Well, I must admit that I've been remiss in posting to Digaria. I hope to renew my appearance here with a little more regularity. In any case, I'll begin with a little news about my club - the Rotary Club of Westville in South Africa.

While I'm still a strong supporter of the 2-minute rule (and don't I wish I'd had my equipment at the ready for our presentation last night by a South African tea expert... all the more reason to remember it in the future.), I just wanted to point out that there are some alternatives.

An example:

Assuming the html will work, this is an embedded slide-show presentation via PicasaWeb - a google product. It's a visual product, like a video, but minus the sound. Further, it's annotated to help those who are new to our club get a sense of where we are and what we're up to.

This particular slideshow is of an inter-club activity called a potjie in this country (pronounce poy-key), that involves slow-cooking a meal in cast-iron pots over coals. In this case it was an inter-club competition, replete with expert judges (from a local hospitality/cooking academy) and bragging rights for a year (our club won!). Our meal was a combination of Canadian Baked Beans, Wild Boar Roast, Antelope Roast, Vegetable Roast, Mealie (corn) bread, and a Hot Fruit salad (simmered in sherry) with deep-fried banana dumplings for desert. I'm salivating just remembering it all.

Possible uses for a slideshow: On the club website At a break in the meeting Before the meeting Others?