A Wonderland of Words

aimee of the incredible artsyville invited me to join the weekword thing, and I had great fun with this week's word wonderland, chosen by lea.

This was my thought process:
I wonder. A lot. I use my brain to wonder. So my brain is a kind of wonderland.
What do I wonder about? Words, often. I love words. I collect them.
Wonderful words. A wonderland of words.

These are the words:
W - wayzgoose
O - ostracon
N - nous
D - daedal
E - exurb
R - rhabdomancy
L - loblolly
A - abecedarian
N - nullipara
D - dreep
(PS Many people don't know that I am a nullipara.)

also participating: veja cecilia, aimee, jenna, fruenswerk2, trinsch, alexandra hedberg, chelsea, kristi, sandra dieckmann, aris and tiny red!

My Garden Blossoms Pink and White ...

A girl who is close to my heart asked me last week to please, please, do a pink post specially for her. So here it is, dearest LuluBelle. A pink one, just for you!



Rose in Franschhoek, japanese paper lanterns from my stash, a favourite drawing from my František Tichý book;
Tapestry at Groot Constantia, sunset over Simon's Town, rose syrup;
Pink wall in Simon's Town, the loo at Le Quartier Français, hibiscus in Franschhoek.

(Title from Story of Mrs W, by Dorothy Parker.)

A Happy Birthday

To ME!!


I am ancient today. Ancient!! But who cares? I had lots and lots of roses, I had friends and family, I had love, I had wine. I danced the tango in my living room, I had hugs and kisses, I had a beautiful, beautiful day!

Wine with Purple Feet ...

1. The wine I guess is more red than purple, but I so wanted to use the line from Neruda's poem as my title!
2. Lavender in my garden - right next to the front door.
3. One of my favourite visually inspiring books - Christian Lacroix's Diary of a Collection.
4. Purple gauzy shoulder bag from Sweden - a gift from my sister.
5. One of my favourite rings - purple unpolished amethyst and silver - bought in Buenos Aires.
6. Those who know the story of my Purple Triffid will be relieved to see that I have toned it down and made it more socially acceptable by folding over the scary pointy leaves and sewing them down.
7. Lilac Greta Garbo hat all the way from Sweden - also a gift from my darling sister. (I am wearing it tonight to a play at the Masque Theatre.)
8. Mohair wrap given to me by L'Usband - from Prince Albert in the Karoo (the wrap, not the husband).
9. Little flower in my garden - no idea what it is but I call it the buddha flower because it grows near one of my buddhas ...

Have a great, wild and passionate purple weekend, dears! Drink a glass of purpley wine. Be happy. xxx Anairam

(Title from Ode to Wine by Pablo Neruda)

Red was your Colour ...

I played hooky today. I am supposed to work on a book (I can only hope that Svetlana is not reading this post, because it is her book.) But the weather was absolutely divine - and it is almost winter! So we were out and about, had lunch and a glass of wine, sat in the sun, and I took some photographs.



top row: pot with succulent in The Meeting Place, monster-toed tree in the parking lot, fire hose
middle row: cushion, brake light, shop roof
bottom row: no entry, emergency exit, post box where I posted a little something for someone who lives just 14 inches away ...
(Title from the poem by Ted Hughes.)

Orange ...

I love this poem by Wendy Cope. It is how I feel today.

THE ORANGE

by Wendy Cope

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—

They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park

This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all my jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over.

I love you. I’m glad I exist.

Wendy Cope, “The Orange” from Serious Concerns. Copyright © 1992 by Wendy Cope.

The various ranks of varied green ...

Green pics (all taken today): public telephone in Oranjezicht, lamp and canopy at Carlucci's, avocado, graffiti on telecomms box, old door I use as table, picture frame, merry-go-round in park, coffee cup, my trusted cutting mat.

And now for my find of the day! South African designers will know Neville Trickett - I have always been in love with his style - using lots of natural elements and combining found objects with art and design features. I have only now found out that he has a blog (called Saint Verde Digest), and it is the most beautiful one I have seen - do yourself a favour and scroll around and enjoy his fantastic juxtapositions. (There is a butterfly one that seems almost specially made for Kendalee!)
(Title from Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot.)

the blues in my life today ...

Wow! Lisa, Kendalee, Sarah and Denise are all doing a colour week - blue today - and I think I'm going to join in!

blue paint splotches on plastic yoghurt lid after an art journal session ...

2 a.m. origami cubes in different shades of blue ...

tiny blue and white pottery bowl on photograph of Hubble telescope in today's newspaper ...

old jasper johns exhibition poster that I have used to cover a dictionary ...

A different focus ...

Dear friends, thank you for all your kind and supportive comments - I really appreciate it! Nothing has been resolved yet, but I think I am in a better space - and that is quite important, isn't it?
In the meantime I have decided to focus on love. I have been working on one of the inserts in the big box I bought a while ago ... it is not quite finished yet, and I want to change a couple of things, but I thought I'd show you anyway ...

plus ...

plus ...

plus ...

plus ...

plus ...

equals ...

xxx Anairam

Be kind ...

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle."
(Philo of Alexandria)

Dear friends, I apologize for being so slow in answering comments, and in visiting all your lovely blogs. I am unfortunately at the moment engaged in two rather horrible battles, and they have been sapping my energy and taking up my time. The one is with The Neighbour, and the other one, very unexpectedly, with A Colleague. Both have come about through inconsiderate and quite serious actions which can not be ignored by me, however much I wish it would all just go away.

I have to stand up for myself and as I do not have a confrontational personality, I am finding all of this very difficult. Two a.m. wake-ups are now standard issue - and I am soooooooo tired of folding origami cubes. If you have any ideas about either getting back to sleep or spending the early morning hours usefully, please let me know!

PS The answer to my Saturday movie post is of course ...

Embroider!

I had such fun today at Blossom's embroidery workshop! I learned to do a chain stitch, a daisy, french knots, outline stitch and another stitch which is done by plain stitching and then weaving through a contrasting colour yarn. So here is my very first pillow slip effort ...

I haven't finished all the daisies and french knots yet, but I wanted to show you right away - I'm rather proud of it! Especially since I made the same mistake four times - sewing the inside flap to the front, and had to undo several bits. Several times. Duh.

When we started we were asked to pick three different colours of thread ... everyone went for the bright colours - oranges, reds, pinks and purples. What did I choose? Black and grey. (I had to be persuaded to add a bit of colour, so I chose red. That was a good choice, I think.)

Stuff

I am slowly getting back into making things again. The instructions to fold this box can be found here.

Of course I had to add a word. In embroidery.
(I am going to an embroidery workshop at this stunning place on Wednesday - yippeeee!)

Another Obsession

I have recently developed an(other) obsession - taking photographs of old movies. While I am watching them on a laptop. I realize it is odd, but so am I. I think my initial idea was to use the stills to make drawings.
Something like this perhaps...

which was done by this woman ...

of this man ...

Recognize the movie?