Not a blogger

It has come to my attention that in fact I am not a craft blogger. Not a very good one at least. I love reading other people's blogs, drooling over their creations and getting inspired by all the loveliness of what they create ... but me ... alas, I don't do nearly enough crafting to have an inspiring blog. A lot of what I do is either for selling, so lots of repetition (read boring), or for magazine work which I cannot share anyway. We are also redecorating our house, which takes up way too much valuable crafting time.

Wish I wasn't so lazy and had heaps of time and energy to do it all, the house, the crafting, the family, the domestic goddess thing ...

I am not throwing the towel in just yet ... but I am not sure this is really my thing. I have another blog for family and friends, and that is about as much as I can keep up with.

We'll see....

... but for now, I am going to share some more South Africa photos. If you don't do holiday photos, shut down ... quick.

So this holiday we went to Graaff Reinet for a week to visit my brother-in-law and his family who live there. Graaff Reinet is one of those quaint little towns in the middle of nowhere, in the heart of the Karoo, a semi desert that goes on forever, or so it feels when you are driving through, trust me. It rminds me of those western movies with the tumbleweeds, dust blowing all over the place and cactus plants looming large over the landscape.

Just gorgeous.

My brother-in-law also owns a little farm just outside of the town.

This is what it doesn't have:
- Electricity,
- Running water on tap (there is plumbing, but water has to come from the borehole and water tank and is not drinkable)
-TV ... as a result of the no electricity thing of course
- Any mod cons (you take your pick, there are none of those)

BUT, this is what it does have:
- Loads of charm, with the most rustic little house you could ever wish for

-A house with a stoep (an afrikaans word meaning veranda). And not just any old stoep, but a pure lazy, you can sit here all day and do nothing kind of stoep.

- And then there is the view from the stoep ... sheer nothingness for as far as the eye can see. If you want to get away from civilization, well then this is your place. Just blissfull.

- And if that is not enough, we also have worms, lovingly known as shongololo's, every kids dream and a throw back to my youth, we used to love playing with these little mini beast.

- And if you are still not in the country mood, how about a quad bike ride with your daddy ....

Oh, and I nearly forgot, if quad bikes aren't your thing we also have puppies that fall asleep on your lap.

Stress .... nah ah ... no stress here. I could have stayed a week, but we only went for the afternoon. An afternoon of getting dirty and dusty, doing nothing, and being in nature with no distractions, no shopping malls, no post delivered to your door, no computers .... holiday bliss.

I say that though, but living out here can have its down side too, there is not a lot to do, and not a lot to do it with. If you are the kind of person that needs more, well then this place will drive you stark raving mad, as it did Helen Martins

Just a stone throw away from our rustic little farm is a place called Nieu Bethesda, and that is where you will find the home of Helen Martins. A woman who could no longer stand her drab surroundings and her life and started sculpting with whatever materials she could lay her hands on, mostly concrete and glass. When that creative urge strikes, well, what's a girl gonna do. Crush glass and cover you walls with it of course. She died in 1941 but her weird little house is still a big tourist attraction.

It is impossible to capture on film just how surreal this place is. The walls and ceilings (the sun above) are covered in crushed coloured glass, there is no nook or cranny that is not decorated or adorned with some sort of weird ornament or large eyed owl sculpture. The garden is filled with camels and ladies and a strange nativity scene ... it is just bizarre, creative, but bizarre.