NB All the events following are AD
and I have not included any events BC! AD --after Durban BC--before Canada
The Russians are getting 11000 North Korean troops around Nov 1 ---at the current rate of attrition they should last about ten days??
21/4/2025 I am now getting the latest figures from Ukrainian news. Ukraine and World news. Today’s latest from Ukraine and around the world Ukrainian News (ukranews.com)
Apart from massive personnel losses It would appear with the latest happenings that this is going to escalate into a larger confrontation
that anyone was expecting, lets pray it does not! Going on at this rate Russia's casualties would be a million in three month's time??
Ukraine has caused (taken from the internet so not necessarily 100% correct!) 941,770 Russian military deaths plus casualties according to Ukraine Ministry of Defence 670 yesterday.
10,679 Tanks
45,324 Trucks tankers and automobile equipment
22,270 Armoured combat vehicles
370 planes
335 helicopters
26,659 artillery units
1368 mars mobile rocket systems
1139 anti aircraft systems
Unmanned aerial drones 33,176
3148 Cruise Missiles
28 ships/ boats destroyed or damaged
1 Submarine
3859 special units
Estimated Value of Russian tanks destroyed or captured
+- 42,716 billion @ $ US 4,0 million each.
20/3/2025 Well it did not, and the Israelies are bombing the hell out of Gaza once again!--70 Gazans killed yesterday and more than 200 the day before??
19/1/2025 At the time of the ceasefire (stage 1) nearly 47000 palistinian deaths lets see if it holds??
16/9/2024 It has now been almost a year since the massacre of 1200 Israelis and the taking of the hostages and the almost total destruction of Gaza and yet they still have not come to a peace deal and Hamas is still holding some hostages and there have been almost 31000 Palestinians killed in Gaza. It has now got to a stage where Israel's neighbours are also getting involved? When will it all end??
24/11/2023 After the massacre of of 1200 Israelis and the hostage taking of 240 naturally the Israeli defence force invaded Gaza controlled by Hamas and devastated large parts of the territory in search of the terrorists and their captives. It seems that now after a month and a half of war and lots of negotiations they are going to swap some of the hostages for prisoners of Palestinians in Israel. Today a number of prisoners were released for 14 hostages. Lets hope and pray that this could be the beginning of the end of this unnecessary saga of destruction which was initiated by Hamas!
24/8/2023 Good news Yevgeny Prigozhin Wagner chief apparently killed in a plane Crash---yahoo!
21/7/2023 If you think about it Russia is already at war with the world when you consider the withholding of food and fertiliser by bombing grain storage facilities not only in Odessa but also on farms! This war has to escalate to put a stop to Russia and Putin and no doubt will!
6/6/2023 The Russians have finally done one of the most stupid things in this war and that is to blow up the Nova Kakhovka Dam which not only has caused major flooding in Ukraine and for Russia but also could create a catastrophe in Zaporizhzhia at the largest Nuclear power station in Europe! Another war crime! They were trying to blame the Ukrainians saying they shelled it but that could never be able to cause the kind of damage that they have done and it has since been proved that the Russians did it. If the Nuclear Power plant is damaged it could cause a major problem for the whole region including parts of Russia! It would appear that the west will have to get involved here as it has already been dragged into this conflict by proxy as Russia's war is already affecting many other nations!! This whole situation could prove to be Putin's Waterloo.
What I fear is one of the major problems with this ongoing fiasco is the fact that the nuclear threat is growing daily and it appears that Putin is intent on using a tactical nuclear device of some sort which is going to change this war into a global disaster!
Putin is the embodiment of evil itself who has no respect for anyone even his own pitiful troops and people who seem to be expendable??
Thank heavens it would appear that Ukraine is now scheduled to get some F16's and Britain has also supplied them with some longer range cruise missiles lets hope they knock some sense into the Russians!
What really gets to me is that the "Brave Russian Army"?? is doing most of their fighting from a distance (IE firing missiles from the black sea.) and keeps on muttering if the West or NATO supplies arms so that Ukraine can defend itself and it states that if Ukraine dares to attack Russia it will wreak all kinds of wrath on it. It's like fighting someone who has one hand tied behind his back? Really Brave? If anything Russia is a Pariah state and it is the country that should be De-Nazified as Putin says! Especially after they signed an agreement that they would not attack Ukraine after the breakup of the soviet Union and when Ukraine handed over all its nuclear arsenal?
1994 Budapest Memorandum: An important historical agreement signed by Russia, UK and the US that gave the Ukraine security in exchange for the country giving up it's nuclear arsenal! (Note that the US and UK also signed this so they are morally obligated to assure that Ukraine is secure and so is Russia!!) So when the Russians reneged on the agreement it also ensured that the Brits and the US have an obligation to help Ukraine. This happened under the Clinton Presidency!) It just shows that the Russians can't be trusted!!
The Russian Z emblem on their vehicles and tanks appears to be nothing more than than half of a Swastika when they are purporting to De-nazify Ukraine when they are in fact the Nazi's!
14/10/2023 Last Saturday the 7th Hamas attacked Israel and slaughtered numerous Israelis and abducted a number to take as hostages and provoking the ire of Israel which at the present moment is bombing and attacking the Gaza strip vowing to eliminate Hamas and causing devastation of Gaza. Unfortunately Hamas embeds itself within the population and so the innocent suffer needlessly which is truly tragic!
25/5/2022 The Russian war with Ukraine has been carrying on now for some time which really sickens me. The thought of all this bloodshed and needless killing all to satisfy the Ego of a Mr Putin who would like to be the next Tsar of Russia! The world is sitting idly by while watching this all happen and in the meantime NATO is already factually involved! IE. All the refugees from Ukraine which number in the millions are now all in neighbouring countries such as Poland etc. I can't see this carrying on this way!
I have been keeping a track of the cost of this war to Russia which is mind boggling! (Not to mention Ukraine.) All to please one man?
The cost to the rest of the world Is also mind boggling in the sense that it is not only increasing fuel costs as well as creating famine in various countries due to the fact that Ukraine cannot sow their crops or export them and also it is creating a shortage of fertilizers all over the world. It really is a tragic situation!
Not only that but the Russians appear to be nothing more than a bunch of thieves stealing not only equipment from the shops thy have looted but also tons of wheat from the warehouses of the Ukrainians. Apparently they were selling a 100000 tons wheat they have taken from Ukraine to Syria! Their soldiers have also been raiding the homes abandoned by Ukrainians and sending the stolen goods back to Russia!
And what about their soldiers? They have so little respect for their dead that they just leave them to rot in the fields?? Apparently Ukraine has freezer trucks full of dead Russian soldiers! What a sick situation?? Talking about war crimes this war is a crime?
29/3/2022 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has now been going on for just on a month and it's about time I at least mention it. I must admit that I find it an absolutely horrifying and total waste of humanity when a nation like Russia can invade a country like Ukraine and the rest of the world just observes and criticizes without actually doing something other than just supplying some armaments!
I am certain that we could do more to help Ukraine and we should, regardless of what Putin threatens! We shall see what the future holds as we certainly have not learned anything from the past. The absolute devastation caused by Russia is unforgivable apart from the misery and death not only of Ukrainians but also the total disregard that Putin has for his own troops.
29/12/2021 Our 49th anniversary
1/12/2021 Hells bells it's already December and no further events or news! I can't believe it! We must be in some type of time warp as they sang about in the Rocky horror picture show or maybe a black hole somewhere in the proximity of the earth has slowed time so that we are not even aware of it passing--who knows-- ?? Well I suppose that I should do something about it!
One thought that has occupied my mind lately -Especially as the American courts are today challenging the abortion laws in Texas and contemplating the effect of "Roe VS Wade" which if you are not aware of it is basically the following.
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction. Now thinking about this and also the fact that in the USA today that
ANNUAL ABORTION STATISTICS
Based on available state-level data, approximately 888,000 abortions took place in the United States in 2019, up from 876,000
abortions in 2018.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 862,320 abortions took place in the United States in 2017—down from 926,240 in 2014. Guttmacher's selected annual abortion estimates for the last 20+ years are listed below:
2017 2014 2011 2008 2005 2002 2000 1996
862,320 926,240 1,060,000 1,210,000 1,210,000 1,290,000 1,310,000 1,360,000
It is estimated that 20% of all pregnancies in the USA are aborted and not only that but that it is estimated here that, as of 2008, about 28% of U.S. women ages 15-64 have had abortions. This figure has risen from 2.8% in 1973 to 11% in 1980, 19% in 1987, 24% in 1994, and 27% in 2001. In 2008, of women ages 40-55, about 40% have had abortions in their lifetimes.
In 2021, 625,978 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC from 48 reporting areas. Among 47 reporting areas with data each year during 2012–2021, in 2021, a total of 622,108 abortions were reported, the abortion rate was 11.6 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, and the abortion ratio was 204 abortions per 1,000 live births.
Now considering the fact that we think of ourselves as a supposedly moral Christian society if we take the US as an example and with statistics like that I certainly can't believe that we are the good stewards of the world that we think we are and we deserve the world which we are messing up! It's a sick world!
I know there are legitimate reasons for abortions however if you consider the fact that are things such as "Condoms", Intrauterine devices and the "morning after pill" so that just by taking a little care a lot of heartache and unwanted pregnancies don't have to occur in the first place, there is really no excuse for these numbers to be as high as they are and can basically be considered to be infanticide!
31/3/2021 Here we are another two months have gone by and we are well into the year and time has not stood still. Biden has kept his word and vaccinations in the US are going well he has hit his target and increased it! "Elon Musk" has blown up a series of star-ships and Biden has gotten a bill passed that has handed millions to the public and Covid19 is slowly being suppressed by millions of shots in the arms of Americans! What a year it's been to date!
9/1/2021 I heard on the news today that USA has had 2 million new cases of Corona virus since the new year! The legacy of an inept president!!
Happy new year! Well, here we find ourselves in the year 2021 amazing, I never thought that I would see this year! It seemed a little bit like science fiction to me but in fact it is reality? Well so much for that the year seems to have started out with a little hope for the future seeing that we now have a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus. And not only that but that we have a sane president in the United States coming up on the 20th after what seems like the most stupid thing that Trump has ever done by fomenting a riot in Washington and at the same time putting a nail in his own coffin? What an absolute buffoon!
I certainly hope and pray that this start bodes well for our precarious future!
9/12/2020 Yesterday the rollout of the first Vaccine for Covid19 took place in the UK much to Trump's chagrin no doubt. Especially as he was hoping the vaccine would be called the "Trump vaccine"? It was a good news day as far as Covid19 is concerned however! In the last five days the US has scored over a million new infections and Canada is also having a surge in cases! So much so that in Alberta we have once again been placed under lockdown!
24/11/2020
Well here we are now it is the 24th of November 2020 and over the last two weeks The USA has had more than a million Covid19 cases. Trump has allowed the Biden transition to take place and All in all the markets have reacted with positive effect except so far for the gold price! Naturally, Trump would like to take the credit for the uptick in the market however it is due to the fact that Biden was elected! I am sure that history is going to show that Donald Trump was the worst president ever for the USA! He can put that feather in his cap and live with it! I certainly wouldn't like that as my legacy?
We now have three different vaccines in the offing so let's hope that everything bodes well for the future! I certainly do hope so, as so far 2020 has been a complete disaster socially .
Marilyn and myself are getting tired of the social distancing and it would really be nice If our lives could get back to normal and we can see our grandchildren and intermingle with them as families should do. Let's hope and pray that the vaccines get to us as soon as possible so all this can take place!
11/10/2020
37,267,921 Cases and 1,073780 Death's
When I think of the Covid19 pandemic It makes me think of years back when the HIV pandemic began I tried to set up an insurance package which would cover people accidentally infected with HIV such as nurses or doctors when they are accidentally infected by pinpricks etc. I was thinking specifically of people like ambulance drivers in medical staff.
This was early in the beginning of the HIV pandemic. It was so early that the number of full blown aids cases in South Africa was only 12. I knew this because I had set up a lunch with a professor “Pudifin” at the immunology Department of the University of Natal medical school to get some more information. Even at that stage it was realized that the number of cases of aids would skyrocket because it was targeting the immune system of its victims. The New Scientist Magazine was monitoring its progress right from the beginning. As we know now our fears had manifested itself and the total # of people living with aids worldwide was around 40 million in 2019 not even counting any fatalities.
Unfortunately and not for lack of trying I wasn't successful in finding an underwriter that was prepared to under-write the cover I was proposing!
Aids as we now know was devastating in South Africa and caused lots of secondary diseases such as tuberculosis which manifested itself in people that were infected by HIV and so some deaths caused by HIV was actually registered as death caused by tuberculosis.
Now we are faced with Covid19 and it Is unbelievable that countries like America with all its scientific progress cannot get its act together in fighting this disease. I certainly do hope and pray that this coming election will correct this situation as the current administration of the country is totally inept!
1/8/2020 Wow! two months since last contribution how things have changed!
17,594,541 Cases and 679,439 Death's
The Prognosis is not good and "Presidente El Stupido" from the USA seems to be intent on turning his country into a banana Republic!!!
No more to be said?
6/6/2020 6,759,210 Death's 395,331
22/5/2020 5,106,686
Deaths 333001
Covid An increase of 1.4 Million in in 17 days
27/4/2020 3,041764 World wide
Recovered cases 893,967
Fatal cases 211,167
10/4/2020 On the 11/3/2020 the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic and to date the figures are as following
1,601,018 world wide
Active cases 1,150,328
Recovered cases 354,972
Fatal cases 95,718
With USA taking the lead at 469000 odd cases which just goes to show that the Trump or should I say chump administration is not what it seems to be. It really is time for the yanks to take control of their country which Donald Trump is determined to reduce to a third world country!
12/7/2020 The sands of time finally catches up with everyone and Marilyn is no exception! Happy 70th!
21/3/2020 Italy reported 800 Deaths yesterday and Alberta now has 226 cases and 1 death so far and Canada 1336 Cases and the cases in the USA are soaring at the moment! And about the world economy it already is in decline with stock markets taking a beating being exacerbated by the tiff between Russia and Saudi Arabia flooding the market with oil and thereby also de-stabilising business across the globe? The prognosis is not rosy?
It's already going into March 2020 And I have not yet written anything for the web page. Well I suppose it's about time that I do so here goes!
It seems that the Coronavirus or Covid-19 virus as it has been renamed is the Center Point of all the news that is going around. It seems that it's going to be a dreaded pandemic and more so than the president of the United States thinks it will be. However, it is already obvious that it's much more serious then he would comprehend as is it seems that he's intelligence is extremely limited!
The one thing that I was particularly worried about is what is going to happen when it gets into Africa as that would be potentially catastrophic. Apparently, the fatalities from this virus is about 1% and if you look at the total population of say South Africa at around 50 million. This would give a projection of around 500,000 plus souls. Apparently, the population of America is around 200 million so that would give you around two million deaths. Who knows what the future holds all we can do is hope and pray that they find a vaccine soon?
With regard to what this virus is doing to the world’s economy that is also very serious. This last week alone the stock market responded with a correction that is over the top. Who knows what is going to happen in the long run?
Here we are in 2019, I find it hard to believe that we have travelled so far into the future, some sadly did not make it but that’s life as we know it. This old world just keeps on turning and life keeps on persisting precariously sometimes or that’s what appears to be the case! Global warming seems to be here to stay even if an insightful President (Donald Trump)Pooh-Pooh’s, the idea. Well he must be right as he claims to have superior intellect and everyone else is wrong even though he is responsible for disrupting the world in no uncertain way. I don’t think I have the vocabulary to adequately describe him other than a walking talking disaster.
Over the festive period we had a wonderful time and a full house as we had some guests as well as the family for Christmas festivities. Over the Christmas season I was making some Hummus which always goes down well, which led me to thinking about the lemon that I squeezed for the Hummus was from South Africa. In other words, the rain that fell in South Africa and nourished the lemon and here I was squeezing it in Canada to make Hummus. The whole concept does not really make sense if you put it into perspective. Coming back to global warming and the burning of fossil fuels to sustain the ability to be able to squeeze a lemon in Canada just plainly seems wrong! I wonder how much oil was needed to get the lemon halfway across the world! Talk about us having to reduce the size of our footprint on the world when you think of the fact that many Canadians as well as Americans drive vehicles/trucks with a 5.7-liter engine basically to boost their ego’s or tuck into Lamb that comes from Australia and New-Zealand, Pomegranates from the US, Cheese from Europe Products from China Taiwan Etc.
The planet Cannot sustain pillaging of all our resources at the rate we are going. Apart from polluting the seas the air and for that matter our whole environment the whole picture looks dismal for the future.
So much for my rant however I am really concerned about the future of the planet and the legacy we are leaving for our future! I am rapidly getting older at about at the same rate as the planet is getting sicker-we, must all do our part to make some sort of effort to make people aware of their actions.
Marilyn gets upset when I am negative, but we must be aware and do what we can.
31/10/2019 It's that time of year again our angels getting ready for trick or treating
9/2/2019 Natalie took Part in the Hypothermic 1/2 Marathon
2018
As of today, the 13th Nov I am changing the format in that instead of adding the latest to the end of the year I will be adding it to the front so as not to have to go through to the end of the events for the year you can see it up front. Not that I do much adding lately??
As the year passes time changes and we are back into daylight saving time the sun rose this AM at 7.50 AM and will set at 4.40pm so even with daylight saving we still do not have much daylight!
So far with Global warming we have had a mild winter and as example today is going to be up to 11°C and most of the week it will be over 0°C which for Calgary is like having an Indian summer?? It is unprecedented though in that the affect In California is that they are having the worst wildfires ever?? Over 40 dead so far and more than 200 unaccounted for and possibly also dead?? It certainly makes DT’s presidency something of a disaster for the world and not just for the USA! It really is a sad state of affairs, let’s hope it ends soon! (I mean the Presidency not the world?)
Today Lance and his family are in Hawaii-- catching a wave and sitting on the top of the world as the song goes and Natalie and Mark have purchased a new home and after having spent a period here with us, they have moved in and after some settling in I am sure they are going to find much happiness in their new abode!
One of the benefits of living in Canada is that you can do things like popping over to Hawaii a little easier than when you are living in ZA. I see that they have now opened a bridge from ZA into Mozambique which will cut down the travel from Durb’s to LM quite considerably. It’s about time and a nice thought that there is “actually” some infrastructure being built. A good sign and hopefully bodes well for the future?
Old Format
It's difficult to believe that we have transitioned into another year. The actual transition has been quite uneventful as we did not really do much partying etc except for a Christmas dinner which was enjoyed by all. We also spent some time babysitting the grandkids which as grandparents is nice as we can send them home to Momma and papa when we have had enough?
lengthy update however I did write one and when I handed it to Marilyn for her in-put she felt it was to sombre as a Christmas message, so it was not sent. I must admit I do get a bit miffed at this old world as time goes by and realising that there is not much an old fart like me can do about it. We are screwing it up in every way we can however and I just hope there will be something left for the grandchildren and their kids!
Lances family had Lunch with Kazia's family as it was their turn this year.
It's already February which I find hard to believe and another of my good friends has passed away. I always remember when I
still worked for New Zealand Insurance, Lancelot Valiant Robertshaw the person who was the inspiration for Lance's name said to me that he is at the age where he no longer goes to weddings and birthdays as such only funerals! It seems as though I am at that stage of my life as my friends are popping off at regular intervals.
Rod Moore one of those special people passed away on the 30th of January on a blue moon. A blue moon is when you happen to have two full moons in the same month for those that are interested in trivia! It almost seems right that it happened on a blue moon?
We regularly used to have a beer on a Friday after work or go to church as Rod used to say the regulars were ,Dave Baxter, Rod and Willy Wiebesiek and myself and on many occasions others used to join in. They will be remembered fondly as the the good old days! I am sure Dave will miss Rod more than any of his friends as he and Rod started the weekly event which eventually ended up on a Thursday I believe.
I specifically remember one night when we were at the Westville I said that I wished I had a sign system like a LCD display in my rear window so that I could signal drivers that would sit on your tail to "F"--- off and to dim their lights! This comment led into a discussion about LCD displays for cell phones and flat screen TV's which were not as yet available. Dave mentioned that he knew that Sony was busy developing LCD displays for Cell phones and that led on to us discussing the possibility of flat screen TV's that you could hang on a wall etc. A couple of years later I walked into Visions Electronics in Calgary and there on the floor was a flat screen TV as we had speculated about a couple of years earlier. It was around forty inches across and I was blown away with the clarity.
That today is history which we foresaw coming and by today's standard that was a tiny screen notwithstanding other developments in this area. It's amazing what a couple of beers could do!!
Recently we had a huge dump of snow or should I rather say that it seemed to be the largest dump since our early arrival in Canada 1995. Fortunately we are also very blessed to have some snow angels as neighbours and they have been helping in moving the accumulation which can be an arduous task specially when you are getting on in years. The danger factor also creeps in as it is easy to slip on the ice however it is very picturesque and nice to see. The temperatures can be a bit of a challenge! And talking about a slip on the ice and a fall unfortunately Marilyn is walking around with a cast on her hand at the moments as she has done just that. Fortunately the break is not bad and will heal even though there are two bones broken on her thumb and she bruised herself in various places as a result of the unfortunate incident.
Birds don't bath here anymore
Wow it’s already July the 12th and it’s Marilyn’s birthday. Natalie & Mark decided that they wanted to do supper for Marilyn so they brought a bunch of veggies to do in the oven which was done with a little olive oil and herbs etc and served this with some lovely Lambchops grilled to perfection By mark on the barbecue and followed with a nice b/day cake which Natalie had made by a friend of hers for the occasion. All of this served on the deck outside! ---and enjoyed by all including little Mollie. Lance and Kazia and the boys are away in Invermere and having a short break for a week or so!
2017
We find ourselves here in the year of our Lord 2017 and life goes on a usual. The last couple of months have been quite event full however me being me ? I have not added even an iota of the goings on in the Gerber family and I am entirely to blame. I suppose one of the reasons I can give is that I was under the impression that I was getting old as I had absolutely no energy to do anything and used to sleep a lot and generally felt as though my batteries were flat and after having had a stroke the previous year from which I recovered fully thanks to Marilyn's efforts as well as our marvellous medical system I was in the hospital and given a clot buster via a catheter stuck in my groin right up to my brain in the theatre at foothills within about 45 minutes of the stroke and found that I had regained the ability to talk on the operating table. The first thing I said was, "I have to pee"!! and the surgeons and staff got all excited that I had recovered that quick.
According to my specialist he says this is called the Lazarus effect as people can wake up from comas etc when they do this procedure. I was lucky though as it only affected my speech and I could see and understand everything said to me and was fully aware of the goings on in the theatre the trip to the Hospital and everybody's concerns for me.
Anyway, having said all that and the fact that after that in October last year I had an operation to repair a huge aneurysm on my abdominal aorta and this was a success even though I tried hard to dislodge the stents they used by taking a fall and breaking two ribs in the process. Fortunately, the stents reset themselves so I did not have to have another op to reset them. Once again the operation for the stents was done through two keyholes in both sides of my groin. (the marvels of modern surgery) I suppose if I need a tonsillectomy they will do it through my rectum??
As a result of the stroke and the brain MRI that I had they also found that my Pituitary was enlarged and because of this they gave me two follow up MRI's which established that it seems stable and has not enlarged any further however they were worried that it could affect my vision as the pituitary sits above the optic nerve and can cause all kinds of visual problems etc. The last thing they did which is probably the cause of me writing this is that they did further tests and found that my Pituitary does not function properly so as a result of that they are stimulating it and also put me on thyroid medication and so Walla my battery has been recharged and I feel like a new man. The actual enlargement is caused by a tumour called an Adenoma which luckily is benign however it is giving off Growth Hormone which means I am still growing at my age and its causing a condition called Acromegaly or Gigantism.
What a difference! I have only been on this for over a week and have improved 500%. I will no longer bore you my talking about myself, Marilyn also had her problems as she fell down the last couple of stairs on the 10th of January and broke her arm, so she was in a sling for about six weeks and now that it has healed she has to do physio to get all the muscles functioning again. So I could help her a little by doing some chores etc.
In so far as the year is proceeding last week on the 20th which happens to be the 1st day of spring in Calgary even though there is still snow all over the place here I looked out of the window and outside in the apple tree (which is still bare) was a flock of Red Robins still with their suitcases and all as they must have arrived virtually overnight?? Incredibly on time they must have all have synchronised watches. They arrive in a bunch and over a period of about a month decide which patch of turf is going to be theirs as they normally pair up and thereafter you see them in pairs. Going outside you could also hear the sound of a black capped Chickadee calling for a mate and according to the ornithological books they define the call as Phee-bee which is exactly what it sounds like. The chickadees don't migrate and stay over for winter and it is a wonder as they are a truly small bird and you would think that they could not handle the cold as it could go down to minus 42°C in winter although that is only when it's severely cold. Yesterday I saw the first seagulls back also the crows and ravens have returned so it would seem that we are going to have an early summer.
Lance and Kazia decided at the end of last year they did not like their new house and decided to sell up and bought an older house closer Kazia's parents and closer to the City so that Kazia would not have to spend an extra 20mins on the freeway everyday when she goes to work and again on the way home. After some major renovations this has proved to be a really nice place with a lot more room for the boys. You can swing the proverbial cat!
On the Natalie front there has also many changes as she has moved her studio to new premises and is doing art (Printing Classes) there and even though she has just moved in it seems to be quite successful. Naturally Mollie-Mae is also keeping her and Mark very busy.
10/04/2017 On the political front as everyone knows Donald Chump is the new American President and he certainly is making a mess of it in my humble opinion. I never did fancy him as a person and never mind as a President-- it makes you wonder about the US as a nation? And now that he has bombed Syria without even consulting Congress (which is apparently illegal) who knows where this is leading. He seems Hell bent on fomenting a nuclear war! All this to satisfy his bloated ego? The Americans with all their self-righteousness seem to have elected (if you could call their vote a popular vote as only about 35% of the population actually bothered to vote) a pathetic man as their president and seem to be following his notions without even blinking an eye? The proverbial blind leading the blind?
And now with him sending a flotilla towards North Korea it seems as though he wants to stoke the fire with North Korea as well- interesting times?
We had Easter dinner with Natalie and Mark and they prepared some tasty Chicken Tandoori with Dhal. They also invited our friends a family from Durban Sureshan and Sagree Moodly!
24/7/2017 Lance is at the moment in Japan as he has gone over to train Karate-Judo who knows I can't keep up with the latest but it has been one of his dreams. Kazia spent the last week down in the US with the boys.
29/8/2017 Sept is just around the corner and August has just about come to an end and many things have transpired. The leaves are starting to turn and fall is about to arrive which seems a little early but as we have had a bit of a drought the trees are feeling the pinch and starting to drop leaves early. The coming of fall and the turning of the leaves are normally related to the amount of sunlight they get in the day so if the trees are near a light source (say a shopping centre with lots of lights) they tend to stay green a little longer but due to the stress of not much rain they are turning.
Not so in Houston as they are suffering with unprecedented flooding and of course Donald Trump is trying to use this to save his catastrophic presidency. Pride cometh before the fall as the old saying goes well in this case it's not just pride but also shear arrogance laced with a blatant disregard for anyone other than the Trump and some built in racism to boot. (Asshole comes to mind but in this case he is nothing but a very large haemorrhoid.)
I find it difficult to understand that the American public or Congress has put up with him for this (very short) but feels like a long time are they waiting for him to start a nuclear war? Certainly between him and Kim Jong Un it appears as though this may tragically for the planet be on the cards. I don't think Kim has thought this through as he is playing with Nuclear warheads and the US has missiles with with multiple thermonuclear warheads so one missile could destroy more than one City and if this happens I don't think China and Russia are merely going to sit on the sidelines, so the chances are if sanity does not prevail the "mad" option will take place-IE "Mutually assured destruction."
Lets talk about more pleasant things-- we have felt blessed with a very good harvest of berries and cherries this year. It's amazing that with a little effort of planting you can reap the rewards for years after. It is also a good thing when the grandchildren can have the experience of harvesting their own food or berries and not simply thinking everything comes out of a shop of some kind? Granny Gerber has lots of fun with the Grandkids picking berries and shortly we are going to have an abundance of (Early September) apples. This year we have been doubly blessed in that we have had no hail what so-ever so the apples don't have the pox! I can see the juicer working overtime. The apples are starting to ripen and we have an absolute bumper crop!
We have had the spruce tree removed as it was invading the lawn as well as it was also to close to the power lines at the back. The bottom line you can see in the picture is actually an Optical fibre cable connecting all the substations on the power grid.
This will also help our veggie patch next year as between it and the apple tree the veggies did not get any sun. We planted some Haskap berries in the veggie patch so next year may be berry good. Apparently they are very rich in anti-oxidants. so I am looking forward to see what they taste like!
I must mention that we planted this tree the year after we arrived (1996) when my Mom came to visit and when we had it removed it was almost 40 feet high. When we planted it it was probably about two feet high.
An interesting thing about fir trees we learned when we planted this tree, it's leader (top) was broken so after a year or so one of the side branches started angling upwards and formed a new leader and after a couple of years you could not even tell that it had happened as the trunk did not even have a kink or any indication that this happened. One thing that you must be careful of is that if a leader gets broken, is, not to let two leaders form as if you do you will have a tree with a fork in it which can happen! The leaders quite often break as birds tend to settle on the top of the tree and they break the leader in early spring when they are still tender and young. Once they harden then the birds can't break them easily!
3/9/2017 It seems I have just discussed this and North Korea has yesterday tested a thermonuclear device and that radically changes the picture as they can be made extremely powerful. The Americans and the Russians have limited the size of the bombs they make after the Russians tested one that broke windows a thousand kilometres away and made a fireball six miles across and left a hole so big it is now a lake. It is quite possible to take out cities in a single flash even with lesser devices. Who knows what this is going to lead up to but the prognosis is not warm and fuzzy?
Makes me think of Doris day's song-- Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) The future's not our's to see? I don't think it's going to end up pleasantly though and there are millions of lives at stake!
29/9/2017 Two or three days ago we had a proliferation of birds in the garden and today nada! zilch as they say. I am always amused at this time of the year when the birds decide it's time to pack their bags and leave. They don't normally do it at the same time as the gulls seem to go last but three days ago we had Robins! When they get ready to go they flock together they use the buddy buddy system. IE if you're in a group the chances are the hawk will get your Buddy and not you! They also use the opportunity to get to the last of the berries and everything else they can get to ready themselves for the trip. Next day you look out and not any birds except the one's that stay like the magpies etc. We even had a Northern Flicker in the garden which is of the woodpecker group however not really? It was digging in the lawn and making a meal of ants so it looked a bit like an Ostrich with its head in the sand?? (I know they don't really do it.)
It's a really handsome bird and quite a lot larger than the Robins the picture is a bit fuzzy as I did not have the camera settings right but it gives you an idea!Incidentally--- Lance does not Particularly like this bird as it is a member of the woodpecker family and has caused extensive damage to his house by pecking through the side wooden panel siding. He has had to pay some contractors to trap the birds and let them go somewhere far away as they are a protected specie In Canada!
30/09/2017 Two days in a row (Mein heavens I must have had a brain fart!) and I am back at it again, it's just that we've spent the afternoon at an event at Natalie's studio and in case you don't know she moved into an Old school building in an area they call the "Mar da Loop" which has been re-invented as an Art centre. They have paved the school grounds and put in gardens and the like and today they had an exhibition of art as well as food trucks outside and crowds of people mulling about looking at the art installations and work being done there! Natalie's studio is in the old Vice Principles office which she is using printing runs of her own designed fabrics as well as having workshops and teaching!
The following was taken in the studio after a demonstration of Block printing! And the one on the right is an installation of "Field Doll" which was used to produce pictures like the following with Marilyn examining it in the hall in front of Natalie's studio
.
And last a picture of Calgary from the Art Gallery (School) showing Calgary and the Autumn colours!
18/10/2017 Talking about birds migrating I went to the post box and noticed a lot of bird activity so I went back to the house and fetched my camera and was blown away by the number of starlings that were getting ready to move down South. They were everywhere and they gather to migrate. Now it must be noted that these are European starling's and not a native specie of Alberta. Apparently the European Starling was brought to NEW York by the Shakespeare Society in 1890 and released in Central Park to celebrate all of the birds mentioned in the Bards writings? Now they have spread all over. According to Andre' Dickson a friend in Cape Town they have a similar problem except there they eat the grapes which no doubt really impresses the farmers.
Nov 2017 Suddenly we find ourselves at the end of November and passed all the birthdays Halloween and going into the silly season. Winter has arrived however so far it has been the mildest of mild and we have had snow etc but it is not anywhere near the bitterly cold that we have had in the past. I am holding thumbs but as so much of the economy here is driven by snow I suppose that we should just hope and pray for more snow so that the businesses that rely on the cold winters can also prosper.
The picture on the left was taken on the15th Nov and shows the back yard mitout the tree that's been there for the last twenty years all that is left are the three logs you can see stack on the right. I will have to paint and repair the fence early next year!
2016 The year is well into January as today its already the 9th and we don't have anything to boast about as the stock market is in a turmoil and what with the Arabs killing each other causing a migrant crises from Syria and Libya, Ethiopia etc going into Europe and causing a lot of consternation there. As I said some time ago I did not think that Muammar Gaddafi should have been taken out as he was a sort of benevolent dictator even though far from an Angel. The yanks certainly have made a mess of things as they always do and now we have Russia climbing in as well as the Saudis and Turks? Now just to put the cherry on the cake North Korea has exploded another nuclear device which they actually claim to be a small thermonuclear device and China's economy showing cracks not to mention their dissatisfaction with North Korea it certainly looks as though 2016 can turn out to be a really interesting year! The worst of all of this is the effect it has on the innocent people that are caught up in all of the mess. It is always the innocents that are harmed the most! Talk about the signs of the times???
23/5/2016
Lance with Jasper and Bodie at our house
(Happy Dad with two Happy boys)
December 2015
The year has flown past and here we are again at Christmas. This year we have Terence and Lloyd and Becky with us so we had a good Christmas after a year that flew passed so quickly for us that we almost can't keep track of what actually happened.
Christmas lunch we had the family with us as well and the Grandchildren really enjoyed the event which is really what this is all about and again the reason for the season actually celebrating the birth of our saviour and not just a mad shopping season with all the false trappings of our modern dismal society that has become so embroiled in materialism that every body seems to live in a trance being dragged along in a mad frenzy of having to spend everything on the season to the glee and satisfaction of commerce that tries to relentlessly consume every penny that it can from the people. Which in turn enriches mainly China?
Link all the foregoing together with the general mess that the world is in it almost seems that we are in desperate need of something real joyful and tangible to celebrate to immerse the psyche in something better than what has passed in the last year. Certainly looking at the joy and fun the children have lightens the season so that we find some relief from our everyday humdrum life. Looking at what I have just written I must really get out a bit more and not think about things as I inevitably do but what with global warming wars ,drugs and the acceptance of it all as normal and nothing out of the ordinary I seem to think maybe I am getting old or our planet is in dire need of a physician that can cure it.
As I said I must do something about getting out more and smelling the flowers.
I have often thought maybe if we unite and get the population to do something positive that we will have something to look back onto. The Egyptians built pyramids and that seems to have united them in a common purpose maybe we should do something similar and not just seem hell-bent on destroying our beautiful planet stuck in the middle of space?
Well at least we have been into Saskatchewan to Moose Jaw and spent sometime at Val Marie where we had a very pleasant stay in an old Convent which is now run as a bed and breakfast. They still have the Chapel which is used for weddings and it is also on its way to the Grasslands National park which has a fairly large amount of buffalo and Deer and gophers and is very picturesque. They have also released a number of black footed ferrets in the park which is a threatened specie and they seem to have bred which is a good sign.
A herd of wood Buffalo which are recognizable by the beards.
The Convent in Val Marie: The owner purchased it about ten years ago after it was let go by the Church and as it was dilapidated he refurbished it a little and runs it as a bed and breakfast. He got it for a song together with a couple of acres of land. It is unusual as its built of brick and not like modern structures in Canada.
It is a good place to stay over as there are quite a lot of sights around to see although you have to do a fair amount of driving.
On the left is a wood Train Bridge and on the right is a picture on a wind turbine near Moose jaw with Marilyn stopped at the bottom in our car, it gives some perspective as to the size! These things are gigantic and are quite noisy when you are near to them. You can understand that they are not totally innocuous as they apparently kill a number of birds each year.
Well this year is already well in progress and I have not added anything to the saga's of the Gerber's or Sanders for that matter, well today is the 10th of March 2013 and so far the year has been going on with all the normal happenings and business but today was an auspicious day as we celebrated the baptism of Molly Mae. It was a beautiful day with lovely temperatures (around 11°C).
It was a lovely service with lovely company and Natalie and Marilyn supplying some nice goodies for us all.
Today is the 21st Day of Dec and we are happy to have Yendall and his family and Becky for Christmas so we wont have an empty house. We also had some bad news yesterday as we were advised that Becky's Mom Alison had passed away our Condolences to the whole family and also 12th of Dec Marilyn's sister Rosanne had passed away condolences to Sarah and all the family.
It is times such as this that you can really appreciate having your family with you!
Time as it always does marches forwards here is a picture of Grandpa with his two Grand-iose sons when we harvested the apples at the end of summer early fall.And On the right you can see Molly-Mae is also making a lot of Progress its amazing how quickly it all happens. Here she is with proud Granny.
7/7/2013
Molly-Mae Rose Sanders arrived at 8.30 p.m. tonight and weighed 7Lbs 12Ozs with no mayor problems!
20/06/2013 This last week has been quite an eventful week in Alberta with floods hitting Calgary ,High River and Canmore and about. We had more than enough to keep the gardeners happy but as a family we were lucky. Not one of us had direct floods which is very good as flood insurance is not available in Alberta, pathetic as that may seem. You have to wait around for the local Government to hand you some charity.
Below Marilyn is pointing to the tidemark and Looking down the road outside her office you can see they have just graded the road to get rid of the mud and you can see the piles of debris and mud on the lawns outside the houses. This area was underwater and you can see some flotsam in the grill of the
second to last car. They were interviewing the people next door for the TV whilst we were there.
The following was taken overlooking the bow river from the Springfield area hill.
Memories: Every so often you remember someone out of the blue. Last Wednesday was 30/12/2012 and of course that means it is "Halloween night". This was always Mom Burne’s chore. She loved seeing the kiddies all dressed up in their scary costumes and used to pull up a chair and sit and wait for them and every couple of minutes you used to get a wave of them stomping up the front stairs shouting trick or treat. Anyway this year it fell on Marilyn as it is not something I cherish doing being a crotchety old fart and also it was not something I grew up with. I actually find it annoying except for looking at how the kids are enjoying themselves.. At eight o’clock Marilyn went over to Natalie’s house to help her and so I switched off the lights and sat in front of the TV. Once you switch off the lights the kids don’t bother coming. By the end of the evening they have pillow slips full of sweets anyway. If you know anything about business you should always strive to be efficient so many parents just take their kids to a shopping mall where they walk from shopfront to shopfront and get handed sweets without having to brave the weather?
This has led me to think of other things like one of Moms favourite dishes was, Rougaille and Sausages (Not being a French linguist I always thought she said something like urguy??) the other was the accompanying lentils and this was served with rice. I found the recipe for these and they can be found on the cooking section if anyone is interested. This was an ex Mauritian dish as modified by Mom.
Another thing that we found was Mom Burne’s housekeeping record going back to August 1949. It’s amazing how things have changed and how well we live today and how little people had in those days. She was always frugal but you may find the following very interesting and also make you count your blessings. The general gist of the book is the same throughout however it ends in the 1951 at a total of £ 11/9 /11 (Horrible inflation?) From the back of the book the monthly expenses other groceriesand sundries with a total of £86-10/- Another thing that you realize is that how simple life used to be when you think of your basic requirements for life!
As some of you may know Marilyn and I decided to buy a grave site for ourselves here in Calgary and as they dig graves here to 9 feet deep, (They make sure you stay put!) a normal grave site has space for two full burials and up to about ten urns so it was decided to bury Mom's ashes there. It is not unusual to see graves with names but no dates here as they still are awaiting their occupants which will eventually show up unless someone hangs you up in the garden for the birds to peck at. "That would be something else for Halloween!--- probably go down well with the kids here!!
So if you see Marilyn's name and mine on the stone don't get a shock we are still on the right side of the grass as they say.
It’s Sunday the 13th and we have had quite a hectic time over the last couple of months. It all seemed to start around July when my sister Ruth and Ian came to visit from Australia together with my sister Doreen and as you know that is from a long way away in South Africa. It is wonderful when you think of the distances travelled and we feel privileged that they came.
Doreen arrived on the 26th July 2012 and that was the day Bodie made an appearance.
Bodie William Gerber was born today by C-section at 10.30 am, 7lbs 14oz, 52cm long.
On the 28Th when Ruth and Ian arrived we had a family get together and had some nosh and wine Etc.
It was the start of a good couple of weeks. Who knows what the future holds?
We took a trip up to Waterton National park amongst other places which is on the border between the US and Canada. Here we shared in a lovely time away even though it was only for a long weekend. We tried to fit in as much as we could to let my sister from the ZA experience as much as possible in her travels. My sister Ruth and her hubby are more experienced travellers so it is merely a notch on their walkabout sticks. However we were lucky to have seen lots of bears having their fill of berries so that that could work up the necessary fat that would let them have a good snooze for winter. Certainly the vista’s and exquisite scenery is breathtaking. We stayed in Waterton in quite a nice apartment-hotel with exquisite views of the mountains.
Here you can see Marilyn surveying the scene with the Hotel in the background. The white upstairs room was our Room and if you look carefully you can just see Doreen looking down on us. If you walk out the back of the Hotel a couple of Hundred yards or so you come across one of the lakes in the area. There are also some shops restaurants and the normal tourist type stuff all selling much of the stuff that you can buy at any tourist type destination and most of them made in China the Philippines and the like -You have to go far and wide to find some real stuff from the area you are visiting.
You can see Marilyn and Doreen and Ian on the left on the Jetty.
Driving around the Waterton parks area we found out that close to the park is a Major wildlife thoroughfare and the bears were having the munchies so this is what happens.
Pictures of bears and of course every man and his dog wants to stop and get a picture. (Including us.) I got quite miffed when I pulled to the side to let everyone get an nice view of the one bear when an asshole immediately comes past and parks right in front of me (in the middle of the road) blocking everybody’s view except his so I just got behind him and started hooting. This naturally led to some choice words and signs which I would not have a clue what these mean. " I was wearing my Halo."
Incidentally Aug 2013 they stopped people from camping in tents at Waterton because of the number of bears in the area. You could still use Caravans and anything that wasn't soft.
The following is a picture of a small but Picturesque waterfall in Waterton.
The following is interesting as it is the first Oil well in Western Canada
In 1897, the Rocky Mountain Development Company was formed and eventually struck a strong flow of oil. This was the first well to produce saleable amounts of oil.
Most evidence of Waterton’s oil boom is gone but the places and traces that remain depict the struggles, hard work and big dreams of getting oil from the mountains.
In 1965, the discovery well was declared a site of national historic significance and designated the First Oil Well in Western Canada. A monument incorporating the embedded drilling tools was designed specifically for the site and erected in 1968. The monument is located in Waterton Lakes National Park
Well time is moving on and no trip to Calgary is complete without a trip to the Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump
The "Head smashed In" dates back from 5700 years to as far back as maybe 10000 years ago which appears to be just after the last ice age?
And of coarse we had to have a trip to Drumheller and the Royal Tyrrell Museum
Above we were looking at an Ichthyosaur and it was just incredible how long this fossil was. It was spread across the room as you can see.
In the following Doreen was comparing herself to a Camarasaurus leg but she did not stand up that well!
Now that's what I call a decent soup bone! Sure beats a chicken drumstick! I wonder what they tasted like??
As I was sitting looking out the window I noticed a Robin( yes the Red-Red Robin that does the bobbin) sitting on a roof and it made me think of the ZA Piet my Vrou in that it also has a reddish breast and also similar stripes as the Robin. Even though you can’t see them in this picture.
Any rate, me being me, I decided to look it up on the net and found that the Robin is a type of thrush and the Piet my Vrou a Cuckoo. Now whilst I knew that the “Piet my Vrou” is in fact a Cuckoo I did not know that a Robin is a thrush. Now a baby gets thrush--does that mean they have Robins in their throat? What actually made me look it up is the two similar calls. What I was not prepared for is the Latin name “Turdus Migratorius” No doubt some naturalists have a sense of humour like the person who named the seashell Distortio Anus ---Linnaeus in 1758 he named the shell very descriptively because the aperture looks strikingly like a rectum that’s distorted with haemorrhoids. I still do not know how you could liken a turd to a Bird but I have found that a Turdus is the Latin name for a thrush. So now when a baby gets thrush maybe he's got Turdus in the throat--the minds boggles
Well as most of you know Mom Burne passed away on Jan 30 2012. She had been back in hospital after a bleeding episode which according to the doctor could have been as a result of her stopping the Metamucil regime which she had been taking to line her bowel. In this case it was not for making her regular but to protect the bowel from getting inflamed. She did not like it and said it was gritty? Whilst in hospital she developed a clot in her leg and they were treating her for it and she was about to be let out to come home however on the day in question she wanted to go for a walk and whilst walking with a nurse by her side she had an embolism on her lungs (Probably from part of the clot moving) and could not get oxygen. Despite the hospitals code team getting to her within a minute or so no matter what they did they could not revive her and she passed away. I was pleased that this happened whilst she was still in hospital and not home as I do not know what I would have done if she were at home. They actually did get her heart going for a short while but that was it.
I must say that it is strange when someone is no longer around at and what times you actually miss them. A short while after my father passed away I went to a party at a friends house after our School term was over and during the party a friend came up to me and said that my father was waiting for me outside in the car. He had made an innocent mistake but I walked outside and started looking for my father and then only remembered that my father could not possibly be there. In a likewise manner when we now go shopping I find myself looking at stuff on the shelves and thinking to myself that Mom Burne would have liked that or that it was one of her favourites etc. I suppose it will take some time before the hole is filled but what we do realize that her passing was for the best as she was not very happy and had mentioned on numerous occasions that getting old was not easy. We could see that she was struggling along even though we had tried to make life more comfortable for her.
Comments on Libya
Hell's Bell's how time marches relentless onwards taking no cognizance of man’s frailty and fleeting life on this planet which we call Earth. It always amazes me how quickly it passes and new experiences and events are clocked up. At present Gaddafi can't be found and Libya and the world is already celebrating. He was caught and murdered on the 20th /Oct/2011 He may have been a bad “El Presidente” but I must admit I had a soft spot for him. I have always had a thing for the losers in a battle and whilst he may have been a bad boy in many way's he has been instrumental in doing some wonderful things for the Libyan's not to mention the river under the desert. Now that the rebellion has reached his compound and his opulent lifestyle has been revealed the whole world is condemning him even though he was sort of a benevolent dictator. Time will tell however, history is what it is depending from who’s viewpoint you tell it. Certainly from whom-so-evers standpoint it is, it will no doubt be skewed by the lust for Libya’s oil. It would be nice to see if the dust will ever settle? (Comment today is 17th Aug 2013 and there still are fighting etc which is what I saw coming.) Today is 25/8/2013 and their has been heavy fighting just West of Tripoli and there seems to be deepening political crises.
Comment: Today is the 15th Sept 2015 and the situation in Libya is now totally out of control with Libyans as well as now Syrian refugees fleeing their land to cross the Mediterranean Sea to go to various destinations in Europe mainly Germany Austria and whomsoever will take them? Now if you think that not so long ago the Germans were rounding up Gipsies Jews and others who did not see eye to eye with them and murdering them I wonder how long things would appear to be better on the other side of the fence? Not to forget the part that the USA and others played in exacerbating the downfall of Gaddafi? It makes you wonder who exactly caused this great humanitarian crises in the first place? The USA? The people who wanted to overthrow their leaders have brought this on themselves?
I quote
"The Great Man-Made River, as the largest water transport project ever undertaken, has been described as the "eighth wonder of the world". It carries more than five million cubic metres of water per day across the desert to coastal areas, vastly increasing the amount of arable land. The total cost of the huge project is expected to exceed $25 billion (US)." Should you be interested access the following website it is really amazing.
A Friend of mine Mike Theodore actually worked on this project and was saying how wonderful it is to think that they are tapping a lake under the desert and of course Tripoli was certainly benefitting from someone’s wonderful vision of building an oasis in the desert.
8/7/2011 Mark and Natalie Sponsored us to the Greatest Show on Earth which is the Calgary Stampede colloquially called Cowboy Christmas. It is a great event and is held every year in July. The whole of Calgary at this time goes a little moggy and if you go into town or shops people walk around with Cowboy clothes boots and the like as you can see from the following Photo the Calgarian’s just love to dress up to the nines and at the festival love to eat all kinds of things especially the Corn dogs which is basically a “Vienna wrapped in corn dough and fried” on a stick. (Cowpoke lollipop) or you could say it's a Vienna wrapped up in a putu like dough. For anyone interested I will include a corndog recipe under the cooking section and here I think of my South African friends, they can adapt it to a pap sausage on a stick and sell it at flea markets and the like. Now there is an idea.!!!
It is a wonderful experience and it features a rodeo with Chuck Wagon races and a stage show afterwards followed by a massive fireworks display. A total visual experience
The actual show is amazing and done by young Calgarian's as well as professional actors and the like.
14/5/2011 Today Lance surprised me by phoning and asking if I wanted to go to the aerospace museum with him and Jasper. I was a great experience. I had not been there for years and what a change. Today at the museum they had a robotics expo. Apparently they have a club that meets there every Saturday and this was their big day with competitions and the like. It was buzzing. We walked around and even though the museum is not huge it has quite a display of aircraft helicopters and the like as well as aero engines, jet engines and a well made model of the first ever plane that was sponsored by Alexander Graham bell "the inventor of the telephone" amongst others. You will see the copy of the foregoing aircraft hanging in the background in the following.
I must mention the Jasper is almost obsessed with aircraft. It started with me buying an indoor flying model of a helicopter which Marilyn and I saw at Radioshack for $ 29.00 when shopping for x-mas presents. This was given to Lance so that he can spend some time with Jasper and even though he is only little he loves them. That was the idea behind the visit to the museum today-needless to say a great success.
I was amazed when I saw a Vampire jet at the display how small it was compared to the other planes there. I remember seeing these fly over the old Stamford Hill Aerodrome as they used to call it when I was a child living in Umgeni Road in Durban. I believe the block of flats "Dromeview" still stands on the corner of Adrain Road and Umgeni if it is still called that, seeing that the "new" govern-munt seems to be hell bent on renaming everything after some or other fig-munt of their imagination.
After the museum we went to a view-site close-by where you could see aircraft taking off and landing. I Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: Description: C:\Users\Richard\Documents\My Web Sites\Mariger Latest 1\images events\2011 05 14_1655.JPGwas amused at the chart see if you can recognise all the planes?
Maybe you see some strange aircraft here.
Today Natalie and Mark flew off to London where they are going to stay with Yendall a couple of days then off to South Africa to start their long awaited honeymoon. They will be staying with Warren and Less for a while then off to South West Africa and Etosha the Namib and the like.
25/11/2010 I can't believe that it is two months since I added something. Time zooms by and talking about things zooming by I had the strangest experience last Saturday the 20th at about two in the afternoon. I was sitting at the computer and leaning back and happened to glance out the window and saw a bunch of vapour trails going across the sky. They appeared high up and were travelling very fast in a sort of an arc shape with the largest in the centre. Something like the following
Really something else. All kinds of things cross your mind. I realised they were moving very quickly so I ran downstairs and went to get the camera.
As I ran downstairs I shouted to Marilyn's mom Have a look out the window when she promptly replied she does not see anything." I said c'mon look and showed her the trails and took a couple of photos as they disappeared over the horizon.
One of the photos is as follows. You can still see the larger in the middle. I tried to get the papers interested and the University but if it's not ice hockey here people don't even raise an eyebrow. Some idiot of a know it all professor even said to me "it was probably cirrus clouds" I then realised that he was only interested in his own agendas and had passed me off as some kind of nutcase??
If you look to the left of the pole between the trees you will see them. Not very clearly but I did not have the time to put on the telephoto.
When I looked up meteors on the net I realized that this could be a part of the Leonid Meteor shower which is supposed to be active between the 10th and 21st of Nov 2010 and if so these are pieces of material from a comet. However I am surprised that the tails are as long as they are and that it took so long to get across the sky as all meteorites I have seen normally streak across.
As they were taking so long though I don't think that it could have been parts of a comet but rather a broken up satellite or space junk re-entering the atmosphere.
14/8/2010
Great preparations are being made for Natalie and Marks wedding
Yendall and Marks mum Mark & his dad Robert putting up lights
Natalie Getting ready for the big event
Its all very exhausting and now for the pictures after the event...
At the reception...
Granny Burne the creator of the Cake The Cake with Mark Ascending
Marks Brother with baby also in a little Kilt and Natalie doing the rounds
Patrick and Family Mithe and Family
18/7/2010 Great excitement as it's going to be Natalie's kitchen tea today and as tradition has it the girls are getting together for this occasion.
Waiting to start some of the oldies and next dressing up Kazia in Loo Paper!
Leona being dressed in a wedding dress of loo paper. Last we have the future bride opening all the loot
The main event in the near future is Lance and Kazia's upcoming wedding. July 29th is the big day and it is bearing down on us at a scary pace. from the Gerber perspective we have not been involved much except that Marilyn's mom was recently asked to do the cake and has been busy planning it and collecting the stuff she needs. Luckily they do not want an elaborate cake and what Marilyn's mom has suggested they seem to like. Lance designed a motif with their initials for the top tier which will be traditional SA fruit cake the bottom tier will be a marble sponge cake. The icing will be simple and the cake will be decorated with fresh flowers. As parents of the groom we will host the rehearsal dinner at a restaurant on the south side of the city and we live on the northern outskirts. The wedding is south of the city at Spruce Meadows. Just getting there on time is going to be interesting logistically. We have been to two bridal showers for Kazia. They are more sedate than the SA Kitchen Tea and both have been over lunchtime on a Sunday. The guys do their stag thing next Saturday 15th - it is a whole day affair and basically takes in the Stampede theme. I believe the girls have a "stagette" (a most unbecoming word to my way of thinking - maybe my 50+++ years are starting to show!) on the same day. I don't know what they plan to do.
To make everything much more exciting Lance and Kazia have just bought a house and took possession on Friday 7th July. They are trying to move in this afternoon and we were going to help but our car went on the blink today so we had to back out and then we had one hell of a storm (hail nearly the size of golf balls) so I don't know what ended up happening with the move. Their friends were going to go over to help after the soccer final. The new house is also way down south probably nearly an hours drive from our place. Its a nice starter home - brand new in a new development so there are lots of young families in the neighbourhood. It is also close to where Lance now works and the city is building a new hospital nearby so perhaps Kazia will find a job closer to home.
The most exciting happening for today though (today being July 9th) was Natalie successfully completing her first marathon. She ran the Calgary marathon which winds through the city for 42kms. She did it in just under 5 hours and although she was hoping for 4.5 to 4.75 hours she is pleased with the outcome considering she has shin splints and has had to cut back on the training over the past couple of weeks. We all went down to the finish line to cheer her in - she was red as a tomato when she came running over the hill but has recovered quite well although she is quite stiff and sore. The weather this morning was beautiful before the storm hit. It was hot for the runners but lovely for the rest of us. I am amazed to think that she has got so far with her running having only started in January 2005. She has a really encouraging mentor in her friend Pam who has been running for years and who I think would love to run the Comrades someday with her.
And finally for the time being as if there has not been enough excitement squashed into one year, Natalie was recently awarded an Alberta Foundation for the Arts grant to study for a semester at the London School of Fashion in London England. Just getting in to the school is quite an achievement as she had to submit her portfolio and she was selected to one of only14 places for international students. The school she is going to attend is part of the London University for the Arts and the grant covers a substantial part of the tuition fee and living expenses. She still has to save madly between now and then as it is expensive to live in London. She will be away from the end of September 2006 till sometime in February 2007. Her course is an advanced course in creative cutting and will provide her with a skill set that will make her more employable here in Canada in the fashion industry. In the meantime the plan is for her to get a substantial inventory of stock ready so that we can keep her outlets in stock over the period that she is away. She has a good following that seems to be growing slowly and she wants to keep that base intact.
Sally and Hannah Arrived yesterday a week before Yendall and Warren. All for Lances Wedding and Warren and Yendall arrived on the 27th July.
As you can see things are hotting up, we all went off to the practice wedding yesterday which as you can see is a very pretty setting. Afterwards we had the rehearsal dinner. The Canada Geese also had a little dinner on their own.
Here Lance and Kazia were giving a joint speech at the rehearsal dinner.
Lance and his Buddies seemed very happy at the prospect of him getting Married. It just goes to show that South Africans do fly!
The Wedding Cake----Top layer Fruit and Bottom Sponge Vanilla Chocolate Swirl. As above the Guys.
Kazia's Arrival and a walking down the isle accompanied by her mother and father Suzanne and Rick James.
The British Room at Spruce meadows where the reception was held. A Beautiful venue and the catering and food was really good.
Natalie and Gavin looking very smart and handsome.
Warren and Yendall decided they wanted to do something for Granny Burne's 80th birthday so we all went off to the Banff Springs Hotel and had a tea as the rich and famous would have it. Here the staff are singing Happy Birthday when they brought the Black Forest Cake.
This is the view from the Rundle Room where we had our tea in Banff. The Banff Springs Hotel
Well time goes on and we had the second celebration of Marilyn's Mom's 80th birthday, she can't complain that we did not celebrate it. We had the whole clan here with all the family and Friends.As you can see the weather was very good to us and we could actually have many people outside so the Cake got cut outside and as you can see there are quite a few little one 's around. These are Patrick's grandchildren. They naturally had a ball and ran around the garden like whirling dervishes.
Not the last supper but the Last breakfast and then Yendall and Sally left, Sniff sniff Etc and then Warren was to leave.
07/08/2006
Simone & Chris Celebrated their wedding earlier in the year in Saskatoon and with their friends and family at Pasu Farm in Carstairs.
Here they are with a bicycle which was given for the occasion as they spend a lot of time biking and getting into nature.
As Above the farmhouse
Inside enjoying the well prepared meal consisting of a cold and hot buffet followed by dancing
And Philip was letting it all hang out