The day I realised I had become Zulu

Paul and I in our rural home in Msinga.

My first meeting with Johannesburg and South Africa was in April 1991. I was so taken that I left university to join the anti-apartheid movement. The following year, I met my husband Paul and the rest is, as they say, history.
We got married, I emigrated from Sweden, we had a son and a daughter. Johannesburg was my new home and the Langas my family. Still, during the first ten years or so, I was very "Swedish". Nothing much wrong with that, but in an "outside of Sweden situation", it got tiring to be the one who was on time, knew all the answers, who was always ready to sniff out a problem, and above all to be time efficient no matter what.
I thought that if I´m allowed to take charge of this and that, I can fix it in two hours (rather than in two days). I used to become extremely impatient when everything had to be discussed in length and everybody had to voice their opinions. It took forever and a day.
I was fiercely independent and ready to fight over a principle at any given moment. I thought it was backwards to never get into an argument with an elderly person and never to criticise anybody in public. How would anything ever change if one didn´t set the record straight? I wondered.
Then Africa embraced me and made me a better person - and I will for ever be grateful. Well, it´s still an ongoing process, or a work in progress if you like, but I have come to understand that time isn´t everything. Being human is. And, yes, conflicts can be solved without ugly confrontations. You can reach at least some sort of consensus if you are willing to talk (even if takes time) and show respect (even to your worst opponents). If you´re absolutely stuck, you can always do a "Madiba - Tutu" and argee to disagree.
I find it somewhat embarrasing that it took so long time for me to see the light, even though I don´t know exactly when it happened. But in 2013, 22 years after my first journey to Johannesburg, I was working with a seasoned Swedish journalist. He was under pressure and not very impressed with me. The last time we spoke, he shouted at me for a good five minutes. I didn´t say anything. I couldn´t. I was shell shocked. It wasn´t what he was saying, but the fact that he was shouting at:
1) A mother, and
2) Another man´s wife.
He hung up and I realised that he couldn´t care less. We were not on the same wave length. He was Swedish. And I was Zulu.

Chimps can ice-skate (why am I not surprised?)

Master of spread eagles.

Some of my most amazing meetings in Africa have been with chimpanzees. In my early journalist years, I didn´t have time for animals and national parks. But during a trip to Zimbabwe in 1997, I visited a zoological garden where I for the first time came face to face with a chimp.
His first care taker also happend to be there. The chimp hadn´t seen him for ten years. The reunion was remarkable. They were like two long lost friends. The chimp didn´t want to let go of him. I will never forget it.
I have since then been fortunate to meet with a handful of chimps. One filmed himself with my cell phone, one "brushed" my hair, checked my teeth and kissed me. I admit that I was a bit scared at first, but he was a real gentleman. (Fact #43: Chimps have soft hands.) I will never forget that either.
Intelligent, fun, emotional, strong and gentle. It does not surprise me a bit that they can ice-skate, too.
See video (from 1973) here.

Happy panda news!

Happy birthday sweet heart!

Jia-Jia, the oldest panda bear held in captivity in the world, has celebrated her 37th birthday (110 human years). I´ve seen her live in Hong Kong - and she´s absolutely beautiful. I was so taken I even forgot to take the obligatory selfie with her in the background.
When asked about the secret of reaching such a respectable age, Jia-Jia´s care takers answered that they love her lots and lots. I like their approach lots and lots.
And there are more good news: According to the WWF, the population of pandas in the wild has increased by 17 percent.

See more here!

The highlight of my life as a letter writer

In May 2013, I wrote a letter to Juliet Capulet (Verona, Italy), William Shakespear´s fictional character from the 1594 play "The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet".
The romantic snail mail organisation Juliet Club (Club di Giulietta), run by a group of lovely, underpaid secretaries, receive some 60.000 letters from all over the year every year. The amazing thing is that everyone gets a personal response. All 60.000!!
I had to write. The project included everything I love: Letters, history, love and litterature. I told the story of how I, a journalist student from Sweden, met a South African freedom fighter and political prisoner and fell in love.
I was not aware that there´s also an annual competition. Hence, it was a complete surprise when one of the secretaries contacted me with the news that I had won the award for the most beautiful letter in 2013. 
I, Paul and our youngest daughter Tholi attended the award ceremony in Verona on Valentine´s Day 2014. It was held in the House of Juliet on Via Capello, the 13th century building with the famous balcony where Shakespear is said to have imagined Juliet waiting for her Romeo.
It was pure magic and I would urge all lovers and snail mail fans to write to Juliet. The address is:
 

Club di Giulietta - Juliet Club

Corso Santa Anastasia 29

37121 Verona - Italy

 

Paul and I at the award ceremony.

My letter to Juliet.

Notes of event in my new Italian journal.

 

Tweety´s Great Adventure

The seed cup was a welcome-home-present.

This is Tweety, our 3-year old cockatiel. She´s hand-reared, very tame and extremely social. She can sing two song: "If you´re happy and you know it (clap your hands)" and Josh Groban´s "You raise me up".
On Saturday morning she vanished without a trace. She had been eating rye toast with me in the kitchen and then, gone. Just like that.
It´s not the first time Tweety goes missing. By now, she´s quite well-known in the neighbourhood. But she had always let us know her where-about with a special come-get-me-call.
The silence was plain eerie. We checked with the neighbours. No one had seen or heard anything. We put up posters. No response. By Sunday night, we were trying to come to terms with the fact that might have ended her days as cat food.
On Monday morning, I went to the local vet without much hope. The receptionist told me that she knew exactly where our bird was; Tweety was with Samantha. She had flewn/hopped into her garden a few blocks away from us on Saturday.
The receptionist gave me Samantha´s cell number. I called and called, but her phone was off. For some inexplicable reason, I pictured Samantha as a theatre nurse and concluded that she couldn´t keep her phone on during working hours.
I called after five, after seven and then after ten. Nothing. I couldn´t sleep. Our daughter Tholi had a sore tummy and Paul was driving up and down our street, hoping for a miracle.
Early on Tuesday morning, I phoned the vet and told the receptionist that she must have given me the wrong number. She looked in her directory and found another number. It belonged to Samantha´s ex-husband´s new wife. I called, apologised and explained. The new wife kindly gave me the correct number to Samantha (one digit was wrong).
I called Samantha for I don´t know what time. She didn´t pick up. I sent a message and she finally called back. Finally! Only that she no longer had Tweety. She had worried that her cat might have a go at Tweety whilst she was at work. She had subsequently given Tweety to Sue at Free Me, an excellent Johannesburg based organisation that rescues and rehabilitates indigenous animals.
"You should try and get hold of her as quickly as possible as Sue is looking for a new home for Tweety", Samantha advised.
I hope I thanked her. I was panicking. I called Free Me but as it was still early, Sue wasn´t in. I waited 20 minutes before I called again. I was asked to hold. When I heard a voice, I assumed it was Sue. It wasn´t. It was a young woman named Shannon.
I didn´t have time to chit-chat. I told Shannon that I must speak to Sue this very second as she might be about to give our Tweety to someone else.
It turned out that it was Shannon who was the care-taker of Tweety. She kept her at her farm where her seven dogs were surprised to hear a bird sing Josh Groban´s hit song. Shannon promised to bring Tweety the following day. I was to fetch her after eight.
On Wednesday morning, I was at Free Me at the crack of dawn. I was sitting in the parking lot when Shannon arrived with Tweety.
Tweety looked a bit tired, but jumped onto my shoulder and bent her head forward so I could scratch her neck.
I´m seriously grateful to everyone involved in this rather complicated rescue operation.Tweety is home. Tweety likes her new seed cup. All is well.
 

Epistolize, part II

“A letter should be regarded not merely as a medium for the communication of intelligence, but also as a work of art.”

In 1876, English Literature professor J. Willis Westlake wrote this rare, remarkable and delightful little book titled "How To Write Letters". It´s basically a  manual of correspondence, showing the correct structure, composition, punctuation, formalities, and more.
It´s charming and romantic, and I would give my left arm to have a first edition copy.

 Please don´t send me any cold, boring electronic messages today.

Word of the day

epistolize

verb (ih-pis-tl-ahyz)

to write a letter

Epistolizing in Paris, ca. 1890.

For the love of snail mail

I painted a panda on an old postcard (1904) and made it into a rather big note card (A5). Available here!
Send that letter today! 

Love, Tea, Book (What more could a girl ask for?)

I´m not much of a material girl, but I could not resist this, the Love Story Tea Book from Basilur. When I saw the exquisite, completely over-the-top metal tin, I was prepared to forget all that proverbial nonsense about not judging a book by its cover. I would buy it and love it, even if the tea didn´t come anywhere near the promise in the write-up:
"Be mesmerized with the eclectic blends of finest teas as you reminisce romantic unforgettable memories and fantasize many more years of love and romance."
To be precise, the blend consists of Sri Lankan black tea, Sencha green tea and natural almond flowers. It tastes quite wonderful, it really does. I´m thinking tea party where Romeo & Juliet meet Queen Victoria meets the last Russian Tsar meets Lebanese billionaire.  
I bought my tea book at Spur in Pineslopes, Johannesburg (R180 for 100g). It´s also available on line.

And the lucky winner...

... of the panda socks is Ruth Williams Pike of Johannesburg! Congratulations!

My daughter Tholi was the presider at the draw.

 

In White Man´s Country

"Better Now?" by Gerhardt.

We were on our way to a friend´s game reserve, situated on the banks of the Mokolo river in the Waterberg area. We took the N1 North from Johannesburg, off-ramped towards Modimolle and continued to the god forsaken town Vaalwater.
We needed to fill-up before we hit the gravel roads and stopped at the last garage, quite litterary the last out post before the bush.
The sun was covered by a dusty disc and outlined by a perfectly circular rainbow, I think it might be called a sun ring. My husband Paul wandered off to capture it on camera, our daughter bought an ice-cream and I was taking in the "social scenery". With us was our family friend and Guru Fezile, a Xhosa speaking vegan and Buddist who has spent four years in an Ashram in India.
Vaalwater is white man´s country. The clock has stopped here; It´s like time froze in 1984, a few days prior to the then Apartheid president PW Botha´s Rubicon speech where he promised/threatened that some changes were inescapable.
Then, out of the blue really, a man with piercing light blue eyes, donning a camouflage cap, threw a cup of coffee at us. My first thought was that he must have tripped and that it was an accident. But I only needed to take one look at his eyes to "get it". 
Fezile asked him what he was doing, and the he answered angrily that we were standing in the "wrong place". This, the wrong spot, most likely meant "standing together": A black man, a white woman and a brown child.
"So were do you want us to stand?" Fezile asked.
The man grabbed his shirt, fist hanging mid-air. My husband, who had picked-up on the commotions, were approaching. The man fled, jumped into his car and sped off.
This is how it is here. A black person who has the audacity to talk back will be beaten into to pulp. I feel immensely sorry for the poor African population in the countryside, conditioned to live like the 27th of April 1994 never happened.
I feel equally sorry for the little girl, standing in the front seat of the bakkie, waiting for her dad, the man with the light blue eyes and camouflage cap.  
As we were to leave, another white man walked past, whispering, without stopping that "that was so unecessary".
That´s bravey in a small, conservative town like Vaalwater. Talking to "the others" is enough to be branded a traitor. I would like to think that he´s a farmer. He had that tanned, wrinkled, leathery skin. And if so, that, my friend, is the sliver of hope of my story.

First Panda Give away!

Yay! It´s time for my first giveaway on my Rainbow blog. One lucky person will win a fabulous pair of cotton rich over the knee socks with panda bears (what else?). Size 4 - 7.
To enter simply write your name and a link or another way for me to contact you in the comment box below. Alternatively, like and share on Facebook. Anyone can particiapte, I ship worldwide. Don´t be shy!
The competion closes at midnight on Tuesday the 7th of April 2015. I will announce the winner right here on Thursday the 9th of April.
 

My little figure skater

My daughter Tholakele (7) is a figure skater. Earlier this month, she participated in her first competition, the Gauteng Provincials. She did well. But results aside, I´m just happy seeing her on the ice smiling. She loves skating and that´s all that matters.

Good luck kiss from mom.

Skate-on.

Spiral.

The end.

My life in a day

Why are you ignoring us? Pic by Big Art For Little Kids

I have been neglecting my pandas for a while. I´m trying to focus on getting back to full-time writing. I wish I needed less sleep. I wish could work 20 hours a day. I wish I didn´t start rubbing my eyes at 8pm.
Here are some things I try to/want to cram into my daily life:
1. Being a mom, always and forever.
2. Write more and better books.
3. Become a figure skating star in the age group +45.
4. Paint pandas.
5. Paint my children.
6. Paint Johannesburg, the absolutely fascinating city I live in.
7. Keep my 101 journals up-dated.
8. Crochet. Knit. Work with clay.
9. Read. And then read some more.
10. Loose 10 kg´s.
11.Take the dogs for walks, sing to the cockatiel, run with the hamster and - oh! - don´t let the bonsai tree die from drought.
12. Have cappuccinos with my dear friends.
13. Speak Zulu.
14. Blog.
15. Learn something new. Every day.
16. And lastly, but not the least, love my husband.

Minor things such as cleaning, I´ll do another day.

Everything will get better

It has been a while, but here it is: My latest card. One day things will get better. I promise.
Find it here.

Move Over Unicorns

It´s official: Pandas are the most magical creatures ever.

Photo: Buzzfed.

Read more here.

The most amazing panda portrait

Photo: Tim Flach.

London based photographer Tim Flach takes the most amazing animal portraits. I´m not sure how he manages to add the "human element" to his pictures, but I guess it has something to do with the light and the studio set-up. It´s like the panda is just about to ask for a cup of tea.
Tim Flach´s site

It´s some sort of miracle

I cannot sew, stitch or embroider to save my life. But I have made this panda bear from scratch. I swear. Actually, I made two: one for mom, one for me.
It´s some sort of miracle. I swear.

Existentialism

The last of 2014

My two last panda drawings of 2014:

It has been a good year. My daughter started grade one and my son went to university. I won an award for writing the most beautiful letter to Juliet and travelled to Verona to receive it. I finished and published my second children´s book. I opened my first ever internet shop on Etsy and a few of my drawings made it out of the darkness of my desk drawers.
Here´s to 2015. Let´s make it the best year yet. Thank you for all your kindness and support. It means more to me than words can say.