Alba of Ourano: She came back to me due to her owners life situation changing. She was completely untrained. She exhibited every bad habit a pointing dog can possess. She was fur obsessed. She was borderline gun shy. She had never pointed a bird in her life by scent. She was entirely eye driven. She […]
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2570m up with Aera and Baggio of Ourano Pointers. Behind us is the old Transkei. Just beyond that is Lesotho. It’s a hard slog up, but it is always worth it. Lots of Greywing Francolin. And just plain beauty as far as one can see. We sat there a while amongst the natural splendour. With
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You find your place in the world, your calling, and you work like hell at it. You work at it whilst there’s no crowds, and whilst there are people around. You work when there’s no motivation, and you work when there’s no remuneration. You work in the dark, and you work in the light. You
As Epicurus noted in his ‘Leading Doctrines’: “Number 14: Withdrawal into obscurity is the best form of security. The simplest means of procuring protection from other men (which is gained to a certain extent by deterrent force) is the security of quiet solitude and withdrawal from the mass of people.” I feel that as a
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Never let anyone detract from your mission and calling, especially when what you do does nobody any harm. The world is full of voices eager to tell you why it won’t work, and why you’ll fail. They’ll never get it. They’re not supposed to. They speak from the material views and prisons that they live
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When someone lives and breathes their very existence and life’s work, it’s glaringly obvious to the average observer. This is the only way one can transcend the mundane and push it into the world of art. But it costs almost every single cell of who you are to commit to this. Your heart is going
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‘Watch your footing’, I repeat to myself over and over again as we make our way down from the high peaks. The pieces of millennia old basalt rock that litters this part of the Drakensberg range gives way and cartwheels down slope all around me with every step. The dogs look back at me every
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I say it every time, and I probably sound like a broken record, but there is something medicinal about these harsh mountains. They heal you. Maybe it’s the selfsame energy that forms mountains when two immovable plates collide, and this coming together, and coming to the surface brings with it some sort of energy. Or
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Sometimes I can’t verbalise what these places mean to me, and do for me. You enter them and leave them as a different man. Every single time. Irrespective of the inner dialogue or war that you may be waging. Entering them in the best head space will still leave you learning something afterwards. I can
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‘There is something grandiose about a Pointer in full gallop, something paradoxical in that it plays on various emotions depending on the person; it can either stir the soul and bring on pure and utter admiration, adulation and even yield one emotional or it can completely intimidate and leave one uneasy due to its range
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