COTW CHRISTMAS TOUR - DECEMBER 2019

So...

i got off the sailboat in Tobago and sat at the airport bar

in Trinidad for 12 hours to finally catch my 1am flight to

Houston connecting to DFW for Thanksgiving with family

and friends. Texas is big. i had a big time visiting d-miner &

my sister's log house at Possum Kingdom Lake (no jokes)...

it was on to Salt Lake city for 2 nights with my niece Carrie

where i hung more christmas lights and then was off to my

brother in Cedar City (to the south). Hung more christmas

lights with him and saw a basketball game with Carrie and

Taylor who has a scholarship at Dixie State for the Trailblazers.

then i was off to Las Vegas to more family and more kids with

marla and her fam, and we made gingerbread houses. i think i'm

a creative, but i was blown away! out of my element certainly!

then a crack-of-dawn flight to Omaha to visit Mike and Carol,

dear old friends from 40 years back. they have a stunning home

that carol had decorated into The Four Seasons. incredible. and
she even let us move Mike's Harley into the living room! that was cool! 
what a cream puff! and such a cool couple! thx Big Daddy!

the weather everywhere was cold cold cold but i loved it after

cooking in the tropics on a slow boat for 2000 miles. but man

nebraska is really cold!

next stop was LA to do some business with Cold Play partner

geno andrews and his kid Tegan. and lunch with Petey at
Geoffreys Malibu...sublime! 
such beautiful skies and perfect temps. 
and even made church at Vintage in santa monica 

and saw lots of old friends! 

then onto Portland to see daniel & hollie and their sweet girls.

spent christmas there and it was special. also chilly and magical.

i might could live in Portland i think! or maybe i was 
prisoner of the moment! but an ab fab time 
with the Packmans with one more stop...Phoenix!

more nieces and nephews to catch up with and also to
collect all the Amazon impulse buys i had along the way!
had to buy a new suitcase to shuttle it all back home to CPT.

my happy place is on public transpo and i got to ride the light rail
in portland and phoenix! was jerusalem's better? or the old 
trolleys in Prague? they're all fun...just not too many of them
to be found in africa. although i think Joburg has one and Addis
in Ethiopia was building one my last time there. sadly Nairobi is 
so divided tribally (42 tribes) they'll never agree to something 
for the greater good. 

random security encounter:

TSA agent: sir, is this your water bottle?
Me: yes ma’am. I forgot.
TSA: sir, do you wish to consume the item outside the 
terminal or abandon it?
Me: can I drink it here?
TSA: sir, you may consume it outside or abandon it here.
Me: (sotto) “abandon”???
TSA: sir?
Me: abandon, Thanks.
she tosses it in a bin with 100 others that could blow up 
the whole terminal and rent-a-cars!
(COTW learns new vernacular.)

lots of pics to get to. my buddy Flippie asked if i was sad 
or glad to be coming home. would i miss the USA? did i long to stay?
luckily, not. i'm beyond content in ZA and especially Cape Town,
the Mother City. i have an incredible flat and i just found 
an office space / slash / classroom space for HAMC 
and Bungalow Four Productions. next blog for the office makeover! 

the pics are in random order so bear with me!
new blog coming soon!

a rare rainy moody Phoenix

even in Celsius, that's cold for Phoenix!

caught up with Zack...my great nephew? 

phoenix light rail. yes they checked for tickets.

conner, danny jim, meggie moh, and theo. my phoenix posse!

shame, lots of empty seats. 

not sure i remember which airport this is! Dulles to Addis?

home again home again jiggety-jig jet-lag.

a long flight for me is over 8 hours now.

back in western cape, ahhhhh.

what does a south african home look like? kinda like this.

Helderberg Mountain. from Raithby Heights with friends i met
in Israel back in 2013.

i have a crazy dream to buy this green building and revamp
it into a living space...glass ceiling, open plan, lots of options!
keep the outside funky. patio area above also. underground
parking. cinema. etc! i actually found the chinese owners. i 
quote: "not for sale. much you pay?!" hilarious.

A new eatery with a good burrito! City Bowl Kitchen. with
mauracio from Columbia!

i finally found Never.

why would you name your kid that?

the table cloth over table mountain.

random wedding in Company Gardens. looked Ethiopian.

in WC, ZA five years now already (with Ros Nale). 

2015 was a vintage year here. look twice!

my little corner of the world. good old K-04. above the fray.

omaha house kitchen, where the magic happens!

A new short i'm developing. march shoot?

Anri found brazillian rum for the  caipirinha rum drink!

me interviewing pro surfer cheyne horan in the UK early 80s

new headshot 2020

my first workshop was a blast!

with my dear bro-ham. The Voof. Head Buffalo.

inside Walmart. whew! jolly huge!

inside J's texas lake house. under construction.

Possum Kingdom

the still of the morning.

Bob built the dock and now the log house inside.

they come and throw up all the Lincoln Logs in order.

J and i stringing xmas lights!

time to catch another flight.

it's incredible how many people fly on a jet everyday.

window seat close to the front. always. economy. : /

over SLC / Utah.

Africa washers are half this size and no one has a dryer.

funny niece carrie goggles up to chop onions for salsa!

Taylor on our way to Dixie State in George, UT.

Kolob Canyons, stunning! near Zion Nat'l Park

such vistas.

love discovering new cool places!

almost reminded me of Yosemite!

great italian here! DTCC.

a great lunch! with a great brother.

some equine therapy.

hi fellas!

we drove past them then turned around to say hi!

deadpan. inside joke.

Verula's diner. in BFE utah. 

$25 for a pancake breakfast, a patty melt, and 2 cokes.
we think that's fair. sho!

my dear bro sings for the elderly. volunteer. a true patriot!

these alien critters are street legal in Utah.

i couldn't get over how huge the bakkies are in USA.

chest high.

fred and grace live in cedar city.

visiting marla in Vegas

teletubby toddler.

let the ginger bread games begin

quite the spread! genius! 

all that icing! so good!

Another airport. Vegas to Omaha. 

flew Frontier to Omaha. you buy a ticket, then a seat, then a carry on item, then a check through item. should have flown Southwest the whole time! it adds up! 

omaha...it's freezing over the lake

we got the scooter indoors!

carol joined the fun!

The Four Seasons touch!

christmas extravaganza

designer christmas, stunning

And what a house!

of course we put a bow on it!

Add picture window

man i wanted to ride this bad boy!

early morning chill

summer is bumping but winter is serene.

flying to Minneapolis en route to LAX.

good old LAX, quite nostalgic this time.

she never gets old.

geno's front patio, pacific palisades.

what a view.

geoffreys malibu is always a treat! thanks petey!

La Pacifica.

Vintage church.

worship leader brenton brown is from ZA!

with my LA peeps!

A prop i bought for a feature project. passable?

me, Tegan and Geno

up in Portland at a hip eatery court.

Pioneer Square when the light rail doors opened.

portland is grand.

a town of foodies.

for foodies.

we had noodles.  and a beer.

so many options!

yuletide tannenbaum with stockings

d-pack quadrunner

great to catch up with d-pack!

a White Christmas barn, where's Bing?

candlelight service

quite stunning. rural portland. over the bridge.

the packman girls! gems!

christmas cheer

of course you gotta have horses when you own a farm.

such striking scenery.

2 of my favorites, d-pack & hol

saw the new Star Wars at this legendary theatre

light rail back to PDX to fly to PHX

PDX cover for the oregon rain

Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Portland

coming into Phoenix

that's it for now! 
new blog soon on 2020! it's popping!
thanks for following my blog!
wishing everyone the best for the new decade!
happy 2020!
xxxxoooooo
ddm