Too much of a good thing

Sunday was kayaking day on the Klip rivier near Meyerton.
Kayaking involves surprisingly a lot of "admin work". The admin work for kayaking are small things that one has to do before you get your boat on the water and it is a little time consuming. The Saturday day we had to find roof rails for the car and the kayaks had to be fitted onto the rails. We also had to pack a "lunch box and snack box", beers also went into the fridge.

Sunday morning at 6o'clock we got up and it was just smiles. We met Gert and Deléne on the R21 highway. At the Klip river there was a K1 race, so we sat and watch some other people rowing. By 10o'clock we launched our boats. It was a scenic route - birds were singing and green Willow trees were hanging into the water. I think the photos are better than words.

We were paddling with the wind but the current of the river were strong and would push us downstream. The suck back of the river is also something to keep in mind, this is quite strange after a bend and you find yourself paddling in the the going direction. We stopped three times to gain our power.

As we were paddling we worked out that the route is 18km and that we will be finishing between 2 and 3o'clock the afternoon.
The route became difficult towards the end because objects like trees blocked the river and made paddling impossible. A few times we had to take our kayaks out of the river and carry it - carrying a kayak is hard work.

All the obstacles didn't make the clock stop ticking, by sunset we were still paddling. I was wet, cold, hungry, tired and I didn't feel like paddling anymore. I wanted to stop and get out, but people built their house near the river and it was dangerous. Helgard and myself had an argument and I realized that to much of a good thing is not nice anymore.

When I saw the car, I was relived that the paddling part was done.
The morning we left one car at the starting point and the other at the finishing point.
Gert and Deléne took the car at the finishing point to get the other car. Helgard and myself were left guarding with the kayaks, I was scared because it was dark and homeless persons was walking around making small fires and trying to catch the last finish of the day.

We got home at 20h30 and we started cleaning the kayaks and everything that we took with us. By 10 o'clock we finish cleaning everything and we both had a shower. As we were having a quick dinner we nearly fell asleep at the table.

Monday morning Gert phoned and told Helgard that we paddled 30km. I was very proud of myself. My sore body reminded me of the turning point where the unpleasant became really unpleasant. I used hard words by saying that I'm not going to paddle again, but I think that I will just make sure that things are better organize, so that we don't paddle that far.

More photos here

Kayak's on Vaal river

The weekend excitement started this week on Thursday already, Gert and Deléne bought two kayaks. Thursday evening Helgard and myself were invited to "test-drive" the kayaks on Rietvleidam. Gert knows Helgard very well and anything that Helgard test-drives he'll probably end up buying. Gert persuaded me with the web site that made the need for kayaks just bigger. (Don't look at the website www.canoekayak.co.za )

Thursday night after the test drive we all had dinner at Mimo's it was just "Kayak-talk".

Friday morning Helgard woke up very excited, he had decided also to buy two kayaks for us. Helgard was on his way to Germany so Gert and Deléne had to do the buying. Friday we were very exited, but we have not seen the kayak's and SMS's and phone calls regarding the Kayaks went back and forth.

Saturday was an early morning, 04h40 the alarm went off. A shower couldn't even wake me up, but at 5h30 we were awake, excited, in the car and on our way to Parys. In Parys we met Gert and Deléne. About 20km outside Parys we stop to put our kayaks in the water. Everybody was laughing and excited. We didn't really know how to put the gear on, but between jokes and laughter we figured it out.

Gert was the first one to get wet, but when Helgard fell into the water twice, Deléne and myself couldn't stop laughing.
Kayaking looks very easy, but it was difficult for me, my kayak was controlling me. Everybody was very kind and nice and gave me some pointers, but it was difficult to start using the pointers, because the water level was very low and there were a lot of rocks.

At one stage fly fisher men took their lines out of the water and said very nicely: "you go"
The day was highlighted with laughter, sore bodies but happy hearts.

Rudi helped with the logistics by picking us up late Saturday afternoon. Saturday night we spent at the Van der Westhuisen's in Potchefstroom. They were very friendly and spoiled us.

After a long day up and on the water, we went to bed just before 12 o'clock, as my head hit the pillow I fell asleep.

SPAR Women's 10km Challenge

Every year the well-known convenience store Spar organizes and sponsors a running race in certain regions. This year the Spar Ladies race for the Pretoria region was held on Saturday the 25 of August at the sporting grounds of LC de Villiers.
The race is famous among ladies, but guys in drag may also enjoy the race with the ladies.




This race was special for me because it was my first 10km under 50 minutes, but let me quickly run the race with my fingers.

Helgard and myself was both working till about 2o'clock. Helgard phoned me before 2o'oclock to wish me luck; I really appreciated it. Like normal I was a little late, so my warm-up was sprinting to the starting point. After the gun short I tried to move forward as quickly as possible, it was impossible because there were a lot of runners and walkers. I did my first kilometer in 7 minutes and 20 seconds. I realized that I had to speed up my pace if I want to finish under 50 minutes. At the 4 kilometer mark a friendly guy said "ladies your average is 5.06", I wanted to take it slower but I was doing math's in my head and I realized that I couldn't slow down. I didn't stop for water I just did maths in my head because I had a goal. At the 9km mark I saw a smiley friendly face, I realized that it was my standard 6 teachers that was running faster than me, she was the last bit of motivation that I needed to keep me going. Big was my smile when I stop my watch at 48 minutes and 38 seconds. There was nobody to take a picture but the one at the bottom will do for my memories.

Francois's 40th Birthday (Re-Run)

The weekend of 26 August was Francois re-run of his 40th birthday party. A re-run is just a nice way to say that you 41. The "age-thing" didn't stop Francois from being the "party-man"

Francios treated the group of friends for a weekend away at Mala Juba Lodge. All the guests had there own rooms with a swimming pool in the middle of all the rooms.

Saturday evening was highlighted by a game drive. Because we were a lot of people there were 2 bakkies a the Landover for the women and kids and the yellow bakkie for the guys. The trip started when we all got a "cup", the cup with your initials on it was filled with Tassenberg.

On the game drive we saw zebra's, bush bucks, kudu's ostriches and some birds. The game drive was relaxing till we got to the rhino's family. The mother walked closer to the Landrover, the baby followed the mother and soon the father was standing a meter a way from me. The Landrover couldn't move because moving would upset the family and they would get aggressive. Rachel the driver and owner of the farm know the animals, so she drove away when she taught they were calm. The yellow bakkie was still behind the laughter and wisdom of the "wise men" quickly changed to quiet when the rhino's walked closer to them. The yellow bakkie is usually the feeding vehicle. Luckily men could drive away without getting hurt/eten.

The evening a big fire was made, we all were sitting around the fire talking and drinking wine. Joleen and Francois made dinner very special by setting the table nicely and cooking good food. The chocolate fountain for dessert was a winner.

Saturday night after dinner we plaid a game called "pass the fire". A finger is dip into red Sambuca. The finger with the Sambuca is lit! With your finger alight you had to light the Sambuca finger of the person sitting on your left. Thus the flame is passed around at considerable speed in a circle. The punishment for letting the flam die is of cause to empty your cup of Sambuca. Everyone who played together had a red finger the next morning.

The night ended with friends sitting in a Jacuzzi and laughing.

Sunday morning was breakfast time, and what a breakfast!
After breakfast we all went for a walk in the bush. Francois, Roché and ___ started running and screaming "rhino's". We (only some) all did the same, because we thought that the rhino's of the previous night wanted to attack us. Luckily it was just a joke.

Sunday afternoon when everybody was saying good-bye, it was with sadness to leave, because the weekend was just to short.

More photos here and here

Francois made a very nice little video of the weekend that he showed us the next week. Wonder if it will make it onto YouTube?

We are engaged!

For a while I was planning to pop the question but was not sure when the occasion would present itself.
Thought of doing it with by birthday party but decided against it since it would be a bit too obvious and we were already celebrating. I new the anniversary of Ursula and my first meeting were coming up and it started to make more and more sense.
These days Ursula is working till 19h00 at night so I prepared dinner to be ready when she gets home. After work a quick trip to the supermarket was all that needed to be done to get all the supplies. I prepared chicken and potatoes in the oven and steamed some veggies.
Ursula arrived and I sent her to enjoy the bath with bubble bath I ran for her.

As we sat down for dinner I took the sparking wine from the fridge and reminded her that it is the anniversary of the day three years ago when we first met. It was good to remains about Taiwan and the good times we had since.
Ursula felt bad that se did not remember the date, but I told her that it is easy to remember since it is also the shortest day, and the longest night for us here in the southern hemisphere.
At the opportune moment I took her hand and told her that I have another way to remember the day, and asked her I she would like to get married…..

Ursula was caught off guard and between the laughter and the tears I was able to make out a YES.

We don’t have a ring yet and we will try and resolve a wedding date also in the near future, don’t want to drag these things out, looking forward to a good party.

We struggled to keep our mouths shut until we got permission from our parents.

The weekend I asked my dad, and before I asked he already told me he knew what I’m going to ask.
Ursula’s mom also was very happy for us and immediately gave her blessing, so it’s official now,

We are engaged!

Father's Day

The preparation for father’s day is always a day earlier. Helgard decided that he wanted to give his father a photo frame with special pictures of the family. I’m going to use the same photos to draw a family tree.

Jerry Ross with Ina-Marie

Helgard with Ursula & Leonard with Munda

Father’s day is a family day, so we spent the day with the Ross family. Munda cooked a real Sunday lunch and we were responsible for dessert.

Helgards’ dad like strawberries so strawberry cheesecake was made Saturday evening. Helgard did the shopping so I had to mix the ingredients. I always thought that cheesecake is difficult to make but “Top 500 Winning recipes” made the mixing easy. Sunday morning Helgard had to help with the gelatin and strawberries that had to be put on the cake. The cake was a little sour but looked nice, whish we took a picture.

Vasity Bakery Fish and Chips

I’m like a real fish shop owner, writing on the brown fish wrapping paper. Monday 11th July was the opening day of Varsity Bakery Fish and Chips. The shop is situated on Lynnwood road close to a well-known bakery –Varsity Bakery. Allan the shop owner of Varsity Bakery and myself are running the business together.

Business on the first day was slow but the opening party with champagne that Helgard organized after closing time made my day.

Tuesday the sales target was reached. I thought it is going to be easy to run the shop. Wednesday the third day I realized that one have to work to get sales. The what, when, how questions to get the sales up are not answered yet, but I will get there...I hope soon.

Please don’t hesitate to phone to place and order – ha-ha-ha

More photos here

Helgard turns 39

This year I decided to have a proper birthday party, since it is the last year I can say I'm in my thirties. Well you need an excuse for a party, even if it is a lame one. Ursula's mother (Ann) volunteered her house so everything was very convenient for us. Adriaan also had an excellent idea to buy outdoor speakers and we hooked it to his amplifier. We used a iTunes play list on my laptop to play music through the evening.

Wilhelm gave me advice on where to buy the sheep and how to organize the braai, he also volenteered to be the chief braaier.

The plan was to put a sheep on a braai and stand around with a beer in the hand and wait until it is done.

I realized that I'm getting old, when the younger party goers did not appreciate my music selection and started playing there own CD's,... fortunately I still like their music.

Midway through the afternoon Ursula served home baked bread, which went down very fast. By 18:30 the sheep was done and the feast started. My father asked blessing for the food but mixed it a bit up with his speech, which was quite funny in a weard way.

It was really good to see my friends together having a good time, some enjoyed it it a bit too much and paid dearly for it on Sunday. Eddy was nursing blisters on his fingers for playing with the fire. Wilhelm had a chest full of palm tree needles that was a bit uncomfortable. Ine-Marie and Munda had burnt boots. Francois had to go back home to get his cool bag....nothing funny there, but he does not drink! Why does he need a cool bag? Heidi only moved 2 meter the whole afternoon and evening. Rudolph was the self appointed shooters-mixer-chief, with tequila and wit-blits as his weapons. Kath was his victim. Mel spent Sunday in bed apparently with 24hour virus. Charmaine also had a virus on Sunday but this was a real one. Adriaan built fires that burnt till Wednesday. Gert was the photographer but I believe he is not sharing all the photos with us. Andorette joined in the spirit very enthusiastically. Eddie dropped the shooter just in time. Rudi found that it took only one and a half hours to get home with the Porsche, his pickup normally does it in two and a bit.

Compliments must go to Ursula for running around and seeing to it that the food was perfect throughout the evening. Ed saw that we were going to run out of wood and volenteered his stash, thanks Ed. Wilhelm was a star braaier, thanks for Adriaan and Ann that cleaned up when we left.

Dont know what Im going to do next year to top it, any suggestions?

More photos here

Ezemvelo Nature Reserve

In the July issue of Weg / Go! magazine the Ezemvelo Nature Reserve was discuss as the Nature Reserve of the month. The reserve is 20km gravel road outside Bronkhorstespruit. So Ezemvelo was an ideal Sunday day trip for Helgard, myself en Gert.

According to the brochure that one receives when entering the 10-000ha reserve, the reserve is naturally divided into grasslands and wetlands. We were visiting the reserve in June so the wetlands was dry, but Helgard and Gert did some birdwatching instead.

The grasslands made it easy to see Kudu’s, Waterbucks, Blesbucks, Zebra’s, Warthog, Black Wildebeest and Blue Wildebeest. We were able to take pictures of black and Blue Wildebeest to highlight the differences between the two species.

Look at the tail and main, the Black Wildebeest has a tail and main like a horse. This is something we did not know, thanks for the Weg/Go! magazine that gave us the clue.




There are varies activities to do, but we spent the day laughing and eating boerewors rolls under trees near the river.



Helgard and Gert could take some nice pictures as we were driving out and the sun was setting.



If you stay close to Pretoria visit the website www.ezemvelo.co.za and do this for a day trip.

More photos here

Tuesday Evenings

Kath contributed to this post.

Every Tuesday evening, Rudy, Gert and I head over to Helgard and Ursula'€™s for a home cooked meal and a couple of laughs. It'€™s always good company with either Ursula blushing or Rudy being so shocked that for once in his life he'€™s silent. Ursula'€™s cooking is always superb and we come away feeling sated and filled with good food, wine and friendship.