of South Africa. So far nothing comes close to their Claudio's Special Calzone.
On 16 June 1976 at 10h30, 12 year old Hector Pieterson was shot and killed by the South African Police when they open fire on students protesting their instruction in Afrikaans, the language of their oppressors.
I was a boy of 9 in Nardini Convent School in Vryheid when this incident happened and it was deliberately kept out of the ears of the white populace at the time. My son Matthew is 12 now and here he is looking at a protest sign stating "To Hell with Afrikaans" 35 years later very close to the spot where Hector was shot. What is going through his mind right now as he tries to comprehend those dark times of our history?
He has never experience, thank God, what it was like living under apartheid. Today, Youth Day, we went to the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando West to remember this dreadful day 35 years ago. Matthew and I then took a walk down Vilikazi Street and scrambled up the koppie behind the Phefeni Senior Secondary School where most of the kids took shelter from the police bullets to see the lay of the land. It was a beautiful winters day and the view beautiful. A fitting end to a wonderful day of remembrance in Soweto. Teach our children so that they can learn from our mistakes.
Like peas and carrots, Keisha and Thando are chommies, South African slang for friends. Thando is about to go back to Zambia on leave while the rest of us are stuck here in cold Johannesburg. This evening is a lunar eclipse and while Matthew, myself and two chommies had supper we watched the moon get eaten away by the earth's shadow and finally turn to a brownish red moon, only to be reversed later.
Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it. So today is the day that I reached 2x22. Not a bad age to be, still under halfway and a lifetime still to live, God willing. Here I am showing someone how to press the shutter button of my camera so he can take a photo of me, uhmmm some people's children. Thanks to all the awesome birthday wishes, especially on Facebook, too many to count, not forgetting the phone calls and SMSes. I am truly blessed to have some many good friends. Now I need to become a blessing.
Well it was about time that Ted and I got together for a drink after work. Ted came to one of our photowalks six months ago and we've been chatting on and off over the internet and became friends. He has this blog Dr Ted's Divorce Adventure where he blogs about the pain and joys that he has encountered on his journey to recovery. What I have learnt is that you have to be honest and real with your emotions and feelings even though cowboys don’t cry, life hurts! I have turned to God demanding why and not always getting the answers that I wanted to hear. Having someone who has been through it all just stand by you, listen to your pain and not condemn means so much. I must say that I have been blessed by having so many good friends around me. So with that in mind I add Dr Ted to my good friends list. Now tell me whoever gets to drink a pint and eat burgers with his doctor?
Having a Vespa changes your lifestyle. It gives you a new perspective on life. No more living in the fastlane. Now zipping through traffic has never been cooler. Let's face it, if you wanted to be cooler, you'd be riding a Vespa.
Since Sophia, my sexy black Vespa ET4, came into my life it has been cool to say I ride a Vespa. It is cool to be seen riding with a group other Vespas into the countryside that even the hogs on their Harleys wave us as we cruise by. The superbikers and BMW bikers enjoy seeing us playing on their turf.
To top it all there are a great number awesome Vespisti in Johannesburg. One group is the Viva la Vespa Social Club who organizes monthly rides. This weekend they held their annual Winter Ride and selected Dullstroom as their destination for the weekend. Brrr it was cold this weekend but things hotted up, as you can see. I joined them for breakfast at the Dullstroom Inn on my way back from Nelspruit. As you can see from today's photo we sure have fun on a Vespa. Vespizzatevi, Vespa yourselves.
Theresa, my sister arranged a surprise 40th Birthday party for her husband, Hans. So this afternoon I shot down to Nelspruit, a four hour trip by car, and arrived just in time to surprise Hans and surprised he was. Here is Hans with his mother, dare I say cute. I should have called this post Mother and Son. Why am I picturing a putty tat when I see this photo?
To finish off the week I went with a friend to the Joburg Theatre to watch the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet performed by the South African Ballet Theatre. Here I was ready to listen to soothing music and watch graceful dancing but it was not to be. A man behind us spent the entire show explaining to his child in Afrikaans the whole story that was unfolding before us on the stage. I already knew the story and didn’t want to listen to him droning on, I wanted to relax and watch. A couple in front of us even turned around to shush them but it didn't work for long.
I must say I really enjoyed the ballet in the first and second acts but last act was a little disappointing. It had very little dancing and it reminded me of a black and white horror film without sound but chamber music in the background. And then before I could blink it was over. I would love to say bravo but I felt that it just wasn't the polished piece I was expecting. Maybe my expectations where set too high with me growing up in the Natal Playhouse. But if you haven't seen Romeo and Juliet yet, please go and support South African Ballet. The ticket prices are reasonable and make sure that you don't have a similar family that we had sitting behind you.
On a very cold evening before the annual winter ride, Paulo held a dinner party at his home. Despite the cold, it was awesome to be around warm friends, laughing and having a good time. Here is Paulo showing us the Iwisa maize meal that he uses to make pup for his puppy Bullmastiff which is not that small anymore. Well with No 1 friends and No 1 food you can't go wrong.
The climate in Johannesburg has gone all wonky. About 3 in the morning a storm hit Blairgowrie, where I live, with such force that up-rooted trees and toppled walls. The electricity mains even tripped and I assume from the static electricity surge of the lightning. There was a gap in the weather between 6 and 7 in the morning which allowed me to get to work un-hindered but it was the calm before the storm. Heavy rain continued out of character throughout the morning which caused havoc in the rush hour traffic. Reports came in that it is snowing in Namibia, snowing in one of the driest regions of Southern Africa. What is next? In today's photo is of Richard arriving to work all protected from the cold. Brrrr, time to move to warmer shores.
On the way to work this morning I saw this pickup supporting stickers of the two main opposing rugby teams on the tail gate. Either they must be confused or the wife supports my team the Sharks and the husband the Bulls, shame. Talking about confusion or was it old age, Mark Twain had this to say "When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it."
All we need is a little patience sang Axl Rose in one of his songs, so I introduce Patience to you. We have at AAA, Patience who is doing a splendid job keeping the office of six men spic and clean.
Oh no you never saw this photo. That is not me. As you can clearly see I am not a baby person, just the smell sends me gagging. I am just glad that I can hand tiny Bryce back to his mommy afterwards.To all my friends, have an awesome week ahead.
Matthew and Justin are not just best friends but brothers as they proudly confess. They have been friends since pre-school and it was good for them to get together again for a sleep over. Cold as it might be nothing beats dad's hot chocolate.
Bonny and Clyde, well not quite but one out of two aren't bad. I sound like a old song by Meatloaf. Anyway these two, Bonny and John, are friends of mine who are engaged to be married next year. After picking up Matthew we all met at Cresta Shopping Mall to book for the Barnyard and afterwards went for drinks and naturally supper.
The week is coming to an end and it has been a busy one. The SEO project for a plumbing and electrical company that I have been working on has been very successful. They measure the success of their internet exposure not by the amount of impressions but by the calls that they get from their websites. Before Vincent (shown above) and I started on the project they were averaging about 4 calls a day from their websites. Last month we got them to average on 12 calls per day with a peak at 24 on one day. Our goal was 10 calls per day. In the last week we have moved the project into phase two which has a goal of averaging 20 calls per day and by what I have seen this week we should reach it. Not bad for a plumbing and electrical company. What do you say to that Vincent? Oh and before I forget, I did noticed during the busy week that Vincent is trying to cultivate a moustache.
Keisha has been sent to AAA as the replacement for Fiona whose last day was yesterday. So let’s give a warm welcome to my favourite month, June, and to the lady in pink, Keisha. Why is the internet so slow tonight. :-(
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