Christmas that is…..
Now that the day of nought days to Christmas have gone ( ps don’t you LOVE the reading glasses on DH head ?)
and our tummies are all so full we just wanna s-l-e-e-p-
and the presents they wanted they got !
The family ( as in BOYS ONLY) drinking/boule championship game is over…. Dust won AGAIN ! he was happy. Think for next year we will have to get a trophy….
So it’s on to the new year
HAPPY PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR EVERYONE
this is what it’s all about don’t you think ?
I truly don’t know why British is bushed. Maybe it’s because she has to share everything with 3 other dogs now instead of 1.
You see, the 2 visitors are having sleepovers at the ginjanan and Popeye ( aka as Sam and Ian) . Not one or two or even three. It’s for 16 Sleeps ! The frikkin parents have gone on honeymoon and we are the kennels again. Told you this would happen. Told you.
I use the term “sleep” quite loosely actually. These dogs play bloody musical beds all night.
I am sure I overheard this the other night
“Ok Miller, it’s your turn to start.”
“No ways. I ALWAYS have to start”
“Ok…..I will….spoil sport Miller” spat Visitor #2
Resident 1 and 2 didn’t get the rules at all. They thought dark room and Popeye snoring means shhhhhh. But no! The visitors just don’t get the concept. So the game starts.
Off and on the denim overstuffed-with-left-over-material cushion. Round the bed. My side….LICK….. Ian’s side… LICK. thwack.
“Go to bed Miller,” Popeye shouts.
He skulks off pretending his feelings have been hurt thoroughly.
British tries her part in the game. Two fat paws…. hanging of f the edge of the bed. I did hear her whisper to Miller..”check this out. She can’t resist my ugly, sad face. think it’s the folds of skin that get her. Everytime”
She clings on, I (aka as Ginjanan) am feeling bad at the THWACK from Popeye a few moments earlier and I really don’t want them going home saying to their “parents’” they were horrible. They were mean. We never wanna go there again.
Hey that’s a plan actually.
This is the honorouble British having an afternoon nap…cos she plays musical beds all night. Think I am going to hang off the couch …maybe I will get her with my ugly face and folds. I can have sad eyes too .
whoohoooo its here
http://www.zoopy.com/video/gp5/steve-leigh-anne-s-wedding
In our family if you say “I PROMISE” that means you have done something, or you will do something and it can never, ever be a lie ! EVER ! It’s a family rule. If I asked my kids “you promise?” they could never ever not tell the truth. It was a great tool to have in my arsenal of motherhood.
So ! I promised to return to my blog after a very short break and here I am. I am thinking all FA-LA-LA Christmas thoughts and ideas, but many of my friends are so damn organised and they say things like “I just wrapped my last Christmas present” WHAT ???? I SCREAM….I haven’t even written a list yet.
So the thing is, I love Christmas. I don’t mean this like I love pink… or I love blue… I mean I L-O-V-E buying and wrapping and deciding and procrastinating and thinking of the things I know so-and-so would love.
Thing is though that dear daughter (as in dd) has decided SHE is the mama of the household and she just sent out a list to all of us. No conferring, no “MOM when you gonna do a list” nothing. We used to have a Christmas wish list every year stuck on the fridge by moi, now it came per email. All boring and business like, so I prettied it up with some Father Christmas’s and some presents and resent. Can’t help myself sometimes you know. She just took the reins and went. Man I hate that !
So the same stuff gets put on the list every year. Ian wants an aeroplane. Dust ALWAYS needs work and play clothes, Leigh-Anne and my requests are long and interesting. Big and small items. Fun and practical. Like courses and useful things. Socks and equipment. We offer it all !
Steve plucked up the courage this year to put a NEW plasma TV on the list. Ok so, he has officially arrived as member #5 of this family ! When you start adding GREAT ideas on the list you are in !
So, despite the fact that this HAS to be the busiest time of my year ( it ALWAYS is ! ) with function photography and then all the families that want my pound of flesh before so and so leaves town, I have booked myself on a writing course next week and I can’t wait.
Maybe then I won’t leave my blog alone, not even for ONE day ! I think it is simply time to put my feet UP ! Anyone wanna join me ?
to return to sender shortly. Just having a bit of a break for a day or 2 ( bwahhhhaaaaa like the 3 shoots I have for this week/weekend constitues a break ?)
But in the meantime I saw this on someones blog today and I thought I should share this.
PS..I can read it perfectly can you ???
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid! Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can siltl raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!
SPAEK TO YUO SOON FLOKS
XXX SAM
It is RIGHT at the end of a LONG tunnel but it is there. ( I hope it isn’t a train 
)
I am say, 1/2 way there. This project’s deadline is this weekend. I am REALLY looking forward to next week. Where I can do things like go and buy food without a mad dash. Where I can maybe start to think of Christmas. Where my only break from hard work is my well-timed gym session. Where I can start to scrap ( or think about it) I have LOADS of wedding pics I wanna scrap and a new family puppy and and and …
I am seriously considering doing a writers course which is at the beginnng of December. I haven’t quite put my name down, but every year they run a Dec one, which is intense as it is 5 days, and you get asssignments as well…. But at least it isn’t a 12 week drive there twice a week etc etc. I am ALMOST at the point where I am flicking the return booking form. Think it will be fun.
Other than that not a lot. Ok scooting off now and I can’t wait to start blogging and adding some pics and a whole load of things.
Do you ever have soooo much to do you just can’t do it ?
I have 5000 photos from 6 weeks travel to convert into jpegs and to sort through the good from the bad. To categorise. To create a design for a 120 page book that I have to still do mock-ups and get approval.
ok so I just created my to-do list. thank goodness.
But is the proverbial lull after a storm true? I think so… my legs are heavy….. my brain is dull…. my fingers unco-ordinated….. a creative thought isn’t entering the head…. can’t be funny…. can’t be clever….. I think the storm is in my head
I wonder how far I have travelled? I am going to do a map and add it up. It is miles and miles and miles around this amazing country I call home.
The people …. this country is because of the people. They are friendly and welcoming. I have been hugged so many times I can’t count. I will share my stories over time but one got me, in particular.
We were in Cape Town and we stopped at Woodstock Station. A hard living area where more often than not people live hard, drugs are prevlanet, gang life is pretty hectic here too !
I met an amazing man, full of tattoos and thought wow I would love to photograph him but to be honest was too scared to simply aim and shoot ! So I resisted. He headed over to me, walking with a lilt, looking cool, no shirt and jeans but with a look in his eyes that reassured my heart that it really didn’t need to beat quite that fast.
He told me how he had been beaten by police, how he had lived on the street since he was 8. He hadn’t seen his mother or father since then. His lip quivered as he told me all this. I wanted to hug the guy. That’s all he wanted. A mom to hug him, to let him weep, to say it’s gonna be ok, to tell him she was there, to show him how to live, to show him this was not the only way.
He said people judge him by his cover, his tattoos, man I felt I couldn’t say now “cool tatts please let me photograph you ” , there he is putting his heart on his non-existant sleeve and I do EXACTLY what he says. So I pushed down the urge and decided to listen.
I thought of my own son. The son I nurtured and loved and was oh so proud of. The same son I went to every single soccer match, the same son I fed and worked hard for to make sure he had the cricket kit and the soccer trips and the best education I could offer. The same son that still loves a hugs and kiss even though he is 6ft4. My heart bled for this guy.
He just wanted a job, he didn’t care how much it paid – even R10 – R20 a day ( $1 – $2) – but I could see what would happen though and I told him. I said you say you want a job, but would you go ? you can’t go today and then not tomorrow. People can’t have workers like that. He said he knew and he would try.
He asked me for a loose skyf (a single cigarette) and I don’t smoke so I couldn’t do that. I offered him money, a R10 ( my heart wanted to give him more, but I knew it would just buy drugs or booze) I hung on to the one end as he had the other. I said ” look me in the eyes”, tell me you are going to buy food with this. He said “I promise”, I watched him walk from my car to the hawker down the road and he bought fruit that would at least fill his tummy for the day.
You know we all feel life isn’t fair sometimes, maybe when we don’t get the job we bid for or the best car on the block or the overseas holiday. Just think again….
I get why young people have perfect abs …….
I am talking about the 20-30 year old “young people”. The thing is I have been on the road in the past 4 weeks and I have noticed my abs getting more visible. ( ok I have a good imagination and a very friendly mirror) But as I was saying, I hgave been travelling with a many young people over this time, in their own private cars.
The variety has been amazing, from 1600’s to 2l, from red to white, from new to old, from smelly to not so smelly, from capable of 180km per hour to barely getting up the hill !
But there is always one constant.
The angle of the seat !
You are just not cool with an upright seat ! oh no the more it is to 45 degreess the better. The cooler you look ! The fact that you can barely see over the steering wheel also doesn’t count. The fact that the driver has to S-T-R-E-T-C-H HIS arms to reach the steering wheel also doesn’t matter. Just thinking about it, how do they reach the cd-players controls?
I suppose it is the same logic that says they must wear pants that are too big for them and allow aout 1/2 of the undies to show and that allows the crotch to look like they still wear nappies.
Ok I’m getting old ….
