beautiful sunset

paper versus email

when we went walking this morning Charl found some post in his post box .............. apart from the fact that this was very exciting because it was the first post he received since moving into the apartment more than two years ago, it started me thinking..

i remember when one received beautifully handwritten letter from Friends or family, or postcards from far away places.
when postage stamps were steamed off the envelopes and kept because of their exotic beauty.

now it is all instant and over the ether...

memories

For many years i guarded this little painting, believing it is the ONLY piece of art we have that my oldest son did. i thought it really talented and beautiful and have been really upset that he has not wanted to do anything ever again since age 8 ..... i felt a failure as a mother for not being able to nurture this obvious talent and to be unable to encourage him to express himself, until recently i heard ( from one of the brothers) that he had bought it from a girl in his class just to get me to stop nagging him for a painting !
but now i have become so attached to this painting and have spent so much energy making sure it survived 30 odd years of life in a large family, that i cannot discard it....



i knocked over this little frame with the carved sheep that i designed many years ago as part of a children's range i did in India, and i wondered how many of them are still floating around the world ...

Don't you just love this simple little lamp i made one night when i needed somehting pretty to read by ?

its your bag

since i can remember i have had a thing for bags... big bags, small bags, silly bags, really awesome bags... never grown up bags though...

and i started making some with a fabulous company in India, but due to time restriction i could only get some samples done before i had to leave.
but the desire to make a practical but drop dead gorgeous bag range within an affordable ( i can have all 7 in the range ) kind of price point stayed with me till today.


i tried doing samples here in cape town but nearly died ( or murdered someone ) in the process. so in my head i am putting together some bags that will be the answer to every woman who does not want to change her bag with every outfit but who dreams of a bag that will play with her in every game of her life and look good while being super practical .
i am returning to India in November and will create BAGS... this fantasy will become a reality .

i would LOVE to know what you are looking for in a bag. what would it have that will make it THE bag for you ?

journals

I think it is simply wonderful that in the age of cyber communication so many still get madly excited about writing in a journal !

After posting the old books I turned into journals i had SO many requests for them that i now have to make more.
i LOVE this !
it pleases the romantic in me, and even if every person who buys one just writes their name and ONE entry into it, it is kind of anti-cyber..... make no mistake, i am crazy about the Internet and all it gives me, but putting pen to paper, even if it is just once every now and then, makes me feel happy.

i am going to be making more journals as the ones i did are all sold. i will post them here when they are done , so start making your Christmas gift list as they are simply the most divine gift to give and receive.


now i am going for a walk :O

let me know if you are keen to have one (or 10 ) of the new batch.

gorgeousness on my doorstep

a scrumptious new boutique hotel opened up the road from me.... O On Kloof ... and it has views to die for, AND a spa that looks as if it is calling my name every time i leave my front door.


can you imagine how divine it will be to sit here and have sun downers !

for this i will need to acquire a lover or two, but who knows, maybe this could happen too ...













i wonder if they would let me bring my laptop and serve me coffee on this hammock.... just ONCE a week maybe ?

AFTER i relax in this fabulous bathroom of course

love the red !
such well appointed bedrooms.












when i walk past tomorrow i will pop in and fins out if there is a Little coffee spot for discerning neighbours to enjoy the beauty too :)

for those of you who would like to stay the night :

Tel: 0027 (0)21 439 2081 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              0027 (0)21 439 2081      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: 0027 (0)21 439 8832
E-Mail: olaf@oonkloof.co.za / info@oonkloof.co.za
Website: www.oonkloof.co.za

my walk

it was drizzling this morning when i went for a walk and the sea was grey and somber, but somehow it was still awesomely beautiful

the little house in the left corner is so part of the sea and the elements.... i dream of living there for a while. it inspires me to walk the extra bit just to see it.

recycling history

these are old books with gorgeous covers and spines that i had bound with blank paper, so now they are journals .

i did not give birth to the idea of doing this, the fabulously talented Tara Carmichael did, but she loves me enough to be OK with me doing it too.

i LOVE the idea of writing in my journal that is wrapped in an old book cover, kind of surrounded by history.   i can make up stories about who owned these books before and what their lives were like and really get carried away in make belief land. :O

i also like the recycled aspect  , i buy the old books at Kafda bookshop down the road from me and feel good about supporting their cause and rescuing old tired books from being thrown out.

some are just so pretty !

i am going to place some at The Showroom, in Main Road , Sea Point to sell, so if you are gagging to have one, you can find one there .

maybe it is working too well !

a little movement goes a long way

Because I have 6 children and they have partners and friends and I have friends ( and, yes, from time to time....a partner) mealtimes are always a little chaotic . I never know how many people will turn up for dinner. there is absolutely no point in screaming about bad manners etc. as they ignore me.So I have learnt to make food that can have bits added onto it, and as people arrive I add on.... makes for  fabulously interesting meals that can never be repeated even if I am begged for the recipe. I have also learnt not to say I don't know what I put together as people think I am lying..... so now I say my great grand mother swore us to secrecy and I am scared of her wrath from the hereafter should I tell.

The point of this story is, now that all but one child has left home I am living in an apartment with a reasonable sized kitchen but for sure not large enough to eat in with any degree of comfort.
So on Friday night I invited my friend Ellen for dinner, with the idea that we will work on the virtual video tour of a property she is selling ( she is an estate agent ) in Blouberg . I do virtual video tours for accommodation establishments in Cape Town and am now starting to do these for estate agents too....

A lot of blah blah to get to the point today......

Anyway , with 7 dinner guests squashed around the table in my what then felt like MINUTE kitchen the brain started working.

On Saturday I was walking on the promenade with my friend Charl who also has an apartment in the block and somehow the creative juices started flowing. He decided that he is moving his bedroom to the lounge area and i thought "yes!" i can EAT in my lounge ! I rushed back and moved things around in my kitchen, lounge and bedroom and ended up with an amazing living area in my lounge with a flow to the balcony where all the smokers can have a quick puff without having to be excluded totally.
And I still have space in my kitchen where 3 or 4 people can eat breakfast or sit and keep me company while I cook.

And it did not cost me A CENT ! A lot of begging of sons to move pieces of heavy furniture and a lot of sweat, but no money .
Just thinking outside the box a little .

After my walk of yesterday i felt inspired and renewed . My day was really good and my head space clear and happy. I decided it is such a fabulous idea that i will roll out of bed every morning and go and walk next to the ocean .... you know, kind of the least i can do living here :)


This morning however, i went with my neighbour and a friend of hers ................ BIG MISTAKE ! Instead of listening to the wonderful sound of the ocean and the seagulls i heard his voice, blah blah blah, me me me and I. Kind of "i am tired of talking about myself now won't you talk about me for a while" thing.

At the end of the walk we had coffee at a little place right on the ocean, next to the municipal swimming pool, where the seagulls bathe early in the morning  to prepare themselves for their day ahead.

As i was adding sweetener to my coffee he said : "Aaaah the fat persons cancer treat "

If i tell you a million thoughts ran through my head in a split second i am not exaggerating at ALL !
there i was sitting, having had cancer twice, chemo, radiation, mastectomy, emotional trauma the whole nine yards and this little twit has the audacity to make comments like that .....

In the end there was nothing worth saying.... no words to express any of my feelings of anger, hurt, disgust .
So i just kept quiet and looked at the seagulls and decided i shall be walking on my own tomorrow.

how beautiful in the early morning

all along the promenade there are these statues of this woman in different poses interspersed with dragonflies. very very beautiful.

this one had an empty bottle of wine and a cigarette in her hands that someone had placed there. at first i was upset about it feeling it is dishonoring the beauty of this statue, but then i looked at her pose and it almost seemed as if she was saying: "i want to give this up"
maybe the person who did this, did so in a promise to stop smoking and drinking too much and this was their way of expressing it....

whatever..... it is beautiful

and how much did i not have to say today ! :O

walking

i am starting a fitness venture ... it is spring and i need to get fit and fabulous , so i have decided to go for a 45 minute walk every morning on the prominade.
it is absolutely beautiful early in the morning and it is so close to my apartment ..... and yet it takes sooooooooooo much to get me going !

maybe i am simply lazy by nature...






image is by Kerry-Anne from her blog cape town daily photo

where i live

This must be one of the most beautiful spots on earth !

how delicate is spring

This tiny, delicate flower shouts about the arrival of spring !

Just have a closer look at the minute flowerlike fronds inside the white bell flower.

NATURE ROCKS !!!

I wish i was there to play with the design team when earth was created ..... can you IMAGINE what fun it was.

Lionshead

I love it when the tablecloth gets draped over Table Mountain, it gives it such an air of mystery .
Lions Head is our weather man in Cape Town, if it is clear we know that good weather is ours for the day, but if even the smallest little cloud hangs like an antique collar around its tip, it is going to rain. Veteran Capetonians never listen to the weather report, we all run outside and look at Lions Head .

The Grand is a very special place to have sun downers at. You sit right on the waters edge and can see the sailboats floating past, some huge and impressive and other just sweet and small, but everybody out having a wondeful time in this beautiful city.

Vicki Archer can see

Vicki Archer of  http://www.frenchessence.blogspot.com fame has hooked me on her daily writing about her fabulous life in the French countryside. I have read about this dream life with longing and a little bit of envy .

One  morning, as i was walking down to the prominade to meet friends for coffee, i came around the corner and saw the ocean lying infront of me, blue and shimmering in the bright sunshine, with umbrellas flapping in the slight breeze and people sitting around tables having drinks..... and i realised that i too live in paradise and my life is just as fabulous.

The only difference is that Vicki can SEE !

I have decided to record the beautiful places in my part of paradise on this blog to share it with you .
Thank you, Vicki for inspiring me.

From the penthouse terrace at The Pepperclub hotel in Loop street Cape Town

 Oysters and champagne is not a bad way to start the weekend !











Table Mountain hugging the city


                                                      All images of Cape Town by Me
                               Vicki Archer image from her website www.vickiarcher.com