Our tents in the Magaliesberg.
Alex, Yvonne, Thomas.
Thomas checking his marshmallow is cooked - so seriously.
Yvonne and me. I'm wearing light-stick glasses - can't see the light with the flash. Funny thing was that when wearing the glasses you couldn't see anything else as the light was quite strong about the eyes.
Alex. The kids enjoyed the light-sticks.
Rita and Alex. Bernie and John in the background.
Looked after Yvonne's kids the other day, and took them to a Gogga, Reptile and Environment exhibition at Wits University. We all really enjoyed it. Lots to see. I even ate lots of fried male termites, really tasty. When raw they taste like unsalted butter, so maybe they spiced them a bit.
John and I went hiking for a day and found this nice shaped rock in the Magaliesberg along the way.
Not a lot of flora, but spectacular when found.
These Paintbrush flowers are normally found alone. This was really unusual.
Not feeling too bad; great to get out of bed after 2 days on my back.
Serious dislocation. C6 and C7 are the bottom 2 vertebrae of the neck. Now mine are joined with titanium and stainless steel.
It's hard to believe these are real instructions: (very good)
The really amazing Sparks; in Russia recently (not my photos):
Not much other news here... cold and dark early at night, very dry in the daytime, and no hiking recently due to a bad cough for a few weeks.
Snow in Jhb.
Cast of my small figure, in lead/antimony. This was using the completely wrong type of compounds for the lost wax shell. I can't wait to try the right ceramic shell materials and another metal, like tin or pewter. Lead fumes are too strong and dangerous. In the background a baboon carving from Zimbabwe; not very realistic but still very striking... I love it.
Where's the camera?
Rita amongst some old Boer War walls, in the Magaliesberg. These ones were probably to contain horses, but there's no evidence to confirm anything.
We had snow last week. An inch or so over most of Eastern and Southern Johannesburg. We had none at home but this photo shows what was still there at my work place this week at 9:00 in the morning. I've never seen overnight snow in Jhb before. There was still snow on rooves at lunchtime.
Thomas holding a real live scorpion. The big ones, like this, are not so dangerous, and are mild mannered. This was the best room at the bazaar, a nature room. Thomas impressd the presenters with his knowledge of Dung Beetles, Whirligig beetles, and lots of other insects as we see them on our hikes. Not bad for a 4 year old.
Alex looking but wouldn't hold it.
I was surprised Rita held one.
Here I am on the bungee jumping thing, trying to do a forward roll. It gets quite tiring bouncing around and 5 minutes of it is more than enough. We get pulled down by a big bloke, on the lower trampolene, and released.
Down a mine at Gold Reef City. This used to be a working mine, going down to more than 3,200 ft. (1,000 metres). Here we are at about 250 ft deep.
Here we are at the top of the Voortrekker Monument, near Pretoria. This hole in the top of the dome looks down into the main body of the building.
On top of the building, flying buttresses creating a corridor all around.
Rita's first Pizza; very professional-looking and very tasty.
I spent the day hiking with Yvonne and her kids to Castle Gorge. Here we are damming up the water in a nearby pool. Made the pool behind me 4 inches deeper, and made a nice waterfall roar when we stood up. "Do it again!" said Thomas... "..But it takes 20 minutes...!!"
Thomas and Alexandra. They walked the whole way... quite a long walk... Up 1000 ft, and across a few kilometres. We looked at Boer War building remains, insects, frogs... saw Klipspringers (buck), great swimming - not cold yet. A great day.
Richie Havens at Womad 2005, Reading, UK. I love Womad... I enjoyed Havens and though not a fan, I like my picture of him here.
These guys were easily the best group at this Womad: Les Yeux Noirs. Here the main two are playing ONE violin, quite wildly; a brilliant group. Eastern European, or French Gypsey music. I ran and bought all three available CDs as soon as their first sesssion was over, and still listen to them frequently.
Yvonne and Thomas most of the way to Dome pools. The area had burned out a few days ago. Yvonne loves hiking but can't get out as much as she'd like because of the kids, so we join her when she can, to help with Thomas and Alex.
Alex isn't much into hiking but will gladly go if Rita goes.
She loved this bum slide, I tried it once... bum got a bit sore. Alex went about 20 times .
Thomas and me: comparing our carrots as we eat them.
