Nothing Like It

Were all sitting outside enjoying the fire.

Old Land Rover Lightweight

They had this old lightweight there when I had by shocks replaced. So
cool. So basic. I love the smell of oil and canvas and all these old
bits. Much nicer than the modern electronic wizardy that you get with
modern cars.

Maybe one day. Something to aim for and tinker with.

Kitchen Sink - 001

Ok. Here goes. The first one ever.

Egg boxes. Empty because eggs have not yet been collected.

Glass jam pot for egg money. We've had to start bringing it in at
night because it has been stolen about 4 times now.

Rat catcher by window. Has not caught a single rat. The red light
showed this morning. I was all excited and thought we've caught one
only to find that the light came on because of the downpour last night.

The bonsai is Sarah's.

The fat balls and bird seed for the little bird table outside the
kitchen window. It's lovely to watch the birds from the kitchen in the
mornings.

Empty bottle of white wine: First Cape - Chenin Blanc. Only 9.5
percent. I don't know why the whites have to be up at 13 percent these
days. This one was great!

Kitchen Sink

I think the area around the kitchens sink and the actual sink says a
lot about what is going on in a house.

There was a photographer who took a photo each day of his kitchen sink
and made a whole project of it.

I have tried with the D200 but just could not get the lighting right.

This bowl of fruit is next to the sink and I will try ant take a
picture of the sink next and post it on the blog.

Taking advantage

.... Of the fine weather again.

Cool Dog

Cool Dog Hot Dog. He has been asking me to play. But I'm tired so
tethered him up instead.

Watching for birds

We've both got our binoculars and can hear plenty of birds but they
must all be hiding in the thick hedges and leafy trees because we
can't see many.

Cooling Down

I'm sitting outside trying to cool down after a 30 minute row.
Listening to the tractor in the field picking up the bales of hay,
watching the chickens and talking to Jasmine.

Mama Mia

Girls have all gone out to watch Mama Mia. What's a bloke to do?

Back to basics I say.

Nothing like a good ole fire.

Younger children are running around singing Tom Tom the Pipers son,
Jack is sitting next to me.

I better move back, this is getting hot.

My Baby Boy Dog

He is being so good today. It's as if he has lost some his puppy
playfulness.

This is so good as this playfulness can really be tiring sometimes.

Lunch Today

Lovely weather here at the moment. Just waiting for the wood to burn
down so we can start the braai / BBQ.

Five Lanes End

Were all sitting here eating crisps and drinking water and watching
the countryside.

Walking to Five Lanes End

Decided to go for a walk to Five Lanes Endcwith some children and
dogs. Lovely wheat fields, poppies, gentle wind to cool you down and
plenty of sun.

I love it.

Cleaning my Brompton

Bailey busy cleaning my bicycle.

Basingstoke Station

Today is going to be another fine day. I'm waiting for my mother in
law, standing outside in the sun.

Just had supper

Dogs barking as usual.
Budgies twittering to my left.
Children playing on the landing.
Bob Marley on the hi fi.

Coffee water boiling on Aga.
Sun setting outside.

No email or news re interview.

Yet, the end of a lovely and satisfying day.

Broken Splitting Axe

I was splitting some logs after a nice chainsaw session yesterday and
my axe broke. Can you believe it?

I might just have to go to SCATS after lunch to find a new axe handle.

What I Have Learned So Far

I have just discovered the poems of Mary Oliver.

Fantastic. Open. Honest. She has a way with words that is not abstract or weird. A simplicity I really enjoy.

Take a look at her poem called "What I Have Learned So Far".

Basically, if you are passionate about something, and do nothing to "labour in it's cause" then what. I'll tell you what. Then you are not really passionate about it.

So stop and think about it for a moment. Is there anything you are passionate about? Or say you are passionate about? And yet you don't stick your neck out for it.

The last sentence of the poem strikes the chord!

"Be ignited or be gone"

Fantastic isn't it!

See the full poem here: http://www.panhala.net/Archive/What_I_Have_Learned_So_Far.html

Gypsy

At home watching TV and Gypsy is sleeping.

Escape Artists

About twelve cows escaped out of the field next door and came to munch
the grass in our garden.

I walked up behind them to stop them going towards the A30.

Monday Morning Inspiration

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.

We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!

I asked for Strength.........
And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom.........
And God gave me Problems to solve.

I asked for Prosperity.........
And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.

I asked for Courage.........
And God gave me Danger to overcome.

I asked for Love.........
And God gave me Troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors.........
And God gave me Opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted ........
I received everything I needed!

Looking for Class Mates from Brackenfell High 1979

Biddy Webber (Fourie) send me a spreadsheet with names of all our old classmates from Brackenfell High School - 1979.

Although there are quite a few names on the list, there are a whole bunch missing. It is so difficult to find these missing people. My assumption is that it could be possible that one day, these people might just put their own name into a search engine and then find this blog entry.

If this is you, your children or family that has now found this blog entry, please get in touch by looking for the Facebook group or searching for my name (Sheyne Bauermeister) on the internet. My "footprint" is quite big so I am sure you will be able to find a current email address online somewhere.

So here are the names (for you and the searchengines to find)

Danie Scholtz
Elfreda Smith
Danita Theron (in Windhoek?)
Angelina Novak (brothers name was Robert Novak)
Mitzi Visser
Ronel Ebersohn
Sharon Fowler (sister's name is Debbie - I think she lives in Blomtuin)
Peter Bassett (Bassett family owned Basset Burglar Alarms but sold it - surely we should be able to find them)
Clementine Bassett
Theo Champion
Colin Coreejes
Ian Coetzee (nickname = Sarge)
Sheila Bossenger
Ellen Webb
Christine Brits
Deon Ensink (In Brackenfell - Bottelary Road?)
Ronnie Capes (I think he moved to Namibia)
Francios Beugger (Nickname = Bekkies)

Well that's the list for now. If you come across this page please get in touch.

Other Keywords: Brackenfell High School, Brackenfell, Class of 1979

Found since this was originally posted (today is 10 July 08):
Lynette Sevenoaks
Leon Theunissen
Andrew Stock
Estelle Otto (Havenga)
Melanie Heyns

Bill Gate's 11 Rules Of Life

Don’t you just love this!

Gates' Rules

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.