A happy birthday and a bit of synchronicity

Today is my birthday. But that is not actually what I want to tell you. No. I really want to tell you about this lovely bit of synchronicity that happened a few weeks ago.
On the 12th of April, the Cape Times crossword puzzle had this clue:
10 Ac: Part of the rosary, we hear, for the ancient monk.
L'Usband, who is a boff at cryptic clues, immediately shouted: "Bede! Bede!"
Now, I collect rosaries, I have them from all over the world: USA, France, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Scotland (but not England - dang, I forgot to get one when I was there!), France, Czech Republic, Argentina, and of course, South Africa. So I do know that rosaries are made from beads, but not being English and not being religious and furthermore, being a total illiterate when it concerns history, I had never heard of Bede. L'Usband had to inform me that the chappie was an ancient monk and was actually known as the Venerable Bede.
Wow.
Two days later, on the 14th, to be exact,  I was working on a proofreading project, and looked up BC and AD in Wikipedia to confirm that this dating system does not have a year zero (proofreaders learn all kinds of interesting things, it is about the only perk of the job) and who do I find? Yep, old Bede again:
"The Anglo-Saxon historian the Venerable Bede, who was familiar with the work of Dionysius, used Anno Domini dating in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, finished in 731. "
But that is not all! The very next day I am in the Kalkbay Bookshop, and I look at their Sale table, where they have a book with a rather striking typeface on the cover - The Dangerous Book for Boys Yearbook. Not the kind of book I would normally pick up, but the cover attracted my attention. I immediately paged to my birthday (as I always do in these types of book). Jeez, what can I tell you? There it was, in big bold letters with a picture and all:
25th of May - the Feast Day of the Venerable Bede ...

Happy Feast Day, Mr Bede!

Weekword: Hiding

Do you know of  the Woolly Monster that snuffles and slurps and snorts, and crunches and cracks things too hideous to mention? Listen to it here.

And then run away quickly, quickly and hide! It is coming to get you ... !
Credits:

Director:             Anairam Traws
Soundman:          L'Usband
Woolly Monster: Snous

Unnecessary necessities #5 and #6

I don't know about unnecessary, because I certainly would not have survived my work without these two.

Work update: Burning the midnight oil ... if all goes well we will be able to put this baby to bed by the second week of June. And then I am going to celebrate!

More unnecessary necessities.

I often let my hair dry naturally, but in winter I absolutely need my hairdryer. For stuff like warming up my hands and  feet ...

Let's just state it upfront: deep down I am quite shallow. What is life without lipstick? I have no idea, but I know that I have to have lipstick. Always. It is the one thing I would take to a desert island. Water? Moisturiser? Sunscreen?? Pfffffffffffrrrrrt.

Weekword: Story

Yippee Yay - weekword is back! Rachel has chosen this week's word and has a list of all the contributors. As I have little time I am posting something old. About 10 years ago I had this terrific idea of writing the story of my life - in comic form. I started with the birth of my brother - as this is my earliest memory. But oh goodness, the effort involved to draw all those frames! I finished one more strip, and that was it. (The story of my life, indeed ...) Maybe I will continue one day - Jesse's book here is a great inspiration to me. The only difference being - she can draw. Oh, well...


PS Most of you won't be able to understand - it is in Afrikaans. Also, there are two bad words in there. Forgive me.

Collaborative Art

On Sunday we visited the Spier Contemporary Art 2010 Festival held in collaboration with the Africa Centre - this year at the City Hall. A lot of conceptual art, some installation pieces, and quite a few performance pieces (which we missed as live performances are only held on certain days). All in all, quite interesting, but I have to admit that I was more impressed by last year's offering. I do like conceptual art, but I found many pieces a bit ... lightweight ... dare I say? In the end my five favourite pieces included two paintings, a carved marble relief, an installation of steel cutouts, and a video installation.
I really like to participate in art - so here is my self-appointed collaborative piece, entitled Ana Iram and Venus de Milo Viewing Jhb CBD from CT CBD. I  do hope that Raiford Johnson won't mind ...

Lefthand image: Anairam Traws, righthand image: Phillip Raiford Johnson

Your relationship to That Stuff

Yesterday was the monthly car boot sale. I rushed down, pink shopping bag in hand to carry back my goodies, Snous in tow. But here is the thing, although there was some stuff that would normally have attracted my attention - a small succulent, two books, a piece of fabric, a few tiny plastic animals, an ink pad, a small glass bowl, and a sheet of computer labels - I didn't buy a thing. Because I didn't really need any of it. Is my addiction at an end? Is my relationship to that stuff changing?

Art journal collage with magazine cutouts, paint, cut up store card.

Everyone has his own version of that stuff. For some people it is not a material thing. What is your relationship to that stuff? In my journal page I included: addicted to, overwhelmed by, in control of, tired of, in love with ...

Have a great week! Don't fill it with too much stuff... Hmmmm, my week will be filled with words, too many words ...