Simon is one of those gems that the human species pops out from time to time. I could rave on at length about him - but I am simply really grateful that I know him. Though the ease with which he seems to accomplish everything can be somewhat frustrating to be around (perhaps this is a bit like you - the ease of accomplishment that is). Though I suspect that ease is a bit like luck, which a note that a friend of mine once sent to me said of: "The funny thing about luck is that it has the odour of perspiration about it". He and Melissa below kindly have me to stay when I'm in Cape Town which delights me. Melissa is like Simon in capability (though perhaps more so, because along with being one of the (in my opinion - but I'm not alone in this view) environmental law legal super-heavies in South Africa, she also is a seriously accomplished pianist and painter, whilst being appallingly bilingual as well. And she is really lovely (which I find strange, because how do you have time to be like that, with all the other stuff going on) I really like both these photos - because I think their collective kind gentility is so evident to me. Melissa has galacial purpose and humour - unstoppable, perpetual momentum (I learned about glaciers from Simon, there are very few places the two of them have not been. I think what I find most lovely about them as a collective is that they are like a long zip - they fit so well together on so many levels - it's just lovely - and one of those is a sort of moral ethical level - which regrettably seems quite rare to me in people. Ordinarily I would think that baby pics from outside the family would be a bit of a no-no on your blog. But this is no ordinary snapper. This is Finn - who on the basis of nature and nurture is going to be a handful for the wicked and unkind and unjust of this planet, and I thought for this reason alone he should have a place - besides it's also his house I stay in when I go there. He's a really sweet little kid - chatty as anything (his dad can talk BIG TIME, so no surprise there), and has this delightful look of surprise on his face quite a bit of the time - as if the world is just terrifically fascinating (which it is).
After work, a walk in a park in Rondebosch, which I smiled at, because I can remember riding my very early version mountain bike (a thing called a Raleigh Bomber to be specific) down its little stream and through it's undergrowth lite. Love the windshaped and pruned trees - a reminder of what the Cape is like.
This is my lovely friend AJ Bull - who is exactly as his name suggests - direct, placid when engaged in his own persuits, and strictly not to be provoked (I say this with a smile, because I have provoked him on many occasions - but I think perhaps I'm one of the herd). He is not a small man. AJ is my oldest mate; I've known him for forty years - which is as long as I can know anyone. We've had two principle passions in our lives, fishing (I share his enthusiasm, but definitely not his expertise - in fact perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I go fishing, AJ goes catching) and now photography. He's also followed your whole life, without you knowing it, I can remember calling him from the tickie-box (yes mate, you are now officially that old) in the foyer of Die Wilgers hospital to tell him about you just after you were born. It was a complete delight to see him and spend time with him - though for not long enough - regrettably. Marnie and his two girls were in the UK - so no pics of them this time.
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