Balloch Wedding

Balloch

I'll hie me away to Balloch, 

The sweet and lovely glen - 

Deep hidden in the mountains grand,

Far from the haunts of men.

There's healing there for wounded hearts - 

A balm for every pain;

And if you've been to Balloch once, 

You'll sure go back again

It's lovely in the summer time

Beneath the sun's warm glow - 

It has a "happy fireside climb,"

When hills are white with snow.

For friendship true and real is there,

And love and peace do reign -

And those who've been to Balloch once, 

Are welcome back again.

The hills that compass it around

Raise rugged peaks on high,

And towering crags where eagles next

Stand out against the sky; And

Through the glen the mountain steam

Sings such a sweet refrain - 

How could you come to Balloch once, 

And not come back again?

How silently the evening falls

And stars begin to peep;

The only sounds - the river's song

And bleat the mountain sheep.

Such peace and rest in cities great,

You'll look for that in vain;

Then come with me to Balloch glen

Again, and yet again

This lovely poem decorated the tables of the guests who came to the first Frost cousin wedding at the farm; hidden away in the mountains of Barkly East in the Eastern Cape. I'm not sure of the author (does anyone know?), but I know it was written by a guest to Balloch farm and sums up the farm that is so beloved to family, friends and visitors.

As it was over Easter weekend, many families missioned to the farm to celebrate this wedding. Most made a long weekend out of it to maximise family time. What a celebration it was! Whoever thought that farms were boring have definitely never spent a New Years party (or wedding) in Barkly! True to form, the dance floor stayed packed from the time it opened until the early late hours of the following morning; the most active participants were the beautiful bride and grinning groom!

I don't think my words could do this weekend justice, so here are some pics instead.

The bridal getaway car

The whole family pitched in to help!

It was given a thorough cleaning...

... Before decorations started getting added 

Taking a break from the hard work

Exercising our lungs

Doesn't the car look grand? (And slightly tiny against
the beautiful backdrop)

Lindi and Linzi
Along with another Linzi (an actual Frost cousin) things sometimes got a bit confusing.
But scroll down to find out what was even more confusing!

A long body poplar (according to My Frost)

The groom

How cute is this little guy?

The lovely bride

These guys were just too adorable

Drinks and snacks under the cave

Wedding cake - mmm, delish!

Frosty and I.
Pretty much everyone is called Frosty in this family! It gets very
confusing when you hear all the girlfriends/wives talking about Frosty,
but you get used to it pretty quickly.

Frost Cousins
Marion, Frosty, Thelma, Frosty, Frosty, Rich, Frosty (Linz), Kev, Kirst, Frosty, Frosty
(See what I mean - and these are only the cousins!!!!!)

Balancing Rocks

Scotty and Lindi

Frosty and I

Our smart servers - love the bow-ties!

Keeping the party going!

A Trip To Clanwilliam

The weekend after the Balloch wedding, Frosty's folks spent a weekend in Clanwilliam and we got lucky enough to be able to go along for a treat.

This quaint town is about 3 hours drive from Stellies and is surrounded by some awesome wine farms (as we found out on the Saturday!)

As luck would have it, some good family friends of the Frost's were also staying the weekend in Clanwilliam and we were able to spend a lot of the weekend with them. Apart from our wine tasting, we had a great fish braai the night we arrived. Frost's dad was convinced that there wouldn't be enough fish to feed us all, but the next morning there was still fish left over! On the Saturday night we had a braai at the Coopers house which overlooked a beautiful dam. And on the Sunday we took a drive into the hills to go and find some bushman paintings and enjoy a leisurely lunch before the trip home.

We had a great Saturday wine tasting

And the we had a braai while we looked out at this view

A different perspective on the same view

It turns out that we took wine tasting a bit more seriously
than expected - a surprise birthday gift to Colin from the kids  

The start of our bushman paintings hike at the Sevilla Rock Art Trail

We had to lie on our backs underneath this rock to see some paintings!

Shaun found a rock with a hole in the middle of it!

And Scott decided to show us how to get out of a tight 

I was thrilled to see some paintings of ellies on some of the rocks!

And after a rather hot walk, we decided that a swim in the river would be the best way to cool off!

All in all, a great weekend. 

Thanks Frosty's and Coopers :)

Energy Out, Energy In

Do you ever get tired of people? Not a specific person, but just people in general? I do. When a few weeks go by and I don't have a chance to be by myself, I start wanting to disappear into the depths of my duvet so that I can process the things I've done and been exposed to. In this way I'm a classic introvert.

I love people. But in order to love them properly, I need my alone time so that when I'm with people I can give them my full attention and interact with them without getting lost in my thoughts.

In physics the world the entire universe, energy cannot be created or destroyed. It just changes state. The total energy that is provided to an object is equal to the amount of energy that can be released by that object. I think the same is true for humans. Some people gain energy from being around people and find that being alone drains them. Others, like me, find that being around people for too long drains them and they gain their energy back by being alone.

I find that the best way to provide myself with energy is to have some quiet time. To loose myself in a book for an afternoon. To chill at home and paint for the day. To bake or cook and loose myself in the activity.The quickest way to deplete my energy stores is to spend every minute of every day with people.

For the last month and a half it's been a non-stop flow of people. While I've enjoyed spending time with them and had a multitude of good times, I noticed that as time went on I started becoming lost in my own thoughts when in a group of people to try and somehow get the space that I had been craving so desperately.

The longer I spend in a non-stop flow of people, the longer the un-interrupted block of time I need to be on my own (or at least doing something where I don't have to interact with someone).

Luckily the busy times have eased up and I'm starting to be able to catch up on my "me time" so that the next time I see friends, I don't zone out or slip away into my own little world...

I took this picture of the moon peeking through these leaves
when I was having last minute drinks with some friends one evening.
I love how ethereal it looks - it speak of possibility and imagination and dreams...

What about you? Do you get a kick out of consistently being with people? Or are you someone who needs their space in order to love those around them?

If you click here, you'll find a Ted Talk on introverts that I loved.

Hoare Hut Hike

Welcome back everyone, I've been pretty busy lately (and hence quiet here) but I have a whole bunch of new posts that will be getting published over the course of these next few weeks.

We've been doing quite a lot of walks and hikes recently, which is lucky, since rain has now settled in Cape Town and looks like it will be here comfortably, until next summer.

One of the hikes I did was to the UCT Hoare Hut (I've been trying to find out the relevance of the name, but haven't won yet). This was my first overnight hike ever, and I really enjoyed it!

Some of the members of our party bravely set off on Friday afternoon, carrying an incredibly large water tank strapped to their backs, arriving at the hut late Friday evening. When you see the size of this water collecting tank, you'll understand why the hike took a bit longer than normal! The rest of us decided to rather leave early on Saturday morning and hike up so that we arrived in time to help with the afternoon work.

Sunrise on the way to Waaihoek

The view from the bottom

Frosty and I

King Protea (South Africa's National flower)

Halfway Hut

There are a few parts of the hike that are very steep - but they're
definitely worth it!

There were 5 of us in total who hiked up together and it took us about 5 hours to reach the hut (if I remember correctly). When we arrived, we finished off the rest of our lunch and unpacked. We then got to work. Some of the guys focussed on getting a platform and drains up for the water tank, while the rest of us cleared the ground around the hut of grass and other things that could burn.

After a good afternoon of work, we took a walk for sundowners and were able to see the sun setting over the sea, even though we were a good hour or so inland! It was incredible!

The work team and Hoare Hut

Another hut on the top of the mountain, on the way to our sundowners spot

Romantic window shutters <3

Marc decided to stage a sneak attack...

Group photo - thanks Marc for organising and thanks everyone else
for a great weekend away!

The famous water tank!

After getting back from sundowners, we were treated to an awesome dinner (along with pudding) that was enough to ensure that all our tummies were full and happy (thanks to the cooks!). We were lucky that the river was flowing and were able to take refreshing baths in the river which was cold, but lovely!

The next day some of our party left early and the rest of us did a little bit of work at a hut that is a short walk from Hoare Hut (for the life of me, I can't remember the name!). 

All in all it was a great weekend away!

Some interesting info: 

• it took us just under 5 hours to get up 
• it took us about 3 hours to get down
• there should now be fresh water at the hut when you need it (yay!)
• there were 11 of us and we all fit into the hut comfortably, with room for even a few more!
• there are mattresses, a few blankets and even an old guitar at the hut
• it's quite a steep climb and not too many flat sections; if you haven't done this hike before, know your legs will be sore by the time you get home
• if there's enough snow, people often go skiing and stay at the hut overnight - I think you need sign up UCT Mountain and Ski Club (Frosty went last year and had a blast!)
• there are long drops with the most amazing views of the mountains 

Bloglovin - Lunch Hour Reading

It's been a crazy week for me and I haven't had much time to do any blogging. So while I get back into the swing of things, check out some of these sites for some different blogs and interesting information.

My favourite blogger is launching her own website, so you can take a look here. And definitely check out her cards - original, funny and appealing on so many levels! This letter to blogspot made me a little sad, but at the same time, so incredibly excited to follow the next steps!

Blogging takes a lot of time - so it's incredibly admirable that Mrs D is attempting to do this - head over to her blog to see why and while learning about her first memories, think about your own first memories.

Amble over to Picking Up Stompies to read some short and sweet posts if you only have a few minutes of reading time.

I have lots to share with you, so keep your eyes peeled for some new posts from me!

A Compiler, A Bug and Nanosecond Wires

Being a female in a male dominated environment has never daunted me. I have always got along well with guys and, truth be told, generally prefer working with them. However, I always get excited when I hear about women who have played pivotal roles in Engineering and Technology, so when I was going through a free computer science course from Udacity and the legendary Grace Hopper was mentioned, I just had to find out more about her and her contribution to computer science.

In my quick searches, I came to find out that this incredible woman was a pioneer in the computer sciences and was always striving to achieve more. She was born in New York City on December 9th, 1906 and was encouraged by her father from an early age to pursue her passions. 

You can read more about her incredible history in the sources below if you're interested (I won't repeat what is already out there). I will however, highlight a few things from Grace's life:

• As a child, took apart all the clocks in her house to see how they worked
• PhD from Yale University
• Associate Professor at Vasser College
• Joined the United States Naval Reserve in 1943 at the age of 37
• Designed the first working compiler for computer programs
• Was part of a team that designed one of the first programming languages, COBOL
• Credited with popularising the use of the word 'bug' in reference to computer programs
• Was awarded the position of rear admiral in the US Navy
• Used to walk around with Nano-seconds and hand them out to people

The reason that I'm so excited about this woman, is due to the fact that, by designing and creating a working compiler, she made programming accessible to the man on the street. If you think about how much of our daily life involves something that is programmed (think of microwaves, washing machines, cars, computers, gate remotes, cell phones...), it's mindblowing! She really has helped to shape how our world today works.

For those of you who don't know much about computers - a compiler is something that takes a programming language that is easily written and understood by humans and translates this language into another language that is easily understood by machines. 

You can almost imagine a compiler as a translator between two people at a dinner party who can't speak each others language, but who both need each other to perform and react to certain pieces of information. As long as your compiler doesn't translate like this guy here, you'll be able to do incredible things with your programs! 

It took years for her ideas on compilers to be accepted by the wider computer science community, but once they were accepted they really did revolutionise the way that computer science progressed!

For those of you who image an actual creepy-crawly creature when you think of the word bug when someone is speaking computer-geek to you that you don't quite understand, rest assured that your imagination is actually correct! The term was used to reference the root cause of an error in the Mark II computer, when a moth was found inside one of the relays (an electronic component) of the computer.

Lastly, I'm sure you've been wondering what in the world a Nano-second is?! It seems that Grace wanted to be able to refer physical references to abstract concepts. This 11.8 inch wire is the distance that the speed of light can travel in 1 nano-second. It is also the maximum distance that a signal can travel in a vacuum! Grace used to keep a bunch of these wires in her handbag and hand them out when she was lecturing, to help illustrate her point more clearly.

I'm only at the beginning of my search for more information on Grace Hopper, if anyone has any interesting books or websites to recommend, they would be most welcome. And I will post updates on other interesting sources of information to this inspirational lady as I find them!

Sources: 
Yale Website
Navy History 
Cyber Heroes