Meeting an extraordinary man

Wooooohooo! A highlight of my weekend was meeting trans-Atlantic rower Peter van Kets at the airport this morning.

I've blogged about him quite a bit since December, with postings here and on http://www.ar.co.za/2010/04/home-pete-home/ (Adventurers & Expeditions section), when he first set off for the start of the Woodvale Atlantic rowing race. I'd also chatted to him on the phone in November when writing up profiles on a number of South African adventurers.

What Pete accomplished out there on the Atlantic - positions aside (first African to row the Atlantic; second placed solo) - is nothing short of extraordinary. To spend 76 days alone on a 'tin can in a washing machine' is incomparable to anything else. You can't get off, you can't get help in any hurry and if you want to get anywhere, you've got to sit on that sore-encrusted butt to row with your blister-upon-blistered hands.

While Pete did the manual labour, he also had a super crew at home who put out notices on his progress, monitored ocean currents and weather patterns to position Pete in the most favourable lines, took care of technical issues and problems that arose and, of course, provided ongoing enouragement and support. It was as good following Team Pete's involvements through the postings on http://www.own-your-life.co.za/ as well as Pete's experiences on the ocean.

It was an absolute treat to meet Pete and his wife Kim this morning. And this photo will long be treasured.

Audio magazines

"What?" I hear you ask. "What is an audio magazine?"

"It could be," I reply, "the future."

This afternoon, while contemplating how to deal with my ever growing pile of semi-read magazines, I had an epiphany.

I remember listening to stories on the radio after school in the mid-80s. My great-aunt would tune in to dramas. And then we stopped listening when the visual world of television took over the listening and imagining world of radio story-telling.

Some two decades passed before I dipped my ears into the world of audio books, spurred on by recommendations by Jenny Crwys-Williams on her 'Book Show' slot on 702 radio on Wednesday afternoons. Sure, I generally only listen to audio books on long drives, but I enjoy them and have found that it takes a while to adjust your ear to listening, as opposed to absorbing information that is primarily visual.

I've recently been listening to an audio book, which I saved on my computer. It's highly entertaining and I feel like I'm killing two birds with one stone; reading a book and completing other tasks.

But what to do about all of these magazines that I manage to only superficially flick through - mostly looking at the pictures - before I'm distracted by other things and the next magazine arrival? Electronic magazines (ezines) fall into a similar category because It requires me to flip the pages on my computer - an object I already spend too much time plugged into - to read articles of interest. There are so many articles - possibly quite interesting - that I just haven't come close to reading in the magazines scattered around my home.

And why don't I get around to reading these magazines, afterall, I plough through book after book? After a day (it's a long day that extends well into night because 99% of things I do are computer and online based) spent glued to my computer, answering dozens of emails, updating websites, writing articles and surfing the web for information and entertainment, I've had about enough of looking at and watching things.

I don't have a tv (by choice) so I frequently listen to the radio at night. It's on in the background while I mess on my computer, cook and such; but because they talk such trash at night, I may tune in to a music station or, as I've been doing recently, I listen to an audio book.

Now imagine an audio magazine where the tracks are sections in the magazine - interesting facts, how-tos, newsy snippets from the past month, interviews (where the person being interviewed actually speaks!), informative feature articles on people, places and things... even recipes! You could listen to the CD (or MP3) in the car or while washing dishes, cooking dinner, making school lunches, running/spinning in the gym...
I had a brief look online and there's currently no such thing. But maybe it is just me - I think it would be cool. Certainly an audio mag wouldn't replace a printed mag (just as ezines haven't replaced print), but as an alternative format.

History does repeat itself and listening to an audio magazine would take us back to those days when time moved more slowly and we listened more than we watched.

Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do

I like daisies. Like sunflowers, who are related-family members (Asteraceae), they're warm and happy with friendly faces. Although sunflowers are my Number One favourite, daisies - and especially Barberton Daisies (aka Gerber after their botanical genus) - rank right up there too.

Early this week on 702 (talk radio station) there was a suggestion that Jo'burg residents sow Namaqualand Daisy seeds now so that they'll be out during the World Cup. Jo'burg is brown and drab in winter, so a flush of oranges and yellows will be welcome. Unfortunately, with 10 weeks to go until the World Cup, it's a bit too late as it takes 100-120 days for flowering. Still, I thought it would be a super thing to do anyway. The gardening lady on the radio said yesterday that if you give them a bit of a fertilizer boost along the way and keep them moist, you can get flowering a bit earlier.

I hit my local nursery on Tuesday afternoon to buy seeds and selected two packets of a 'Namaqualand Flower Mix'. This morning, just before the rains started again, I sowed them. The pavement garden at my place has bothered me for ages as it has plants, but soil is still visible. I don't like seeing soil in flowerbeds. I'm hoping the spread of flowers, expected to be in full swing by mid-July, will look like the picture on the packet - colourful and abundant.

BEFORE: There are seeds all over the soil parts. Day One; 100 to go.

If you like this idea, give it a go. And if you don't have a garden, sow the seeds into a container to create a mini-garden.

I couldn't resist the Gerber seeds at the nursery. I've got them in egg trays to grow them to seedlings before moving into pots.

Knit Wit

As mentioned in a posting a week or three ago, I've taken up knitting after a 15-year hiatus. And all because a little girl asked for my help with her knitting. My first project was a knit-purl scarf for my dad in a simple pattern varying these two simple stitches. Never one to stick with the mundane, I've moved on to patterns that read, "k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k3, s2kp, k3, yo, k1...". A week ago I didn't know what these abbreviations meant, much less how to knit them. Thanks to the internet, I'm busy with two fancy-pants patterns.

Scarves and neckwarmers are going to be my knitted item of choice - repeated pattern, quick to complete and useful items for friends, especially with winter coming. Big projects like jerseys are just not my thing. I found a super website - Knitting Pattern Central, which lists loads of scarf (and other) patterns with links to the pattern on other websites.

At a needlework shop yesterday - yes, I'm hitting wool shops now - I saw a pack with special 'Furry' wool. It knits up into a furry little animal. With many friends having babies and even more children's organisations always looking for toys, these may be fun to make and giveaway.

Most surprising of all is how chuffed I am with myself for getting these patterns right. Pure delight in something so absolutely simple. Lovely!

Now that I've got the hang of eyelets, dropped stitches and yarn overs my next challenge will be cables. I can remember my great-aunt juggling cable needles to create mesmerising designs. As a young child I would sit on the floor (still only for half a moment) to hold her wool, feeding it out as she knitted. But first I've got to finish my 'cherry leaf' and 'seafoam and waves' scarves.