John Barnard

CROSSROADS

“ You can’t put a price on peace of mind
You can’t put a price on peace of mind
 You will get to a crossroads some time in your life …
  But no, you can’t put a price on peace of mind “ 

    - William Prince -

I woke up well before sunrise, a little hazy from the generous helpings of Jack Daniels I’d had the night before. I was on my camping stretcher in my sleeping bag, warm and comfortable and I was listening to Southern Accents Radio. Dave Cobb, the host and incredible record producer of some of my…

I woke up this morning, rolled out of bed and with the sweet smell of small batch coffee brewing I took a deep breath and stepped into an ice cold shower. It’s been my ritual since last year September and now, with the cooler Autumn mornings setting in, it’s becoming quite a challenge.

Its just one of the many small things I’ve changed in my life the last few months and I chalk it all up to discipline because I definitely don’t feel like cold plunging, running for hours or lifting weights every day. I just…

I was sitting at a wooden table staring out over the vast Indian ocean, sun breaking through the Stilbaai clouds. My ice cold beer sweating silver beads down the neck and onto the checkered tablecloth. We had a day off on our Vagabonds Karoo tour and we were staying at a friend’s house in this quaint little seaside town.  It had been a busy few days playing to friendly, intimate audiences all along the fabled Route 62 criss-crossing the magnificent southern desert of South Africa. The day off gave us all a…

Man - Jeffrey Martin

“Hide your face from the howling wind
No more crying out
Pick up your gun, leave those you love
Learn to jump at the sound
Go bleed overseas,
don't forget to bleed proud
You are a man now”

The spotless, sapphire blue sky of central Wisconsin greeted me as I pushed the heavy door open and walked out onto a frozen parking lot dusted with fresh snow. The ice cracked underneath my boots and my breath made white clouds that vanished into the morning air. It was really cold, well below zero, and it…

It was a hot Friday afternoon, 6 February 2015, and I remember my nerves starting to get the best of me. I was at my then girlfriend’s house a mile or so away from the venue and I poured a bourbon while answering last minute messages and sending directions to out of towners braving rush-hour traffic on their way to see an unknown band at a venue as legendary as it was obscure.

A month or so earlier Rufus’ brother got me a meeting with Chrisna, the owner of the legendary Cafè Barcelona in Pretoria. The venue…

I stepped out of my apartment in the city this morning for my training session and it felt as if a switch had been flipped and everyone was back in the concrete jungle. Home from overpriced vacations where folks in rural and coastal towns are breathing a sigh of relief and counting the profits and losses brought about by the necessary evil and frustration of the “ Joburg Dollar”. Everywhere the “ new year, new me ” crowd was huffing and puffing in the streets and it seemed  that perhaps manners and…

These Endless Summer Days 

“I'm learning to live without you now

But I miss you, baby

And the more I know, the less I understand

All the things I thought I figured out

I have to learn again” - Don Henley 

2 December 2023… Seven years ago, it was a day pretty much like today. A Friday. Sweltering heat underneath sapphire blue skies. There was a collective hush of small talk on creaking garden chairs and the relentless song of cicadas in the ancient trees. Cumulus clouds were gathering in the mid-day heat and the…

Friendship 
 

I walked into the house the other night and poured a strong bourbon. A cold wind was howling and low clouds was rolling in over the city. I sat down on my couch in silence and stared at the paintings on my wall. The weather was strange but not unheard of for this time of year but it made me uneasy. The cows have already shed their winter coats, grazing is basically all gone and forty, month old calves, would have to survive their first really cold nights out on the pasture. We decided to push…

I was walking through the herd underneath low cloud with an icy wind pushing hard from the South. My cellphone rang and it was my mom.  She told me that she had come across something on the road into town and I could hear that she was upset. It was just after six am and I always worry about her on the road in the poor dawn visibility. It’s early spring and grazing is scarce but the road shoulders were cut and burnt to form firebreaks for winter and the fresh , new grass attracts animals and causes a…

I woke up this morning, the moon hanging low in the westen sky and the stars still out. I fired up the gas stove and brewed a cup of coffee. I cleaned and sterilised the syringes and needles in the left over boiling water and read the directions on each bottle. I organised and numbered the ear tags, grabbed my hat and stepped out into the fresh Spring morning. At the holding pen I started a fire and placed the branding irons in the flames, then jumped the fence and started rounding up the cattle. I greeted…