POEM: WILD GEESE BY MARY OLIVER

I always keep coming back to this poem; I guess it really is famous for a reason. So many people can relate to the themes or see themselves reflected in the pictures she paints with her words. For me, I grew in a household with a lot of religious guilt that, over the last two decades, I really had to unlearn. Unlearn the shame piled on me. 

Feels like as millennials, we grew up with this fear-based Christian faith that somehow loved talking about hell!  

Also, I love her light, airy way of writing. 

POEM: BANDITS IN A FOREST

 

BANDITS

We're bandits in an abandoned forest, 
On a last-minute adventure at dusk.
Colours fade from trees, sky and red earth;
Tall grasses are whispering quietly to us
On this winter's evening. 

REMEMBER LOCKDOWN?

I wrote this during the end of the COVID-19 lockdown and just found it saved in my drafts. It's not particularly well written but I think the memory of that crazy time is important.

THE EXPANSE OF GOD

To me lately, God, and the feeling of who he is, has expanded. I'm not sure that it fits into this rectangular setting of church anymore. It's quite a unnerving feeling to step outside of what you've grown up with; to dip your toes into the unknown. Gone are the four safe walls of the church and instead I've just been faced with questions.

What does my faith mean to me now? Where do I go from here? How do I answer all these questions in my head?

OUR BUDDY BOO

We finally adopted a dog at the end of 2021 from the AACL and he's the cutest little fox there ever was.

A NEW YEAR MUCH LIKE THE OLD?

I’m sitting at a favourite coffee shop – well, a former favourite that I’ve rediscovered – staring at the little row of shops and people walking past.

The beginning of a year always makes me feel reflective. What are my plans for 2021? What am I aiming for personally? Spiritually? In my work life? Where do I want to travel to (if Covid-19 allows this)?

But this year is different. This year I was full of hope and moments of excitement and expectations – but so far 2021 has just felt like 2020 Part Two.

I think that the pain of stillness is one that I’m wrestling with the most. Stillness and waiting. Of pausing. I’m learning to live in this liminal space. To see the treetops swaying in the wind. To take in the bold blue sky. To go on mountain walks and breathe in the smell of earthy fynbos. To learn that this life is wonderfully up and down; and that beautiful moments occur even in the in-between.

FOSTER DOGGO

We fostered a beautiful pitty mix during lockdown for about four weeks and he stole our hearts. Happy he has a forever home now but that goodbye sure was hard! Keagan, I hope you have the best life with your new family.

GREAT SONG BY NICK MULVEY

Cause the very thing you're afraid, afraid of
It keeps you clean but unclear
Clean but unclear
Is the dirt that you're made, you're made of
And that's nothing to fear
No, it's nothing my dear

 

LOGO LOVE

ROADTRIP TO NAM, ZAM, BOTS

We've just completed 6400 kilometres with our Subaru Forester through Namibia, Zambia and Botswana. Wow, what a journey that was! Here are a few photos...

NEW FAV SONG

HAPPY 2019!

Here's to many more adventures this year! Since buying our second-hand Subaru, we've been able to see so many more place in South Africa. I find this poem by Gary Snyder really fitting for the year ahead:

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us,
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

~ Gary Snyder

MUIZENBERG IN THE RAIN

OFFICE INSPO

A SAFARI IN THE SABI SANDS

I was lucky enough to be invited on an educational in the Sabi Sands in South Africa. It was an amazing experience. The wildlife. The guides. And the lodge, Leopard Hills, was just amazing.

THEEWATERSKLOOF DAM

We went on a 4x4 adventure with Scrappy, our Subaru, to Theewaterskloof Dam. What we found was that we could drive at the bottom of the dam... on the sand where the water used to be. Crazy!

MY FIRST PREGNANCY SHOOT

DIY GREYWATER SYSTEM FOR A SHOWER-BATH

We recently installed a greywater system for our shower bath so that we didn't have to carry our bathwater downstairs to the garden in buckets. We plug the bath and collect our shower water (it's a bit gross when you have to step into cold water, but #sacrifice).

OUTDOOR SPACES

We moved into a new place recently. It's a little duplex with a small garden. For so long, I've dreamt of having a garden! Turns out they're quite a lot of work and I have been thinking about how to turn this outdoor space, which is much like any other room, into a comfortable place where we'll want to chill and hang out.

Most of the garden is in full sun during the morning and midday so I'm only planting water-wise plants and succulents. I get seduced at nursery visits and end up buying pretty, fluffy plants that soon die.

HYUNJU KIM

I've fallen in love with this artist. She's just amazing.