Ring of fire!

Well. The pics aren’t mine. In fact I have no idea where they came from (prior to the mail I received them in). I celebrate whoever took them, and gratefully accept the plagiaristic manner in which they are now here.

Edit: After 6000 kindly provided their names, I will happily acknowledge Bruce Sutherland (top 2) and Donald Jackson (bottom) for allowing their pics to arrive in my email uncredited!

Any which way, political, sensical, ethical debates aside, that’s a sweet looking skyline (the stadium is also quite nice). I might even be tempted to buy some insensitively insanely well-priced tickets…

More pictures here.

On the road a-gain

Being Sunday, and being in the midst of a rather torrid training period for The Double Century Project, a few of us went cycling again this morning. It’s become a little bit of a routine, and has gradually clocked an impressive distance. Not only distance mind you – we’ve been into Cape Point a few times, seen more of Simonstown and Kommetjie than I’m used to, and today road a cracker of a route from Constantia, through Sea Point, around Camps Bay, over the newly opened Chappies, around Slangkop, down Smitswinkle and back to Constantia. Certainly finding it easy to understand why the tourists continue to flock here en masse.

So, despite the strong and variable wind, my trip computer showed 123km and I’m happy to report a really great ride and reassuring recovery today. It was interesting to note how easily I was able to contemplate this sort of distance after the psychological win of having done 150km last weekend – strange how the mind works (or my mind at any rate…)

Skip back a day, and we were all on the far side of the False Bay. A friend’s 30th inspired us to spend the day in Betty’s Bay, and we-4 enjoyed a visit to the Stony Point penguins, a Potjie fest and chill-out (ta Adrian) and later a wander on the beach – really taking advantage of the great weather we’ve been having. X-Trail is averaging around 5.7l/100 for these sorts of jaunts – a welcome contribution!

To finish the weekend off, we hosted a braai, I went to watch the very exciting F1 and then stayed up unnecessarily late to write this entry. Sleep beckons (but still the photos upload…)

October Sun

Hip hip hooray for summer! Temperamental or not, it’s been freakin’ awesome being able to leave the gate open, let the kids wander outside and reduce the cabin fever which was definitely a staple of winter ’09. Notably, I was fortunate to take a day off which miraculously coincided with fantastic weather, and we jumped on a train and headed off South to Simonstown. Wonderful fun for relatively little effort. Erin is so tenacious that we were in hysterics watching her battle her way over very loose and uneven beach sand. More construction and castles accompanied Jamie, and we’re finding his attention to detail very endearing.

To relax after these occasional jaunts to the beach, Jan and I have been indulging in our Battlestar Galactica addiction, guiltily consuming episode after episode. Since LOST (on pause) this has been a very welcome distraction to the children-inflicted-mess which so often fills our house, and has rekindled many childhood memories of space and Wing Commander games etc. Fun!

I’ve also been warming the saddle to quite an extent – very grateful to Jan for her corresponding child-minding. In a moment of weakness/folly I agreed to cycle as part of a team doing the Coronation Double Century (a 204km “race” in late November). Naturally training is mandatory. I’m planning on doing another race (Die Burger) the following weekend to seed for Argus 2010 – so the fitness is definitely welcome. We knocked off a 150km ride on Sunday, and I’m pleased to report that my ride and subsequent recovery were quite satisfactory. I usually GPS the rides, but considering this one took several hours including coffee stops, my battery died.

Um. Anything I’m forgetting… well, have a look here to enjoy some SA parody music. The very short guy works with me. Trent and Caryn are heading back to SA in November for a jol – looking forward to touring Chappies; my aunt from NZ is heading in to celebrate my Gran’s 90th; we’ve got a mammoth Sushibonanza planned – lots to look forward to! Kids are fantastic, wife is fantastic, life is pretty darn good.

PS: Except for my poor helicopter. Dust is thick. Will DEFINITELY be taking it to our New Year’s adventure at Peet’s se Plek, if not sooner.

Twas a short September

This is one of those posts where the text is really just to balance the appearance of having a pile of photos below. September came and went, bringing all sorts of fun, games and trips to the GP for various antibiotics, probiotics, vitamins, fizzy-tablets etc. Not without reason of course: as a family we’ve somehow been fortunate to sample just about every germ OTHER than swineflu this year, and of course that priviledge has taken quite some time and investment. So, while repaying that time on said meds, we’ve all been fairly industrious, building all manner of tables, towers and toys. Jan’s been doing art classes for a few months, and has been regularly bring back really great oil paintings – one included below.

In other significant, less tongue-in-cheek news, my mom’s been through the wringer, having been diagnosed with breast cancer late August. All very sudden, and now a mastectomy later, she’s undergoing a 6-month course of chemo, with some radiation planned for dessert. My folks are both coping very admirably with the stresses and pressures it’s added – not least a lot of travelling to and from hospitals, and so far so (mostly) good. Hope to report some more positive news in a few months time, but for now things aren’t going badly.