Ryan and Ashley Philips' visit

Ryan and Ashley spent some time in South Africa during January and, from what I gather, they had a wonderful time here. While in South Africa, they did lots of sightseeing, clubbing and even did shark cage diving out at Gansbaai - hmmm adventurous lads!!.
They came around to #44 for a braai (barbecue) one Sunday. It was good to see them after so many years. Dylan saw to the cooking of the meat as depicted in the picture to the left. The second picture is of the cousins, from (l-r) - Ashley, Lyndon, Gareth (notice the Hawaiian shirt - that was mine when I was about 18 years old), Lloyd and Ryan. We spent a lovely afternoon together, with the lads exchanging notes and, of course, sipping a few beers etc.

The Latest Pictures of Leah

These pictures were taken in middle to late January. Wendy and Leah are driving down to Cape Town for a few days(in fact they should be here already) and will be going back to Mossel Bay early next week. Dylan is flying down to Cape Town tonight on a business trip and also goes back home early next week. I am looking forward to seeing "princess" again.

Trip to Mossel Bay

Today is my first day back at work after a very enjoyable and relaxing 5 week holiday. Both Lloyd and I had a great time in Mossel Bay and thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Dylan, Wendy and Leah. We also spent some time in Knysna. Here are some pictures taken during the 5 days. More pictures may be viewed on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/).

Mossel Bay, here we come !!

Lloyd and I will be taking a trip up the coast to Mossel Bay on Sunday morning (6/1/2008) to visit Dylan, Wendy and Leah. We plan to stay with them until Thursday or Friday. Dylan and family were down in Cape Town for Christmas and on their return to Mossel Bay, they have moved into accommodation on the Mossel Bay Golf Estate. Both Lloyd and I are looking forward to the trip in order to spend time with Dylan, Wendy and especially Leah and also to enjoy a well-deserved holiday. We are also planning to drive to Knysna and Plettenberg Bay (the Garden Route is recognised as one of the most beautiful and scenic stretches of coastline in the world).

Christmas Eve & New Year's Eve

This year, Christmas Eve dinner was held at Cathy and Paul's residence in Bellville. The food was once again delicious - the traditional roasted turkey with stuffing, Christmas ham, roast leg of lamb and a variety of vegetables. Janet made a large trifle and Cathy made pavlova for dessert. On New Year's Eve we went to Trevor and Sylvia Thorpe in Edgemead for a braai. Some of Trevor's colleagues and customers also attended. The weather was ideal, the braai meat was superb and so were the accompanying dishes. The evening turned out most enjoyable with lots of chatting and dancing (Trevor had a large selection of "golden oldies").

Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year

In keeping with the Ilsley family tradition, we will again be having Christmas eve dinner instead of Christmas day lunch this year. Last year we hosted a dinner for 22 people at #44, the year before that it was held at Mark and Sharon's house and this year we will all be going to Paul and Cathy.
Dylan, Wendy and Leah will be driving down from Mossel Bay to spend Christmas in Cape Town. I am looking forward to spending time with "little princess" again. I will be going on leave on Friday 14th December, 2007 and will be returning to work on 21st January, 2008. During my leave (around 6th January), Lloyd and I will be driving down to Mossel Bay to spend 3 or 4 nights with Dylan & family - hopefully they would be settled into their new accommodation by then. This will probably be the last post for the year, so I will take this opportunity to wish all family, friends and other visitors to this blog, a very "Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2008".

God grant you the light in Christmas, which is faith;
the warmth of Christmas, which is love;
the radiance of Christmas, which is purity;
the righteousness of Christmas, which is justice;
the belief in Christmas, which is truth;
the all of Christmas, which is Christ.
- Wilda English

Christmas is coming ....

With Christmas exactly two weeks away today, many companies are having their staff Christmas parties / luncheons around this time of the year. The company that Janet works for, held their Christmas lunch at Quarterdecks at the Grand West Casino complex. Janet had to dress up as "Mary" Christmas and handed out gifts to the staff members.
The company that I work for, once again held a Christmas lunch for all staff at the Head Office in Rivonia, Johannesburg. Staff in the other regions were flown up to HO for the function. This year the theme was "A day at the Oscars" and staff were required to dress up as their favorite movie character.

Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden

The term GOLF is believed by many to have originated in Scotland many years ago when the game was invented. It was ruled that it was a game for "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden" and thus the acronym and word GOLF entered into the English language. Today, that ruling no longer applies and there are many women who play the sport right up to professional level. The past weekend, Peter and Glenda had hired a chalet at the Langebaan Country Estate for a week and we joined them from Friday through to Sunday morning. On Saturday morning we took a drive down to Club Mykonos where one of us had struck it lucky at the casino and won some cash, and another had won a 21 day holiday for four at any of 90 different resorts in South Africa, Namibia or Mauritius.
The luxury 3 bedroom units at the estate come fully furnished with designer furniture, with a well equipped kitchen with all the mod-cons. A Hi definition LCD Flatscreen TV with DStv satellite channels is inclusive. The unit also has it's own undercover braai/barbeque facility and needless to say, we had a braai on Saturday evening, by which time Tony and Jenny Kallis had joined us. The estate features an 18-hole golf course recently upgraded to USGA standards under the supervision of the Gary Player Black Knight design team. In addition guests have access to the floodlit tennis courts and club swimming pool. There is also a bowling green.

A Time to Braai

On Saturday 10th November we had a family get-together at No. 44. We, the Campbells, and Wendy's family came together for a braai (barbecue) to celebrate the return of Dylan and family. Dylan did most of the braaing of the meat ('nuff said). Leah slept for virtually the entire time that they were there (suffering a bit from jet lag, maybe?) - she is SOOO good!!!. After we had all eaten, Byron, Shamila and Erin dropped by, while the guys settled down to watch some sport on TV (including West Ham United's 5 -0 victory over Derby County) and the ladies did some chin-wagging in the lounge.

The Homecoming

As scheduled, Dylan, Wendy and Leah arrived back at Cape Town International airport on Friday the 9th of November. I took the day off to meet them at the airport and so did Wendy's parents as well as her two sisters, Gail and Terry. It was wonderful feeling to see Leah in the flesh for the first time and also to hold her. After leaving the airport, we all briefly went down to Wendy's grandparents in Wynberg, then onto Wendy's parents abode, where Wendy's mom had prepared a light lunch. Dylan, Wendy and Leah will be in Cape Town until the 2nd December, whereafter they will be travelling down to Mossel Bay, where Dylan will commence his new job.