Family and festive season

The Christmas holiday season was quite busy for us in Grahamstown. We had three lots of visitors. First Christopher and Shoana came for a few days, and while they were still here Rosie arrived.
I drove with Mila to Port Elizabeth to pick Rosie up. On the way back we stopped at the famous Nanaga Farm Stall. It was fun and we bought a few things.

Rosie stayed in Zoe's bedroom, while Zoe shared Mila's room during the duration of Rosie's stay.
Christopher and Shoana took over the flatlet.


The next day we had our first ever dinner in the dining room of our new house. We actually got Thai food take-aways and ate by candlelight. There was a great family feel to the dinner.

I believe we all enjoyed it thoroughly.
Continuing in tourist mode, we had a lovely visit to Bathurst where we had to pop in to see the great pineapple. It is very impressive and we had loads of fun.

After the pineapple we had dinner at the recently re-opened Pig and Whistle pub. The food was OK but what was realy interesting was the furniture shop incorporated into the pub.
There was an absolutely beautiful desk that came from Zimbabwe - that we couldn't afford.
Ilza was very interested in a second hand lounge suite. It looked good and the price was not too bad but it would have been quite a problem arranging transport.

Traditional African Music

From End of school year 2008

Left to right - Laina Gumboreshumba and Andrew Tracey on mbiras, Hilton Borerwe on the drum with his brother Malvin on the shakers.

The four musicians, using traditional African musical instruments, gave a special performance at the launch cocktail of the Digital Heritage Repatriation Workshop at the International Library for African Music (ILAM) of Rhodes University. The aim of the workshop is to share experiences with other African organisations on how ILAM is digitising its entire music collection.
There is concern that a large proportion of music archived in various repositories across Africa is in danger of being lost because of less than ideal storage facilities. This week's workshop at ILAM aims to discuss ways of digitising valuable archives and methods of returning traditional African to the people who have lost their musical heritage.

Mila and Zoe at Rhodes pool

Mila and Zoe at Rhodes pool
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

03:21 PM 08 December 2008 Fun at Rhodes swimming pool Mila and Zoe at Rhodes swimming pool. It was very hot today so the swim was very welcome.

Zoe enjoying a Kola tonic

Zoe enjoying a Kola tonic
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

01:11 PM 08 December 2008 081220081025 It was very hot, but we enjoyed the summer's day

Mila at Dulce's having a juice

Mila at Dulce's having a juice
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

01:11 PM 08 December 2008 081220081026 It was the first day of my leave, so I took Mila, Zoe and Ilza to ahve some lunch at Dulce.

Mila is top of her grade

From End of school year 2008

For the fourth consecutive year, Mila has come top of her grade. For the first three years of her schooling at Blairgowrie, she was in first place not only of her class but the whole grade.
Changing schools did not appear to deter her at all - now she has come top of her grade again - this time at Victoria Primary.
Congratulations Mila - we are all so proud of you!
Lots of Love and Hugs and Kisses from Mommy and Daddy

School trip to Port Alfred

School trip to Port Alfred
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

08:02 AM 28 November 2008 Zoe's class at Victoria Primary go on school outing Grade One left on a school trip to Kelly's Beach in Port Alfred. They had a great outing and when Zoe came back she was telling us all about molluscs, octopi and barnacles. They had a lot of fun and I believe they really enjoyed themselves too.

Victoria Primary Christmas concert

Victoria Primary Christmas concert
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

05:56 PM 27 November 2008 27112008964 Both girls sang in the Christmas carols concert held at the school. It was entertaining. I think they sang well.

Grading at Karate

Mila and Zoe did their grading at Karate this evening. Mila got her yellow belt and Zoe got her junior yellow belt. They both did extremely well and I was very proud of both of them.
We all missed Ilza who is still in Johannesburg.
Mila, Zoe and I went to 137 High Street to celebrate their achievements.
It was great.

One cool father Xmas

One cool father Xmas
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

09:34 AM 23 November 2008 23112008946 Soon after a triathlon in PE, I took Mila, Zoe and friend - Kristen to a shopping centre for some brunch. It was really nice, Mila only did the cycling leg and friend Kristen did the swimming part. Zoe and I were the cheerleaders.

Cow and Steve

Cow and Steve
Originally uploaded by Camel Ryder

12:28 PM 02 November 2008 Me with a cow in Sandton City I had to pose with this cow reading a newspaper in Sandton City. After a press conference at the Sandton Conference Centre, I took a stroll into Sandton City where I had brunch at the cafe right next to this bench. The breakfast was a little disappointing, but the cow was fun.

Mamma Mia

The four of us went to see the movie Mamma Mia at Roxy's at Pepper Grove Mall so we were all feeling unusually silly - as you can see in the pictures.



After the movie we went to Dulce and had a late sort of lunch. The whole day was very entertaining.

Ilza takes Mila, Zoe and Steve to see the Mikado

Last night we went to see the Mikado. It was a great production at the Monument.
It was the first opera/operetta for the girls so we we not sure how they were going to deal with it.
The production last about two and a half hours. During the overture, Zoe got very fidgety because she couldn't see anything, she kept asking me questions and I tried to calm her down.
One the actors came on stage she was fine and behaved well.

Mila was absolutely transfixed by the whole production. She clearly loved it.

I really enjoyed being out with my family. It was great that Ilza took the initiative to get the tickets and take us all out.

Winter's day at Kenton-on-sea

It was a beautiful quiet weekend. We have recovered from the National Arts Festival and we are now getting ready for the new term at Rhodes and of course in two weeks time we move to our new house.
We had a great time, playing on the sand dunes, then we walked in among the rocks that had been exposed by the low tide.
I took some photographs of seagulls with my Olympus.
We slowly walked to the mouth of the Kariega River and then I helped Mila and Zoe dig moats, dams and river channels.

We had lunch at the restaurant on the beach - great pizzas and then a relaxing drive back home to watch some cricket.

Ilza, Mila and Zoe went to a special lecture by a Karate expert. They got dressed for the part because they had to do some exercises.
I am very happy they are doing Karate.
They look very cool in their uniforms

Today, Mila and Zoe tried their hand at making some video clips. First they sang a duo.

The they had a couple of practice skits which were a little strange, but fun nevertheless.

I am the cameraman - by the way.
I think this one is a very basic who dunnit - oh they caught the bad guy (girls) and now she's in the slammer.
So to speak.

Mila and Zoe playing various roles.

pictures of mila and zoe

I bought a new bicycle rack so I took Mila and Zoe out along the Cradock road and we found a service road near the parachuting club where we could practice our cycling.

--
Steven Lang
+27 84 58 26165 -
steven.lang@gmail.com

Zoe was not feeling very well so she cycled a few times with us and then she stayed in the car.
I was a little worried about her being alone in the car, but we were always within the line of site. The car was locked and I told her to hoot if anyone came near.
We saw a small antelope resting in the grass near the road. It did not get up and run away. It just lay there and watched us as we cycled up and down several times.
Mila and I cycled four kms altogether

Plaatjies come to visit

Zoe and Lydian were very pleased to see each other, they are great friends and suit each other very well. They can play with each other for ages.

Mila and Danelle also played together well but they both like to take charge of the games so sometimes they clash and have to separate for a while.

Daniel, Lydia, Danelle and Lydian spent most of festival with us. It was great meeting up with old friends again and we had a good time socialising. It was a hectic week but a lot of fun.
The children played together a lot
For more pictures on the Lang's perspective of the National Arts Festival

Fwd: pic of me

Ike Paahla interviewing me on Midday Live