rubey & me

As promised...and not a long wait: Robyn has started her online portfolio with a really beautiful collection on Flickr. Here is a sample of the first of her uploads:

egyptian goose, originally uploaded by rubey & me.

Salinas Grandes - Argentina, originally uploaded by rubey & me.

weathered bushes, originally uploaded by rubey & me.

Blombos Through Robyn's Lens

I had emails full of photos from Robyn in my in-box this morning...how exciting to see such great shots which perfectly reflect the mood of being at our wonderful casa. Robyn will be setting up a website of her photography soon. I will post a link! :)

African Flower

I am so very excited. I have posted about Moxy Crochet before. I absolutely LOVE their flower pattern!

I've been working very hard at trying to finish my crochet blanket. I currently have about 100 blocks out of 224 completed...all my centres made & about 35 that just need the cream borders...and then I'll have to stitch it all up! I am SO tired of making squares & have been looking for hexagonal patterns on Ravelry. I was doing a search for granny squares instead of just for hexagons so I thought that there weren't any patterns available....

A little searching later, I found so many patterns! ..and the BEST part is that I found the 'African Flower' pattern that Moxy Crochet uses! For people on Ravelry it is called the, African flower hexagon by Lounette Fourie & Anita Rossouw and it was published in Sarie Magazine June 2009.

I linked to the pattern & simply had to try it out as soon as possible!

On my first attempt (left) I did something funny with the second round (I only did 1dc going around)

My second attempt (right) went much better! ....Now to get some fluffy wool to add texture!

I also played around in Photoshop with what my hexagon would look like if I made lots of blocks & put it together as a blanket....pretty cool! :)

Have a look at what some other people on Flickr have made!
This one is amazing: click here

...and for anybody in a panic of how to get started, I found a photo tutorial to explain! :)

Disoganisation Explained...

I have a new favorite word: Entropy.
It is a word which means/explains why it is the natural order of the universe for things to become disorganised.

It seems I have been working against the universe in 'sorting' things out because the universe wants everything to space out so that all  pens / boxes of matches / important documents etc, are evenly spaced within the entire universe & not neatly together where I last left them (?)...I trust I am understanding this correctly as it explains a lot about life and stuff in general. Also, now that I know there is a word, hopefully I can stress about order less (please!!)

The Free Dictionary says (among other definitions) that entropy is:

• A measure of the disorder or randomness in a closed system.
• A measure of the loss of information in a transmitted message.
• The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.
• Inevitable and steady deterioration of a system or society.

It gets more scientific than that on Wikipedia if anybody cares for further reading

At Blombos with Robs, Flash & Zorro

We spent Friday night at Blombos with Robyn, Flash & Zorro. It was Robyn's first time staying at Blombos & about time too! :) The dogs LOVED it!

We spent most of yesterday (Saturday) chopping out unwanted weeds...clearing the spaces in the stoep...clearing overgrown plants from the little 'outhouse'... brainstorming our longdrop system...& building a path to link it to the house along the olive grove.

 

Valiant Swart

One day, when I was 9 going on 10 years old, I watched an interview on the SABC children's program slot with a girl who's deepest wish was to own a tape recorder.
I had no idea what a tape recorder did, but I decided that I also wanted one with all my heart. Lucky for me, my birthday was close & my parents decided to fulfil my deepest wish & obsession. Of course, when I got it, I discovered that it was even more wonderful than I had imagined: Not only could I listen to whatever radio station I wanted to: I could tape things off the radio...or even my own voice talking - or singing! (not a great idea)

Within the next year or so, 5FM finally came to George - We only had "serious" radio stations [like SAFM which we could listen to the English version of Afrikaans programs] - & Kfm [which I didn't enjoy] before that. I discovered a whole new world of music. At that time, DJ's got to play what they wanted to play instead of record-company driven playlists. It was fantastic.

I became an avid listener of Barney Simon's hard rock/metal slot which I looked forward to with great anticipation. I had to listen to as quietly as the sound slider could go as not to let my family know that I was awake past my bed time. I loved recording my favorite songs - I particularly remember waiting up night after night for 'Stairway to Heaven' to come on - finger ready in anticipation on the record button. It finally did come on and I managed to tape it. That tape, like so many others, eventually got so stretched from repeated listening, but I would still listen to it.

During this time, I started hearing the name Valiant Swart mentioned. I always pictured this amazing guy who was so unbelievably talented...& elusive as I never actually found out what he had done that was so wonderful. Over the last 20 or so years, I have heard his name pop up time and time again but I somehow still had not found out properly who he is or what he does.

One of our friends in Stillbay, Annabel, invited us to join their table at a dinner & show at a place called 'Stables' last night. I was pleased to find out that the 'show' bit was a performance by Valiant Swart. What a treat! Although his music [mostly blues] is not the type I would choose to listen to regularly, his most awesome stories between songs & his poetic lyrics had me quite spellbound.

His words painted pictures in my head so beautiful that I can't even describe how awesome they were. It made me wish that I understood Afrikaans much better than I do - there are so many descriptive words that just can't be expressed in English.

Some of the songs are realy fun - like the one about the girl who wears too much eyeshaddow...to more serious ones where he touches on real issues - such as the one about a beggar called 'kleingeld' where he sings about the circumstances of how that little person came to beg. One of the lines is so poetically put: 'Jy breek jou heelgeld & pass jou vlenters aan' [You break your 'whole-money' and pass your {rags/broken bits} on]

The chorus from "waar die dromers dwaal" [where dreamers wonder] goes:

net links van die ewewig en regs van die balans
[just left of the {another word for balance} and right of the balance]
tussen die vorige geleentheid en die laaste kans
[between the previous opportunity and the last chance]
daar waar die eggo teen die weerklank slaan
[where the ego collides with the {weather-sound / lightning}]
daar kom jou drome vandaan
[is where your dreams come from]

In Gumboots

Geoff and I drove to Stillbay on Wednesday afternoon as we had organised workers to assist us in cleaning & sorting the Blombos property out a bit. We had Jaapie helping us with the gates & fences...and a lovely lady called Flossie did an amazing cleaning job on the inside of the house.

Geoff and I went into town & got some supplies & some gumboots for Geoff to match the ones I've had for the last 15 years....We re-packed the bits of wall around the cow-destroyed 'olive grove' which only has one and a half olive trees struggling along. It was such a beautiful, windless and warm winters day. My favorite kind!

Felting Course Pics

Jeanne at Blossom posted some pics of our felting course - you can view the post here.
You can see me...hard at work :)

Felting Course - Week 4

I had my last day of my 4 week felting course last week & we had to put together a project - something of our choice which combined the skills learned over the previous 3 weeks. I decided to make a hand bag.

I felted 3 long thin 'cords' which I plaited together for the handle. I graded 3 different felt colours from dark grey to light grey to natural for the main 'body of the bag. I decided to add a flap so that the bag can close nicely. I also felted some lace into the front and the back of the bag (the image doesn't show it very clearly, but it is there!). This project was a great learning curve & I'm pleased with the result.

I will most likely work on it a little more...add some porcelain buttons etc.



We had Nin's Lemon Meringue again. Yum!

Guest Starring A Bunch Of Stoners

Geoff and I were looking for a version of one of our favorite songs this morning...
and found this:

Felting Course Week 3

This week at felting we practiced felting through fabric. I first practiced on a square of white cotton muslin (top 2 pics). It is tricky to do the edges! I did one layer of wool in the centre and a double, slightly thicker layer on the edges. The texture on the back is awesome!

My second piece was with a bigger piece of pink muslin with white wool felted into the centre. I used 3 layers this time to get it thicker..and I added some pink polka dots. With this one, I put wool on the back as well as the front of the edges to felt through from both sides. It is not easy to get the edges even! I'm happy with the outcome though.

One of the things I really look forward to when going to felting (besides the actual felting part) is Nin's amazing tea time treats.

• Week 1: We had the most beautiful honey-sago cake which was SO more-ish!
• Week 2: We got thoroughly spoiled with a 'chocolate shot' *(an espresso cup of hot, melted cream + chocolate + ?). She gave us the choice between a slice of milk tart or apple strudel...We were delighted when Jeanne suggested we have a half slice of each & Nin agreed! YUM!
• Week 3: Lemon Meringue.

Who knows what is in store for us in week 4....!

Nin is the little shop semi-adjoined to Blossom. Off Main Road, Kalk Bay, turn up the little road by the Ice Cafe (Colyn Rd) look to the left and you can't miss them!

Grace Cooper

I just got back from visiting my sister T'Neal, her husband, Dave, & their brand new (1 day old) baby: Grace Cooper. T'Neal is totally SMITTEN with her... Grace is totally beautiful - and so calm she even half-slept through a nappy change (well done Dave!). I held her for a long while & she just made the sweetest little sounds...I am so overwhelmed by the awesomeness of becoming an aunt for the first time.

Needle Felting

I love this little shop called 'Feel Good Stuff'  in Longbeach Mall as it has loads of wool and beads and stuff to make stuff out of (my favorite kind of stuff!!).

The other day when I made a turn through there, I noticed that they had a needle felting starter kit...

...I could not resist, so  I went back for it on Friday last week & finally had a chance to play last night! I wanted to put something boy-ish onto JD's slippers (Grace's got hearts and buttons). Inspired by one of my fellow felting course ladies, Tara, who made a scarf for her son with colourful cars all over it, I decided to needle felt little cars into the knit-felted booties...and it worked beautifully!! :

I have now learned 3 felting methods. So chuffed! :)

Geoff's 'Casual Installation'

I took a seriously fancy bath this morning...read more

Grace's Birthday!

I am beyond excitement and have hardly slept. T'Neal phoned just after midnight to let me know that they were on their way to the hospital as her water broke.  I phoned my parents shortly after and they were in a tizz trying to decide what to do > whether to pack the bakkie and leave with all the things they wanted to bring to Cape Town....or just jump in the Golf and get here as quickly as possible! By right now they should be at the hospital (although they won't be able to see her).

At 5am I was woken after a beautiful dream where we were all sitting chatting with T and Grace just popped out and she was so incredibly beautiful. She had lovely blue eyes & long brown hair. (*it was a dream!). I phoned her and she said that the contractions had become stronger but still irregular and far spaced. I'm feeling so emotional > constantly seconds ay from tears of joy. I can hardly believe that the day has come!

..and what an absolutely beautiful day it is. Geoff and I were up for the sunrise...countless birds singing in our garden on this warm winters' day. A good day to be born.