I subscribe on Facebook to GBAS – the Good Book Appreciation Society (GBAS.) It has 1000’s of members I believe. Readers post a photograph of the book they’re reading and their review on it. Invariably, there’s a lot of discussion in the comments. It’s a wonderfully engaging link in which I am easily distracted and I occasionally add my two cents worth.

A few weeks ago on GBAS there was a review on Lynn Joffe’s book ‘The Gospel According to Wanda B. Lazarus’. I read all the comments, all wonderful, and because it looked irresistible I added ‘I want, I need, I desire’. Blow me down with a feather, Lynn got hold off me via messenger and the book arrived at my home in Plettenberg Bay, from Johannesburg. A gift! A great big bold bountiful beautiful book.

I thanked Lynn via messenger and said how excited I was. She had mentioned something about Lilith in our previous messenger chats. I requested her kindle address and said I would send her a kindle edition of ‘In Praise of Lilith, Eve & the Serpent in the Garden of Eden & Other Stories’. She already had it. I wanted to gift her something in return so I said I would send her ‘Aging & Becoming ~ A Reflective Enquiry’ by Susan E. Schwartz & myself. I had no copies of my own I told her, but would buy author copies from Amazon though this would take time. Shipping etc…

Now, when I opened the box that arrived with Lynn’s book we were out on the balcony having a late lunch. Son Mike said he MAY have two paper back copies of Aging & Becoming in a box at his house. Blow me down with a feather, he DID. When I asked him how come, he said he keeps things in a safe place.

The Aging & Becoming book went off to Lynn a few days days later. I confess I wanted to add a few things to the bag, and I could have done, but didn’t. I would have added chocolate, yoghurt covered dates, some nuts, cookies and whatever else took my fancy. (No doubt my tendency towards being a Jewish/shiksa mother.) I did wrap the book in tissue paper and put it in a bubble envelope into the bag.

She sent me a photo of her with my book in hand (so lovely to see!) and requested I do the same with her book and to send to her to put on her timeline with my permission.

I am so enjoying her book. It is Wanda B. Lazarus’ freewheel romp through the ages.. ‘It is a furiously funny feminist take on the myth of the Wandering Jew’ (back cover). On the front cover, Stephen Fry (yes, THAT Stephen Fry) says ‘Just what the world needs now – a novel charged with music, energy, bounce, juice and joy.’

Something else wonderful happened. My son David & Jüte are pregnant! Family knew before they announced it on social media. They wanted to share the good news after the 12 week period had passed. The link below shows the video they made a few days ago. It’s worth watching to the end.

Jacob Zuma, ex president, was imprisoned some days ago by ruling of the Constitutional Court for contempt of court. This is not for all the other charges he is facing. Just for his blatant disregard for the law. This country has exploded since then, especially over the last few days. A few dozen trucks have been burned on the highways, blocking them. Motorists are being stoned. Across the country, looters have trashed shops and shopping malls, brazenly carrying out TV’s, washing machines, goods of all descriptions, either by hand, on their backs or heads, or in the shops’ trolleys. You name it, it’s been stolen. During the day, during the night. Much captured on video, faces clearly seen. Billows of smoke from shopping centres. Businesses destroyed. Complete and utter chaos. Sugar cane plantations set alight. Not enough police, in fact far too few.

This is the tipping point. I do not know what will happen henceforth. Communities are now barricading their own suburbs and neighbourhoods for fear of these marauding crowds. The president addressed the country last night on TV pleading for calm, and now as I write, the SA National Defence Force has purportedly been called in to support the police.

The photo below is one I took from my study yesterday afternoon. Hopefully some sort of sign that peace will reign.

Well, that’s the news from my side. Wimbledon’s been and gone, the Euro soccer also. The Tour de France still happening. Some good news among the not good news. Thank you for reading. I hope this finds you all well and safe.

May the centre hold.

I love this time of year when an imperceptible change of the seasons begin. I was driving to my pottery class this past Saturday morning, and couldn’t help but notice that all was in shade on the road just about all the way. (It’s about a 15 min drive.) I’ve noticed the long shadows all over town and on my walks these last weeks as the solstice has approached.

Although it’s winter here in the southern hemisphere, it hardly feels like it in Plettenberg Bay, in the southern part of South Africa. The days are warm and sunny, the nights are cold. We’ve lit a wood fire on a few occasions, or used the gas heater. I’m sure we’ll still get the bite. There’s been snow on the Drakensberg mountains in the last little while (on the eastern side). Up north in eg Johannesburg, they’ve felt the bite of winter. Real shiver me timbers stuff.

We’re in the third wave of Covid. Some places in South Africa have been hard hit with the rapid uptick of it. Colds and flu are normal for this time of year, but along with Covid, things are not good. This government has been very slack in providing vaccines, much due to corruption, including our Minister of Health, so help me G-d. Many are not playing their part in social distancing, masking, sanitising. Unemployment is at an all time high, the population is frightened and angry, riots and protests are ongoing as is crime, GBV. We have restrictions in place, at the moment Level 3. I know many, family included, who’ve had Covid, and a few friends and acquaintances who have sadly died.

From tomorrow we’ll be in our 3rd week of painting the interior of the house. Last week the painters couldn’t come for 2 days because of riots and the blocking of the national road preventing MANY from getting to their place of work in Plettenberg Bay. There are no curtains in the house as they’ve been taken down. Thankfully, we are not woken in the early hours from sunlight streaming in. I can’t use my study, everything’s covered up. Hopefully, all will be completed by the end of the month – and then it’s July! I swear this year is going faster than previous years.

I asked Mike and Neil on our walk – does the sun rise in the east and set in the west. They looked at me as if I was crazy. Of course they said, surely you know that. I said no, the sun doesn’t rise and set, the earth moves. As the earth continues its tilting, I wish you Solstice blessings in the northern and southern hemispheres and fruitful changes.

Margaret Attwood: “This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath”.

Thank you for reading. May the Force be with you.

Days are becoming longer, nights shorter in the northern hemisphere, the official start of Spring; shorter days longer nights here in the summer hemisphere. So easily noted by the lengthening shadows earlier in the evening, sunrise dawning later and the leaves turning golden …

How quickly everything happens – we arrived in Johannesburg last evening from Plettenberg Bay (about 1300 kms away) after overnighting at our favourite place in the Karoo.

My friend Nicki travelled by car with us up to the highveld (2000 mtrs asl). She’d flown down to Plett from Johannesburg just over a week ago to come and stay. I fetched her from the airport and we stopped in at a nursery for coffee and where there is a labyrinth, which we both walked.

It was wonderful to show her how and where I live and take her to the places I like to visit and to see everything with new eyes. She was the easiest guest. I reckon her gift to us and to me especially is that I felt comfortable with her, I was just myself, peculiarities and all, which she took in her easy-going stride –

On another day, we went to Bramon Estate, the venue where my son David and his wife were married 5 years ago on her 25th birthday, on 19th March. (Jüte turned 30 yesterday; they are celebrating both events at a very fancy game lodge in the Sabi Sand over this weekend. I will TRY to put up a little video they sent me of one of their game drives). But Nicki and I stopped in at Bramon and had a glass of Bramon bubbly in their honour!

I mentioned earlier in this post that we stopped over last night in the Karoo to break the long car journey. It’s the loveliest place, a working sheep farm in Springfontein. Delicious Karoo lamb for dinner. Those stars were so bright, as was the newish moon. Orion’s Belt and the Southern Cross were practically pumping in their brightness. My husband saw a shooting star as I as was looking the other way. Lucky fish!

We’re staying in our ‘old’ townhouse in Morningside Johannesburg which Dave and Jüte are now living in! They’ll be back tomorrow from the bush. My husband leaves from here tomorrow to go the Drakensberg for an annual golf tournament. Dave & Jüte fly down to Cape Town on Tuesday, my husband back from golf on Wednesday and the plan is for us to leave on Thursday for a private game farm up country. No sooner are we back from this, it will be time to return to Plettenberg Bay with the car loaded with ‘stuff’ that Dave & Jüte want removed. It’s all a little too hectic for me, especially as I write this on the Equinox which is always a reminder of the necessary pause for balance as the seasons change.

Roses picked from townhouse this afternoon – they speak the language of all seasons –

Thank you for reading. I hope this finds you all well. May the Force be with you all.

I do not know why I’ve never noticed this before. My husband bought it some while ago, and since he usually loads the fancy washing machine with all it bells, knobs and whistles, the message in the bottle passed me by.

A very nice organic, locally made moisturiser, affordable. I like it, but why o why anti-aging?

How this fell into my lap the other day I do not know – photo below – I barely remember my 21st. What I do recall is that my mother attended – she had left the ‘family home’ a few months before to live up in Johannesburg, leaving me and my father in Somerset West, in the western cape – about 20 kms from Cape Town. But, she flew down to attend this formal occasion. If I TRY to remember about it, I was probably overcome that my parents were together. It was several months after my 21st that my mother agreed to return home and work things out with my father. On condition that the house was sparkling clean on her return. I’ve never worked so hard in my life. But as soon as I could, I left them to themselves. One day I’ll tell the story in a blog post. I wrote about it in my first book, in an essay entitled “The Opposites”. They were so opposite to each other in all ways …

Time flies. Every day a new day. Life in Plettenberg Bay is beginning to feel more settled for me. My husband is mostly in golf heaven, does Pilates (I think) with his NBF early mornings once or twice a week and goes for coffee and swimming in the sea afterwards. Also gets out and about with NBF on their bicycles in the early mornings, coffee and swimming afterwards.

I’ve had a few swims in the sea … it was two weeks back that the beaches were UNbanned. Such bliss, that sea … of course I get tumbled this way and that – my ways of catching the wave are unique. I must get the body board out and play some more (pretend I’m 10 years younger).

Our art classes re-started at the beginning of February so that’s a real plus. We looked at Miró a week or so back and somehow this style is helpful to me in sketching my dreams –

And pottery is my new love. Very new for me. I wonder if it will become a passion. Creating beautiful objects. I’m very excited to see how my current ‘piece’ will turn out. It’s drying as we speak at the pottery studio. I like my teacher. We wear masks … not so wonderful …

I’ve made one or two friends. I’m not sure any of them enjoy walking, one has a heart problem, the other a tricky hip. The other I don’t know well at all. I like them all. Two are recently widowed. A very good friend of mine does such a lot of travelling, she’s hardly ever here but when she is, we go on long beach walks .. (longer than I would on my own).

My younger son Dave and his wife left Cape Town about two weeks ago and are now in our townhouse in Johannesburg. He sent me this photo while driving through the Karoo.

and awaiting them was a very lush garden. Johannesburg and surrounds have had so much rain in the last few weeks … he sent me this photo –

To keep on topic of aging – is this a dinosaur tree? My husband and I went walking the other evening and took a different route. I’ve seen this tree before quite a long time ago …

On another walk a few days ago we saw this tortoise behind a fence at the nature conservancy down the road from us. I suspect s/he is an oldie – check out its beautiful markings …

The other evening I listened to a podcast in which Laura London of Jung Speaking interviewed Dr James Hollis, Jungian Analyst of his latest book “Prisms’. It was a delight to listen to. He will be 81 this year. He said in the interview that he’s been repeatedly asked to write or lecture on old age, and of course in his books he touches on it, but in the interview he said he’s too busy living and working, learning and loving to worry too much about aging in spite of being on treatment for cancer.

I had to smile inwardly at that. Such a great attitude.

I like this quote from him as it pertains to a widening of the lens as we grow older: ‘Our experience subtly alters, even distorts, the lens through which we see the world, and the choices we make are based on that altered vision’. From: Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life

Another photo or two – the hydrangeas from my son Mike’s garden here in Plett, and the yellow rose from my friend’s garden.

I honestly feel that the best is yet to come, in spite of all the hardships that the virus has brought in its wake. Things are extremely tricky on all fronts here in South Africa. It’s quite lawless, the law and the constitutional court is being shown the middle finger by those in positions of power. Most days, Dorothy Parker’s words come to mind ”What fresh hell is this?” What else is there to do but hope? And pray. Remaining realistic at the same time even if it doesn’t look good. I am not optimistic about the future of this country, very sad to say.

Nevertheless, and this is hopeful for me: there seems to be more of a receptivity of feminine energies being recognised and incorporated into the masculine ones, each to the benefit of the other. The patriarchal reign has been a long one, at the expense of the wisdom of the feminine. Repressed, these energies are now flowering all over. Women’s voices are being heard at last, and women who did not know they had a voice are finding that they do.

Last photo taken yesterday, a walk on the beach, son Mike and the 2 oldies –

A long post I know … thank you for reading. I hope this finds you well. May the Force be with you.

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted anything. I was in Cape Town to see my sister mid-October. I saw a few friends, somewhat curtailed on account of bad flu (was concerned it might have been covid) right in the middle of my 12 day stay. But it was lovely. My sister looked after me so well, chicken broth, just like our mother used to make it. I have to post a photo of Table Mountain which I took while there – an unusual view of it from Rondebosch when I went walking –

We drove up to Johannesburg from Plettenberg Bay at the end of November overnighting in the Karoo to break the trip. We usually stay at the same place, a working farm. It’s the first time we’ve stayed there at the end of November; usually it’s February or June/July/August. All was so green.

The purpose of the Plett-Johannesburg trip was two-fold. One, our corporate rental had come to an end, so we had to consider what to do about the townhouse. The second reason was to see a few medical specialists, all now done and all in order. The amazing thing is that my son David who lives in Cape Town with my daughter-in-law Jüte, both want to come and live here! So they’ll move in at the end of January probably! David was here for several days while we were here – 3 gigs inter alia – and fell in love with the townhouse all over again. Photo below is from my Johannesburg study. I suspect David will turn the study into his studio – and Jüte will make a name for herself as a highly qualified chef, as she already has in Cape Town.

garden lhs, cut roses on rhs which I gave to a friend in the complex

We’ve seen friends and it’s been wonderful to catch up. Neil has golfed his heart out. The other day someone came up to his group who were having a beer on the verandah of the golf course, holding out a hat and saying that he’s collecting money to pay for an airticket for Neil to fly back to Plett asap. Enough already for winning so many matches –

I’m looking forward to our return to Plett tomorrow. This time we’ll leave in the early hours and go all the way through. It’s been a good 3 weeks up here on the highveld.

Last Sunday we went to the Wilds Nature Reserve with a friend. Oh it was lovely to walk along this recently restored special nature spot in the middle of Johannesburg. For many years it had been a crime hotspot.

Unbelievably, irrationally, inexcusably, the president and his council have imposed lockdowns on certain beaches including Plett! For the festive season! We are reeling from this – yes, it’s true that covid appears to be in a 2nd wave and most of us agree with some of the measures (gatherings like funerals). But beaches? It’s true that some beaches get overcrowded especially on public holidays but not in the western cape. There’s a big outcry about this. Not only because of the potential effect on businesses, restaurants, but just the sheer awfulness of denying us the pleasure of walking on beaches while wearing masks, keeping social distance etc … It’s true that there are many other lovely things to do in my neck of the woods. Before we left to come up to Jo’burg, Neil and I went to Nature’s Valley, some way away (30 kms or so) and did a lovely hike after we’d had a delicious lunch with the most magnificent view of the crashing waves right in front of us. Urgent applications to the High Court are being made for the government to relax the ban on beaches …

Solstice

It’s a few days until the solstice on Monday 21st December where we will have the longest day and shortest night, and vice versa in the northern hemisphere. I hear that this solstice is particularly eventful and rare. Jupiter and Saturn will be so close together that they form a star, now being hailed as the coming of the Star of Bethlehem.

What a year 2020 has been. May the end of it give us 2020 vision where we see more clearly a 2020 (perfect) vision for a better world, a safer more peaceful one. It is said that healing begins only after the trauma … so it may be a while yet. But with hope in our hearts and a desire for a better world coupled with the ability to make it happen, it is very possible.

To you all, a blessed Christmas and New Year. It’s been a tough year for many of us. I don’t have to enumerate the sadnesses and difficulties we’ve all experienced in one way or another. May you be well and stay well. Thank you all for your support to my blog, I appreciate it more than you could know. My love and good wishes to you all –

I had the pleasure of interviewing Jean Raffa the other day via Zoom on her new book “The Soul’s Twins ~ Emancipate your Feminine & Masculine Archetypes”. The video is below, and runs for 45 mins. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Jean’s biographical details are below, and also included is the trailer to her launch of her book. The music is lovely as is the content and the graphics. The trailer runs for 7 mins.

Dr. Jean Raffa is an author, speaker, and leader of workshops and dream groups. Formerly a television producer and college professor, Jean changed directions in mid-life to write about her passions:  Jungian psychology, empowering the feminine in all of us, and psychological and spiritual growth.  Her books—The Bridge to Wholeness: A Feminine Alternative to the Hero Myth, and Dream Theatres of the Soul: Empowering the Feminine Through Jungian Dreamwork—have been used in university classes and dreamwork courses throughout the country. Her book, Healing the Sacred Divide: Making Peace with Ourselves, Each Other, and the World, received the 2013 Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council.

Her newest book, The Soul’s Twins, is about how to create partnership between femininity and masculinity within yourself and in your relationships. It will be launched in November of 2020.

You can find more information about Jean at her website and blog, http://www.jeanbenedictraffa.com, on her Facebook author page:  https://www.facebook.com/jeanraffa. She can be contacted at jeanraffaauthor@gmail.com

Thank you for listening and reading. I hope this finds you all well and safe. Happy All Souls’ Day. May the Force be with you..