Happy Birthday Daniel!

Hey everyone

well, where we are in the world it is still Daniel's birthday, but i think that where Daniel is it was yesterday. oh dear, if you are reading this in the fine, much envied timezone of New Zealand, please just pretend that this is yesterday. if you are reading this on the day after. if that makes sense.

erm, moving it all along nicely, a very, very happy birthday indeed to young Daniel, who turned two this weekend. there, that's a better way of dealing with time-space differences, isn't it?





it sounds like Daniel got quite an array of most excellent presents to celebrate turning two, but the one that he loves the most thus far, and indeed the one he tried to show us over the telephone last night, is a magnificent, most excellent looking wooden train and town set!!





that does indeed look first class, what an ace present! no wonder he was not too interested in hearing my rendition of happy birthday on the phone if he could go off and play with that!

having such a class present does leave one with a dilemma as to what to do with all the other presents. fortunately, Daniel has a lovely elder sister, Katie, who is happy to be assigned with the task of opening all the other presents to see if there is anything even cooler!





there was of course a birthday party to be had, and a birthday party just isn't complete without a birthday cake! fortunately for Daniel, he can have a none more so complete birthday party, as his Mummy is always excellent at making cakes for such occasions. Gillian has never really subscribed to that "just go and buy one" philosophy on cakes, but who can blame her with the great ones that she cooks?

not too sure about the idea of "candles for nipples" on Bob The Builder, though.........





ahem, aside from Gillian's "artistic licence" with where to put the candles, it looks like the cake was rather tasty, and indeed the most important recipient of a slice of it looks well impressed!





well, that looks like a most splendid day in New Zealand! certainly hope that it was!!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Star Trek 2009 - remake/remodel

righty-ho, for those of you who are interested in this film but have somehow managed to avoid every single trailer, article, review and comment on it, here's your *** SPOILER WARNING ***. it's a bit of a pointless one as there's nothing that the makers haven't put in the public domain mentioned here, but there you go.

Star Trek 2009 is a remake that isn't a remake, a reboot that isn't a reboot, a sequel that really isn't a sequel and a rejuvenation of the series of films that might possibly not have required it. does that make sense? good for you, buy yourself a coconut. the major problem this film has, perhaps the only real problem, is that it doesn't know what it's supposed to be. it nonetheless manages to be entertaining, but perhaps not for the reasons that the makers wanted it to be.





as a plot premise goes, we are introduced to a young James Tiberius Kirk who, in a strange act of defiance, signs up for intergalactic concern Star Fleet to apparently spite an older starship captain. he manages to end up on the Starship Enterprise, but not as captain. he also meets Mr Spock, but the two are anything but friends and confidant. why this shift in the often told story of them? enter "Spock Prime", the, if you will future-present day Spock, to explain some sort of parallel universe / time travel incident. "Spock Prime", indeed played by Leonard Nimoy, needs to resolve the problem that caused this, and indeed ensure that the Kirk-Spock relationship goes as he lived it.

that bit might have cleared up my elaborate definition of the film, and help you see the problem here. it's an interesting twist on "getting away" with restarting the series, but i am not that sure that altering the characteristics of the central characters which Star Trek fans have come to know and love over the last 40-odd years is, in retrospect, all that good an idea.





the "reconstructed" or parallel characters are curious, and watching them takes up more of your thinking time than concentrating on the plot. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk is a good enough place to start. he doesn't do a William Shatner impersonation, which is very wise. he, however, doesn't play Kirk as we have known him; making him a rather different character to the one we all know, and indeed making him a character that it's difficult to have much sympathy or interest in. Uhura is some sort of "sex object with brains", Dr Bones McCoy is spot on, and Simon Pegg plays Scotty with a great deal of love and affection for the character that everyone has a soft spot for.

which brings us to someone called Zachary Quinto as Mr Spock. at first, he is brilliant, and plays the quasi-Vulcan to perfection. he's by far the most interesting character, and the one you want to follow the story of. until they go and bring the original Spock back into it. it's at this point that you go "oh", and just want more of the original Mr Spock, not this new version. rather fascinating that they undermine the best character they have by bringing in the original, superior version of him, but there you go.

the preoccupation you end up having with this business of redefining and remoulding the traditional characters means you more or less remain oblivious to the plot (which they explain and resolve in a handful of minutes of the film anyway), to the extent that you barely even notice that the "main baddie" is played by Eric Bana. where the hell did it go wrong for him? he was exceptional in Chopper and Troy, but as bland and anonymous here as he was in the rather dismal Hulk film. he really should be more careful with his part selection.





as confusing as my analysis of the plot this might be, but nonetheless i would suggest that this new Star Trek film is indeed worth seeing. when not confusing you with altering established knowledge and ideas of certain characters, it does get on with being a standard Star Trek film, and indeed is one of the more entertaining ones made. the space battles are all you would expect, Captain Kirk's daring rescues and tally-ho sense of adventure is one of the few things which remain in place, and the dream of one day being able to reach the stars is shared and cherished just as much as ever. oh and, most importantly, Leonard Nimoy's brief bits in the film make the whole thing very worthwhile.

with some luck the clearly talented ensemble cast here will make at least one more and in it be given a degree of freedom to play the parts properly. whether they will ever endear themselves to the audiences in the same way that the original cast or the cast of the magnificent Star Trek : The Next Generation did is debatable for now.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

action man

hi everyone

well, as i am sure i have mentioned before here, James has developed something of a ritual of late when i go to collect him from school every day. well, school, day care, creche, whatever you call it in your part of the world, i guess. anyway, before we go home James gets rather keen to show off his skills on the various "jungle gyms" and climbing frames they have there. he was rather keen on me taking some pics of him today, and as it has been a while since i put any here, well, here you go!





as you can no doubt guess from his rather stylish attire, winter is very much with us at the moment. June and July tend to be on the cold side. those of you who intend coming to visit us for a certain notable event in 2010, pay attention - Africa does indeed get cold, get the jumpers and jackets in the case!





he is a right little poser when it suits him, isn't he?

i rather like the next one - he's getting rather brave and bold with his climbing across these constructions. not too brave, thankfully. i suppose the purpose of them, other than enormous fun, is to build up some confidence and balance skills. will leave that to the experts to comment on!





now then, James was very keen to have me take a picture of him on the swing, but was not particularly interested in my suggestion that he keep still on it so that i could tale a picture of him on the swing. here's the result!





on the one hand, it would be very nice indeed to pick him up (usually after sitting in traffic for an hour), head home, get dinner ready and do the housework. on the other hand, however, where's the harm in some fun and showing off how good he is?



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Journal For Plague Lovers

i was wondering if the new album from the Manic Street Preachers, Journal For Plague Lovers, would ever make it here. it has, sort of - apparently the album has been listed as being by the "Manic Street Preache", which is why searching for it has mostly turned up blank thus far. never mind, it, and the bewilderingly controversial cover, are at last here.





Journal For Plague Lovers is the 9th album by the band, although strictly speaking it should have been their 4th or perhaps 5th. as has widely been reported on, this album features lyrics left behind by Richey Edwards, the charismatic Manic who has been missing, presumed dead since 1995. well, legally presumed dead at the least. in terms of tone and content, it would certainly fit as a follow up to their much celebrated, arguably greatest work, The Holy Bible. then again, Richey had also delivered some of the lyrics for the album that would be the bands' official 4th release, the brilliant Everything Must Go. whether his lyrics from that album were meant to be included with the ones he left the band that have become this album or if he was working on two different albums at the same time is unknown, and certainly hasn't been commented on thus far.

in the end, it doesn't matter. what very much does matter is that the world once again, in a bizarre scenario, hears the Manic Street Preachers as a four piece band again. as tempting as an awful line like "welcome back, Richey" is to include in a review, it's not the case. instead, we need to go back to Richey and the time he wrote these songs, presumably 1993-1994.





and how things change. when Richey wrote these lyrics, there was no "internet" as we know it these days, and certainly no downloading music. that's right, if you wanted to hear some music, you had to go to a store and buy it. no cellphones either, no laptops, no ipods, not much in the way of satellite/cable tv, and no tv shows dominated by people famous for being famous alone. not that the album is in any way "dated" as a consequence, Richey never really made overt social commentary anyway. he did, however, live in a world free of 24/7 "multimedia" bombardment, and lived in a time where you focused on making an album full of lyrics as good as you could, not now when people seem to make songs that they think might make rather good ringtones for phones.

after the somewhat mellow sounds of This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours and the rather popular, hit-craving sounds of Lifeblood and Send Away The Tigers, the band have done Richey's lyrics a considerable justice by returning to the harsher, confrontational music style that prevailed on the records with Richey in the studio with them. a melodic, catchy and captivating sound certainly, but with a ferocious edge.

and what of the actual content of the album? well, let me make a bold statement up front that i am rather happy to live by - i defy anyone to find an album which starts off with three tracks of astonishing, audacious genius like this one does. perhaps The Stone Roses with the rather different direction from this, but that's about it. the three opening tracks, Peeled Apples, Jackie Collins Existential Question Time and Me And Stephen Hawking are three slices of outstanding music which demand to be played again and again, with each progressive listen being done so with the volume a touch louder than the last, your feet and shoulders tapping and shaking ever more. lyrically all three are of course a riotous journey - Peeled Apples is confrontational (the Levi jean will always be stronger than the Uzi), Jackie Collins is just plain catchy (oh, Mommy, what's a sex pistol?) and Me And Stephen Hawking is bizarre, bittersweet comedy (We missed the sex revolution when we failed the medical").

these opening tracks are as close as you can get to instant classics. just one of them would give most acts an entire career, for the Manics it's just further substance to James Dean Bradfield's rather bold claim from a few years ago; "not everyone can be a musician. not everyone can do this. only we can do this."





and the rest of the album? well above average. without listing them all, there's really not a bad song or "filler" to be found on this whole album. everything has a place here. Nicky Wire has commented that he was always a bit frustrated that he could never inspire James to write music the way Richey's lyrics did. whilst some of the stuff Nicky wrote alone ranks as the best the band has done, his frustrations are justified for all to hear here. it's a fact of life, sunshine, to quote All Is Vanity. James was lucky to meet a gifted lyricist as Richey, and Richey was very, very, very lucky indeed to meet such a sensational voice for his words and ideas as James is.

if it is possible to have a *** SPOILER WARNING *** for an album, then this is it. the last track, William's Last Words is, no matter how much they downplay it in interviews, an eerie, sad, depressingly beautiful end to the album. they have Richey's dear friend Nicky "i can't sing" Wire recite instead of sing this, under the claim that it was intended as "prose, not a song".

no one knows for certain if Richey ran away, disappeared under bizarre or mysterious circumstances or, despite his frequent denials that it was something he would never contemplate, committed suicide. the lyrics to this song / work of prose, however, pretty much make it clear that whatever did happen to Richey, he's not coming back : "Goodnight my sweetheart, Until we leave tonight, Hold me in your arms, Wish me some luck as you, wave goodbye to me, You're the best friends I ever had, Goodnight, sleep tight".





whereas the band have suggested fans do not read "too much" into the track, well, not only did they go ahead and record this, they recorded it with his non-vocalist friend doing vocal duties, and made it the last track on the album (excluding "hidden track" Bag Lady). this isn't the band saying he's dead or still out there, but it is difficult not to see this as them saying "sadly he's gone away, but remember him in this beautiful, eloquent way".

Richey Edwards was/is a beautiful, eloquent creature, someone who the world needed a good deal more than they needed the world. if this is really to be his epitaph, well, rather this beautiful, outstanding collection of songs than the memories of an abandoned car, a missing passport and vast sums of cash withdrawn from the bank, i guess. but as the album ends, it's like losing this cherished, loved being all over again.





if there is any crime or something amiss with Journal For Plague Lovers, then it's probably the bands' decision not to promote it beyond a limited amount of TV appearances, one or two interviews and a short tour, on which they play the album in full. as mentioned, the first three tracks are killers, and any of them would make stunning, classic and long remembered singles. to this end, the decision not to release any single is really odd, since they have gone to the trouble of making a promo video for perhaps the best, certainly the most catchy of the three, Jackie Collins Existential Question Time.





well, a video for it and a "special" clean radio edit of the song, since the premiere of it on radio featured the line "if a married man does a Catholic". the album version is somewhat more direct, shall we say. considerably more descriptive and direct than does, believe me.


after the all too brief and all too limited to Europe tour finishes, Nicky Wire says they are heading back to the studio to work on the next album. whereas it's great that they are not going to sit back and bask in the glory of this qualified masterpiece, well, i hope it's not a sign of them being prepared to casually forget about this album and the great songs on it going forward.

so, should you go and buy this album? oh hell, yes. whether you go for the standard version or the "deluxe" edition (the second disc of demos is not bad, but hardly essential), this is an actual, proper album, instead of a batch of songs just slammed together and released. unless Ian Brown delivers something astonishing later this year, Journal For Plague Lovers will unquestionably grab the title of best album of the year, and could well by the end of next year be seen as the greatest album of the first decade of the 21st Century. buy, embrace and cherish the artistry and sheer pleasure of this album; it has been a while since anything this good has come along to remind us of just how important music is, it could sadly be some time before we ever hear anything this good again.

and, as the band signs off every show, goodnight from Richey.

of ducks and ponies

hey everyone


well, Dad's been camera happy again, and what better forum to show off his pictures than right here? it looks like scenes from a rather splendid Sunday, going off to look at their new horse and see some ducks!

first up, in the bitter sting of autumn on the highveld, here's Richard, Lyla and a very rock n roll looking Mum out if the fields, looking for some ducks!





oh and, in one of the best pics my Dad has taken, here's Erika with the discovered ducks!





the above is a really good picture, well done Dad! or did Mum take it?

next up is a rather fascinating picture of the ducks they sought....





i imagine they are on the prowl looking for food, but i am intrigued as they are (sort of) walking in a straight line. we have a mate Jasper that could get chickens to march in a straight line, but he did that by and large due to giving them a rather heavy dose of acid. i have no idea if the same trick was done on the ducks, but i suspect not!

erm, moving on from that, and it's time to have a gander at the new horse! Lyla is clearly quite taken with him/her/it!





most impressive! and who should be joining them for a look other than the celebrated, much admired and cherished Terry Paine!





i gather they all had a nice spot of lunch after admiring the horse. if Terry and my Dad got on their histories, hobbies and passions as a subject, not to mention putting the world to rights, well then i imagine that the lunch is still going on now, a good few days later!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don Richard

here, according to my dear sister-in-law Erika, is a good picture of my brother Richard.





erm, yes. "good" as in the sense that he has always been rather ace at looking like some sort of mafia don, i suppose! he looks like he's saying "i've ah just taken-a care of dat ting for ya".

here's another pic of him in this outfit - mostly here to show off Lyla, but partially to indicate that yes, he was indeed wearing the shoes to go with the suit.





nice one Richard - at least it's an improvement on your usual black and white outfits!!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Men Who Would Be McQueen

hey everyone

well, i suppose that the only surprising aspect of the proposed Steve McQueen "biopic" is that it has only come close to 30 years after his passing. perhaps someone has had the idea before, but it's only after the publication of the rather well received biography Steve McQueen - Portrait of an American Rebel by Marshall Terrill that a film of this legendary character has piqued the interest of those who can fund films.





the major problem anyone would have in making a film about Steve McQueen, it goes without saying, is casting the lead role. who on earth could possibly play one of the most celebrated, iconic characters from American cinema? it's a daunting task for any actor, you would have thought. they need someone who can look cool and considerably roughed up, who can be a gifted actor, a hellraiser that's miserable to be around at times, yet holds an intellectual capacity of note and deeply cares for those around him. someone somewhere, it seems, has come to the conclusion that the answer to this casting choice is Brad Pitt.





well, OK. on the pic above there's kind of a resemblance. his diverse and, for the most part, impressive filmography thus far suggest that Brad Pitt might be up to the task. as for the accusations of him being a "pretty poster boy", well, yeah, that's what McQueen was! Pitt's notable good looks always remain no matter how roughed up or sinister he is (think Fight Club), as was the case with McQueen. the only reservation i have, and one that would see me against this decision, is that Pitt has such a notable reputation himself that you are going to end up watching Brad Pitt, not an actor playing Steve McQueen.

the debate, however, could be rather academic, as Brad Pitt was recently asked about the project, and his answer was "what the hell are you talking about? i haven't heard anything about any Steve McQueen film". the prospect of a McQueen film has, however, provoked fans to give their suggestions as to who should play the Cooler King, and one or two are not bad at all.

one of the more prominent suggestions is current James Bond actor Daniel Craig. an English actor playing an American legend? hmn, well, all too often the Yanks have played some of Britain's finest, so it's worth considering. and there's the small matter of the striking physical similarities...





hmn, a quality, recognized actor who isn't exactly a "superstar presence" that can certainly match the demands of McQueen. he certainly walks the walk and, as it happens, talks the talk, if you recall how eloquent and soft spoken McQueen was. this, if they really go ahead with this film, is probably their best choice.


a fascinating suggestion is celebrated actor Eric Close. he's known considerably better for his TV work that anything movie related, i particular the brilliant and bewilderingly axed series Now And Again. he's recognizable enough for most of the intended audience, but not quite so well known and established as to have himself overshadow the character he would be playing. if, and it's a big if, they cast Eric Close as Steve McQueen, then it would put the project on the right track, which is to say it's as good an idea as Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, even perhaps Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles. that's if they are doing a proper, well-acted drama version of the life of McQueen, of course. alas, i suspect that they might lean to box office rather than artistic, and thus Mr Close's chances can't be seen as too good.


whatever the merits of these three actors it's rather difficult to see the sense in actually making a film about Steve McQueen since, as this image rather nicely illustrates, there's nothing much that can be said about the man which isn't spoken in his films. most actors would relish having a canon of work only half as cool and as iconic as the legacy left by Steve McQueen. i'd be somewhat interested in a film of the life of McQueen, but then again, as with the likes of Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris and dear old Oliver Reed, the onscreen work speaks volumes, the offscreen antics are so legendary and widely known that you really don't need a film of them. if it came down to a choice between watching a film of McQueen's life story, filled with him falling in and out of love in between racing cars at tremendous speed, or watching one of his classics, well, Bullitt wins.


so, then. good luck to them if they go ahead with a film of McQueen, but if they don't, there's always the image of the man himself to live with.






be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

a rare and justified plug....

well, a very big thank you indeed to the chaps at Matrix Computer Warehouse for their rather astonishing and fast ability to fix the PC upon which i write this! well done chaps, getting it sorted in about 30 minutes (!) is impressive, considering i blew the power pack, the overwhelming majority of the RAM and for good measure corrupted the operating system too!

it's very nice to have a proper, professional computer store in South Africa, which Matrix Computers most certainly are. all too often people who don't know better get conned by those complete clowns at "Incredible Deception", filled with staff that barely know that they sell computers let alone know anything about them!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

classic album : Once Upon A Time by Simple Minds

exactly how much confidence do you have to have in yourself, or how vastly an inflated ego do you need, to leave the biggest ever single of your career off your album? well, to my surprise at the time, that's exactly what Simple Minds did with their 7th (and by some distance best) album, Once Upon A Time.

released in late 1985, i bought it in February 1986 with some vouchers i got for my birthday. i picked it up on tape, and yes i still have the tape and subsequent vinyl purchase. i bought it partly because i liked the band, but mostly because i wanted the excellent (Don't You) Forget About Me in my collection. alas, for reasons unknown to us who had never heard of a film called The Breakfast Club, the song was not included on the album.

never mind - despite the mega, insane size hit single they declined to drop from the album (reasons given : not written by them, didn't like the production, pure spite), it was not and is not missed in the elegant sounds of what was deemed ok to leave on the album, which yes is saying something.





well, where does one begin? right at the beginning, and let it play all the way to the end, really. then play it again. the eight tracks which make up this album are all killer tunes. there's no fillers or "let's make up the time on the record" here, folks, it's all good. a special mention of course to the two big singles from it, All The Things She Said and the amazing Alive And Kicking. other than that, you have the equally impressive Sanctify Yourself, which i seem to recall was also put out as a single.

one of the more interesting tracks on the album is Ghostdancing, featuring the lines You talk about the Lebanon, You tell me 'bout the Dawn in Eden, You talk about South Africa, I tell you about the Irish children, which suggests they were rather fed up of the likes of Bono, Sting et al telling them all about problems around the world instead of looking at their own home. the tragedy of Simple Minds is that they didn't keep it as simplistic and home based as this; within 5 years of this album they were pontificating to levels even worse than Bono. i believe it was in Glasgow that Jim Kerr brought a concert to a standstill to discuss the "blood on the grass" for 5 or so minutes, purely because some South Africans had stood upon it. fans got bored, and wandered off.





after Once Upon A Time came their brilliant, audacious reading of Belfast Child, followed by a disappointing album, the a-cause-and-a-cliche-per song borefest that was Street Fighting Years. they are still active these days, but distinctly low key. a great shame, for when you listen to this album once again, you realize just how bloody brilliant the band were.





most of you with no Simple Minds would probably be better off getting one of the many greatest hits packages available, the first of which, Glittering Prize, remains the best. at least on the hits albums they allowed Forget About Me to appear! picking up Once Upon A Time is, however, well worth your time. it's the sound of a band on top form, and a sound from when music mattered, and musicians had to push themselves to greater heights than they do now to get success.

read the book, play the game......

every now and then one gets taken by surprise at the arrival of a decent, above average debut novel. whereas i would not normally touch a debut novel until i had read the further three or four published works of a writer, i made a happy exception in the case of something called Devils Island by the rather well hyped but nonetheless slightly mysterious Frank de Sales. whereas there's a good deal about him on the interwebnet and countless radio appearances by this writer, his origins are somewhat sketchy.

no matter, this macarbe horror / thriller debut of his is a marvel of dark humour, wit and entertainment. in many respects the book is the personification of post-modernist ideals; as a work it should be considered as the purest deconstruction of existentialism since the latter works of Pynchon.

you can order the novel, and indeed play the fine game inspired by it, by clicking here.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New Art Riot

hey everyone

well, as commented on earlier, rather bewilderingly a decision has been made to censor or obscure the artwork for the new Manic Street Preachers album. whereas this has had some fair press coverage, with most people and papers coming out against the decision to cover up a fine work of art, the campaign against it hasn't had as much coverage, if any.

a rather committed of Manics fans have launched an admirable campaign to make sure the artwork in question is indeed visible in and around the stores which have bewilderingly covered it up, and where possible placing a sticker on the actual artwork over the blank cover which takes its place on the shelves.





whereas not quite as nosy or merry as the G8 protests or things like that, it sounds like the spreading of these posters and the proper artwork have been widespread enough to at least warrant a mention somewhere in the press, but alas so far no. oh well, as ever, the press (in particular in the UK) just love banging on about the right to free speech and expression, but rarely enjoy covering examples of it. that, and knowing full well who dictates (or at least greatly influences) editorial policy, perhaps the advertising managers of certain publications have stepped in and suggested the story not be covered. ho hum.





a very well done indeed to those who have made a stand and a statement against this rather silly decision to block the world seeing a fine piece of art!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fun with haircuts

hey everyone

James, for reasons we cannot fathom, has a major issue with his hair. he really can't stand to have it washed, and he's really not a happy camper when it's time for a trim. Michele does her best to do it quickly and nicely for him, but it ends up being a rather theatrical crying session, and costs us an awful lot in lollies and sweets to try and keep him still.

Michele eventually managed to get his hair trimmed a bit (well done!); it was going right over his eyes and ears so we had little choice. one of the factors, oddly, that persuaded him to let us cut it was having a go with our new vacuum cleaner when done!

here's the finished product!





a very good job with the hair under rather trying circumstances, well done munchkin! and yes, i know i am probably going to get knacked for putting up pics of you in your "Sunday best", also known as your pyjamas!

James was somewhat more enthusiastic about the vacuum cleaner than he was about the hair cut. a pity that he didn't actually hoover up any of the trimmed hair, but never mind!





now, usually James doesn't like having his picture taken. today, however, instead of wanting to get home from school and watch his favourite shows, he was rather keen to show me his skills on the jungle gym climbing frame thingie, and have me take some pictures of him! enjoy them, it's rare to get posed images!





sorry the quality of these are a bit off - i believe my settings on this phone camera thing are wrong. well, that and quickly wiping remnants of Marlboro leafs and shreds of a rather fine chocolate muffin that hit my pocket probably didn't help.





i very much doubt that we shall try another haircut before November / December, really. who knows? by then he might have become a bit more style / fashion conscious and ask us to do it!!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

40 years (and 2 days) ago.....

hey everyone

well, after his birthday Dad "remembered" (as in Mum reminded him) that it was 40 years ago on his birthday that the two of them got engaged! to mark the occasion, here is a pic of their engagement day / evening!





a rather good scanning job, Dad! didn't take too long to neaten it up to post here! oh, and as you were going to send this to me to scan in an envelope, do i take it as Mum didn't know you were sending it? will leave you to explain that one!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary Richard and Erika!!

hello there


somewhat late, but i only got the pictures today! a very happy anniversary indeed to Richard and Erika!! four fantastic years, and here's to many, many more!





it hardly seems that long ago! their wedding was a most excellent day - The King and someone who isn't The King called Frank Sinatra performed for us all, we quaffed several ales and, to the sound of Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, we let the family know that James was on his way!

of course, it wasn't long before you were making an announcement of your own!!





looks like you had a fantastic time away to celebrate!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Longaberger - what an ace idea for a building

Longaberger are an American Company which makes baskets.

they apparently do so from premises which look very much like their product!





what an excellent building! hats off to Longaberger for daring to have a building that they wanted; rather than some pony-tailed architect have them build something that looks like a shopping centre and/or every other Corporate Headquarters!





thanks for taking & sending on these pics, Dad!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

photo season returns to New Zealand

hi everyone

well, it seems that once again people can take pictures in the land they call New Zealand with gay abandon. many thanks to Gillian, Grant, Daniel and Katie for sending some new ones.

by the way, does anyone have any rational answer as to why "New Zealand" fails a spelling check thingie? do the Americans who designed all the software (and thus enforced their inane grammar and spelling on us) think that it's all part of Australia or something?

anyway, first up it's a rare picture of the superhero they call New Zealand Man.....





now, i am not allowed to reveal his secret identity, and further i am not in any way, shape or form allowed to discuss how much he looks like Daniel. let us just leave him to do his work!

on the subject of Daniel, however, it seems that he and Katie are sworn to a mission whereby they make Grant's morning as interesting as possible. James does similar things, insomuch as he doesn't like getting out of bed on a cold morning (who does?). he doesn't, however, subject me to this treatment. yet.





what a good sport, Grant, it makes mornings look like fun!!

onwards, then, to a place called Matheson Bay. they all went off for the weekend to this fine looking place, and it would seem they had fantastic fun. Katie found a rather elegant, excellent play castle to become Queen of!





and when not dispensing Royal summons from there, it looks like Katie found the time to go for a walk along a rather sandy beach in a place called Omaha. now that is interesting; i type Omaha and get no spelling quarrel, but still do with New Zealand.





looks all very nice, if not a touch windy when you all went to visit!

now then, here's one of those pics which speak for itself, so i will add nothing to it. enjoy!





and finally, many of you probably are not missing my comments about sheep. for the one or two of you that are, however, i must confess i think that making comments about Grant and sheep are childish, silly and getting a little stale. i will not, then, be writing about Grant and sheep in this post.

how fortunate, then, that Grant would willingly pose by some llamas for a picture, and how wise or unwise of Gillian to make sure that i got a copy of it!





i have not before encountered or heard any tales of having fun with llamas, i must confess. however, that low-ish, easy to climb or cut down fence couple with the smile on Grant's face suggests that, much like with the sheep, Grant could probably [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE] without having to get as much wear and tear on the knees as usual. that said, the llamas do look somewhat faster than the average sheep, so i would imagine that Grant would probably have to [TEXT OBSCURED ON LEGAL ADVICE], or in an extreme case ask someone else to hold the leash and politely look away.


many thanks for the new pictures!!!!


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!