KAROO 'TULIPIERE'

Back in Cape Town now, reflecting on the opening of Kraaldoring Gallery outside Calitzdorp. This vessel, originally made to hold tulips, is working magnificently with Karoo succulent which curls and bends just as much as the tulips do when placed in water!

BIRTHDAY REFLECTIONS

Birthday proteas from Drew, strelitzias from Margaret... all displayed in my tulipiere

Reflecting on my birthday today, I am reminded of this wonderful poem by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people's gardens

and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

and eat three pounds of sausages at a go

or only bread and pickles for a week

and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

and pay our rent and not swear in the street

and set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

STILL LIFE, MOVING TULIPS

This morning I read a most inspiring article in The Cape Times by Glenn Ashton on what he calls Economic Degrowth - It is a very comprehensive article and well worth reading.
An excerpt ...
'Degrowth examines the flipside of an economy founded on growth. It emphasises putting a human face in how we transact and perhaps more importantly, interact. After its initial conceptualisation by Romanian economist, Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, it has been elegantly expounded upon by many other articulate thinkers like Serge Latouche. Its roots lie in the Club of Rome report “The Limits of Growth” and can be traced back to other philosophers like Thoureau and Ghandi, who emphasised concepts like simplicity, justice and equality.'

And then I came into my studio this morning and to my delight noticed how yesterday's tulips in my tulipiere have moved gracefully into another uplifting position. It seemed appropriate to link this image and phenomenon to the above article, an affirmation of the wonder of ' a simple life'.