Cycling...a death wish

Yes...I am doing the Argus AGAIN. I always say : THis is my last one...and then I enter AGAIN.
After last year's wind, I thought , Well it couldn't get much worse that that.
so I am training again, albeit a bit late. I am going on 4 cylces a week and really enjoy it, except in areas where there is no yellow verge. It seems that cyclists don't have a right to be on the road( according to big lorry drivers). I literally had to veer off onto the dirt, in order to survive. I now have to think twice about cycling on my favourite road, past De Meye. I mean, obviously a cyclist is going to come off second best, so does one just have to accept the fact that there is no place for us on the roads?
Is it too much to ask for cars and lorries to slow down and give me a wide birth?
What is the solution?
I enjoy mountain biking, but there is something about being on the open road that appeals to me....and any way, my mountain bike was stolen.
So I will carry on taking my life in my own hands, cycling on the glorious Wineland roads and just brace myself for countless puntures , and go on to the dirt when a lorry comes past.
Yours, Cathy Milner

Doing the best you can. Working with the Pebbles Project.

Last year my dear father was stabbed 6 times last month in their house by a youth who was high on TIK( methamphetamine). My father has recovered, but I was left with the nagging thought that if we don't do anything about the YOUTH culture in our disadvantaged communities, attacks like my father's will carry on happening. The youth have no outlet for teenage energy. Their only options are very often gangs, drugs and alchohol.
I want to make a small difference....to give some of them a place to be creative. I have taught teenagers in a formal school setting, and art is a wonderful tool to delve through emotional turmoils.

I am working in conjunction with Pebbles Project who is a charity that runs creches, after school clubs and educational trips for farm children on the various wine farms. They currently run these on 11 wine farms.( please look at their website to see more info. http://www.pebblesproject.co.za/ ) If any of you have been at my last 2 exhibitions, you will remember that I donated some of the proceeds to this worthy charity.

They choose 15 children at a time to attend art classes in my studio for a term. Therefore we touch 60 childrens lives in a year. They are brought to my studio by bus , where they are taught art skills in a fun way, and my aim is to cultivate an interest in the creative side of life, and, who knows, find hidden talent to perhaps study further. My ultimate aim is to fund a scholarship program so that each year I can give one student money towards studying further in the creative fields.
The children are well behaved and are very excited to be given this opportunity. Very often they only really ever leave the farm to go to school, therefore, to attend an art event at a REAL art studio is a very exciting adventure!

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!
Please let me know if you are interested in giving up your time or if you could donate something in the way of art materials and paper, or put some money in their account( see their website) or mine for a donation towards art materials for this project.Please remember, It doesn't matter how small your contribution. Every paintbrush, box of pastels and piece of paper count!

We also need cooldrinks and biscuits to give to the children before the class, as sometimes they have not eaten since the morning when they left home.
My details are as follows:
CA Milner
Go Banking( run by Nedbank)
branch # 123009
Acc # 1230582770
Please put as a ref.Pebbles Project/art materials