Summer Smiles

Long Summer Days, sun up at 4.30am, sets around 8pm, and in between we experience a whole range of conditions, today it was cold, followed by howling gale force winds, then it got hot and humid, now it is just perfect.

But summer is the time for outdoor living, for resting on a park bench and enjoying the breeze, or having a family meal under the dappled shade on the patio. It is years since I have had the freedom to enjoy it.

For as long as I can remember, this has been the time of the year when things at work were going crazy, the final frantic rush to get Interior Design jobs completed by Christmas, suppliers running out of fabrics, deliveries delayed, builders passing deadlines, and having to pull all the loose ends together while keeping ranting clients happy..... this year is different. And I am LOVING it!!

I can't imagine what it would have been like trying to cope with Max's heart attack or surgery, and look after him as he recovers, if I was still running the business. This year, I am free to spend as much time as we need to deal with all this, and still paint in between. And because rest is a big part of the process, we are both able to recharge our batteries in these great surroundings. ..... (((((happy sigh))))))

interesting architecture #4

Well, since I seem to be on a roll with the photos of buildings, I thought I'd share a couple more from my trip from port Elizabeth to East London last week. But first I need to set some background.


When you travel between the two cities, you can be forgiven for thinking you have entered some sort of time warp.... half an hour's travel takes you from 21st century modern into semi-primitive rural. I often allude to the 1st world/3rd world mixture we have here, and the incredible diversity of lifestyle in this country, and it is nowhere more evident than in the Eastern Cape.


In the Apartheid era, one of the more insidious strategies to separate the races was the creation of 'independant homelands'. The purpose was to fool the detractors of Apartheid into believing that Black people did have the vote (in their own homeland) and were allowed to own land. What was not highlighted was that the homelands were not economically viable.

These were generally large, remote impoverished rural areas, inhabited largely by tribes people who still live very much as they have for centuries. Because there was little or no industry, many of the men ended up going to the cities to find work, ending up on the mines, in hostels, and sending what money they could back home to their wives and children, who mostly scratched a living from the poor un-irrigated soils.

Because, in African culture, a man's wealth is measured by the number of cattle he owns, the homelands became overgrazed. As modern culture and access to building materials has spread, the traditional 'kraal' or cattle pen, made of thorn bushes is becoming more and more rare, but on the hillsides of the former Ciskei and Transkei, there are a few left.

Here you see some typical mud huts with thatch roofs,

and as Western culture has infiltrated tribal life, there is an interesting style if house, which is still in the rondavel form of the traditional house, but with corrogated iron roofing sheets.

Efforts were made to boost the economy of these areas by offering incentives to businesses operating there. In the past, this place was a thriving carpet factory, and tourist shop. They made stunning hand knotted wool carpets of extremely high quality, and the shop offered a wide range of really good African products, as well as home made jams and goodies. it was always one of out favourite stops on the Coastal road to East London.

It seems it was never really viable running the business out in the middle of no-where, and they have gravitated towards the small towns along the main road. The sign speaks of the desperation as business dried up...... sadly it obviously didn't work, because I tried to heed the sign and stopped for breakfast, only to find the place closed... pity.


So there you have it, in 3 days, you have seen a tiny cross section of South African architecture and the differing lifestyles it reflects, this really is a fascinating place to live.

On an entirely different note, remember two days ago I was waxing lyrical about the EXPERIENCE of showering in the forest cottage. Well today I discovered that I can have an awesome showering experience literally in my own backyard! We have a little narrow private courtyard leading off from our bedroom, and last year when we were having some plumbing work done, I had a shower fitted out there. It is delightful showering outside in the fresh air on a warm day, standing on paving stones with rounded river pebbles around them, surrounded by plants and flowers.

Well the experience just got a whole lot better... my star jasmine has crept up the water pipes and is flowering at the moment, so the beautiful scent really adds to the ambience, it feels positively decadent showering out there!

I wish I could have sent the scent!

One of the highlights of spring, for me, is that my garden has a number of highly scented plants which flower at this time.
The star jasmine is sweet and rich,

the lavendar is fresh and spicy

and the alyssum smells of honey,

and they all combine so that, especially at night, the front of the house is wrapped in such heady fragrance that it is a treat to sit out on the patio in the dark and just soak it in.

mmmm.......this may not be as easy as I hoped....

I phoned a builder today to book him for the studio conversion.... he asked if I wanted it done this year and fell about laughing when I said yes!..... it seems there is a boom going on around here and all the good builders are booked till at least the middle of next year. So do I go with a bad builder, or wait for my studio?.... will keep looking!

I thought you might enjoy this pic taken by a pilot on a recent trip to Kenya. Meat and pudding...one stop shopping!

new year, new season, new look

Well, now that I can finally breathe again (turned out to be sinusitis and bronchitis/asthma, not glandular fever thank goodness) I can start to bounce back and tackle the new blog year with renewed enthusiasm. So, to begin, a fresh new look (so much cheaper and less depressing than trying on new clothes too, I wish it was always this easy to get a new look!!)

And, since spring has really sprung around here, (not that winter was that arduous to be honest)the promise of new life, new opportunities etc hovers in the air.

My architect friend is currently drawing plans for a new art studio, and so I'll soon be in the thick of another building project. It is , by the very nature of these inner city properties, going to be a bit limited in size, but it will still be marvellous to have a space to splash out in

(literally, look at the walls of the study where I currently paint!!!)

and to be able to have friends and family around to visit without falling over large canvasses all over the place.

We have a little outside storeroom, which has always been too small for me to work in.

One of my larger canvasses practically goes edge to edge, and I need to be able to stand well back to see where the painting is heading, but the room is too small for that.

We are going to widen the room out right across the courtyard, and at the same time raise the floor level,

which will also make it much easier taking groceries from the garage to the kitchen without going down one steep and treacherous set of steps and up another.

The other cool thing is that I will finally get a chance to use some of the interesting old doors and windows I have collected over the years. I am really looking forward to it all, so watch this space as we follow the progress..............

the final countdown

Well by all accounts, tomorrow should be a big day.....firstly because our granddaughter is due to make her appearance in the early morning (ceasarian) and secondly because it is my 1st blogiversary, so the draw for the giveaway painting will take place. (If you haven't entered yet, go to this post and leave a comment.)

Normal life (for me a balancing act between painting and researching the history of our suburb, for a book) has been on hold a bit lately, with the kids staying and all the excitement of getting ready for the new arrival, but tomorrow they will move into the fancy hospital suite, and from there to a seaside cottage they have rented for the rest of their stay, before returning to the nether regions of the continent.

And today, I realised with a jolt that my next solo exhibition, in East London towards the end of October, is looming, so I need to get my butt into gear!

The Hotel at the Port is in the process of negotiating with new operators, so we got to go down there on Monday afternoon for a meeting, it was great to be back there, even if only for a short time.

We had an excellent dinner in the Port Hole Restaurant, before retuning home.

The view was great.

I must also hand out bouquets to our local municipality. Last week I wrote telling them of the anti-social behaviour in the Park opposite us, and yesterday they fitted floodlights to the streetlamps, facing in on the Park. Great service!

There has also been a notable increase in visible Policing, in fact the trail of red lights in this picture is from a passing Police van. I hope that this makes it a less attractive place for those responsible for the illegal nocturnal activities!

Whew now for some breathing space!

Hi, well there were a few reasons I couldn't post yesterday.

• the much proclaimed and celebrated adsl was down (GGGGRRRRR, Telkom in their infinite wisdom disconnected it because they said it hadn't been activated, despite the fact that it had not only been activated, but was working busily for 3 days!)


• I decided to make soup for the opening of the exhibition... clearly in a moment of insanity! I don't need to tell you about me and my culinary skills, let's just say that producing those 3 pots of soup (split pea and ham; tomato bacon and orange; leek and potato) and cleaning the kitchen afterwards was more stressful than producing all the paintings for the exhibition in the space of a month!

Here is the aftermath....eeek

• I had to deliver all the paintings to the gallery for hanging,

here they are all packaged and ready to go...

And Heidi did a great job of hanging them.

Anyway it went really well, there was a good turnout and 7 have sold so far.

Here I am with the gallery owner, Heidi

K and J came along with Ethan, he was very good, and as usual he charmed everyone!

So now we wait, the exhibition runs for 2 weeks, so I am definitely going to take it easier for a few days and recover from the last month!

Last weekend, while I stayed home to finalise the paintings, Max took K,J & E to Homeleigh Farm. It is a smallholding on the outskirts of town which has been set up very successfully as a restaurant and petting farm for kids to inter-act with farm animals, as well as play on an old bus, jungle jim etc.

How would you like a face like this?!!! To give you an idea of the size of the ostriches, here you can see them with Max. (These are females, seen by the grey plumage. The black and white males are quite a bit taller.)

I just love the expressiveness of kid's faces:
this was the beautiful sky, seen from our dining room window early this morning. The air has that crisp winter clarity, and the dunes across the bay were so clear, glowing in the early light.

Hope you are not sick of sunrise strolls yet!

We woke up just before sunrise this morning (which is not as horrible as it may sound, because the sun is rising after 7am now) and decided a stroll in the fresh morning air would be good. Our tenant moved out of the cottage we renovated a while ago and we wanted to check on it.As we got around the corner from the cottage the sun peeped through the mist over the sea. This is such an interesting part of town, the mix of old and new is very evident, as you can see from the modern lamp post and tall building with old terrace cottages in between, and right nearby, an old streetlamp is also still working. Even the cars parked in the street mix old and new!

Through the golden mist we saw a large ship being brought into harbour by the tugs.

And this was our destination, this little row of cottages was built as officer's quarters in the mid 1800's, using sandstone from the quarry nearby. This later became Russell Road, which leads to the sea from the old Cape Road. The single story green one in the middle is ours. I had such fun renovating it, as soon as things settle down a bit here I will share some of those pictures with you. The street the cottages are in overhangs the cliffs formed by the old quarry.

Across Russel Road, there is a lot of urban decay. For example look at this old Art Deco building, they may have been Mansions in the '30s but they certainly aren't any more! The good news is that the Municipality is being quite pro-active in putting measures in place to reverse the trend, and upgrade the area, so let's hope we see some positive changes here soon.

On the way back we took lots of photos of the cute cottages in the area, to use as references for more paintings. (If you look at the latest post in my art blog in the section on BUILDINGS you will see a series of 6 small paintings done around here.) I really enjoyed doing them, and plan to do more as soon as i get more canvasses that size. We went past Croick Cottage but there were no signs of life so we decided to be merciful and not barge in demanding coffee....kind hey? Instead we took this pic of the moon on its way down between the lamp post and roof.

I have spent today sorting out all my paintings for the forthcoming exhibition....I have posted them over at arty farty musings, so even though you may live far away, you don't have to feel deprived! I wish I could post you some of the nice soup I plan to make for the opening, but maybe, knowing my legendary culinary skill for burning or wrecking everything I cook, you are actually lucky to be at a safe distance!!

news........and more arty-farties

Hi, just a quick update on some of this week's events in the Eastern Cape.......

Winter arrived, not with a whimper but a bang.... after roasting our way through 31degree C days last week, we suddenly had our coldest day since 1955 on Monday, and yesterday was only 1 degree warmer. It has been great if, like me, you are one of those freaks who thrive on foul weather!

We went to the Port again this weekend, and met up with Max's sister and her husband there, it was good to be able to spend time with them. On Saturday the weather was glorious, and the sunrise great.

We watched the Super14 rugby final (Max was the only bulls supporter at the pub we watched it in, so I'm sure I do not need to describe the painful crowing that went on when they scored in the final minute, and beat the Sharks by a hair!!!) That evening it was so lovely, so after sunset we went for a walk at the lighthouse.

There were photography fanatics all over the place!!!

By Sunday, we awoke to a very different picture!

Cold, wet, and gale force winds.

We went and returned via the Maitlands River mouth, which is a beautiful unspoilt beach about 20km from PE. On the way there it was sunny and stunning,

on the way back the sand was blowing across the beach in streams, very beautiful but most unpleasant to stand around in!

The wind was so strong that the rain was horizontal and this poor guy had to hold his umbrella in front of him to keep dry!

2 massive cold fronts swept across the country, resulting in nearly all the road passes through the southern and eastern mountains being closed by snow. Sadly quite a few people have died of exposure throughout the Eastern Cape.

There was such a heavy hail storm in Plettenberg Bay that it looked like it had snowed.

Speaking of Plett, there was a cool incident there this week, a helicopter pilot was taking a honeymoon couple for a flip, and they spotted a 3.5metre long great white shark, checking out a pair of surfers. They went low and waved to the surfers to warn them, but the guys thought they were just being friendly, and waved back! By now the shark was getting even closer, so the pilot swooped down and used his roter wash to frighten the shark away. Luckily the honeymooners had the presence of mind to catch a photo of the shark and the surfers, if you look carefully you can see a reflection of the rotor blade too! I lifted this photo from pprune, (the pilots chat forum) where one of the guys kindly posted it. Well done that chopper pilot, there are times when going below authorised height is justified, and I think potentially saving the lives of a couple of surfers qualifies!
We even had a little hail ourselves last night ....This was the stunning view from our dining room window this morning!

And as promised, here are more of the new paintings, as you can see it's been a busy and productive week! :

sailing, 900x1100

baobab3 600x500

kokerboom, namaqualand, 400x500

old shopfronts, central, 300x300

terrace cottages, richmond hill, 300x300

cora terrace, central, 300x300

richmond hill terrace, winter 300x300

wave 400x400 (this is another of my wax experiments)

farm near knysna, 600x500

swellendam farm with sheep 500x400

flowers on windowsill, 400x500

irises on windowsill 300x300

contemplation 300x600
beach outing 300x300

and Portuguese church 700x900 (again thanks to Sheila for the photo inspiration!)

Cheers for now...............