Monday, February 06, 2017

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANIA
7-2-1979  to 7-2-2015    38yrs

Monday, January 30, 2017

105 years old and still going strong - got to love this

When asked how it feels to be 105? Her answer was - not to sure I have never been this age before

Saturday, January 21, 2017

CLICK HERE for Molly's Birthday wishes video

here is my Wish to my Sister Molly Care on her birthday today 21/1/2017. My Special sister who never grows old and is STILL BEAUTIFUL, a mind so strong it over powers the body.

Friday, January 20, 2017

GOOD BYE Sir, Commander in Chief - Barack Obama, 44th President of the USA, we will miss you and your smile - all the best for you and your family for this day 20/1/2017 in American History




So here  it is an old Family Photo taken in Germiston - 24 Virtop Rd
all 8 of us,
back row - Frank and Billy
Middle row - Tessy, Carol & Molly
front Row - Pat, Kevin and Monica

Who can work out the date of the photo?

MY Face book page has died RIP - 20/01/2017

I will be posting all my news and events here from now on 20/1/2017, Molly Care will be the first to take center stage with her birthday tomorrow, and of course it will also go onto the 8cowles.blogspot.com page.  Ok lets do it....................................  bye bye FB

Sunday, June 05, 2011

panorama's of our GARDEN

OUR Back Garden- with your mouse you can scroll left-right-up-down to look at the panoramic views, hold in the left click and move oyur mouse across the pictures. -  have fun, this is all done on my IPHONE using the "photosynth app"


Our Front Garden

Monday, February 07, 2011

TANIA BIRTHDAY 7-2-2011 - MY MADAMPIE

A question I ask myself as a DAD is  -- "What is a Daughter"???
the answer is actually pretty simple.............

A Daughter is ..... a little girl, that comes into her Dads life 32 years ago, 
she grows up to become his 
BEST FRIEND EVER

Yip -  Tania is just that - nothing more and nothing less, and looking around her family and friends, this question or should I say the answer, can be verified by one & all.

Not only is it her Birthday celebration today 7th Feb 2011, but this year - in a few weeks time she will be walking down the Isle with me - for me to give her away to her
Newest and Dearest BEST FRIEND - ANDY

May 2011 bring you sooooooooooooo much Happiness and Love 
Tania - my Madampie - from Ougroote

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

We got together saturday to wish Tania happy birthday at Leon-Elizma's house, Liam had to say HIP HIP HOORAY and help Tanas open her presents. With the singing and the toast with champagne all done, 
we all went out for dinner.
Happy birthday from us all - LEON - ELIZMA - LIAM - RIA - BILLY - ANDY




TANIA 7-2-2011 

and then - there is 
"A Day in the life of TANIA"


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANIA 
32 YEARS OLD TODAY

Sunday, January 23, 2011

FAMILY DAY OUT AT CENTRE PARCS RESORT

Leon-Elizma-Liam took a week off and travelled down to Centre Parcs, a family holiday resort about 2hrs from home. I took the day off from work- Tuesday 18th January, Tania and Andy did the same and we went down for the day. it has been cloudy, rainy and cold for a couple of weeks, but today we all woke up to a lovely sunny, windless day, a little bit chilly but bright sunshine.

We had a walk about , play in the park, and ended up for lunch at the Pancake House, mmmmmmmmm savoury pancakes. Back to the flat, and got ready for a swimming session in the indoor heated pool, super slides, water fall rapids and a wave pool - enjoyed by all. Exhausted we returned to the flat where OUBILL cooked up a mammoth supper - A MIXED GORILLA as it is known amongst the kids, Steak ( rib eye supplied by Tandy) - Awesome, mushrooms, fired tomato, fried onions, Bacon, eggs, fried banana, baked beans, chips and of course washed down with some nice wine. At the end of the day we left Leon/Elizma/liam to enjoy the rest of the week in peace at 9pm, with a full belly and some happy memories - 2 hours to home - Quality Family time.

 
A DAY IN THE PARK

Monday, December 27, 2010

Its 2010 Christmas with Liam - Oh what a night - Oh what a pleasure

Yes 2years 6months old and we are into our 2nd Christmas - Wow, This year he was a bit bigger and understood a wee bit as to what father Christmas is all about, Mom and Dad did a good job of the build up over the last week or so and the creche where he goes also played a big part as well when you listen to his redemption of FATHER CHRISTMAS GOT STUCK - pop over to www.leolizma.com if you have not seen it yet - just AWESOME.

Well the big night came and we were all at Leon & Elizma's House - that's OuBill-OumaRia-Tania-Andy for the big moment that father Christmas arrives, not to talk about the supper that was waiting after opening the presents.

Well I put together a video of some, and please note some of the hi-lites of Liam, for those that want to see the un-edited version you are more than welcome to pop over anytime to watch it or order a DVD by post.

Edited down to the last cut, no spot lights - 18minutes of pure happiness - sit back and enjoy it with us. had to start it of with a bit of fun and mocking of OUBILL - but it  is my I-MOVIE, so here goes - the best 16 minute movie you have seen.......................... it Christmas with LIAM

Saturday, December 11, 2010

ONE COLD WINTER NIGHT IN DECEMBER 2010

It all started long long ago, picture this - 1942, one cold winters night, there was a competition as to who had the biggest BACKSIDE, well in the end it was no question.

Leon & Elizma decide that its time to re-decorate the fire place and have it done before Christmas, so Leon and I climb in, head first - hence the backside view. We chop up the existing tiles ( which were cracked anyway), clear the rubbish and proceed to prepare and lay the new SLATE HEARTH. 
L & E had carefully measured, pr-ordered and took delivery of the new slate fire place - lets hope it fits.

Well here are some photo's of the project - right through to completion
needless to say BUT, they used a computer techie's tape measure to order the slate to size, they should have used a electrician's tape measure,
I had to chop a massive 1mm from the plaster to get it to fit in the fire place hole.


The tiles have been chopped out, carpet was masked off to protect against the mess and future cement stains


Then came the front piece, leveling and get it into the right position, excuse the BUTT's

Hey its in and it fits perfect - blood-sweat and no tears

and - YIP its level - at last
The finished product - finally - JOB DONE AND DUSTED



 Now next week end, when the cement is all dry and set - we can put the fire place unit back in place and have a nice warm Christmas Eve family night

CAN't WAIT

Franky has a good saying - " TEAM WORK MAKE THE DREAMS WORK"

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

From Zero to Hero or is that minus 8deg C

Well, it has been said from the MET OFFICE  - Weather Bureau, that this is the coldest November week in 17 years and the earliest snow in 29years here. The pictures of the snow across the country are toooo beautiful -  when you watch the BBC News and weather forecast.

Every time it has snowed here, and it has every winter, ever since we arrived, Leon told us Surrey does not get much snow, HA HA HA. I put same old photo's on the blog, but just for the record - here are our first SNOW PICS this year of 2010/11 winter, taken early this morning in our front garden.

  FROM THIS - I must say - when we were down at the coast a few weeks ago in Cornwall
 
to This surprise today 30-11-2010


 


ROLL ON A "WHITE CHRISTMAS"

Monday, October 18, 2010

We are off to MURRAYFIELD the home of Scottish Rugby

Yip it is all confirmed, booked & paid for. We are off to watch the Sprinkboks play Scotland at Murrayfield.
The travelling party consists of ( in no particular order ) BILLY, LEON, ANDY & TANIA, Andy's dad JOHN and Andy's brother DUNCAN.
We drive up to Edinburgh on Friday, book into the hotel, SATURDAY have a full ENGLISH breakfast ( in Scotland), do some sight seeing and off to the game at Murrayfield, kick-off at 14h30. Weather conditions expected to be "Bloody Freezing",Back to the hotel after celebrating a S/bokke win and painting the city red and drive home on sunday.
So we have been to Twickenham last year, now it's Murrayfield and then it will be Cardiff in Wales next.

Watch this space for photo's and video's of the week-ends adventure for sure
 20th NOVEMBER 2010 - SCOTLAND - here we come - Boots & All ( as Naas would say)
Hier kom die BOKKE.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

As the English 2010 Summer draws to an end

Yip, its that time of the year, it starts to get darker early afternoon and when you get up in the morning to go to work it is still dark. Well this year we really cant complain, it has been a bumper summer with plenty of sunshine. I have even been able to catch a bit of a tan while working in the garden.

Here is a couple of pictures of our garden, as the summer sun starts to set and the beautiful autumn colours move us towards winter.





Sunday, September 05, 2010

Liam goes camping in The New Forest - July 2010


Leon, Elizma & Liam, braved the oncoming winter and went camping in The New Forest.
It is a National Park in the South West of England about 2hours from home.
OuBill and OumaRia decided to visit them for a braai and a walk around one of the local Villages - Liamington. What an awesome day-out it was for us and we left much later than planned for the drive home. If only they had a bigger tent.
It reminded us so much of when Leon and Tania were small, when we camped, to see Liam running around freely with not a care in the world
JULY 2010



Monday, June 14, 2010

Billy & Leon tell the MUD & DECK story

Mud, what mud, just look at that beautiful deck in THE YOUNG COWLE's back garden and YOU would ask the question - WHAT MUD.
Well that mud was almost the end of Leon as he had this vision of what the back garden should look like by the 1st of June 2010 and at times could not see the end. This job started on the 3rd April, through Easter weekend and ended on the 31st May 2010. Every week-end and a couple of days in between - 2 months of solid hard labour.
A job to be proud of if you sit back and look at the VISION and the end product.
there are some more pictures on Leolizma.com - just click here OUR NEW DECK

Episode 1 - THE MUD

This video project is 25 minutes long so I have broken it down into 4 video segments, episodes 2-4 to follow in the week.

Sunday, June 06, 2010

LIAM - 2 years old - WOW 1/6/2010

OumaHia and OuBill
were there to celebrate this very very special day
LIAM's 2nd BIRTHDAY
1-June -2010
There was plenty of preparations going on, then the friends arrived at Leon & Elizma's home to the joyful singing of
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM.
A special video for OumaZET en OupaDanie, far far away in South Africa on this special day.
"Ons het Julle gemis"
pop over to www.Leolizma.com for lots of photos of the Birthday Boy

Sunday, May 30, 2010

The Hole in the Wall & a Scottish Braai


It all started with
- LETS HAVE A BRAAI -
and while you are here, can we fix the
HOLE IN THE WALL.
Not really, we were all going away for a weeks holiday, Andy and Tania invited us over to their house in Andover. It is halfway between our house and the holiday resort. We would have a braai on the Sunday afternoon and leave for the holiday on the Monday about and hours drive from Andover. Some time ago Andy made a hole behind his wall mounted TV to install wires for his surround sound system. Now, when he takes the Tv down there is this big hole in the hollow plasterboard walling. Well together we fixed it before the braai, Funny thing is, it was the hottest day of 2010 in England, and we mixed the plaster outside in a bucket and by the time we took it inside it was hard already. We had three attempts before we got the timing and the heat right.
OF course Yes, we had to taste the braai cooked on his new WEBBER
The King of the Barbeque shows off his skills, while the judge looks on with beady eyes.
I must say he passed the test with flying colours

Monday, March 15, 2010

Mothers Day in the UK

14th March 2010 - Mothers Day in the UK

I took Ria out for Cream Tea on Sunday to a wine farm "DENBIES" about 20miles from home, a lovely drive into the Surrey countryside.
We walked around a bit and then enjoyed Cream tea, with Scones and Clotted Cream
Liam is visiting OUMA and OUPA in South Africa at the moment, so Leon sent the video
To make her day.

WOOMYS _ OUMA

Friday, March 12, 2010

LIAM............ alias Michael Jackson

The Video says it all
While Leon-Elizma - Liam are visiting SA with Ouma Zet and Oupa Danie who are "GEORGEOUS AND SLIM" in Liam's words, soaking up the good old Sand Sea and Sun at MARGATE - he has performed the dance of the year.
This is what Leon sent us on email tonight
Not for the faint hearted

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Liam does Motor Cross Racing

A WALK IN THE PARK
One cold and rainy Sunday, conditions were perfect for Motor cross racing and Liam did us proud. They popped in for a visit and we went outside in the cold for a bit of fun and warm-up.

Liam on his BIKE



Sunday, February 14, 2010

Liam Visits Ouma

I think the video says it all, I don't know which one of the two enjoys it the most.

LIAM & OUMA RIA.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Tania - 07-02-2010 Happy Birthday

The Video has been added
The editor just could not resist the temptation and the shortage of time to start this blog input. It is the 7-2-2010 and Tania's 31st - WOW - so here is a taste of the birthday girl and see the video below. She makes us proud is an understatement.
Mr Andy Mitchell is a wonderful asset and adds SO MUCH to that smile of hers.


We all went out for dinner on Saturday night, Ria & I, Leon & Elizma, then the surprise for Tania, Andy brought her a wee bit later and there we were. She was totally surprised and bewildered, but the evening got off to a good start.........
stop panicking, there was a trustworthy baby sitter for LIAM

Sunday 7/2/2010 it was braai time at our place and Rugby on the TV, you guessed it, Scotland against France. Sadly for one - Scotland lost..........

The editor - alias OUGROOTTE is behind the camera - sorry

Thursday, February 04, 2010

The FIRST of MANY - YIPPIE

BED TIME STORIES


Which one is Thomas the train and/or the car or the skippie

Tonight we make history in the life of LIAM, he is sleeping over for the very FIRST TIME at Oumie & OuBill. we were and still so exited with this new adventure. Leon and Elizma are going out to dine and we baby sit the whole night through. There is one problem with this, I have to get up and go to work at 6;30, most likely before the big man wakes up. Then its over to Ouma, wake up call, and breakfast time, get him ready for school and drive him there.



Wow what an adventure.

Now as this is a first, the organising and organising was all part of the adventure. Elizma almost in tears, "THIS IS THE FIRST TIME he does not sleep in his own bed where I can give him a kiss or just stand at his bedside and admire him, it is going to be so strange and a little bit frightening.
thats the cow or is it the buffalo


Leon popped over to give him a bath, not to overdo the strange and first time environment away from the normal rituals. When Papa eventually tore him self away and closed the front door after high five and low fives it was all beginning for OUMA and OuBILL.


AN ADVENTURE into the future.
Now it is time for Thomas the train to go to sleep.


So after a bit of play and eating some nummies from Ouma, it was off to bed.
Oubill was reading a story while Ouma got his bottle ready.


Just for a minute close your eyes and picture the three of us - blissful happiness and pure enjoyment - What a honour and a pleasure to have a grandson like LIAM and his Mom and Dad that entrust us with their precious son.


WOW - WOW - WOW - WOW - WOW
Whats this Liam, and he answers - a TEDDY

NIGHTY - MAMMA en PAPPA - love you , NIGHTY
"LIAM"
I have to add this,,,,,He went to be at 7pm, its now 9:15pm and we both just opened the door a wee bit to admire
"THE SLEEPING BEAUTY"

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

A Birthday message for "MY MADAMPIE"

The day My life changed forever
07-02 -1979
Don't cry my Madampie, don't cry my little Madampie.

Our love will guide you wherever you roam, you won't ever/never be alone.
You don't know how we met, little lady, and I wonder if you really care,
For I am always close by and around you, You are part of this life that we share.
At the time when you were still a baby. You'd wake up every night and you'd cry,
I’d get up just to comfort you, Madampie, and sing you a sweet lullaby.

Don't cry my Madampie, don't cry my little Madampie

You are growing incredibly fast, dear, and one day you'll be larger than life
You will just spread your wings and you'll fly, dear,
And I guess you'll become some mans wife.
While you' re raising your own little baby, you will realise there's no love as strong,
as the love you will sing to your child, dear, it's the same love we sing in our song.

Don't cry my Madampie , don't cry my little Madampie

Now I won't be around for always, but I'll stay for as long as I can,
I am hoping to see you get happy, if it fits into life’s master plan
You know somehow I'll always be with you,
For it's my blood that flows through your veins
and the thoughts that you think might be mine,
and the memory of true love remains.

Don't cry my Madampie , don't cry my little Madampie
"OUGROOTE"
07-02-2010
It has not and will never change....... it only grows - forever
REG-UIT

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The camera NEVER lies

There is always weather for a braai - barbeque.
with a Sprinkbok Jersey.
This item is for anybody planning a trip to the UK - best thing is to listen the the words of the song and ignore the video

Summer - come on Summer

January to December