Hahaha, I’m glad.

Aah thank you. My brain can rest now 🙂

Thanks for the comment — maybe you’ll make it back there one of these days 🙂

The numbers in the quadrant formation on the sketch represent the name of Thorsten’s architectural firm: 26’10 South Architects. 26’10 South is the latitude and longitude for Joburg: https://www.2610south.co.za/

Side note: I’m intrigued by Thorsten’s “date stamp” – bottom right of his last sketch. The vertical is pretty easy to follow as yy/mm/dd, but how does one read the date format in the quadrant formation?

You’ll get them for sure – there are several in the pipeline.

Derek, this is such a beautiful story. Thank you.

My grandmother was a Wolfswinkel, one of eleven children. All the Wolfswinkels in South Africa are related as the original fore-bearers came from Holland way back when. My grandmother married a Smith and the family was apparently quite miffed that she married a Rooinek. But that is not the story of the Wonderboom for it is a memory about music, and dancing and huuuuge family gatherings annually on New Years day.

The Wolfswinkels were a very musical family who could play almost any musical instrument, between the Wolfswinkel brothers and their children, Boeremusiek dear Heather. Boeremusiek. Concertina, banjo, guitar but they could never participate in the Boeremusiek competition on Television as they were not traditionalists as they also had a brass section which was verboten. Trumpet, saxophone, clarinet the works. They actually cut a record or two.

Once a year the family, the extended family gathered at the Wonderboom to celebrate the New Year around a huge fire and danced and drank and visited catching up till the sun went down. All was welcome to join, all the visitors to the park, all comers. The original ones are all dead now and I am sure they gather around some big tree in the sky somewhere with a wailing concertina and twanging of a banjo to see in each new year keeping the devil awake.

Thanks Nancy, that does look amazing!

Hahaha. This area also had very few large trees before white settlers came in the 1800s – which makes this tree all the more interesting.

The first time our flight landed in New Hampshire during daylight, my awed kid turned from the plane’s window to me and said, “So many trees! So little time.”