Damian's Graduation - Then and Now

So last night it was Damian's Graduation / Prize Giving from his school.  This is the last year that he will be in this school, and from next year he will be in a main-stream school (probably The Settlers' High School, but I'm not 100% sure yet).  It was a very emotional evening, as this group of Grade 9s has been together for many years, and they're all leaving and going their separate ways.  Damian himself has been in this school since 2006.  This school has been absolutely fantastic for him, and helped shape him into the WONDERFUL young man he is today.  I also absolutely adore his entire group of friends - they are wonderful young men themselves, each and every one of them.

The prizes they handed out were very cute, funny, and particular to each child.  They handed out prizes like "Most Improved in Afrikaans" for example.  For each prize, the parents clapped.  But when Damian's prize came, the entire audience went "Awwwww".  He got The Good Heart Award.

Then they started handing out "Mr..." prizes, as jokes, and I honestly thought Damian would get Mr Chatterbox, Mr Daydreamer, and possibly Mr Query (for asking all sorts of strange questions).  Instead, he got Mr Happy.

What a wonderful legacy he's left at the school - a happy, healthy, good-hearted young man.  I am so proud of him.

I went through my albums and found his Graduation pictures from 2002, just to see the difference between then and now:

Then:

Damian receiving his award from the principal, 2002.

Now:

Damian receiving his award from the principal, 2012.

What a beautiful young man I have.  I am so proud of him.

I did it

A week ago I went to my hair salon, and told them I wanted a blue streak in my hair (along with the usual colour, cut and blow-dry).  Her initial reaction was shock - most everyone here has a red streak, but I don't make decisions lightly and when I do, I know what I want.  So she put a blue streak in my hair.  Only problem is, she hid it under a layer (she says she thought I wouldn't like it).  It's annoying that I have to tie my hair up, or the wind has to blow for anybody to see it, but once it was done, she agreed that it looked good, and told me if I wanted to, I could come in and she would do another, top, layer blue for me for free.

Here it is:

Having it this way has its advantages, in that if I have to meet a client, I look "normal"...  what do you think?  Have the top layer done too?

I don't get it...

A couple of things this week has just gotten me absolutely confounded, and I don't mind admitting, I don't get it.  Maybe I'm too intelligent to get it?  Maybe it's just for the dumb masses?  Or are they smarter than me, and I'm the dumb one?  Either way, I have had to Google both in order to figure out why...

The first is the "My Family" stickers that you see all over cars everywhere now.  You know the ones:

Every time I'm on the roads, and I see these stickers on a car, I wonder to myself, why?  What is the purpose of these stickers?  Is it in case of an accident, so the emergency workers know how many people should be in the car?  Eventually I made a concerted effort to remember to look it up once I was at a computer, and faithful Google showed me that it was JUST BECAUSE IT'S PRETTY.

I don't get it.  I honestly do not get it.  Why on earth would one spend money on stickers that indicate your family (and believe it or not, these stickers now include grandads, grandmas, and PETS), when the cost of food and petrol is so high?  Why on earth would one spend money on stickers that indicate your family when it is SO dangerous to let ANY stranger know ANYTHING about you?  The thoughts about the usefulness of these stickers (i.e. letting an emergency worker know how many people to care for), are obviously way above the intelligence of those who actually buy (and sell) these stickers.  No, wait, I can't say that for the sellers - they are geniuses!  I mean, c'mon.  Make pretty pictures, somehow pursuade Joe Public that they NEED them, and voila!  Instant millionaire.

The other item I just don't get either, are these "Keep Calm And..."  pictures, bookcovers, you name it.  You know the ones?

So, basically, somebody has taken the "Keep Calm and" phrase and added their own nonsense behind it (and this includes Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake)... and somehow made a fortune off this.  I mean, they have a "Best Sellers" section on their web site.  AND the pictures AREN'T EVEN PRETTY! They sell these unframed or framed as well.  I actually had to Google this as well, because I've seen a number of items with this phrase on it (and the trademark crown at the top).

Great.  Now my mind has decided to wonder what the crown means...  Damnit.  It's probably something totally obscure and meaningless as well.

Eagle Encounters - Sat, 15th Sep 2012

On Saturday, my dad, his friend Belinda, myself, Squirrel, Damian, Cobus, Sue and Vanya went to Eagle Encounters at Spier.  This is a sanctuary for birds of prey.  They take in birds of prey from all over - one of the owls they had there had been found bound in cellotape, being kicked around like a soccer ball by a bunch of boys.  When they removed the cellotape, the owl lost all his feathers, and it took about a year to get the feathers to grow back properly.  Some eagles had landed up in this sanctuary because they had been discovered being smuggled for the black market...  The stories are heart-breaking, but I am so glad the birds have a good place to go to.

The weather was amazing - in the twenties, clear and calm. We all got a bit sunburned, but it's good to finally get rid of winter's pallor.

As you walked in, there were four owls that you could pet:

 

Damian with the Black Eagle, Leo

Squirrel with the Black Eagle, Leo

Cobus with the Black Eagle, Leo

Me with the Black Eagle, Leo

Leo's wingspan - up to 1.5 meters!

Belinda with an owl

Cobus with an owl

My dad with an owl

Damian with an owl

The owls did not stay on my glove, but for some reason decided my head was a better perch!

This vulture was too strange!  He stuck his head under the fence, and just sat there for hours.

Dad, Sue and I

My family

If you want to see more pictures, please let me know and I'll add you to the Dropbox folder.

Mamre - Friday, 14 September 2012

Damian's school let out early on Friday, due to them practising for their Speech and Drama evening, so we picked him up and went straight from there to Mamre, which is past Atlantis on the west coast.  Apparently there was a flower show there, but we didn't see a single flower!  The drive was fun though, the weather was awesome, and it was really nice just to get out as a family.

We landed up in this small town in the middle of nowhere, with a small flea-market, which was the entire show!  There were maybe 10 stalls in total.  We got something to eat (you can't go to a flea-market without eating boerewors rolls), and then we got way-laid by the locals to go on their donkey cart.  That was fun.

I will post images of the cart ride later.

Crocodile Farm - 18 Aug 2012

On Saturday, 18 August 2012, my dad, Vanya, Squirrel, Damian and myself went to the Crocodile Farm in Stellenbosch.  It was the one amazingly clear, sunny, warm day between a series of cold fronts.  There was snow on the nearby mountains, and the air was crystal clear, and filled with birds singing (you will hear them in the videos).  After the tour, we ordered a crocodile pie, so we've all tasted croc now.  I can honestly say I don't enjoy the meat...

Squirrel holding a baby croc.  The croc was about a year old, and weighed between 3 and 3.5kg.

Passing the baby croc to Damian.

Damian with the baby croc.

The two babies.

There were about 750 crocodiles there - as far as the eye could see.

They are very social, lying on top of each other in the sun.

Fast asleep.

I loved their ancient design, not changed in millions of years.

The two back, webbed feet.

We went to feed the emus outside.

So ugly it's gorgeous!

Squirrel feeding the emu.

Telling her to wait - she was getting impatient.

Greedy bird!

Damian and Vanya feeding the emus.

Precision pecking!

To quote my dad:  "This tree wants nothing to do with straight!"

Skew tree.

The snow-tipped mountains in the background - see how tall Damian is to Squirrel.

Me feeding the emus.

Damian and Vanya feeding the emus.