foolproof sunshine

as i hear stories of massive amounts of snow from the usa and uk, i am still enjoying my endless amount of sunshine and warmth. while i miss curling up with blankets, tea, and a lap-cat, but this weather does have it perks.

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i finally posted the first finished video for the website i am hired to work for, roddy bray's great guides. the website is to feature 'guides' from all different walks of life to talk about the subject they are passionate for. some guides so far have focused on waldorf education, great white shark photography, muscle activation, walking safari's in africa, global roots music, fynbos flora, and more. each guide will have their own page and be able to sell audio downloads (recorded 'talks'), documents, mail ordered items and more. my job is to make a profile video for every single great guide. the website is still being developed, and when we get the next update finished, i will let you all know.

but without further ado, the video (click here if no youtube video is embedded)...



gordon oliver is an extraordinary man. i was able to meet him on my study abroad class to south africa two years ago and my amazement never ceased. he is so humble that you would never know all of his accomplishments and work, but get him talking about what he's done and it just keeps piling up and up. this man lead a protest against the government on the 5th day of his term as mayor of cape town. he truly is dedicated to equal rights to all regardless or race, sex, religion, sexual orientation, etc. his work for the unitarian church and his drive to explore all paths of expression of faith fascinate me. i could go on and on, but here are just some more photos, a photo of a reply letter handwritten by nelson mandela, and his speech that he gave when nelson mandela was released on feb. 11th, 1990. at the end is a shot of the orchestra that was rehearsing as we were shooting. just stopping by for a couple minutes to listen to that made me itch to go see the orchestra more often.









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roddy and i worked with starting up another great guide, philip constandius, our great guide to the winelands and garagiste wine making. our shoot in the heart of the winelands brought us in the middle of so much beautiful landscapes. to my protest, roddy thought that we couldn't sip wine the entire day as we did the video to try to really 'experience' what the video was about.



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this was one of the last sunsets i was able to watch from scarborough, before i helped the family pack and move out to hout bay, just up the coast a bit. we are no longer on the beach, but it is only a short (5k) bike ride away. we had a 'house cooling' party, which i had to work through part of it (see sign), frantically packed that night and the next morning, and then spent two days loading our kombi (80s vw van) to go back and forth between the new house or a storage garage. i was able to get settled in, and started directly into my first book from the bookshelves here, to kill a mockingbird. now i am onto the posionwood bible, and enjoying the occasional visit from my friend, the baboon spider. the house has a great second-floor rear deck that runs the length of the house, and the view of the mountains is a great reason to get up in the morning. there aren't as many stars here, but the houses on the other side of the valley provide some of the same effect.









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tonight we went out for candlelit christmas carols. we decided to hike in from the back of the garden that was hosting it, and made an evening out of our hike, picnic dinner, and carols. the forest at the start of the trail was amazing (made me wish for a trip to california) with many of the trees being really really tall. we even found the beginnings of a wigwam, which the girls loved. the caroling was another experience all itself, with over 5,800 people there at the start of the evening. it made me really glad we parked at our secret spot...






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my last note is on a book that i found at the house here that i wish i had as a kid. it is so imaginative and simple that i spent about an hour playing with it and trying different page combinations. the top half of the book can be changed individually from the bottom, allowing for all sorts of fun joined images to be created. really well done.






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it is starting to hit me that it is christmas back home and i am going to be missing out on it. and of course, it is likely to be the first white christmas in a long time. but now rachel's parents are here so having grandparents around will feel pretty typical of the holidays. i think we are also going to put together a makeshift tree soon... more on that later. but i hope all is well and that shoveling all that snow is a lot of fun.

to giant trees and warm december nights,
tbk