The Last Mo

The end of Movember has come and I am afraid that my moustache has not done me any justice. Oh well I suppose it is a good sign. You see, the male hormone testosterone affects the prostrate. Too much and it enlarges the prostrate. One of the treatments is injecting the patient with the female hormone, estrogen, to keep the prostrate in check and with estrogen the chance of growing facial hair diminishes. Well this is my feeble attempt of growing a moustache for men's health.

The Sunflower and the Bee

As I was leaving for work this morning, I noticed a small swarm of bees near the patch of sunflowers that are growing in my vegetable garden. The busy bees are most likely from my neighbour's bee hive not far from the sunflowers. I bees were intoxicated with sunflower nectar to notice the camera lens a few millimetres away from them. Ahhh summer is truly upon us.

Mo Sunset

Movember is coming to an end and my moustache leaves a lot to be desired. But the sunsets during Movember are awesome. Hump Day's evening produced another stunning sunset over Johannesburg letting me know that it is time for sundowners. Here is to Health, Wealth and Matthew, Cheers.

Thanksgiving

As the year comes to an end, the Year End Functions start. Our home group held their Christmas Dinner tonight as our last Tuesday together for the year. It is not just a year end dinner but a Thanksgiving Dinner for us. Although it has been a rocky road, we as a group have a lot to be thankful for. My three things on top of my thankful list are Health, Work and Matthew.

There were twenty of us around the Thanksgiving table and in today’s photograph are Sandy, Tracy and Gary.

Monday's Mushrooms

Monday has once again arrived and by half way in, saw the weekend catching up; so much so that I feared that I wouldn't make it to see the back of Monday. But somehow I did, and now as I write this blog post before I crash, I am pleased that Monday is over. With all the rain over the weekend, it was a pleasant surprise to find these mushrooms on the lawn in front of our offices. Well they didn't last long as the gardener cut them down to size with the lawnmower making the end to manic Monday's mushrooms.

Vespa Service

It had all rained out by this morning and I needed to go to the Rosebank Rooftop Market so I decided that going by Vespa would be a good idea. Firstly we went round to Scoots in Fourways to see if anyone was interested in a ride to Rosebank but sadly they were still tucked up in bed. While a Scoots, I saw this old Vespa Ape from the Graphic Printing Works waiting to be restored. The rust seems to be surface only and I don’t think that it should take long to restore.

My Dragon Orchid

The rain fell steadily throughout the day while I rushed around doing some shopping therapy. First thing this morning was off to the Samsung shop in Vodaworld to get a new battery for my now ancient Samsung Galaxy Spica i5700. Well over three years old is ancient in the cellular industry. It was Samsung’s second Android based smartphone after the Galaxy i7500. It has served me well but it is time for a replacement but replacements are rather expensive so I will stick to replacing the battery for now, that is if they can find a battery for it in South Africa.

After all the running around this morning, I could not wait to get home and put my feet up. And waiting for me at home is the lovely deep red orchid that I have grown from small and is now flowering. Oooh I love the deep red dragon look of the flowers.

Bar One Milkshake

Somehow Friday and the weekend is upon us. Wow these weeks are surely flying. Last thing I remembered was that it was Monday and now within a blink it was Friday. After picking up Lynda, we had to go to Rosebank Bowling Club to drive one of her daughters clients home after a hard day partying. And what a drive home it was. They had the music full tilt and continued the party all the way home.

Lynda and I was a little early, so before arriving at the bowling club, we stopped at the Thrupps Centre for a quiet milkshake. No drinking and driving is allowed on these trips so instead of sundowners we had Bar One milkshakes which was quiet refreshing.

Vespa LX 150 3-Valve

Ever worried about the cost of fuel or the looming eTolls? Well the Vespa LX 150 is the answer. This classic Vespa has was launched in South Africa this evening at Vespa Wynburg with the revolutionary new 3 valve engine. Not only is it zippy through city traffic, it is also eco-friendly. So what more can a modern upcoming business man or woman ask for. The Vespa LX 150 3-Valve comes in 5 colours, the Volcano Black is not shown in the photo above but from left to right is the Dragon Red, Montebianco White, Midnight Blue and Portovenere green. Soon I get to test ride one of these elegant babies, soon.

Roxy's Mom

Wow, this year has flown and Maon’s birthday has come round again. This time Roxy's mom baked an awesome chocolate cake for us in the office. Oh dear there goes all the diets. Here is Roxy revelling to us her mom's cake baking secrets. By the way Roxy's mom sells her cakes and cupcakes if anyone is interested. I can vouch for her as soon as I finish the last crumbs on my plate.

Dying to Live

Wow, what a long trying day it has been today. I am barely awake while writing this post. I think that I'll will continue writing this tomorrow but for now here is Rob arriving this evening to Home Circle.

Coffee and Tea

As this year has gone by, I have started drinking less coffee and more teas. Well not the normal tea but Rooibos, Honeybush and Chai teas. What is becoming of me? What better way to start a Monday with a nice cuppa green Rooibos Chai. And before I knew it Monday was over and the week well on its way. Today's photo is of the top most shelves in my wee kitchen at home and as you can see it is the place to store the coffees and teas. Now, as Delia quite rightly reminded us this morning, just five more weeks until the Christmas break. Well I will drink to that.

Adventure Golf

Being Matthew's weekend, we had to go do something adventurous but the 94.7 cycle race had cut a black swathe throughout Johannesburg with all the road closures. Just to get anywhere we had to travel on the highways for more than 10 km just to get to 1 km from where you started. Now what is going to happen when the highways are tolled next year? Anyway we ended up at Fourways for a late brunch or is that an early lunch. During our meal Adventure Golf came up as one of his favourite things so we ended up playing putt putt. I won’t mention the scores but just to say we all need more practice at our putting.

The Comfy Cone

Maxy was bitten last Sunday by another dog and after getting him patched up he kept at his dressings. I had a doggy shirt on him to stop him from getting to his dressings. But it has been very hot lately and I have to start taking his top off just to keep him cool.

I never liked the Elizabethan collar, as the cone of shame hurts the poor dogs. At wits end, I phoned a friend for help and she said that she had a Comfy Cone, an alternative to those ghastly plastic cones which she got overseas. Here is Enzo modelling the Comfy Cone for me with little Sasha behind.

TV Addicts

When I arrived home from the East Rand with Matthew, the dogs went crazy with excitement. Matthew was home. Now Maxy and Matthew are on the couch watching TV together. It looks like it has become the Friday ritual when Matthew is with me. On the way home we buy KFC and bond on the drive back. When we arrive, he plays for a while with each dog before retiring onto the couch for some catch up TV.

Jacarandas

As I walked out of my office after a busy day at work, into a beautiful summer’s afternoon, I thought to myself what a stunning afternoon to let go to waste. So I mounted my Vespa, and did a photo ride looking for Jacarandas down into Forest Town and beyond. I stopped every now and then, taking in the sweat purple smells of Jacarandas mixed with the busyness of life on going. Such as this maid wearing pink shoes, walking the dogs along a Jacaranda lined street in Killarney.

After a number of violent hail storms damaged the purple buds of the Jacaranda trees, the full blooms have been sparse and it is rare to find but some I did. Eventually, I found myself back home with a glass of red wine watching another awesome sunset. From purple to burnt orange, this has been a good afternoon.

Hump Day

And there I thought all along that Hump Day meant something else. Delia patiently explained to me that the hump in Hump Day means the hump in the week like a camel's hump and not what doggies do. Well I never. It is all downhill from here then. Woza Friday! Woza Weekend! It is my weekend with Matthew, so I am looking forward to it and so are the dogs. Ahem, now doggies don’t look too excited.

Christmas in 41 Days

The days are all getting mashed into each other with the end of the year rushing towards us as if we are in free fall. For those who haven’t seen the Christmas decorations or heard the Boney M music, it is only 41 days till Christmas.

Even Pick n Pay, are trying to help Santa by clearing their shelves of exmas toys. Now I know xmas is for the people who like to drop Christ out of Christmas, but exmas? I never heard of exmas. Pick n Pay uses exmas in their advertising for below cost toys and a google search shows it being used in 228,000 results compared to 159,000,000 for xmas and 1,480,000,000 for Christmas. Exmas toys only has 1 result and it seems Amazon is also offering exmas toys.

For crying out loud, it is Christmas!

Full of Beans

Monday started with the empty fuel light coming on while riding my Vespa to work. I had to stop and fill up. I never like using BP or Shell because of their bad environmental and exploitative track record, mind all oil companies fall into this category but in my books these two are the worst. Anyway the first other garage was a Sasol one on Rivonia, so I pulled in and filled my tank with 6.66 litres of fuel. Oh dear 666, what an ominous start to the Monday.

Nothing bad actually happened today eve with the ominous start. One event which stands out is the arrival of Marcio and his Full of Beans mobile coffee vending 3 wheeler bike called Mobean 1. One interesting thing about the Mobean 1 is that it runs on a biodiesel engine. I wrote a full write up is the Mobean 1 on the Posers Scooter Club blog for those who would like to find out more about this cute Piaggio APE.

Stefanutti Shock

After breakfast at Café Sofia, Lynda and I went down to look at one of my favourite graffiti places, under the double decker section of the M1 highway in Newtown. But instead of arriving at an art centre I found a muddy construction site with most of the graffiti gone. It was more like a muddy war zone with church goes trying find a way through the muddy trenches and dump trucks.

I asked a few Stefanutti Stock employees and did some internet research, we are losing our graffiti haven for another mall, the 40,000 square metre Newtown Junction. Haven't we got enough malls? Who has the money to spend at all these malls? Will it be another tourist trap?

Ursula

I was up early this morning with a busy schedule ahead. First were two loads of washing to get under way even though the weather looked ominous. After hanging it all up under threatening skies, I headed for the Hands On Team Breakfast at BBC. About 80 Hands On little helpers turned up for a lovely continental breakfast. Pity there was no bacon but the yummy chocolate cake did help smooth the no bacon issue. And there were many friends there such as Ursula shown above. Saturday breakfast with friends, just what the doctor ordered.

Week's Last Light

The week is finally behind me. I got my results back at quarter to five via SMS, would you believe that via sms. Okay I will admit there was a missed call a few minutes before the SMS but I was driving in traffic. The SMS said "Mr West as per Dr your results NORMAL, but you would need to make a follow up appointment Pls call to arrange Tx" Oh well as I said to colleagues at work if it was serious the urologist would have phoned Wednesday already as he is running a business after all and money is money.

Seriously it is a relief. Now I can get back to living. Tonight's photo was taken hand held with my Canon S100 at 18:58 just at last light. For my photographic followers the settings were f/2.0 ISO 1600 and Shutter 1/8.

Couch Potatoes

When I come home after a busy day, I like to relax for a while before getting stuck into any work that is needed. One of my after work pastimes is to put my feet up on the couch. Well that is if I can find room for them that is. Here is Skye, Jade, Maxy, Patch and I all vying for a piece of the couch. What a bunch of couch potatoes we all are. Now just let me stretch my feet, ahh there we go. Good news, couch potatoes, tomorrow is Friday which means weekend and we all can get out for a nice long dog walk somewhere.

Roll Over Skye

There are still no results from my blood tests. Oh well another night wait.

I really enjoy summer in Jozi as I leave for work and arrive back home in daylight. And it is during these times I enjoy sitting on the patio playing with my dogs who really enjoy my attention. Here is Skye rolling in front of me, wanting me to play rather with him than the other three.Coming home after a long day to your dogs who are so happy to see you is Priceless.

Steven

First thing I did this morning was rush to see the vampires and allow them to take the samples of my blood they need so the necessary tests can be done. I was hoping that I would have my results by this afternoon but it looks like I am only going to get them tomorrow.

Not much to say tonight other than my wait for the results. Anyway this evening I joined Home Cell at the Sim’s home. As usual another great supper was prepared by Sandy. This time she had roasted a roll of veal, roast vegetables and salad, yummy. Today’s photo is of Steven, from our Homies group who joined us.

Roxy

The weekend simply flew past so fast that there wasn’t enough time to enjoy it all. Monday already! Woza Friday! Woza Weekend! Roxy, shown above, joined our team today at National Positions temporally till year end and we all wish her the best. But that shouldn’t distract that today is miserable Monday. Well as I write this short post this evening, Monday is over and a thriller Tuesday is about to start. Tuesday is the day I visit the vampires who will siphon some blood off me to be subjected to a battery of tests which hopefully by the end of the day give me good results.

Harties Cableway

Firstly before I go any further, happy birthday Matthew. Yes today it is Matthew’s birthday so when he finally decided to get out of bed after a full day yesterday of gaming, firstly Xbox LAN gaming then an evening of more PC gaming, I had to get him ready for a breakfast run to Hartbeespoort Dam or better known as Harties.

The surprise waiting for him arriving at Harties was the newly reopened Harties Cableway. After purchasing our tickets Matthew and I climbed into this tiny six green seater cable car and were whisked to the top of the Magaliesberg.

The original cableway was constructed in 1973 and run by the Hartbeespoort Kabospoor. After a cable car accident in 2004 the operator was prohibited to operate during the investigation but soon afterwards the cableway closed and the equipment fell into disrepair. After reinvesting money and time by a private initiative, the cableway reopened this year under the name Harties Cableway. This time with all the cables, cars and controls replaced with modern equipment from Switzerland. The 14 new cable cars can carry up to 500 passengers per hour up and down the Magaliesberg Mountains. And Matthew and I really enjoyed ourselves especially the awesome views of the Hartbeespoort Dam and of the surrounding area.

Left 4 Dead 2

Tomorrow is Matthew’s 14th birthday so he and 3 friends had a LAN Party at Zaps in Brightwater Commons. Rudolf, Justin, Nathan and Matthew played the survivors, Nick, Rochelle, Coach and Ellis in the zombie apocalypse game Left 4 Dead 2 or simply known as L4D2. They took on inflected mudmen of the Deep South and came out the other side wielding chainsaws, axes, pipe bombs and all other types of weapons.

The kids had an awesome time while I put my feet up relaxing just out of earshot. This is what parties are all about, kids having fun with minimal input from me other than handing over my bank card.

Achievement

This evening I went to Matthew's school Roxer Academy to watch the year end play called Roxer's Stars and to see Matthew receive an Achievement Medal. It was getting rather chilly but I was a proud daddy watching my son perform. Light was fading fast so my photo is a little fuzzy but who cares, that's my boy.

Mo Bro

Movember, yes that time of year has arrived where I join the ranks of Mo Bros by shaving off my beard and start the long road of sprouting a moustache to raise awareness for men’s health, especially prostate cancer. A little close at home this time round for me and I am sure my friends will join the Mo ranks as Mo Bros and Mo Sistas in support. Now to try get to look like Magnum PI. Knowledge is Power. Moustache is King.