All the old posts from erstwhile 7days7thoughts.wordpress.com

Good morning Noggins. How are you?

Thank goodness. Few if any people read my posts!

Laziness and lack of commitment has taken its toll.

My middle daughter is the grade 8 contributor to her school newspaper. The Oester. She does not get around to her duties. Not diligently anyway.

Not enough writing experience and not much exposure. The UTube generation.

Helping her write. Offered to be her ghostwriter for blogging purposes. She can then leverage her blog posts to her newspaper contributions.

Explaining basic essay skills. An idea. Ruminate. Skeleton. Flesh out the skeleton. Put in a surprise turn of events near the end. If possible. Do not force it. Connect the ending and the beginning to create a whole. Make the essay elegant.

Finnish.

There is your blog or newspaper contribution.

This weekend we will probably start her blog. The “the zany myth merger”. Nom de plum still to be decided.

Well. Plans laid out.

The lady must decide. (And act.)

Regards

Yes Noggins.

I pay my staff too little.

Not a living wage. Not a living wage for me that is.

Minimum wage is their lot. If the government increases their minimum wage too much too quickly they will lose their jobs. And the little they have. Not a nice life.

They are their own managers. I don’t interfere. The done work has its own rhyme and rhythm. Some days much. Some days a little. Some days slowly. Some days haste. But things get done.

They roughly arrive on time and leave at four. Sometimes much later. Extra work is done without complaint.

There is precious little interference or supervision. They manage well. They serve reliably. Quality work. Full day. Quantity. With cheer. Spirit.

They are real treasures.

Regards

Morning Noggins.

Crispy this morning. Had to don my sheepskin slippers. No crocs this winter’s morning.

Took my wife to Bloem on Sunday. All the children as well. Eldest two. City schools and hostels. Youngest because she is too young to stay at home alone.

Dropped off the two. Youngest excited to be in a hotel. Three star. First time I think. Huge lobby. She liked the recessed lights. The hanging lights. High, high ceilings. Hotel decoration theme. Chrome and brown. Brown. Plain brown. Not autumn. Not rich brown. Not mahogany. Just a dark brown. This is not a winning theme. Chrome and brown. The framed prints on the walls not striking or beautiful. No soul, no spirit. I don’t think this effort is a success. The effect is not even alive.

Off to my wife’s room. 807. Topmost floor: 7. No number 807. Down again. Ground floor. Reception. “No,no! Basement.” Dark and cold. Dungeon.

Youngest excited. First time in a hotel room. Immediately looking for treasure. Lost articles from previous guests. Precious things like rings and necklaces. Too much u tube videos. Behind the bedstead. Bedside tables. Scrambling all over. Bathroom. Mirrors. Dressing table. Cupboards.

Treasure!!

Found something! A chipnick. In a drawer. Yes. Not worth much. Stale and useless. But out of place and out of the ordinary. In a three star hotel.

Yes Noggins.

No school for my youngest today. She is glued to WiFi. I must ask her what she is watching or rather interacting with. Parenting and all.

This morning she told me she wanted to learn a language. French maybe. Warning lights! French endeavours sometimes are expensive. What will she ever do with French?

A little thinking and mental gymnastics.

French is fine!! An educated and cultured language. Great books, magazines and newspapers. Movies! Classics and Art Nouveau. Interesting blogs. Potentially exciting friends. The old pen palls you know. Networking France.

French and France is vogue. For ever in style. Well rounded and vibrant.

Yes French is the way to go. Yes dearie. U tube “Learning French.”

But a lass has to work. Please U tube “Learning Mandarin.” A rudimentary knowledge will be great. China up and coming. Open doors. Connections.

The East is the new future. Huge population. Hard workers. Long hours. Intelligent. Moving up the technology and sciences stakes. Progress.

For a forward looking girl. Mandarin!

But drinking coffee and reading Le Figaro next to the river Seine. In a class of its own! Living in France is not romantic. But visiting is.

Lots of things to do today. Important and urgent.

Blessed Rooibos and butt kick coffee.

Regards

Morning Noggins.

It is nearly spring. Time to attack the rose bushes. Five. I know nothing about pruning.

Pruning roses 101. Aggressively cut away all dead stalks. Let the big, main stems flange out like champagne glasses. Clip out the centre of the rose bush. Identify the main stems. Three or four at the most. Level them down to the desired height. All three stems same height.

Each stalk’s outgrowths also trimmed to three stalks each. Not four. Four is too much for the endings. Let these stalk endings also flange out like champagne glasses.

Result. A neat, pleasingly trimmed rose bush. I hope.

Scratches. Bleeding. (Aspirin blood thinners.) One thorn in thumb. Easily extracted. Thankfully.

I think I left the pruning too late. The stems are already greenish and soft. Small little leaves are also sprouting.

Oh well. First time in four and a half years. They had it coming.

Morning folks. Lovely late winter’s day.

It is easy to fail at eating that live frog. The task is important but not urgent. So it is easily postponed. And postponed again. Eventually not done at all.

I am referring to author Brain Tracy’s book “First Thing Eat a Live Frog”. Your first duty of the day.

The same with my blog. Frog the blog. The blog frog should have a name. Noggins. Noggins the frog.

I will try to eat Noggins alive each morning. Alive. First thing. Coffee in hand.

This is a new endeavour. A struggle definitely. Long term.

Many aims. Dreams. Ideals.

To success. Try and try again.