Day of Reconciliation

We took a nice walk up Tygerberg Hills today. Its quite dry here this time of year, so not my favourite time to go up the hill. It was rather hot, but there was a very nice breeze, so it was quite pleasant. There was another reason we walked up today though. In honor of the Day of Reconciliation the cannon at the top of the hill was fired at noon. Twice.

They did a demonstration of how it was loaded and fired during old times, everything except for the cannon ball. My husband was disappointed and said it would be fine if they just aim it at our neighbours' house......and then DON'T MISS!! They didn't budge...

The first blast was quite strong and hit me in the chest. My left ear was half deaf for a little while after the blast, and there was a 'zing' in my ears for quite a while afterwards! During the second blast I decided to put my finger in my left ear. Right hand had to hold the camera :D

Let me introduce you.....

..to the noisiest member of the family. This is Emily.

My middle child (lets call her Miss Stubborn) has always wanted a Basset Hound - and I mean always. Basically since she could talk. Circumstances did not allow for it though. But since she turned 13 this year, we decided its now or never. So earlier this year we got a Basset pup.

From a batch of mostly black and brown pups, we chose her since she was different - mostly white with some brown only on the face and ears. And brown freckles. The older she becomes though, the more freckles she gets!



She has the most amazing personality, and is probably the most lovable dog we've ever had. And so cuddly! Unfortunately she's also the stinkiest dog we've ever had, and just loves getting dirty! Love her to bits though :)

Out of the blue, today, I suddenly remembered: oh yeah....I have a blog!

So decided to visit. My first thought was 'how boring', and then changed the title, theme template, boring old picture.....and deleted half the boring old posts too (almost deleted the whole damn lot!). They say change is as good as a holiday.... well, I am in desperate need of a holiday!! :-D Now maybe I'll come back more often....

Priceless

One of many amusing conversations in our car:

Child #1 (14): " 'Beat It' is my favourite Michael Jackson song."
Child #2 (13): "I hate Michael Jackson."
Child #3 (9): "Who's Michael Jackson?"


UPDATE: This happened a few months before MJ passed away. Now they're all fans :-)

Quite happy to be oldschool....

My daughter recently went on an outdoor school camp for a few days. Its something I remember fondly from my own school days. Night marches were the best!

They still go on hikes like we did, but there is one big difference.... We used the stars for navigation, the sun's shadow on your wrist watch, once in a while a compass. Nowadays they use GPS!!

How things change.... Its quite amusing actually.

Hmm..

Got a letter in my mailbox yesterday addressed to someone I don't know. The address is mine though. Seeing that there was no indication where it came from, I opened it.

Turns out it was a notification that it is time for this person to renew his driver's license. And he should apply in person, because they might require an eye test and fingerprints. OK, so we'll send it back to where it came from, adding a little note that the address is wrong.

Then I notice the date of birth: 11/04/21. I doubt this person needs this notification....mmm?

I didn't know....

Came across this interesting fact today:

Thomas Edison designed a helicopter that would work with gunpowder. It ended up blowing up and also blew up his factory.

Losing faith in our teachers

Lately I find myself too often shocked by our education system, and sadly our teachers too.

My son (8) had to prepare a speech for class on Friday. After school I asked him how it went (knowing that this is not his favourite school activity). So he said it went fine, and the teacher said it was good. I thought: 'Yay!'.

Then he told me that it wasn't bad, because the teacher was talking on her cellphone while he was doing his speech, and the other kids were chatting!! He finished his speech before she was even done chatting on her phone, and then she told him: 'very good'......

I thought: WHAT?!! And how did she grade his speech?

Its bad enough that our teenagers are glued to their cellphones ALL THE DAMN TIME! And that they can't spell properly anymore, because they use sms language all the time. But teachers......in class?!

I find it completely unacceptable.