Little Elbows That Go Bump In The Night

Literally months have passed (yet again) since I last managed to write. 2012 seems determined to keep me on a delinguistification diet, leaving me aching with nerdy hunger for words, sentences, commas and question marks. I've gone so far as hunting for a torch to take with me to bed so I could sneak in a few seductive pages from my much-thumbed, underlined thesaurus under my duvet. Like a teenage boy with his first, um... magazine, I suppose.
There've been many moments when I try and reschedule my life around writing and creating in my studio, but which always seem to come to a very frustrated naught. Option 1: Stay up after the Wild Little Night Owl has gone to bed and write the night away? Has it happened even once? 'Nope,' she admits, sheepishly and slightly a-blush. And why not, Lisa? 'Because I'm so exhausted that I fall asleep 5 - 8 sentences into Layla's bedtime story so that she elbows me awake with a bossiness as sharp as her elbows, 'Now tell the story, Mommy. Now!'
My Write More Plan's second option has also proved exquisitely unattainable: 'Get up at 5am to write before Layla wakes up.' But.................... 99% of words elude me at 5am, you see. Except the following words:
1. coffee
2. warm
3. coffee
4. snuggle
5. coffee.
Oh yes ---- and, there is a semi-sentence I am capable of thinking/uttering at 5am: 'kill gun shoot &*%^%$# hadedas!!!!!!'

And so, I have resorted to abusing Pixar as the ultimate in babysitting. Thanks to 'Madagascar', 'Megamind' and 'Monsters Inc' I am now able to steal back little pockets of time to fill with luxurious Belgian chocolate cookie-words... Let's see if tomorrow will yield another pocket to fill. (*wink*)
PS. The pic is of my sister, Julie, and I at an amazingly inspiring fundraising event we attended a few weeks ago which I will be writing about um, ... tomorrow?

Trumpets & Snowballs

{ Blogging on the run.} Cafe: 'The Vineyard Deli' in Kenridge just a stone's throw from Layla's lovely little playschool. Blackest, luxuriously bitter Lavazza, and a new novel: 'The Enchantress of Florence' by Salman Rushdie. (I'm ashamed to admit this, but I'm a Rushdie-virgin... And reading is SUCH a rare treat for me, so I may as well read something rich in poetry and makes-one-think beauty.) However, getting time to write is just as rare a jewel, so I've split my little hour of solitude into 2 half-hour pockets. Reading? Tick. Writing? In progress.

This morning, I hurried off to Tygerberg Hospital's Dental Clinic --- in particular, the paediatric ward. With a boot full of toys and books Layla's outgrown, I felt elationjoygratitudewonder. And perhaps a small pat on my back from myself. It's unavoidable, I suppose, that giving to others will make one feel good about oneself. But still, feeling good about it made me feel a twinge of embarrassment. The Bible's instructions surrounding giving to others says we should keep it from others. That no trumpets be blown. (Guess I've gone and blown that commandment *no pun intended*!!) But still, I feel that just SOMETIMES, hearing about how the compassionate service and generous giving of others changes the lives of the broken, helpless and hopeless, is important. In fact, I'll go so far as to say it is critically important. Loving goodness is humanity's core function. Society only BENEFITS from loving goodness --- that is: courage, joy, pursuing peace, compassion, active kindness, empathy, humility and honesty. Gratitude for what one has, and lovingly generous 'giving' to others generates more gratitude and more generosity. A reverse snow-ball effect, if you will. (The flip-side of this is that dishonesty, greed and self-pity generates snowballs too...) But still, for what it's worth: when you see or hear about the love of others in action, jump in and get giving! Phone that person or organisation to see how you can get involved, be it money (R10 or zillions, time: an hour a month or more if you can, recycling clothes/toys/books...) Perhaps we can't save the world all on our ownsome, but we can change just one life -- if only for a moment. (*wink* Whatcha waitin' for?)
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Sympathetic Soutie

I'm not even going to try and convince you to forgive yet another long absence from these pages. Don't get me wrong -- I compose at least one blog post a day in my head, but - just as you probably are - I've been busier than a one-legged cat! But, happily so.
For example, I've been spending time with two new friends I met through Layla's new little school buddies. One of the families are freshly arrived from Korea (9 months ago) and the other has been in South Africa since August last year: an Indian family direct from Delhi with a prior 6 month stint in Newcastle, a la Muddy Isle.

Visiting Younju yesterday, she asked me why I don't write on my blogs anymore (a question, and I know it sounds like I'm blowing my trumpet very loudly, that I get asked very, very often.) It always ends up with the usual two excuses of 'too busy' during the day and 'shattered/buggered/nattered' at night. If my li'l princess wasn't such a nag-apie (Afrikaans word for 'night-monkey' -- see pic below) I'd probably be able to get in an hour or two's writing a night. But, I have always preferred to spend the evening with my little Layla than whip her off to bed hours before she's ready. It's also that I sympathetically identify with her night-owlishness; I spent many hours of my childhood nights beneath my duvet, torch lighting up the hungrily devoured pages of my latest copy of The Famous Five, praying the torch batteries wouldn't die before I got to the end of the chapter!) Anyway - I digress as usual...
What I was saying was (9 minutes left to write before leaving to pick Princess up from school *sigh*) that it was such an honour when Youngju revealed that she was reading my blog! With only 9 months of English under her Korean belt, it's absolutely mind-boggling that someone would be prepared to sit down and patiently decipher each of my usually-too-long sentences! Wow! I promised Youngju I would update my blog last night. Better late than never? I hope so, Youngju.

What I am especially enjoying about these two new friendships is the reverse sort of Soutpielism - and my ability to encourage and help them where I can. Sometimes it's with explaining South African culturalisms or answering a telephone call to clarify specific details with the often impatient caller. HOPEFULLY, and all my fingers crossed, I'll find a bit more time to write - even if it's in short little snatches? (This'll peeve my 'greatest, most loyal and most pushy fan', no doubt - eh, Mrs Melrose Cheese? *cheeky wink*)

Adios, all my amigos
x x x

AWOL Absence Apologised For!

Well, well, well... I feel like stranger to my own blog! A prodigal procrastinator! Or, perhaps I'm being a little harsh on myself? You see, it is not as if I've had nothing to write about, or even been lacking in the desire-to-write department, but my life for the last 6 months has been, in a word: hell. I, Layla and my parents are locked in a kind of deadlocked limbo - but, as has always been the case when I have been faced with pain (or, in this case, agony) I have made the conscious choice to transcend the problem and its pain, and choose to respond to it in a way that grows and stretches my heart, mind and soul --- leaning heavily on my God for the peace, joy and strength that is not able to be wrested from the weak, selfish human heart alone.
There have been surprisingly few people who have questioned how a good, loving, compassionate and all-powerful God, 'should' He exist, allow situations such as mine occur. The answer is not simple, and although it is intensely personal, it is not private and is perhaps worth explaining how I have experienced His presence, love, comfort and guidance over the last few months?

Here are a few happy developments:
1. Layla started school in January - and is a teacher's pet deluxe! She is the littlest one of them all, but certainly the most exquisitely unusual (if I may say so myself! *wry grin*)!
2. She turned a very exuberant '3' at the end of February - and celebrated in style at school with all of her little friends, having chosen Toy Story cupcakes and Flings as her snacks du jour. Somewhat alarmingly but not at all surprisingly, she chose a 'party dress' in the style outlawed by the Fashion Police with the passing away of the 1980s! A red, nylon-shiny and tulle confection a la Disney Princess! But somehow, Layla carried it off with her gorgeous uniqueness and funky sort of grace. How could I but not be proud? (I'm already having visions of what she will no doubt quirkily conjure up for her Matric Dance!)
3. There is a fantastically lovely family I have met through the little boy who is in Layla's class at school. They're Korean -- having only set foot on this wildly different African soil just 2 months ago. With my seven looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong years as a South African living in England, I can only but begin to imagine how isolated, lonely and misunderstood they must be feeling. If I, as a fellow English-speaker, felt alienated and an alien in a land whose culture I 'grew up on' via television, film, music and literature, how much more so would this Korean family be struggling with this flood of strangeness and newness, where not just the language is so radically different (not even Latin-based!!) but where the culture is also a West versus East clash. Sheesh! Anyway - they have asked me to help them settle into their new life by teaching them English, and filtering the South African culture into their lives. What a blessing and weekly joy this is proving to be!

'studio-plekkie' I set up last week!

4. An old friend arrived out of the beautiful blue about 2 weeks ago to announce that she needed me to produce samples for her of my work, for both decor shops and corporate art commissioning! WOW! The big question, of course, is this: will I be able to earn enough moola to pay the bills? We'll see. Time, and bloodsweat&tears will tell, eh?


In stores nationwide (*modest l'il smirk*) you'll discover my 3 ranges:

(top row is still in progress)

*Madame Fifi: Guru of Whimsy : all things decor - such as the 6 little canvases (7 x 7cm) in this picture -- and all sorts of other magnificently unusual and Lisaesque concepts.
*Pillowtalk: hand-embellished, quilted etc bedding: cushions and quilts.
*Little Miss Muffett: handcrafted and ridiculously quirky/sentimental toys!
*Talking Point: Art Commissions: nudes, landscapes, abstracts, portraits. (Now WHO on EARTH would EVER have thought I would 'go commercial'?! Yip, Michaelis, I've gone over to the dark side. My dad's relieved!)



Anyway - I better not write too much in case I wake up to find it's only been the sweetest dream...

Adios till next time,
Lisa