Summer is over!

With the weather turning colder and wetter, there has been more time for things indoors - this painting is of Waverley Beach, just 'up the road from us' and is one of my first attempts at working with acryllics on canvas. As a result of this painting, I have a commission and will be working on a snowscape for friends of ours - a bit scary really, but all part of the adventure!

If any of you have any idea what sort of price a painting like this one should go for, let me know. The photograph above the painting is A4 size so that should give an idea of the size.

On some of Jo's trips out and about, he has come across a place that sells wood - I have been fascinated to see these logs transformed into neat square blocks and then literally turned on the lathe into artistic 'legs' for a new piece of furniture. Here are the legs of a new coffee table being clamped and glued before the final construction of the frame. At the moment, we don't have the wood for the top so the 'legs frame' is hanging about waiting for that to arrive, before Jo can make the top and we can sport a new coffee table. For now, we just have an 'offee able'.












Jo has been having to fight, beg and plead for a vehicle on many of the days when he needs to be out in the field - OK, not really that bad, but stand in line for sure, and often has to postpone the trip to the following day when there isn't a vehicle hanging around with nothing to do. Those days are over with the arrival of the new bakkie - er, that's a ute here - and this one is kind of Jo's - I say kind of, because other guys can also use it if it's hanging about with the aforementioned nothing to do! But for the most part, this is Jo's bakkie!! This picture shows her in her virginal state - before the addition of the MWH stickers on the side and before the flashing light bolted to the roof. She has made a huge difference to our planning of our weeks, since it no longer matters whether the weather is fine or whether the weather is not, or whether the weather is cold or whether the weather is hot, - Jo can drive to and from work in comfort and style and our little car is here for me to use if I need to. In the recent past, Jo has been taking the motorbike to and from work every day, except if the weather is foul, then he has taken the car, leaving me without wheels for the day! So all in all, things are a whole lot more organised for comfort and I no longer have to feel guilty if the weather turns nasty in the course of the day!

A fairly large contingent of 'boertjies' made the trip from Wanganui to Feilding (yes, that is the correct spelling, although it's still pronounced Fielding!) to attend a little concert. For the most part, the big stars from SA don't perform in the little towns and limit themselves to Auckland, Wellington and maybe Christchurch on the South Island - so when they agree to perform at a school or church hall in the sticks, us 'plattelanders' are happy to support them.

Steve Hofmeyer remains popular amongst the South Africans here in New Zealand - we try to attend as many of these sorts of concerts as we can - great to hear some good old South African music, humour and often hear about how things are really 'back home' - after all, the 'stars' were generally there last week and are quite up on the latest news. Jo has a real soft spot for vehicles DKW and this one, pictured on the screen behind Steve had to be captured for posterity!

We don't suppose that Steve would perform with a South African flag at one of his gigs in South Africa, but lets face it, here in New Zealand, the folks appreciate seeing 'our flag' up on stage!

It must be very satisfying for a performer to travel 13,000 kms and find that the great majority of the audience sings along for most of the songs you put out there! There were plenty of moments when Steve turned the mike around, stand and all, for the audience to sing 'uit volle bors'!

The really unusual thing about South African performers coming over here is the fact that they are available for autographs and a chat with the audience after the show - very personal and much appreciated by the die hard fans. I took quite a few photos of folks with Steve to send on to them for their 'brag files'!

Dis al!