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Home Cooking - 225/365
One of my rare attempts at a real home cooked meal. Most of my meals are ready made from a chain in Cape Town called Woolworths. No connection I hear now. Think they just stole the name. It's like a high end grocery store. Better than Publix, but not as good as Whole Foods. Anyway, they make great ready to heat refrigerated meals. This time I tried my hand at some Pork Chops. They were quite good. In my opinion, the food is tastier here.
When All Else Fails, Selfie! - 217/365
Sometimes I like to just make a Selfie and always try to make it different from the last.
I love this stuff! It's really the only thing I'll drink other than beer LOL! Amarula is a cream liqueur from South Africa. It is made with sugar, cream and the fruit of the African marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) which is also locally called the Elephant tree or the Marriage Tree. It has an alcohol content of 17% by volume. It has had some success at international spirit ratings competitions, winning a gold medal at the 2006 San Francisco World Spirits Competition
Styling the Goggles - 205/365
Nita was one of my first friends in Cape Town. She and her significant other have become great friends of mine. She is fun loving, kind, always helping people, and just plain crazy. Here she is modeling one of the many lost and found swim masks! She is a remarkable worker and it was sad to see her leave the gym, but it was a big plus for her and Adidas. A tremendous athlete also. She is from Kimberley, where the DeBeers Diamond Mine is located and where Gold was found early in South Africa's history.
I Love My Sunrises into Work - 204/365
An early morning sunrise from the Koeberg Nature Preserve. I work in such a beautiful place.
Cape Town is known as "The Cape of Storms". I thought storms came into Florida quickly and they do, but in Cape Town they are ferocious. The wind howls, the rain blasts, and the ocean churns with such force that amazes. It is also beautiful. There is something calming and relaxing about watching a storm roll in. I remember rounding the Cape of Storms when I was in the Navy on an Aircraft Carrier. There was a huge storm as we were rounding in winter with 90 foot seas. The huge ship was bobbing like a cork in the water. We could not eat for two days and we had to strap ourselves in our bunks. I remember thinking, how did these guys in little ships make it around? Well a lot did not. To this day the Cape of Storms takes it's toll on even modern vessels.
Getting Ready for the Wind in Cape Town - 202/365
I was on the beach and I saw a boy practicing his Kite Surfing control skills on the beach in my backyard. I really loved the colors of the kite against the sky with Table Mountain in the background.
One of the Most Convenient Inventions! - 181/365
Very simple. This is the Islandstyle Changing Mat changing mat that I got at Surf Emporium. It's round. You open it up, strip your wetsuit off and everything else, let it drop into the mat and then pull it closed! Love it!
Along Came a Spider... - 179/365
I helped host a photo-walk at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town. It's like many other City, State, or National Botanical Gardens except that this was the yard of Cecil John Rhodes i.e. "Rhodes Scholars" still funded by his trust. Rhodes made his fortune in Diamonds in South Africa and Rhodesia (a country he named after himself), by founding the DeBeers Diamond Company. He is both revered and reviled. Much like John Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie, regardless of their reputations, these men helped make their countries successful. I almost ran into this spider until warned by a friend. It was about the size of a tennis ball. I have no idea if it was poisonous or not, and I know nothing about it. I did think, though, that it would make an interesting image.
This guy is always running around the neighborhood and the beach. He lives on the corner and is so friendly. Sometimes I see him sitting up on a sand dune like Simba in the Lion King movie, as if he's overlooking HIS beach. This image was but one of many I made. I got right up in his face with my phone. He's so funny that he kept trying to grab my phone. I fear it would have met the same fate of the stick he has in the image!
View of Table Mountain from Work - 161/365
I am fortunate enough to have my office in the middle of a Nature Preserve. Since there are virtually no buildings around, I have an unobstructed view of Table Mountain. View of Table Mountain from Work - 161/365
Experimenting with Self Portrait - 157/365
Lately I love experimenting with my photography. Another experiment at a self potrait.
Springbok at Koeberg Nature Preserve - 154/365
Since we moved into a brand new Training Center, my offices are almost a mile from the site that you see in the distance. That puts our offices right in the middle of the Nature Preserve. There used to be all of your typical African Game in this area until the last Lion was hunted and killed in the Cape Town around 1910. Shame. This image was made right outside of our offices. The animal you see is a Springbok. Delicious, uh, I mean beautiful. They are very plentiful here and they are served in restaurants. Not as a paying customer but on the plate. They also make excellent Biltong, which is South African Smoked Jerky, only 100 times better. The Springbok is also the National Sports Mascot, or was until the current government wanted to remove all vestiges of the past in every way shape and form regardless if it was innocent of past disgressions or not. Now the only Springbok Team is the Rugby Team. The Cricket Team are the Proteas (a flower), and the Soccer Team is Bafana Bafana (the boys, the boys) huh? Anyway, so nice to work in a Nature Preserve. If you get hungry, just go hunt down a Springbok LOL! Springbok at Koeberg Nature Preserve - 154/365
My Surf Emporium Hat - 152/365
Surf Emporium was the first place that I had my first private lessons and has also been the place that I continue to do so. The one thing I can say about the Surf community in Muizenberg is that while they all compete with each other for business, they are also friends. I bought my surfboard at Expression On The Beach. I bought some wetsuit repair glue and a shirt at The Corner Surf Shop. I purchased a carry bag for my surfboard at Lifestyles Surf Shop and that's after someone at Surf Emporium did not have the correct size and sent me there. Oh and by the way I went to Surf Emporium to get the bag at the recommendation of Expression On The Beach. So it's all like a family. And everyone is genuinely nice. My Surf Emporium Hat - 152/365
Ever since I can remember my Mother would draw. Sometimes with pencil, and sometimes with charcoal. It was a repressed passion. Not by anyone, but by circumstances called life as a career woman with children. After her retirement she has become very prolific in her creativity taking up the most difficult of painting, being watercolor. She has exhibited in shows, galleries, museums, and sold her works and prints. To everyone's joy she always paints birthday cards. Original watercolors. Here is an image of a card she sent me from an image I made while on a Safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa. I treasure these and do not take them for granted. She is an artistic inspiration! My365Project - 146/365.
Another abstract photographic experiment. In my mind it all starts out when I see a grouping of colors, light, or shapes of normal mundane items and imagine then in an alternate way. Most of the time by adding movement. In this image, which was one of many attempts, I shot my instrument panel while rotating around the axis of my speedometer. My365Project - 145/365.
It is a relatively recent phenomena that South Africa has received the "Fast Food Spawns of Satan": McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, etc. Here in Cape Town it is all the rage. Before you know it South Africa will have similar obesity problems as seen in the USA. Too bad. The food is so good here! My365Project 143/365.
Sunrise at Koeberg - 141/365
Sunrise at Koeberg Station and Nature Preserve. They truly are spectacular.
Daytime on the Playa at 2014 Afrikaburn - 123/365
Many of the images I made at Afrikaburn could have been made at Burning Man in the U.S. Most of the images were not uniquely South African. Except for this one. The girl with the South African flag draped around her. I thought it fitting to highlight this one. I really like it. It's contemplative. My 365 Project 123/365.
Arrival at 2014 AfrikaBurn - My 365 Project 122/365
AfrikaBurn is the spectacular result of the creative expression of participants who gather once a year in the Tankwa Karoo to create a temporary city of art, theme camps, costume, music and performance! http://www.afrikaburn.com/
Getting there was a mission. About 3-4 hours from Cape Town including a 113 km Tire Eating dirt road. I was advised to deflate my tires and I made it there and back OK. When I got back to Cape Town I noticed I had a definite slow leak in one of my tires. So I didn't escape unscathed. Lots of color, performances, crazy costumes, awesome landscape and great people.
