Stuff and nonsense

FOR DEBS

2010-12-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

Before I left Africa

I scattered your ashes in a wild garden on the kopje.

A wind sprang up and carried part of you over the tall pink grass

and the thorn tree, where the hoopoe

sang farewell in sad, descending notes.

The rain formed swift rivulets across the garden

and floated part of you down to the silver ribbon of river

that lies between the mood-blue highveld hills.

I gathered wet ash and soil

and formed it into a mud-red bead,

glistening with tears – God’s and mine –

intending to take you with me wherever I went,

But I left that part of you on a grave-grey stone where the dove sits,

and took all of you away in my heart.

THE RAPE OF AFRICA

2010-10-12T01:55:00.000-07:00

A friend send me an email today that was really disturbing. It showed beautiful pictures of Zimbabwe
wilderness areas...

alongside photographs of Chinese mining activity on farms that have been stolen and given to Chinese to exploit without mining permits or environmental investigations.

These pictures were taken from her email,so, unfortunately, I am not able to acknowledge the photographer, but this is what the message said:
SO DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE ALL THE RAW MATERIALS…..CHROME, IRON, ETC TO MAKE ALL THEIR STUFF – CELLPHONES, TV’S, IPODS, MICROWAVES, CARS, CAMPIING KIT, BIKE’S, ETC ETC COME ‘S FROM!!!!!
WELL HERE ARE THE BEAUTIFUL MOUNTAINS WHERE CLEAR WATERS RUN, WILDLIFE ROAMS, NATURE PREVAILS

WHERE ENDEMIC SPECIES GROW, SUCH AS ALOE ORTHOLOPHA AND EUPHORBIA WILDII……………AND ALL THIS COULD VERY SOON BE DESTROYED FOR THE ACCESS TO RAW MATERIALS BY THIS…

MORE ALLUVIAL CHROME MINING…..NO EIA, NO PROSPRECTING ORDERS, NO PERMITS….MINING ON STOLEN FARMS AND WILDERNESS AREA,

MINING COMPOUNDS LIKE THIS ON THE BOUNDARY OF THE WILDERNESS AREA COULD SPREAD TO OTHER AREAS, THE CHINESE HAVE CARTE BLANCHE ACCESS TO ANYWHERE AND ANY MINERALS………..COULD THE NEXT PLACE BE……………

THE WORLD FAMOUS WORLD HERITAGE MANA POOLS NATIONAL PARK…..???

IT VERY WELL COULD BE AS THE CHINESE HAVE POWER OVER Africa…………………………………BUT DON’T FEEL BAD WHEN YOU HAVE TO GET THE LATEST GADGET, PHONE, IPOD OR WHATEVER IS MADE IN AN ENVIRONEMENTALLY SENSITIVE CHINESE FACTORY…!!!!!!

IS THIS A RANT???? YES BECAUSE WE ARE WITNESSING FIRST HAND THE DESTRUCTION THAT THEY ARE DOING TO Zimbabwe AND WILL DO TO Africa WITH IMPUNITY…………………….FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

floating squares

2009-01-23T09:04:00.000-08:00

Of all Mundy's work, this is one of my favourite paintings. Wonderful colour and such fun. It is pure Mundy and always a delight to look at.

A lizard in the Kaffirboom Tree

2009-01-22T08:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while scanning old photographs of flowers and trees, I came across this one of a lizard on the bright blossoms of a Kaffirboom tree, which I now know as Erythrina Caffra, having looked it up. I had forgotten taking it, but was delighted once again to see the brilliance of these beautiful African flowers and the long-tailed lizard which braved our curiosity long enough for us to take this picture.

So that was yesterday's daily delight. Today it was watching a video of Professor Chomsky's 2005 lecture at Edinburgh University entitled “Illegal but Legitimate: a Dubious Doctrine for the Times”. It is available on the Web. Click here for details. Mundy was fixed on it until the final clapping died down. Chomsky is well worth seeing.

O man! Obama!

2009-01-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

Somebody called it 'America's Mandela moment' when Obama got the presidential vote and he inspires in people all over the world the same kind of hope and joy that Madiba did (and still does, though it is probably now more reverence and love in the latter case). The words used to describe Barack Obama are all 'presidentially' positive - emotional balance, temperamental maturity, an intellect of power, intuitive, realistic, pragmatic, a strategist. Andrew Sullivan in The Sunday Times put it neatly when he wrote 'Obama acts like a kind of antacid to the American stomach. He has walked through the churn of cultural and racial and religious polarisation and somehow calmed everyone down'.

My delight for the day is this woman, Camila Batmanghelidjh - no I don't either - who runs Kids Company, a London charity she founded in 1996. The charity helps 12000 boys and girls a year, most of whom arrive helpless and with multiple traumas.

Camila's style makes you smile. It's happy. She wears fabulous garments made from all kinds of stuff. In a colourful article in the Sunday Times magazine (from which this pic is taken) she described her gear 'The scarf was given, the sleeve fabric was from a charity shop, the tartan for my trousers was a tenner, and I used the rest for my gloves. The bracelet was from one of the kids, the turban is from a museum, the boots from a second-hand shop.

You can't help loving a woman like that! By the way, if anybody wants to discover more go to kidsco.org.uk. It's worth a visit.

Gaping Void

2009-01-19T07:11:00.000-08:00

Just discovered a wonderful blog...Hugh MacLeod's www.gapingvoid.com. Where have I been? It has inspired me to start a completely new blog to talk about this kind of wonderful chance discovery that can add laughter to life. His drawings are sheer delight and the philosophy underlying his message is much like Mundy's. Which is probably why I like them so much. He's bringing out a book in June called How to be Creative, which is bound to be a best-seller.

Every day should be discovery day, and gapingvoid is a fantastic first. See for yourself...