How's this for a cool motto....

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass ..... It's about learning to dance in the rain."

or in this case, being willing to run around taking photos in the rain.... and capturing a beautiful image as a result!

I don't know who to attribute this quote to, but it is very close to the way I have always chosen to see life. I like to live for today, whatever it is throwing at me, rather than just sit around longing for some sort of better future. And it has paid off handsomly, because every day has dark and light moments, and celebrating the light ones means that, if there is a big dark cloud hanging over the future, it is kept in perspective, and not allowed to rob me of those small delights that are to be found in every day. By the time I get to that cloudy place, it seems to have shrunk, and I seem better able to handle it. (Not that any clouds are looming for me at the moment, although I know some friends and loved ones have a rainy forecast ahead, but it is actually a great way to look at life, in good or bad times.)

Dogs have owners, cats have staff......

Appropriately enough, this black cat lives at my favourite art supplier, Chat Noir, although he is not the original black cat after which it was named.

I was tickled to see him lapping from this puddle on the roadside, because my cats tend to do the same thing. No matter how careful I am to make sure there is fresh water in their bowl, they will always choose to drink from some other place.

Fergie and Felicity both love jumping into the shower and bath after we have finished, and lapping the droplets around the drain. They will drink the green water from our garden water feature, and when we lived in our old house, the cats all contorted themselves in amazing ways to reach down and lap the swimming pool water, and the fish pond water, rather than drinking from their bowls. It makes no difference if I use filter water or tap water.

I guess the bottom line is, cats are perverse creatures, and if you are one of their willing slaves, you just have to accept that!

and we wait...and wait...........

is there now hope of rebuilding the ruins left by Mugabe?

Goodness, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission are certainly making a meal of releasing results, wonder if they are getting paid by the hour? Certainly any credibility they may have had is evaporating more with each hour that passes!

However, it does look promising, and it seems the political tide has turned there. It will take many years to undo the damage that has been done, but at least there is now some sort of hope for the future there. We still have to hold our breath though, (as if we are not blue already!!!) because it all hinges on Mugabe bowing out gracefully. It appears the fly in the ointment is the Chief of the Army, who refuses to let him do so, as he has claimed the armed forces will never be loyal to any other leader....... without the co-operation of the police and army the handover could be very ugly. And these guys have enjoyed absolute power for years, they have "tasted blood' so to speak, they have enjoyed getting high on brutality and controlling people with fear. It seems unlikely that they are suddenly going to put aside self interest and care about human rights and integrity overnight.

So for the MDC, winning the election is only the first step on what promises to be a very rocky road, but I really wish them all the best.............. may they be wise, honest, and strong leaders. And I really hope that the leaders of the first world, who have, to their shame, remained so passive in the affairs of this desperate country, (obviously not enough oil or gold there to make it worth their while!!!) will now come to the party, and help rebuild the shattered lives of so many Zimbabweans.

On a lighter note, it is school holidays now, and living in a house with a pocket handkerchief sized courtyard with a very active 3 year old gets somewhat stressful, so our daughter was feeling the strain. So yesterday I took K and the wee E on an outing to the Boardwalk, and he let off some steam in the funfair. Great fun!

if he could have thrown money into the wishing well all morning he would have!

HOLDING OUR BREATH........

ZIMBABWE HANGS ON A KNIFE EDGE................

.....and it is inexcusable that 60 hours after voting ended, so few results have been officially released. It is extremely worrying that so much time has passed, because it is almost impossible to imagine a scenario when a delay like this is not caused by some sort of vote rigging or other manoeuvering.

That election observers are already leaving the country before the results have been fully announced throws the whole thing under an even bigger shadow than the dark one that already looms over the integrity and fairness of this crucial election.

That the SADEC South African observers (with the exception of 2 DA members who refused to sign) have declared this election free and fair so prematurely is nothing short of immoral and criminal, given the level of suffering there and the number of lives who will be impacted by the outcome of this election. There is not a chance, given the number of reports filtering out of the country to the contrary, that this election has taken place in a free and fair way and the honesty and objectivity of many of the observers is as questionable as that of the ruling Government there.

All we can do is wait and hope that our family and friends will be safe, and that sanity will prevail, because it is going to be tense there, whichever party is finally announced as the winner. There was a miracle here, when the anticipated bloodbath did not come to pass in 1994. Let's hope the same thing happens there.............

In the meantime, we continue to hold our breath.

(The rather disturbing picture illustrating this post is a painting I did last year, and is called "Fat Bobcat". I just got up one morning and started painting and this was the result...it was obviously a result of the frustration and anger brewing inside me about what Bob Mugabe is doing at the expense of his people. When you talk to Zimbabweans and get a true picture of the suffering they are going through, and then you look at his new mansion on Google Earth.... and when the true tales of torture, brutality, intimidation and gross corruption are told, it is impossible to have any belief in the integrity or humanity of this man. The only word I can apply to him and his henchmen is EVIL, and I guess that is what poured out of me the day I did this painting, it even took me by surprise!!)

hehe, time for a rant

Well the powers that be have been spared the tongue-lashings in recent weeks, due to my attention being focussed on things closer to home. However, I can't let the latest monuments to idiocy pass by without comment!

Our occasional supplier of power, Escom is still at it..... it has become a bit like the old politician joke "how can you tell the Escom spokesman is lying?" "Because his lips are moving."

Amidst urgent applications to Government for a 60% increase in electricity tarriffs, to cover costs, we hear that the top brass have voted themselves further outrageously generous 'bonuses', which incredibly, are performance linked. (I can only assume that the link is in inverse proportion to performance!)

At the same time WHILE WE WERE IN THE MIDST OF THE BLACKOUTS, and being told to be patriotic and use less power for the sake of the nation blah blah blah, Escom had the audacity to sign yet another contract with a neighbouring country, guarenteeing them power at a substantially reduced rate. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Meanwhile, not to be outdone, the powers that be in charge of fighting crime (who seem to be under the illusion that this means fighting victims of crime while doing everything possible to make life easier for criminals) have now decided that they want to ban the carrying of 'non lethal weapons'. Included in this definition are all self defence items such as pepper spray, sticks etc.

This is one law I have every intention of breaking flagrantly. We already put our lives and security on the line by going for a simple walk around the neighbourhood, and I am certainly not going to let some fat-cat politician, who has his own army of personal body guards looking after him 24-7, deny me the most basic right of self defence, since no-one else in power is going to do anything about defending the average law abiding citizen!

Luckily, if I do get arrested, you will not need to worry about me, because, in line with their policy of making things as comfortable as possible for criminals, my rights in prison will be well cared for, and I will be having a nice break with a tv in my cell, and all my meals paid for by the law abiding suckers who remain out there.

Where's my pepper spray, I'm off for a stroll!!!!

But before I go, here are the promised photos from the gathering of the clan. Please excuse the horrible quality, too much noise and activity, not enough light, general chaos, but at least family from afar who read this can see a little of the event!

The host, Aubrey, bewildered by the men going mad with cameras on one side, and the reunited sisters trying to catch up on a year's news in 10 minutes on the other!

Even the toddlers were getting in on the act with cameras.

The guests of honour, Connie chatting to my sister Ali, and Dad chatting to nephew Pete.

The morning after..... breakfast on a cold and rainy deck at the guesthouse.

While little Jake didn't mind at all,

Ethan decided the best bet was to snuggle up and sleep off the excitement of the previous night!

After the lunch at the beachfront restaurant, we said our farewells and tackled the 3 hour drive back to PE on VERY full stomachs!

While all this was going on, little Felicity cat stayed home with the big cats, and kept an eye on Fergie to make sure he didn't miss a spot.

It just keeps getting better.........

I am referring to the comedy surrounding the latest Government crisis, as the deficiencies in our power Grid threaten to send the economy into a tailspin.

The Minister of Minerals and Energy Affairs was heckled in Parliament yesterday, as she produced her 10 point plan for alleviating the crisis, which included such high powered concepts as " the people must go to bed earlier so they can grow and be cleverer". I trust the honourable Minister will be taking her own advice and having some seroiusly early nights, if her thesis that it increases brainpower is to be accepted!

No no, REALLY, I am not making this up! I know it is hard to imagine that this is actually happening at parliamentary level, but here is the headline to prove it!

(Of course if this enlightened advice holds true, it also raises a dilemma for those who are already too large, but want to get 'cleverer', do you avoid sleep in order to prevent further growth, or do you sleep more to aid the intellect? ho hum, decisions decisions....)

Our State President, Thabo Mbeki, has also come in for some serious (and may I suggest well-deserved) flack over his legendary lack of leadership. It has been so glaringly apparent during many recent crises, when the silence from his office has become deafening while the country waited in vain for some statement of direction from the top. He has developed a bad reputation for absence of leadership here, and is mostly known for rushing around the world in his private jet, telling other leaders how to run their countries while things fall apart back home in his.

So naturally, my favourite cartoonist has been having great fun at his expense......

(That bottom one had Max and I howling with laughter this morning!)

In fact it is becoming more and more apparent that some of our comedians (like Pieter Dirk Uys for example) would make brilliant politicians, if they could just get around the problem of their inate honesty, while many of our politicians have turned out to be marvellous comedians!

Anyway, onto something completely different. Yesterday in the Port Elizabeth Daily Photo blog, I featured Zimbabwean wire workers, and thought I would show some of the items they have custom made for me to use in decor projects.

The Wall Light in one of the spare rooms was a beaded gecko, with wiring inside. Off....

and on.......

The kitchen cabinets also got the beaded treatment, with custom made chilli handles.

Also in the kitchen, we combined old and new, with wonderful antique balloon back chairs in the breakfast nook, and custom made woven grass bar stools, from the Zimbabweans, at the counter.

While I am on the subject, I might as well show more details. This was one of the best jobs I had over the years, from the point of view of freedom to create, and working with a delightful client who was as whacky as me, and encouraged lateral thinking. Much of what we did was custom made, so the result was really unique and interesting.

Still in the kitchen, I bought some old silver plated cutlery, and bent them, then tiled them into panels in front of and above the cooker, to form mosaic panels with a difference.

And in the sitting room, the end wall was remodelled to unify the fireplace, TV cabinet and bookshelves. Woven baskets were made for the shelves, to hold all the little loose bits and pieces that tend to accumulate in such places.
(As a matter of interest, here is a before pic showing the dated and unbalanced oak shelves, with huge ugly step below fireplace, and tv so far across to the right that it was impossible to view from a couch against the only long wall in the room.)

But when the furnishings were in it looked great.

I bought the carved crocodile from a street vendor, and then designed a table around it. I had a blank pine table made, and hand painted it with ethnic designs. Under the glass panel, I fitted a removable box, with the wooden crocodile in it. But if the owner gets bored and wants to change carvings, she can do so. This table ended up in the red lounge, where it looks great.

The dining room was much too pink and formal for the owner's fun personality, so we got a bit playful in there, with custom designed "jester" chairs and whacky light fitting. Apparently she has had some great dinner parties in there since the change!

The guest bath room was a boring white room , and even though it had a bay window, it has frosted glass and no view. So we built a courtyard around it, and put in clear glass, now you can lie in the bath and enjoy the view.

The theme of geckos continued into this room, with custom made ceramic hand basins painted with geckos, as well as gecko metalwork on the cabinet doors, towel rails, loo roll holder etc.





We made a delightful four poster bed for the main bedroom, with crystal ball detail on top of each post...


But by far my favourite room was the Main en suite bathroom. We again built a courtyard all around it, and put this wonderful metallic fininsh oval bath on the raised plith,

....with double shower heads next to it. The tile layout highlights the whole feature.




Both are overlooking the outdoor shower with copper pipes twisted around old railway sleepers.




The matching basins had cabinets made with sticks, for an ethnic look.


And in the loo section, a Philippe Starck basin finds itself combined in an unlikely way with a handmade wood and metal stand.


It was a lot of fun!