Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Thanksgiving...
Thanksgiving is around the corner. This year it will be in a great place with wonderful people and I’m looking forward to it. My plans are to share a recipe with my sister and we’ll cook the same turkey (we’ll both be cooking for large group of people)…My family and her dog will all be at her house so there’s a bit of pressure to perform…
I guess we’re only a week or so away from it. I remember it these days because it is really one of my favorite holidays and one that I’ve grown most fond of. I’ll sure miss everyone that week…
Whatever you do, don’t start feeling homesick for me. I haven’t made mention of being that.
I’ve still got to find that recipe for her...I have less than a week left…Preparing for Thanksgiving sure is difficult when you live in the southern hemisphere…
I guess we’re only a week or so away from it. I remember it these days because it is really one of my favorite holidays and one that I’ve grown most fond of. I’ll sure miss everyone that week…
Whatever you do, don’t start feeling homesick for me. I haven’t made mention of being that.
I’ve still got to find that recipe for her...I have less than a week left…Preparing for Thanksgiving sure is difficult when you live in the southern hemisphere…
Meeting a King
A lot happened in October but it is all dwarfed by this event…I still am contemplating the meeting and what took place.
Thursday, November 10, Dr. Chris Mulder walks into my office and asks, “Quincy, have you ever met a king?!” To which I reply, “…no…” He then belts out, “…Get ready, you’re going to meet one on Saturday…” I can’t really repeat what I said after that…
What do you say? I thought it was a joke…I didn’t know people met kings…And what do you do when you meet a king? After all, I’m in South Africa and the best I’ve done is shaking former President George Bush’s hand…Oh, I played Golf with Andy Edwards too…
So, I’ve met the King of the Bafokeng Tribe one of the wealthiest men in South Africa and the wealthiest tribe in South Africa. It was unfortunate Dr. Mulder couldn’t attend, and his son, the lead architect in the office (Steff Mulder) had to be at another meeting…In fact, everyone was booked but me and my compadre—Guillaume. Third stringers sent into pinch hit…yes…it was an opportunity of a lifetime…
Guillaume, featured in the ‘Rugby Fan’ post of this blog…is quite a character. We represented alright I felt. I shook the King’s hand and we took pictures. What a crazy morning…and both of us are still just astounded at the fact that we met a real life king…
Which brings me back to my point…and I still can’t believe it all. A year ago, I’m in Tucson, Arizona…living, working, carrying on…I couldn’t even have imagined in my craziest schemes (and I had some crazy ones) that I would meet a King and discuss a project at Kurland Polo … And I can only attribute it to one thing—far from my selfish and shallow ambitions…God’s sovereignty and His grace. What an exciting life to have and to know that He leads and guides me to adventures like this…despite me getting in the way sometimes.
It really sets the standard…I can’t settle for less than this kind of adventure now…
Thursday, November 10, Dr. Chris Mulder walks into my office and asks, “Quincy, have you ever met a king?!” To which I reply, “…no…” He then belts out, “…Get ready, you’re going to meet one on Saturday…” I can’t really repeat what I said after that…
What do you say? I thought it was a joke…I didn’t know people met kings…And what do you do when you meet a king? After all, I’m in South Africa and the best I’ve done is shaking former President George Bush’s hand…Oh, I played Golf with Andy Edwards too…
So, I’ve met the King of the Bafokeng Tribe one of the wealthiest men in South Africa and the wealthiest tribe in South Africa. It was unfortunate Dr. Mulder couldn’t attend, and his son, the lead architect in the office (Steff Mulder) had to be at another meeting…In fact, everyone was booked but me and my compadre—Guillaume. Third stringers sent into pinch hit…yes…it was an opportunity of a lifetime…
Guillaume, featured in the ‘Rugby Fan’ post of this blog…is quite a character. We represented alright I felt. I shook the King’s hand and we took pictures. What a crazy morning…and both of us are still just astounded at the fact that we met a real life king…
Which brings me back to my point…and I still can’t believe it all. A year ago, I’m in Tucson, Arizona…living, working, carrying on…I couldn’t even have imagined in my craziest schemes (and I had some crazy ones) that I would meet a King and discuss a project at Kurland Polo … And I can only attribute it to one thing—far from my selfish and shallow ambitions…God’s sovereignty and His grace. What an exciting life to have and to know that He leads and guides me to adventures like this…despite me getting in the way sometimes.
It really sets the standard…I can’t settle for less than this kind of adventure now…
An October Wedding
Another Beautiful Wedding
The second wedding I’ve been to in South Africa and I’m sold on it!
I’m sold on going to beautiful weddings in South Africa — the whole marriage thing I’m still a bit hesitant…
I’ve been blessed with some wonderful friends—and friends from all over. This wedding celebrated the matrimony of a Kiwi (New Zealand) and a Zimbabwean. A side note—I’ve often thought how strange everybody’s accents are in my world when really I’m the only one with the awkward accent here…Kim and Phil met in England and their relationship spans several continents and more adventure than an average lifetime…quite an inspiration.
So their wedding was up to par. The venue: a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. The show stopper: a cloud that covered the ceremony in a heavenly aura as the pastor gave his blessing. The pictures: still not enough to convey the beauty…
I’ve been to some incredible weddings in my lifetime—there really isn’t ‘better ones’ (although Ryan and Adrienne entering to Coldplay’s ‘clocks’ was the best)—however the bar seems to get raised each wedding I go to…This one set some great precedents.
The whole ‘Vegas’ option is a no-go…definitely…
The second wedding I’ve been to in South Africa and I’m sold on it!
I’m sold on going to beautiful weddings in South Africa — the whole marriage thing I’m still a bit hesitant…
I’ve been blessed with some wonderful friends—and friends from all over. This wedding celebrated the matrimony of a Kiwi (New Zealand) and a Zimbabwean. A side note—I’ve often thought how strange everybody’s accents are in my world when really I’m the only one with the awkward accent here…Kim and Phil met in England and their relationship spans several continents and more adventure than an average lifetime…quite an inspiration.
So their wedding was up to par. The venue: a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean. The show stopper: a cloud that covered the ceremony in a heavenly aura as the pastor gave his blessing. The pictures: still not enough to convey the beauty…
I’ve been to some incredible weddings in my lifetime—there really isn’t ‘better ones’ (although Ryan and Adrienne entering to Coldplay’s ‘clocks’ was the best)—however the bar seems to get raised each wedding I go to…This one set some great precedents.
The whole ‘Vegas’ option is a no-go…definitely…
Monday, November 14, 2005
September and Tides
I’ve become a man of the tides…it is a wonderful thing that as a landlocked citizen I have never really been exposed to. The saying goes, “..as constant as the tides…” and I’m still trying to figure out what that means because they aren’t really constant—at least on a daily basis. Right, they have them mapped out and I can find out what time the high tide will be tomorrow and what height it will be—but other than that—it is just a neat phenomenon…
If you arrived here and saw the lagoon at low tide, it would resemble a dried up lake—like someone pulled the plug. When the tide comes in—and I’ve done my research with a neighbor as we sat on his jetty measuring against a post—it comes in approximately 1cm every 6 minutes. That is filling a massive body of water at an incredible rate!
I sound like Bill Nye the Science Guy…
September is “supertide” month—the equinox tide is supposed to take place. This is a time when the tide is the highest (2.8 msl) and the lowest (.8 msl) with variance of 2 meters! It really happened in November but the pictures are nonetheless impressive.
The drama on the island is that all the homes are placed at 3.1 msl (mean sea level)—that is 3.1 meters…When the tide comes in it—it is only 300 mm (less than 18”) from flooding—no worries—its been designed that way…
Anything affects the tides. The moon, the planets, low barometric pressure, weather, wind…and I have no control over any of it. God is an awesome God and this universe really declares the danger, beauty, and magnitude of the systems He has set in place. They say that if the moon was just a fraction closer, the high tides would cover all the land…evolution—shmevolution…
UNBELIEVABLE...
August 20—Or mid August…
The date might be a bit off but I have pictures to prove this unbelievable event…And an incredible thing to be a part of.
I had the opportunity of “seconding” my friend Tim for the Trans Baviaans a 24 hour endurance race of nearly 160 miles! Riding a mountain bike was challenging enough as they crossed through some of South Africa’s most dynamic terrain…Chris and I had our own adventure following them in a little truck. At times the ‘support route’ was separate from our team, at other times it was the same unbelievable trails—I can’t help but repeat the word…
At one point in time we come around a hairpin turn into a ridiculous incline called M.A.C. (Mother of All Climbs)—following the tracks of several support vehicles leading the way (a few putting some dents in the undercarriage of their vehicles). I catch one of the competitors stopping for a brief rest and laughing as he realizes that the struggle is not just limited to the man powered two wheeled machines…
The race started at 10a.m. from a little country town and ended for our team at 2a.m. on the coast. Covering some bush, a couple of mountain passes, some incredible uphills and downhills—and breathtaking vistas—it was unbelievable…
I’ve got to give it to Tim, Quinn, and Monet…they really did an incredible job—and displayed so many life applicable lessons (planning, heart, perseverance, cooperation, etc…). It was great to make a friend in Chris and future Trans Baviaans partner.
The pictures only communicate 1000 words of the so many more thousand that it takes to describe the event…I think a third of those words are just the repeating of UNBELIEVABLE…
My goal: I’ve stated it on paper, on this web site, and I’ll begin training late December… August 2006 I will be starting at 10 a.m. from Uniondale and ending early the next morning in Jefferies Bay…If you see my dad or have a brief conversation with him—ask him about his planned trip to South Africa to come and ‘second’ his son…
The date might be a bit off but I have pictures to prove this unbelievable event…And an incredible thing to be a part of.
I had the opportunity of “seconding” my friend Tim for the Trans Baviaans a 24 hour endurance race of nearly 160 miles! Riding a mountain bike was challenging enough as they crossed through some of South Africa’s most dynamic terrain…Chris and I had our own adventure following them in a little truck. At times the ‘support route’ was separate from our team, at other times it was the same unbelievable trails—I can’t help but repeat the word…
At one point in time we come around a hairpin turn into a ridiculous incline called M.A.C. (Mother of All Climbs)—following the tracks of several support vehicles leading the way (a few putting some dents in the undercarriage of their vehicles). I catch one of the competitors stopping for a brief rest and laughing as he realizes that the struggle is not just limited to the man powered two wheeled machines…
The race started at 10a.m. from a little country town and ended for our team at 2a.m. on the coast. Covering some bush, a couple of mountain passes, some incredible uphills and downhills—and breathtaking vistas—it was unbelievable…
I’ve got to give it to Tim, Quinn, and Monet…they really did an incredible job—and displayed so many life applicable lessons (planning, heart, perseverance, cooperation, etc…). It was great to make a friend in Chris and future Trans Baviaans partner.
The pictures only communicate 1000 words of the so many more thousand that it takes to describe the event…I think a third of those words are just the repeating of UNBELIEVABLE…
My goal: I’ve stated it on paper, on this web site, and I’ll begin training late December… August 2006 I will be starting at 10 a.m. from Uniondale and ending early the next morning in Jefferies Bay…If you see my dad or have a brief conversation with him—ask him about his planned trip to South Africa to come and ‘second’ his son…
