Meeting Place

When Robyn and I were in Buenos Aires, we happened upon the most amazing little shop with great jewelery - in the hope that she still had some earrings of theirs left (and to do a 20 minute photoshoot for the next 'Full Circle' ad) I went through and met her at her lovely shop - Mediterraneo in Simon's Town. She had a pair of the earrings I was after...plus I got to model the most exquisit poncho (she's ordering me one)...so its been a good day!

Cape Town was woken by a serious thunderstorm this morning acompanied by rain, really warm berg wind & the most fantastic looking sea swell...

I'm so happy with my phone camera! In demonstration:

Robyn at the Meeting Place - Simon's Town

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Skrabal

I just love this: over this last weekend go Stillbay...quietly knitting and observing the goings-on of the house, I had the pleasure of experiencing my friend Penny playing Scrabble with her 7 year old daughter.

Open the picture in a new window to get the full amazingness of this Scrabble board!

My favorite word is "Qwin" (can you guess? Answer at the bottom of my post...)

They also decided they were allowed to add names..which resulted in some interesting spellings...and Penny took full advantage of the relaxed rules - and hence: kleva was added!

ZPREY -- I have no idea.

Keen to see the movie Shelley recommended - 'SNOWCAKE' which evidently has some interesting Scrabble rules! :)

We took some great pictures this weekend...on the first night, just before bed time, Penny's dog, Puxley quietly passed away...we had the funeral at Blombos...The picture below shows our house at Blombos from a distance: no electricity or plumbing, it is the old school (or school master's) building from a long time ago...

The house..

Whale Bones

Puxley's Funeral

Olivia and Geoff guitar 'duo'

Our 7-year-old Skrabal player with her big sister

[Queen]

My Favorite things...

It is my birthday soon and I'm faced, yet again, with the dilemma of what to tell people when they ask if I need / would like anything....I actually don't really need anything (especially not toiletry/bath related stuff as I have a stockpile)...and anything I feel would be great to have is massively expensive.... espresso machine... WACOM... Canon G10...

There is a group thingie happening on Ravelry which is a 'My Favorite Things' gift swap -- If one signs up, you get paired with a buddy who you send a parcel to & they send you one....of favorite things! One item has to be hand made by you or someone else...one item has to be a decent size ball / skein of wool... and one can be anything else that is your favorite thing...totalling $20 before postage. I've been thinking a lot about what my items would be...what I would send....

My favorite low-*ish - cost items at the moment are as follows (mostly craft related!):

* Maple Drop Spindle Basic Yarn Spinning Kit fiber wool:

WHAT??: ....A mini-spinning kit (we don't have space for a full size spinning wheel)....I have spoken with my aunt (on the Karoo farm) & she will organise some newly shawn sheep wool for me...I'd love to experiment with this :)

* Some lovely wools to play & knit with....knit myself something really special this winter....
* Vintage knitting needles / crochet hooks (currently experimenting with ebay...seen some beautiful bone crochet hooks...multi-coloured knitting needles...)

...I will continue this when the hour is less wee :)

zzz

Stillbay...again

I just woke up in Stillbay to this absolutely beautiful morning! ....This is the view from my room!

...and the view from the front room: Yes! It's right on the beach! :)

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Mehndi Cupcakes

I received the pictures of the "Mehndi cupcakes" this morning so I can finally post them!

My Ouma's Needles

The best package I have received in a long time....

The story:
My Ouma was a compulsive knitter! ...we used to joke that she wouldn't need to wear gloves to perform a robbery because she had no fingerprints left on some of her fingers. She had 'knitted them off'! I've Googled this and it doesn't seem to have happened to other people -- or at least they haven't posted anything about it online! (We discovered that her fingerprints were missing when she went to renew her drivers licence one year! )

Some of my first clothes were knitted by my Ouma (who was one of the first people to hold me when I was born)...I remember FREEZING Beaufort West evenings with the smell of the paraffin heater & the click of Ouma's knitting needles working their latest creation... Tea always brewing through the day -- sitting around her kitchen table hoping she would offer us the 'secret tin' (a tin which contained a wonderful selection of delights of which we were only allowed to choose one, once a day!)....and always the balls of wool and the wonderfully colourful selection of knitting needles.

I've been doing so much knitting -- and it feels as though my Ouma is with me in a very special place in my heart & thoughts when I knit. I've been missing her terribly (she passed away a number of years ago)...

About 2 weeks ago I asked my mother whatever happened to my Ouma's knitting needles....and as it turned out, they were passed on to my aunt...who, when contacted, turned out not to be knitting much & happy to send me Ouma's needles!

And so, they arrived with my Mom & Dad on Friday! They look amazing in my 'Needle Keeper' & I am happy to report I have used 3 pairs already! :)

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Breathing Earth

A friend of a friend -- a fit, 39 year old yoga instructor, Jackie Rixon -- was unexpectedly diagnosed with final stage stomach cancer last month... I was sent a link this morning to her fund-raising site set up by her friends & family to raise money for her treatments and medicines for - Iscador/Mistletoe and Ozone Cancer Treatment. Have a read about them under 'alternative treatments' on the blog site...it is very interesting...

I've been touched by the situation & it has caused me to wonder what I would do if I was confronted with the reality of a short time left to live...I've had many sympathetic wonderings about what must go through someone's mind in this situation...fears? regret? hope? the taking stock of what's been achieved? 'last minute' achievements?

Our wonderful cleaning lady, Cynthia's husband committed suicide - hung himself with a rope at the back of her house about 6 weeks ago. He had been an alcoholic & had not contributed to the raising of their 2 children for most of their lives. He and Cynthia had been separated for many years...Yesterday she seemed cheerful again -- she was singing and seemed to be enjoying the day.... Geoff and I were taking some photographs off the balcony at the beautiful morning & she asked if I would please take a photograph of her in her "mourning clothes" so that she could give it to her children "so that they can see & be reminded of how sad she is". So, at the end of the day, out of her work outfit and back in her mourning clothes, Cynthia posed for me - the smile she'd carried all morning promptly disappeared and the above photograph of her looking rather depressed was the result.

There are cultural customs...differences...ways of dealing with issues such as death...picking up the pieces of a failed marriage ending & the loss of a parent to two children and their hard working mother that I will never understand about lovely Cynthia.

Time is such a strange element of human existence...we know we have an average amount of years to live & then it is just......over. In a few generations, millions of people are only remembered by a few faded photographs / heirlooms or stories...a small percentage of people are remembered for inventing something...finding something out about life in our world...leaving their mark. Kings and queens..presidents and leaders become milestones of era's which give way for the next one and the next one.

Breathing Earth illuminates the reality of life and death this in such an amazing way: http://www.breathingearth.net/

I am so happy and thankful that in this moment, I am happy, healthy and well...and that I have been blessed with the enjoyment of a wonderful life.

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Colour in Motion

I was on Twitter the other day and saw a link posted for this amazing site that is so much fun!!
It is an 'experience of colour communication and colour symbolism' by Claudia Cortez created in a film industry sort of style...stars - movies - labs.....

My favorite bits are the 'movies' which are amazing little animations of colour symbolism....enjoy!

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Business Card Keeper

This is another little project I busied myself with the other day: a little 'business card keeper'!

I got the pattern from Midnight Knitter - here and adapted it (added the button hole)

Needle Keeper

I found this cool idea on a website of somebody who had adapted a pair of old jeans and an old shirt into a holder to keep their knitting & crochet needles in.....so on Friday (public holiday) I set to work designing & making my own version out of upholstery fabric, ribbon & trimmings in my sewing cupboard! I'm SO happy with the results! :

Granny Mittens :)

These are my 'Granny Mittens'. I used a pattern adapted from a free Ravelry download pattern for the gloves as well as for the leaves :)

Miss Molly Aprons

I have been making aprons & sewing an array or other cool things over the past week...Here are a few of the kiddies aprons I finished off last week:

This is my fav. one! :

Here is the ceramic button I sewed onto the one above :)