Thanks to cousin Abraham-person-of-the-week

Thanks for planting laughter in my lounge last night.
My guests were so lovely, funny and a charming treasure.

Person of the week: Abraham Louw

Your mind sings like crystal-beads in the winter-sun: gently glittering the environment with wit, charm and humour.
Your generosity, your eloquence and your style ROCKS !

Now if only I could have a bigger table and a scullery: i could invite even more souls!

Talking about soul:
Rumi always pierces right into the mechanics of it.
Rumi makes my little clockwork, dials and levers swing with delight.

here is an excerpt from his poem"Zero Circle", translated by Coleman Barks

"When we have totally surrendered to that beauty,
We shall be a mighty kindness"


and with that,
sleep well.
m

journey

its a journey
its a journey
its a journey

the magic of the mountain

The Magic of the Mountain
Table Mountain
it brings to me
a rainbow
a wish
a glass of red wine
a sister
an evening
a grateful heart.

Live your Legend

Live your Legend, by Scott Dinsmore.

Now- firstly: a word like "Legend" stir images or feelings of BIG. POWERFUL. Grand.
And when I hear an American is involved I quietly exit.
Because then I only feel TIRED.

I don't know why their excited ranting and raving about a full life and a meaning life and an impactful life, just tires me.
I am of course a huge fan of anybody or anything inspiring me to live a meaningful life, I just don't believe that the sacred mission is something one needs to shout about.

True wisdom and inspiration usually approaches me gently and subtely. It does not have to compete on the glittery world stage of prestige and fulfilment.

It simply is.

My key is to find: who and what is my "true wisdom"
and stick to it, nurture it and grow it (or them or him or her)

But as I follow Scott's e-course I'll let you know what else he brings to light.
all the best, wispering love and grace into your ear, M

Today

Now what is a decent Monday without an unexpected swerve
of chaos from left field...?
My Monday stood proud and tall in its right context as crowning glory of
the "worst day of the week"

It towers over Tender-Tuesday and
Wimpish-Wednesday...
it thunders over Terrific- Thursday
and it roars in the background (its power and memory fading faster now)
and Fabulous Friday smiles seductively... it doesn't have to shout out its joy and relief..
it just sidles up to you, slings his hand around your waist and guides you to 5pm...
to release.
ahhh.. just THINKING about Friday makes my knees weak...
makes my heart miss a beat.

on that blissful topic: Love and Fridays....
Brene Brown (her blog can be found over here)



She has published a couple of books and this is what one reference said
about " The Gifts of Imperfection":

"In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown, Ph.D., a leading expert on shame, authenticity and belonging, shares what she's learned from a decade of research on the power of Wholehearted Living – a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness. "

Now firstly:
I like Brené's blog and I think she is superbly talented, full of wisdom and lives a courageous life full of mindfulness.
Secondly:
it strikes me that somebody should say that another person is "a leading expert on shame"
That sounds wrong and... well ... it makes me uncomfortable.

Then I wondered: if I had to pick up a life-badge "Maria is a leading expert on ..."
what would it say?
What would others think belongs on that badge?
Would I agree with that?

What badge would I pin on you?
night'night

beautiful post from This week's person ♥

Lynn Zavaro wrote this:
( read full text here )

• When something is ripe and ready, it will come to us as an insight, a direct “knowing,” as if from a higher place beyond the mind.

• What if I could let go?

• What if you could let go of the need to know it or discover it right now?

  This is not about resolving yourself or giving up on a dream. But when we drop the grasping and the need to have it, we give ourselves some room to breathe.

  Then we are freer to explore, to be inventive, and to create just for the pure sake of creating, without being attached to the dream having to come into form.

  With some spaciousness, we feel more relaxed, and more able to meet the present moment and enjoy the process.

  • What if I could feel safe in the unknown?

she also created " The Game of you "
talented lady!
Lynn is person of the week: fresh, bold and attentive.
m

all 'n all

Saturday: Quick Standard Bank admin- trip.
Sascha's baby shower ( pictures to follow )
Rust en Vrede Art Gallery & restaurant.
Good fun.

2-hour bubbly induced-nap
Then off to pick up Maggie's boots, myprodol for Blanche and then Heritage Sq for family-drinks.
We recently welcomed our Gauteng- cousin to Cape Town and this was the official "hi gorgeous".

Thanks Abraham for lovely night.

Sunday- 9am Stellenbosch croissant and 1 Wild Bean Coffee
10am Stellenbosch Gemeente.
Beautiful service by Andre Serfontein.
Tricky subject well-delivered.
Coffee with Ronel @ mug & Bean down the road.

Then back to Durbanville to pick up Luca (his baby brother, 9 month old Joshua was admitted to hospital with septicemia yesterday)

Luca, husband and I went to see Cars2... had Ninja- ice cream, then tackled "Club Penguin" at home on the computer.

frighteningly busy weekend.
but good.
cheers, M

song in my heart

My very first "person of the week" sent me this:
beautiful song by Mads Langer.

feel it-
enjoy it-
savour the bittersweet
here ( by Youtube )
♥

another track: Fact- Fiction
listen to it
here
♥

Tuesday's Terrific Tragedy

Tragedy... losing a dream

losing a promotion

losing a loved one

losing your favourite pen

I guess it is a function of how sensitive/ fragile / dramatic (?) you are...

What makes us define something as a tragedy.. .. and is the rest not just admin?

that is on my mind.

here is a poem I wrote to a dear friend.

_____________________________________________________

Ontdekking van ‘n oggend


Klein hoep-hoepie tinkel rond in die paadjie… loer hier
Loer daar
Wip stertjie wip

Sy staan stil— voel die briesie
Voel die dankbaarheid
Die klein borsie drink die oggend lug in en kyk rond of sy die koffie-kat sien

Nope- die wêreld is vir eers ‘n veilige plek.

m

kaboom

I had a Crash- boom- Bang- Kerpow day.... where an executive's ego and his fear translated into such fury that his personal assistant cried for 25 minutes ... and I could comfort her and remind her of her specific task & responsibility and that lumping tasks on her that falls outside of the scope of her delivery, is plain and simple: unfair and irrational.

Such is life hey: unfair and irrational.
Some people never smoked a cigarette, yet get sick and die, some people fall in love with married men, some people cannot resist chocolate even though the rolls of fat makes them ashamed and self conscious, some people have everything and is still ungrateful. Some people wants a baby so badly that they lose all joy and light in their eyes and the drug-addict falls pregnant for the 2nd time with an unwanted child.

Some people, no matter if you treat them kindly, they may erupt in abusive behaviour...
Such is life.


Evening Prayer:

Thank You Lord for hearing my prayer last night and bestowing on me a crown-of-calm today so that not even my heartbeat increased during the violent meeting. Thank You that I could be an instrument of healing and encouragement to somebody more fragile than me.

Thank you that the battle is won.
The dust has settled, we just have to claim Your territory.

Amen

starting over

Do you remember when you were little... and colouring in?
I have photos of me lying on my stomach in the lounge with my crayons/ pencils and a colouring- book. I sometimes wonder if I remember this or if the photos just depicts the scene so well that I THINK I recall it.

No matter.



You'd start on a page (neat and careful) and later on (perhaps accidentally going over a line) you lose patience/ focus with the picture and start drawing roughly and quickly and sooner or later all you can think of is the next (clean, new) picture waiting to be tackled.
or you started off well and then chose pink for the apple and suddenly nothing looks right and you wish you took green and all you want to do is turn the page and start a new project.

That is how I feel.

I just want to turn the page.

I wish I can figure out which crayon I took which caused this or where I crossed the line, so that I don't repeat it on the next page.

person of the week: Antoinette Lohmann

Baroque- genius on strings.
Antoinette Lohmann has such a sparkle.
really gifted musicians have that... a strength.
somehting that is learnt / grown during the long lonely hours of practising.
Honing your craft... a solitary road.. and then:
to perform Bach to a grateful audience.
The applause and smiles and gratitude is warming and provides comfort.

Well done Antoinette for pushing through: for being open to your (traveling) parents' musical influence and taking up the art of music-making.

Friday night: Green market Square was blessed with Baroque.

Music- Baroque

Perhaps the most celebrated aspect of the Baroque era was the grandiose style of music first introduced in Italy in the early seventeenth century and popularized by composers such as George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi.

While the church continued to support the musical arts, the Baroque age also produced a proliferation of secular music.

In addition, the period brought the introduction of such vocal forms as opera, oratorio, and cantata, as well as orchestral forms as the sonata, concerto, and overture.

As opera, in particular, became widespread in its popularity, the divas, virtuosos, and castrata of the age gained epic adoration from the masses.

what makes the world go round?

Friends make the world go round

Kylie forever

Aphrodite

awesome show
extravaganza
big
glitter
song
beat
rush
beauty
dancers
skin
feathers
breath-taking



Thanks Jeanne !
M
♪

From Wikipedia:

Aphrodite is the eleventh studio album by Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue. It was her first studio album in the three years following her 2007 release X.

Aphrodite was released worldwide in July 2010,^[1] and was preceded by the release of the lead single, "All the Lovers". The three (out of four) singles released from the album have all topped the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart, giving Minogue a total of six number one songs on the chart.^[2] Minogue has also made history on the chart, becoming the first act to claim two of the top three ranks in the tally's nearly 35-year history with "Better Than Today" and "Higher" with Taio Cruz.^[3]

Aphrodite has received mostly positive reviews from music critics upon its release, being frequently compared to Minogue's previous albums such as Light Years (2000) and Fever (2001).

The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, just as her debut album, Kylie, had done in the same week, 22 years previously. It was her fifth album to reach number one in the United Kingdom. This made Minogue the first, and the only, female recording artist in UK chart history to have a number one album in four consecutive decades, achieving this in the 1980s, 90s, 00s and 10s.

You amplify me

person of the week is Emily Post

person of the week:

Emily Post.

(She embodies all the fabulous and
creative bloggers I've come across in the last year)

"Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use."

—Emily Post

Tricia Huffman: Your Joyologist has this litle badge on her blog.

enjoy the day!
Maria

be rebellious

LOVE FIERCELY


enjoy the day!
M

money money money madness

pay cheque

chained to your office-chair
its tentacles seeping through your pores
Rand for Rand into your blood
now its slowly turning you green
jealous begets jealousy
wanting more wants more
corporate masochistic smacking
letting huge egos run riot
busting glass
crystal
shatters all that is
civil
in the name
of the salary


m

executive committee

executive boardroom

clawing through a grey-suited-heart
it was failing from the start
gagged with red tape
blood soaked tie around your neck
sickeningly smooth jargon
uneven playing deck

jealous minds groping at jealous money
egos interrupted by egos
muffled screams of the rape
of all that is pure, feminine, bright


maria

person of the week is Paul Papenfus

Paul left the Retail: Marketing and Product Development team on 30th of June 2011 to pursue other (actuarial) interests. AIDS Risk Consulting



His "farewell speech" was really unusual and impactful.
He is a free spirit (musically gifted, lover of nature and especially life below the blue surface) and he said this:

"You have more options than you think.
Just look at your life anew and be prepared to reevaluate certain things you previously deemed non-negotiable.
There are no great wars raging. The world is a big place.
You have more options than you think. "


and that made me think....

cheers all,

w♥nderful eternally Bright light

I read this on "kind over matter" blog:

DEAR YOU

you, the one reading these words
you, with your ancient, wanting heart
you, wondering if you'll ever
get it right

I invite you to pause
for a moment
and listen to the space
between
these words
to the space where softness
rests
and hunger
fades

to the space that so
gently
asks you to
stop
the thoughts
that doubt your worth
to stop the voices that compare
and leave you feeling
less

There is no less
there are no shadows or shoulds,
no pretty or good
no bad or broken, no right or wrong in
Love

There is only this breath
and that which breathes it
there is only You
and your giggling,
fully blossomed
Self

ready
ready right now
to shine
its newborn
ancient
just right
Light

Julia Fehrenbacher

poetry for a Friday

come away with me
by just sitting next to me
and sharing my thoughts
feeling my mood
resting on my wavelength
and it will
restore me
adequately
sufficiently
refresh me
as if I'd travelled to exotic countries and tasted
of its' dishes
and it will give me strength
to carry on
fighting
the good
fight
come away with me