Last of 2012

And finally it is nearly over.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?

It has come to this time of year again, were we say goodbye to one and welcome in the New Year. It has been a hard year for me, but I pray the new will bring in many joys and blessings. My blog has ended its sixth year and hopefully the seventh will bring many good posts.

After relaxing last day Matthew and I spent the last few hours of this year watching the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert celebrating the old lady’s 60 years reign.

For auld lang syne, my jo, for auld lang syne, we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

Here’s to a much better blessed 2013.

Sunday Potjie

We were invited by Thinus and Frieda to join them for good boere potjiekos. While in boereland we might as well live like boere and eat their traditional food. A potjiekos or shortened to potjie is a traditional stew cooked in a cast iron three legged pot on a fire. Well note quite a stew as a stew is boiled in its juices while a potjie is almost steamed slowly. Most people in the cities are used to the braai or barbeque but this is even more traditional having originated from the Voortrekkers moving inland by ox wagon and using venison to make these awesome slow cooked potjies.

So while the potjiekos slowly steamed, we relaxed under the trees next to the swimming pool and the kids frolicked in the pool for most of the day. Here is the chef Thinus with his lovely wife Frieda just as we were about to tuck into some tasty potjiekos.

Kaapsehoop

Matthew and I were looking for places where we could walk our dogs off lead but sadly we found none in Nelspruit, so while at the Central Veterinarian Hospital I asked and they told me to try Kaapsehoop. Now I haven't been to this historic gold mining village for a long time so we headed up into the hills overlooking De Kaap Valley.

We had a lovely walk among the rocky outcrops and the gold filtered wetlands with the dogs darting in and out the rock formations of quartzite. Here is Jade who somehow managed to get up a rock from the other side but is trying to find a way down to me. The most comical part of the walk was when Skye spotted some hikers and sprinted to greet them across a wet area but he failed to see a pool of water until it was too late and disappeared in a huge splash. He tried to clear it in one bound but landed in the middle and as fast as he went in he was out again.

Nelspruit

Wow Nelspruit is so hot and humid with Weather SA warning that it will be extremely uncomfortable. Well that is in the valley, it is slightly more comfortable up in the hills overlooking Nespruit. Here is the view from the lapa and swimming pool. Matthew is in the pool with his niece and nephew Daniȅlle and Jaen-Jurie while I am sitting with my sister and brother in-law under the thatch roof of the lapa enjoying this stunning view of Nelspruit. Now where is my refill for my cocktail?

Long Tom Pass

Matthew, Patch, Maxy, Jade, Skye and I set off on our annual summer holidays. The first part of our getaway is the Lowveld or as I know it as the Slowveld. Well instead of going straight to our destination we decided to visit my parents who live at Fredriksdal, just outside the quaint little town called Sabie. To get there we had to turn off the main road at Belfast, past Dullstroom and cross the tail end of the Drakensberg mountains at Lydenburg. Now the Long Tom Pass is the scenic pass across the mountain which was built in the 1800s. It was named Long Tom after a 155mm field gun that was used effectively against the British by the Boers during the Second Boer War in this area.

When we saw this view, we could resist stopping in the clouds to look at Sabie way below from the pass. Welcome to Mpumalanga.

Astromech Droid R2-D2

Okay here is the final assembly of the Lego Star Wars astromech droid R2-D2 which Matthew took just under 20 hours to build. It now stands proudly in my lounge. Matthew is now thinking of ways to mechanise the droid with his Lego Mind Storms robotic kit which he took out of storage and is rummaging through. Three motorised legs, touch sensors and an infra red sensor. I mentioned to him that maybe; he should make a slightly bigger droid so that all the Lego motor parts can fit.

Bidi bidi bidi, oh oh,sorry that was Twiki, wrong droid, wrong century ;-)

Skywatcher R2-D2

Well Matthew got two major gifts today for Christmas; the first one is a Skywatcher telescope. It is only has a 90mm aperture and a focal length of 1250mm but the best part is that it has an adaptor ring to fit a Canon camera. Move over Matthew. Now we have to wait for the rain to go away.

In the meanwhile Matthew is enjoying his other Christmas present, a Lego kit of the Star Wars astromech droid R2-D2. Matthew has been busy the whole day and he is just over half way assembling R2. Well not quite the whole day as I had to drag him away to eat lunch. I am not sure, but it looks like he won't stop assembling until his droid is in prime condition.

The Force is strong with this one.

Night before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

But all is forgotten, of a baby born this night
History stood still, as it was a night unlike any
As the Saviour was born in a stinky barn
Immanuel God with us

I was pondering today, if Jesus was born tonight in a back street hovel of Hillbrow, would we accept Him and his message? Would we want him to prove to us with a personal miracle that He is the Son of God? Blessed are the poor, He would say but what about us? Would He not be the Julius Malema of the down trodden saying “I am the resurrection and the life. No man can come to my Father but through me.” Would we not tell jokes about Him behind His back and even go so far as to crucify Him all over?

What will we do with this Jesus today?

And they shall call his name Immanuel God with us for tomorrow, some two thousand years ago the Messiah was born into the world. God with us!

Boys at Play

Nothing much was done today, other than recover from yesterday. Although I popped into town briefly to stock up on some supplies, it was mostly relaxing with my dogs' day. It was a scorcher of a day and I now wish I had a swimming pool so my dogs and can chill. Here are the two naughty ones, Maxy and Skye, trying to get me off my deck chair and play rough with them.

Anyway in a week's time my dogs and I will be at the seaside just north of Durban. My Italian Greyhounds enjoy the beach but it will be my Whippet Skye's first trip. I think he will enjoy it way more than the iggies as he loves playing in the streams on our walks.

Potchefstroom

During the week Magda contacted me to see if I was interested in a road trip to Potchefstroom as Dave needed to stretch the legs of his new orange Vespa GTS 300 Super Sport.

Sun, beers and the open road what more can I ask for. Of course a ride into the countryside and over 300km later my arse is sore, have sun burnt arms and am super tired. After taking the scenic route via Kroomdraai and Carletonville, we lunched at the Beef Boys in an empty student town. I can only picture that Potchefstroom must buzz when filled with varsity students. But for now a quiet oaked lined streets of the Bult will have to do.

I am out of practice with very few long rides done this year. Well next year, I am looking forward to the Baviaanskloof Adventure. Ahhh the open road with a Vespa purring beneath you.

Tazz

Today has been a lazy Friday, and I am sure any cat would know what I mean, a purrfect lazy start to the Christmas weekend. For those who are travelling, drive safely to your holiday destination and for those left behind, sorry we will have to wait for the next end of the world.

Save an Angel! Save the World!

Coming home from a check-up at the hospital this morning, I noticed this angel lying in middle of the road. So I stopped and got Matthew to pick the angel up. On the rest of the drive home Matthew and I debated if it was a girl angel or a boy angel that we picked up. What do you think?

Anyway Matthew straightened up the angel so it could blow on a trumpet again to herald in the end of the world, well that is if we can find the angel's trumpet. A sorry folk unless we find the trumpet the end of the world according to Mayan Calendar is not going to happen tomorrow.

Hashimoto's Syndrome

It seems that my sister, Theresa, is battling with Hashimoto's Syndrome down in Nelspruit because all the doctors down there just want to wait until the thyroid dies before they will do anything. After some good old fashioned internet search, my mom found a doctor up here that was willing to do the surgery now and save my sister’s life.

So Theresa and her husband came up to see the doctor at the Donald Gordon Medical Centre and tomorrow they are seeing the surgeon to find out if they need the operation now or wait till everyone is back from summer leave.

I wanted to ask Theresa that I wanted to be on her diet but I am sure Hashimoto is not a trifle thing after seeing Theresa wasting away. So having so many siblings in one place was a photo opportunity that could not be missed. So next to me is Anthony, then Theresa and George.

Conclusion

Cheer up - it might never happen. Oh is that the conclusion at the end of a hard year? With a lot of water under the bridge, I wonder what the New Year will bring.

I am already on leave and Matthew is with me, so after running a few reports, we went off to watch the new Hobbit movie and Matthew was pointing out all the differences between the movie and book. In some places the scenes were too quick and blurry. I could not even focus on what was happening and in those scenes the people walked way to fast to be natural. Something was wrong; the movie simply lost its awesomeness with these blurry bits.

Shani

I got this call from my good friend Paulo a little past six yesterday evening, Shani and Paulo are a little bored in Nelspruit so are coming up to Johannesburg for supper would I like to join them. Uhhmmm, after a quick calculation I worked out that supper would be about ten thirty. So it didn't take me long to convince Paulo to do lunch the next day rather.

I quick call to Magda, and the Poser's Scooter Club core members and a imposer, Lynda, met for lunch today at the Throbbing Strawberry in Douglasdale. It was great seeing Magda, Shani, Martin and Paulo again, and soon we were reminiscing about the good times. It sure has been such a long time since we last saw each other and this year has been not good to the Posers but hopefully, the New Year will bring better times for us all. Here is Shani behind those shades trying to look like she really needs a parrot.

Howzit

I was on my last Howzit duty for the year at BBC today. Quite a few of the congregation are already on their summer holidays or about to. I will be in town for next week and a half before heading down to Sabie and Nelspruit. After a few days there I will be heading to the coast after all the summer rush has left. Here is Lynda and Emmelinah at BBC this morning.

Lucozade

I am feeling worse than yesterday with more pain on the right side of my body and I am not holding down any food. I am slowly drinking Lucozade. A sparkling glucose drink, to keep my strength up but I have been sleeping most of today.

Matthew was very concerned about my well being and spent the night at my place watching over me. Here is Matthew with his favourite dog, Maxy.

Three Women

I was feeling much better this morning and thought I was brave enough to go to work. Although there was no pain throughout the day, I suffered from nausea and had to rush to the little boy’s room twice to empty my stomach of water. Just before lunch time, I needed rest so I said my goodbyes to the three ladies in the office, Noma, Delia and Louise, because it is National Positions last working day of the year. I will only see them again next year after the summer holidays.

I had a small snooze on my couch when I got home and woke after two hours with the pain in my side returned. Oh dear, the drugs are wearing off. Happy summer holidays everyone. And those in the northern climes, say warm.

ER CT Scan

How in the world did I end up here from yesterday? A lot of today is starting to blur already so from what I can still remember, just after midnight I awoke with what felt like a bad stitch on my side, my bladder feeling very full and my mouth dry. So I stumbled downstairs and tried to relieve myself but nothing even after drinking a glass of water. My bladder still felt full, my mouth dry and the pain was increasing.

After an hour of struggling to simply pee, I was starting to get drowsy and panicked especially after bringing up all my supper. I needed to get to an Emergency Room (ER) quickly but was in no state to drive. Then I thought that Lynda is normally awake about this time and she could drive me. I tried messaging her but she did not answer until I phoned. Lynda lives just down the road from me; surely I could drive that distance. Lynda was happy to drive but before she could ask how I was going to get to her, I was already zig zagging down the road.

Don't ask how I got there in one piece, but somehow we did. I just urged Lynda to drive my car through the red traffic lights and break the speed limits, which she did so hopefully I won't get any citations in the post. Arriving at the hospital just before 3am in such pain in my kidney area and bladder it wasn't funny but the ER doctors were top class although I don't remember much of what happened next other than going for X-Rays, being told that the CT Scan staff will only be in much later in the morning, that they expect renal calculi or kidney stones, finding a bed to crash on, woken up later to say that they need the bed for someone else, getting sick again and then arriving back home in the dawn light.

I woke up just after 9am, and lay in bed trying to gather my thoughts. Lynda must have dropped me back home and taken my car back to her house. My pain had subsided but I needed to get back to that hospital for the CT Scan and go to the pharmacy to pick up my meds because I found the papers next to my bed.

And the rest of the story is a long day's wait at the hospital. Waiting for the ER doctors to see me again, to tell me what next. Then wait for the CR Scan. Then wait for the urologist to see me and finally wait for the prescription drugs at the pharmacy. The day was one of my longest days this year. The results, I have three small renal calculi, two in my left kidney and a slightly larger one in my right lower down.

One thing during my visit is that I may have stumbled upon some fraud. Lynda paid R195 for the admission to the ER which covers all procedures, medicines and X/Rays. There is no other way I could have afforded the CT Scan otherwise especially not on medical aid. Anyway while waiting for my CT Scan the orderly said I needed to pay R120 at another room, so I dutifully tumbled off to pay.

The three orderlies here reaffirmed the amount I had to pay and took my money but just left it on the table so I waited for my receipt but none was forth coming so I just stood there waiting patiently. They even told me to sit in the waiting room but I said I need to stand because of the pain. I took my camera out to take a photo of a sign in the hallway and when I put the camera away the three orderlies gave my money back. Now I was getting suspicious and asked them what now and the lady answered that the first orderly phoned them from the CT Scanner's room that he will sort it out. So back to the first orderly who informed me that I can pay next time. I smelled a rat but was in no condition to take it further.

By that time I just wanted to go home and sleep because it had already been a long day and the CT Scanner made me nauseous. I have to be back here in a week's time for more scans. I need medical aid. Good night.

Hump Day Clouds

At the end of the middle of the week, I stare out over my domain from the high perch of my cottage and see once again the awesome hand of God painting another African sunset before my very eyes. More photos of sunsets, you may ask. Yes, with sunsets like these why not? And wow these sunsets are truly beautiful don't you think, as I sit alone on Hump Day with no one to share the beauty with me. Well that is not counting my four dogs. All I need to do is open my eyes to the beauty before me, and then I feel not alone but truly blessed.

Power Pritt

No this post is not about my friend Vivienne who is the product manager for Pritt but Louise's desk, or more accurately what was on Louise's desk. Now you saw Louise flat on her back in the previous post but today you get to see the little pink robot clock on her desk. Cute, hey, the robot that is, pity that it is pink though.

The Mechanic

Heading for the last few days of the year, it is time to batten down the hatches and tie up a few loose ends before we go on leave. So here is Louise, showing us how it is done, flat on her back, fixing a broken chair as a serious mechanic. Louise is very versatile fixer in our office. If it's broke then Louise is nearby with her assortment of tools.

Guinivere

The last Year End lunch of the weekend has arrived. The Joburg Photowaljers held their Year End lunch at the READ Educational Trust. I dealt with READ before when they used Metrorail to distribute reading material to underprivileged schools in Soweto. The schools met the train at their closest train station and Read donated reading books to them. The READ Educational Trust was established in 1979 and strives to have children reading for themselves with a project like the Readathon and other literacy projects.

So the Joburg Photowalkers, at the end of their third year got together for a light luncheon at READ, watch a video of ourselves that was flighted on a national TV channel, and viewed each other's photos taken in the past year. Wow, I looked impressive in my interview on TV. I will get it up sometime on the internet. Here is Mark's better half, Guinivere enjoying her lunch while I had a camera pointed in her direction.

Father Andreas

The Year End functions are rolling in fast and furious with three down, another tomorrow. This afternoon's function was the Fun Seekers' Lamb on a Spit Meetup. And it was another great afternoon spent having good food and drinks with friends. Today's photograph is of Andreas. Interesting, one of the kids at the spit thought Andreas had a remarkable likeness to Father Time. Thank goodness he didn't say Father Christmas as that would sure scare the kids. Although Father Andreas was jolly enough to hand out the presents. Even I got one.

Humpty Rocket

We have been looking forward to this afternoon for quite some time now, our Year End Lunch. This time the restaurant Rocket in Parkhurst was chosen. As expected it was a fun time to wind down with work colleagues after a busy year with a busier year ahead. Good food and wine was on order and that is what kept coming. Louise organised a Secret Santa, where we had to pull a name from a hat and then had to buy a present for that person up to a value of R100. It was hard to choose the photo for today, from the kittens to Delia and her exotic cocktail. But I finally settled on Richard, with his Humpty Dumpty gift.

Abandoned Kittens

Three little kittens, they lost their mother, as someone dumped then in the middle of the road. Luckily Noma, spotted them early before rush hour traffic and rescued them from uncertainty.

So now we have 3 kittens, in a box at work. They are not even weaned off their mother and their eyes have just opened so they that would place them just over two weeks old. The ladies in the office are taking turns hand feeding the abandoned kittens and will be looking for some place that will open their doors for them.

Life of Delia

The protagonist in our literary department, Delia, is still recovering from a rather severe migraine when I took this photograph of her in her recovery position. Well somehow the camera shifted settings to HDR and I took the auto bracketed photo without a tripod. But somehow the photo depicts the right mood for a recovering migraine Delia.

The day seemed to drag along, but I was looking forward to my evening at the movies. We had put our names down to see a free movie called the End of Watch and I was looking forward to putting my feet up. In the foyer of Nu Metro at Montecasino, we bump into Mark and Guinevere; they were going to see another free movie called the Life of Pi based on the book with the same name by author Yann Martel. 5 minutes into our movie we got up and went to see Pi rather as ours was a load of rubbish but was pleasantly surprised with the Life of Pi. The movie is very spiritual and as it says in the movie, it is a story that will make you believe in God. The Life of Pi explores the life of an Indian boy, Pi Patel, in a spiritual way as he tells the story of how he is ship wrecked with a Bengal Tiger called Richard Parker. I think Delia might like this movie, if only I can keep the camera still.

Sunninghill Crime

It doesn't seem to be all that sunny when it comes to crime in Sunninghill, Johannesburg. I drive through the medium density residential suburb of Sunninghill about twice a week on my way to work. And for the past few weeks this pile of rubble that sat alongside of the road intrigued me. Yes intrigued is what I am, because I noticed that whoever was in charge of security in Sunninghill pointed their security cameras to watch that no one takes the small pile of rubble. Aaah crime must have been rampant in Sunninghill for them to put up cameras to watch dirt. Bonus, the camera must work because the rubble is still there for over two weeks since I first noticed it. My question is, who is watching the watchers?

Lynda

Oh well after some pestering from Lynda, asking why I haven't put a photo of her on my blog yet I relented. But when I tried to take a photograph of her this afternoon I received threats short of a death threat if the photograph I was trying to take did not do her justice. Oh well you win some or ... uhmmm. Anyway jokes aside here is Lynda finally on my blog, up close and personal.

Tintin

Well not quite the young reporter and his dog Snowy, but Matthew and Jade reading Tintin. Our plan for the day was altered slightly because of the rain. We were going to go on a Scooter Fun Run at the Classic Motorcycle Club in Germiston but due to the rain we stayed in bed. Later we visited the Rosebank Rooftop Market for some Christmas shopping. This is Matthew and Jade in the car on the way to the market. One correction Jade wasn't a least bit interested in Tintin, only in the surrounding sights.

Love Bug

I remember from my wild youth that I used to own a brown Hillman Safari which was a little brown station wagon that I used to call my Love Wagon and used to joke that if it was a rocking don't come a knocking. I still remember the time I had parked it one night on the Roy Hesketh Racing Circuit in Pietermaritzburg, and was making out in the back seat with Sandra when the cops showed up. Those were the days.

Anyway, I had to go round to Rayne's place to pick up some stuff and found this pink Love Bug at her place. Rayne's car is in the shop for repairs and this is the loan car they gave her, cute hey? I am sure she is having tons of fun in her Love Bug.