Family research

I've had lots of fun doing family research on both dad and mum's side of the family. It's a work in progress but lots of interesting stuff coming to light.

My DNA analysis

• My ancestor regions
• My genetic traits

Dad's side of the family

Family tree

• Myburgh family tree (1667 - early 1800's)
• Myburgh family tree (Past 3 generations)

Biographical info

• Ivor Myburgh (Dad)
• Lambert & Doris Myburgh (Dad's parents)

Mum's side of the family 

Family tree

• Sorrell & Bishop family tree (1858 - Today)

Biographical info

• Jill Donnelly (Mum)
• Tony & Dorothy Sorrell (Gran and Gramps)
• Auntie Lottie (Gran's dad's sister) 
• Charles & Amy Bishop (Gran's parents)
• George & Winifred Sorrell (Gramp's parents)
• George & Winifred Sorrell memories (Gramp's parents)
• Henry & Mary Webber (Gramp's grandparents on his mum's side)
• George & Annie Sorrell (Gramp's grandparents on his dad's side)

Mike

• Interview about his war years

Technology

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  Arthur C. Clarke 

I love technology and feel extremely blessed to have lived through the digital revolution and to have experienced all the incredible technological devices that have been invented during my life time including the personal computer, Internet, smart phone and AI.  

Posts related to technology

All posts labelled as "Technology"

All posts labelled as "Computers"

All posts labelled as "Phone"

All posts labelled as "Apple"

All posts labelled as "Camera"

All posts labelled as "Gadgets"

All posts labelled as "Software"

Building web sites

Passion projects

When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world.  Patanjali    

I love nothing more than to immerse myself in a project related to something that I love or something that is important to me.  Below are some of these projects. 

Wisdom Trove

• A site that celebrates quotations and the wisdom of the ages.
• Overview
• Visit site
• Posts tagged as "Wisdom Trove"

Home renovations

• Creating a living environment that supports creativity.
• Overview
• Posts tagged as "DIY"

Compass

• A system of processes and tools that helps me live a meaningful and inspired life.
• Overview
• Posts tagged as "Compass"

Life Trove

• A gratitude journal that celebrates all I most value 
• Overview
• Posts tagged as "blogging"

Work projects

• Fabricmatcher
• Volvo.com project

Reading

In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.  Mortimer J. Adler

Non fiction books read

Fiction books read

Posts tagged as "Books"

Adventure

Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we will be able to treat life as art. Maya Angelou

I love to go on adventures and do adventurous things.  Here are some of the adventurous experiences I've had and adventurous activities I enjoy.

Adventurous experiences

• Hiking to Everest base camp in Nepal
• Land expeditions in the Arctic
• Battling scorpions in the desert in Botswana
• Swimming out to an island in Kizkalesi (Turkey) and exploring its ruins
• Climbing to the Telicho Lake, the highest lake in the world at 6700 metres in the Himalayas (Nepal)
• Paraglinding over the lagoon of Oludinez (Turkey)
• Jumping from high cliffs on a day boat trip in Oludinez (Turkey)
• A very high leap from a cliff in Parati (Brazil)
• Zip lining between giant trees at Whistler (Canada)
• White river rafting grade 5 rapids on the Zambezi River (Zimbabwe)
• Quad biking on the dunes of Swakopmund (Namibia)
• Jumping off a 3rd story balcony in Luxor (Egypt) into the pool (to impress my tour group)
• Hiking Suicide Gorge in South Africa with mighty leaps into the river
• Climbing a live volcano in Pucon, watching lava spew, and then sliding down the mountain on our bums
• Whiteriver rafting grade 5 rapids on the Zambezi River
• Hurtling down the worlds most dangerous road on mountain bikes and then chilling out in Coroico (Bolivia)
• Exploring an abandoned shale mine in Glen Davis, braving snakes, and feeling like Indianna Jones
• Ice climbing and hiking on The Grey Glacier (Chile)
• A very close shave with a bull elephant in The Kruger National Park

Adventurous activities

• Backpacking
• Camping
• Paragliding
• Canoeing
• Snorkeling and diving
• Leaping
• Leaping into water
• River swimming
• Paddle skiing
• Summit climbing
• Travel
• Hiking
• Canyoning

Related links

• Quotes about adventure on Wisdom Trove

Wonder

Those who are Awake live in a state of constant amazement.  Jack Kornfield

To stand rapt in wonder and awe is to me one the most priceless aspects of being human.  Below are some of the times I have experienced wonder.

Wildlife experiences

• Encounters with great white bears in the Arctic
• A beautiful leopard coming right up to my car window in the Kruger National Park
• Soaring condors at Colca Canyon (Peru)
• Swimming with wild dolphins and a whale at Llandadno (South Africa).
• Swimming with a turtle in Dahab's Blue Hole (Sinai, Egypt)
• Snorkeling with turtles at Barbados and Galapagos Islands
• Seeing thousands of flamingos in Ngorongoro Crater (Africa)
• Watching hundreds of hummingbirds in Mindo, Ecuador
• Walking amongst a colony of half a million Megellanic Penguins at Puerto Tombo in Patagonia, Argentina
• Hundreds of thousands of sea birds (including beautiful Inca terns) at the Ballestas Islands  (Ecuador)
• Photographing Horses in the Mist in Ecuador
• Snorkeling with penguins, sharks, turtles and rays and getting close and personal with tortoises and marine iguanas in the surreal islands of Galapagos
• Seeing millions of Soldier Crabs on a beach in Newcastle (Australia)
• Dolphins doing somersaults in the ocean.
• Snorkelling and seeing multi-colored, tropical fish in the crystal clear waters of Bonito (Brazil)

Natural wonders

• The mighty power of the Augrabie Falls (South Africa), Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Iguazu Falls (Argentina)
• The enormous blue gums in Shanon National Park (Australia)
• Watching huge chunks of ice fall of the Morraine Glacier
• Exploring hallucinogenic salt deserts, spurting geysers and eerie lagoons around the Uyuni Salt pans (Bolivia)
• Galapagos Islands (Ecuador)
• The awe inspiring stars on The Orange River (Namibia)
• Richard Attenboroughs´s documentaries, especially "Blue Planet" and "Life of Birds."
• Photographing the amazing 12 Apostles in different light.
• Overnighting at Hanging Rock to watch its reflection of the dawn light.
• Circumventing the islands of Svalbard in The Arctic.
• Sun rising over the pillars of Torres del Paine (Chile).
• Hiking into the stunning Fitzroy Mountains in Argentina.
• Diving in the Canyon and the bottomless Blue Hole in the Red Sea (Sinai, Egypt)

Manmade wonders

• Seeing Tutankamin's treasures in the Museum of Cairo (Egypt)
• Seeing the Taj Mahal
• My first sight of Abu Simbel and The Pyramids (Egypt)
• The ceiling of The Sistine Chapel (Rome)
• The amazing Meteora monasteries, perched on the top of huge boulders (Greece)
• Sunrise over the sacred and mysterious city of Machu Picchu (Peru)
• Seeing the world's tiniest bible and a statue of Peter with his foot rubbed away at the Vatican (Rome, Italy)
• The Tomb of Queen Nefertiti  with wall art that looked like it had been painted yesterday.  (Luxor, Egypt)
• The sunrise over Angkor Wat
• Temples consumed by the jungle in Cambodia.

Wondrous things

• Autumn
• Canyons
• Caves
• Cliffs
• Clouds
• Coast
• Deserts
• Glaciers
• Lakes
• Mountains
• Nature reserves
• Rainbows
• Rock pools
• Sculptured rocks
• Sunrises and sunsets
• Waterfalls
• Wild animals
• Whales
• Dolphins
• Echidna
• Elephants
• Kingfishers
• Koalas
• Leopards
• Lions
• Meerkats
• Owls
• Rhinos
• Tigers
• Butterflies
• Poetry
• Flowers
• Forests
• Trees

The universe

• Contemplating the vastness of time
• Contemplating the vastness of the universe

Related links

• Quotes about wonder on Wisdom Trove
• Wonders of the universe (Wisdom Trove)

Music

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. Red Auerbach

 

Music, to me, is one of the great gifts of being alive. Nothing makes me feel like music and often it facilitates a sacred release. My preferred way of listening to music is to play it through my headphones and focus mindfully on the music alone, as a form of meditation. At times, I also like to listen to instrumental music while I work.

Favourite music

• Nostalgic music from my childhood
• Nostalgic music from my twenties
• Albums I listened to over and over in my twenties
• Nostalgic music from my thirties
• Nostalgic music from my fourties
• Nostalgic music from my fifties
• Favourite music from musicals
• Favourite spiritual music
• Favourite music

Music from movies and TV

• My favourite instrumental music from movies
• My favourite songs from movies
• Nostalgic music: TV themes

Concerts

• Music concerts I've been to

Music listening ongoing

• All posts tagged "music"
• All posts tagged "live music"

South Africa

This cape is the most stately thing and the fairest cape we saw in the whole circumference of the earth.  Sir Francis Drake, 1580

Cape Town was my home for the first 30 years of my life.  My family still live there and I get to visit on a regular basis.  While Australia is where I live now, Africa will always be in my blood and my love of its wildlife and natural beauty only grows stronger every time I experience it.

Cape Town

Highlights

• Cape Town

Hiking

• Table Mountain
• Devil's Peak
• Lion's Head
• Silvermine
• Kirstenbosch
• Constantia Nek
• Chapman's Peak
• Hout Bay

Walking

• Constantia Green Belt
• Tokai
• Groot Constantia

Beaches

• Bakhoven
• Blouberg
• Boulders beach
• Camps Bay
• Clifton
• Fish Hoek
• Hout Bay
• Llandadno
• Muizenberg
• Noordhoek
• Simons Town
• St James

Coast

• Cape Point
• Chapman's Peak
• Kalk Bay
• Fishhoek & Simonstown
• Sea Point

Birding

• World of Birds
• Rondevlei
• Kirstenbosch
• Intaka Island
• Strandfontein Sewerage Works

Historical and cultural

• Bo Kaap
• Rhodes Memorial

Old haunts

• University of Cape Town
• Cape Town Waterfront

Cape Town surrounds

• Beaverlac
• Betty's Bay
• Breede River
• Cedarberg
• Ceres
• Franschhoek
• Groot Winterhoek
• Hermanus
• Kleinmond
• Langebaan
• Riviersonderend
• Tulbagh
• Wit Els

Garden Route & Inland

Coast

• Garden Route
• Knysna
• Storms River
• Titsikama
• Nature's Valley
• Wildnerness
• Plett
• Jeffrey's Bay
• Mossell Bay
• Cintsa
• Aquila wildlife park

Inland

• Oudshoorn
• Addo Elephant Park
• Swellendam
• Hogsback
• Prince Albert
• Matjiesfontein
• Ladismith

South Africa

• Transkei
• Kruger National Park
• Drakensberg
• Fish River Canyon
• Orange River
• Zululand
• South Africa
• South African wildlife

South Africa visits

• 2002: Cape Town (Mum and Mike's wedding)
• 2003: Cape Town (Jo & Steve's wedding)
• 2004: Cape Town
• 2005 & 2006: Cape Town (Xmas), Pringle Bay, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Langebaan, Wit Els Hike
• 2007: Cape Town (Colleen & Steve wedding)
• 2009 & 2010: Cape Town (Xmas), Nature's Valley, Oudtshoorn, Storm's River, Plett, Robberg, Knysna 
• 2012: Cape Town, Orange River, Kruger National Park
• 2014: Cape Town, Breede River
• 2015: Cape Town, Garden Route, Cintsa, Transkei, Drakensberg, Joberg
• 2016 & 2017: Cape Town (Xmas), Wilderness, Sedgefield, Swellendam
• 2018: Cape Town, Wellington, Aquila, Mauritius
• 2019 & 2020: Cape Town (Xmas) Plett, Robberg, Jonkershoek, Beaverlac, Victoria Falls, Chobe
• 2022: Cape Town, Cedarberg
• 2023 & 2024: Cape Town (Xmas), Riviersonderend Kloofing , Die Hel,  Prince Albert & Swartberg Pass, Ceres
• Cape Town visits

Africa

• Botswana
• Egypt
• Malawi
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• South Africa
• Transkei
• Tanzania
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe
• Cape Town to Nairobi overland trip

Fun

Live and work but do not forget to play, to have fun in life and really enjoy it.  Eileen Caddy 

Below are some moments and experiences that have made me smile or laugh.

Poetry

Poetry is a language in which man explores his own amazement.  Christopher Fry

Sometimes, when feeling inspired, I write a poem. Below are some of the poems I have written.