Happy #4

Books make me happy.

This is the bookcase in my study. (How do I remove a book? Carefully, very carefully.) It is one of seven bookcases in our house - all stuffed full of books. The overflow is now on the bedroom floor - four towers, steadily getting higher.

I just love books - old books, new books, library books, pristine books, books with scribbles in them. Every thing about them - the front cover and spine designs, the smell, the typography, turning the leaves, the anticipation of a great story, and of course, actually reading them! Through them I live adventurous and glamorous and sometimes tragic lives. I get to know people I wouldn't normally meet and travel to places that I will probably never see in real life.

I have just finished Trollope's The Warden, am currently reading JG Ballard's Super-Cannes, and waiting on my bedside table are Paul Auster's Travels in the Scriptorium and England, England (Julian Barnes).

We popped into Coffee & Books today - a lovely little second-hand bookshop in Fish Hoek, where you can browse the books, have a coffee while paging through them, chat to owner Bruce Clemence, and at certain times, also have a curry or a roti. And came away with three books, amongst them Alan Hollinghurst's The Folding Star.

The towers are growing.

Happy #3

Blue skies make me happy.
It has been raining in Cape Town for the last couple of days. I like the rain, and many good things associated with it. But I can't say that rain makes me happy. Especially since the rain brings so many added problems to the informal settlements in and around Cape Town. On the other hand, blue skies, even just a patch of blue, always make me happy. They speak of summer and good times and hope.

(Images above all taken on my Karoo trip. For other participants, see Lisa's blog.)

Happy #2

Art makes me happy.
I love looking at art. I can happily spend hours in a gallery just looking. Going back. Looking again. I probably drive people crazy. In a very tiny way I also collect art - sometimes something just speaks to me, and if I can afford it, well, it is so satisfying to have something beautiful at home to look at, isn't it?

This is the Diane McClean painting we acquired last week on our trip to the Karoo. The photograph doesn't do it justice, really. Looking at it makes me very, very happy.

Happy #1

Spontaneous road trips make me happy.

Both L'Usband and I freelance - which makes spontaneous road trips possible. The kind where you muse at about 7 pm on Sunday night: "Jeez, wouldn't it be lovely to spend a week in the Karoo?", then look at one another, gleefully say: "Let's go!" and leave early the next morning. No planning, no bookings. Just get in the car and go. That makes me happy.

Lovely Lisa of curious girl is hosting a Happy Week - so from Monday to Saturday we will be posting things that make us happy. Have a look at her blog to see other participants.

PS Spontaneous road trips notwithstanding, I am also happy to be back - I have missed all you beautiful people!

Weekword: Detour

"I'm late! I'm late!"
Hopefully not too late to do the weekword for this week (which Aimee chose) - a quick scribble in black ink in one of Jacci's jotters ...

Time Off

I'm taking a week off for a much-needed break. Will see all of you beautiful people next weekend! Have a great week, my dears - read, eat, drink some wine, take a road-trip (even if it is just around the block), sit in the sun, draw, paint, think, dance a little (even if it has to be by yourself), dream, make lists, sing. Because that is what I'll be doing!

Weekword: Wanderlust

I have a distinct memory from when I was a little girl - I am standing with my mom in front of a big window at the airport watching planes take off. Were we there to see somebody off? Or perhaps to meet someone? Or was it one of my ever-resourceful mother's ideas for entertaining four kids on a Sunday afternoon? I can't remember. But I do remember thinking: One day I too will travel - I will go on journeys.

Now that I'm an adult I realize that most of my journeys do not involve planes or passports...
(Asiye of l'atelier chose this wonderful word - see her blog for other participants.)