Under bluegums...

Every now and then Mr Nielson better known as Sid, and I make a quick getaway to the country for a few days. Blue Gum Lodge is one of our favourite boltholes. We have sampled almost all of its delightful accomodation; mountain family suites, romantic 'elephant' and 'lion' boudiors and even the private 'villa'.

All of them keep us yearning to return, not just for Blue Gum's expansive gentleness and comforting silence but also for the delicious cuisine and adorable staff. The previous owners made social upliftment in the area a priority, and Moira our waitress, who once hid in the ladies room in terror of the guests, now confidently regales us with mirth-filled local tales and country gossip!


New owner Graham, has thankfully maintained its welcoming ambience along with all the little nuances, that make Blue Gum so addictive. After breakfast, his son Simon arrived, with bass from the river to release into the Blue Gum dam!

An historic moment no doubt, caught on my camera, for Kingfishers and future guests to enjoy!

In just the few days that we visited, Sid and I saw glorious porcupine scuttling through the thicket, and huge barn owls that eyed us wearily from their lookout posts along the gravel roads. Shy buck grazed close by late at night, and troops of baboon thundered down through the vineyards during our breakfast, all the while chased by the live 'scarecrow', employed to keep them away!

Can you blame us for coming back for more...

xxx elle

If only...

My son Steele and I were driving through downtown Cape Town today, when someone offered us a leaflet, as we stopped at the traffic light'

I always open my window and take one, even though I thankfully don't need car repairs, or short term loans which is what they usually advertise.

I take one and smile, because that is what you do for someone, who is forced to hand out leaflets at the robots for a pittance everyday.

Steele and I mused over today's offering:

Fortune Teller

Prof Moi From Kenya Consultation: fee R50. 00

The professor uses 'pure natural herbal medicine from the masaai land to heal his patients' He also makes use of his spiritual powers to treat problems like:

Bring back lost lover

Settling your debts

Worried about court cases

Employment difficulties

Penis enlargement

Bad luck

Enemies

Ghosts and demons in your house

Gambling

Heavy drinking and smoking

To perform at school...

The Prof also has the cure for 'heave (sic) woman flow, body pains and boils', as well as many other disturbing ailments!

We both thought it was very funny but of course, it also made us think of all the many countless people, ready to pay their R50. 00, in the gullible hope that such things are possible.

It made me think of journalist John Diamond's book, 'Snake oil and other preoccupations'. John, who (in a stroke of Divine irony) was married to Nigella Lawson, died of throat and tongue cancer some years back, and his book included an examination of the countless alternative healings offered to the desperate, and the dying.

Healing is a mystery. Death an inevitability. And. Life. An extraordinary possibility! That's why we should live it with every ounce of our being, as best we can. And if you are on a 'grape cure', eating shark cartilage, making Castor oil poultices or meeting with Prof Moi:

Please keep seeing your doctor too!

xxx elle

Keeping it light.

'I'm not very taken with your blog at the moment.' My daughter Skye confessed as we shared a moment of introspection at the days end.

Skye was weary after a day in the hospital ward, attending to all the ills, that are a consequence of terrible politics in this country.

All the results of that inadequacy, the failure to address basic human needs, lie in those hospital beds.

The human cost of poverty: Babies dying of malnutrition, and neglect. People too diminished by hopelessness to fight their alcohol or drug addiction. Too detached to care about passing on aids and syphillis to their children. Burnt in shack fires. Sick from contaminated water. Breathing in the germs of over-crowding.

'This is not why I did medicine.' Skye said sadly.

I can understand why my blog feels so thin to her. Can see why she can't 'hear my voice' amidst the writing. 'Where are your stories? You have so much to say...' my daughter laments.

Perhaps the same sense of sadness, the odd juxtaposition of my own reality against the acheing pain of 'out there', means... that I must (for now, at least) keep it light.

xxx

elle

Hot designers.

Tearing across town on a Sunday afternoon to the Cape Town Convention Centre, for a stolen few hours in searing heat is not a great idea. Much better to laze by the pool, or better still 'nap' with Mr Nielson, better known as Sid, in our air-conditioned boudoir.

Nevertheless, as sufferers of FOMO in varying degrees, Malu, Balu and I, (yes those are their names!) braved the crowds, and hit the design hall with feigned enthusiasm.

In between all the usual suspects, were little gems of ingenuity. Copy, copy, copy is oftentimes the mantra that dominates South African design. It comes from being a season behind the rest of the world, making it temptingly easy to rework whatever emerged out of Europe or America.

I rather liked these elaborate 'miners' hats, part of the uniquely South African dress code for local soccer lovers. Crafted with enormous creativity, and individuality by very enthusiastic fans.

Visitors to the 2010 world cup are going to love them, although they may find themselves less enamoured with the vuvuzela's that are usually accompany the outfits.

Of course. while I stood around enduring the noisy crowds, Malu and Balu restored themselves with a little neck and shoulder massage.

Unlike lots of the fare on show, my Friends are all real originals!

xxx

elle

Moving Artistry.

Sometimes you just know its time to move on. And this takes courage. Letting go, of what no longer works for you. Taking a risk. Starting anew.

So Cath and Steve packed up the old house in Talana, and moved to fresh soil.

Waking up to a new day dawning.


Breathing in the quiet of a country morning, just outside your door.

Making all of us long to sleep in a garage!

Seeing all your teasures. As if for the first time.

Noordhoek is the new Claremont my darlings....

xxx

elle

What a difference a year makes!

Sue Pam-Grant along with her husband Dj, both moved us, and made us cry with laughter at their iconic play Curl up and Dye in the early 1990's, a time of change and challenge for South Africa.

Dj carved a pair of swans for Sue, on the romantic head-board of their marriage bed. It acts as symbol for the never-ending love that may bind a man and woman across time.

With her latest installation, Practise 365/To be exchanged, Sue explores another notion of time with a daily ritual of art making, using mixed media on a paper bag as stage and canvas of a sort. Sue explains that her mark making, in an assemblage of memory and the imagined, 'traces our narrative back as it navigates and challenges our physical time line, and unconscious lineage.'

Ever the stage director, Sue's installation included an invitation to the public to navigate the space, eventually removing 'their' mark from the body of work. In this exchange the journey from the personal to the collective, is itself marked and respected.

365 days...I am inspired by that careful deliberation. Mr Nielson better known as Sid, says that I show that sort of commitment, only to the sweet jar on my kitchen counter. We may run out of bread and milk, I might throw in the towel on a degree or artwork, but by jove that sweet jar is not to be defeated!

Is there something you need to give a whole year to?

A daily honouring.

No excuses. Regardless.

Let Sue's glorious practise inspire you:Starting:

Today!

xxx

elle

Hats for your Hearts Content.

With all this talk of bad hair days, my friend Lesley of Hearts Content, suggested a little milinary inspiration.

And of course, it doesn't take much more then a little lace, a flower and some feathers,

To get my daughters, Skye and Erin into a party mood!

We are all swooning over these exquisite creations, by the gloriously talented Helen James.

You may never need to worry about a bad hair day again...

All that mystery, drama, and romance...

Captured by Helen for a head, closest to you!

Find Helen's exquisite creations at Florica on etsy.

Bedding for those bad hair days!

I've never managed to become one of those women who have regular appointments at the hair salon.

Come to think of it, I've never been one of those women who have regular appointments of anything!

Once or twice a year, I drag myself off for a bit of a cut and blow.

Consequently.

I do have quite a few bad hair days.

I was just wondering if I could get a set of these complete with Angelina Jolie's lustrous tresses!

Would come in handy on those bad hair nights!

xxx

elle

Bedding available on Threehearts on etsy

Post on 4 posts

It all began with an old brass, four poster bed!

Mr Nielson better known as Sid, and I found it in a small shop in Hillbrow, (this when Hillbrow still had shops, and not just drug dens, shebeens and brothels!).

We gazed at it with longing, since it was far beyond the means of our student budget but eventually convinced the shop owner to let us lay-bye it over a few months!

Then it was ours.

Far too big for our little bedroom, but so grand and romantic, that it made even our humble Hillbrow flat feel elegant.

In time, of course, that flat turned into a cottage, and then a house, and then a bigger house... like a series of Russian dolls that fit into one another.

And, eventually, we gave the old brass, four poster bed away, choosing instead a capacious king size refuge, that would accomodate our growing brood.

But, o the glorious memories of that four poster bed.

xxx

elle