Reason # 9 Thank you for the - BRICKS

 Enough now with the music, you might say...

But since we have been pondering the subject of music the past three days - allow me one last fling with it in asking:

Remember the Abba song: "Thank you for the Music" !?

Now, while I love the lyrics and the song as much as probably a billion other Earth dwellers, I’ve often thought that if I ever had to customize it to make it applicable to me—since I have many talents, but singing is certainly not one of them—then the lyrics would have been:

"Thank you for the bricks, the blocks I'm laying

Thanks for all the homes I'm building

Who could live without it? I ask in all honesty

What would life be?

Without bricks and beams, and dreams built from the ground?

So I say thank you for the bricks

For giving it to me..."

I am sure I was born with houses in my veins.  (Too long a story to tell here, maybe one day I will.)

Today, however, we are simply going to celebrate all the lovely houses I’ve had the privilege to build in my life. Some I renovated or built as part of projects, but the THREE I built for my family will always stand out. Each of them started as just an idea in my head, grew into a plan on paper, and eventually became a beautiful house of bricks and mortar on a street. (From a pile of bricks—see above—to a proud building with a character of its own.)

Here is Nr 1     36 Villa Mont in Bizweni, Somerset West.

STREET VIEW LINK:

LINK:     36 Villa Mont, Bizweni, Somerset West

Then followed nr 2     -     8 Mopani also in Somerset West 

STREET VIEW LINK:

LINK:    8 Mopani Somerset West

and finally136 De Beers Avenue Strand.

STREETVIEW LINK:

LINK:     136 De Beers Ave Strand

What it means to Build a house: 

You can build a house—lay its foundations, shape the walls and interieur  with your dreams, and choose every detail with care. Then, one day, you might sell it. Someone else will hang their pictures, fill the rooms with their laughter, live their lives. But no matter how much time passes or how far you go, a part of that house will always belongs to you.

Not in the legal sense. Not in ownership papers or property records. But in the quiet way a place remembers its builder. Your choices shaped the bones of that home, and your story will always lingers in the spaces between the walls.

To build is to leave a mark. So even if you never step through that front door again, the house remembers. And somewhere, in the heart of it, it still whispers your name.

The beginning:

I guess it all started with this old huge plaashuis that I was born into at Vredendal.(Lovely, but certainly in need of a bit of TLC)

 I was about 12 years old when I submitted my first plan to my parents with potential renovations in mind - complete with a set of plans drawn up in my spare school books and with koki pens or crayons.

 ( I kid you not)

 LINK

Neustadt    Vredendal PIN

After much deliberation, my dad finally gave the go-ahead—under one strict condition: only if I took full responsibility as project manager… at age 12! Back then, we called it Klerk van Werke.

And mind you, this might not have been entirely new talent suddenly emerging in the family—perhaps there was a gene at play. Why? Because Pa himself had been a Klerk van Werke when the Vredendal Bridge was built—a civil engineering project over the Olifants River, close to our farm. That was when he was still a young man, before he and Ma were married.

Dad was always incredibly proud of his time working on the bridge—and rightly so.

Every time I drive across that bridge, I still feel Pa's energy, as if he's there in the background, organizing things with quiet determination. The bridge was built in 1954.

So yes, at that early age, I successfully pulled off my first renovation project. It went so well that I was given a second "contract" in Grade 10—to take on a further renovation of our old plaashuis. People were stunned by the end result, and a protégé, a new Klerk van Werke, was starting to come into his own.

Some time passed:

Then, after army—my two years of compulsory conscription service—I used my saved-up army pay to convert our little asbestos Strandhuis cottage into a beautiful brick-and-mortar project. Thank you for the bricks, indeed. Perhaps I love this little house the most of them all!

That was also the first house where I installed the "two lion heads"— my architectural signature feature. The first of many lion heads to be embedded in walls.

LINK

LINK: Huis Anet/Samuel Strandfontein

The words of the beautiful Laurika Rauch song, “Ek het ’n huisie by die see” (H.A. Fagan), always come to mind when I think about that house—they describe it to a T.

LINK: YouTube video~ Ek het n huisie by die see

Over the years, I’ve contributed to the development of several campuses, training sites, factories, and numerous "spec" houses. Additionally, I have played a key role in many interior designs for projects and offices. In total, I’ve been involved in over 30 completed building projects—excluding interiors.

But my pride and joy will always be the THREE houses I built for my family.

It was fun to re-visit them and pay homage 

 here in my Gratitude Journey Journal.

In conclusion then, tongue in the cheek, find below the all new 

"Thank you for the Bricks" song!

🎵 Thank You for the BRICKS (to the tune of "Thank You for the Music"-ABBA (c)  ) 🎵

Verse 1:
I'm nothing special, in fact, I'm a bit of a bore
But when I lay down stone, people ask me for more
And I’ve built a few walls, maybe chimneys or two
I guess there's a builder in me
'Cause I just love what I do

Verse 2:
I build from sunrise, through rain, wind or shine
Foundations and rafters, that strong, steady line
Who could imagine a joy so complete?
Turning a sketch into walls on the street

Chorus:
So I say
Thank you for the brick, the block I'm laying
Thanks for all the homes I'm proudly making
Who could live without it? I ask in all honesty
What would life be?
Without bricks and beams, and dreams built from the ground?
So I say thank you for the brick
For giving it to me

Verse 3:
Mother says I was a child with a plan
Toying with Legos more than I ran
And I've often wondered, how did it start?
The love of a wall, straight from the heart

Bridge:
So I build with purpose, and I build with pride
Each house a memory, a soul inside

Chorus:
So I say
Thank you for the brick, the stone and mortar
Thanks for all the roofs and every corner
Who could live without it? I ask in all honesty
What would life be?
Without bricks and beams, and dreams built from the ground?
So I say thank you for the brick
For giving it to me

[Thank you to Jeandre & Chat Pro for helping with the "Brick" Visual and Chat GPT for polishing my verion of the Absa song]

-*-*-*-

Ps: I feel like I have still one BIG house to build left in me,

 time will tell, but if not, I suffice with grace in what was achieved so far!

Happy Building ~ See you soon
27 May 2025

LINK:

LINK to Landing page with LINKS to other "REASONS" posts