The world's biggest Plasma

I saw this in one of the Dubai shopping centre's. Typical, Dubai style, this is supposedly the world's biggest plasma screen (103 cm). Like everything in Dubai it is a HUGE screen, but (like everything in Dubai), a little bit... strange?

Bahrain Lounge

After a productive meeting in Bahrain and waiting for my flight to Dubai, I booked into this American Express business lounge. It turned out to be one of the best that I ever visited. Beautifully laid out, with service to back it up, it had everything I needed to help me with a hectic travel schedule.

Des and the little lady

Des and Elsa had supper at de Wijnlanden with us tonight. They brought the little lady with that they are foster parents to. We had a great evening, filled with a lot of fun, but also touching on the serious elements of life.

Malvern's hairdo

Malvern's wore his hair in an "interesting" style this morning. I thought it deserved a picture. Malvern claims it is because of all the travel that we are doing at the offices lately.

Late dinner

We had a late dinner tonight at a local Italian place after a stunning wine tasting presented by Jeff Grier from Villiera. He recently bought a winefarm in the Roussillon region of France and he introduced us and a few others to what is happening in this area of France. It was a great experience. Afterwards, me and Annelie had a to find a place to eat.

Dinner with Ernst and Catherine

Ernst and Catherine visited for dinner tonight. Annelie made a fish dish and we enjoyed it with a bottle Tortoise Hill Rosé. We chatted and watch a DVD together. We are so blessed to have our children close by and for them to spend time with us.

Bordeaux wine tasting

We attended a great wine-tasting event organised by Doreen and Nico (picture) tonight. We had to identify five different red wine cultivars that we tasted blind. Afterwards we tasted a blend produced from the individual wines. I was proud of myself that I could identify all the wines successfully.

Breakfast in Bloemfontein

Annelie launched her poetry book in Bloemfontein this week. I arranged my travel in such a way to join her there. It was a big celebration and she is thankful that it is now done.

We also spent some time with her parents and met Izak (Annelie's brother and my brother-in-law) and his family for breakfast on Sunday. As is usual, I started the day off in a healthy way: Muesli, fruit and a muffin.

Wimbledon Centre Court

I arranged for Annelie to join me in London for the weekend. She always wanted to see Wimbledon live. I was not sure that we would be able to find tickets for the Ladies Final on Saterday, but I prayed a lot. Then on Friday night, I found two tickets on the web for Centre Court in the front row! We sat right next to the entry point for the players. We could touch the players and officials as they walked onto court. For me this was (once again) a sign of how powerful my God is. I was just amazed at how He listen to prayers.

A great wine in a great hotel

My German business partner booked us into this great old hotel in the middle of Wiesbaden, the Schwarzer Bock Hotel (supposedly the oldest hotel in Germany, having been founded in 1486. Read more here). I really enjoyed the style, coupled with excellent service. Because it was so hot, we had a simple meal in the courtyard. I selected the Josephshofer Kabinett Riesling 2006 to accompany the meal. Turned out to be one of the best Rieslings that I ever had.

London on a clear day

We met some of our business associates at this restaurant overlooking the Thames on a beautiful day. We spoke about all of the issues and developed a good plan going forward while sipping a beer. London can be stunning too.

Sunday Lunch at de Wijnlanden

Before I left for London, me and Annelie had an amazing lunch on the veranda at de Wijnlanden. We had steak and vegetables with a good Neetlingshof 1995 Pinotage. As I looked at the mountains and a perfect weather with Annelie next to me, I knew again how blessed I am.

Dirk's old wines

We helped Dirk test some of his older wines. He was not sure if some of the older wines in his cellar was still Okay, so we and a couple of friends spend the evening trying some of them out. Turns out that some have been left to age for too long, but others (like for instance the Laborie Estate 1986) were still in excellent condition.

A Fundamo Development Team

This is a picture of one of the Fundamo Development Teams celebrating after the release of and important milestone on one of our projects. I thought that this is such a beautiful picture that I wanted to post it on my personal blog. But this is also special because I work with each of these individuals in some capacity or other. We are busy with such exciting things and it gives me a lot of pride to see them excell.

Our children

Just before Izak left for Pretoria again, I took this photo of the kids in the kitchen at de Wijnlanden. Ernst doing so well at his work with responsibilities way beyond what one could expect of someone of his age, Izak growing in a new career with complex engineering challenges, Mariet just having been nominated as one of the top architectural students in the country and Catherine stepping into a marketing job with grace that people with twice her experience would battle to do. In addition they radiate love for each other and most important for their Creator. We are indeed blessed.

Annelie's birthday dinner

We celebrated Annelie's birthday with close friends at one of our favorite restaurants; Pomegranate. We enjoyed the wonderful food and the company of close friends. After Quintes asked for grace on this special occasion, he asked every-one present to say something about Annelie and what she means to us. I realised how fortunate I am to be sharing my life with this special person. I thanked God for his grace and blessings that he bestow on us.

Izak in Cape Town

Izak is visiting from Pretoria. He flew in last weekend and will be returning on Sunday. In this picture, one can see how happy we are to have him at home for a short while.

Boekenhoutskloof tasting

We had the most amazing winetasting tonight at Boekenhoutskloof presented by South African winemaker of the year for 2007: Marc Kent. This was an exceptional winetasting for a number of reasons: We were able to taste all of the Semillon's made on the estate since the first vintage (1995), we were the first group in the world that tasted the new flagship wine (yet to be released) - the Journeyman 2005, we finished the evening with a dinner prepared by one of the chefs from Reuben's (voted the best restaurant in South Africa last year). But more important, this was just so special because we could experience this with longstanding friends. Even through all of this "Whao!"- experiences, what made tonight worthwhile was to experience the warmth of friendship.

First draft of Boksemdais

The first draft of the book that Annelie will be publishing some of her poems was received on Sunday. We hosted a number of her co-authors at deWijnlanden to talk and celebrate. This is Annelie, with Andre, Antionette and Marriaan, with the first drafts.

The mountains behind Hawston and Father's day

I cycled up the mountains behind Hawston today. It was a crisp and cold day and the road up the mountain was steep and sometimes difficult to navigate, but the view was so spectacular that it was worth it. Ernst and Catherine joined us at the house at Meerenbosch (right at the mouth of the river into the ocean in the middle of the picture) later in the day. We watched rugby together, cooked meat on an open fire and just talked. I was specially blessed when they gave me a wonderful card on father's-day. It was really special to hear that they value me as their father, notwithstanding all my shortcomings.