Excuse the silence! It's been a matter of technology, or rather lack of. I am writing this in a holiday cottage at Keurboomstrand at the coast. It is night. There is no power (temporarily, I hope). We have one candle. I am wearing a little headlamp to see my keyboard. Talk about the dedicated blogger!
The sound of surf is loud through the open glass doors. There is a full moon. Nancy and I have watched it rise through a pink and mauve evening sky until the night darkened and now moonlight bathes the ocean in silver and catches the curve of the waves just before they break -- bright metallic arcs shooting along the beach. And nothing but sand and water (and the crash of the waves) between us.
This poetic description was interrupted by a call from Nancy – I have just rescued her from a baboon spider (the size of Texas, she says) which was in her bedroom.
But ... I must start at the beginning of my trip. The will has been there, but not the way. I have been writing and photographing. Hopefully I can now finally post some of it.
Thursday 7th April Magaliesberg
My first morning in South Africa. Dappled sunlight and the sound of doves in the pecan trees. Deborah, Nancy and I breakfast outside in the courtyard of Deborah’s country home. Poached eggs, baby tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden, toast and frothy cappuccino laced with a splash of Amarula (a South African liqueur made from marula berries – a bit like Bailey’s cream). Onyx and Nubia, Deborah’s huge black Great Danes, lie at our feet.
Years ago Deborah made a sculpture of a dog with a triangle on its forehead. Much later she got Nubia. In the centre of the puppy’s forehead, the fur grew differently and formed the perfect shape of a triangle. This sort of thing happens a lot in Deborah’s art and her life. All kinds of connections, and serendipity and revelations. She will often make a piece of art and only later in time realize the true meaning and significance of her work and how it relates to, or even foreshadows her life.
Later in day we take the dogs for a walk up the valley. They bound up the red dirt road, drink from the stream which flows over rocks and around the roots of old trees, and race off into the veldt following the scents of who knows what. It feels so right to be back in this unspoiled piece of Africa, so reminiscent of my childhood. Often there are baboons on the cliffs and I have picked up guinea fowl feathers and porcupine quills on the road. On one of my visits last year I even found three impressive quartz crystals lying as though in wait for me. They now sit on my bedroom windowsill in Durham alongside little groupings of rocks I’ve collected from various parts of the world (the shore of the Ganges, the base of Mt. Longonot in Kenya ….) They help me feel connected to places which have spoken to me.
Tomorrow we go into Johannesburg to see Deborah’s exhibition. I am ready!!!
Okay, so here I am gallantly writing this blog, having a fab time with Deb in the Magaliesberg and ready to post today’s entry. But, …. No internet!! Deb has no land-line, no T.V. The cables keep getting stolen for the copper. It was true when we lived in Kenya also. We used to buy lovely copper wire bracelets along the sides of country roads in Kenya. Above us bare telephone posts stood silent.
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| Note the shells collected today |
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| Nancy's shot |
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| Late afternoon Keurbooms Beach |
But ... I must start at the beginning of my trip. The will has been there, but not the way. I have been writing and photographing. Hopefully I can now finally post some of it.
Thursday 7th April Magaliesberg
My first morning in South Africa. Dappled sunlight and the sound of doves in the pecan trees. Deborah, Nancy and I breakfast outside in the courtyard of Deborah’s country home. Poached eggs, baby tomatoes and fresh basil from the garden, toast and frothy cappuccino laced with a splash of Amarula (a South African liqueur made from marula berries – a bit like Bailey’s cream). Onyx and Nubia, Deborah’s huge black Great Danes, lie at our feet.
 | ||||
| Courtyard of Deborah's home |
Years ago Deborah made a sculpture of a dog with a triangle on its forehead. Much later she got Nubia. In the centre of the puppy’s forehead, the fur grew differently and formed the perfect shape of a triangle. This sort of thing happens a lot in Deborah’s art and her life. All kinds of connections, and serendipity and revelations. She will often make a piece of art and only later in time realize the true meaning and significance of her work and how it relates to, or even foreshadows her life.
 |
| Deb with dogs |
Later in day we take the dogs for a walk up the valley. They bound up the red dirt road, drink from the stream which flows over rocks and around the roots of old trees, and race off into the veldt following the scents of who knows what. It feels so right to be back in this unspoiled piece of Africa, so reminiscent of my childhood. Often there are baboons on the cliffs and I have picked up guinea fowl feathers and porcupine quills on the road. On one of my visits last year I even found three impressive quartz crystals lying as though in wait for me. They now sit on my bedroom windowsill in Durham alongside little groupings of rocks I’ve collected from various parts of the world (the shore of the Ganges, the base of Mt. Longonot in Kenya ….) They help me feel connected to places which have spoken to me.
Tomorrow we go into Johannesburg to see Deborah’s exhibition. I am ready!!!
Okay, so here I am gallantly writing this blog, having a fab time with Deb in the Magaliesberg and ready to post today’s entry. But, …. No internet!! Deb has no land-line, no T.V. The cables keep getting stolen for the copper. It was true when we lived in Kenya also. We used to buy lovely copper wire bracelets along the sides of country roads in Kenya. Above us bare telephone posts stood silent.
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