Overstrand Splash Magazine - December 2022

And WINNERthe is...

Permacrisis. What the hell is a permacrisis? Nope, not referring to a bad hair day in the 80’s. If that reference just flew past you like a Frisbee over a fat Rottweiler’s head, Google “eighties hairstyles” and laugh at people like me who sported big, permed hair and shoulder pads to match. Go on, Google it. I just did. Wow... those hairstyles were next level.

Today, ugly hair is the least of our problems. The Collins Dictionary’s New word of the Year for 2022 is in fact, you wouldn’t guess it... Permacrisis. Again. Wow. That is just... sad. Worrying. Depressing. Which is why I will now swiftly move onto a more eh... shall we say... amusing subject? Just give me a minute or two. Or ten.

Okay, I’m back. Yes, I confess. I had to google ‘putting a positive spin on 2022.’ Google came back and asked: Did you mean Putin is a positive sin? Not helpful. So, I scrolled down and found Related searches: White house on fire 2022. Okay, I made up the first bit, but I assure you the second part about the Burning White house is there. With a thumb nail photograph, nogal. Positive spin? Even Google is in a permacrisis.

Apparently 2022 was a prolific year for words. The Collins Dictionary has come up with quite a few Words of the Year. I picked another one that’s actually been around for years. Well, if you live in South Africa.

“Quiet quitting.” Not doing anything more than one is required to do, not putting any effort into your job... We are well versed in that one, I think. In fact, we have several citizens who are simply not doing their jobs at all.

So maybe the equivalent Afrikaans word of the Year should be: K*ksleg.

Ah. I’m feeling better already. And in a generous mood. So, in the spirit of giving, I’d like to hand out a few completely random 2022 Awards.

The SNOTKLAP of the Year Award goes to... Will Smith. Mr. Smith got a slap on the wrist; he has been banned from the Oscars for the next ten years. Between me you and Will, you’re not missing out on much. It’s kind of like when some civil servants go on strike; will we really notice the difference? Please note I wrote ‘some’ not ‘all.’

Best SALES PITCH of the Year Award goes to the guy who came up with: Buy the house, get a free Tesla. This is clearly not a person from South Africa. Where are you going to plug in that car, bra? Which poses an interesting question. Can I use a diesel generator to charge an electric car? Stupid question, of course, you can. If ESKOM can do it...

Which brings me to my next award...

THE BRAVEST MAN in South Africa must be Andre de Ruyter, with Rassie Erasmus a close second. And while we’re on that topic, I think it’s only fitting that WORLD RUGBY receives a unique accolade. The GET OVER YOURSELF Award. There was another worthy contender for this special trophy. Our own Charlize Theron. But in her case, I’d like to make an exception. We have come up with a once off-Award for the Leggy Blonde from Brakpan. Or is she from Benoni? Do I really care? Eh... nope! She can display her SIES! award right next to her Oscar. Apologies if you don’t get it. It’s an in-joke. Only 44 Afrikaans-speaking humans are supposed to understand.

I’M TOO CLEVER FOR MY ART AWARD

I’m of course referring to Piet Mondrian’s artwork which apparently has been hanging upside down for the past 75 years. Who would’ve thought...? I’m loath to confess that it still looks like red and yellow stripes to me. With a few blue and black ones as well. Adhesive strips apparently. I’m clearly a total ignoramus. As were the top curators in the world until a good-looking blonde with a double barrel surname pointed it out to them. Then it became glaringly obvious. Really? And in 50 years’ time we’ll realise that it should have been on its side?

I’m sure old Piet is having a chuckle wherever he is today.

May you find something that tickles your funny bone today. May you be blessed with an abundance of chuckles, feeble jokes and hearty belly laughter to get you through the silly season. Feel free to browse the revamped Hermanus High Street. Isn’t it absolutely charming? Situated just around the corner, I must admit I’m a bit jealous that Amulet didn’t get a mural. But I’m working on it. The idea, not the mural. Not complaining though. I have been getting more visitors this year. Even some locals who have been totally unaware of my shop. PS. I have been around since 2010. Sometimes, extraordinary is right under your nose. Yes, I’m bragging. Come have a look and see if I’m lying.

Until 2023 when we will come up with a new Word of the Year. Permacomedy? Survival of the funniest. Works for me. Ho! Ho! Ho!

Hélène Truter

Ontspan. Herlaai. Herhaal.

Terwyl nog ‘n besige jaar einde se kant toe staan, is dit tyd om bietjie af te skakel en ‘n welverdiende blaaskans te geniet voor die volgende jaar begin.

Dankie dat jy Sanlam as jou vennoot gekies het op jou finansiële reis. Soos altyd, is ons toegewyd om jou te help om vir die toekoms te beplan en jou finansiële doelwitte te bereik. Want ons weet dat jy vandag met sekerheid kan leef as jy seker is oor môre.

Geniet die vakansie! Mag dit ‘n aangename tyd saam met familie en vriende wees. Ek sien uit daarna om ons vennootskap in 2023 voort te sit.

Truth or Academia, who arrived first?

With the recent Black River Quena legal battle with Amazon, it’s become profoundly clear that the majority of South Africans are completely in the dark (Don’t we know that word) as to who was here first, and political correctness to names that change with every season. So, the Khoikhoi are now called Quena, our true Western cape heritage group (recently laid claim to the Knoflokskraal hills on the N2}, whilst the politically correct San which replaced the derogatory Bushman (Outlaw) is now derogatory because it means naked and, in all honesty, they were never naked, always wore loin cloth. We now welcome the Kung, the oldest known tribe still walking this earth that hail back to the dinosaur period, if you believe the Moonstone Kung paintings in the New York Museum depicting Dinosaurs. (Sorry, there goes your big bang theory) The Hunter, gatherer Kung were always controversial in many aspects related to the De Rust painting of them fighting Mermaids, even today that pool has taken a young child, the video clearly depicts something pulling her down, I would assume an underground river sucking? (Recently the pool claimed the local De Rust electrician).

Shapeshifting

Shiloh Noone

The San were tragically abused by the past National Apartheid government as trackers during the Angolan war, many young South African troopies will swear they saw then shape shifting, I can attest to this having traveled with them for a grueling 5 months through the Kalahari in 1978. Recent research as shown that when they play their traditional mouth harp, the sine curve vibrations seem to make one drowsy, morphing into a dream state, very similar to the Aborigines.

Mt Camdeboo (San name)

In my recent research, exploring the Mt Camdeboo San paintings and although only reached by foot (beware of lions who roam freely) one is rewarded with a very clear ochre cave painting depicting two figures almost 6ft tall with fish hunting forked spears, (I would assume wet Island period and their tallness attributed to a healthy fish diet?) But hold your horses on that one, the long-forked spears as seen in the Dravidian martial art Silambam photograph portrayed here are identical to those held by the two travelers, while the Kung sitting in an unusual Lotus position (who taught him that?) in contrast to the normal squat, seems to be giving them directions.?

The Dravidians (Hindu) were the first to arrive on Southern African shores

It is now categorically proven that the Dravidians from India arrived on our shores approximately two thousand years ago in search of gold. Numerous Hindu temples have been found in the Eastern Transvaal, (Inner Karoo lost temples) and even in the Overberg jurisdiction. A few years ago, a tourist stepped on a skull in the Vermont area with a clear Ochre dot on the forehead. But local newspapers did not want to know the story, as they didn’t want to know about the strange stone walls discovered around Hoys Koppie after a fire swept through there. Notably the stone walls had an identical assemblage to the mysterious Zimbabwe ruins (thought to be Arabic slave traders) and identical to the Moenjodaro Dravidian ruins UNESCO World Heritage site in Pakistan. Let it be noted that Arabic slave traders left nothing but bleached bones.

The Kung Digging Stone

To add further mystique, the controversial Digging stone. (Stone with hole in the middle) now intellectually challenged that the Kung certainly didn’t have the tools or the time to burrow through a stone with such articulate smoothness. Some years ago, a zealous and very learned individual by the name of Dr Cyril Romnick was scorned by the South African historical society for stating that the Dravidians were the people responsible for the Kung paintings, as the latter had no accessibility to ochre, the good doctor even revealing paintings of Hindu chariots. He further claimed that the Kung Stone with the hole in the middle was a holy Honi stone, the base for the Shiva Lingam as seen in the photograph. In one sense the historical society should have taken the meat and spat out the bones as Dr Romnick saw the truth partially like all of us and can be forgiven for perhaps stretching the facts beyond reasonability. (The Dravidians firstly didn’t just pick up a stone bore though and now with its Shiva Lingaam, claiming it to be holy.

The Tamil Holy man who traveled with the exploration sailing vessel carried a Black Shiva Lingaam stone which was smoothened by the rolling Narmada River waters in Onkar, a fallen meteorite from millions of years ago) As a fringe explorer I challenged Mr Romnicks claims as these Kung stones were so numerous that it would have meant that hundreds of thousands of Dravidians walked or settled on these shores. I further stated that an individual Dravidian vessel called a Dhoni with a Tamil captain who could navigate by his thumb had not more than 11 qualified sailors onboard, one being a holy man with only one Honi stone & Lingaam. As much as salutations to Dr Romnick for enlightening South Africans, a pandora’s box was unleashed when he claimed that the Dravidians taught the Kung how to make the Honi stone, but where is the evidence of the tools that would have been given to the San to make them. Also noted is that most of these so-called digging stones are found in the mountains and hills and rarely on shoreline. In hindsight it didn’t help when the London Post in the 1800s shared a set up photograph of a Quena woman in Western clothes with a digging stick (stick inserted through the middle of the stone) or false Kung paintings of them holding the stick & stone as a club. (I suggest you try and insert one of those stones in a stick or even burrow though a stone with modern tools, enough said. Notwithstanding that the San never grew any crops and the digging stone would certainly not been used to dig up bulps from the soft kalahari sand. I am not saying that they never used them for whatever reason, but a digging stone is a useless tool for hunters and gatherers. I recently sent two partly bored stones with burn marks to the Stellenbosch University for a forensic, (the result was that the smoothness and burn marks could only be attributed to laser) See photograph attached

In closing the Dravidians did give the Quena their Vedic Tamil dialect that the Dutch referred to as Gibberish, in contrast to the Kung click language. Let it be noted that contrary to common folklore and rural legend the hunter gatherer Kung never intermarried with the herdsmen Quena. Let it also be noted that Bartholomew Dias; trip around the Cape (Table Mt) was based on a map from a Venetian cartographer who based his logistics on a Hindu map, need I say more.

The Chinese arrival of maritime explorer Lord Zheng He (1400’s)

Many years ago, my good friend, the late John Spence owner of Tygerberg Zoo was sponsored by the Vienna Zoo to go and purchase two Table Mt Lion cubs of pure bloodline from Novosibirsk in Siberia that were originally taken off Table Mt by Lord Zheng He. I was the first to view the cubs who grew extremely aggressive and roared continually, later I dug into the Cape Dutch Fort annals where they claim these black maned Table Mt lions were fiercely aggressive and would scale the walls of the fort for cattle or human. Unfortunately, apart from taking, The Chinese left the dreaded smallpox that wiped out many Quena, but at least they gave the Basuto their hat? In 1984 the Chinese roots were again brought to public acclaim when a large amount of Chinese Shard was washed up on Mosselbay beach. Some years later I traveled to the Shanghai Maritime Museum to see the Cape Town exploration beautifully narrated and laid out with paintings of the Chinese trading with the Quena. As to why this isn’t represented in South African history books is a mystery pie.

Cape Talk presenter & author Shiloh Noone /Owner of Matshana Museum Onrust

GREAT SOUTHERN BIOBLITZ 2022 OVERSTRAND

Sandy Immelman GSB Overstrand Facilitator / Betty’s Bay Conservancy

Some of you may ask - what is a bioblitz? A bioblitz is an event that focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a short period of time – this year it was held 28 – 31 October. The primary goal of a bioblitz is to get an overall count of the plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms that live in an area – basically every living thing, other than humans, and domestic animals.

The reason we have a Great Southern Bioblitz is because in April of every year a bioblitz takes place internationally (City Nature Challenge or CNC), but this precludes the southern hemisphere from showcasing our Spring, so in 2020 the Australians introduced a GSB so that we can capture the highlights of this season in this half of the world.

Overstrand participated for the second time. Last year, in our first GSB ever, we managed to come second in the entire southern hemisphere – beaten only by Cape Town!

Everyone is invited to participate! No special knowledge or skills are required as engagement, fun and learning are the key principles. This is great for families, kids, organisations and groups – we are all ‘citizen scientists! All you need is the free iNaturalist app to make an account or you can use the website: www.inaturalist.org and the rest is easy. Just use your phone or camera to take photos of all living things during the days and nights (remember nocturnal animals, moths, etc.!) of the event. Once you have a photo or multiple photos of an organism, you can upload it to iNaturalist. Those who can’t join in, but have the knowledge, can assist with identifying all the observations during the 4 days as well as 10 days afterwards.

Anything alive is acceptable e.g., plants, animals, insects, fish, fungi, shellfish, crustaceans, birds etc. and even evidence of living things is acceptable e.g., shells, animal tracks, feathers, scat, bones etc.

Some great places to start are your own backyard, beachcombing the seashore, rockpools, local parks, mountain trails, spotlighting at night, moths around your porch lights at night, rivers, and estuaries and many more! Let’s show the world how diverse our beautiful part of the world is!

Follow us on Facebook: Overstrand Bioblitzing.

The Body is the Barometer of the Soul.

tress levels are at an all-time high! There are many reasons.

Most importantly, we are at a point in human consciousness development where we, often unknowingly to our conscious minds, are searching for deeper meaning and understanding about the Source of light and love that we are.

On the surface it manifests, and can be ascribed to, post-Covid stress, uncertainty, FEAR, all changed the whole world, with jobs lost, financial, relationships. The default, ancient survival stress reaction becomes triggered constantly! We have to learn to utilise our neocortex, prefrontal cortex of the brain, and superconscious mind! We can learn to have an inner locus of control – not out there, but within here – mindfulness, alignment, anchoring, breathing, meditation, prayer, soul based psychotherapy, are some of the many ways. Many young people (self-death among young adults are skyrocketing at an enormous unprecedented rate) are feeling a sense of hopelessness – sense of insecurity and safety of old world, in dire need of coping skills.

An ancient inner default mode of bias towards survival fear drives our stress reaction, which ultimately lowers immunity and causes renegade inflammation. Imagine….feeling transformed, courageous, resilient, empowered and in complete clarity, calm and centered.

Willingness and mind training are essential to find a better way towards healing and wholeness.

3 P’s and 1 GNF: Practice, Patience, Perseverance with a dose of Good Natured Flexibility - remembering the key is to TRY and TRY AGAIN!

Amidst all the wild things happening in the world, we all need a new perspective, something to shake us up a little and help us remember how amazing and strong we truly are!

Some coping mechanisms for holistic support

• Become aware of symptoms such as a racing pulse or heartbeat, fast and shallow breathing, a dull feeling in the pit of your stomach, vague nausea and many other gut symptoms; fatigue, overthinking, overanalysing, feeling overwhelmed. Know that these emotions and feelings can lead to mental health challenges such as dysthymia and depression (also known as inflammation of the brain), anxiety and physical health challenges such as hypertension, insomnia, gut imbalances, diabetes, eczema, autoimmune disease, allergies, chronic infections, and many more.

• Find the many things around you to be grateful for. Both small and big things. Pick 3 for an immediate way to connect to your calm.

• Become centered and quiet, in a state of dynamic ease and calm, flowing with life effortlessly, even for a short while.

• Have some superfoods: pecans and walnuts that look like the brain, rainbow colours of fruit and vegetables, nutritious wholefood carbohydrates, bananas with 5HTP (precursor of serotonin), fatty fish like salmon, trout, sardine, pilchards and mackerel; raw honey, calming and relaxing teas with chamomile, hibiscus, berries and lavender flower extracts or infusions; seeds like chia, nuts, linseed, poppy seed, and so much more to choose from, to nourish heart, brain and body and simultaneously soothe your soul.

• Burn candles with aromatherapy essential oils to ground (bergamot, sandalwood, tea tree), uplift (peppermint, orange and lemon) or calm and center (rose blend, rose geranium, chamomile, lavender)

• Use colours to balance your mood: lilac, aqua, teal and hues of blue to calm and soothe; fiery colours for drive and more energy.

• Listen to music and dance to soothe your soul: rhythmic, pulsating for energy; flowing, swaying, undulating, soft and gentle to calm your mood.

• Choose to change your focus! Take a break even for a few minutes from your own monkey chatter. E.g. upset, angry, unreasonable, rude boss, unkind remark friend – STOP! Focus and choose to notice the finch on the wall, the bright pink bougainvillea in front of the white wall, the gentle chuckling of gardeners connecting.

• Attend meditation and yoga classes online or real-time – find something that works for you to connect to your calm.

• Support your happy chemicals (serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, endorphin). Note that Nootropics work on all the neurotransmitter, hormones, informational substances to calm, optimise and support integration and co-operacy for a happy, whole human experience!

Ask for help if you find it difficult to cope! Look for a soul-mind-body energy therapist who understands the concept of the body being the barometer, or mirror of the soul

Dr Arien will be working along with Overstrand Hospice throughout 2023, to bring you regular workshops on neuroplasticity, epigenetic, holistic spirit-soul-mind-body stress release and topics such as gut health, heart health, bone and join health, care for the carers and loved ones, and many more.

Dr. Arien van der Merwe

Say ‘I do’

in the valley of wine and roses in the beautiful Robertson area. It is certainly a match made in heaven…

DuVon Wine and Wedding Estate will make all your wedding dreams come true with their gorgeous country chic wedding venue. Imagine your ceremony backdrop with views stretching over the scenic wine lands and the Langeberg mountain range. Pre drinks under an old “Karoo boerboon’ tree in the beautiful garden or in a boutique Chenin Blanc wine cellar on rainy days

Here is just 10 tips to help you when choosing your wedding venue for your special day:

1. Choose a venue that aligns with your vision.

2. Know your guest list.

3. Venue hire.

4. Exactly what is included and not included in the venue hire.

5. Is the venue available for your date.

6. Can the ceremony, pre drinks and reception be done at the venue and is all the areas included in the venue hire.

7. Different options to use in case there is bad weather and is it included in the venue hire.

8. Is there enough accommodation at the venue or nearby.

9. Curfew.

10. Most important, stay true to yourselves

Laura gladly invite all future bridal couples to make an appointment for a viewing at DuVon Wine and Wedding Estate. For more information on their beautiful venue go to www.duvon.co.za or send Laura an email at info@duvon.coza