Annieversary.

Time flies don’t we know it!

I have just had a notification from WordPress
to say that I have been writing
this blog for 3 years!
Wow!
This is scary news indeed,
it feels like just a few months have passed
since I set myself the task of recording the passage of events
that is life in unchartered territory.

Often song lyrics come to mind;

 

The long and winding road
That leads to your door
Will never disappear
I’ve seen that road before
It always leads me here
Lead me to you door

May this journey continue
for as long as I can keep writing
and photographing the wonders
of this extraordinary world
that is precariously in our care.

And may Suchi keep reminding me that fun times
with loved ones
are the ones we remember,
and may her family keep growing…and get visa’s more easily.

But not taking ourselves too seriously at the end of any day.

(With the exception of the visa’s.)

Thank you WordPress
for 3 exciting years of ‘dear diary’.
And snow at Christmas time (WordPress style)

I always love that touch! (Every December, WordPress blogs have continuous snow flurries cascading as you read. It appeals to the young one in me, always!)

It’s arrived!

I am constantly amazed
at the extraordinary ability of a tiny camera
to capture minuscule details of life around us.
Things that our eyes struggle to see are caught in a wing beat,
This is when I love technology the most.

 

But I guess we are living in a time of
nano technology, as everything around us
becomes more compact and compressed.
Except spring flowers, they are larger than ever!

I was in my favourite garden (again…!)
And found a multitude of our indigenous fynbos (our very own floral kingdom)
bursting into new life, after a harsh Cape winter.

See if you can spot the beetle pretending to be a stamen on a Silver tree flower.

 

The insects know it is spring.

Time to say no more, just attach some of my favourite
spring bursts of energy, plants and animals in unison.
Yay to warmer weather and longer days!

And I think to myself…

Wired up!

What a brief!

To create 16 wire worked baobab trees, as centre pieces
for a fund-raising function in Singapore.
Half a meter high, half a meter wide, adorned with roughly
150 double hanging crystals on each tree, candelabra style.
In roughly 6 weeks.
Fun times…

I have made these trees over the years but always at my pace.
Now I needed to find someone who could interpret my concept,
doing the heavy duty wire work meticulously,
keeping within the tight proportions and bringing in the creativity
req(wired) (sorry, just had to!) to create the look.

And so I set about looking for the right person to work with
and after 3 rather disastrous attempts, Voila! I found him.
John, the wire whizz with the wonderful smile and even more fabulous artistry.

Previously I have worked with a middle-man Richard, who hired someone, always
to remain anonymous to me, but a miracle worker.
Anon made the best trees, or so I thought.
Sadly, a few years ago Richard absconded with my hefty deposit,
never to be seen again and never to respond to my calls.
This is sometimes the way in Africa.
I often wonder what happened to Anon.
He made good trees.

And so it was with excitement and a smattering of trepidation
that John was appointed to make the first 5.
And then the next 10.
Always they were delivered at the appointed time and place,
always meeting my brief-within-a-brief.

When I collected the first order, John thanked me
for creating work in our country, employing people who need employment.
Each time I met with him he thanked me, with a warm handshake and a huge smile.

Humbling indeed to deal with such a man.
John is training people to wire-work with the discipline of time,
creativity and controlled briefs… He is up-skilling people
in the most positive way.
So, the trees are completed with roughly 2400 crystals
distributed throughout the ‘forest’.
(Thank you Sofi and Silje for your wonderful and unrivalled help)
Branches have been shaped and vases installed.
Now, the finished articles are boxed up and awaiting departure,
How exciting is this?
Nobody must ask me for my finger prints just now, I have none left.
My hands are raw but my creative soul replenished,
the house has been filled with rainbows,
on walls and tables wherever the finished trees settled.
This is a good feeling indeed.

I wish for more people like John in this country,
with such a positive attitude, attention to detail and teaching skills,
we as a country will start to sparkle like the crystals in the trees.
Who knows where it can lead us?