Bramley Famli

Today is Jordi’s last gala as an under 9. It’s at Crawford Sandton, and as I sit here writting this I’m sure her nerves are building. This post is an evolving post, blow by blow account of the unfolding events:

• Carli and I are waiting for Jordi to finish school. We’re sitting in the shade on a hot Jozi summer day.
• Jordi’s out of school and we’re on our way.
• Carli and I have glue from a pine cone all over our hands. And it’s not coming off : )
• Big day for Jordi. One of her mates is injured so she’s excited to be swimming every event. First time she tells me.
• Jordi just swam backstroke. Gold. Yeah!
• Breaststroke equals another first. Woo Hoo!
• Freestyle was tight. I think a 2nd, but touch and go. A swimmer fer sure.
• U9 Mixed relay a big big win
• Ladder relay another first
• Carli’s over the moon because spectator children get an ice-cream : )

Great end to the season. Well done Jordi. Well done Bramley spectator team, I’m sure Jordi’s grateful.

Carli had a fun day at school the other day. She and her mates were tasked with coming to school dressed as a character from a book. Leish kicked into gear and collected 4 or 5 costumes from mates (we were in the final stages of packing so all of our stuff was somewhere in a box). And Carli being Carli, looked through the options and chose the kewlest outfit. I say ‘Carli being Carli’, because I know many people (and I imagine this applies to children as well) who’d have chosen to go as someone they strongly identify with.

There were Manchester United players (this choice could not have been a ‘dress the kewlest’ option), there were one or two Lilo’s, there was even one ‘Captain Underpants’. I do believe this young man learned a big lesson on the day…. Captain Underpants only works when you’re 19 and heavily under the influence of alcohol, and it only just works in those circumstances. Leish said the other kids pulled him to pieces. He looked great, it was ‘done’ well…. you can imagine : )

So Carli went as a witch. Which witch was still a mystery as she climbed into the car in the morning, because the outfit had everything to do with the outfit and very little to do with a character she identified with. I could be mistaken, but I think she settled on the witch from Hansel and Gretel?

Click here for pics of her getting ready with Jordi.

There’s surely a movie coming about this particular teacher in the future!

His name is Dr Fred Stocking, and I certainly can’t do the story any justice. You need to go and read/listen to it yourself.  He died in July this year, and Barbara Bradley Hagerty, one of his former students wrote the short reflection.

As I read through his letters the other day, I came across his favorite poem by e.e. cummings: “If Everything Happens That Can’t Be Done.” I don’t have a clue what it means. But I keep trying to unlock it. Because that’s part of Fred’s genius. Never stop puzzling over life. Swim in big ideas. And of course, consult your stomach.

There’s a link to download the audio of the article once you’re on the site. It includes a few sound bites of Dr Stocking.

I’n not sure I had a teacher like this? I had good ones, but not sure any great ones : (

Friday night was Leish’s 20 year high school reunion. Mine was 2 years ago. So that makes me older and provides a little insight to the interesting feelings that float around at such events : ) I don’t know if there is a correlation, but one of Leish’s good mates pulled out on Friday afternoon around 16:00. Of course there was a good reason, but I wonder?

The 20 yr reunion shared the school hall with the 10 yr reunion and the school celebration of 25 years in it’s current form. So it couldn’t be and wasn’t the piss up mine was, and it did lack the intimacy of focus just the
20 yr reunion might have had, but it was a beautifully diverse and a proud night shared by all.

I enjoyed meeting Leish’s school mates and getting a taste of her world way back then. Some really good people have shared her world.

It’s not often, if ever, that I’ve seen such pride in a school, as speech after speech gave testimony to a school that made something very spectacular of itself over the past 25 years.

Leish contributed 2 years to the history that was unveiled last night. If friends, stories and teachers who remembered her are to go by, she certainly added more than what was expected of her.

Had I been her last night, I would have felt incredibly proud to have been a part of Stirling High School. But I’ll leave that for you to explore….

Leish and I are in Gonubie, East London this morning. We came down for Leish’s 20 year high school reunion. Because Leish lived in East London for a while, we picked a B&B in Gonubie to stay at.

We chose the Red Pepper. And we chose well. Picking a place off of the net can be risky. It can be exciting. But it is always fun. In the words of Forest Gump, slightly altered, ‘Picking a B&B off the Internet is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get?’

Colleen runs the place, and from our first encounter via email she was superb. Helpful, professional and welcoming. And she’s all that and more in real life.

Red Pepper is on the Main road through Gonubie. They boast views of the Gonubie river. To be honest we thought it was a bit of ‘poetic Internet licence’ to make such a claim. With Leish having lived in Gonubie, we just couldn’t picture how there’d be a good view of the river? But what a view we got. The sea to the right and this big, wide and gentle river off to the left. Sitting high up on a hill, second floor of the B&B, on our balcony sipping sundowners last night and coffee this morning. About as romantic as you could hope for, spoiled completely by Leish’s harsh cough and flu ridden body : (

If ever you find yourself in the greater East London area, and Gonubie seems like an option, find your way to the Red Pepper. I’d book in advance. It’s a 5 star venue, who’ve had some pretty impressive people stay at it, judging by the visitors book. Of course they’ve now also had us to add to their list of distinguished guests : )

Online you can find them at SA Venues and make a booking from there.

One of my favourite TED videos is by Sir Ken Robinson and the name of his talk is ‘Do schools kill creativity?‘ His conclusion is, yes they do. If you’ve never watched it, it’s worth the large download and the 20 min it takes to watch it.

Leish sent me a link to a similar video clip by Alan Watts (a philosopher). He makes a similar point in 2 minutes. It’s not as entertaining or as interesting as Robinson’s talk on TED, but it makes the exact same point. Take a look for yourself.

Via Twitter last week, I received an invitation to write every now and then for JoziKids. It’s a great web site with some fantastic resources and happenings in and around Jozi to do with your kids.

They’re also amazingly active on Twitter, and certainly worth following.

I happened to have an article I’d recently written that suited their space. On Tuesday this week it was published. Was really good to have something out there that I’d written in a space I loved (and still do) for so long.

You can see it here. It’s called ‘You cannot call on the Incredible Hulk’, and was inspired by interaction with some grade 1′s and a school principal. A fun story, a fun write, and hopefully a worthwhile read.

On Saturday we went to the Grayston Prep Carnival. It’s always a very kewl day with the girls. Lots for them to do and plenty of fun to be had. Was a little different this year in that Jordi had a netball inter-house comp in the morning as part of the carnival. We’ve normally had the day to play with the girls.

Leish and I had 2 duties (bacon and avo roll stand as well as pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey). So we had to balance our duties with watching Jordi play netball. I never got to see her play as I drew the short straw and man-ed the stands (I guess that’s why you don’t hear women-ed the stand) and Leish jumped between netball and making rolls.

Twas a fun day never-the-less and I got the best compliment from Jordi. She said that pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey was the kewlest stand at the carnival cos it had the funnest dad on duty. So I discretely helped every child get the tail where the tail had to go (ensuring the best prizes) but outside of that I figured I was pretty darn fun : )

Only one photo to display, taken by Leish while I cooked.

Last week I was invited, with all the other dads, to a Father’s Day at Carli’s School. Was a super fun morning.

We had to draw a picture of each other. We built blocks. We started a puzzle. We went to ball skills. We went to music together. And we had juice and cake together.

Was a magical morning spent with Carli. I felt loved, and fully focused on. A wonderful Father’s Day treat.

On Sunday we headed off to Wits Uni for a Thrass Family Sing-A-Long that Jordi was a part of.

Carli tagged along as always. With Jordi’s weekend school schedule hotting up, we’re starting to feel a little for Carli. She doesn’t moan or resist or wish she could be somewhere else, but I imagine there is a time coming soon where she will. We made a special effort this time to get Jordi to thank Carli for coming and supporting her. Still we all had heaps of fun.

I wasn’t sure what we were going to, but it was a really well run event. Enjoyed the morning completely.

I’ve attached a truck load of pics of the event. I went up onto stage and all the kids from Jordi’s school wanted a photo taken, hence the volume that you see. Click here to see them.