Person of the week: Dirk Louw

Yesterday was my 30th birthday celebration with family and close-friends.
(The actual Louis-Leipolt moment 3 decades ago, is 5th of Sept.)

The fine, no: exquisite hospitality and fine touch of Linda Coetzee at her Schoongezicht Guesthouse did not disappoint. Huge thanks to Linda and Abrie for their authentic
and true reception-style.

If ever you are in the area, go pop in and leave refreshed, inspired and full of zest.
More of my special day will follow.

Just a shout-out to my beautiful friend, engaged Danita Kruger who turned 30th yesterday.

All the blessings, fun and provision I pray for you.
Can't wait to see you soon under the most fantastic and divine of circumstances: tying the knot.





Off to Maggie's place in Vredehoek (yummy-sunshine on her porch) and a walk along the Seapoint promenade where the unreal-beautiful artwork of Marieke Prinsloo is exhibited.

As per usual: plenty of runners, cyclists,
pet-lovers ( walking their furry friends ) and ice-cream eating toddlers to be found on the promenade.
Sushi for lunch (Great idea Maggie!) I ate way too much (but that is a different story altogether about me getting confused about the half-price plates at the non-running sushi-belt, chaotic fun)



As it is Sunday-night it is time for the "person of the week" trophy to be passed on from Inge (first winner) to Chris to...

tarraaahhh ♪
♪

my dad!




receives this week's "person of the week" award for courage under fire
(the blazing war-zone of nursing your own business to adulthood) and the grace and strong Christian principles he is actively demonstrating.
He also wins because he is a great guy who cares A LOT and sets a fantastic example.

Thanks Dad!
ok bye all- have a super week.

let it go - the
smashed word broken
open vow or
the oath cracked length
wise - let it go it
was sworn to
go

let them go - the
truthful liars and
the false fair friends
and the boths and
neithers - you must let them go they
were born
to go

let all go - the
big small middling
tall bigger really
the biggest and all
things - let all go dear
so comes love

ee cummings

happiness is....

In the wave-strike over unquiet stones the brightness bursts and bears the rose and the ring of water contracts to a cluster to one drop of azure brine that falls. O magnolia radiance breaking in spume, magnetic voyager whose death flowers and returns, eternal, to being and nothingness: shattered brine, dazzling leap of the ocean. Merged, you and I, my love, seal the silence while the sea destroys its continual forms, collapses its turrets of wildness and whiteness, because in the weft of those unseen garments of headlong water, and perpetual sand, we bear the sole, relentless tenderness. Pablo Neruda

Carnal apple, Woman filled, burning moon, dark smell of seaweed, crush of mud and light, what secret knowledge is clasped between your pillars? What primal night does Man touch with his senses? Ay, Love is a journey through waters and stars, through suffocating air, sharp tempests of grain: Love is a war of lightning, and two bodies ruined by a single sweetness. Kiss by kiss I cover your tiny infinity, your margins, your rivers, your diminutive villages, and a genital fire, transformed by delight, slips through the narrow channels of blood to precipitate a nocturnal carnation, to be, and be nothing but light in the dark. Pablo Neruda

Vreeslike Vrydag

vreeslike Vrydag

jy bedrieg my met jou sonskyn-glimlag

donker wolkie

alleen

Dinsdag Drome

Die familie is baie opgewonde oor Tannie Bettie se 60ste.

sy verjaar 2 Sept en haar enigste dogter is aan't party in Lisbon en sal nie Klein Karoo toe kan kom nie. Kromkloof is nooit dieselfde sonder haar nie. (Plaas se naam)


So: dit is nou ons taak om hierdie onselfsugtige en dierbare verpleegster-vrou en mammie te bederf.

Hierdie is die plek-matjies wat ek gekoop het by "Loads of Living" en hoewel stedelike-tuisteskeppers mal sal wees hieroor het sekere vriende hul bedenkinge gelig....


vorm maar jou eie opinie.

"runner" wat is dit in Afrikaans?






verder maak ek my gereed vir 'n marathon-vergadering waarin sekere sleutel-besluite gemaak gaan word en ek kan aan NIKS oulik/ voortreflik/ innoverend dink om by te dra nie.
Dit lyk gewoonlik nie "great" nie, hulle verwag meer.
ai en al wat ek wil doen is my "twilight" boek lees (dankie Inge: loopbaan vooruitsigte gestrem!)

lekker oggend, Baai
Maria

sunday sweetness!

Perhaps not to be is to be without your being,
without your going, that cuts noon light
like a blue flower, without your passing
later through fog and stones,
without the torch you lift in your hand
that others may not see as golden,
that perhaps no one believed blossomed
the glowing origin of the rose,
without, in the end, your being, your coming
suddenly, inspiringly, to know my life,
blaze of the rose-tree, wheat of the breeze:
and it follows that I am, because you are:
it follows from ‘you are’, that I am, and we:
and, because of love, you will, I will,
We will, come to be.


Pablo Neruda

Sunday Sweetness

The great thing about a holiday is that it does not commence the moment
you switch off your computer.
No, it starts with the visits to the Visa-office, the trips to the mall to buy luggage and the grocery-store scouting for the smallest-toothpaste, hand-wipes, the travel-sized whatever.

And then to see a movie with a friend and some of the scenes
are "on location" to where you'll be heading. Awesome.

So: my holiday actually starts months ahead of the "boarding call" announcement.

and isn't it great; how when you are excited and inspired
it spills over to your world?

I'm more friendly to the beggar at the red light,
I'm graceful on the road (letting people in) and I'm all zen at work.
I recently saw "Inception" and thought about the power of the mind and the power of an idea.

Pity I can't fool myself into "believing" I'm going on holiday every few
months when the drab-reality and monotonous "task-ticking" of adult life gets you down...
June and July was like that: the darkest dark is just before sunrise.

Where even trying to break the monotony
feels like sad repetition.
Where the feeling seeps away and you're left with a half-soul, a half-tear and a deadening and infuriating feeling
of being trapped in a world which is of your own making...

Bliss to also look back at that now and have this grateful peace that we are over half of August already :)

Chris Swanepoel is person of the week

To:


you are definitely "person of the week" Man of the week.
It is not always the big things or the expensive things... but you being here.
Us having coffee together and planning together and watching memorable movies together, like the one arty film you got: My own love song (starring Renee Zellweger) Thank you.

The headboard and beautifully restored chair and yum breakfasts are just the cherry on top.
Thank you for understanding how important it is for me to experience London with you.






and I know, once you have your fancy-ass camera: you'll give this guy a go!
and thank you for being willing and patient enough to teach me about lenses, light and shutter speed.



Chris Court
amazing talent - Go Chris -

It's the weekend baby

check this out!

This online store has it all. The creators of Perfectly Basics have it down to a T. excuse the pun.


wow

wow

wow


go have a look!!!

Naweek vreugde- & Inge is "person of the week"

Ronel: hierdie is vir jou wat graag wou weet waarmee ek my Sondag besig gehou het.
Die naweek se "DIY" - ondertoon het reeds 'n rukkie terug begin met Chris wat een van my ma'le se ou stoele begin restoureer het. (Spelling!?)
Sien hier: klaarproduk. (Spyt natuurlik dat ek nie 'n "before" foto geneem het nie)





Die kopstuk vir die bed het toe momentum begin kry en alles is hierdie naweek klaargemaak.
Ek het tot 'n badkamer-rakkie gekry wat al stof begin gaar het op die
"Maria-wil-hê"- lys. "granted" die lys is lank :)


my nuwe kamer ( so voel dit ! )

Die vakansie gaan ons 2 babas ontmoet.
Een is Dylan Deicher ( Duiste baba ) wat einde Mei gebore is.
Dit is wat ek vir Dylan gemaak het.




Mia Katelyn is Vrydag 13de Augustus gebore in Engeland. Ek is nog besig met haar "babygrow"


Dan is daar nog die SA-babas wat ek nog nie gesien het : Inge Grobbelaar (nee Hanekom) se baba dogtertjie Nina.







Al hierdie opwinding natuurlik en die inspirasie glo ek kom van my nuwe energie/ emmertjie krag wat saam met die komende nuwe dekade afgelewer gaan word.











My gunsteling persoon van die week:
Dit gaan 'n nuwe instelling op die Swanepoel-Blog word.

Die treffende trofee gaan aan haar vir:
"the year of YES"
yes to life, yes to self-development and yes to FUN! Inge is my inspirasie.





ok maaitjies,lekker dag verder

tuesday

what a lovely Woman's Day.
Our visitor-visas were granted and ready for collection yesterday.
Heading to town, our thoughts wandered to the new & funky restaurants & nooks which we have not yet been to and my husband took me to Vanilla Restaurant in the trendy Cape Quarter.

Green Point.

The fun & colour and excitement did not end there, as we had a lunch-date with close friends at Seidelberg. What a stunning farm.
De Leuwen jagt is the restaurant's name and there are wine-tasting location and other facilities too.

Lunch turned out to be a long & drawn out pleasurable affair
Seidelberg Chenin Blanc... need I say more...

the consumption stopped at 7pm (in Durbanville) and I feel less than peachy today ...
but it was well worth-it.

Love, Maria