Tag Archives: art

Visiting the Stanford Chelsea Flower Show

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On Friday, our guest and friend, Nicoline, took The Earl and me, to the quaint village of Stanford, the proud host a full-scale recreation of South Africa’s Gold Award-winning exhibit from the 2025 Royal Horticultural Society, Chelsea Flower Show, in London. Since the original display couldn’t be transported home, it was lovingly rebuilt for the Stanford “In Bloom Festival”, showcasing the Cape Floral Kingdom.

It was designed by Leon Kluge and Tristan Woudberg, and the exhibit featured over 25,000 stems of fynbos, a canyon of amber water, and a sculptural tribute to South Africa’s cultural heritage.

At the Chelsea Show in London, a sleeping wild fox was spotted curled up among the fynbos. The display’s water, tinted with rooibos tea, famous for its herbal virtues, might have tempted him to take a sip. If so, he might wonder if that is why his coat became so glossy.

Those footprints suggest he might just have been heading to the water for a drink!
AI Generated

There were also botanical artworks from the Grootbos Florilegium on display and one could purchase prints in various sizes. They were absolutely stunning, and the Florilegium was a delight to page through. While I was admiring it a man approached me and said he’d get one of the artists to sign me a copy.
“Thank you, but I’m not buying,” I replied.
“Why not?” he asked, “It’s only R 2000 for the full-sized book and R 800 for the smaller one.”
“Sorry, I’m just too poor,” I smiled.
He laughed. “I feel so sorry for you!”
He was, of course, teasing.
Nicoline has been coveting one, and it was with great effort that she stopped herself from indulging her wish.

Some of the prints
The Earl took a photo of this print with his cell phone,

The town was alive with scarecrow-like effigies as part Stanford’s annual ‘In Bloom Spring Festival’. They were displayed in front of shops, in gardens, and in public spaces, each handcrafted by local residents, including schoolchildren, families, businesses, and artists. A prize will be awarded to the best contributors at the end of the festival.

Nicoline shares a moment with one of Stanford’s effigies
The Earl and I having a chat with Oupa.
The Earl waits patiently as we are delayed by another stunning floral display,

On our journey back to Struisbaai, we made a delightful stop in Gansbaai to visit my friend, Belinda, who is curating a captivating art exhibition. Titled Dancing with the Universe, the show features an array of beautiful works—and I was especially taken with Belinda’s own contribution. It’s truly a piece that speaks to the soul. With her permission, I am publishing the video of the opening function.

Dancing with the Universe by Belinda Batt

As we headed home with a new protea tucked safely in the boot and a radiant yellow clivia gifted to us by Nicoline, our hearts felt just as full as our garden will soon be. The Stanford In Bloom Flower Show was a visual feast which left Nicoline, who is passionate about flowers, uplifted with joy and her enthusiasm certainly affected us profoundly.

Share Your World Monday 22 July 2024

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Here are my answers to this week’s SYW from sensitivity101

1.  When you retire (or when you retired) do you have a picture of a small cottage with a white picket fence outside in a quiet village or something similar?
I did not picture any such thing. Hubby retired nine months before I did at the age of 70. I had just turned 62 when I left my teaching post at the end of the school year. We still had a houseful of family and pets and were very busy with our clubs and social life. The plan was to stay where we were until we died. Never ever did I plan to move permanently to our holiday home in Struisbaai! But the idea of it became more and more attractive as the post-retirement months flew by. After six months we decided that living in that quiet and sleepy village was exactly what we wanted to do. If we didn’t like it we could always move back. We bought a caravan to spend more time in the bush and although we’re unsure if it was the best decision we made we have not regretted it. Nine years of Struisbaai, caravanning, and other travel have been blissful. We are still able to visit our family and friends frequently and when that changes we will deal with whatever becomes necessary.


2.  What do you associate with school dinners (apart from school of course) ?
In South Africa, we did not have school dinners. Every child had a lunchbox filled with whatever Mom decided to put in it. A lot of swapping went on. I was a picky eater. Sandwiches were dried out and inedible when break time came around. I preferred carrot sticks and polony. My mother gave us a cooked breakfast before school and I often did not eat my school lunch. School was over by 2:15 and I would have ‘lunch’ then.

3.   Can you play a musical instrument?
I took piano lessons for about a year when I was seven. At college, I learned to play a few tunes on the recorder. I can’t do either now.
My daughter learned piano and guitar. She is pretty good on a keyboard now.

4. What made you smile today?

When an American patron offered to take a photo of my hubby and me having lunch with my brother and sister-in-law, I handed her a ‘real’ camera and not a phone and she didn’t know how to use it.

However, once I showed her,  she took a pretty good photo.

Gratitude

I am grateful for my siblings

JusJoJan24 – Atrocious – 26 January 2024

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Today’s prompt word for JusJoJan is atrocious and comes from Jemima

I was hoping for a prompt word that would enable me to use an experience I had yesterday and today. It’s quite atrocious that I am manipulating the prompt so that I can write about this in today’s challenge. 

My daughter is visiting and working online and yesterday was just settling down to tackle the morning’s tasks when she spotted something atop the braai chimney! 

“Mom,” she yelled. ”Come quickly!” Dad was still reclining in bed while I was loading the washing machine. I knew it could only be a special bird that the daughter was yelling about so I dropped everything and grabbed the camera from its place on the workstation counter, and there staring straight at me was a beautiful spotted eagle-owl.

We have had this bird visitor our garden before and we have wished for it to return but it has been at least a year since last it graced us with its presence. So imagine our joy when it decided to stay for the whole day and only flew off in the evening to hunt for its dinner.

This morning she was back and she was not alone. A smaller owl was with her and was probably the male as he is usually a bit smaller.

During the day both were about but the female went while the male remained till dusk.

We have cats who visit every day and it was so amusing to observe how the owl reacted to Mike as he climbed over the wall. The owl considered that the cat was quite atrocious invading the garden that he had claimed as his own. The cat of course just totally ignored him but I wondered if like the owl and the pussy cat they might become friends! What an atrocious thought – they did not even try! The owl hissed at the cat and the cat stalked off to find smaller prey!

The owl also considered our birdbath a rather fun place to visit and enjoyed a nice long drink. 

We just hope these lovely creatures decide that our garden is a friendly place and that they will continue to make themselves at home here. We don’t think that will be too atrocious at all.