Nature’s Little Barometers

 When I was out walking early this morning I noticed a steady stream of little white butterflies heading east. As the day has progressed this stream, has turned into a torrent and butterflies have been buzzing (do butterflies buzz??) past my windows all day. I love seeing these little creatures at this time of the year and I bore Lisa senseless by chirping (year after year after year) that nature’s Little Barometers are on the move and it is going to rain really hard.

Why do I call the white butterflies nature’s little barometers? Well, years ago one of my older cousins told me that when the air pressure drops the butterflies hatch; and when the air pressure drops it usually rains.

However, I thought that maybe I should check this on the internet and I have to confess that I can’t find any reference to the air pressure and hatching butterflies – or I just haven’t looked in the right place. But it does make sense doesn’t it? White butterflies = Highveld rainy season.

I did find this little snippet about them:

The white butterflies in South Africa (mainly Brown-veined Whites, Belenois aurota aurota, left) originate in the Kalahari and in other arid regions of the Northern Cape.  During some years, they have a massive population explosion where the numbers get so big that they eat all the leaves of the available food plants.  If the adults stayed in that area, there would not be any food left for their larvae so they move off towards the east, and lay their eggs as they go along.  They basically keep on flying until they die, but in many cases they actually reach the Indian ocean and are often still seen flying into the sea.

End of Year

Apart from wishes for peace and goodwill to all man kind there are a few other wishes I wish for.

Politics in SA:

I have just read Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly. It is an excellent read and nice to have a bit of an update of the history of that era. A comment the writer made really stuck with me and is pertinent apropos Mangaung :

‘He (Kennedy) behaves like the president of the United Sates; a man who long ago stopped defining himself by party affiliation.’ 20 months into his presidency, at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I wish for a president to behave like a president of South Africa.

My Political Language:

These days I refer to politicians as ‘those M*@#$  F**&%s'. Judging the looks I get, I should possibly tone it down a bit and refer to them as 'those silly sausages'....but what the hell.

I wish people would appreciate a bit of good old fashioned swearing on occasion.

The Mayan Doomsday Calender:

Why do people believe this rubbish – the end of the world is about to happen tomorrow?  This is something for movies and SciFi thrillers only.

I wish people would focus on something a bit more constructive and creative.

365 Days Is Not Enough:

I am convinced there is a bunch of mad scientists at CERN cranking up that particle accelerator, thus making time go faster. (this is almost as bad as the Mayan stuff *grin*) Do you also feel that 365 days this year is not enough?

I wish time would slow down just a tad (or throw the mad scientists into the accelerator)

French Camino Walk:

Despite my thoughts a few weeks ago that I would walk only half the French Camino (because of time away) I have now thought what the hell, I will just do the whole thing.

I wish for the time (6 weeks) to do the whole French Camino.

All My New Year Resolutions:

Some on the list are bit difficult but there is nothing there that unachievable.

I wish (and hope) that I achieve them all in 2013.

Last But Not Least:

My very best wishes to you for a wonderful Christmas season and lots of happiness, wealth and good health for 2013.

The Duvet Effect

The Duvet Effect happens when you buy a new duvet cover.

You put it on the bed then take a look around to check how good it looks in the room. And horror of horrors, all of a sudden the curtains look dreadful and are pulled from the rails, the walls are painted and the carpet replaced. Because you have some paint left over, the passage gets painted, then the other bedrooms, then the carpets are ripped up and replaced with wooden flooring, the light fittings are changed, new bathroom suites installed, kitchen demolished and you even consider buying a new car. All because you spent R450.00 on a new duvet cover from Mr Price.

I have just gone, and am going, through this. I had the interior of my house repainted this week. It was sorely needed and something I have been putting off for ages, years in fact! I can’t stand the disruption; I can’t stand taking down all the pictures, curtains, stacking everything in the middle of the room. This really affects me – I was fussing over Bracken and Lisa pointed out that she was fine – it was me who was getting more and more ruffled and neurotic. The handy man Shane, who is charge of this painting operation, is also working his way through a long list of household repairs and maintenance items as well. He is back on Monday to touch up some of the paint issues and complete the repairs and everything is messy, messy, messy!

But to get back to the Duvet Effect. Yip, you guessed it. Blinds and curtains have found their way to the rubbish bin area, stuff is being chucked out left, right and centre, new frames being quoted for on pictures, I am about to rip out some light fittings, new curtains have been purchased, new furniture being considered and so it goes on.

I would seriously suggest that any quote you get for painting/repairs/a new duvet cover is multiplied by 10 and divide by .25; you might then be close to what it is actually going to cost you.

An Amazing Christmas Present

Lisa gave me the most amazing Christmas present this year. And she says it will over the next 10 years worth of Christmas, birthday and mothers day presents but I am feeling that it was well worth it.

I have been on a 5 day detox diet. The really super thing about this is that Brittany, the young lady who dreams up the menus for the detox, makes the food and delivers it to you every day. You get breakfast, snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner…all neatly packaged and each meal throughout the week is something completely different, extremely tasty and a nice surprise because you don’t know what you are getting until it arrives.

I could live like this for ever...

But here’s the thing – it is all veggie and all raw. Yes, all raw. Nothing is cooked and the blend of vegetables, nuts and seeds is quite amazing – you feel as if you are eating a brand new type of vegetable and you don’t feel like you are just eating veg and raw veg at that. Delicious and fresh tastes abound.

I felt a bit peckish on the second day but after that I was fine. Apparently it is the high nutrition content of the food that keeps you from not feeling hungry.

If you are interested in this detox diet you can contact Brittany through her website: http://joziuncooked.wordpress.com/ . The website by the way is quite a treat as well. Lots of interesting recipes etc. So if you are bored with same old, same old veg it is worth having a look at what you can do to jazz things up. (her email is joziuncooked@gmail.com)

This is a sample of a couple of the menus.

Habits and other things

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Aristotle

Writing, like exercise is something you have to get into the habit of doing. If not everyday, you need to write, run or walk consistently. The point is: if you don’t write or exercise regularly you get out of the habit.

I have gotten out of the habit of writing. And writing is something I enjoy doing tremendously. I have put a lot of things have been put on the backburner, filed away for another day and there have been such very infrequent blogs. Likewise my exercise program has gone for a ball of chalk.

So before I get trapped in the NYR trap I have set my goals now, this month, before 1 January comes around.

I have made my list of blogs to be written and outlined the small little book to be written about Bracken. I have my plan in place.

I also have my plan in place for another pilgrimage next year – in September/October 2013 I will be heading for Le Puy in France to do the first part of the French Camino. It is about 800km from Le Puy to the Spanish border where the Spanish Camino begins. In a couple of years time I will start in Geneva and walk to Le Puy thus completing this entire route.

I understand that this section of the French Camino is really pretty and quite a ‘foodie’ experience – something to look forward to indeed. Nothing like a plan to get the exercise regimen on track and nothing like a journey to look forward to.

Choosing your Partner

I haven’t done a blog for ages. And now sitting here in front of a blank screen is a little daunting. You may well ask why I have written and can tell you it is not because of lack of material. I have list a mile long, well I have a long list and this might well be the problem – where do you start. It is also a little like exercising – when you don’t get out on the road for a while it is hard to get back into the habit. If you don’t use the writing part of the brain it gets stale and lazy – out of the habit!

We had a hugely successful FEAT evening on Thursday – the theatre was buzzing with excitement and the speakers told their amazing stories that leave you wanting to pack your backpack and head off somewhere. And that is the whole idea of FEAT..to showcase our amazing adventurers and inspire people to follow their dreams. www.FEATSA.co.za

Those talks have inspired the topic of this blog: Choosing your Partner. 

The adventurers who spoke stressed the importance of choosing your adventure partner very carefully. Why? Well you want someone you can rely on, that will be there when the chips are down, who will just get on with it when the going gets tough; who wont just sit down and say ‘I am not moving another inch’ or ‘I feel ill today so I can’t do anything’ or ‘I’m going home, had enough’. They also spoke about a sense of humour and commitment. They also spoke about sharing the same dream and sense of adventure. And I am sure that some frank talking goes into making sure the expectations are aligned. This is what makes for a successful adventure/expedition.

So I had a quiet chuckle to myself when I was thinking this over and wondered why on earth we don’t apply the same criteria when we go about choosing life or business partners? All the above adventure criteria apply to the person we want to spend the rest of our lives with and more importantly, to share the bank account with. I believe we just don’t do enough homework in these departments and  nor do we listen to that inner voice telling us to be careful or question, that something is out of kilter and doesn't add up. 

I wrote a blog ages ago about the business partner who is having an affair. How do you view this guy/gal if they are lying and deceiving the people closest to them (wife/hubby, kids) with not too much thought for the consequences – and this is your business partner? And what about your love partner who doesn't deliver on promises, makes excuses for non-commitment or other things, treats you like shit badly, ignores your family and friends, lies, cheats and is evasive, is just a tad dishonest, and so on and so on. (You can see I am trying to be non-sexist here!)

The funny thing is you stick around with the crummy business partner or love interest – why? You hope they will change, you don’t want to hurt their feelings and in the case of the philandering business partner – you think he/she would never treat you like that. Don’t you think this sounds stupid?  

Would you choose this person to sail around Cape Horn with you?

Snippets

Couching
Yesterday I learnt a new word – it is ‘couching’. What does it mean? Well it describes the time you spend on the couch watching telly (Olympics etc), knitting, reading doing a sudoku etc. I totally embraced this concept yesterday afternoon. I napped, read, sudoko’ed and watched telly without a speck of guilt about not doing stuff, catching up on admin, doing a marathon walk – I watched the Olympic walkers instead (Note to self: you will never ever walk that fast). Wonderful how giving couching a name allows you to enjoy it so much.

 Athletics
And on the subject of the Olympics, no sooner had the womens 800m finished than tweets, text messages and other comments hit the airwaves. I did think Caster’s run was a really odd, as did many other people. But when I read Ross Tucker’s blog this morning his rational analysis made good sense. You can read it here: http://www.sportsscientists.com/ Bottom line is the Caster case has always been handled very badly and continues so.

 FEAT
Lisa’s 2012 FEAT show will be held on 4th October in Jhb. There is as always an amazing line up of adventurers talking about their ..well, adventurers. But most exciting is that Lisa has asked me to speak as well. Lucky me to get to share the stage with these amazing people! Tickets available at: http://www.entrytickets.co.za/eventview/feat2012

Home again

There really is something special about boarding that last aircraft for the final leg home. The trip home from Ireland was long. 8 hours or so from Dublin to Abu Dhabi, a few hours in the airport there, then another 8 hours odd to Johannesburg. We flew Etihad which has to be the most pleasant economy class travel around. You actually have leg room, they feed you continuously and the list of movies and TV programmes is endless. I hardly sleep on a plane so the entertainment was great and time passed quickly.

Ireland is lovely – what can I say about it? Well, the country-side is lush and green, and green and green and green. We missed spring but there were still plenty of little buttercups and daisies, irises, poppies and other flowers to provide a welcome break to the green grass, hedges and trees. There are lots and lots of sheep and cows dotting the landscape. We mostly kept to all the little back roads; travelling at about 80kph max on these well maintained roads we went from the east coast (Dublin side) to the west coast, down south a bit to county Dingle then across to the west cost again to a beautiful nature reserve in the Wicklow area. Then back to cousins in a small town outside of Dublin called Malahide.

We did a great deal of milage, hiking, walking around small towns, some cities and villages. Every place we went to was neat and clean and mostly pretty. Always lots of pubs and the buildings are painted in bright colours. No litter – in fact: some of the towns proudly display their awards for the ‘most litter free town in 20??’. There are No Dumping signs all over the place and you will get a 3000euro fine if you are caught dropping your trash. The towns and cities are festooned with hanging baskets of flowers – they are glorious and I just wish I knew what their secret is to doing this so well. The people are really friendly; they are interested in you and ask lots of questions about where you come from, what you do and so on. And they speak English – well sort of. There were some times when you just had to say “what? Please say that again”.

I also think the Irish have a ‘charming gene’…they are very charming; but it is so nice to be around charming polite people. Even their drivers are charming and polite. At a zebra or other pedestrian crossing they stop for you – this took a bit of getting used to! Driving on the same side of the road as us is a bonus – they have lots of roundabouts and being on the same side of the road makes this much easier. (I rode a bike in France and would hold my breath when I had to ‘do’ a roundabout there – quite terrifying!)

Whenever I get back I tell myself that that is that for the next few years. But already I am planning my next trip – not sure where yet but Bhutan is quite high on my list. But in the meantime it is back to work tomorrow…

Photos:

1.      We went on a fabulous walk in the Burren – a spectacular spot on the west coast. Oliver Cromwell went into Ireland he said of the Burren (and I para-phrase: there is not enough water to drown them nor enough trees to hang them and not enough soil to bury them – charming fellow)

2.      A huge field of poppies – it was jaw-dropping!

3.      Hanging baskets – I like the cone shape.

Packing for Ireland

 Lisa and I fly out of Johannesburg on Monday night for Dublin, via Abu Dhabi. Am I excited?  Yes I am…. This holiday has been in the planning stage since mid January and now that it is just about here I can’t keep the excitement butterflies down.

For the last 2 weeks I have been checking the Irish weather reports; hoping that by looking at 3 different sites I might get a better report than: nice warm weather with a high of 18 degrees… Nice? Warm? One of the Irish guys we are meeting up with says they almost strip naked when the temperature reaches 20.

And who are these Irish guys? Well, they are people Lisa has met from adventure races in various parts of the world and they have opened their houses and handed out invitations to us whilst we are there – it promises to be a nice social time. Lisa is racing in the 24 hour Rogainne with one of them and he will meet us when we arrive. I also have long lost cousins with whom we will be staying – after all the sporadic letters and emails over the years it will so nice to meet fact-to-face.

So far all the packing has been done in my mind. Suitcases, backpacks and so on can only be hauled out of storage on Monday because little Bracken cat gets quite anxious. We have Sarah coming to look after her for most of the time, but Sarah has to go off to race in Slovenia 4 days before we get back. Then Jess and Kate (my neighbour’s daughters) will be coming to look after her. The house is fine – it doesn’t need looking after – just Bracken and it is quite reassuring to know that she will have these attentive girls to care for her.

I am off first thing this morning to finalise the medical kit. I like to know that I can cover any emergency like removing an appendix or performing open heart surgery. Needless to say, Lisa then chucks out about 90% of my kit; I guess I have to concede that I have never died or had to remove an appendix on my travels - yet!

 After my Camino walk I know that I can get away with a very small amount of clothing – so my list is very small and everything very practical. I think my suitcase will weigh in at about 15kgs and that includes my 3 rather large guide books.

At the back of one of the books are some handy Irish phrases like “Dia dhuit” (pronounced jee-a dich) which means Good day. My firm favourite which I think I will use frequently is: “Ta me I mo idirgalacht-ach bhithiunach” which means “I am an inter-galactic space criminal”  Hahaha – someone had a sense of humour when compiling this list.

And Max, shown in the picture here, will accompany us. He was tucked away in a small pocket of my back pack on my Camino walk. He is tiny, about 5cm high, and his tough guy image is comforting. Nice little travelling companion!

Stay well and happy!

DAY 15

For the past few years Lisa has set herself a challenge: to run every day, come rain or shine, for x number of days. The x number of days depends on how old she is going to be. So this year she will be 36; so 36 days prior to her birthday she begins this challenge and challenges friends to join her.

It is quite hard to do this – there is stuff to do and you end up juggling things to make sure you can run every day. Lisa knows a guy in Hong Kong who has run every day for the past 15 years - isn't that totally amazing?

This year I took up the challenge. I am not running, only walking and really getting into the swing of it - it is now 15 days of walks every day. And I must confess, getting a tad obsessive about it. I said to Lisa the other day that while we are in transit in Abu Dhabi we can do a quick speed walk around the transit area for an hour! We finish the challenge in Ireland on the 18^th June – Lisa birthday and we will probably carry on walking everyday for a bit after that.

Someone commented that I shouldn’t find this difficult having walked every day for 6+ weeks on the Camino last year with a lot more mileage everyday than I am doing now…but all I had to do then was walk every day. Back home one has to deal with TIME…fitting everything in. It gets difficult.

And the thing that keeps me going? Well, there is nothing like a challenge, a mission, a goal to keep you focused.

What I like about art

Whilst this Zuma art thing is a hot topic I thought I would put some of my thoughts and feelings down about ‘what I like about art’.

When I stand in front of a Caravaggio I want to weep and sometimes have wept. The first time I visited Sainte Chapelle in Paris I sobbed very loudly and just the thought of the place brings on the tears. When I gaze up at Victory my heart stops…. my jaw is on the ground and my knees turn to jelly when I stand in front of Monet’s water lilies…..

I also love things that amuse me and make me laugh. I love the idea of an every day object being used as art….the pictures below of a good old clothes peg and a couple of fried eggs amuse me no end and I could just kick myself that when I owned a lovely white carpet I didn’t throw some yellow cushions on it….And the clothes peg – well, if my garden was big enough I would have one.

But back to the furore over the Zuma painting; I first heard about it on 702 news whilst driving home after work. I think ‘guffaw’ is the right word to describe my reaction, I guffawed, and then had lots of chuckles and giggles and I hadn’t even seen the painting! I found the idea of this painting really funny and was (am) especially amused by the reaction from the ruling party.

So in a discussion over lunch with friends yesterday I listened really patiently while Fred expounded on the respect that should be given to the office of the president blah blah blah. But I can’t go with this argument anymore – if the office wants respect from me then it should up the ante a bit, actually quite a lot, and then it might get the nod. And the president – well, as far as I am concerned he should have been completely naked in the painting - he asked for this…hahahaha. Yeah for Brett Murray and the Goodman Gallery – thanks for the laugh!

You just have to enter

Do you know that I recently won 2 return tickets to Ireland?….Yip I did. I entered a competition just before Christmas and they phoned me on the 13^th January, which co-incidentally was a Friday, to give me the good news. So, this time in 4 weeks Lisa and I should be at ORT waiting to board our plane. My little stash of air miles paid for the car hire so I feel the whole transport thing is a nice tidy free gift. We are spending 18 days there; will do a lot of hiking and walking and Lisa will participate in a 24 hour Rogainne at a place just south of Dublin. And we get to meet some long lost Irish cousins. It is going to be a good holiday.

So how / why did I enter this competition? I heard the ad on the radio on my way into work and thought “that sounds good”. Did a quick entry via their website and thought no more about it. I guess someone had to be a winner and the lucky winner was me – but only because I entered and the rest was really up to chance!

Anyway: this morning a lady phoned me to tell me that I have won yet another prize….this time a huge hamper of anti-aging beauty products valued at quite a substantial amount of money – and let me tell you that with a milestone birthday coming up, it is most welcome.

So how /why did I enter this competition? Well I saw the ad on a magazine and thought ”could sure do with some of that” and did a quick entry via the internet and thought no more about it.

When I told my boss about this today he said ”Liz, take money from petty cash and go and buy some lotto tickets” and he meant it. However, I will take my own money and buy the tickets – I am not sure of legal aspects of buying with the company money – I mean who owns the winnings then? Hmmmm.

Lucky me!

I really don’t enter many competitions. I only enter a competition if I like the prize… I mean what the heck would I do with a lawn mower or a braai or a new fangled oven glove? I just wouldn’t dream of having something like that, but something like free air tickets and anti-aging products (hope they work) are right up my street.

Over the past 18 months – 2 years I have won the following prizes: a complete set of crystal wine glasses for just about every conceivable type of wine invented – each set for 4 people. A really enormous, just about 5 ton ceramic bowl that takes up just about the entire dinning room table – well it did until my domestic worker somehow managed to let it fall off the table. A designer bottle of Evian water – bottle is really lovely – the water…well was water! (in this instance I did enter the competition for the bottle). And worst of all there are a couple of other little things that I can’t remember. I liked the prizes so I entered the competition.

I don’t by the way, win every competition I enter….I didn’t win amazing sewing machines valued at R40,000 for example; despite or maybe because of, sending in about 3,000 entries…only kidding, but I did send in a lot more than 1 entry for that one.

The moral of the story is: if you don’t enter you cant win…as with most things in life (just thought I would tag that last bit on *grin*)

Tomorrow I am going to buy a fistful of lotto tickets…you just never know.

Princess

I must confess that if anyone else tells me that someone is a ‘real princess’ I think I will bop them on the nose – the teller, not the ‘princess’. This is one title I can't stand.

And why I ask myself, do I get so antsy about the ‘princess’ comments? Well, after a lot of soul searching I think it is because it implies that I need to tread carefully in the presence of a princess - in case I upset the ‘princess’ or say something that might set her off on a little tantrum or something, treat her differently to the way I treat others.

Why should I pussy foot around someone because she has been labelled a ‘princess’? I find this unacceptable especially as she has, usually, acquired this label because she is self-centred, arrogant, obnoxious, expects people to run around her and is generally quite a precious little soul who behaves badly. By labeling people, we are actually condoning this behavior.

I thought though, that seeing that Princess Anne is in SA at the moment, I would mention a cool princess thing I saw her do. A few years ago I was in London at the time of the Trooping the Colour for the Queen’s birthday. It was pouring with rain that day, almost monsoon like rain coming down. The parade ground was at least ankle deep in water and every time the guards did a foot stomp they created mini fountains. The Queen was sitting on a little dais which had a canopy so she was ok. The rest of the family were in their regimental uniforms on horseback behind her. So there was Phillip, the 3 princes and Princess Anne getting well and truly soaked and they were solidly rained on for about 2 hours (I was watching on TV). None of them flinched – they kept

poker faced, there was no fidgeting or wiping nose and eyes…they just sucked it up – even the horses hardly moved. She may have told her Mum afterwards that that was the last time she did something like that; but during the long hours in the rain you would have thought she (and the rest) were having a nice jolly time. This picture of the Princess shows the hat she was wearing - part of the uniform. It certainly didn't provide much shelter!

Perhaps our little home grown princesses could take a leaf from her book!

Fabulous customer service and great products

Crocs:

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Croc slip slops and I just love them. They are comfortable; I can walk to shops in them, slop through puddles with no fear of spoiling them and do some gardening and hose them down if they are covered in mud.

A month or so ago I was doing some gardening; it started to rain so I left the slops on the front step – they were filthy – and promptly forgot all about them till the next evening when I got back from work. I kicked off my work shoes and tried to slip into the Crocs but my feet wouldn't fit in them….NO WAYS! Either my feet had suddenly grown a lot or slops shrunk. Yip, they shrunk.

I felt a bit miffed so I went onto the Croc website to get the ‘complaint’ contact info and then thought I would check the technical spec for Crocs and, lo and behold, it said (to paraphrase) ‘if you leave your Crocs in extreme heat they will shrink’….Extreme heat – Johannesburg? But they did warn me, albeit on the website. So I wrote to them anyway to tell them how accurate their information was – how true it is and that now I have fairy sized slip slops.

Within 24 hours I had a reply from the manager saying it must have been a really hot day and how they would love to replace them for me – free of charge…. I am now the proud owner of a brand new pair of Croc sandals…lovely!

Fortune Cookies:

Lisa put on a Metrogaine event last week. She always likes to do something special for her events – so for this one she decided to hand out fortune cookies to the participants.

She tracked down a guy who makes fortune cookies for a local Japanese restaurant. Within minutes he h

ad emailed her the prices for plain and chocolate covered ones. He told her she could choose her own fortunes – gave her an Excel template to type up the fortunes and said as soon as she sent this through plus the money she would get her cookies.

On a Thursday morning she sent through the order for 300 chocolate dipped cookies, her list of fortunes and the proof of payment. That same afternoon there was a buzz at the gate and there was the driver with 2 large boxes of cookies! Isn’t that amazing.

Needless to say we ate a few just to check that Lisa’s fortunes were there…yes they were and at the Metrogaine last week everyone enjoyed them…and the fortunes!

Creativity and other things

My mind has been heavy and I realised a month or so ago that this was because I am not making anything. I am not creating. I make gaiters and design patterns; and we are looking designs for sports clothes and day wear. But this doesn't quite make my creative bits twitch. My fingers have been twitching to get stuck into some ceramic work – but so far zilch has happened. Why? Probably because I have been tied up with other stuff. And probably because I needed to get my confidence back, my fingers in the clay and to ‘just do it’! It has been about 5 years after all….

So….last weekend I went to a ceramic workshop at the Pretoria Tech, given by ceramicist Cathy Brennon – whom I had met the previous weekend in Underberg . She lives and works there; she has a studio and gallery and makes amazing things. She mentioned the workshop to me and on my return to Johannesburg I signed up.

The workshop was really beneficial from the point that I re-learnt some things I had forgotten and learnt some really nice new things. Cathy is a great teacher and she explains her techniques well and is not shy about passing on and sharing some of her trade secrets – which is great! A really interesting part was listening to the questions from the other students (who were quite a formidable bunch of potters) and hearing the answers – either from Cathy or others in the group. But the really interesting and most beneficial thing was listening to Cathy talking about her experiences. She took a huge leap about 8 years ago to become a full time artist ie. gave up the day job. (And her husband Lawrence chucked in his day job at the same time and became a full time professional photographer – specializing in landscapes, mountains etc!) I think I should have said gi-normous leap!

Back to Cathy – In addition to talking about the journey to become a full time artist, and the journey since that decision, Cathy spoke about following your dream and doing what, deep down, makes you happy. She doesn't make it sound like a Hollywood movie – she tells quite a ‘sober’ story which makes her tale all that more inspiring – she is realistic about the difficulties of being a full time artist; and realistic about her successes (which are many). Most importantly, she really knows her stuff – she went back to university, she has attended many workshops and set about learning as much as possible – and she is still learning. I believe we all walked away with a lot more than we went in with. And she hands out really good advice which in itself is motivating.

Her words though, that stay with me relates to learning: Keep learning new things, perfect techniques, keep trying, practice, practice – and still you are going to have some dismal failures. Learn from them and keep trying. Improve your knowledge base all the time – how you do things, why you do them. Do the things you want to do; try new things; don’t work at the same old thing. Don’t work in isolation: you learn from others – mix with people who you can learn from. Get inspired and motivated from others.

But the most important thing Cathy said that really stuck was: 'Don’t make yourself unteachable.' And how easy is this to do? Well, we all kinda think we know ‘it’. We often feel a bit embarrassed about showing that we don’t actually know something, or are fearful that our ignorance will be seen by others; or worse still - go to a class and pretend we know ‘it’ all, making it very difficult to be taught. Sometimes our laziness or dare I say it, our arrogance precludes us from learning.

‘Don’t make yourself unteachable’ reminded me of an article I read about the selection process for the Bolshoi Ballet. A selector said (and I paraphrase) ‘we don’t always select the best dancers; we select the ones who can be taught.’

So get out there, learn, create and have a great deal of fun! And me? Yes, well: the little studio is cleaned, I have 2 bags of fresh clay and I have been practicing techniques learnt at Cathy’s workshop. Some of the things are going in the bin but I do have a couple of pieces worth saving! At the mo I have ideas popping into my head all the time...I am trying to write them in my little black book before they disappear! What a lovely feeling.

Its good to be back and I am having a lot of fun and enjoying the creative process – tremendously!

I have attached an article about Cathy which will appear in the Garden & Home on 12 may. Her Dream Boxes are fabulous – everyone should have one. They are beautiful.

Being Mindful

The other day I wrote a blog about being mindful. But it turned into a rant about how rude the cashiers are in supermarket; how you could be invisible because there certainly isn’t any eye contact and they continue with their conversations with the packers. And guess what? This is turning into another rant – definitely not what I had in mind for today.

What I do have in mind though, is about being focused; giving whoever or whatever your full and undivided attention.

And then, ‘voila’. This great quote popped up in my facebook page and it was titled Mindful Monday (author unknown)

“One of the ways in which you can take the stars from your eyes and really see another person is to simply listen to them, to give them the gift of your full, undivided attention without judgment or agenda. Don't think about how you might be able to help them or what you're going to say when they stop talking. Be receptive but not passive. Actively listen without being aware of being a listener."

Choo

On the subject of pretty things:

I subscribe to the Jimmy Choo newsletter – have done for about 2 years now. I get it about every 2 weeks and salivate and lust over the magnificent shoes and bags…. Before you ask why on earth I get this newsletter – I am going to tell you why.

During the early days of the TV series Sex and the City I was fascinated by SJP’s shoe fetish….I watched in awe as she tottered about on high, high heels with nothing more than a tiny little strap over the toes holding the shoes in place. How could she do this?

So, some years ago when I was in Harrods in London I nipped into the shoe department and tried on the shoes…. particularly Manalo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo. Some of them I could only look at on my feet (they were way too high to even attempt a step) and others I walked around in.

What is so special about these shoes that firstly cost a small fortune and secondly, I think, are coveted by so many, many women?

Well, they are like jewels – they are beautiful. They smell nice. They are made from exquisite fabric and leather. There is no tacky glue holding the glitzy bits on. The stitching is even and there are no loose ends. The strappy bits for ankles and toes are all in the right places…perfectly positioned so they don’t cut into your toes. The shape – the sole bit – fits your foot as if made for it…..it is in proportion so even with very high heels, your foot fits and you don’t end up with your whole foot wanting to slip into the toe bit and you clinging on for dear life with your toes. The shoes just fit....and look so, so good.

These shoes are magnificent! Jimmy and Manalo deserve every bit of their success.

The photo is from the Jimmy Choo website...one of his beautiful shoes.

Making things pretty

We have an elderly handy man who works at Bassline 2 or 3 days a week. There is lots to do – an old building needs lots of work done… electrical, plumbing, painting etc – he is worth his weight in gold and has saved us a small fortune.

But: he has absolutely no aesthetic sense whatsoever. He does things that drive me crazy.

For example: we use a deep red paint for some of the feature walls inside and outside the venues. He ran out of the paint and decided to mix his own red paint and went around blobbing this obviously different colour red on all that places that needed a touch up….so I told him (through gritted teeth) I thought the walls and pillars needed to repainted completely and he must get the proper colour from the hardware store…which he did and finished the job in double quick time. But he only painted up to about 2 metres and was quite happy to tell me that was ok and anyway he couldn’t do anymore because the paint had run out and people don't look up ... duh??? Scream!

Then we had to extend the bar counters – so good old Neil knocked something up out of wood, slapped on a coat of varnish (nothing matched the original bar!) and that was that. When I thanked him but suggested he paint the counters to match the rest he was horrified…

Him: This is good wood, lovely stuff....

Me: Nope, it's just pine and it doesn’t match the rest of the bar.

Him: It will be ruined if I paint it.

Me (now getting annoyed): It won’t be ruined – these things look like large coffins – please paint them to match the rest of the bar.

Him: No, I won’t ruin the wood.

Me, quite (well, very) loudly: Just make the bloody things look pretty for goodness sake.

To this day he can’t understand why I want something to look pretty…..whenever I ask him to make something I have to tell him over and over that it must look pretty…please, please! I can just imagine what he would say if I asked him to use the fabulous flower nails…

January Scribbles

11 in the Morning

A few months before I went off to do the Camino, Lisa gave me one of those fancy sports watches that are indestructible.

Part of the wrist band is of titanium and super doopa extra strength rubber, the face is shatterproof glass and it is so waterproof that I can dive to depths of 100m if I like. It also has nice date functions, multiple alarm settings and I can time my laps (what!!!). If I was crushed in a rock fall at least the watch would survive. I was very grateful for the watch and very pleased to see that Lisa had set it for me…it reflected the correct date, day and time.

Then of course, I started to fiddle…..you need to be a brain surgeon to work these things but I very smartly set the alarm to buzz at 11.00am and do you think I could work out how to ‘unset’ it…no, no,no. I knew the look on Lisa’s face would be too much to bear (you know how kids give you that look?) so I decided to live with it..

When I was on the Camino my 11 o’clock alarm was great. It was either time to move it along a bit, slow down or take a break – depended on where I was on the route. People walking with me also tuned into it and would comment when the alarm went off that we had better move it. One guy even set his alarm at 11h00. 11h00 is a nice mid-morning marker.

The alarm is still set and I run my days by it now. I mostly try to work my days along the lines of ‘eating the frog’ first thing in the morning – this gets all the mundane, grotty, boring jobs out the way, usually, hopefully; and then I have the time to provide a bit of real value to the job, usually, hopefully!

BTW there is a great little comedy piece on TED Talks by Rives called 4am. Link is here:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/rives_on_4_a_m.html

The Rhino Story

I am as appalled as the next person with the wholesale slaughter of our rhinos. In the last couple of weeks there have been outpourings of condemnation of the killings; the statistics for last year topped at way over 400 rhinos killed and at the beginning of the year, another 8 (and since then quite a few more) were found dead and de-horned in the Kruger Park; and if I am not mistaken, all in the same spot.

Apart from my feelings being rattled for these poor creatures, my feelings for what is being done about it are being rattled even more. I, like many others, click on the like button when something appears on facebook about this; I have signed petitions and shaken my head in horror and shame that us humans can be so stupid as to think that taking a bit or rhino horn will make big fat willies or cure cancer and AIDS.

But, and here’s the thing, we all say something must be done and I agree wholeheartedly. I, like many, many others, have contributed to various organisations that are flying the ‘Save the Rhino’ banner. And this is where I suddenly have a problem. Every uncle and his brother (maybe a slight exaggeration) and corporate and smaller companies have set up funds and NPO’s, NGO’s, to fight the scourge that is rhino poaching. And they are collecting money left right and centre for night vision goggles, WMD for fighting poachers, vehicles for tracking poachers and training course for trackers to track poachers; and it is possibly quite a s*&t load of money to fight this battle. There are billboards showing blood-soaked rhinos, there are bumper stickers, there are adverts on radio and TV advertising the campaigns to fight rhino poaching. Companies proudly say they have a Save the Rhino fund and Rx of your purchase goes towards this. Better yet: the SA Parks Board trotted out a figure of R400 million the other week that they reckon will be needed to fight the battle in Kruger…where does this figure come from? What is the plan? How did they get to this amount of money or was it just a big fat thumb suck?

Well, with tears in my eyes let’s face it: With all this support the situation is getting worse, by the week. More rhinos killed last year than ever before and 8, yes 8, in one week in one of our National Parks…good grief. So what the heck is actually happening with all these organisations and money and contributions, petitions and ‘like clicks’. And here’s another thing: Another of our most profitable natural resources (ito tourism, Big 5 etc) is being plundered by foreigners – because the big market place for this resource is outside of SA– sort of similar to the rape and plunder of our mineral resources by foreign powers in days gone by….

Moving on: Does anyone know how many organisations are out there fighting for the rhinos? Does anyone know how much money (or goods – vehicles, night goggles etc) has been raised by all these organisations? Does anyone actually know what they have done with it – I mean apart from a big advertising spend to tell everyone that they support the Rhino cause, the printing of bumper stickers and paying marketing and advertising agencies to come up with fancy logo’s and tag lines?

Is what they are doing effective……well, go figure! I certainly don’t think so – and certainly not based on last year’s results and the appalling slaughter that took place this week. Nope….whatever is happening is not doing a hell of a lot of good. It is extremely noble that people set up these things – we all feel passionate about this and are grateful that some good souls out there actually do something – but what are they doing?

We need a consolidated plan…everyone together …. with the various parks boards, private game parks, interested parties, trainee tracker schools, NPO’s, NGO’s etc etc . We need a person to take charge…just one person to take charge if this for the entire country; to put a crew together, consolidate all the efforts and come up with a proper plan, like a military campaign would be done…and then they must go for it – then I don’t mind handing over my money.

Sharing your dreams

When I was on the Camino I walked for 3 days with a young American woman. She was on her way to one of the biggish towns and had heard that I was going to turn what should be a 2 day trek into a three day trek – which suited her down to the ground and she asked if she would walk with me.

It turned out that she would then bus it from this town to the next city where she was meeting her husband and they would then walk the last 100km or so to Santiago together. Her husband was flying in from the US.

She was nice to be with, very open and not afraid to talk about herself. She had a hugely interesting job and had lived in a number of foreign countries because of it – both her and her husband work for a large Aid organisation in the US. They don’t go in just when the earthquake or disaster has happened; they go in a bit later and begin the task of rebuilding – so at times, they may be in a location for months or even years. For example this organisation is still in Haiti – which has a barrel of problems that seem to be insoluble….

However: I asked her how this affected her marriage. Because sometimes they may be posted to the same place, but other times they are in separate locations, and because the work is pretty stressful, which also takes a toll on their marriage.

What Christina said has stuck with me….she said sure, they have problems, they have to have counselling anyway because of the job but when things had got a bit

hectic with their marriage they immediately went for counselling. She says they have a really good marriage (15 years long) and they love each other and this was something neither of them wanted to give up. They had to work it out. Which they appear to have done! Part of living successfully the way they do is to always be very open with each other – especially about what they want to do. She spoke about how they deal with their dreams, their expectations, and their resolutions. She said they consciously make time to talk about what they want to do. They stick their ideas on the fridge so they know that something is brewing and the dreams/ideas are there as a reminder; then over dinner they talk about them. They talk about what they can do and how they can help each other achieve that dream. The dream becomes a team effort – not losing sight that this is one persons dream and that person is in charge of making the dream happen - but there also is someone on the sidelines encouraging, supporting, making allowances if need be. I guess you could call it a ‘dream team’.

She said The Camino had been her dream for 3 years. She had to save up her leave and also money; and she wanted to do it by herself. She said they both made sacrifices (like no long weekends or short holidays together) but she said the very best thing was, a few weeks before she left for Spain, her husband asked if he could join her for the last week - she knew then that she would be able to complete The Camino….

Happy Recipes

Happy 2012....warm wishes for a year ahead that is kind to you.

I thought that these 2 recipes would be a good start to the New Year – brightly coloured, good for you and very yummy…..real happy food!

The first comes from Deon Braun – the publisher of the new TRAIL magazine. Deon had me waiting in anticipation ever since he put out this little temptation on Facebook… “you have to have a Pawpaw Bunny”….. so when I got my Trail Magazine just before Christmas the first thing I looked for was the Pawpaw Bunny…..

Deon comes from Durban, home of the famous Bunny Chow. Trail Magazine’s variation of the infamous Bunny is as follows…and let me also confess that I have eaten quite a few in the past week or so….. Thanks to Deon and Trail magazine for this recipe

Pawpaw Bunny

Take one pawpaw – size depends on how hungry you are….

Peel it with a potato peeler

Cut it in half an scoop out the pips

Mash or finely cut up one half and fill the remaining half some of this

Spoon over heaps of plain yoghurt

Sprinkle with heaps of ground cinnamon

Sprinkle with brown caramel sugar (or honey or nothing sweet if you so desire)

Eat and enjoy….

NB: The flavour mix of pawpaw, cinnamon and yoghurt is quite magical

The second is: Happy Carrot Soup

Why is it happy soup: well, there is wine in it, chicken stock to cure all ills, a really nice colour and ginger to spice things up and you can eat it hot or cold…..

You will need:

Enough butter to sauté the onions and garlic

1 large onion chopped

About a litre and half of chicken stock – I use those new Knorr stock jelly cubes… but you can make your own

2 teaspoons of finely chopped ginger (according to taste – more if you like ginger)

1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (also according to taste but not too much that it swamps the other flavors)

1 cup good dry white wine

Large bunch of carrots, cut into smallish pieces

2 tablespoons lemon juice, pinch curry powder, salt & ground pepper

Chopped fresh chives or parsley

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, ginger and garlic; sweat it with the lid on for about 15 – 20 minutes, heat down to low.

Add the stock, wine and carrots. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered over medium heat until the carrots are very tender, about 45 minutes. Make sure it is not too liquid – the soup must be thickish…..

Puree the soup in a blender. Season with lemon juice, curry powder, salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle with chives or parsley. Serve hot or cold.

A good dollop of cream or plain yoghurt on top of the soup is wonderful!