Week 11 Antakya - my new art project - so called

 Screenshot of the olive grove that was ripped apart on 6 February 2023 in Antakya, Turkey

A brand-new week that is behind us. A clean slate as it were; and yet there are 12.5 million people in Turkey and Syria that were adversely affected by the devastating earthquakes and the hundreds of aftershocks. They lost everything, except their lives. I think that the trauma must be almost unbearable. It must be sheer horror.

Video of the chasm that was ripped open.

I won’t forget that night I received a whatsapp from my brother-in-law who lives in Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa informing me about this. My initial reaction was one of disbelief and to put in the category of fake news. And then my quest began: can I believe this? Or not? And it quickly turned out that it is true. It is a horrific truth, but still true. My next reaction was that it was a brutal creative display of natural forces; the same brutal creativity since the beginning of earth time.

My short protest about the exotic cats in captivity in South Africa is about at its end and by that I mean my sketch I created to register my dismay at this abuse of nature. Being a lawyer, I kept on reading about this phenomenon of animals in captivity, it transpired that there are more Bengal tigers in captivity in the USA than there are in their natural habitat. Well, I enjoyed my short expedition into this lot.

My "protest" against these exotic animals in captivity.

Now, I am onto the earthquake and the devastating effects in specifically Antakya. Antakya? Yes, that is Antioch in New Testament times. It is the same place where St Peter and St Paul were working tirelessly promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Crucified and the Resurrected One – the cutting edge of our Christian faith and rest. And I am aware how polemical this statement is. The cutting edge between the Christian faith and the rest? Really?

This is an aspect or viewpoint if you will, that is crucial. You either believe it or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways. Christ was murdered; it was a judicial murder. Judge Pontius Pilate found Him not-guilt of anything deserving the death penalty. This Judge was a strange character. So far it seems to me as if he is the only judge who was of the view that you, as a judge, should find the same suspect of heinous crimes worthy of death, not-guilty three times. Can you imagine? Three times not guilty. And then he did another thing that a judge should not do. When an accused is found not-guilty, such a person should be unshackled, and set free. Not Pilate. Oh, not him. He then handed Christ over to the murderous Jewish mob and the Roman Soldiers to crucify Him. Horrible. But true. Three days later He rose from the dead. St Paul, the same man, who worked tirelessly in Antakya/Antioch, promoting these facts, wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 about this lot.

I am trying to get to grips with this brutal creativity

Back to that whatsapp and Antakya. More than 50 000 people perished. Hundreds of thousands of buildings and structures were demolished. With all of this, the infrastructure of businesses and professional services came to an abrupt end. And landscapes were changed. For ever? Or shall I state until the next devasting quake; you see, Turkey is in the centre of an earthquake belt so to say. I read last night that there were more than 500 000 quakes last year of which only 100 were devastatingly destructive. And these two in Antakya of 6 February 2023 are part of the 500 000.

All of the above photos are from Antakya - how do you sketch the ruins? Rubble?

I am trying to make sense of this happening; trying to comprehend it; trying to come to grips with it. It eludes me. The videos that circulated on social media is riveting and at the same time repulsive. Now, I try to create something. And once again I will have it laminated and use as a place mat at the table. I downloaded images of the city that was destroyed and try to sketch the rubble. How do you sketch rubble? The glib and easy answer is just as you would an elephant, or a motor vehicle. I battle with that. I think I should go to a building site where a building was demolished and study it and take some photo’s – yes, I realise it is not the same. I must do something. And I will.

How are you doing? What are you doing with this quake? Does it affect you? How? And what are you doing to comprehend it? How do you grasp it?

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

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Week 10 Exotic big cats in private captivity in South Africa: legit without a permit? Unfortunately, so.

Tiger in captivity at Lory Park Zoo, Midrand

My wife and I visited a private zoo, or a boutique zoo, in Midrand and it was such a pleasure to be there. The place is kept very clean and to my mind the animals are kept in good condition – except these animals are deprived of their freedom in the wild. It is, without saying, the ultimate space for them: their natural habitat; the wild open spaces. Having said that, it is virtually impossible for me to have had access to these exotics in the wild – this is obviously the second best for both them and us.

And it seems as if a lot of scientific research is done on them. And I am very aware of that High Court matter in respect of the elephants in the Johannesburg Zoo – you would have read my write-up about that. I am still waiting the outcomes of this matter. After I did some reading about wild animals in captivity, I am not so sure whether the Court will be sympathetic to the applicants.

I took these two videos with my cell and am happy with the outcomes. What a magnificent creature – and well kept.

Please visit it Lory Park Zoo. 

My sketch protest against these exotic animals in private captivity is finished and remains to be laminated to be my first placemat to display while we are eating. At the moment I am busy with my next art project and I will keep a “secret” for a while – once again something very current and very real and scary but yet brutally creative.

With some reading done, I came to a shocking discovery and that is that there are more Bengal tigers in the USA in captivity than there are specimens in the wild. Please visit this website and read it for yourself.

Here is a quote from the one website [ANIMAL LEGALDEFENSE FUND est 1979 link] pertaining to the USA:

“More tigers live in cages in this country, than exist in all the wild. They are just some of the millions of wild animals living in captivity across the United States. Some are in aquariums, circuses, theme parks and zoos, others live caged at private homes.”

This website is brim-full of articles that will make your hand stand up in horror! And it refers to a number of legal actions against the authorities to take action.

The RSPCA’s article on WELFARE OF WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY is also worth a visit and to spend some time there.

And there is no legislation to regulate and protect it – this pertains to our beautiful country as well.

This holds true not only for tigers, but all kinds of wild exotic animals. I would venture a guess about the High Court Case about our Elephants in the Johannesburg Zoo, that it might go against the applicants who apply for the relocation of these animals. Initially I was swayed in favour of the applicants’ case, but now it seems to be open to some doubt. I suggest that there are, or might be, some good reason to keep these in  captivity. Maybe, and I have not researched this aspect, it needs better regulations and patrolling of these facilities?

Having said all of this about the Elephants-case, their legal team and experts, are a lot to be reckoned with; not mickey mouse stuff this. Heavy weights. But … we are waiting the Courts views with bated breath.

I came to the very sad conclusion about my “protest” against exotic Bengal Tigers in captivity in the RSA, that this a not going to succeed to have it eradicated or to cause these animals to be returned to their natural habitat. On the positive side, I at least have done something to draw attention to this phenomenon; every time we use the place mat on our table, I will know, and my guests, will know, about this huge problem and that there are animals in distress – and mostly it is us, human beings, that is causing it. And I hope that it will elicit a good lively discussion.

And, besides, I enjoyed this art project.

Please write me you story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

 

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Week 8 The day the Earth moved How the Turkey earthquake tore a 300-kilometre rupture through the Earth’s surface

An attempt to make sense of the earthquake in Turkey that ripped open an olive grove.

An attempt to make sense of the quake in Turkey that ripped open an olive grove

Midnight Monday 13 February 2023 I was doing art in my lounge while my wife was sleeping when I received a whatsapp message from my brother-in-law living in Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa. I was shocked and intrigued at the same time. Being a lawyer for more than 42 years, one of my other reactions was that this is a fake and a fraud. But I kept looking. And listening to the background noises. I heard as background, the muezzin (mu'adh-dhin in Arabic) calling the people to prayers. That had the sound of truth in it. But I was still sceptical. And then I saw the fissure with part of the olive grove deep down in the crater [?]. I kept looking. Eventually, I was somewhat convinced. But not too sure.

I decided to google it. And I got other footage of the same area captured by what seems to me different drones at different times. And I was convinced.

This took place on 6 February 2023 and this massive fissure ripping the olive grove apart was 150 kilometers from the epi centre of the quake. It further transpired that the earth was ripped open for more than 300 kilometers. Thousands of people perished. Homes were destroyed. Businesses crumbled.

And yet this crater was gripping.

Herewith a quote from the write up with the link below: “Even at the southern tip of the larger rupture, about 150 km from the epicentre of the initial 7.8 magnitude quake, the village of Tepehan, in Hatay province, witnessed extraordinary cracks tearing through the surface.”

Further thoughts of mine were that it is the brutal, creative power of nature at work; and I was thinking of Genesis chapter 1. When God, according to Moses, created the heavens and the earth. Powerful. Brutal. Creativity at work. Click on these links: Another link.

One of the people I sent these videos, and my initial thoughts starkly reminded of the loss of lives and the destruction of buildings, so as to remind me of the tragedy. This was not lost on me. I was painfully aware of this.

And I was thinking of the tsunami that struck Japan some years ago – We only saw the devastating effects of the quake and how it played out on land. We were not privy to the craters and fissures deep down on the crust of the earth covered by sea water.

Now I am trying to create something to remind me of this midnight experience. And I will keep you posted as to what I am doing.

This is obviously not an academic paper on the quake – just a couple of hundred words to record some of it. I am still reading and I am sketching.

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

 

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Week 7- A THING OF BEAUTY ON MY PAVEMENT

 A thing of beauty

The day is a blank sheet when waking up this morning. I spent some time during the midnight hours to sit quietly reading in our sitting room. Carlo Rovelli write lucidly and some people might even understand everything what he wrote about in HELGOLAND. To start off with: I didn’t even know who or what HELGOLAND is or was or might be? Was it a science-fiction thriller? What does HELGOLAND mean?

My one friend lent me his book; while we were chatting, we had a relaxed meal that his wife prepared for me and my wife. They were sitting there, and us two were sitting here chatting about all sorts of things; we were not discussing loadshedding or politics. There are enough exciting and motivating things that keep us busy and making sense of this world.

Helgoland by Carlo Rovelli

HELGOLAND? Unhospitable. Wild. Drought stricken. Off the grid. The birth place of quantum physics! Werner Heisenberger might be labelled “the father of quantum physics. Carlo wrote on page 3:

“On the island of Helgoland – barren, extreme, battered by the winds of the North – Werner Heisenberg lifted a veil. An abyss opened. The story that this book has to tell starts from the island where Heisenberg conceived the germ of this idea, and progressively widens to take in ever bigger questions opened by the discovery of the quantum structure of reality.”

An abyss? That is what Carlo calls the “discovery” of the quantum structure of reality. If I understand it correctly it means in essence that it is never ending?

Carlo Rovelli is a most brilliant scientist endowed with this clarity of spirit, clarity of mind and skillsets working with words to bring the most complex ideas about how the world is constructed to lay people like me. And yet, there are such a lot of things that he must have taken great pains to explain, that are flying like Boeing aeroplanes above my head. It is way above me. And yet, he also states, for what it is worth, that quantum physics are a mystery. Indeed. A mystery – this mystery changed the way we think about our existence on its head. It has had a profound influence on scientists who are still struggling to work it out and in so doing, they are making huge contributions towards our understanding of the world we live in.

And Werner Heisenberg? What does he say about this lot? On June 7 1924 he wrote [page 13]:

“At first, I was deeply alarmed. I had the feeling that I had gone beyond the surface of things and was beginning to see a strangely beautiful interior, and felt dizzy at the thought that now I had to investigate this wealth of mathematical structures that Nature had so generously spread out before me.”  [My emphasis]

This wealth … that Nature had so generously spread out before us – and we mere mortals may participate in this wealth that is spread out before us.

A thing of beauty - once again

I was walking outside on our pavement [or in other words: the sidewalk] when I noticed something out of the ordinary; so strange and stunning it defies logic and words. It was lying on the road surface waiting to be picked up and to be admired. It was this seed covering just lying on the road surface.

Botanists will be able to tell me much, much more about this thing of beauty; things that I don’t know at this moment. Somewhere I think, there will be a “Carlo Rovelli” in the world of botany who will be able to identify it and who might just go on and describe to me that finer details of this thing of beauty. In the meantime, I am just loving it. Oh yes, I remember Prof. Elizabeth A Johnson’s ASK THE BEASTS DARWIN AND THE GOD OF LOVE

And I am reminded of one day back in 2009 when I was wondering around in the veld at Hopetown in the Northern Cape; I was baptised in the Dutch Reformed Church there in 1950 when it was still in the Cape Province. Things do change in South Africa and now it is in the Northern Cape Province.

I was all by myself soaking in the colours of evening fast approaching, feeling the light breeze of the change over from day to night time, and taking one photograph – not more, just one photo. I felt somewhat out of place because I am not used to walking alone out in the veld especially when it is completely foreign territory which it was. All of a sudden, I was aware of something pricking my legs; ah, well, I thought, it is just the veld grass scraping my skin. And I tried to brush it off.

Guinea fowl skull

Guinea fowl skull

Guinea fowl skull

Guinea fowl skull

Guinea fowl skull

Guinea fowl skull

Then I turned completely around to look behind me to the changing colours and be in the moment. Down below, on the soil, stuck and entangled there I saw a sight that keeps on coming back to me: lots of scattered feathers of a birds remains. I was standing on this site where this bird was killed; my inference was that it was killed because the skeleton [what was left of it] and its feathers were scattered over a wide area. Well, it might have been weather conditions that sprinkled it around over some time. When did he/she came to such a violent death?

And stuck high up in the grasses swaying around in the wind I saw the skull of this guinea-fowl. Back bending and with the greatest dexterity I loosened it from the grass; it did not relent easily on the stronghold on the skull. “Please,” I whispered to the grasses, “I just want to take it home as a memento mori of my visit to Hopetown, the town I was baptised in many, many years ago. A memento mori.” It was a tempus fugit moment. At that moment I was oblivious of time; of wind, of the changing colours, of twilight, of every thing around me. It was a thing of beauty in the veld waiting for me to “rescue” as a memento mori moment. I still have it.

When I picked up that dried out seed covering on my pavement, I was silent. No words in my mouth. No words in my mind. It was so serene and silent: the same silence I experienced in the veld in Hopetown.

And I re-read Werner Heisenberg’s words I had gone beyond the surface of things and was beginning to see a strangely beautiful interior, and felt dizzy …

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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Week 6 – exotic animals in SA completely out of its natural habitat

 

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

Progression of my tiger ink drawing in protest against exotic animals in private captivity

There are a lot of hot topics in SA such as the disastrous and devastating crisis at the top of Eskom’s leadership, the allegations of acting judges performing the most vulgar sexual acts on minors, and exotic wild animals in private “care.” Yes, we had another Bengal tiger on the loose!

As if we in South Africa have not had enough of life’s curve balls – those that we bring about on ourselves. Not nature’s disasters or what clever people refer to as “an Act of God.”! These are not “acts of God” – wow, God is not to blame for these. These are manmade disasters.

Eskom’s man made “disasters” – those things that are notoriously difficult “to prosecute” and to investigate, but that is discussed in the marketplace although it is subject to load shedding. I have difficulties understanding this thing called “load shedding” and in Afrikaans it is referred to as “beurtkrag.”

Nobody sheds any loads – unless it is meant to mean that the powers in “charge” of Eskom are shedding their responsibility onto its consumers.

Another man made “disaster” is the Bengal tiger that “escaped” its enclosure on the south-side of Johannesburg and on the media reports, it happened because there was an intruder who cut the fences. If we accept that premise, why did the tiger not attack that intruder and mauled him/her? Of course, so the narrative should at least go, the tiger was asleep. And then there were further reports of this tiger attacking a dog and a pig and a person. Just that: “a person”; no more particularity about this incident. And it got shot. No more details of that “person” – now, should I as a long-standing lawyer accept that say so? No - a thousand times, no I do not accept it.

It was shot because the tiger did what tigers do, not because it was dangerous. The tiger did not know that it was dangerous. It was us humans, that saw the tiger as being dangerous. Well, let me accept that premise: it was dangerous. Why then did the owner keep it in private “care”? I am absolutely positive that the owner knew it to be dangerous even in the face of a “lovely cute photograph” of the tiger “cuddling” him from behind. Of so cute! Such a lovable little cuddly creature!

Nonsense! An animal that was ripped out of its natural habitat [or else bred in captivity which is even worse] in a “friendly” pose with its human “carer”? All of these wonderful arguments, and more do not make sense to me.

And to top it, another Bengal tiger, this time in Edenvale, not far from me in Rivonia, got “out”. This time it was sedated and brought back to its owner – so the story goes.

I wonder what the guys that are taking the Johannesburg Zoo to the Court over elephants are saying about this lot? They must be very upset and up in arms about this. And they are not the only ones. And the powers in “charge” of these laws and by-laws are smug about it.

Now, in SA we are trained to think that the political powers in charge of our destiny are corrupt and therefor in line with this thinking processes we ask ourselves immediately the question why are these powers so reluctant to interfere? My I put forward a suggestion, and I truly and honestly hope that I am completely wrong and barking up the wrong tree, and that suggestion is that money is exchanging hands – that is money from dirty hands to dirty hands and that money keeps the animals on the loose, so to speak. These are only some of my thoughts and once again, I hope to heavens that I am wrong. Shall we wait, and see? And wait for another exotic to escape and met some disastrous encounter with security officers with high powered guns that are not trained hunters. Once again, I will further qualify the story about being a trained hunter in SA. What do I mean by that? I mean that that security officer carries that high powered gun to shoot human beings and not tigers on the loose. That is what I mean – and the tiger stood no chance at all. The burglar, who is a human being, stood a chance because he probably had a gun in his pocket.

So what do we have here: a senior advocate who once upon a time acted as a judge of the High Court, his very able assistant, tigers on the loose, Eskom high-brass telling us a lot of utterly shocking “stories, security guards with high-powered guns geared to shoot robbers, no on the loose to shoot a tiger who, so the narrative goes, attack a “person” – oh my word, we can go on and on and all those Tik-tok videos prophesying doom and gloom, and Afrikaans speaking guys such as Kobus Van Der Merwe and a certain Breytenbach-guy who are in the very cheap lime light for having huge money making schemes with diamonds and other stuff.  

 

 

 

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Week 5 SOCIETY IS UTTERLY CORRUPT AND DEPRAVED – IS THERE REDEMPTION?

Orbea variegata - Carrion flower in my garden [Kaapse Fynbos]

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

Paul Kennedy. Advocate Paul Kennedy. Advocate Paul Kennedy SC. One of our pillars in the legal fraternity of South Africa and in the Southern African region. He moved amongst the cognoscenti of the South African community. He held an acting appointment as a judge of the South African High Court. He was, inter alia, a human rights lawyer. He was probably endowed with a most brilliant intellect. And he used it to the full.

He was such a pleasure to work with – I briefed him in a human rights refugee matter. He was, what I shall call erudite – within the full meaning of this loaded word. It was a real pleasure and you might understand my shock when I heard about these allegations against this beautiful specimen of a human being. Erudite! He was the word itself. I hate to think what a family historian will have to face writing about this lot – where do you begin? The same predicaments will face the family genealogist and family historian writing up our Olympian blade runner, Oscar Pistorius’ history.

And he abused it to the full. To a sickening degree. So, the story goes and I hasten to add that he is no longer with us to defend himself. And in law, you cannot defame the dead. And he is dead. And his legacy is alive. What I write here are at this point only allegations and should be read like that and be understand as only allegations.

And he was accused of being a human rights violator – in the same league as Jeffrey Epstein. He was accused of being one of the ringleaders to practice his human rights violations on unprecedented scale. He was accused of being guilty of more than 700 crimes mostly involved with young boys from underprivileged background. The allegations tell us that he and his co-accused, who is at the writing of this blog, is a fugitive of justice, these victims were delivered into their hands by the bus-load.

I can go on and on and on – I am sure that there are hundreds of Police dockets. The High Court in Johannesburg is at present waiting for the transfer of other cases against them from different parts of the country; this beautiful country, a country that is described a being part and parcel of a new renaissance. We, the citizens of South Africa, those that are living up-right lives and the others who are not, are breathing this wonderful air and enjoying the beauty of our plants.

My wife and I went last Sunday 29 January 2023 to the Herb Farm just the other side of Kyalami and what struck me was the colourful splendour of the South African herbs. And these are available to everybody. It was available to Advocate Paul Kennedy SC as well. He was a most cultured man. He had control over his thought processes; he was well articulated and enjoyed the best restaurants and he travelled overseas with his family.

And yet – there was his dark side. He allegedly masturbated while looking how one young man was busy raping a minor. How utterly sickening.

Let me rather now concentrate on the other side of the dark side – that is to say the bright and beautiful, the part of life that smile on us humans. This part was also smiling on the late Jeffrey Epstein and his “wife” Ghislain Maxwell, who is now serving time in an American jail – his home were lavishly furnished with unique artefacts. Yes, it was beautiful.

I am not going to furnish links to these characters; I refuse and object to it. You are probably also aware of it and have read it. I will only publish images of the beauty that I found yesterday while my wife and I were visiting that herb farm and some images of plants in our garden.

What struck me forcefully was the colour. Please enjoy with me the abundance of the different colours and the hues that you can see. Enjoy the monochrome image of the green leaves. And the pomegranates. Abundance. Opulence. Extravaganza. A feast for the eye and mind and the soul.

Look at our shells that were found on the West Coast of South Africa – a neighbour gave it to me. These shells were hanging in a basket in his backyard for more than 13 years and now it belongs to me and I can share the beauty of it with you.  

These things and prayer purify my soul and spirit.

Please enjoy the rest of the colourful splendour below: 

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

At the Herb Farm

Please write me your story: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za 

 

 

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WEEK 4 What is in your hand? Let’s play around with this question.

The hand without the wrist

The hand with the shirt's cuff

The hand with the shirt's cuff

What do you have in your hand? – that is a question that reverberates continually in my mind. Indeed, what do I have in my hand? And what do you have in your hand? This is a loaded question. Especially if we start to play around with it.

I can play around with this question and arrive at surprising answers if only I ask different questions. I can ask for instance whether I can find a man’s hand in a tree stump?

Or where else can I find man’s hand? What do we leave as a legacy?  

The handiwork of mankind can even be found on the moon and on our way to Mars. We leave our junk on Mount Everest; sadly, so we even leave human bodies on that sacred mountain. Our junk, made by human hands are clogging up the creatures of the seas of the world. I am not on a rant to promote a clean green earth or to remove the human remains from our high mountains. No, I want to tell you a different story of my friend and where he found a man’s hand.  

At times one can find a hand in a tree or shall I rephrase that one: you may find a man’s hand in a tree stump. That place where the trunk dives under the soil towards the roots; that is where this particular hand was found by my friend Leendert Joubert. That dried out piece of trunk cum roots held something beautiful – at least it is beautiful if you want to see it. Otherwise you may only see a piece of junk that might make good compost or if you don’t want to spend any time on it, to just get rid of. My friend and I prefer to see the beauty. And he is still sculpting it.

When he found it in his shed, the wrist was “missing” and he had to do something. By the way, the thumb was missing too and he had to craft that as well and he did a very good job of it, not that it will qualify him from becoming a plastic surgeon!! We should not be too harsh on him; have a heart it was his first “tree surgery.” Well, if you are able to see a man’s hand [at first blush, it was without a thumb and yet he saw a hand] in a throw-away piece of junk, you are in a prime position to make a plan to do something about that “missing” wrist and to craft a thumb. And he did. He sent me a photograph of his “solution” to the problem; and looking at the photo, it looks as if it is the cuff of the man’s white shirt.

Franschhoek acorn trees

In the meantime my Franschhoek oak trees are growing in my maternity ward [you will remember that I refer to my “nursery” as my maternity ward because it is full of life and death], and I pick up “dead” leaves from my neighbours’ trees. Leaves from any tree are still part and parcel of trees, not so? If I then tell you trees are never far from my mind, you will begin to understand how my mind works [let’s say on this level].

Dead leaves

“Dead” leaves are so colourful and full of life – it makes good compost to feed your garden. These leaves are so magnificently sculpted by nature; the lack of sustenance created a piece of sculpture. Each fallen leave is created differently. This process is endless in variety and in colour and in texture. There is always something to admire and to wonder about; to stand in silent admiration and in rapt awe!! This is truly awesome; the Kardashians and lamentable Prince Harry are not awesome; compare the voluptuousness of the Kardashians to a fallen leave; I prefer the leave!

One day not so long ago [it was actually on the 19^th day of October 2022] the wind was blowing and howling around the corners of the house and surrounds. All of a sudden, I looked at the celtis Africana and this strong upright tree was caught up by the wind; on a normal day the leaves are rustling; the sound is so peaceful but not on the 19^th October 2022. The video you can watch now is just a teaser for the longer version that you can access on my youtube channel by clicking on this link.

Video van die witstinkhoutboom in die wind.

This invisible force was pushing it about at it pleasure. Backwards and forwards and sideways and up and down – at its will. The leaves were shaking and I stood in rapt admiration at the forces of nature in my front yard. Yes, I am aware of tsunamis and other forces of nature out there; this display was a couple of meters away from me; I felt its forceful presence on my body; I smelt the dust and stuff that were tossed around the tree and the plants. It was flying around in all directions. The speckles of dust were up my nostrils. It was inescapable. You had to notice it. Please share my joy with this short video of my celtis shaking in the wind.

I recall the forces of nature my wife and I witnessed in Grahamstown, now re-named Makhanda, during a destructive downpour we had. The river was in full force and it ripped out everything in its path; it ripped open the sides of mountains and washed away cattle and birds and trees and sheep. It was a frightful experience. Rushing destructive waters rushing by on its path to destroy further down.

Christ addressing a crowd

And there is another tree that is not destructive provided you cultivate a personal relationship with the Man that was hung on that Tree. What Tree am I referring to? And why do I use a capital T? St. Peter wrote to the believers in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bythinia [first century Christian churches] in his first letter chapter 2 verse 24:

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

There is another remarkable Scripture which you may read in the Gospel according to John chapter 1 verse 51: Jesus saw this man called Nathanael sitting under a fig tree and He called him to be His follower. This remarkable: He saw Nathanael sitting under a fig tree. Well, it seems to me as if He might be aware of me and of you.

I trust that you will respond.

Trees are miracle-workers – please enjoy your tree which might be a fig tree – who knows?

Please write me a letter: neelscoertse@wirelessza.co.za

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