11 December

December 11 is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years). On this day quite a few historical events took place, it has more births of influential people than other days, fewer deaths and even has a few holidays celebrated around the world.

For you this might be a great day to remember, some might even not want to know it’s this day and for some it’s simply just another day. For me, well this is a VERY special one. The day my life changed for the good, the day I became an adult. It marks the day I met her.

This is the one who stole my heart…. Forever! Yes, she is my soul mate. She is my beautiful princess; she’s a little rock of strength, a big bundle of joy and laughter. My favourite favourite! Without her I am like a ship without a anchor. She’s my little runner with the two step sprint, a role model who will take on the world. She is my partner in this journey of life. I hope to grow very old with her.

This day will always be a reminder of how lucky I am. Thank you Lord for that!

silently

Silently moving through
the house quietly
loving
softly looking at the sliver-moon
gently taking care of things
resigned duty
fragile totally
in
sync
with
you


Maria

eat pray love

eat * pray * love

That is all I do
and I think that is enough

eat at Moyo ( Stellenbosch )

Chris face-paint

love

Winter came down to our home one night

Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,

And we, we were children once again.

~Bill Morgan, Jr.

i found this on a beautiful website/ blog named Wildflower

This lady is a gifted photographer. (credit to her for the photo of the two-horses)

more eating at Lagoon Beach Hotel

"There is a magic in that little world, home;

it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues

never known beyond its hallowed limits."

-Robert Southey

eat eat eat eat ( and be merry)

The theme of the week is most certainly : Food.
Restaurant food
deli food
buffet style
gourmet style...
home made...
food as nourishment
food as celebration
food as gift
food as bonding
food as comfort
food as sharing and caring






Saturday-night Spier- Moyo
Tuesday-evening: Krugman's V & A Waterfront
Wednesday: Lagoon Beach hotel
Thursday: Eden on the bay- Blouberg Moyo
Saturday: packed picnic at Elgin -dam

Maria

Mags & Me ... could just as well have been Magic & Masterful.

Sunday Sadness is conspicuously missing...
It wafted upwards with the afternoon braai-smoke and the crisp December-breeze swiftly took it away.

I'm filled with music and memories of a great weekend. Friday's
stage production of "Tuesdays with Morrie" is keeping the "Carpe Diem" theme alive...
Saturday's "taking it easy and smelling the flowers" paid off...
I felt relaxed and I was mentally filling up ( or emptying?) in preparation for the work-week ahead.

My run Saturday-afternoon helped too. It created capacity for the Computacenter-year end dinner at Spier.

This day was more of "smelling the flowers " (lying in bed until a shameful hour and reading)
I finished my book ( rather a guide - to-life ) on Boundaries.

14h husband started the fire and we had the best-man over to join us for a late lunch...
followed by Ronel popping in with promises of a Christmas tree waiting for me at Lourensford.... followed by a bit of cleaning and house-keeping and arm wrestling for a turn at the computer.

And to get into the Christmas spirit... my little Nunu
( I've named him Noël ) has been looking after our tree.
I've found a pic of Noël being the "black sheep" of the group before I claimed him and rescued him from the pressure of conformity. ( Look at how pale his brothers and sisters are ) He must have felt terribly odd. It is brave to be different. And tiring.

Here Noël is happy and free on Ronel's front lawn. He likes to be the center of attention.


Thanks Yolandé for the branch-contribution, I'm playing with more ideas.
Biggest thanks however goes to Chris for rigging it up, strapping them together, potting it and decorating it.

Look how stunning.

pretty Pretty!

and with those happy-images, I am inspired to write to you about Mags & Me.

It all started ( as Margaretha Steyn's blog explains ) with two adults (beautifully gifted with a fine sense of the magical and healthy dosis precision)
decided that what they like most to do: is play.
I can relate to that.

Mags ( reference to founder, Margaretha Steyn ) and me (University-friend- Yolandé Malan ) have birthed this magical land of stuffed, hand-made toys.
Each toy has a name and a story.
You fall in love with each one.
(some pics taken during a recent boutique-market-place in Somerset-West. Hathersage farm.)


beautiful stall ladies !!

look at the little collection of birds... two flew home with me...

below is "langbeen leen" showing off...

pretty stalls all around Hathersage


the other tents contained little gems too...

some of these paper-Christmas decorations also settled on my tree...

speaking of the little winged-darlings...

A verbal art like poetry is reflective; it stops to think. Music is immediate, it goes on to become. Auden.

music. ... magic.. .. mystifying

I saw Harry Potter recently and the score is beautiful and terrifying. My favourite character must be Dobbie.. . .
his little crooked knees and scrawny arms and those big shoes of his... makes my heart melt.



go and see the "Deathly Hallows"

then another type of entertainment, but an art form which I truly admire: the live stage.
Last night we saw a stage adaptation and Afrikaans version of
"Tuesdays with Morrie" (writer: Mitch Albom)
Briliantly done by Pedro Kruger and Chris van Niekerk (as Prof Morrie Schwarts).


"He had discussion groups about dying, what it really meant, how societies had always been afraid of it without necessarily understanding it. He told his friends that if they really wanted to help him, they would treat him not with sympathy but with visits, phone calls, a sharing of their problems--the way they had always shared their problems, because Morrie had always been a wonderful listener.

For all that was happening to him, his voice was strong and inviting, and his mind was vibrating with a million thoughts. He was intent on proving that the word "dying" was not synonymous with "useless."

The New Year came and went. Although he never said it to anyone, Morrie knew this would be the last year of his life. He was using a wheelchair now, and he was fighting time to say all the things he wanted to say to all the people he loved. When a colleague at Brandeis died suddenly of a heart attack, Morrie went to his funeral. He came home depressed. "What a waste," he said. "All those people saying all those wonderful things, and Irv never got to hear any of it."

Morrie had a better idea. He made some calls. He chose a date. And on a cold Sunday afternoon, he was joined in his home by a small group of friends and family for a "living funeral."

Each of them spoke and paid tribute to my old professor. Some cried. Some laughed. One woman read a poem:

"My dear and loving cousin ...Your ageless heart as you move through time, layer on layer,

tender sequoia ..."

Morrie cried and laughed with them. And all the heartfelt things we never get to say to those we love, Morrie said that day. His "living funeral" was a success.

Only Morrie wasn't dead yet. In fact, the most unusual part of his life was about to unfold."

Thanks Amelia for arranging this. It was very special.

waarvandaan sal my hulp dan kom....






Dit klink soos 'n Bybel-vers, maar dis eintlik ek wat uitkyk na ons sekuriteit-kompleks se hek want Sanna behoort nou nou hier te wees. (07.45am)
Dit laat my dink aan die konsep van hulp.
Mens hoor baie "ek het nie hulp nodig nie".

Nou ja, ek het.

Ek het vir Sanna nodig om orde te bring in my huis, ek het kursusse nodig om my te help om 'n beter mens (werker, leier, vrou, vriendin, suster) te wees.

So 'n wonderlike voorreg om dus vandag te kan uitsien
na "strong foundation" se kursus getiteld: Fostering Trust in teams

aanbieder Lizel Stephan.

Trust is the one thing that changes everything. Jack Welch said, when asked about a definition for "trust", You'll know when you feel it.
So, how does it feel?

when I trust someone, I feel safe with that person. I feel no fear that judgement will be passed, I feel that the confidentiality is in tact and I feel that who they are (their integrity, their congruency) provides me with the necessary firmness to share.
That is when the conversation flows. It is an open channel and often there are few interactions so intimate than true sharing/ trusting.


The course started off by highlighting the global trust challenge.
Mahatma Gandhi said "The moment there is suspicion about a person's motive, everything he does becomes tainted."

One out of every 2 marriages end in divorce and people have little trust in the media and less in the politicians.
David Halpern did a survey about the deterioration of trust in England.
1960's people's trust in society /each other was 60% and today 29%. So we live and operate on a societal foundation of mistrust.
It is impossible to trust anybody if I do not trust myself
The only area or point of control is self-trust.
but that is important as self trust spreads to relationship-trust, which ripples out to organisational trust.
Trust has to do with acting the way I feel and being congruent.
Trust is making people feel that my intentions are clear and understood.
Trust is doing what I say I'll do.
if I say I want to lose weight then I cannot order sweet-things time and again. I'm breaking my trust in myself and I'm not setting a good track record for those around me.

If I say : I'll get back to you ( and I don't ) then I am proving in some small way that I am untrustworthy. Small things stakc up and little cations constitute your day (then your week and then your life)

So I was thinking about the ways in which I break down the trust people have in me.
I realised that it is very important to say no , rather than maybe.
I realised how important it is to say" I'm not sure, please provide me with more info before I can give you a commitment now"


What a valuable day ful of learning for me.




so: my hulp kom van verskeie bronne.
Van huis-hulp tot intellektuele hulp (kursusse) en natuurlik die inspirarende voorbeeld wat die belangrike siele in my lewe my bied...(lewe)
Dit is dalk die grootste hulp: hul vaste voorbeeld en aanmoediging.

World aids day 2010

I don't know what to make of the fact that the 3rd largest merger in SA-commerce history also falls on World Aids day.

Hopefully the MMI- holdings future will be.... mmm......long and... healthy?
that's rude
I know
I apologise.

anyway- December's dawn is always a special time for me.
The sweet smell of holiday and spring flowers and sunshine food is so alluring and it all orchestrates to make me so happy.
A deep kind of happy, the type that Christmas can bring.

The day transpired as an adrenalin rush of note. I pushed to get presentations done and then before I could worry about it: 18h and I had to get dressed for the annual Metropolitan 10 km race.

There is a type of sports/fitness challenge (voluntary) program at work run by Wayne do Rego, Kelvin Massingham and Paul Turner. Sweat-oozers.
So our team of 4 ladies was called: Swoozer-Sweethearts
Team: Marilize van Niekerk, Inge Aucamp, Jann Penfold, Maria Swanepoel.

me 63 minutes and I haGreat race, great weather (cool air without humidity)
Jann did great:55 minutes
Inge 59 minutes
I'vve yet to get Marilize's time.

This is the toughest (most hilly!) road race in the Cape Metropolis and truly a challenge!

Great fun
Great girls
Great spirit


Closed my eyes that night; a happy champion.