Life is pearly......... life is a pearl... guard your pearls...

Yesterday started out as any ordinary day would: tea in bed with home made crunchies... a hot shower... followed by a lazy breakfast of sunny side up on a slice of wholewheat toast...

It was a beautiful day and Mom and I had planned to spend it meandering through Kalk Bay, window shopping, maybe the occasional purchase... stopping off at the little delicatessen shops along the way for some hot coffee, perhaps a croissant... then we were off to have our hair done! What a perfect way to spend a Friday off!

So we are just about to leave the house, clad in our summery frocks and Grecian sandals and mom gets a phone call from the dentist.. she'd forgotten about her 11am tooth extraction! How appropriate- I would've done the same.. selective memory disorder - the less pleasant the appointment, the more apparent the disorder becomes! Anyway the Dentist is on the way and we figure she'll be done in two ticks and then we can get back to our excursion!

So I decide go along with her for moral support and a good laugh - I've never really been the one to turn to when you're in pain.. I think its a nervous disorder or something, but I can't seem to contain my laughter in the face of extreme distress! Bad bad person I know!!!

So the dentist straps mother in as he can see she's already starting to hyperventilate at the mere sound of his air suction pipe, let alone the high speed drill and wrench that are about to extract what is left of her tooth!! Anyway so he gets to work on her tooth.. I realise at this point that I really am quite a sicko for being present to witness all of this in the first place, but I justify my presence by playing the caring daughter role - and holding mothers hand as she squirms in torment, much to my perverse delight!

So about ten minutes into the procedure something appears to be going drastically wrong, the left side of mothers neck and cheek had begun to swell up to an abnormal size and she was violently motioning for the doc to stop at once - as she thought she may be having a heart attack!

Now if you knew my mother at all you would see the humour in all this, she has a severe claustrophobia problem: hates confined spaces and being put in any situation where she is not completely and uncompromisingly in control! Hence going to the Dentist and Doctor are both in the red high alert zone on her "No No" list of things to do!

Never the less the Dentist was determined to get one last tiny piece of her molar out which appeared to have broken off from the tip of the root! This however was proving to be impossible, and the more he probed and drilled and wrenched, the more worked up and exacerbated mother was getting until she just about took his finger off and demanded the medical rescue be alerted at once!

About 2 min's later ( Don't ask me how they got there so quickly- regular occurrence at this dentist? hmmm) four burly paramedics rush into the room: stethoscopes, heart monitor on generator, needles blood pressure pumps and medical gloves in tow!
Mother at this point is puffing and wheezing in such discomfort, I wasn't sure which way I should run or hide or laugh, so I crouched down on the floor and grabbed her hand in a feeble attempt to sooth her! I think I was in shock OK!

Its seems what had happened, which later we found out was called Subcutaneous surgical emphysema, was that the pressure from the high speed air drill had introduced foreign oxygen into the subcutaneous layer of the skin. Which is in between the muscle sheet and the skin. This causes bloating around the face, neck and chest area, resulting in extreme pain and discomfort as well as difficulty in breathing. ( medical synopsis compliments of Dr. Mia)
The other weird symptom is that the bloated area feels like crinkle paper or rice crispies to the touch, no jokes - it actually snap crackle pops!

After the medics had done their thing, we were rushed off to false bay hospital, don't ask me what in tar nation we were doing there! I actually get grills just thinking about it! We were subjected to a 4 hr wait on these trashy hard wood benches, in this terrible blue light waiting room - and I swear to g_d I saw a roach!!!

The upside: I now have extreme appreciation for everything in my life! And as long as I'm never subjected to anything like that again - I think I may even start supporting a charity!

Eventually we were seen and mother got an x-ray. We were then filed back into the queue and had to wait for a further 45mins just to be told that they wanted mother to stay over night, as they had no idea what she actually had! I mean come on people!! 4hrs to hear that! I think not!!!
At this point I decided to take matters into my own hands. I bundled poor, shivering, bloated mother into the warm car. Then I charged around said "hospital" trying to find someone in charge! To no avail! So I hopped in the car and we hot footed out of there!!! Never to be see again!

Thank heavens our own doctor, who was many miles away but well worth the trip, could actually diagnose and treat her in 10 min's which had taken 4hrs at the roach infested false bay clinic!!
I then got to take poor, starving, traumatised mother home, feed her and put her to bed for some much needed rest! I'll remember to trust my instincts and drive the distance in future! Everything always looks clearer and more decisive in retrospect though doesn't it!

Its quite frightening to realise that our parents aren't really super heroes after all, and they can get sick and fragile just as easily as we can. Its quite nice to assume the superhero role for them from time to time... just for a day or two ;)) But no funny ideas of luxury and pampering now OK, or we'll be forced to whip out the snivelly nose, red eyes and coughing tactic!!

Post script: Ducks invented Rice Crispies ;))

"You are the rainbow in my waterfall..."

I've been skating about on the net lately, seeing as its cold and rainy outside and there isn't much else to do with those annoyingly cold spare minutes... I'm not the biggest TV fan either which doesn't really help matters!
So I spend that time down loading hundreds of photographs... happy, sad, beautiful, interesting, ugly, crazy, inspiring amazing photographs!

This is one of my favourites at the moment... Its how I'm feeling most of the time... whenever I go outside and run to my car through the puddles of the never ending rain!
This picture makes me love the rain though, I think its all in the title "You are the rainbow in my waterfall". It makes light of this sullen dreary weather that is being inflicted upon us, and gives you that little dab of appreciation and whimsical momentum as the tiny beautiful rain drops cascade around us leaving precious water diamonds on everything... I love the rain today!

I have another one that makes me even happier though, its taken from the photographers viewing point... it makes you feel as though you yourself are peering out from under the brim of a great big beach brolly... All you can see is this pristine beach and perfect frolicking waves, and a few sandy footprints just in front of you... Its so real you could touch it, "sunshine and happiness" is what I have called it...

Just a few weeks away... **

Postscript: Ducks are no.1 in africa's big 5 ;)

Cape Town = 90% mabye's!

I did a little social experiment this week. I was at a braai, and overheard a conversation between a Joburger and a Capetonian about our commitment issues, when it comes to planning our weekends! And come to think of it, its been bugging me how much people pleasing goes on around us every single day! So I decided to create a little "event" and see what the majority of the guest list optioned for. Now I am by no means exempt from this little experiment... I'm probably the biggest crook of all!

Anyway, so 182 invites went out at 9am this morning on our dear great and powerful Facebook (faithful arch enemy and best friend)! So by 9:45 - which is by in large the time that everyone has arrived at work/or their desk of sorts, waded through there friend requests, wall posts and inbox messages, scanned their list of event invites and settled in to have some coffee.

Now this is all before they have actually done the slightest thing about their real work - I might add! So its almost 12:45 and we have 8 confirmed guests, 13 maybes, 7 not attending and are awaiting the reply of 154 MIA's... So I'm having a little bet with myself... that in true Capetonian style the "maybe" list will have trebled come Friday afternoon, when everyone zootes off for the start of their weekend fiasco!

Now this is what I was talking about to begin with... its seems to be a little Capetonian trait... we are the biggest people pleasers that ever hit the face of the earth! Myself included! We love telling everyone who is willing to lend half an ear that we will "Definitely be there", "See you there", "Can't wait for blah blah blah" etc... It fascinates me! So that come the last minute, we have promised the world a Dollar when we only have a shilling for the jam jar! And trues Bob we'll probably end up doing something completely impulsive, that wasn't even on the list to begin with! Making ourselves the biggest MIA's of all! Correct me if I'm wrong here, but we are pretty ridiculous when you actually think about it. So in the end the only person we are actually pleasing is ourselves: cause everyone else will end up being miffed with our lack of attendance again!

Maybe its due to the nature of the arrangements. There only ever seem to be a handful of formal events: birthdays, dinners, weddings, funerals, anniversaries and awards where we actually have to give a serious confirmation. Otherwise everything else always seems to be quite casual, and impersonal? Maybe this flippant nature of organisation is what causes us to be so superficial in our commitment to "said event"? Or maybe its just our overzealous commitment to being everywhere at the same time - we are not super heroes people! (I know how temping that purple cape may look, note to self: Don't do it!!!) Hmmm... food for thought!

Post script: Ducks can be in several places at one time! Fact!

Shaman's, goblin's, tee pee's and journey's....

I'm in the mood for some soul searching, I've read about these shaman camps they have out in the mountains in Africa... You hike up there and sit in these temporary tee pee furnaces that they put up! And there you sit locked in a spatial trance of melodic chanting and drums. The heat is so extreme and permeating that you almost pass out from the sheer intensity of it.

I'm all about the life enriching and the alternative at the moment, I'm devouring books and documentaries at such a fervent pace I'm starting to concern myself! And music... music has become such an integral part of my daily journey... its like a soundtrack to my own movie.

Sometimes I really want to fit myself into some very competetive corporate category. With a typically stiff black pencil skirt, some seriously menacing looking heels, a blackberry, a briefcase and a really fast car! You'd probably find me on any given day peering down at my minions from some ivory tower in the centre of town...

And other times, and this I consider to be the better 2/3rds of myself, wants to don my sparkly little sandals, my whimsical silver threaded bohemian skirts or Turkish pants with my beads and bangles and all things colourful and creative and live in some little studio overlooking Bailey's rock pool in Kalk bay... spending my days painting, writing, swimming, hiking and doing things that generally inspire me... flitting about like the little gypsy I am at heart... So I wonder where the happy medium is for me?

Somewhere between the boho, creative, edgy, trendy, gypsy, socialite, corporate climber... hmmm... how on earth do I blend that cocktail?

Maybe one day I'll write about it... or better yet... sell it!

Post Script: Ducks built the pyramids: fact!

Clickety... clique, click??

Is Cape Town clicky?
You know, like the whole "group", "social status", "old school"... "new school"... blah shma?

I'm trying to work it out actually... because there are people who have lived here there whole lives, and still don't feel like they actually belong here. And then there are people who move here on a whim or a bursary or a lifestyle betterment mission, or whatever you want to call it, and they have never felt more at home!

So couldn't it then be a confidence in yourself thing too, I ask myself?
Or is it just this preconceived notion one has of the icy austere clique that frequent the streets, bars and homes of cape town.
I think its bollocks quite personally, and then sometimes I look around and can see who the people are who never quite relax or warm to the crowd, and I feel horrible for them... but surely that can't only be about whom they are surrounded by, it has to come partly from their own attitudes and actions too... Don't you get back what you put out, isn't that the whole idea?

Take myself for instance, I know when its not a good time for me to even attempt to socialise- when I could quite literally throw daggers into the crowd with my unwelcoming stare. And then there are those days when I'm feeling on top of the world and anything is possible. You know those days I'm talking about! She woman days!

Non the less, I was talking to a few of my friends today, non of which are from Cape Town, and they confirmed this arms length notion of Capetonians for me... Well apparently it seems to some: that unless you have grown up with; gone to school/ varsity with; or your parents/ grandparents grew up together etc... there ain't a hope in hell you're getting invited round to the homestead for a warm family meal- much less meeting the family at all.

I went home and thought about this carefully, what a terrible reality, if it is in fact so. But on a closer inspection it actually rings quite true. "Capetonians"- as a massive stereotype- do seem to be all to set in their steadfast ways, to let any new comer ever feel like part of the furniture.

Is this true though, i mean really? I don't feel like that... in fact the thought has never really crossed my mind... I mean obviously it is easier to built a sustainable base with someone who has had a similar background and upbringing to you. You'd have more in common, more to go on, but that's only initially. Sooner or later that person, whether they have an identical history to you or not, is going to have to prove themselves to you as an individual. Without all that other history mambo jumbo!

I mean I'm a Capetonian and I love meeting people from other places, its so interesting!
And even more so when you realise that even though you're from opposite sides of the globe or country, you share common interests, similarities and kindred spirits in sense. I find it far more gratifying than already knowing everything about the person you're meeting. That's way to easy. Its like being handed your "lifetime friendship" on a silver platter- how boring!

Post script: Ducks are friends, not food!

What goes bump in the night?!?

OK, now before you get the wrong idea... I am not, I repeat NOT, referring to the funky monkey here!! Oh no.. this was something far more terrifying! Far far waaaaaaaaay far out of my control kind of terrifying!

So its 02:45am, I awake in the dead of the night at my mom's house (where I have come to have a 'chilled' weekend), aroused by some sort of gurgling, spluttering, violently disturbed noise that appeared to be coming from under my bed... but on closer inspection actually seemed to be coming from the bed at the adjacent wall, the one near the window!
Or wait, maybe from outside the window, something attempting to get in!!! A dreaded lurgy!!!! Stalking me in my "peaceful" slumber... Drat!!! "Isn't this why I escaped town"??

Anyway, so in my semi conscious state I attempt to reason with myself as to what on earth could possibly be capable of making such a noise?? Had my brother been there too, the obvious answer would be: he had in fact crept outside, and tried to revive our 1969 lawn mower for some late night manual labour due to an insatiable bout of insomnia, or some such ridiculousness! Boys: I mean really, they're so weird! .. OK side tracked, sorry...

He was not there however! So my foggy mind scrambled through a few more viable options: Burglar? Ghost? Demented demon? Rabid dog? Street man? Upturned bin (by street man)?
Off road scrambler engine? Prince Valiant - my night in shining armour.. nice!!?
A wounded Penguin? A mating penguin? Sick perverts!!
OK enough! Time for inspection...

... Dun dun dun... (followed by that high pitched killer noise from Scream)...
OK so I never actually left my bed for this part of the story, being paralysed by fear and all that... Instead I scrambled under my blanket, turned myself around until the point where I could re-emerge and peer past the dresser from a slight hole I had created with my nose, unobserved by the beast...

Nothing... silence... "sherbet!" I thought out loud to myself, well not loud enough to be heard by 'IT' - that would just be silly now wouldn't it! ...Then it started again... this guttural, throaty assault on my ears! Garsh darn it! It was in fact inside...... 'now what'?
Oh charming: [insert cold sweat here- how lady like!]
There was no choice left, I was alone in the room with the beast! I had to take swift calculated action - well that is without moving a muscle, leaving my 'safe' place, or actually being fully consciously rational at this point... hmmm... tricky?!?

I then went about crunching myself into a little ball, and in my most convincing impersonation, I attempted to let out a low threatening howl- followed by some thunderous coughing
(I'm sick-I know)!!
Yes!! That should ward it off, send it packing, running for the hills with its tail between its legs! Great! Nice! I rock!!

No wait... It didn't retreat, it didn't even stir! Ah gad! I'm trapped, OK wait it hasn't actually motioned toward me yet... strange?... hmmm false security??... I don't buy it... but clever very clever!!! This thing is onto me!
It was time to shift into to plan B, I thought - being the true Jedi warrior I had convinced myself into being at this point in order to win this battle!
Unfurling my self from my blanket I lashed out in one flash motion and ninja chopped the dresser!

((Whaaaack!!!))

That should do it! Good stuff! Job well done! Proud of you soldier!

...."ggggggssssssuuuuuubbbllmmmggrrrr"

Frik!! What kind of psycho, would obliviously continue this charade after hearing the infamous ninja chop??
Oh someone is gonna get the smack down!!
Oh you better believe it!!
Game on Beastie!!!

Plan C: I whip the pillow out from under my head, and hurtle it across the room in the general direction of the "disturbance"!!!
( no longer Jedi warrior, this was pure furious little girly me)

[[Thud!!]]
{{Crash}}

Oops... I think I knocked over the lamp, the picture frame, the candle holder and the clock...
but had I actually hit 'IT'.....??

At this point bleary eyed mother enters: "Mia?? What on earth are you doing?? Stop disturbing your aunt! She's trying to sleep!"

Post script: Now had the duck been there, I wouldn't have been scared in the first place ;))

"The time of our lives...."

Ah... behold... the great unknown!

Its the blank canvas I find myself staring at almost every single day...
Its quite exciting really, I know what I can do, and I know what I am good at... and yet every single day I find myself doing the complete opposite. Or something completely new!

Sometimes I take it to the point of discomfort, just to prove that I can do it... especially if someone has insisted I can't! Even if I'm hating every minute of it I will complete the task, and well!

Ah there is nothing more infuriating - and at the at the same token more inspiring!
( I should actually thank the perpetrator come to think of it.. hmmm another time!)
I'm quite perverse in that sense (Thanks dad) ... but I think its in my nature too, being a fire sign and all that mumbo jumbo. I hate losing.

Its lately though. 2008 started out as one of the worst years.. no honestly.. the worst years of my entire life! Everything that could go wrong - went wrong! And then all of a sudden I seized the reigns of the run away horse and took firm control of our direction and speed and final destination. Wow what an awesome feeling! Because even though I may be completely lost. I am certain of my drive and of my ability to succeed when I get there.

My life has been filled to the brim with the most beautiful people, some from the past and some very new faces and they are all in some way part of this incredible adventure I find myself embarking on. They are the web of hands and hearts that hold me up and bind me together.

I smile a lot. And I cry. But mostly I'm just happy.

Summer........... or not?

I am so tired of teetering on the edge of summer... There is this constant: "Are we there yet?" dancing about on the tip of my tongue every time a cloud passes over and reveals the shimmering glory that is the sun!

I admit I love the whole winter vibe the season has had rainy DVD night's, dinners with friends, fire's, hot chocolate, forest walks... chunky sweaters and fabulous boots, wellies, layers and layers of gorgeous rich fabrics and textures... while still being small and shapely enough to allow you to be feminine... we are not talking duffel coats here OK! Although there have been some points when I could well have run for the cupboard to grab just about anything in the plight to be warm- OK bar that strange grey thing lurking about in the back!! ( Its not mine - I swear!)

But enough now! I don't want any of it! Can you imagine how suffocated our bodies are feeling? At least our heads remain high, un clad, still able to suckle in the sweetness of the fresh (admittedly very fresh) air!
But its September now for heavens sake... I think we should appeal to mother nature in an urgent cry for: LESS IS MORE!

I long for the sandy dishevelled, sun kissed look one sports all summer long ( well except for those guys in the IT dept: Dr Kern's tan can- hello??)
But alas it looks like the only thing she's sending our way are extreme weather conditions, tsunami's, Gail force winds, white squalls, floods and anything else that could potentially take us out without to much warning.. talk about bad PMS on her part! Now I know how guys feel!

"Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn!"

uh.. herm...(Later on we will hold hands and pray for this thing called "summer") ... um... no!?!?