New Dimensions

  There comes a time in one’s life that you reach a milestone. When that happens you can stop and look back at what you have managed to do. Exactly fifty years ago I made a promise in the form of a wedding vow that I would love my bride until death do us part. We have both been through troubled waters that have tried to shipwreck our boat many times and have managed to weather all sorts of adversities. People wish us well with kind words and say, “Well done, congratulations.” It’s nice to hear those words because it makes one feel good. If they only knew of all the times, we had to bite the bullet, knuckle down and keep going. I remember the very first time I had to resign from work in Cape Town and move back to Johannesburg without having a new job and a wife and two kids to support because my salary couldn’t go far enough every month. Then, I got a fantastic job and managed to buy a car because I got a salary raise and back pay plus a Christmas bonus for excellent work. Imagine h

When motor vehicles end up in an accident and get written off because of extensive damage, there are parts that can still be salvaged. That is where a company that specializes in these smashed cars buys the wrecks and makes them available to mechanics that buy certain parts they need to repair cars. The parts are usually in a good condition and are sold at a fair price saving everybody money all round.  The company I am referring to in this instance is called Smashed Used Auto Parts who keep damaged cars in stock on their premises in Fairleads, Benoni, South Africa so that customers can access a very large variety of used vehicle spares from them at unbeatable prices.  Smashed Used Auto Parts was started in 2016 with one car. Since then the company has grown to include more than 2000 smashed vehicles of many brands. The company has a huge following that access their massive parts stock and therefore benefit by saving on new replacements.  To keep up with the great demand they buy more

Today I practised some more in another way. I drew another picture and coloured it in with watercolour pencils and then used some water on a brush to add water to the flower. It didn't work like I expected it to so I used coloured markers to deepen the colours some more. The idea was to see if I could eliminate the watercolour paint. That somehow improved things but the original looks better than the photographed version. So I have now added it above. Here you can read about how I started watercolour painting . Sometimes it's nice to also practise something different and completely new to you. So, I decided to see what would happen if I painted something on newsprint. I was surprised to see that one could manage to paint on newsprint and that it handles the water from the paint pretty well. The result is above.  Recently, I bought painting journals. One was cheap and the other was more expensive. To test the cheaper one first I sketched a picture and proceeded to paint with wat

 In an earlier blog post I mentioned that I would be displaying wild animals photos on my blog. I had to wait until after the weekend to be able to keep that promise. The time has arrived although the animals stayed away and I couldn't get the shots I wanted. What I did manage to get will be shown here. Some of you may know that rhinos in South Africa are being pouched for their horns and is a big moneymaking business. We are still fortunate that we can visit the Alzu Petroport in Mpumalanga. The two rhinos casually walked up to the water troughs and the calf allowed the mother to drink first and only after a while also started drinking. It looks like these majestic animals respect the hierarchy within their kind and don't just but in and drink or eat before the matriarchs or elders first get their share. I think us humans can learn from them. It looked like there was a tight bond between mother and calf because the latter remained at her side wherever they went. Inside the cen

  On  August 13, 2023 , I wrote about the safest place for me because I wanted to share a scripture that I had found that morning that spoke to my heart and circumstances. This morning I woke up to a noise on my roof. I looked at my watch and saw that it was one o'clock and it was very dark outside. Whatever climbed on my roof was moving around because I could hear that. I decided to get up and switch some lights on to let whoever or whatever was up there know I was awake. I then switched on the kettle and made myself a cup of tea. Since my sleep was disturbed and I was wide awake, I may as well have enjoyed a nice warm cuppa. Then, I decided to have a look at what was happening with my blog. I found that people from all over the world were visiting. They came from United States, United Kingdom, South Korea, South Africa, Germany, France, Ireland, Singapore, and Canada. So, I decided to write this blog post. When you are at my age with no means of protecting yourself and your wife

  The 2023 Rugby World Cup Final on Saturday 28 October was an exciting game to watch. The two best teams that made it to the final gave it their all and kept us spectators biting our nails as it looked like the game could go either way. I know that there was so much at stake because the All-blacks wanted to win so badly. Unfortunately, they made mistakes through bad judgement and received penalty after penalty.  Fortunately, the referee was very unbiased and called the game correctly according to the rules. All praise to him for his good judgement. When he needed to ask the TV judges for a decision because he wanted to make sure all the decisions were fair, it actually improved the game and to show that there were no favourites. For me that made the game more enjoyable, even when it looked like a setback for the Boks. The important thing is that the Springboks won, even if only by just one point. As a South African spectator, I learned just how committed the Springboks were when I lis

  Three years ago I asked my wife Maggie if she could make me a bag for my iPad. The iPad is too valuable to carry without some form of protection so that it doesn't get scratched or damaged. She is handy with those kinds of things. She then spent a lot of time searching the Internet for a suitable design but nothing suitable could be found. In the end she decided to ask me if we could do the design ourselves. With some adjustments and trial and error we finally got the design we wanted. Maggie then used the template we had made and she cut out the material for the bag. Once that was done we saw the bag emerging from the pieces she had prepared. We also checked that the bag was still able to house the iPad because we made sure it was a tight fit. I just took a photo of my bag which Maggie made 3 years ago so that I could add her heart to the front pocket. The bag has become quite popular and she has made some for a few clients. I use my bag every day because I put my mobile phone i