Utopia.

Imagine it...

A tranquil setting... Let's say on a patio like this:

Where you are sitting with a chilled glass of your favourite drink in one hand, stretched out legs, and you can feel the wire chair under the soft cushion you're sitting on... and as you look out on a view like this...

...You can hear a crested barbet being very vocal, with it's long trill "trrrrrrrr" call... and as you look around for it, you notice some mousebirds with their long tails playing in the nearby tree... Sitting next to you are four of your favourite people in the world, and one of them comments on how relaxed they feel after the stroll you all just got back from, where you ambled along the nearby river after exploring a bit of the nature reserve. You comment on what a lovely sighting of bucks you had, so close to you on the walk.

As you chew on a piece of salty biltong, a suggestion is made to have a friendly game of tennis in the morning, while another suggestion is to just laze around the pool for a bit...

The quiet is disturbed briefly by the bark of a baboon as the troop settles down nearby. As your drink comes to an end, you get up to get another, and start to think about lighting the braai...

Sound like Utopia? Like just what you need? Even if it were for a few days?

Well, here's your chance to have a whole week, or 2 weekends like this for you and 4 of your favourite people! I traded the 2 cases of First Sighting Wine this morning with Claire and her husband, Dave, for a Holiday in Utopia.

I popped over to their place and was greeted by their 2 inquisitive dogs at the gate. Max, their 2 year old son was running around, playing with a puzzle and then the dogs and then Dave... So in between we got to talk a bit about Utopia and it really sounds like a superb place for a quiet, relaxing weekend in the bush! I also found out that Claire owns 4 chickens, which she's very fond of!

Here we are, Claire, Dave and me, making the trade.

So, if you make me an offer, you could have a Holiday in Utopia! Here is the package deal:

Utopia is ideal for the hiker, mountaineer, or those just seeking a chilled back to nature holiday. It is located in the foothills of the Magaliesberg range, in the North West Province of South Africa. These mountains are said to the second oldest mountain range in the world! Utopia is in a Malaria free zone and gets really warm- up to 45 degrees Celsius in Summer!

You get:

• 2 weekends (Friday to Sunday) OR 1 week (Monday to Friday)
• Self catering accommodation in an A-framed thatch chalet for 5 people
• Fully equipped, 1 double bed and a single bed in the upstairs room, and 2 single rooms downstairs, bathroom, lounge, kitchen, private patio and braai facilities. All linen except for towels and sheets is supplied.
• No electricity but there is gas amenities, which include hot running water, gas stove and fridge, and paraffin lamps (so not a place for hairdryers!)
• The entire resort is fenced with a security guard on duty 24 hours a day.

Activities you can indulge in include:

• Bird watching - 133 bird species have been spotted so far
• Splashing in the swimming pool
• Tennis
• Walking around the 117 hectare resort on it's many paths and along the river- a full round trip could take you three hours and you should watch out for snakes and scorpions
• Mountain biking (just bring your own bike)
• Watching the rugby at the bar with the communal satellite TV
• Eating at the restaurant
• Playing Mini Golf
• Shop for last minute essentials
• Kiddies playground to bring out the child in you! Or just keep the children entertained.

Local attractions nearby include:

• Mountain Sanctuary Park next door for abseiling or mountain biking
• Buffelspoort Dam offers fishing and boating
• Sparkling Waters Hotel and Spa, for everything from massages to horse rides
  to paintball shooting
• Hartebeespoort Dam (50 kms away) with it's Welwitchia Craft Market
• Krugersdorp Game Reserve (50 km away)
• Rustenburg to look at a Platinum Mine (80 km away)
• Sterkfontein Caves (50 km away)
• Sun City (90 km away), for a spot of entertainment or golf
• Pilansburg game Reserve(90 kms away) which is home to "The Big Five"
• Reiki Masters in the area, if you're into that kind of thing- it's one of the highest energy vortex places on earth, apparently!

No pets or loud music.

Dates for your Utopia holiday are subject to availability – Claire and Dave just need a few weeks notice.

NOTE: Photo's and some info courtesy of Jenny at http://utopia1.freeservers.com/

So send me your offers of what you'd swap for this Holiday in Utopia! You can even get together with 4 of your favourite people and see what you can come up with together to trade for this holiday! You'll get me on my email onematchstick@gmail.com or my cell +27 83 730 2979.

How fabulous!
Telana

And there were no new offers :(

Well, just one tentative offer which looked unusual. It was for a big carpet of some sort by Vernon. He had a look at the carpet earlier in the week, and found that it was a lot dirtier than he thought. He'd left it in the garage and it got wet and mouldy. He organised for it to be cleaned on Friday afternoon, but then let me know today at 10:48 that unfortunately the carpet cleaning was unsuccessful. However, he did say that if I was interested in trading for what can best be described as a "biological experiment in fungi growth", then he's got just the thing for me.

Thanks Vernon, I'll give that experiment a miss. But if anyone would like it, then let me know and I'll get you in touch with Vernon to make a trade.

So I called up Claire, and she was thrilled that I accepted her offer of 1 week or 2 weekends at their cottage in the Magaliesburg. She had a taste of First Sighting recently and thinks it's just a superb wine, so it's a great trade! I’ll be popping over to her place, which it turns out is just down the road from me, to make the trade tomorrow morning. So more info then!

If you're keen for a bit of a holiday then- start thinking of what you'd like to trade for it! I'm accepting offers!

Exciting stuff!
T

Ok, so some of you have asked and some others of you might like to help promote this little project of mine. So here are some pic’s you can put on your websites. I’ve tried to make it real easy for you- you just need to copy the code in the box under the image you like, and then paste that code in the code of your website at the place you want the pic to appear.

If you have no idea what to do, then just ask someone. I had to find out how to get these boxes with the code to work, so it’s a great learning opportunity!

And thanks so much for helping promote this project- your support is really appreciated! So here are your options: (and by the way, the images won't appear with a grey box around them- that's just part of my new look and feel on this blog. What do you think about how it looks now?)

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/78/185627186_e5e20581c3_o.jpg" border="0" height="36" width="250" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/78/185627186_e5e20581c3_t.jpg" border="0" height="14" width="100" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/79/244113708_01eaecc7cb_o.jpg" border="0" height="58" width="15" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/83/244484908_f4aff0dd02_t.jpg" border="0" height="100" width="16" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/83/244484908_f4aff0dd02.jpg" border="0" height="210" width="33" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/90/244065080_0771f59d24_o.jpg" border="0" height="66" width="485" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/90/244065080_0771f59d24_m.jpg" border="0" height="33" width="240" /></a>

<a href="http://www.onematchstick.co.za" target="_blank"><img alt="onematchstick.co.za" src="http://static.flickr.com/90/244065080_0771f59d24_t.jpg" border="0" height="14" width="100" /></a>

ciao!
Telana

I want to see this happen. Kyle, who had his house warming party for his red paperclip house just a few days ago, said the following on his blog:

"I just checked the Alice Cooper petition. 10953 signatures and going strong. If it hits 22222 signatures by New Years Day I will walk to the printing shop here in Kipling, print the entire thing out, stuff it in a backpack, and proceed to hitch-hike all the way to New York City where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame offices are located and deliver it in person.

And yes, you can quote me on that."

So what’s this all about? Well, did you know that Alice Cooper is not already in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? And he totally deserves to be there. Now I must admit, before my friend Rohin rags me, I can’t say that I am a big fan of Alice Copper- actually don’t know much of his music. But I do know that he is a cool dude, just from how he participated in Kyle’s adventure of trading his red paperclip for his house. And I’ll take Kyle’s word for it too, seeing as though he’s met the man.

So for being such a good sport, Alice gets my vote to be in the hall of fame. And I’ve already signed the petition- actually my signature was number 1453, and there are now 11390 signatures.

So how about signing the petition too? And let’s get Kyle to print that list of 22222 signatures and go on that hitch hiking trip to New York. So we’ve got until New Years to get the counter to move from 11390 to 22222. That’s 108 days to go. And that’s 10832 signatures to go. Come on! Add yours and tell your friends too!

Thanks!
Telana

PS- I'll be closing accepting of offers for 2 case of First Sighting this Saturday at 12:12. So be sure to sms me on +27 83 7302979 or send me an emailon onematchstick@gmail.com before then if you want to trade with me for the wine!

I just love summer- I much prefer it to the chill of winter. I really feel the cold, and I need to wear so many layers in winter to just keep warm. And if I’m wearing 5 or more layers, you know it’s friggin’ freezing!

So now you might understand why I enjoy the signs of spring so much! Like the hundred (literally) orange clivia’s that are blossoming in my mom’s garden right now, with the few pink and white cherry blossoms overhanging them. And the sweet smell of jasmine that tickles your nose as you walk past a patch hanging over a wall. And the bright almost illuminous green buds of leaves that are appearing on the trees that have had bare branches all winter. And the black collared barbets who are nesting in tree trunks. And the lucky bean trees with their mass of scarlet flowers.

Have you seen them around? The lucky bean trees? Or otherwise know as the common coral? Or Papilionaceae Erythrina lysistemon? I had to google for that name. And did you know that this tree is a common site in Africa at this time of year? And is also called the Cry Baby Tree? Why I cannot find out. So if you know, please leave us a comment about how it got the name "Cry Baby Tree"! Thanks!

Anyway, we have a little one in our garden, and every now and again I see a coral tree as I’m zooting around town in my Ford. And just the other day Gary and I saw a superb example of one in the middle of the Rivonia shopping district, which Gary managed to catch on my camera as we drove past, and here it is:

Lovely hey!

T

PS- did you see that I had another offer for the 2 cases of First Sighting? Any more offers out there? I think I'll close taking offers soon...

Well! I am amazed! “Rhino” bid for and won my crazy Crazy Auction of one matchstick yesterday, and his winning bid was for R51:00! Yip, fifty one buckaroos! Thanks Rhino for being such a sport! I’m waiting for Rhino to reply to my email about delivery of his one matchstick…

And more excitement- I was offered this morning a week or weekend away at Utopia for the 2 cases of First Sighting! Check out the pic’s here.

Ok, got some work to do now, so catch ya later!
T

My CRAZY crazy auction starts tomorrow. In about 18 hours, actually.

I’m quite keen to see how it goes. Do you think anyone will bid for a matchstick?

Auctions are an interesting means of selling things, I think. Because the buyers get to decide what the item is worth- there’s no way you can decide for them. You can make suggestions with your starting bid amount, but ultimately if there are no bids but lots of views of your auction, then the market is saying that they don’t think your item is worth what you are asking.

So what is one matchstick which is part of a little experiment, worth? What will the “market” say it is worth? It’ll be interesting to see.

If you want to tell me what you think my second one matchstick is worth, then do make a bid tomorrow by clicking here. If you’re just curious like me as to what’s going to happen, then be sure to point your browser here to watch the auction action.

My starting bid is R1:00, and there’s no reserve price (which means there is no mimimum amount I will accept for the matchstick)!

So come on Wednesday- Crazy Auction Day! Let the bidding begin!

T

PS- you can read why I am auctioning off my matchstick (not the one I'm trading here- another one) at one matchbox.

Well, this project has got to be officially launched now. Douglas Kruger announced the launch of onematchstick on 702 this morning as he interviewed me! Yip, I got up at 4:00 in the morning to be at the 702 Talk Radio studio by just after 5:00, and we had a great chat about one matchstick. We also spoke a bit about the new name change of our Johannesburg International Airport, and it seemed that quite a few of the listeners agreed with me, that we could do so much more with all the money that goes into changing a name. It's a touchy debate, it seemed, from the callers calling in.

It was interesting, too, as Douglas asked me if there was any connection between this matchstick idea and the work I do, and you know, I think there is.

You see, a matchstick has the potential to light a candle, or a bon fire! That one single match can lead to two very different outcomes. It’s just about applying the inherit potential of the match to the right circumstances, and you can have either candle light, or a huge bonfire that you can’t even walk up close to, it’s so hot!

And that’s like the work I do, facilitating people to access their resources, their inherent matchsticks, and to strike them in the right circumstances, so that they can create bonfires with their lives! Or candle light, if that’s what they choose. But they have the choice and know how and when to strike their matches.

It was an interesting half an hour with Douglas in the studio. I’m always amazed when I’ve been interviewed, at the technology and the number of people behind making a radio show. Douglas had about 4 computer screens open in front of him, lots of buttons and mouse’s (what’s the plural for more than one computer mouse?) and his producer in the room next door. After Douglas’s show was John Robbie’s show, with about 4 other people helping him. We then walked down the hall to the 94.7 Rude Awakening Team, passing Whack-head Simpson on the way (and no, I don’t think he’s any relation of mine, even if we’re both a bit wacky sometimes) and that’s also a big team working on that show!

Anyway, it’s great getting to talk on radio! Thanks Douglas for the opportunity! Douglas has a great Radio personality, and I’ve enjoyed his shows in the past- although I must admit I am not often up at 4:00 in the morning to hear him now that he’s on 702. Douglas is also a terrific public speaker- did you know that he was number 2 in the WORLD for public speaking? And the South African Champion for 2004? He was telling me that he’s just launched his book on public speaking too, so I’ll have to check it out. It's called "50 Ways to Become a Better Speaker".

Well, after that exciting start to my day, it’s back to work now.
Have a FAB Spring day!
T