I know posts are slow at the moment. Bear with me if you will. I am frantically preparing goodies for the store before the holiday season completely passes me by. I also find myself neurotically and irresolutely changing the store's name and logo...but I think this may just be a form of eternal procrastination. Your advice might come in handy here. These are the two names I'm struggling over:
'SourMilk and Cream' or 'The Empty Jam Jar' ??
I'm leaning towards the latter...anybody have any suggestions?
Also I have had a frantic comment (or two) from my sister asking me to explain the process by which I make these little bits and bobs. So I thought I might actually do this in a blog in case there were others who might also like a little clarification.
All the images that I have in the store whether printed on the greeting cards or on the T-shirts, Shoes, Aprons or postage stamps are original images that I have designed and painted myself. While they are computer generated images, no photographs have been used at any point in creation of these images. They are all 'hand-painted' using what is known as a Wacom Tablet and a Stylus Pen. It is an amazing tool that is meant to simulate, using particular graphic software, the real-life paintbrush. Obviously it does not, but it does create pretty realistic images nevertheless. I am still a novice but am learning as fast as I can and am having a ton of fun while I am at it. Do I miss the smell of turpentine and the constant sticky mess of oil paint in my hair, in my eyebrows, on every piece of black clothing I own - not one bit!
Anyway, here are a few more bits and bobs that I managed to put in the shop over the weekend.
Like most of us in this turbulent financial climate, the Frank and I had to force ourselves to sit down a couple of days ago and crunch some numbers. Of course things are not looking very good but then, they never really did.
Somehow we have always managed to survive. A bit of spit here, a polish there and it all works out in the end.
Try as I might however, I just cannot seem to turn writing blogs and playing with a rambunctious kitten into an extra $700 a month. So I'm forced to shamelessly punt my creative endeavors ...
I am often called upon to stand in as my husband's secretary/business assistant/accountant and general 'do-all'. This was the case yesterday when, mid-blog,' I received a rather harried phone call requesting my services at the office. Without hesitation I threw off my 'Super-Slob' writer's garb, donned my 'Super-Woman' heels and headed for the corporate concrete.
As I was shooting out the door I remembered that I had neglected to close down my computer and save my blog. Knowing how Mo loves to help, I yelled out that she might spend the day mulling over what I should write on next. Little did I know that she would attempt to write the blog herself!
Thankfully her attention span is similar to mine and it takes little it seems to distract her...
otherwise who knows what you may have been reading about right now!
And lastly, it appears that I am not the only one who needs to take a jolly good nap after writing a good blog.
Today America celebrates Veterans Day. Unfortunately, for many, other than increased air traffic, the day unfolds like any other without a moment's thought for its intended significance. For those millions who have served in the military, fought or lost family to the service its attributive honor seems a little paltry. Well, to my mind at least.
War, together with its emotional and physical conditions, has always been a subject of enormous interest for me, especially World War II. My interest was first piqued when I spent a year in Israel. Still a young fledgling fresh from a rather isolated nest (my country of origin being the then sanctioned South Africa) I was overwhelmed by the real-life holocaust survivors working alongside me at the Kibbutz (where I was on a working vacation). Needless to say it is an immediately sobering moment when you're reaching down to plug a motorized milking teat to the utter of a lowing cow and suddenly spot that identifying blue tattoo. In a single moment the world can seem all out of place and out of time. But then Israel is one of those mystical places where the past and the present converge with a little of your future thrown into the mix.
When Israel finally spat me out I went home and obsessively studied up on the War, the Germans, The Nazi's and the 'Holocaust' and wallowed in all the dreadful things that humans do to one another.
Now, when I first arrived in my new home country, the first thing I did was watch documentary after documentary about the good ol' US of A. Many I don't remember and many I turned off half way through but there was one series that I immediately went out and bought and bought again, gift wrapped and sent to everybody that I knew. This was'A Band of Brothers' written by Stephen Ambrose detailing the experiences of E Company, (of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, United States Army 101st Airborne Division) from their basic training (at Toccoa, Georgia) through the American Airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Market Garden, The Battle of Bastogne and on to the end of the War. What I found so intriguing about this series, was not its depiction of the events of 'history', or its re-depiction if you will but instead, its attempt to portray the sheer breadth of human experience, emotional and physical, that war elicits from a human being. The depths into which a human being is expected to delve into their soul and the bravery this evinces. It leaves me at such a loss for words.
I live two apartment buildings down from an Assisted Living Facility. Every morning when I stagger out my front door, blind with sleep and dragging the lame dog behind me for her pee, I see an old gentleman dressed in what I have been told is the Old American Style, walking at a brisk clip up and down the road. Never past the corner; just one lap, but with such regularity that I time my mornings by his jaunt. Dressed in the same immaculate trousers and cardigan at 6.30am every morning he passes me silently.
Everyday I look into his blank face and wonder about the things he has seen and the silence in his eyes. I thank him quietly everyday for who he is and what he has done; for he is a war veteran. He spoke to me once, on Memorial day in fact, and told me about his service but he struggled with his emotions and in the recounting of details that appeared to be still too painful to relay - after all this time! He was never able to marry it seems and is still a bachelor at 80 years old.
So yes, I thank him quietly each day for the sacrifices he made in his life, so that I can live mine the way that I do. I wonder often how many other gentlemen just like him are still out there. An even more sobering thought....how many of today's youths?
And, whilst on the topic of veteran's - the world lost a veteran of another kind yesterday.Miriam Makeba, a world renowned champion of peace and a South African icon died yesterday after collapsing on stage. This laudable lady certainly qualifies as a veteran to be celebrated, honored and respected in my book.
What a sad sad day for the world.....
...Still moving those hips right till the very end....
Well its late Sunday evening and my eyelids are positively drooping while I sit here at the computer but I felt that, as I haven't written a blog in a while, I really should just scribble down a few words. I am hoping that many of you have made the switch from Wordpress already? What do you think of the new Blog-space? Please, all input is much appreciated. All is still very much in flux and changes happen every day so put your word in while you can!
On the subject of putting together new things and in the spirit of creating and making, I have opened a 'Zazzle store' called 'SourMilk and Cream'. This is just an interim measure and is rudimentary to say the least but, until I have the patience and where-with-all to tackle the html/css code required to put my own little shop together it shall have to suffice. To take a look at some of the goodies I have for sale there, just click on the image in the left hand side bar or click on the tab that says 'My Store' on the Navigation Bar at the top of the page - pretty simple.
I also have an aStore in the works where you can read reviews I have written on books I have read and recommend, am currently reading or simply old favorites. I would love you to take a look around there.
And that my friends is about it for tonight! I have a very fast asleep kitten on my lap who every so often yawns fish breath in my face and looks at me as if to say; "Are we going to bed yet?"
Post-election night USA. All is quiet. Everyone is spent from celebrating (or drowning their sorrows) and the Obama girls are playing with their new puppy I believe. But in order that I do not vomit my political vitriol across the page at whomever is unlucky enough to have stumbled across this blog, I have decided that I shall talk some more on the magic of Halloween.
Now I know how un-traditional and very against the rules that is. Once a holiday is over here in the USA, it is sharply packed up, every bauble and bob neatly packaged and stashed away until it is time to be unwrapped and displayed again next year. Not being completely American however, I feel that I might have some lee-way here.
My extended thoughts on the holiday can be blamed really on a discarded bauble I tripped over when walking the dog this morning. Sodden, deformed and horribly forgotten among the fall leaves was a black witches' hat that looked so dejected the dog just had to pee on it. Now I understand why the 'holiday spirit' is packed away with such fervor. One has to preserve the magic.
I shall never forget my first Halloween here in the USA. For someone who sees the magical in all things on a day to day basis, my world simply exploded. It was as if I were attending the Zoo in Wonderland. Miniature lions crossing the road, tiny ladybugs skipping down the sidewalk, roly-poly pandas and a band of other fantastic creatures frolicking around the neighborhood. What could make an evening more perfect - well CANDY of course!!
Its been a busy weekend here at Oak Knoll. Friday was Halloween
which is an extraordinarily exciting time here in the USA. Over and
above the mountains of candy and ghouls and whispery white spider webs
and brilliant orange pumpkins that litter the neighborhoods as far as
the eye can see Halloween, it seems, signals the beginning of a very
long and homey holiday season.
Never having been a fan of Christmas I took very readily
to these new, deeply pagan festivities which the American people
celebrate with much pomp and ceremony each year. For someone who used
to dread holiday season more than a trip to the dentist I now find
myself partaking in the annual rituals with pleasure and anticipation.
Many will say that it must be that I have simply matured and settled
down since marrying but, I have to disagree and say that it is simply
the spirit of American society and the manner in which they celebrate
their holidays and festivals.
Of course commercialization is rife and were you to visit any of the
larger Malls or shopping centers the ’spirit of the season’ being - the
more gifts you give and money you spend the better your holiday will be
is undoubtedly evident. Thankfully my lifestyle keeps me far from many
of those places as does the absence of any children.
Mostly Americans are particularly traditional when it comes to
celebrating holidays and I find it most interesting that in a
predominantly Christian society, the holidays held most sacred and
adhered to with particular traditional etiquette are ones that have
primarily pagan roots.
Perhaps this is why I can finally stomach the holiday season,
because celebrating means giving thanks for being together, for food on
the table and the gift of being together.
