Let's try the clip AGAIN...

TUM - Week 7 - Husbands

This week's theme (Claire) was one that I really enjoyed...So often with TUM, I have noticed that a particular theme has really got me thinking and noticing things that I would not ordinarily notice...this week, made me stop and think about my life partner, and to realise how amazing he is and that although I don't always say it or show it, I know that I am one very lucky girl....but more about that later...
First up - the most intriguing photo of the week - This is Mark - or rather his hands..



Mark is my brother-in-law, so I have known him for as long as I have known Mike - a looooooong time......He is the "brother" that had the good sense to marry my favourite sister in law - See Pam, I can admit to that now that I don't have other sister in laws anymore...

Mark is tender and caring, and if ever I was in a pickle and Mike was not around to help out, I knew that Mark would somehow make a plan to help - no matter what - in the past four years, it has been a bit more difficulte cos they are so frigging far away, but I know that he would do his best to help in spirit....Pam - we did good, we did really good.  Looking forward to your post to find out the story behind the photo this week.

I have known Claire for most of my life (well, since school days, but I can not remember a time that I did not know her, so that makes it feel like she has been around my whole life)...

Her husband is Lance

What can I say about Lance...Lance is Lance - with his love of skiet 'n donder movies and his wonderful sense of humour and his habit of staying on a topic of discussion long after the conversation has moved through another four topics, and let us not forget that he is an eternal optimist and will do anything for anybody - even a total stranger...Claire, you have a wonderful man in Lance,...he is one in a million.

I love Mariette's photograph of Trev,...

Knowing that Trev is not keen on being in photos, Mariette very cleverly devised a plan to portray who he is without actually taking a full photograph of him - Well done Mariette.
Trev is probably Mike's best friend - even now, eleven years after Trev and Mariette left SA for the UK.  Mike and Trev clicked from the very first time they met and have that wonderful ability to pick up where they left off - no matter what the time in between has been..I think that of the four TUM ladies, Mariette and I are the most similair and of our husbands Mike and Trev are the most similair. 

Shew, ok, so now I have already done a whole blog post on everyone else's life partner and left my own till last.... You are just going to have to carry on reading, I am afraid, because I have left the best for last...

Mike and I have been married for 21 years, (16th Feb), and we lived together for about two years before that and knew each other about four years before that - I was just seventeen when I met him...
I know that we fell in love too quickly and it took some time for us to actually get past how much we loved each other and to actually start liking each other and becoming friends...this made for  a very intense relationship.  Now I love him more then I ever did before and he is one of my best friends, I still get heart flutter when I hear his voice and my pulse quickens when I see him...
There are so many things that I love about him, but I think at the top of the list (not necessarily in order) are, that he can make me laugh, that he knows exactly how to handle me when I am out of sorts and he understands me better then I understand myself and he accepts me totally just the way I am, faults and all...Of course, I love the fact that he is the father of my children, and I love seeing bits of him in them, I love watching the interaction betwen father and children, which is constantly shifting and changing slightly...

Mike sent this clip to me for our wedding anniversary last week

...This and a beautiful e-mail message and lovely big bunch of flowers....Do you see why I say I am a very lucky girl...

Next week our theme is CHILDREN....always interesting and fun...
See you next week.





Coming to Terms ....With Forever

Sometimes, I think that it has all been a dream, and I am going to wake up and my mom never got ill and didn't pass away....I think that the phone will ring and it will be her voice saying "Hello Girlie"....or I will turn my computer on at work and there will be an e-mail waiting for me with "HULLO, HULLO, HULLO" in the subject line - Always HULLO HULLO HULLO, and following would be a quick e-mail about something she had found amusing or touching or just something she wanted to share with me....
AND, I know that she has gone FOREVER, and there will be no more of the things mentioned above, (but my heart can still wish for it, can't it)...but GONE FOREVER, is so hard to come to terms with....

TUM - Week 6 - Arrow

Well, my blog is late once again – can I use the excuse that I was away for the weekend...

Nah, I didn’t think so...Considering that the weekend had been planned months in advance, I should (could/would) have made advance plans to get my photo and my blog done on time, but because I am me and not as organised as I would like to be – I didn’t...But the weekend away was lovely AND I completed my mile open water swim in 43 odd minutes, which was not as good as I had hoped for (I was hoping for under forty), but I finished with no major (or even minor) side effects and no injuries....Brad finished it in 34minutes, 23 seconds and Mike in 56 odd minutes, so all around a brilliant family effort – Well done to the male members of my family – I AM SUPER SUPER PROUD OF YOU BOTH...

Our theme this week was ARROW....suggested by Pam, and I could not fathom what had made her think of ARROW –I mean really but,  you just have to visit her blog and read all about it from her perspective and then her theme falls into place beautifully – I wish I had known her thought process before I took my photo – but perhaps it would not have changed anything anyway.

Claires  photo first – she said when she e-mailed it through to us all – that sometimes it is the simplest thing – and really a beautifully typical Claire photo – beautiful in it simplicity...and very elegant.

I took mine at Greenstone shopping mall in the covered parking area, on Friday afternoon...We were already "on the road" - although going past Greenstone was a detour, because Brad wanted to get some last minute stuff for his DS Nintendo that he bought for himself recently (He wanted to add "Skull Candy" earphones and get a cover for the Nintendo) - so being dutiful parents.... we went the route that meant we could stop at Greenstone on the way

The arrow on the road was not originally what I wanted - I wanted to take the green flashing arrow light at a robot which indicates that you have right of way to turn (or if it is a solid red arrow - it means that you can turn when the road is clear - you don't have to wait for the robot to turn green) - but I did not get that far...

Mariette’s is also a direction arrow on the road....I did not open her picture until I had chosen mine for this week, although I did have a straight arrow as well...so although our the photos are similar... they are different...

Pam says - "I just liked this one, even though I had to stand in the middle of a busy intersection with my unruly dog trying to operate my iPhone wearing clunky gloves.  Touch screens don't work with gloves on - you South Africans wouldn't know that, but they don't.  And I nearly dropped my phone in the puddle trying to prove it."

Imagining the scene made me giggle....but I must admit, I empathise, As far as I am concerned, you can keep touch scrren phones (or drop them in a puddle) - Mike has one and every single time I use it, I manage to disconnect the call - with my hair grrrrr....

Anyway, my post for this week is nearly done - except for two things...

1st - Claire - What was your shape from last week - Unfair that you have kept us in suspense for over a week...???

2nd - Our theme next week is a lovely one - those men (and each of us only has one - much as we love them, I think one of them is enough), who support us ladies (often in the back ground and taken for granted...), I know that without mine, I would be totally lost, it would be like living in a vacum, without arms and legs....
That's it for now
Lots of love

Team Up Monday - Week 5 - Shapes

I am finding it hard to believe that we have been doing TUM for five weeks already - since we started at the beginning of 2012 (or just after), does that mean that this NEW YEAR is already over five weeks old....If it was a baby, it would be nearly time for six week check up and vaccinations.... ;-)
Pam sent her picture early this week because they are excited - their first eggs...

It is so funny - I can not remember ever collecting eggs, or even seeing newly laid eggs in straw like this - but I must have done it at some stage, cos my nose remembered, as soon as I saw this picture, I could smell the straw, kind of hot and sweat, and I could smell the chickens - a feathery smell and a warm musty smell all mixed up ..... Amazing our senses are all interlinked and an image can conjure up a smell and a sound can conjure an image etc...
I love the feather - very pretty, and overall a lovely, homely, happy picture...

Claire's photo has me guessing....she says that

"if you have no idea what the shape is then you will have to check on the blogpost.

NOT at all what I intended but here goes!"

Guess I will be checking her blogspot...

Well done to you is you manage to guess what Shape it is - I have absolutely no idea...

Mariette's picture is of her dream catcher that hangs in her bedroom - I love the softness of this picture - and wonderful to see that you  are having fun with black and white - Sweet Dreams....

I stayed in the bedroom with my picture - I took a picture of the shapes of my BEAUTIFUL bedroom curtain tie backs - my heart flutters with delight every time I see them - And, yes I know it is an absolute sin that they are not hanging up yet {SHHHHH - Christa and Bev  - No comment please... :-) }...

It was a lovely theme this week....It is amazing that when you open your eyes (Thank you TUT/TUM) and start noticing things that you see shapes in just about everything and everwhere.....

Do I need to explain these shapes - I see them everyday when I am training in the gym pool....Ok enough of that now - I am sure you are all totally bored by this topic - by this time next week, the big M race is all over - and I won't mention it again - OH - except to tell you our results - if you want me to?????

That's it from me this week - next week's theme points in a different direction-Pam's choice of ARROW....

Lots of love...

Blog Your Heart - Jan 2012

OK - here I am with my promised blog your heart post - a little bit late, But I do hope it will be worth the wait...
Last week, for my TUM post - I mentioned that I would be swimming in the Midmar Mile next weekend...and that Kayla-Fern had participated in her first show jumping event - and it got me thinking about LIFE....
Having already competed in the previous two years Midmar, I kind of know how it goes....
At the start, there is lots of splashing and enthusiastic kicking...and sometimes I have been kicked and sometimes I have kicked someone else...It is all part of the fun - Also with all the splashing and excitement, I always swallow some water and then take a breath to cough out the swallowed water - AND swallow some more water....Once the race gets underway, everyone settles down, and I kind of find my own space in the water...it is a feeling of peace and contentment ...and lonleyness - it is the wierdest thing, surrounded by many other swimmers and lifeguards along the side of the channel that we swim in and specatators watching from the beginning and people standing and cheering at the finish, and I start to feel lonley.  I think I feel lonley, because, I am the only one who can actually finish this race....Yes, there are people there (Lifeguards) who will haul me out of the water for my own safety, but to actually finish the race, I can rely on myself and myself ONLY....
I compare my swimming race (and any other event can be the same) to life...the training that I have put in are my life skills (schooling, education, work experience etc).
My swimming training partner, is the most important people in my life (parents and husband and friends and family - both past and present), the people without whom I would not be were I am today...
The other swimmers around me, are the general people in my life that I know, my work colleagues etc - past present and future...some of them in the race may say an encouraging word or two and those are my mentors and teachers in my real life.
The lifeguards are the people who have been in my life for a reason, been there to help me through a particularly rough time, these people could be the people who are really important to me, or could just be someone who was waiting on the side lines of my life to give me smile on a bad day....Whoever these people are, I am glad that I do not have to get into the water (do Life) without them.
The hard to deal with aspects of the race - tiredness, cramping, getting kicked, irrational fears (my own personal fear, is being attacked by a shark or crocodile - even when swimming in a large swimming pool) etc, are my challenges in life, and the negative people I have met in my life's journey....Just as in live, it is not the fact that those challenges are there, but how I deal with them, that makes me the person I am....
One thing that I acknowledge about my swim, in the past is that a DNF (did not finish), was unacceptable (to me), no matter what the reason - I would rather not start, then start and not finish....MMMM - I wander if I am starting to understand that in LIFE, Failure, is not the end of the world....It is something that I have to learn to deal with and try, try again....JUST KEEP SWIMMING, JUST KEEP SWIMMING....
Lots of love

TUM - Week 4 - Art

It was my theme this week - and boy, oh boy did I struggle....The thing is I can not remember what I wanted to photograph when I suggested the theme and then could think of nothing that suited the theme as well as my original idea, which has been lost somewhere in the maze if my mind's filing system...Anyway, I eventually settled and actually was quite pleased with the way my pics turned out...I was the last to send my photo through to everyone this week, but it seems I am the first to do my blog...
My photos is of artwork, hanging in our house...This particular drawing is one (of two) that I bought from some guy at a shopping mall many years ago - I think I paid about R20-00 each - when we framed them, the frames cost a lot more then the actual pictures...

Next up we have Mariette - she was the first to send her picture through this week - sent it through on Thursday, because Maxine was poorly and she was expecting a sleep deprived Thursday night and so wanted to ensure she at least got her picture through to us...Happily, her concerns were unfounded and she did have a good night's sleep and Maxine seemed on the mend on Friday - I do hope she is now 100% Mariette.  Mariette's picture is of her Banksia vase which she bought when her and Trev were in Austrailia last year...Check her blog out, to read more about her vase....

Claire says she loved the way her photo turned out - she fell in love with an antique sewing machine and loves the detail - it is very pretty...

Claire is busy updating her blog - it is looking lovely - totally different, and already I can hardly remember what the old one looked like, and I miss it - not necessarily because it is nicer then the new look, just different and I was used to "Me (Claire), finding inspiration in everyday moments", now she is "Finding Me (Claire) - Inspiration for the Soul" - slightly different but very different...and finding oneself is our true journey...
Finally, we have Pam's wonderful arty picture...

Do you see what it is???
A fun exercise...take a picure of cracks in the sidewalk, find a picture in the cracks and embellish the picture - Fun, Clever, Artsy and Creative - just like Pam..I am sure if you check Pam's blog she will tell you more about the excercise and as always, it will be wonderful.
Some of my other pics this week: -

The partner to Mr Lion - Mrs Tiger and Kids - ok, so I know that it is not a great photo in terms of lighting in fact it is probably a bad photo, but I liked the varying degrees of darkness - That to me is ART itself...I also love the picture, the cubs playing and mom's patient expression captured in a drawing....

No words needed here - also a picture bought years ago, and one that has been treasured every single day...It is almost as though the artist used our old German Shepherd (Flag) as his model..We Can not look at this picture and not be reminded of a very special, loyal and faithful friend, who is still loved and missed, every day....It is also uncanny, that Romanni who was born in the same month that Flag died, looks so similair and has so much of his charecter - always makes me wander about reincanation...

We had a busy weekend, with a 2km swim for me (Midmar is two weeks away)....followed by "mental training" for most of the members of the Midmartian teams....

Mental Training - Railway coffee (coffee with condensed milk) and scones or breakfast and talking nonsense about how we are going to manage this race....all in good fun...

For those of you who don't know, the Midmar Mile is a mile (1.6km) open water swim, in a dam, that takes place in Feb in the Natal Midlands South Africa every year....This will be my third Midmar Mile, but it is the first year that we are doing it as a team event and the first year that Bradley and Mike are swimming...

My elements for Midmar are as follows: -

1.  Decent physical training

2.  A tailing off of the physical training about a week before, with a short (about 250m) swim on the Wednesday before, just to remind myself that I can actually swim

2.  Mental Training as listed above

3.  An Appletiser a day for the week before Midmar

4.  Toast and peanut butter on the morning of the race.

If any of the above elements are missing, then I do not believe I can achieve Midmar.

Today Kayla-Fern participated in her first competitive training show...She jumped a clear round of 60cm jumps, and got called to the JUMP OFF....out of a showing of nine participants she came sixth - We are sooooo proud of her -  and she had so much fun and that is what it is all about...

Anyway, I think I have waffled enough for one week - I need to get Kayla-Fern to bed and Brad wants to use the computer and then I have some ironing to do and some other chores, so until next time...Next week's theme is SHAPES....and I still want to do a Blog you Heart - January post....ho ho ho...Lots of love  .....