Kleur

Kleur maak 'n verskil. Nà 'n asvaal winter word kleur weer van vooraf waardeer. Warm-oranje aalwynblommetjies wat suikerbekkies lok. Donkerpienk, maroon petunias in die pot by die voorste hekkie, 'n welkomgroet aan elke besoeker. 

 Sagte pienk perskebloeisels wat 'n splinternuwe seisoen aankondig. Om te kan kyk en om te kan sien, dit is 'n seën!

Mom-to-be

 It’s not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it! 

 From the television show ‘The Golden Girls’

Another one of Solly’s hen’s (she’s four months old now), has made herself at home in my garden and started laying eggs – against a wall, totally in the open with no protection over-head. I can’t actually provide her with any protection, I’m so scared she’ll leave the nest if I fiddle around too much.

The beginning of new life

However, I am preparing a warm place for them to live once she hatches her new brood, and hopefully Kingston, the Dad-to-Be will join them for good once they’re settled. Such exciting times! I just can’t wait to hold the little bundles once they’ve hatched!

Day 3

So far there are four eggs and she’ll probably lay 9 or 10 before starting with the serious stuff of sitting on them. I’ll be doing an up-date when the babies hatch, if all should go well – life on a smallholding for chickens is a risky business!

The proud Father-to-Be, “Kingston”, one of Solly’s youngest roosters – he’s also just 4 months old now.

Vandag is die dag!

Vandag is die dag dat ek kan huppel en spring, sing en hande klap - my jaar-einde boeke is UITEINDELIK op datum! Halleluja! Julle het geen idee hoe ek liasseerwerk haat nie, haat met 'n passie wat oorweldigend op die krop van my maag sit soos 'n maag sweer. En wat lei tot die uitstel van die boeke-doen-ding, is omdat al die liasseerwerk nie op datum is nie.

Ek stel altyd vir myself 'n doel of datum om dit makliker te maak, maar so ver moontlik in die toekoms sodat ek kans het om aan te pas - ek sal dit begin op die 1st van so-en-so maand en dit sal die EERSTE ding wees wat ek doen voordat ek by die komper gaan sit, ens. ens.

Kom dit eerste van daai maand, is dit (gelukkig!) op 'n Saterdag of 'n Sondag - nou ja, dan kan ek mos maar Maandag begin. Maandae is 'n slegte idee - van die personeel daag nie op nie of daar's 'n krisis van een of ander aard, so dis nie my skuld nie, ek sal dit môre doen...

En ons ken almal die gesegde van "moenie afstel vir môre wat jy vandag kan doen nie", en "van uitstel kom afstel". Wel, sover dit liasseerwerk aangaan, is dit die storie van my lewe...

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Mommy Bobby and her clutch of 10

Mommy Bobby, one of Solly’s hens, chose to make her nest under a truck canopy lying on the lawn in the workshop area of our business (Tarlton, Gauteng, South Africa), waiting to be fitted on one of the trucks, snugly out of the rain and harm’s way. For three weeks the workshop staff waited impatiently (upon my strict threats that the canopy was not to be touched!) as Bobby sat on her clutch of 12 eggs, fluffing herself to double her normal size should anybody dare to come near.

Then, at about 11am on the 31st December 2010, she triumphantly emerged from underneath the canopy, keeping her brood of 10 close to her side, much to the pleasure and relief of all in the workshop, who immediately got to work moving the canopy, now leaving Bobby and her brood totally homeless!
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Now I know I was supposed to do this long before the time, but Solly and I quickly scrambled to erect a make-shift new home for them so that they wouldn't be caught in the rain that was looming, finishing the coup that same afternoon. At about 4pm, we slowly herded them towards their new home, securely fenced, protected against the rain and a large area where they stayed for about a week before I opened the gate and introduced them to the garden. Now they spend their days happily scratching around in the garden before she leads them home back to the coup at about 4.30pm every day.

Mommy and her brood quickly took to the new housing, snug and safe on the fresh straw I put down for them.

I’m really enjoying having chickens in my garden once more after an absence of almost 2 years!

'n Vrolike vers

Rooikopvink

Pienkdun is sy voëltjiebene

fyn porselein onder omkrultone

en blommetjies,

blommetjies die hele wêreld vol

pik-pik hy versigtig aan die saad

om krag te kry,

genoeg krag vir vandag

want hy wil sy vlerke sprei

en vlieg

Elizabeth Kendall ©

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Lag tog 'n bietjie!

Tussen al die gemorspos wat ‘n mens elke dag kry, is daar party kere een wat die moeite werd is.

Ek kry die ander dag een van vriend A.W. en, met apologie aan die oorspronklike skrywer, wil ek hopelik meer as een persoon vandag laat glimlag!

Hier is twintig maniere om ‘n hoë vlak van geestesgesondheid te handhaaf:

Sit oor jou etensuur met ‘n donkerbril op in jou motor en mik met ‘n haardroër na die aankomende verkeer. Kyk of hulle stadiger ry.

Roep jouself oor die interkom sonder om jou stem te vermom.

Elke keer as jou baas jou vra om iets te doen, vra of hy skyfies daarmee saam wil hê.

Vervang die filterkoffie in die koffiepot vir drie weke met ‘decaf.’ Sodra jou kollegas oor hulle kaffeienverslawing is, hervul die pot met espresso.

Begin al jou sinne met ‘in ooreenstemming met die professie.’

Moenie loop nie. Huppel.

Vra vir mense wat hulle geslag is. Lag histeries sodra hulle antwoord.

Sing kliphard saam by opera-uitvoerings.

Span ‘n muskietnet om jou werksarea en speel die hele dag CD’s met tropiese woudgeluide.

Wanneer jy geld by die OTM trek en dit word uitgereik, skree, “Ek het gewen! Ek het gewen!”

Woon ‘n poësie-aand by en vra na elke voordrag waarom die gedigte nie rym nie.

Laat weet jou gasheer vyf dae voor die partytjie dat jy nie meer kom nie, want jy is nie in die regte bui nie.

Sêtydens aandete vir jou kinders dat jy weens ekonomiese redes een van hulle moet laat gaan.”

Lekker dag vir jou!

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Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The chicken, no the egg, no the chicken, no the egg. It's enough to make your head spin right off your neck. We’ve all been through the logic; most of us end up at the same place... no answer!

Basically, many, many moons ago there was a chicken-like bird. It was genetically close to a chicken, but wasn’t a full-blown chicken yet...

Go to Mother Nature Network to FINALLY find out the truth! 

My little green cactus

My little green cactus stands out there on the balcony,
What do I need red roses for, what do I need red poppies for?
And if some rascal says something ill-mannered,
Then I get my cactus and it pricks, pricks, pricks!
My little green cactus stands out there on the balcony,
Hollari, hollari, hollaro!

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'n Nuwe seisoen

Die eerste perskebloeisels van hierdie lente. - 22 Aug. 2015.

 

"Die wêreld is ‘n ontdekkingsreis en die wêreld agter ‘n kameralens is ‘n psalm, ‘n loflied." My psalms en lofliedere het gelukkig nog nie opgedroog nie, dit sal hopelik nooit. Elke seisoen het mos sy eie mooi. Lente is verruklik. Verruklik is baie mooier as "awesome"! Regtig. Ek weet. Elke nuwe dag het sy eie, warm en besondere kleure. “ Ek loop verkyk my daaraan!” sal die Kapenaars sê.  En dit gebeur dikwels  dat die kleur van elke dag 'n trooskombers is.  Ons kan onsself daarin toevou. Dankie tog dat ons kan sien, kan ruik, kan proe, sommer net kan wees. Dankie dat ons te midde van probleme en swaarkry nog kamera-in-die-hand kan rondloop en elke pasella wat direk uit die hemel kom, kan vaslê, kan deel.  Foto’s vertel mos stories. Foto’s laat mens onthou. Foto’s laat mens dink. Foto’s neem bly ‘n heerlike avontuur! Geniet dit, geniet jou dag!

Wat ek by my kleinkinders leer

·        Gebruik jou verbeelding !

·        Boomklim en kaalvoet loop is pure pret !

·        Maak jou eie wysies as jy wil sing !

·        Klere hoef nie bymekaar te pas nie !

·        Soentjies en drukkies maak alles beter!

Expressing your creativity

Modern image processing has become quite an art form these days. With the advent of the computer age, numerous opportunities have arisen that challenge the way in which we explore the world surrounding us. Engineers use computers to process data and visualise results, while artists found in this new media an attractive way to express their creativity.

I am by no means au fait with the array of image processing programmes available these days, but I do enjoy playing around in PowerPoint and PhotoShop (which I still haven't QUITE got the hang of!), adding my art or photographs to back-ground textures, many available for free on the internet.

Above I have added two of my sketches to a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen, using PowerPoint. Below is an image from Country Roads on Pinterest, where I have added photographs of my chickens using PhotoShop.

'A walk down Memory Lane'

"From silvery woods there comes a call" - Watercolour forest scene with a wolf (clipart) added in using PhotoShop

"Be still" - Two of my watercolour Arums added to a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen using PowerPoint

"You are ... beautiful!" - Watercolour daisies added to a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen using PowerPoint

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Bruin skakerings kraak ondervoet...

akkerblare konfetti neer
bruin skakerings kraak ondervoet
hemelhoë takke
gryp vergeefs na somer
wat wegtuimel:
arms strek dan uit
na wye herfskoepel
en gee oor aan winterskoonheid
in gestrooptheid -
wag statig
op klein, varsgroen ogies
wat
van lente gaan sing
- Uysie Alberts ©

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Fear of the Great White

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” 

- Sven Goran Eriksson

Painting on anything bigger than A4 used to scare the living daylights out of me - I kept on taking out that BIG piece of (expensive) art paper and then quickly putting it away "for another day"!

Part of this fear is the idea of wasting materials. What if I make a bugger-up? What if it's horrible, then the whole piece of paper is wasted. And all that paint! I used to dip my paintbrush into tiny amounts of precious Winsor & Newton watercolours and carefully apply the paint, concentrating on not messing up anything. This often resulted in a completely "tight" and over-worked piece of artwork. The more I did this, the more I was dissatisfied with the results and convinced I couldn't waste a large sheet and precious paint on art that is no good.

 An old painting with lots of fiddling going on and mud happening (and do you see the 'mistake' in the perspective? One thing I'm very set on is that the perspective of a painting must be 100% right!)

Then one day I decided that I've just got to tackle those large canvasses, no more procrastinating!

First I took a sheet of Bockingford 300gsm, 20" x 30", quite prepared to lose it and relaxed. I mixed large quantities of colours, and with no preliminary sketching, I dipped a large brush and let fly, working quickly to get a feel of the brush as it moved across the paper, enjoying the feeling as the back-ground started taking shape. Every now and then I could feel myself starting to concentrate on a particular area, so I stood back, relaxed and started over again, wielding my brush loosely, allowing the colours to flow and mingle until I was satisfied with the result.

Standing back and viewing my painting, I almost whooped aloud, at last a had a pleasing piece of art! And a LARGE one to boot!

Getting over those paralysing thoughts of "Oh, I spent 'x' amount of dollars on that canvas/paper. If I just start playing and it turns out awful, what a waste it will be! I better do something good on this or forget about it" is crucial to making good art. Give yourself permission to make complete and utter crap to get you past the initial roadblock and into the flow of creativity. and if it turns out no good, cut it up into ACEO's, paint over it or throw it out. Each experience leads to the next and having some "failures" are important too. Once you get started, the sense of fun kicks in and you lose yourself in the process. And if you find yourself stuck in fear along the way, a simple reminder to let go of the end-product is usually enough to get going again.

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Keeping a Journal

Journaling is the process of regularly writing your thoughts, your dreams, milestones, events and feelings down on paper and, these days, virtually on blogs. There are many different kinds of journals you can choose to keep but it is a powerful process that provides the opportunity to explore things in a measured way. It can also be fun to look back and discover how far you have come!

"A common symptom of modern life is that there's no time for thought, or for letting the impressions of the day sink in," says Thomas Moore. Setting aside a block of time, however brief, to freely express thoughts and feelings is psychically healthy.

Journals also affirm the value of our lives, preserve our memories and dreams, and help to pin-point emotional patterns. Writing about problems is a great way to work them out, and recording negative emotions is often akin to dropping them altogether.

"Singing sweet songs" watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm

Women's fitted scoop T-shirt printed with "singing Sweet songs"

Keeping a nature journal, or art journal, for example, is a wonderful way to become spiritually centred. We are rewarded for the attention to detail and patience this practice requires with deepened understanding of what it means to be human and alive and a part of Creation. What you decide to put in your journal is a personal choice. Nature journals can be anything from field notes, which limit themselves to objective descriptions of what the writer has observed, to fully developed poems, stories, or essays in which the landscape is a major character.

You may want to draw or paint in your journal as well as write in it or to fill its pages with photographs or pressed flowers. Experience the natural world through fresh eyes! Keeping a nature journal is your most powerful ally in crafting the kind of life you want.

 

One of my Nature Journals - here I used a Feint

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Bruin skakerings kraak ondervoet

akkerblare konfetti neer
bruin skakerings kraak ondervoet
hemelhoë takke
gryp vergeefs na somer
wat wegtuimel:
arms strek dan uit
na wye herfskoepel
en gee oor aan winterskoonheid
in gestrooptheid -
wag statig
op klein, varsgroen ogies
wat
van lente gaan sing
- Uysie Alberts ©

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