This afternoon’s homeward drive south from Friesland, after a blissfully peaceful couple of days in my dear friend’s warm and welcoming home, I once again took to marvelling at my new home country. Of course, the picturesque pastoral scenes of the rural areas always give my heart a happy flutter. Passing the homes and shedsContinue reading “Straining towards the light.”
Tag Archives: south africa
Tennis and tea under the trees.
The privilege of an invitation to a private clay court in a prestigious neighbourhood came through one of my dear clients. A fortuitous cup of tea, with said client and a friend, led to chatter about how and why we now live in The Netherlands and thus, my love for sport and in particular, tennis.Continue reading “Tennis and tea under the trees.”
The shift.
What a wonderful time to be alive! Audible gasps aside, in these hideously stressful (for those whose businesses are strapped), tragically sad (for those who have lost dear ones), scarily scary (for those living with compromised health conditions), thoroughly confusing (for those who cannot make sense of the lack of common sense), I am obviouslyContinue reading “The shift.”
Switching off.
Africa, all that it is. And all that it isn’t, anymore. The continent of Africa is known as the “dark continent”, the birthplace of humankind, a continent of extremes, the land of no hope, and other cliches about the “heart of darkness”. It is a continent steeped in the blood of battles between tribes andContinue reading “Switching off.”
Beginnings and endings.
How challenging it is, at times, to set aside our preconceived notions of control, order and planning. Well, it certainly is for me, with my type-A, “control freak”, slightly OCD, mostly bossy personality! I see much of myself in our precious eldest daughter who, typical of an eldest child, has incredible organizational abilities for planningContinue reading “Beginnings and endings.”
The sounds of silence.
Night noises are mostly the things of nightmares with the old line of “what goes ‘thump’ in the night” coming to mind! In a previous post, I contrasted the sounds of our home on a traffic circle in a quiet town in The Netherlands with the rural sounds of our Swiss alpine escape. A largeContinue reading “The sounds of silence.”
Shipwreck.
The whole idea of a shipwreck came to mind as we packed up our Euro winter suitcase and re-packed our South African summer suitcase. Well, it came down to a medium sized suitcase for our clothing for the next three or four months and a carry-on case for laptops, gifts and, in my case, knitting,Continue reading “Shipwreck.”
Breaking rocks and fairytale fantasies.
The little boy over the road can’t be more than five years old. His daily pursuit is to discover treasure, mostly the sort that is embedded in rocks. Each morning of his recent three week school holiday, come rain or shine or autumnal chill, he would be out on the front doorstep, mostly barefoot, smashingContinue reading “Breaking rocks and fairytale fantasies.”
Dust devils & other Dutch delights.
Leaving South Africa, land of colonial privilege for some of us with the wonderful help of housekeeper/s, I eagerly embraced the opportunity to do my own housework, my own way, or so I thought……(wry smile) Before assuming that ALL white – apologies for the inclusion of race – South Africans are land barons, boasting aContinue reading “Dust devils & other Dutch delights.”
Life Through My Lens 