As I sit down to write my year-end newsletter, I have to wonder to myself where on earth this year has flown to. When contemplating this, I realized that when time goes by quickly, it is a sign of a full life. Our challenge is how to slow things down and appreciate all the things that make our lives so full. Time is in fact not speeding up over the years, we are. I live in this incredible place and often find myself rushing through the day like a mad woman trying not to drop any of the balls I am juggling. Only recently did I realize that by doing this I am flying in the face of the blessing I received to be able to live in this tranquil, harmonious place. So sure, the daily chores have to be done but we can slow down and learn to live each day completely.
So that is my challenge for next year, to balance the various facets of my life peacefully, calmly and to learn to appreciate and embrace every bit of fun that comes into my day.
This year has yet again been a wonderfully prosperous one for us. We would like to thank all of you who supported us. I mention this every year and intend to do so again now: it is the Blanco guests that make this place as special as it is. We had a lady who ran a conference here at the beginning of the year. When I received the booking inquiry, I could see from their specs that they were used to "hotels" and despite potentially loosing the business, tried to warn them off Blanco by explaining that I didn't think that we were quite the venue they were looking for. I was right, but they came anyway and as you will guess, the union was not a match made in heaven. Despite going out of our way to please the group, we failed dismally and the organizer ended up saying with total disgust: "What type of person would ever come to a place like this!" She then went on to say that she would like to report us for irresponsible tourism.
I never answered her question about the type of guest that comes here but I would like to answer it now:
The guest that comes here and truly enjoys it, is a person who values "outdoor beauty" as opposed to "indoor materialism"; a person who is down to earth and revels in the simple things in life like family, fun and fine farm food; a person who can afford to holiday in the best spots SA has to offer yet chooses Blanco because it fills their soul; a person who values the things in life that make us the richest.
The course co-coordinator saw only the external flaws in Blanco (and there are many) and none of it's internal magic. For those of you who see the internal magic of Blanco we would like to thank you, and it is for this reason that I say it is the guests that make Blanco special - with such incredible, down to earth, fun loving, sporty and naughty people frequenting this place, we simply can't go wrong.
Chris and I have grown amazingly over the years and we were not at all upset by the incident with this particular conference co-ordinator. All we could think was, "please don't come back". In all fairness to her though, her needs were not met. Despite this conference flop however, our conference market has picked up amazingly so we have subsequently re-done our conference hall. We would also like to thank all the groups that use us regularly as their conference venue of choice. Special thanks must go to Peter Kemp, Dan Butler and John Nicol.
Okay, so round about this stage, Chris would tell me to come down from the clouds and start writing about "real stuff". This year started off well with a full booking board and a happy team. We launched the little nursery school, which has been going really well. The benefits of the little school have extended to Blanco Guests as well as from this, the "Blanco Kids Entertainment Club" evolved and is now a wonderful place for little people with lots of energy to expend to go and expend it while Mom and Dad get the morning to themselves. We have also freshened up the children's lounge so things are looking good for the little ones. Teenagers, we will get to your wreck room next year!
Our second new and exciting thing is that I finally got my reservation system that I have been begging Chris for for 4 years. He believed we needed fences and geysers first and I lost the war but finally upped my powers of persuasion and have now streamlined our office processes.
We then unfortunately had an enormous scare at the beginning of the April School holidays when Ruben (our chef) had a heart attack. He is a bit of a DIE HARD as far as work is concerned and just after he had had the first mild attack at home, I found him in the kitchen frying bacon for the masses. We then went on to discover that he is a
DIE HARD, full stop, because he had a second attack, knocked out his front teeth and was rushed off to hospital and had the heart surgeons saying that he shouldn't be here today. He was in intensive care for quite a while with a very supportive Dolly constantly at his side. Fortunately all is well that ends well and Ruben has now been given the relevant medication, a wrap on the knuckles about lifestyle habits and is as good as new. Rube reckons this has been the worst year of his life and I can understand why he would say that but I reckon it could be the best year of his life; the year that life gave him a second chance; a wake up call that said: "hey buddy, this is life here, start living and appreciate me, drive my road with reckless abandon, but don't forget to take care of the engine". It took Rube a while to get this because he even spoke to me from Intensive Care to make sure I wasn't stuffing up his kitchen. Anyway, him and Dolls are back with us, safe and sound and fighting fit.
Dolls (School teacher and Manager) has been with us for nearly a year now and it is an absolute pleasure having her on board. A more compassionate, caring and friendly management couple we couldn't ask for. Every so often in life, I must have done something right because I am constantly surrounded by good people, people who compliment me, Chris, our business, our family and our lives.
While on the slightly less positive things that happened at the beginning of this year, we also lost 5 of our horses to horse sickness. It was quite tragic watching them all catch it and being powerless to do anything about it. So, in loving memory of Dun, Maliga, H-force, Holly and little Spirit. At least we can say that they lived a happy, carefree life running free in the game park for the greater part of the year. Cody (my 3 year old) reckons that their hearts are all in the sky and they are having a party with God and eating smarties - lucky horses.
On a much more positive note, the rest of Blanco is flourishing and all is well. We have started another herb and veggie garden and if this trial run goes well then we are going to grow organic vegetables for the kitchen. I have not proved to have green fingers as yet but this time the veggie garden is going to be a team effort and hopefully farmer Chris can work his magic.
We have also had an abundance of babies being born on Blanco (none of them mine fortunately - thanks to a present Paul Dukas gave me last Christmas - a "willy wacker"). We have had piglets, ducklings, calves and bunnies and our animal population is growing nicely. For some of you old guests who did not even know that Blanco had a dairy - Sue Matthews - this may not be classified as important news but for the rest of you outdoor animal lovers, the farm is looking good!
Chris also got a bulldozer in earlier this year and has built some wonderful 4 by 4 trails and mountain bike trails (only for the very brave) through the surrounding mountains. There is now a wonderful new look out point and drinking hole in the mountains opposite the ostrich camp where most guests have never been before. Together with one of the local farmer's daughters, Angie Bryant (top triathlete) we are going to attempt to hold a cycle race here next February.
We have also just held the last of our three weddings for this year and although we are not a typical wedding venue, they went off beautifully and we were very proud of our lovely place. As soon as I get the photographs from the wedding photographers, I will post them on the website under the news section.
Okay, so now that you have all been given a brief update on us, I would like to give you an update on yourselves. A good place to start would be the "docile" April crowd. A year ago now, I insulted Dave Grangers pride when I called the April week the "quiet week". I meant it as a compliment but he did not take it in the spirit it was intended and has been doing whatever it takes since to utterly obliterate my original opinion of them. To date he has done a superb job in changing my mind and I have decided that the April crowd have gone from "docile" to positively "dangerous"!
Paul, Bob and Mike, if you think you looked kinky in your bobby g-strings doing the "Leeuloop" last Christmas, you should have seen Dave Granger this Easter. I will stop there as this is a family guest farm! The April week also kept us thoroughly entertained with the elections for Blanco Mayor being held. The two candidates were Colleen Hodge and the aforementioned Dave Granger. At first we all thought that it was a no brainer, responsible Colleen would surely win but as the elections took place, some of her dark and dirty secrets came out and suddenly we realized that she was no better than Dave! Some of the guests from the other weeks intervened, spurred on by Paul Dukas and an external vote came in that proposed Silvia (popular waitress) to be a much more worthy candidate. The second week of the April School holidays did not let the entertainment standard drop and between some serious head banging, pigs being placed in beds (yes, really!) and bar diving, we were all kept thoroughly amused. The Goldberg's and Whittaker's no doubt were leading the pack.
Now fortunately, us Blanco staff have lots of energy because then we hit July. The first week was of course one never-ending barrel of fun and craziness thanks to the one and only Sandi Moir and the bunch of lunatics from George. Peter Starke and Co. remained our resident DJ and late night entertainers (or was that Gregg Powell?). We would like to thank this week for always reminding us what life should be about. Daryl, if ever your business goes belly up, there are many saloons that would be proud to have you.
And then we have the 2nd week in July. These guys did something quite different and amazing this year. We had some guests who were wearing lovely Ferrari Jackets and after a few offers of purchase from other guests, they decided that it would be a good idea to auction them off and give the proceeds to the Blanco Staff. Well, this idea escalated and before long we had loads of fabulous things to auction i.e. Ferrari Jackets, Jewelry, a shirt signed by Graham Smith and Alan Dawson etc etc. and within the space of half an hour, the guests had raised R13500 for the upliftment of the Blanco staff. Chris and I were blown away at this unbridled generosity. The organizers and contributors of this wonderful event were:
Jo and Karen DeBruyn (Jo had the brilliant idea); Claire and Martin Wyness (Ferrari Jacket owners); Mark and Carol Cooper; Alan and Paula Dawson; Stu and Lindi Truswell; Simon Devis; Jordi and Kirsten McIntosh; Michelle Schuurmans and last but not least, Gavin Watson (the brilliant auctioneer).
This was the better side of this weeks guests but for the rest of the week they could be found in the bar pulling each others nose hairs out!!!
And then, last but most certainly not least, we had the September School Holiday guests. This is always a fabulous, relaxed week with plenty of sporting activities being arranged for the active and ceramics and quieter activities for the not so active. I must thank Jo and Liz for always kick starting my running again after a long cold winter. Thank you also once again to Martin Brossy for the donation of the soccer jerseys to the Blanco Bafanas. They are more appreciative than you will ever know. The Blanco Bafanas were a bit disappointed this year because they did not quite manage to kick the white baas's arse this year and the September guys managed to finish the game with a draw and only one twisted ankle - not bad for a bunch of old men. This was however not so much due to the brilliant soccer talent of the team but rather as a result of the super duper brilliant goalie - James Downie! James, your real talent was shown to us this September.
To the December and January Guests, we are looking most forward to seeing you all and sharing a fabulous festive season with you.
I would now like to end off with a little story that many of you may have already heard but ties in nicely with our story of the conference lady who hated Blanco:
