STAMP YOUR FEET

For thousands of years man has helped produce wine through treading the grapes with his feet. For the first time in history – an elephant was used to help produce wine through treading the grapes with his feet.

The treading process took place at the Knysna Elephant Park, where Harry, the elephant had been trained by qualified staff for the past three weeks. Harry, who is 22 years old, especially enjoys Chardonnay and Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

Before the treading took place, Harry’s feet was washed and sterilized. During the treading process, Harry could not resist helping himself to some grapes, for all his hard work.The juice was transported to Boplaas, where it has been incorporated as a part of the traditional vinified portion.

Two types of wine have been produced, namely a Boplaas Elephant Rosé 2008 and Boplaas Elephant Chardonnay 2008. This is a limited production wine, under its own label and sold in selected restaurants and wine shops.

Part of the proceeds were donated towards elephant research projects and conservation. In the presence of these magnificent animals that radiate sheer energy, it is good to know that small gestures help build awareness towards there presence in Knysna and South Africa.

Enjoy,

HK

BLUE DEVILS BOOSTER NEWSLETTER

Beside the school bi-monthly journal/newsletter I now also publish the newsletter for the Blue Devils Booster Club in Concord, California.

Together with Sonja Williams - long-time booster club board member and current editor for the "Devil's Pride" Newsletter I worked out a new format for the newsletter.

Being a Blue Devils booster club member myself, I offered giving the existing newsletter a complete makeover.

It's published, printed and mailed every month with news from the previous month.

Due to costs it's always been printed in black & white. The new design is full-colour. Booster members can receive it as a PDF file in their email inbox.

So far the newsletter has always been printed and sent to all booster members by regular mail. Most members prefer a printed copy over a digital format. The newsletters can also be seen on the corps' website though.

It's a fairly easy task. I get most of the texts sent by email. Most action shots are photos I took myself last summer.

Only positive comments so far! So I'm happy alright. Next issue will be made while I'm on tour with the corps. Click HERE to see the June Newsletter.

Enjoy,

HK

5262 MILES / 8468 KILOMETRES

I will be going on Tour again this summer! And some trip it's going to be.... USA,.. HERE I COME!

Just like in 2004, 2005 and 2007 I will be joining the Blue Devils drum & bugle corps as a volunteer on their staff. In 2005 I mainly drove "the Cheeseball" (the souvie vehicle & trailer) and helped out on "Devil's Food" (the food truck), whereas last summer it was primarily cooking for the 170 people on tour every single day.

Should be another exciting tour again, ending in Indiana at the DCI World Championships.

I will fly to Denver and hook up with the corps at the "Drums Along the Rockies" show.

From there I will be seeing some 5000+ miles being put on the odometers.

This will be my travelling itinerary with the corps:

Denver, Colorado

Lincoln, Nebraska

Hutchinson, Kansas

Dallas, Texas

San Antonio, Texas

Denton, Texas

Somewhere in Mississippi

Murfreesboro, Tennessee

Atlanta, Georgia

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charleston, West Virginia

West Chester, Pennsylvania

Allentown, Pennsylvania

Canton, Ohio

and

Indianapolis/Bloomington, Indiana

After the DCI Championships I will be visiting my relatives in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo in the State of Michigan and I will most definitely make a trip to Chicago.

I'm very much looking forward to this trip and unique experience again. Will be seeing some good friends on the other side of the Ocean that I only get to see once a year. Too bad we all live so far away from eachother!

One more week of school, and a quick trip to Italy with my own corps,.. and I'm off to the States. Some year this is going to be again!

Enjoy,

HK

BIKINI - PART #2

You walk into a Spanish bar wanting a quick, satisfying, base food fix, something more that than the free tapa that comes with your beer.
Maybe it’s eleven o’clock and you need a calorie boost, or something to take the edge off your hangover. What’s it to be?

A BIKINI - a Sandwich Mixto, two grilled slices of slightly oily toast, with cheap ham and cheese in the middle!

What's in a name... Wonder if they (The people in Catalunya) came up with this name for the sandwich because of the way it is usually cut: in two triangles...

Enjoy,

HK

BEER CHEAPER THAN GAS !!!

Need I say more?...

Just talked to my uncle in the States (Michigan) on the phone.

Everyone in America is complaining about the fuel/gas prices.... Big time!

Also in the drumcorps scene this has become a serious problem.

Some corps are even doing less shows this season, so less travelling. Clever thinking.

I remember the interview I got before taking our corps Jubal to the States in 2006. One of the questions was "that the fuel prices in the States must have been one of our major worries".

Honestly... we had NEVER even talked about it when preparing for the tour. At that time the fuel price in the States was WAY CHEAPER than ours here in the Netherlands!!

Currently we pay about 1,58 euros per liter (= 0.22 gallon) regular unleaded 95 in The Netherlands to 1,65 euros at the Highway gas stations, whereas the price at most Michigan gas stations is somewhere between 3,90 dollars and 4,10 dollars per gallon (= 4,545 liters)

Taking the current exchange rate (1 US $ = 0,64 euro) into consideration.... this means we are paying about $ 4,58 per gallon here in The Netherlands....

So who's complaining???

Enjoy,

Hans

BIKINI (noun)
pronunciation: /bi kie nie/

Definition bi·kini :
1) a very brief two-piece swimsuit for women
2) very brief, legless underpants or swimming trunks

Etymology: Fr, after Bikini, Marshall Islands atomic bomb testing site (1946); to suggest the explosive effect on the viewer

to be continued....

Enjoy,

HK

MIDNIGHT CALLS

OK,... sometimes phone calls are absolutely annoying.

I just HATE these calls around dinner time about mortgage, insurance, pensions, subscriptions, green energy (come on... egt a life!), charity funds and I don't know what other crap.

Don't get me wrong. Ido contribute quite a bit to charity funds, but just DON'T DISTURB me when I'm having dinner!!!

Other phone calls can be a warm welcome interruption of the daily routine.... or like tonight, of the NIGHTLY routine.

I just got home from the band's rehearsal site (where moste members watched the French being humiliated by our national football team) and a short visit to a pub owned by a former member in town. Had some interesting conversations there.... Interesting to hear what others think of or about me... haha.

Whenever I get home - no matter what time it is - I always start my computer to check my mail. No special messages tonight ...

And then.. at about 4 AM,... the phone rings...

It's pretty much getting light outside at this time.

Now I didn't expect a phone call at this time of day,... It kept me awake for the next hour or so,... but I will definitely sleep a lot better now!

These phone calls can come ANY time of day.

I'd better be home when the phone rings though!!!

Sweet dreams! I'm off to bed now!

Enjoy,

HK

BITCH !!

Pronunciation: \bich\
Function: noun
(Etymology: Middle English bicche, from Old English bicce - Date: before 12th century)

1: the female of the dog or some other carnivorous mammals
2 a: a lewd or immoral woman
b: a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman — sometimes used as a generalized term of abuse
3: something that is extremely difficult, objectionable, or unpleasant
4: complaint

We talked about the word "bitch" in class today.
And indeed,... we discussed all four meanings of the word...

Enjoy,

HK

HOT TUB !

"Missing out on all the fun..."

Well,... not really because I will be spending a long weekend at a holiday resort...

But now I can't enjoy the tickets I won to attend a concert by the Young Sinatras in Amsterdam this Sunday! Damn!

Gave the tickets away to a good friend (and musician) to go there with whoever he wants.

I will be in the Hot Tub most of the weekend! Can't wait!

Enjoy,

HK

TOPPERS

I know, I know... I've been way too lazy lately and haven't written here for a long time (AGAIN!)

Eventhough there's quite a bit to share with you all, I just didn't take the time to actually sit down and have my fingers run across the keyboard.

Went to a cool concert the other week!

"TOPPERS IN CONCERT"

Had thought about possibly going there and ordering tickets way back, but that was something else I never got to. Then the night prior to the concert a friend of mine said he got two tickets (from his boss) but couldn't go himself.

Well,.. there was my chance!

Turned out to be a great night. And a free concert! You don't hear me complain!

Amazing how many of the songs they (Gordon, Gerard Joling and René Froger) sang everyone knows. OK,.. they had some sort of Karaoke text running across the monster screens,.. but still..

All classics! From the standard Dutch songs to 70's/80's songs. Some special guests on stage as well. Three national artists and The Trammps!!

I was lucky I had the first few hours off from school, because the concert ran pretty late. We took the train back from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, and there I missed my connecting train back to Dordrecth. So that meant I spent the night with a friend in Rotterdam and took an early train home the next morning in order to make it in time for school.

And the beer tasted good too @ the Arena!

Enjoy,

HK

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