Same Old Hagmane

Haste ye back, we love you dearly,
Call again you're welcome here.
May your days be free from sorrow,
And your friends be ever near.

The last day of the year is supposed to be a reflection on the year gone by. On what I accomplished and what managed to slip through my fingers. This Hogmanay, has been over shadowed by a dark December.

The Dalf Days have been very dark for me but for the ray of a light at the start of a New Year is a grasp of hope.

May the paths over which you wander,
Be to you a joy each day.
Haste ye back we love you dearly,
Haste ye back on friendship's way.

May 2014 give you blue skies and adventurous times ahead.

Photo Bomb

Skye is starting to put on some weight, although it is not much, I can see the change in his eyes. The rain has stopped and Skye spent most of the day outside with the Italian Greyhounds and a cat called Monkey while I had to mow the lawn.

After an exhausting day in the garden, Skye crashed in his bed. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take a photo of Skye's recovery but it was no rest for the wicked as Monkey didn't want Skye to get all my attention so she photo bombed.

Shrooms in the Rain

It has been raining all day and it looks like it is set in for a few more days. Skye’s health is slowly improving and he is longing to go out and play but the continuous rain is not fun for a Whippet wanting to run with the big dogs.

During breaks in the rain, I took Skye out for his toilet and saw this mushroom still battling the elements. I am not sure what type of mushroom this is but a couple of days a number of these mushrooms popped up on the front lawn and are still there despite the rain, perfect photo op.

Pre New Years Social

Gary and Anika invited us to a Pre New Years Social at their home in Kempton Park. Now Gary and Anika are known to throw a good party so off we trekked east.

On the way I picked up Matthew as Gary's son Brenden and Matthew get on well together. And as expected, Gary and Anika, put on a good pre New Year’s Social. Good food, good company that makes for a good time.

Data and the Geek

First, a little good news: Skye was discharged late this afternoon and is now back at home recovering.

Earlier today, I popped around to Craig's place to pick up the Lord of the Rings DVDs. Now Matthew has never seen the three movies but is well into reading the books so I thought that these summer holidays may be the perfect father son opportunity to do a Lord of the Rings' marathon. It was a good catch up with Craig over coffee, seen here wearing his 933|< t-shirt while his cat, Data, looks on in amusement.

Monkey Vespa

If Skye continues recovering like I he is, the vet says he should be able to come home in two to three days. Good news! Meanwhile back at home, the other animals are taking over all of Skye's favourite places. Here is Monkey, our most adventurous kitty cat, taking over Skye's perch on top of my Vespa. It will be good to have Skye home again where he'll put the others back on their toes.

All I Want for Christmas

All I want is to be home for Christmas. On this terrible Christmas Day, I went to the Veterinary Hospital to visit Skye, and as I walked into the recovery kennels where Skye is kept, I called his name. Skye jumped up, and shook himself. He is looking much better although it is still early days and he is not off the critical list.

I opened the door to Skye's cubicle; sat crossed leg on the floor, Skye promptly climbed onto my lap and buried his face into my side. He didn't want to move from the safety of my arms. Merry Christmas Skye, I never want to let you go. All I want to for Skye to get well and return home as he bouncy self. Woof Woof!

Gloria in excelsis Deo

In trouble times that I find myself on this night before Christmas, all I have left is to lay my troubles down at the cross.

Skye's condition has turned critical by the onset of Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) and the only remaining course of action is to suppress the immune system with human medicine used for organ transplant patients. This turn for the worse has really put a dampen on my spirits.

Tonight to take my mind off Skye, I went to BBC's Christmas service where the Soweto Gospel Choir joined us in giving God back the Glory. Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu in Gloria Dei Patris.

Hospitalised Skye

It is not nice seeing one of your loved ones in hospital, but Skye is getting way better treatment than I could ever give at home although I am dreading the bill at the end of this season of everything that can go wrong, going seriously wrong.

Bah Humbug! I am definitely not into Christmas this year. It may be a time of giving, but all I want to do is lie in my corner, not wanting the world to see how miserable I feel. Seriously, I could do with a little good news.

Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia

Last night was terrible with Skye's health deteriorating fast. Every hour Skye was poo’ing bloody running excrement. He was still drinking lots water but refusing to eat. It was back to the vet for him for the third time in as many days.

Good news and bad. Good news, the Biliary parasite has been vanquished. Very bad news, after successfully taking out the nasty parasite infected red blood cells, his immune system didn't stop there and started taking out his good red blood cells. Skye has been diagnosed with Immune Mediated Haemolytic Anaemia aka IMHA.

The faster Skye was producing replacement blood; his immune system was destroying it plus his liver had stopped working the way it should. We asked if Whippets were susceptible to this IMHA, but the vet said that all dogs get it but because Skye was of the Greyhound family, which have a higher red blood cell count than other type of dogs, this had kept him alive, barely.

It looks like Skye will be booked in hospital for about a week. This means better care and sleep for me. So far, this has been a terrible Christmas but Skye being still alive, has been a gift.

All Partied Out

With Skye still out for the count, Monkey, had a whale of a time. Monkey is one of our most active cats, with acrobatic skills hence her name Monkey. Well when the dogs away the cats will play. It must have been an awesome party last night as here she is all partied out on the couch.

Theresa and Hans

It sounds like Matthew had a ball of a time at Gold Reef City with his cousins as they couldn't wait to tell me about every ride they went on. Thanks to Uncle Hans and Aunty Theresa for taken Matthew with them. Skye is still the same, stable but at the lower end of barely.

Cousins Having Fun

Looking after a very sick dog is not fun and it is not fun, especially for teen children. Matthew is very concerned for Skye and he stayed up all night at Skye's bedside.

Matthew's cousins, Jaen and Danielle, are up from Nelspruit in Pretoria because their mom, my sister Theresa, is up for her thyroid check up. Tomorrow they are going to Gold Reef City, a local theme park in the south of Johannesburg. It is a perfect opportunity for Matthew to get away from the seriousness of life and have some fun. I wish I could also go to the theme park but someone has to keep an eye on Skye. So I dropped Matthew in Pretoria for a sleepover with his cousins and hopefully they will all have an awesome time at Gold Reef City tomorrow.

Very Sick Skye

This morning, Skye was not himself, so off to the vet for him. The prognosis was very bad. Skye has been diagnosed with Biliary which is caused by a parasite which is carried by ticks. Skye has had his vaccine against Biliary and there have not been any tick sightings at my home so this has come as a nasty surprise.

At this moment Skye is not in a good way but is stable. Although stable, his body is not fighting off the parasites as he has no fever and now his red and white blood cell counts are very low.

Empty Desk Syndrome

Arriving at work after the long weekend and seeing Delia's desk empty really made my heart heavy.  The day dragged on; there was no more laughter from the naughty corner. It feels like our office has become all insipid and sterile so I just put my head down and worked. This bare soul of an office has a new name, the empty desk syndrome.

Me at my Desk

Well this my 2542 post since starting on 1st Jan 2007 posting one photo per day of my life. With so many posts sometimes it becomes difficult remain fresh. But with my son Matthew with me during the summer holidays this becomes easy as he brings a fresh perspective on life.br/>br/> Here is a photograph of myself at my desk taken my Matthew with his tablet and a Paper Artist filter put on.

Uncle Anthony

This month of December has been a month of vehicle problems. My pickup needed a service, like yesterday. Not to mention my wheel bearings and CV joints needed replacement. Having done all these, niggly vehicle problems persisted. Last night the right CV joint popped out and I had to get my insurance company to assist me getting the pickup back home.

Anthony had to change his schedule to come over and help me repair my once again broken pickup. This is starting to cost me too much money, time and effort.

Matthew enjoyed having his Uncle Anthony visiting.

A Red, Red Rose

Finding this solitary red rose in my wild flower garden was an interesting find. Like a red drop of blood among the wild flowers. A single red rose with its sweat fragrance stood out among all the rest, standing tall. Next year is going to be a good year.

Tschüss

It is time to sigh and say goodbye, to a good friend Delia. So long, farewell, au revoir, auf weidersehen, time to say goodbye, till we meet again.

Here is the content team, from left to right, though good times and bad, we have such memories, Litha, Louise, Delia, Marco, Noma and Bakang.

Tschüss Delia.

Burn Baby Burn

Somehow mishaps seem to continue. On the way to work this morning we found this car just starting to catch on fire. The driver, Anton, just had enough time to grab his rucksack and bail from the car became a burning wreak. When life throws you a curve ball, it really hits you when you down. Anton, the owner of car had lost his dad just the week before now this.

Marco Toilet

After all the sorrow over the last few days, let's get serious! Now why such a heading, Marco Toilet along with Marco having that look on his face? It can't be a new version of the game Marco Polo. Well the story goes like this, Marco decided that he needed to use the bathroom and when he locked the door behind him, the key broke and he found himself incarcerated inside the toilet cubicle.

I am not sure how loud he shouted for help or how hard did he bang on the door because we heard nothing back in the office, nor did any alarm bells ring that he was missing in action, excuse my pun, so no search parties were sent out.

Marco, states that it must have been between 15 to 30 minutes before anyone heard his cries for help and came to investigate. Here is the recently released prisoner pointing to the offending toilet door that had him under lock and key.

Booing on the World Stage

Maybe there is hope for us, just maybe. I tend not to get political in my blog posts but today is a special day in the history of the world as South Africa took centre stage.

Today the very earth shed tears as the Nelson Mandela's Memorial was held at the Calabash and 91 heads of state turned up to show respect. And there was I stuck at work looking through the lens of the media as history was made. Obama's speech along with Tutu's Benediction was the best of the day but there was some interesting observations. Such as Obama getting stuck in Johannesburg's traffic; the late arrival of many of the foreign dignitaries; a fake sign language interpreter; Obama and Castro shaking hands; Ramaphosa stopping the Indian Prime Minister mid speech to chastise groups in the crowd; the snub from Israel; the Dali Lama not making it but from China only the Vice President could come; cheering for Ban Ki-moon and Thabo Mbeki; and best of all the booing of our President Jacob Zuma.

The rain in Africa is a blessing but today it kept many away from the stadium which turned out to be the ANC's attempt to honour their beloved statesman but somehow forgot us South Africans. From what I could see, the crowd wanted to celebrate the memory of Madeba with dance and singing, rain or no rain. And worse of all no children where to be seen. Didn't Madeba go out his way for the children?

And in all this, the heckling of Zuma, brings it all back to earth that maybe there is hope for us, just maybe. We must remember that this was a political event and we all have to say goodbye to Madeba in our own way as we listen for that pin to drop.

National Positions' Year End

National Positions' Year End lunch was postponed last week due to the sad news. This afternoon we all gathered at JB's Corner in Melrose for our last hurrah before everyone disperses for the summer holidays.

Looking back, I am still wondering what happened to this year. I just blinked and now it is gone. With all the ups and downs, I am surprised that it has become just a blur. Back to our lunch, it was a joyous get together but sad at the same time as Delia is leaving us in a few days’ time for the stormy Cape. In today's photo, is Carl, Litha, Bakang, and Noma.

Anthony

Anthony and his fiancé, Helene, came round this morning so that Anthony could help me put in the new CV joints and Tie Rod ends. I was thinking about postponing the work but thankfully Anthony pushed me to get it done as we discovered that the right hand side CV Boot was torn and didn't have long to go before it would have seized.

By lunchtime we were finished and for the rest of the afternoon we relaxed around the braai.

A Hobbit Called Baby Jake

It has been a hard day for me as soon after Mandela's passing, my friend, Jacob Matlala, couldn't find any more opponents in his weight category and had to challenge the angels today in that great arena in the sky. The passing of Baby Jake hit me hard.

I first met this Hobbit Baby Jake about eight years ago at a Readathon project that both Baby Jake and I worked on. At the time I was working a contract with Metrorail who was a partner of Readathon, and my interest in photography was just starting. Although only Hobbit size, Baby Jake became bigger than life to me. Baby Jake, small boxer, big heart, you won't be forgotten.

Long Walk To Tribute

With the sad news of Nelson Mandela's passing last night. The roads around his house was cordoned off. Our offices fall within the police cordon, and I had to do a lot of talking to convince the police that I needed to enter the security perimeter just to go to work. Then again maybe our boss should have given us the day off.

At lunch time, I decided to take a walk up to where all the tributes are taking place. The content department also wanted to go with so all six of us started the long walk around two blocks just to get to where everyone was gathering outside the house. It was like my long walk to pay tribute to a man that changed the course of history in South Africa.

They say in Africa, we dance and sing when we are happy, sad, excited and angry. So when we finally arrived at Mandela’s house, there was sadness, there was flowers and there was singing and dancing celebrating the life of Mandela.

My work colleague, Litha, wrote this peace as a tribute on our site.

After such a long walk,
Finally you rest.
Now your soul is as free
As it could ever be.

Imibono yakho mayibonakaliswe zizenzo zethu,
Umoya wakho onoxolo uhlale uphakathi kwethu.

Roam In Paradise xhego elihle,
We celebrate your life.

Get Up and Walk Tall

Yes I wish that I could simply get up, pick up my sticks and walk. For the last two nights, I have been having terrible pain in my right knee. So much pain that I could not even get out of bed. It is an old horse riding injury from my youth that has come back to haunt me in the prime of my days. But I will endure. I will walk tall again.

Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon

Around the late 1800s, immigrants from Lebanon started arriving in South Africa and majority of them were of the Maronite faith. The Maronite Catholic Mission open their first church in Johannesburg in 1910 and in 1991 Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon was opened with this beautiful shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon in the gardens.

Riding home from work every day, I pass under the gaze of this shrine and today I just had to stop and take a photograph with the ominous clouds looming over the shrine. In the peaceful gardens, I thought about all the Christians still irking out a living in Lebanon, squashed between the Jews on one side and the Shiites Muslims on the other. Will there ever be peace in our time?

She's Not Good

My pickup is still not ready. I met with the mechanic, Leon, this morning, for a Sitrep. He has replaced my rear wheel bearings; the front ones had to be sent away to be pressed in and will only come back tomorrow; the back brake pads were wrong and I had to exchange them this morning, the spark plugs and filters have been replaced. Leon also noticed that the spark plug and coil leads are starting to disintegrate so I had to buy more this morning.

Wow the cost of this little exercise is starting to add up and so is my stress. Next on my list of repairs are replacing the CV joints and tie rod ends on my pickup. Not to forget a full service on my Vespa. More stress.

Wheel Bearings

Last week sometime my pickup's wheel bearings starting moaning and I was hoping to limp it along until my leave which arrives in 18 days time at which time I can repair it myself. But this morning on the way to work it suddenly got worse so I had to turn around and head back. I spoke to the mechanic who repaired my car last time to see if he could squeeze my pickup in but no he was too busy. This means that I had to do it myself so I bought the spares and headed home.

On arriving home I saw my landlord's mechanic on the property and asked him if he could do it for me. Perfect timing but I ended up late for work on my Vespa. Anyway arriving at work, I found that we have a new colleague in the Content Department. So this is why there is a photo of Marco instead of something from my bad start to the Monday.

Tony

I found myself in and around Irene playing Ingress this afternoon, not far from my aunt, uncle and cousins place in Garsfountain. This was the perfect opportunity for an impromptu visit for some afternoon tea.

It has being a long time since I visited them in Pretoria and from my past visits, I posted photos of my nephew Matthew and two of my aunt Rene so now it is my uncle Tony's turn. The visit was a lovely end to a busy weekend.

Caitlin and Dael

Saturday has somehow arrived while I was helping Robynne and Marco's Drive Me at a function at Moyo. I only arrived back home at 2 this Saturday morning. After a late start I had to crawl out of bed to take Matthew's computer in for repairs, paying bills and some weekly shopping.

In the afternoon, Bradley, Dael and his girlfriend, Caitlin came round for a braai. The weather held for the braai but the early morning bed was starting to take its toll and I was in need of an afternoon nap. Caitlin and Dael are shown above relaxing after the braai.

Bun Less

According to my Lifestyle Diet that I am on, grain products have to be reduced to, well nearly nothing. This has led to some innovative and wonderful dinners. Tonight it is burger night and we had to try a bun less burger. The result was this awesome burger shown above, Yummy.

Hanging On

The mother of all storms hit Gauteng in the west and slowly moved east. Reports and photographs started coming in of hailstones the size baseballs and it was heading my way. I left work in the pouring rain hoping that the storm would all be hailed out. The radio didn't paint a pretty picture with reports of smashed windscreens everywhere, an insurance nightmare.

By time I neared home, the skies where clearing but another storm was bearing down on us. It was in this eye of the storm where I saw his pickup with this chap hanging on. Very dangerous but as usual where are the police when you need them.

Seeing Eye to Eye

It is the Battle of the Wills as Matthew goes eye to eye with Father Christmas over the Naughty List. So who do you think will blink first? Matthew does seem very determined as he wants his name off the list. I must say that hairy man dressed in red was rather short which should help ease the reindeers with their overloading problem.

Steven and Lebogang

Tonight, our Home Cell held their year end Christmas Party and we had a record turn out. Wow time has sure flown this year. Over a year ago I posted on Mildred and her daughter Lebogang, so now it is the father's turn which will make it my second father and daughter photograph this month. I better be careful not to start a trend here on this blog. Here is Steven, proudly holding his daughter Lebo. Wow, hasn't Lebo grown in the last 2 years.

Monday Matthew

With exams over, Matthew is over at my place for a week of relaxing. It is only 4 weeks left until I am on leave relaxing too but in the meanwhile it is back to work on this Monday.

Denise and Trevor

Sunday, means BBC, so off we went to the late morning services at Bryanston Bible Church. There are many interesting changes afoot with all the new extensions to upgrade BBC. I am looking forward to 2014 at BBC. A surprise visit to BBC is Trevor and his lovely wife Denise. Well not quite, Trevor has been very busy with his ministry Wellspring and I haven't seen him for quite a while.

Bringing Home the Lobola

Mooooo, bringing home the bacon is what I supposed to do, not the cattle, well unless I need to pay some Lobola. Now Lobola is a marriage tribute or bride price still practiced in traditional South Africa. Lobola payment in cattle is still practiced in the old country so hello good looking, what beautiful lass can I buy with my fat 30 cows?

Father and Daughter

This morning, Richard's daughter Isabella arrived and I couldn't resist a Father Daughter photograph so now on this Friday I give you Isabella and Richard. Okay it is Friday, and inspiration is push aside as weekend takes over.

Over for Dinner

"Come over to my parlour" said the spider to the fly. No not quite the right way to start this blog post. Lynda's daughter Robynne and her fiancé Marco had their house cleaned out by burglars on Tuesday, so now they came over for dinner. Well I shouldn't say cleaned out as they tossed all the contents from every part of the house onto the floor in search of valuables to steal.

Marco and Robynne are all right as it happened while they were at work only to come home and find all their electronic goods gone and all that remained was the mess.

Keeping Fit

I am on this new healthy lifestyle eating plan based Tim Noakes' Paleo Diet. So far it has only being a week into this regime change and I am feeling much better although physically I am still in shape as round is a shape.

Part of this new healthy lifestyle eating plan is exercise which I have to somehow fit into my busy life. On the way to work, I past the Mushroom Farm in Sandton and there I saw a maid busy exercising before work on the outside exercise apparatus. She is sure putting me to shame not finding the time.

Crystal Clear

Last night, our home group celebrated Thanksgiving a week early. Who cares if it was a little early, we have lots to be thankful for. Take me for example, my health. At the end of last year I had a double health scare, first with my prostate and second was kidney stones. Matthew, my son, started High School this year which was followed hotly on its heels by stress related problems for him. Thankfully it is all behind us and now we can move on.

I am still here, so my promise of a future is still before me, while the brokenness of my past behind.

This Void

There is a song that cuts deep with these words "But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works, it's not the long walk home that will change this heart, but the welcome I receive with the restart." Yes to get up and restart this life's journey as I have paused to smell the flowers. And here I am, wondering where this road might be leading and the number of my days. Maybe I am dwelling too long in that place between the promise of my future and the brokenness of my past. I think I must hold my head up high and take the first step on restarting this long journey home.

Vespas and Landrovers

We arrived at the Piston Ring monthly car enthusiast meet up at Modderfontein on what turned out to be a beautiful day. This may be the last one this year, until 2014, so I had to start looking for Christmas ideas. Among the thirsty American V8s, frugal Continentals and stiff upper lip British vehicles, we found these metal toys especially this Vespa P200E and yellow Landrover Series 1.

Caught in the Headlights

To celebrate Ingress’ first birthday, the Resistance in Gauteng organised a Kansas City Shuffle by staging two operations, the first, Irresistible started on Friday. The Irresistible was aimed at helping the lower level Resistance players level up but had a hidden agenda of getting the operation leaked to the Enlightened so that they could be distracted in the Kansas City Shuffle and hopefully use up all their resources. For those who don't know what a Kansas City Shuffle is, it is when everyone else moves right, you move left.

The Enlightened in Gauteng who had found out about first operation fell for the Kansas City Shuffle, and built up mega fields from Livingstone in Zambia to Saldanha Bay, to Port Elizabeth to Durban to Maputo. All to stop the Resistance levelling up. Impressive but what the Enlightened didn't know was the second operation which was the Kansas City Shuffle. Of course before the second operation started, the Enlightened mega fields were swiftly taken down.

Unight8 involved 58 countries around the world with lots of teams of Level 8 players starting at midnight to make as many L8 portals before the Enlightened woke up and smelt the coffee. I left home last night at 11pm and joined 9 other Level 8 players in the Johannesburg West Rand and at midnight kicked off our part of the Unight8 operation. This early morning photograph shows part of the Unight8 JHB West team. By 4am we had 67 Level 8 portals in West.

From what Krow reported in total the 3 teams in Gauteng created 192 Level 8 portals which meant that the Kansas City Shuffle was a tremendous success. The cherry on top is that the Resistance deployed layered mega fields of their own this afternoon. I can see that the Force is strong in the Resistance Gauteng. Reports coming in worldwide is that more than 30,000 Level 8 portals were created leaving the Enlightened still napping.

How to Eat a Gourmet Burger?

How do you eat a Gourmet Burger? Some might say with a knife and fork, or some will say you're your hands. Well the answer is with difficulty.

Lunch at Dukes Burgers in Greenside was chosen for our National Positions' team building. Dukes looked small from the front, inside you start getting disorientated with all the nooks and crannies but once you get your bearings of all the alcoves, you quickly settle down to Duke’s quirkiness.

The beef, lamb and ostrich burgers on the menu all looked great along with their quirky names to match the décor and I wasn't quite sure which one to choose. In the end I chose a Wagyu Burger made from the famous Wagyu beef from the Kobe region of Japan and I wasn't disappointed. Although the burger on the whole was a little dry but the 200g patty was very tasty, uhmm.

Back to the question of how do you eat a gourmet burger. Well it is all preference as I used my knife and fork but Bakang, shown above, showed us how to get down and messy with a gourmet burger.

Mal Jan

You won't believe who I bumped into at Montecasino tonight. For those who don't listen to Jacaranda Radio Station, I like to give you Mal Jan or loosely translated as Mad Jan. Johan van der Merwe is Jacaranda’s mad stuntman who is often dressed up and sent on quests. Like the one time they dressed him up as an ignorant farmer from Bethlehem and sent him to SEXPO. Another time they put him into the ring with a cage fighter. This evening Mal Jan was dressed up as Thor with his big hammer, no tummy.

What Do We Have Here?

When Noma walked in this morning all glowing, it was because her boyfriend, Richard, liked it and put a ring on it. Now put your hands up if you happy for Noma Jean. Richard liked it and put a ring on it. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Guitar Man

Who draws the crowd and plays so loud, baby it's the guitar man.

Never mind the busker playing the blues; I want you to note the blue sky in this photo taken at about 1 pm in the afternoon near my work in Houghton. In less than 3 hours it wasn't blue any more. A most ferocious summer storm broke over Johannesburg. But I on my Vespa somehow managed to outride the large rain drops as lightning threatened around me.

But the guitar man never seems to notice. He's just got to find another place to play.