Happy mothers day mom…

Simply Call Her Mom A baby asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow, but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?” “Your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you.” The child further inquired, “But tell me, here in heaven I don’t have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy.” God said, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. And you will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.” Again the child asked, “And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don’t know the language?” God said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.” “And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?” God said, “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.” “Who will protect me?” God said, “Your angel will defend you even if it means risking it’s life.” “But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore.” God said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.” At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from Earth could be heard and the child hurriedly asked, “God, if I am to leave now, please tell me my angel’s name.” “You will simply call her, Mom.’” By Bro. RJ Johnson

  I was at Lodge the other night, and a Brother handed me a summons for the installation at another lodge

So I thought, great, Ill go to that…. Then i realised it had already passed. When looked confused, he just smiled and said “look at the back page”.
I turned it round…. And WOW, the in print, is the poem I wrote just after iI was invested for the first time as Worshipful Master of Orphic Lodge.

I can only think it was obtained from my post.. http://carlsstuff.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/king-solomons-chair/
I’m truly honoured, thank you Brethren. When I have written poetry, it really is just my feelings expressed, I never dreamed they would be liked by others.

…and it was a perfect break. Its been 2 years since I took leave, so this came at the right time.

With great views from our penthouse apartment

Great company, braaing almost every night under the african sky, with the waves crashing just below us

Erin’s first time in the sea, and boy did she gave fun… It was wonderful seeing her having so much fun, seeing pure joy on her face, even after her first “dump”, she just laughed and wanted more.

We went to Ushaka Marine World,

Watched the spectacular dolphin show

Eyed out the local gangsters of the sea

All told, it was a fantastic week, and definately not long enough.

Being on holiday, there is one thing i cannot go without…. GOLF! so I had a choice of a number of courses, and decided to choose the one I’ve been dying to play.

Princes Grant.

Designed by  Peter Matkovich, Princes Grant opened in 1994 and has earned a reputation for excellence, including the Compleat Golfer 5-Star Golf Experience Award. And I can see why, wow, what an amazing experience playing here. From the undulating fairways set up as a links course, in emaculate condition to the perfect fast and true greens, set on multi-layers.
Lots of water holes, tricky par fours and risk and reward par 5′s.

The signature hole, the 15th, is a par 5 with undoubtably the best view any course can have. Teeing off the side of a cliff, the fairway stretching far below. The view is breathtaking, and my partner (our friend from Australia) and I take a moment to absorb all around us.

I have had the opportunity to play on many courses around South Africa, and while I havent as yet been to many of our great ones, make no mistake, Princes Grant is no walk in the park. This well used course by the Sunshine Tour astounded me. The friendly reception, great food, fantastic views, the carpet like fairways and smooth but testing greens, I can honestly say I have found my favorite course.

It has been a long time since i have blogged. Honestly, i havent had the motivation recently. I’ve gotten home from work and collapsed, haven’t really taken any pictures either go blog about.

Anyway, we are on holiday in Balitto, the first break we have had in years. And its just in time. We definitely have needed this break. I’ve been in my job at Europ Assistance for 6 months already, whew, i can’t believe its been half a year already. And what a time i have had. I can honestly say, i haven’t been this happy at work in many years.

We have come down to Balitto on holiday, joined by Nicoles childhood friend and her family from Australia. I’ve decided not to take pictures with my camera, and rather, take all pictures with my Samsung tablet. Just for a difference.

We stopped at Howick Falls, just outside Pietermaritzburg in Kwazulu-natal on the way.

Beautiful waterfalls, 95m high

And then after sampling seriously delicious chocolate milkshakes, we continued onto Balitto, on the north coast Kwazulu-natal.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was initiated an Entered Apprentice on December 14, 1784 in Charity Lodge (Loge zur Wohltätigkeit) in Vienna, Austria. He was passed to the degree of Fellow Craft on January 7, 1785 and raised a Master Mason shortly thereafter. His father became a Mason in 1785 while visiting him in Vienna.

Mozart was an active Freemason, composing music for Lodge work as early as March of 1785 and culminating with a full opera based on Masonic symbolism, The Magic Flute, which he composed in 1791 – the year he died.

Yesterday a Brother from my lodge travelled to the Grand Lodge above.
W.Bro Allin Davis, a great mason, fellow Knight, will be sorely missed by all.

I dedicate this poem to him, as he enters the lodge for the final time, and finding his place amongst the Brethren up above.

Farewell my Brother.

I sat in lodge with you

There is a saying filled with cheer,
Which calls a man to fellowship.
It means as much for him to hear
As lies within the brother-grip.
Nay, more! It opens wide the way
To friendliness sincere and true;
There are no strangers when you say To me:
“I sat in lodge with you.

“When that is said, then I am known;
There is no questioning or doubt;
I need not walk my path alone
Nor from my fellows be shut out.
These words hold all of brotherhood
And help me face the world anew
—There’s something deep and rich and good In this:
“I sat in lodge with you.

“Though in far lands one needs must roam,
By sea and shore and hill and plain,
Those words bring him a touch of home
And lighten tasks that seem in vain.
Men’s faces are no longer strange
But seem as those he always knew
When some one brings the joyous change With his:
“I sat in lodge with you.

“So you, my brother, now and then
Have often put me in your debt
By showing forth to other men
That you your friends do not forget.
When all the world seems gray and cold
And I am weary, worn and blue,
Then comes this golden thought I hold —You said:
“I sat in lodge with you.

“When to the last great Lodge you fare
My prayer is that I may be
One of your friends who wait you there,
Intent on your smiling face to see.
We, with the warder at the gate,
Will have a pleasant task to do;
We’ll call, though you come soon or late:
“Come in! We sat in lodge with you!”

One of the things Im getting used to with my new position, is all the travelling. I’m really enjoying jetsetting around, getting to see all the different places in South Africa. Unfortunately, I havent been too inspired to blog, but today, sitting at the East London airport waiting for my flight, I came across a poem I would like to share. And why you ask?

Because an elderly gentleman approached me, while i was enjoying my coffee, surfing the net, and introduced himself with a handshake.
The masonic grip recognised, he said he saw my ring on my finger, and wanted to say Hi!

I See You’ve Traveled Some

I See You’ve Traveled Some
Wherever you may chance to be;
lwherever you may roam,
far away in foreign landsor
just at Home, Sweet Home;
It always gives you pleasure,
it makes your heart strings humjust
to hear the words of cheer
“I see you’ve traveled some”

“When you get the brother’s greeting
and he takes you by the hand,
it thrills you with a feeling
you cannot understand.
You feel that bond of brotherhood;
that tie that’s sure to come
when you hear him say in a friendly way,
“I see you’ve traveled some.”

And if you are a stranger
in a strange land, all alone
If fate has left you stranded,
dead broke and far from home,
if a stranger stops and takes your hand,
it thrills you – makes you dumb,
when he says with a grip of fellowship,
“I see you’ve traveled some.”

And when your final summons comes
to take a last long trip.
Adorned with Lambskin Apron
white and gems of fellowship.
The Tiler at the Golden Gate
with square and rule and plumb
will size up your deeds and say
“Walk in,I see you’ve traveled some.”

(author unknown)

 ,

Its been a while since I posted in my blog, and for that, I must apologise. I was wondering what to write about, and it came to me while learning my installation work. Yes, I am taking the chair for the second year running at Orphic Lodge. A great honour to be chosen by your Brethren, even more so for another year.

Anyway, I came across this poem I thought I would share, written over a century ago by a famous poet, Noble Prize winner and Mason.

Rudyard Kipling was initiated into the Lodge of Hope and Perseverance in 1885. He received the Mark Mason degree, founded 3 other lodges. He wrote many poems known throughout the ages, and the few not widely known were those he wrote about the fraternity he belonged to. One of these such poems known is the following.

The Palace

When I was a King and a Mason, a Master Proven and skilled, I cleared me ground for a Palace, such as a King should build.
 I decreed and dug down to my levels; presently, under the silt, I came on the wreck of a Palace, such as a King had built. There was no worth in the fashion; 
there was no wit in the plan; Hither and thither, aimless, the ruined footings ran. 
Masonry, brute, mishandled, but carven on every stone, ”After me cometh a Builder; tell him I, too, have known.” 
Swift to my use in my trenches, where my well-planned groundworks grew, I tumbled his quoins and his ashlars, and cut and rest them anew. 
Lime I milled of his marbles; burned it, slaked it, and spread; Taking and leaving at pleasure the gifts of the humble dead. 
Yet I despised not nor gloried, yet, as we wrenched them apart, I read in the razed foundation the heart of that Builder’s heart. 
As he has risen and pleaded, so did I understand The form of the dream he had followed in the face of the thing he had planned. 
When I was a King and a Mason, in the open noon of my pride, They sent me a Word from the Darkness; they whispered and called me aside. 
They said, “The end is forbidden.” They said, “Thy use is fulfilled. Thy Palace shall stand as that other’s, the spoil of a King who shall build.” 
I called my men from my trenches, my quarries, my wharves, and my sheers; All I had wrought I abandoned to the faith of the faithless years. 
Only I cut on the timber; only I carved on the stone: ”After me cometh a Builder; tell him I, too, have known.”

With Erin’s pre-primary concert coming up, she spent all her waking moments, (and sleeping ones) singing the songs for the concert. so when it started raining the other day, she grabbed her umbrella, ran outside, and started singing one of the concert songs.

 

“if all the rain drops were lemon drops…”

“…and gum drops…”

“…standing outside with my mouth open wide…”

“…ah ah ah ah ah ah aha..”

‘streeetch… I’m tired now…”