Nineteen years

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I’m back from a most excellent long weekend with the football boys just in time for our wedding anniversary. Yep, it is – as beagle-eyed readers may already have spotted – 19 years since my wife and I tied the matrimonial knot in Kirstenbosch gardens with several (or more) tourists watching on as unofficial witnesses.

If I ever doubted that I was punching well above my weight before, then I was firmly reminded of the fact this evening as she headed out to a black tie work thing* and I was asked to do some photos beforehand.

Wowzers…

That was exactly the gif I had in mind. Exactly.

Look, maybe the soft evening light filtering through the smoke from the fire on Table Mountain helped, or maybe she is just stunningly beautiful and I got very, very lucky.

Maybe it’s both.

Anyway, here’s to the next 19 years and beyond.

* it’s ok – we will make sure that we do an anniversary dinner together soon.

Anthropocene – but not the song

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The song being the one I shared a few weeks ago.

What a way to start a Monday morning.

Same subject, different angle. Rather than wax lyrical (quite literally) about the damage we are doing to the planet, there are some really good – and by “good”, I mean “horrifying” – studies and projects being done to illustrate it.

One of the biggest issues seems to be defining the Anthropocene geological epoch. But while geologists fight about whether it began in the 1950s with the first test of the thermonuclear bomb, we’re still ruining what’s left of the earth anyway.

It’s a pretty depressing subject, but there are some very interesting and beautifully ugly images to enjoy or endure on these two links, detailing the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky and his colleagues.

NPR

PetaPixel

CRC

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This image of a Cape Robin-Chat (Dessonornis caffer) has been sitting in my “photos I might do something with” folder for a little while now. And so I’m going to do something with it.

I’m going to put it on here.

Almost too common visitors to the back gardens over here but rarely photographed (perhaps because they are bread and butter), they can be a bit skittish around humans and a bit aggressive with other birds. Territorial can like to be their middle name.

Great at welcoming in those autumnal mornings with a bit of cheer.

Weekend long read: Cable repairs

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An article from The Verge all about the unseen and unsung heroes who hang around out in the deep ocean, ready to fix any one of the hundreds of undersea cables that transport our internet (you’re on it right now) all around the world.

It’s a great read – really fascinating stuff – if you can manage with the occasional, but very annoying, graphics, which don’t do much to help illustrate the story.

Still, give it a go here.

HOW TO BUY MEAT

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I’m going away.
It’s ok, blog posts will continue.

But because I’m not sure of the internet connectivity around where we’re going, I’ve lobbed some posts up in advance, just in case.

And also because this is a football club weekend, almost certainly including some beers and some braai’ing, I’ve been on the lookout for this vinyl rarity:

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really struggled with the concept before, but with a top restauranteur and a guy who brought ¾ of a cow up to Kruger last year coming along, I think I need to be at my best.

Thankfully, the USDA seem to have this all sorted for me, so I guess I’ll just follow their instructions.
I’ve already got my scary eyes and pointing finger ready.

What could go wrong?