First night at dusk

Annelie at the diningroom table with the sun busy setting. We cooked our first dinner on gas tonight: Lamb neck "bredie" with rice, ably complemented by a bottle of KWV Roodeberg 2002.

First Morning @ deWijnlanden

We slept in our old bed in the new house last night for the first time, after a hectic day of getting everything sorted. We woke to a new day and was greeted by the most exquisite sunrise over the Stellenbosch mountains, with the Meerlust dam right in front of us.

God's Window

We stopped at this special spot on the highveld escarpment where the hills just drop a few thousand feet to the "lowveld" below. At this specific spot one can see for miles. It is known as God's Window. I know that God does not need a "window", so the name is quite unappropriate, but the views are still magnificent. This is Annelie, Izak and his girlfriend, Mariet, at one of the outlook posts.

Early morning gamewatch

The best time to see game is early in the morning. So we tried to be in the car and on the road when the gates opened at 06h00 every morning. Nobody complained and we managed to see a good collection of game in the Kruger. Amongst others we see four of the big five (just a leopard evaded us - although we did see cheetah's on two occasions). This is a picture of the kids just before one of our early morning drives.

Manie and Magda

We stayed over with Manie and Magda in Pretoria on our way to the Kruger Park tonight. They are building the most amazing house and we stayed over in a small rental appartment that they use. As usual we had a great time eating, talking and listening to Manie's stories. Manie opened a Shiraz and we finished the evening off with a trusted Allesverloren Port.

Annelie and Sanet

We are in Bloemfontein now, visiting Annelie's parents. We met in Bloemfontein some thirty years ago, so Bloemfontein is special to us. Annelie's brother is a practising as a GP in Bloemfontein too, so we visited them on Monday night. This is Annelie with Sanet (Izak - Annelie's brother's) wife. She is recovering from quite a serious operation at the moment. We are very thankful for her fast recovery.

La Jolla

This is me and Werner (a close business associate) at a quaint seafood restaurant in San Diego.

Mango Fundamo

Could not help taking a photo of this drink - served during lunch while in meeting with potential partners in San Diego.

Atlanta Airport

When I saw this shop I could not help thinking of my oldest son, Ernst. So this photo is for him: you (and Catherine) are so special to me. You two are in my thoughts and my prayers.

Shopping is a nightmare

This is a picture of the Tygervalley shopping center close to Kaapse Draai where we now live, on a Saturday morning - an absolute nightmare. Everyone and their dog are up and busy with spending money. Everyone is totally focused on selling and buying things, not trying to solve problems. It is in this situation that I walked into this morning... thinking that services providers would like to delight me as a client, by solving my problems. I had two things that I wanted to resolve before I get on the plane for the US tomorrow: find a solution that I can lock my suitcase, but still have it accessible to US customs and get my phone to work as a modem to my laptop as it should. I got beaten badly on both accounts.

Regarding the suitcase: one sales guy told me that the only way that I can do this is to either buy a top of the range new suitcase for over R5000, or drill two holes into my still very workable Samsonite suitcase. When I asked him if some-one hasn't solved this problem in an eloquent way, he started breathing heavily while drumming with his fingers on the counter.

The phone thing was even more harrowing. I am quite technology savvy (seeing that I run a mobile phone software company), and knew that I needed a software upgrade for my Sony Ericsson K800i, but it does not help telling this to staff at Vodacom. "What is the problem, sir?", "have you checked if the phone is switched on", and "should not be a problem" were the range of advise that I got from numerous agents that was obviously insented on volume of sales and not on number of delighted customers.

In the end I had to give up, beaten into pulp. Why do people go to shopping centers? Seems more like a torture chamber to me.

The new house is ready

We had a look at the (almost) completed house just now and were very happy with what has been built. A few things still require attention and the garden is a absolute mess (considering that it was raining too). In front of the house is Jaco (the main contractor), Deon (the project manager) and Annelie.

ITN

Tonight me and Annelie attended a dinner organised by the ITN (International Transformation Network). ITN is an organisation of Christian business people with an understanding that God has called them to turn their workplace into a ministry. We were invited by Johan and Linkie (on the picture). The guest speaker was Floyd McClung who now lives in Cape Town. We enjoyed the evening very much.

The road to Stellenbosch

Started this Monday with a lot of challenges. I am sure everyone knows what Mondays can be like. Anyhow, I had to discuss a pressing problem with the chairman of my board. I was traveling to his office in Stellenbosch and mulling over the problems made me feel depressed. Then as I looked up, I saw the sun starting to peek through the dark, heavy rain clouds. (The picture does not do justice to the bright rays of the sun.) It helped me to see things in a new perspective and to look more on the bright side of life. I guess one forgets that we have a lot of control over our own disposition.