Halfway through 2011

Here are some photos of the events that have taken place this year, in alphabetical order. Captions under each group of photos. I can’t get my head around the fact that we are past the halfway mark this year already, time passes so quickly, I have to keep reminding myself to enjoy the moments along the way. Thanks to all of you that have been part of the journey so far.






Ballito with Costa


Carol’s 50th


Cansa Day at work


Devin starts high school



Day with Dee



Harry’s farm on the Limpopo river


Jenny’s 50th


Kiara’s MRI and all is well



Lance visits from Wales


Lee Ann leaves for Australia



Madam Zingara, a supperclub memory




Mangwanani with Luke, Tarryn and Nanna



Mother’s day, with all my kids and mom



Tim Holtz, the scrapping “King?” and Lee Ann


Tarryn’s birthday




Tarryn leaves for Australia


Rock ‘n roll party


Voting day




Zoo with the kids

Well the end of the year has come and gone and I hope that 2011 is a much better year.

2010 was an interesting one

Family losses
End of primary school
1000’s of photos
New friends
Skyping Wales, Australia and USA
First dam swim and medal for Natasha
Supperclubs
Romantic break up’s
New romances
Kiara started singing training
Magwanani spa day
QA manager appointment
Moved teams at work
Soiree at Kiara’s school
Devin’s tennis trophy at school
and...

Bryan Adams


Tarryn’s 21st


Tarryn’s 21st gift


My birthday


Drakensberg weekend


Difficult exams


Cooking classes


New kitten


World Cup games


Weekend to PE for the Greece game


Bookclubs


Gautrain trips


Phuket holiday


Kiara’s band


Uriah Heep and Deep Purple


Fun with Dee


Exotic restaurants


Mystery ghost bus tour


Visit to Maropeng


Murder dinner


Vegetable garden


Team building visit to the maze


Friends Christmas @ Jenny & Darrel


Luke arrives at last


Cape Town visit for the kids


Hysterectomy 3 weeks ago


My team, still tops!


Birthday party for Luke, Matthew & Devin @ Megan’s place


Family Christmas


Christmas tree


Christmas eve


Until next time, lots of love and happiness
Tasha

Last night, I went with the work photography group to take photos of the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg. The lights on the bridge change colour and we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to get to the 6th floor of one of our buildings for the shoot. A lot of admin and organizing to get that in place, I am sure.


I learnt a lot, that there is a whole new camera language out there, with terms like aperture and F-stop and hundreds more terms to learn. I learnt that I have a manual and auto setting on my lens, as well as on my camera itself!


I learnt that if you have to use a timer and have a wide aperture setting, you can’t hurry the process once you have pressed the button. Patience is very much part of the game. So was frustration, I kept wanting to get the pretty pink and purple or electric blue colours but mostly had to settle for the red and orange ones.


I also learnt that the spirit of camaraderie is very much alive and well in my world. I had people helping me to set up my tripod, adjust my settings and just generally enquire how I was doing the whole time. I was so impressed and grateful to know these caring colleagues, who missed a whole lot of their own photo opportunities to assist me.



Also, that the goodwill reaches beyond our company, a caretaker from a building behind the bridge that was lit up and causing lighting problems on the photos, switched off the lights of the building for the duration of our shoot. How awesome was that!

The spirit of abuntu and the ayoba feelings are not just part of the face our nation showed during the World Cup, they are things that we ordinary citizens of this fabulous country encounter every day. Take time to appreciate them!

To the bunch of people at work that have a common passion for photography,
I am very grateful.

Can’t believe that I have been blogging for over 4 years already! Seems like the other day that I started. I love having this online journal of our lives.

I had a spit braai for my birthday in April. A bunch of friends and family braved the cold to join us on the day. Got a message from my friend Linda afterwards and she said something like “cold hands but lots of warm hearts”. That’s how I felt too. I am so grateful to be able to have these amazing people in my life. I was so spoilt with thoughtful gifts, calls and messages.

Been to see a couple of movies with the girls and hired a lot of dvd’s. My 101 movies on my goals list is almost complete. In fact, my list is progressing rather well. Got my vegetable garden growing well, thanks to Costa’s help. Been to my World Cup games, did the Body Talk course and went on the Ghost bus tour. Tarryn organized that as my birthday present and I loved every minute of it!


The tour ended in the cemetery at midnight!

I wrote my 3 hour exam to become an advanced test manager and managed to pass that! I love studying and wonder why I ever stopped. Being a professional student would have suited me just fine.

In May I went to watch my favourite band Uriah Heep, also Deep Purple and Wishbone Ash. When Uriah Heep played, I left our proper seats and went into the crowd and acted like a hooligan. I loved it so much, they played my all-time best song “July Morning” and I could never explain how I felt as I sang along with them!

We are in the middle of the World Cup and what a fantastic time it has been for me. I love the spirit that I feel all around me, at work, at the games, in the streets, driving in cars and seeing the flags waving about. I hope that some of it lingers for a long time after the last friendly tourist has left our beautiful country.

I got to go to 3 games and sent Tarryn and Devin to the Spain Honduras one that I had tickets for, so everyone got to attend. So far I have not been to any game that the team I support has won. Bafana should have given me tickets and paid me to support their opposition! I loved every minute of it all the same. Hope that my real team Brazil can do something spectacular. I watched the Italy Slovakia game yesterday and Italy was sent home, much to kiara’s disappointment, although the tourists made up for our woes!

Today in the draw at work I got Slovakia! Got to see 2 of the Greece games, my best was the Greece Argentina clash.


Life is good otherwise, I just have a travel itch again, no big plans made yet, did a Port Elizabeth weekend in June where we saw the Greece Korea game. Won the most awesome tickets, right at the tunnel and got close-up photos of the players

A Drakensburg weekend coming up in July, Sun City weekend in August and a trip to be decided and booked coming up for September.

I still spend a lot of time on Facebook and still play Farmville, much to the disgust of my family and friends. Still do monthly supperclub, bookclub even in pj's!


dinner with Megan, sushi with Jenny, did the Gautrain with Dee this month and that was loads of fun too!

The kids have a long holiday and I managed to get them tickets to Cape Town for a week to visit their cousins there. Mom and the kids are well, Tarryn has got 3 jobs now! Went to play putt putt one freezing evening and crossed that of the list too!

Missing my far away friends so much, so to you, know that you are always in my thoughts! And to the rest of you, I am so glad that you are all part of my life.

Have fun, keep warm and keep the spirit going!

Love
Tasha
:-)