Camps Bay, South Africa

We are staying with Petar and Maria in Camps Bay in a lovely holiday suite which is attached to their home. It's a delightful part of Cape Town, west facing, enjoying the last of the sun's rays at the end of the day.  It's the month of January and the month the south easter rages. The noise is fearsome, and the whipping wind rarely lets up. It's simply part of the Cape Town scene and adds to the magic.

Untamed - an exhibition at Kirstenbosch

We were both surprised and delighted to view a most provocative exhibition at Kirstenbosch Gardens - Untamed.  Our photo shots of Dylan Lewis' sculptures, Ian McCallum's poetry, and Enrico Daffonchio's architecture paint the picture. We are spell-bound.

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"Whose permission are we waiting for to enter that 'uncertain ground'
where the voice of our wild history can be heard?
How long is it going to take to acknowledge that there is indeed a menagerie
within each of us... a wolf, a hyena, a lion...a wild man and a wild woman?"
Ian McCallum

A Dylan Lewis sculpture.

The Rising
One day your soul will call to you with a holy rage.
"Rise up!" it will say...
"Stand up inside your own skin."
Unmask your unlived life...feast on your animal heart.

Unfasten your fist...let loose the medicine in your own hand.
Show me the lines...I will show you the spoor of the ancestors.
Show me the creases...I will show you the way to water.
Show me the folds... I will show you the furrows for your healing.

"Look!" it will say...the line of life has four paths -
one with a mirror,
one with a mask,
one with a fist,
one with a heart.

One day, your soul will call to you with a holy rage.
Ian McCallum

Wildness has been confused with savagery. Wildness is hard wired. It is part of our essential survival and emotion charged expressions of territory, curiousity, nurturance, lust, rage, fear and play. To distance ourselves from, and worse, to deny our wild ancestry is to witness its return in all manner of savage outbursts.  ~ Ian McCallum

Homecoming
You have come this far...
keep moving...don't turn back.
No one holds the measure
of their own undoing....no one,
the meaning of their dying.
Hold what lives
behind the masks
of your own making...
the music of your wild name.
Know that every tumble,
every turn on your twisting path
is a dance within a living
church of elements...
a sanctuary of stars
wings, breath and bone
where the masks of your making
are undone.  ~ Ian McCallum

We have to stop speaking about the Earth being in need of healing. The Earth does not need healing.
We do. Our task is to rediscover ourselves in Nature. It is an individual choice. And how or where do we begin? We begin exactly where we are right now, when we look at the world as a mirror, when we discover that our sense of freedom and authenticity is linked to the well being and authenticity of others - and that includes the animals, the trees and the land.  ~ Ian McCallum

I like the word , fierce -

the way it aligns itself with

nakedness and solitude:

a fierce nakedness...

a fierce solitude...

And I like the way it holds the word - fire.

I like the word, fire - 

the way it ignites

the cutting edge of poetry

refusing to be nothing less than

a fiery edge...

a fiery tongue...

And I like the way it is linked

to the word, wildness.

I like the word, wild -

how it weaves its way

between yes and no,

how it announces itself as

a wild anger...

a wild joy...

And I like the way it nurtures

the word, fierce.

I like the word, fierce - 

~ Ian McCallum

Sculpted from ancient rocks and stream
there's a dream in me...untamed.
Unnamed, it comes alive in my silence
and in the unframed manner of my waiting.
Awake, aware...it is there, coiled
in the folding of my arms,
in the holding
of  my breath and in the deep
wakefulness of my sleep.
A force of fire and clay
It hunts along the edge of play
of hide and seek and turn away.
Body of sand and skin,
to know this spoor
Is to know the allure of our gravid kin -
three months here...nine months there
always expecting, and always...
the unexpected.
~ Ian McCallum

Architecture by Enrico Daffonchio

Untamed
Exploring the lost balance between humankind and nature.

The Labyrinth with a Living Wall.

Ian McCallum

In the middle of reading

http://www.amazon.com/Ecological-Intelligence-Rediscovering-Ourselves-Nature/dp/1555916872

and finding it inspiring and enlightening.

KIRSTENBOSCH NATIONAL BOTANICAL GARDEN

A World Heritage Site

Extraordinary art in an enchanted setting

Alley of Camphor Trees planted in the late 1800s

First visit in 30years

Concert venue

Leucospermum hybrid "Spider" Protea

Protes neriifolia - Blue Sugarbush

Erica

Succulent conservatory

At Julie's

With Jade who is 5, and Luke playing the guessing game of presents.  Proud Mum Julie!

With Luke who is now 11 years old and loves the wild bush and all manner of animals, bones, tracks, poo and all else in the bush.

Alex (14) gauging the size of his tee from the Natural History Museum: he loves watching docs on the wild side of life from the Smithsonian.

Catching up in JHB - at Lilla and Carlo's.

Quick trips to Jo'burg and Cape Town once in every 2 or 3 years, entail short visits to our friends and family. It always seems so easy to catch-up where we left off, feeling like just a few weekends ago instead of the reality of years.  These friendships of ours which have lasted for so long are light and fun, always keen to find out what's new in our lives. Here we are with Lilla and Carlo.

Carlo and me in the outside studio surrounded by his impressive works of art.

Dramatic use of colour. Carlo, when you run out of viewing space, my walls at home are waiting for a few of your exquisite paintings.

The Sicilian

Sampling my Japanese green tea with Carlo's scintillating cake. 

Hullo Charbel, Dinko and Rosa!

6 months old and looking very serious, just before the acquisition of new shoes.

Dad's around and I'm feeling much happier.

Fascinated by those Nike runners. They seem to be making the rounds in JHB.

Those things on my feet are odd, aren't they? But I like them.

Dad's got a pair, so I must have got it right. 

A feast of Lebanese vegan.  

Shrine of Our Lady of Harissa.