What Remains

 

Oh my word, I missed Halloween, I didn't even noticed it until I found Shaun, shown above, washing off his face paint after his office celebrations were over. So what remains? Here we have another overseas function that commercialism want to push down our throats just so that they can make money. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed your All Saints Day, while I quietly worked away preparing for a new revamp of a website to go live next week.  

Nescafé Espresso

 

Okay shoot me, I know it is instant coffee, but the Nescafé Espresso has become my favourite coffee. I never liked strong coffee that could make a girl grow chest hairs, no I love a smooth, rich, and full of taste cup of coffee. Gone are the days when coffee smelt good and afterwards you were sorry that you ordered it. Made from 100% Arabica coffee beans and the mix cream powder with it to create this velvety crema layer on top of your espresso in this parisien style.

Uhmmmm deeply satisfying! Let the day begin.

Over Ripe

 

This heat wave is relentless, and no rain in sight. The bananas that we bought a few days ago has all ripened far too quickly and now we are left with over ripe bananas to eat. Will it be banana loaf or will they simply be added to my breakfast yogurt?  

Come on summer rains, do I have to do another naked rain dance in my garden? I am sure my neighbours do not approve!

No Cellphones

 

What no cellphones allowed? Oh dear well I have been here at the Bedfordview Drivers License Department for just over an hour with my cellphone in use all the time and only now just before I finish up that I saw these signs "No Cellphones". Goes to show how observant I am, especially for a Monday morning.

Craig at 43

 

I have only seen Craig once this year, and now he is 43 years old. To celebrate the momentous occasion we had a braai at his house. It was good to see him again after all this time, even though I meet with this group of board gaming friends once in a while, it was a good meetup today.

Checkpoint 20

 

This afternoon, a sundowner meeting was organised at Checkpoint 20 on top of the Sugarbush Ridge by the Sugarbush Ridge Coalition for all the stakeholders involved in protecting this amazing ridge. A storm threatened as we made our way through the Protea Forest towards the top of the ridge where the meeting place was setup.

This sundowner meeting was a lovely ending to the year of conservation. Our job has not ended, but just to take time to meet all the other Eco-warriors in the middle of this awesome environment.

Hobbit Praying Mantis

 

We are so quick to use insecticides in our gardens or to whip out the Doom to rid ourselves of that spider in our bathroom that we don't know the damage it does. Because of all our pets at home we make a point never to use insecticides in our home and garden. We care for all the creatures that share our space even those we don't like.

Take this little fella, I am not sure if it is a baby or a fully grown hobbit sized praying mantis. I found it this morning when I was about to fill up the watering can to give the dogs fresh water in their bowls. As the water gushed out of the tap into the watering can, I saw this little fella as s/he got washed into the can. I immediately stopped and poured the water out and fished out the hobbit sized insect, and called Lynda over to come see. After taking this photo we gentle put it onto the lemon tree which is outside our kitchen door.

Please remember not only do we have birds, butterflies, snakes, spiders, bees, and hobbit mantises but also faeries that visit our gardens.  

Much Better

 

Now this is much better after 48 hours of loving attention, the pool is starting to turn blue. It still has a slight green tinge from the micro particles too small to be filtered by the sand filter. I need now to use chemicals to coagulate these micro particles into larger pieces so that the filter can remove them from the water but that is for about a weeks time, just to let it all rest for a while.

Getting There

 

After our pool went to the dogs last week, we started on a strict regime Monday evening to get the pool back to its normal self, sparkly blue. And this what it looks like this morning 36 hours later, a cloudy green. Still a long way to go but hopefully we can swim soon.

Friend of Piglet

 

In our lounge on the other couch that we seldom sit on are quite a few stuffed bears and a piglet too. "The things that make me different are the things that make me me" - Piglet. Yip that is so true, we all different in many ways and you can't simply put me in a box.

Poor Fella

 

While I was working on our swimming pool this evening I noticed this poor little fella lying on the paving stones. Although it has been extremely hot these last few days, this small chameleon seems dried out. There is no visible marks from either a cat or dog so I don't know what happen. Poor fella.

Green Eyed Monster

 

My world has turned green today as the green eyed monster raised it's ugly head. No I am not taking about Lynda, shown in the above photo, although she does have green eyes, she is not the green eyed monster but in the news today, it is all about Hellen Zille, the Witch is Back, and the reason why the mayor Herman Mashaba shirked his duties yesterday (read all about it here) and has tendered his resignation. Not good at all for the City of Johannesburg, not good for us as a people.

Anywho, the Springboks won against Japan in the Rugby World Cup to progress to the semi-finals. The green and gold victory might be a silver lining for us in the gloomy day. Talk about gloom, there is our swimming pool. As you can see it is green and murky. A few weeks back it was nice and blue but the now it has all gone wrong. So starts the long progress to getting it back all sparkly blue again.

Baby Moses

 

This morning I went down to the stream below my house to meet one of my inspirations, our mayor Herman Mashaba on one of his A re Sebetseng clean up Saturday Projects but I did not find our honorable mayor, instead I found these children parting the bulrushes. The mayor had been called away on an urgent matter and the Baby Moses Children's Sanctuary stepped up to the plate. They are a children's home for abandoned and abused children. 

It is a pity the mayor wasn't there as our kloof needs all the publicity and protection it deserves. At least it is in good hands with all the children I saw down in the kloof today.

Sink Princess

It was an extremely hot day and we had our office airconditioners on full ball but when I arrived home I found this. Princess, one of our cats, the most hairiest one that is was sitting in our kitchen sink, which is most likely the coolest part of the house. Shame poor kitty, now I am debuting if I should get all her fur trimmed but I am not sure the is the right thing to do. The jury is still out. 

Industrial Sunset

The dreaded loadshedding has once again popped up its ugly head and showing us that Eskom can't even organised a party in a brewery and that is saying it nicely. Yes the incompetence of our government leaves lots to be desired, in fact Trump can run a government better, or can he?

Anywho, I now needed to find some dinner for the family as we Connect group tonight and our house is in darkness. I first had to rush to Catbox to buy dog food as we were out, then to find a pizza joint that wasn't in darkness too. Eventually I found one in Krugersdorp and this is the photo I took waiting for my pizza to be prepared.

I call it an Industrial Sunset because with the railway tracks and the street lights having no power, all I had is this glorious sunset, oh and pizza on the way.

Most Hated Crew

Yes I am still caged bound while the mechanic is struggling to find the cause of my Vespa being a jerk. Anyways here I am sitting in traffic, trying to find new routes to work avoiding the traffic snarl ups, and I see this. Here was graffiti sprayed by a crew I never heard of, the Most Hated Crew! Well the must be because I've never heard of them, oh that's right I am currently out of touch in whats happening lately. Don't hate!

Ring of Fire

What is happening in Kenmare? There I was meeting with an old acquaintance from 20 years on my deck when an orange glow started to edge up the gorge on the other side. The hot winds did not help one iota and soon it was a roaring bush fire. Those 2 white lights at the bottom right are Hanno and his team of fire fighters fighting to save their homes from this ring of fire. Thankfully no homes nor people were harmed in the fire but I can't say that for the countless animals that live in our veld. I was told that at one fire they found plenty of snakes and other animals burnt to death up against a Clearvu fence as they could not escape the flames.

So I can so I can

Snowflakes, snowflakes everywhere! No it aren't winter yet, we just about to go into summer. Monday morning, having to deal with snowflakes, I also had Taleesha wearing sunglasses. How does that song goes, oh yes, "I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can so I can". So I can so I can sounds so snowflaky to me. No that was an 80s song, no snowflakes about that.

Making Friends

How can I even consider making friends with Shammy, a cat that has cost me literally thousands of rands. Yes this cat likes to wee on all things electric, that means the TV, my computer, the toaster, need I say more. Electricity and and cat wee do not like ech other, I have already lost 2 TVs and yet here he is Shammy wanting to make friendss with me. Saddly I think I am a nice guy plus I don't want strive with the missus. 

Waiting for the Rain

Last year, due to the excessive evaporation of the water from our swimming pool we got it covered during the winter and now we are waiting patiently for the rains to come so that we can uncover and enjoy our pool again. But 20 drops of rain does not count as the summer rains. They say the rains come when the purple jacarandas are in full bloom  but see they already are and still no rain. There is another saying that rain before Paul Kruger's birthday will mean a dry season but rain afterwards brings good news, and his birthday was the 10 October, 2 days ago, so bring on the rain, please, I want to swim.

Not Even Sacred Anymore

 

Coming home after a long day at work, ready for the weekend of bliss only to find my bed like this. What not even my bedroom is save from these cats? The 3 catprits clockwise is Minky, Tiger, and Princess. Give me back my weekend!

Mauro

 

My Vespa is still behaving like a jerk and the mechanic is struggling to trace the issue. I decided to get some advice from Vespa themselves as to any ideas where the issue could be. It was here during lunch time that I bumped into an old Vespa acquaintance, Mauro. He was here getting his baby's tyre sorted.

More of Indigo

 

The weather is getting hotter as we wait for the summer thunderstorms. As we wait, we are blessed with awesome indigo sunsets. Our swimming pool is still under cover waiting for the first rains and last year the evaporation was so bad that we lost lots of water. Can't wait for our first swim of the season.

Being a Jerk

 

My Vespa started being a jerk and when checking everything, the bike mechanic pulled out the spark plug to find this. Something is not right in the state of Denmark. At least the Vespa is getting a full treatment service and should be back as new.

Cadburg

 

Sometimes, a word spelt wrong just jumps out of the page and hits you right between the eyes. Here we have 3 x Cadburg chocolates for R18.00. Never heard of Cadburg must be a typo and should read Cadbury chocolates. Basically if it costs R8.99 each then you buy 2 and get another 1 free. 

My New Look

 

So now you have it, my new look, and not that father christmas mess of a beard which I started growing from the beginning of the year. I don't know quite how long this fad will last and when I would get so tired of it and shave it completely off. But for now this is me.

As Safe

 

Somehow our new tenant locked himself out of the flat with the sliding door lock giving hassles. So this morning I went to our local locksmith to buy a new lock for the cottage sliding door. At the locksmith, I found these old safes. The doors on these safes were so large and made with thick steel, that I wonder how the thieves use to crack them open.

Shave and Trim

 

I have been looking forward to this shave and trim for quite some time now. So here I am sitting on a barber's chair, the type of chair which I haven't  sat in for many many years. My beard was getting wild and woolly and in desperate need for some shaping. Along with my beard attention I had a straight razor shave of my head. Ahhh pampering is in order.

Back in the Cage

 

My Vespa started playing funny buggers today by missing indiscriminately. It is due for a service plus the exhaust needs to be fix so I limped it to the mechanic after work yesterday. And now I am back in the cage for the long early morning drive to work. Already I miss the Vespa.

Feverless

 

The Fever Tree used to be one of my favourite trees with its green bark but having 1 outside our driveway is not a cleaver idea as the tree is constantly dropping thorns onto the road. Now these thorns are the reason for our tyres getting many punctures. Too many!

Coffee and Rusks

 

Lets start the month with a visit to my mentor, Tom. As usual arriving at Tom's home after work coffee and rusks were waiting. Let the month begin.