Chameleon Rescue

I had just driven off for church this morning, when I got a desperate call from my neighbour. My dog River Song was attacking a chameleon in my garden, the neighbour's kitchen overlooks part of my back garden where River Song is. I immediately turned around and head back home.

I rushed to the back to find River Song doing mock attacks on a Flap Neck Chameleon who was trying to cross our garden. The poor thing was all puffed up and hissing with River Song, all excited barking, "Look what I found, daddy!" I scooped the little creature up and carefully moved it to the trees at the edge of the garden much to the dismay of River Song.

K9 Poison Proofing

This afternoon I joined the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch on a K9 Poison Proofing training. It was a shock to be told at the training that there is about 800 dog poisoning reported every week in the Roodepoort area to the police. That is a horrifying high number. They should hang the poisoners by their testicles, that is how I feel about these people.

LEAVE!  

Even I am shaking by the command not to pick up any food on the ground.

Bad Hair Day

Well at least I don't have a bad hair day as Taleesha, shown here, is having this Friday, unless my untidy beard counts as unruly hair. Anyways enjoy your weekend.

Pushing Up Daisies

With the thoughts about life and death being a lot on my mind lately, it was great just to pause for a moment in this spinning wheel of life and smell the flowers, in this case daisies which have bloomed in my garden. Oh such lovely flowers, and I am not getting enough time to enjoy them. Oh well just keep on moving 1 step in front of the next...

Where have all the flowers gone?

Where have all the flowers gone, a long time passing. Seeing these beautiful red poppies, and with the remembrance of D-Day just the other day, I thought about how wasteful all these wars have been. With 'Merica being in a constant state of war, actually 93% of its entire existence, that is since it was founded in 1776, she has been at war for 222 out of 239 years. 

Now with Trump's toys being thrown out over Iran, Ethiopia had an attempted coup d'etat and the internet has been shut down in the entire country, and China being a big bully as they expand globally. When will they ever learn?

So here I am looking at these poppies, and thinking about when will the world ever be free of tyranny. When will the Lord return?

Heating with Gas

Winter is surely here so I had to dig out the gas heater from the garage and get the gas bottle refilled. Let there be heat and there was heat. With the Game of Thrones gone from the small screens for over Now the winter can commence. 

Eina

Eina little Rosy. On Saturday, when Rosy returned from her night of running in the wild, I noticed this deep gash in her right front foot. Eish what could I do for the poor little kitty tat. Tonight she allowed me to touch her foot while she was distracted with eating her supper. 

Detour to Rene

This afternoon I had to take Matthew back to Pretoria because he is writing exams this week, but we decided to take a detour and visit my aunt Rene. She stays in this cottage at the back of her son's house in Pretora. We hardly ever go visit as it is out of the way for us and since we haven't been round at all this year we felt that it was about time for a detour. It was a good visit, catching up over milktart and coffee. 

Disembark

Today we say goodbye to a friend, William aka Bill, as he disembarked from the train of life to join his wife June who no doubt is saying "what took you so long". When we start off on this train of life, we go to a lot of birthday parties, later it becomes weddings, and now as the train winds along it is funerals and memorials that become the norm in life. At the good age of 81 it was Bill's turn to quietly go into that good night. Compared to last weeks memorial that I attended to last week, it was like chalk and cheese. Last week was all about the young man and today it was more about God, a somber thought.

I am going to follow a take on life, author unknown, which his daughter Sarah along with her 2 boys read to all of us gathered at St George's Church in Parktown. This is called the "Train of Life".

At birth, we boarded the train of life and met our parents, and we believed that they would always travel by our side. However, at some station, our parents would step down from the train, leaving us on life's journey alone.

As time goes by, some significant people will board the train: siblings, other children, friends, and even the love of our life.

Many will step down and leave a permanent vacuum.  Others will go so unnoticed that we won't realize that they vacated their seats! This train ride has been a mixture of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes, and farewells.

A successful journey consists of having a good relationship with all passengers, requiring that we give the best of ourselves. The mystery that prevails is that we do not know at which station we ourselves will step down. Thus, we must try to travel along the track of life in the best possible way -- loving, forgiving, giving, and sharing.

When the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty - we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who continue to travel on the train of life.

Let’s remember to thank our Creator for giving us life to participate in this journey. I close by thanking you for being one of the passengers on my train!

 

I stayed behind while the crowds left the church for some refreshments, I wanted to feel the place I was in. The feeling was so different than last Saturday. I knew Bill as the Chairperson of WOSA, the Wild Orchids of Southern Africa, he was quiet yet tenacious.

The last I saw Bill at one of the Thundafund meetings at the Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens last year just before he got real sick. He got into his SUV to leave which was parked on a slope, he put his car in neutral thinking it was in reverse and the car just rushed towards a row of parked cars. Bill managed to stop the car just as it was about to hit the parked cars. Very shaken, Bill wind down the window and told us what happened with a nervous laugh. That was the last I saw of Bill as he then struggled with his health. 

This week Bill was called to stepped off the train of life to join the Creator of all things. Thank you Bill, it was good meeting you on that train, even if it was only for a short while.

Looking at You

Here's looking at you kid. FEED ME!

Ginger Med Lemon and Naartjies

To help combat this flu bug that I am battling to throw, I am drinking ginger laced Med Lemon hot drinks and eating citrus such as naartjies. I have not much to say other than, leave me alone. 

Alex Protests

I don't know what this small group of protesters are protesting about. With over 2 million protesters taking the streets this past weekend in Hong Kong, this group of 50 toyi-toying protesters was not even worth the trouble. 

Rose Petal

I just can't shake this bug, I have a raw throat and a post nasal drip that is irritating me. I just came home after work and just crashed. Rosy joined me and sometime in the evening I woke with a start that I didn't take my photo for the day, and there was Rose Petal lying at my feet. 

Black Label Windhoek

In South Africa when a Public Holiday falls on a Sunday, then Monday becomes a holiday too. This happened yesterday as Youth Day fell on a Sunday therefore today was a holiday too. And since it was Father's Day too so Matthew and I went out to the local watering hole to catch up over Black Label and Windhoek draugh beers. Cheers to Life!

Fantastic Dad

Fantastic Dad - Better than a tall glass of water, oh well it is Father's Day today and here I am enjoying a can of Fanta. My throat is very sore from this flu bug, and a nice cool drink helped soothe it. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, cheers.

Fly High Dirk

I met Dirk over 10 years ago when he joined us at the Joburg Photowalkers on our walks. Dirk was a young man eager to learn all about street photography some the best we had in Johannesburg. Not long after that I was invited to one of his wild parties that he used to throw, this one was his 21st birthday party. 

Dirk started growing into his career of videography starting off as a clapperboy on productions and soon started directing productions. With his career blooming I never thought I would be attending his memorial today.

Dirk, the gentle giant, lived a life wild and free, until it was cut short by a paragliding accident. I will close this post with the words of his eccentric looking father, "Scars heal, and chicks love scars, but his timing f*@$ing sucks!"

Matthew and I

Because my pickup is out of commission for a while, I had to use the Vespa to pick up Matthew for study leave from Varsity. He had to catch the bus from the Belgium Campus to the Pretoria Museum, walk a few 100m to the Pretoria Gautrain Station. Then on the Gautrain to Sandton where I was waiting with my Vespa. 

Rijkent

My pickup needs its brakes to be redone as it feels like the master cylinder is going and having spongy brakes is not safe. So I popped into a mechanic up the road from us called Rijkent, a Dutch name meaning rich child. We have been taken our cars to Colin in Horizon who is very reasonable and good. I met Rijkent at one of the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch meetings and because he is only 2 blocks away from wanted to try his mechanic services out. So I popped into his place after work to book my pickup in.

Not so Fresh

There always has to be be one bad apple to spoil the bunch, or in this box a naartjie. Woolworths has always the best quality but even the best slip up. I went into my local Woolies to get some feel good food to tackle my mood and had to inform the staff of the errant box of soft citrus, and talking about soft citrus what happened to the proudly South African Naartjie?

Keep the Doctor Away

They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but I like to give the lowly apple a helping hand with Corenza C and Lynda in her wisdom after consultation with Doctor Google and the local pharmacist added the Airborne assault. As we can't have a grumpy sick old man at home. Only one man flu occurrence is allowed per year and I have already had my symphony allocation.  

Sick Papa Smurf

I Papa Smurf, haven't quite shaken this passenger that I picked up a few weeks back. I don't think it is the Swine Flu but there seems to be a full out pandemic of the piggy flu bug all over as we know people that we encounter daily that has it or has someone in their family that has this nasty bug. 

I myself just have this irritating mild flu symptoms that just doesn't seem to go away. 

Nachos and Carrot Juice

We haven't been to the Rosebank Rooftop Market in such a long time, since before the renovations, so after church Lynda and I too a drive to Rosebank to visit the flea market which has become such a tourist trap. We saw scores of tourists including a bus load of Chinese. The prices were sure targeting the tourists and not the locals, oh well at least we tried some nachos, with me having some freshly squeezed carrot juice and Lynda some apple juice.

His Master's Voice

Okay you have seen photos of me and my life but have you heard my voice? Yip hear I am singing a nursery rhyme to my granddaughter Dakotah while we babysit the grandchildren. Eish I know I don't have a Master Voice as it left a lot to be desired but who cares, Cocco enjoyed granddad.

Axil's Crib

We have so many strange and wonderful creatures at home, from the dogs and cats to spiders and lizards. Here is Axil the bearded dragon in his crib trying to keep warm at the end of a chilly Friday afternoon. The heating globe popped so we need to get another one for poor Axil.

Only Bean Can

It has been a long week for me as I am starting to feel the tiredness catching up. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday and this evening I found myself at Connect with family. Yip it is great just to wind down in a relaxed group of friends. Here is Lance and Dean being amazed at Beanca's balancing skills. I mean who can balance a rusk on your head while trying to drink hot chocolate? Only Bean can.

High up Safe

Arriving at work on this cold Wednesday morning, I noticed this Egyptian Goose high up on this palm tree. Oh she must be nice and safe up there with an awesome view of the surrounds. 

Green Wall

I am feeling much better after a good night's rest, catching up on some sleep debt. Since I work in a small office, I have to step out to take personal telephone calls. Yesterday and today I had to receive calls from family members trying to sort out an issue. So here I was in foyer on the phone when I noticed this wall. The feature wall in the foyer has this green mottled finish. I am not sure if it is a wallpaper or paint on concrete but it sure looks good. Green is not my colour yet here I was admiring the finish with an telephone glued to my ear.

Feeling Overtired

Well I started this week with my eyes wide shut after 2 consecutive weekends down in KZN, driving down on Friday evenings after work and then back aagain on the Sunday evening. Oh well it is behind me and now I have to make it through the week.

I didn't get time to make lunch so I grabbed some bananas and although they looked bruised like my body, they tasted good as bananas should. Oh well early night for me.

Homeward Bound

After 2 busy weekends back to back down in Pietermarizburg I was finally homeward bound. We decided to leave early to get past Mooiriver before dark because of the criminal elements that were touching trucks. In the early hours of this morning a number of trucks were set alight, 1 at Escourt, 2 at Mooiriver, 2 at Pietermarizburg, 3 at Cato Ridge, and 1 at Amanzamtoti. So not to take any chances we set out as early as we could. 

The road north was very busy and we were blessed with a lovely sunset along the way. 5 hours later I was safe and sound in my own bed.

Tennis Filler

The Air B&B where we are staying at Howick was quite quaint with this one exception, a tennis ball lodged in a window pane. I am not sure what the back story of how this tennis ball got lodge here but it sure did make for a great conversation piece. Was it placed here after the fact or did was it the cause of the hole?