Tagged.

I have been tagged by Kelly of Yesterdays Glitter.

( I have no idea how to "link"!!)

Five things about myself -

1. I am in the process of growing out all the dark brown colour in my hair so that I can be completely grey and then die my hair platinum blonde.

2. I am terrified of any creature with feathers. I have had this phobia since I was born. My earliest memory was of me sitting in a pushchair under a tree with a nest and being so afraid of that nest.

3. I was a single mom for 16 years. My two girls and I had enormous fun.

4. Although I work in the corporate world, I am a dreamer at heart and I love art in any form.

5. I hate driving a car.

Rules of tagging:

1. Link the person who tagged you

2. Post these Rules in your Blog

3. Write 5 random things about yours.

I now tag Wendy Chamberlain, The Paper Daisy Company and Laughter and tears - Karens world

Two gifts

I received this lovely kitty ornament from my daughter and granddaughter in Australia. Unfortunately when it arrived here, the head and tail had broken off. We managed to repair the head but we are still figuring out how to salvage the tail. What a glamourous kitty!

This little bear I bought at a shop deep in the countryside - he is too sweet.

Bearbits Giveaway

Ginger, of Bearbits has created the most gorgeous easter egg and bunny for her 25th Anniversary giveaway. Treat your eyes to this sweet creation.

bearbits.blogspot.com

Therapy

I have been very fortunate and very blessed to have been given the capacity to deal with the trauma's in my life. I was one of the very, very lucky one's to have had a happy and stable childhood and whatever followed in my life, was mostly misfortune, not tragedy in comparison to what happens in the lives of other people, besides, I have learnt that we very rarely get what we planned for in life. I have reached the age and stage in my life that I believe that the best therapy is a "hobby". As mentioned in another post, the bears found me and I am endlessly grateful for that. I have recently acquired a new camera and that also gives me so much pleasure and I feel as if I do not have enough time in my day to do all the wonderful things I want to do. There is no time left for negativity and when the bad vibes threaten I try and tell myself that I cannot afford to go that route, there is simply no time available!

Jemima

I cannot help myself ... what can I say? I love this child sooo much!

Guess What?

This gift was sent off to Karen, in Scotland. Once she has opened it I will show you the contents!

Oz 2008/2009

As usual I have my posts upside down, wrong way around .........
I cannot believe that this holiday came and went in the blink of an eye!

Pictures in Australia

My daughter has finally sent me the USB with the photo's taken on our holiday in Australia in December! Here are a few that I think would be of interest to most people. The close up animal pic is her doggie, the wallaby has her joey's tail peeping out of the pouch, the river runs through Rockhampton where my family lives. We visited a park where we saw the Wallabies, 'Roo's, Koala's, a Wombat and beautiful birds. Enjoy!

To all South Africans looking at this ... take a very close look at Georgia's T-shirt ... GO SHARKS!!

Experimenting

I finally got my new camera. I need to see how the new pics look on the post. There will be loads of experiments, so please "bear" with me!

New Ways

I have made two decisions this morning. One - I will continue to make mini bear heads ONLY until such time as I get the heads right! What a battle. Two - I am going to purchase a new camera today. Yes, today, because I cannot wait until the weekend. I need to be able to post beautiful pictures and to be able to convey a true image of whatever I show. It really has been awful struggling with this inadequate camera I have. Up to now I have only needed a camera to be able to take pictures of occasions and people and then usually the pictures were printed and placed in albums or in scrapbooks, for my eyes only. Everything has now changed and digital photography has become so crucial. What do they say ... the only constant is change, whether we like it or not. And as mentioned yesterday I try to record the happenings in my life, to show my family in Australia and UK. To this end I would like to make it as attractive as possible for them and anyone else who is interested in what I do.

Georgia and Tara

Everybody, meet Georgia with her new pup Tara.

Re-invention

The most devastating thing that has ever happened to me was the emmigration of both my daughers, their husbands and their children. South Africa is a magnificently beautiful country with the best weather in the world but it's a pretty dangerous place for children to grow up. The unemployment rate is far too high and young people are leaving to go to Europe, USA and Australia and New Zealand for better opportunities and safety. My children left for these very reasons and they left within 10 months of each other. And then my stepsons left as well to go to London. My husband and I applied for residence in Australia but we were refused and as two South Africans over the age of 50 with not millions in the bank, we are unable to relocate to the UK where 3 of our children live. Once I knew for sure that we could not emmigrate, I had to settle down and love my life and re-invent myself. For 30 years I had first been a mom and then a granny and suddenly I was neither and I had changed careers after having been in one company for 20 years. Towards the end of last year I was becoming extremely depressed, I quit smoking and a very special friendship was disintegrating so I started looking for a distraction, a hobby - anything to bring softness back into my life. My dearest friend once said that whenever there was heartbreak in her life she would take on a baby, meaning a baby animal. This to me is the ultimate comforter but I live in an apartment and have one very spoilt kitty already. So in my deep desperation, the little bears found me and since that day I have never looked back. Creating these little creatures has given me so much pleasure and brought so much softness and beauty into my life. I am not an artist, at best I'm a crafter, so it is not an easy task creating them but I know that I make them with love and patience and care and one of these days they are going to be absolutely beautiful. In the meantime, I give them as gifts to friends, who I hope will love them and look after them and maybe soon they will travel farther afield. Blogging has also become part of my "other" life - away from the corporate environment where dog eats dog. I do not feel the need to expose all my warts on my posts, but by the same token I don't want to pretend to be someone that I'm not. I feel that blogging should enhance my life, not complicate it. I would like to make new friends, not enemies.

If my posts sometimes appear very simplistic, it's because they are for Georgia, my seven year old granddaughter, my precious little girl who loves reading about my life and my bears and who has a bear named Cookie which travelled all the way from South Africa to Australia to live with her. Blogging is a marvelous way for me to communicate with Georgia and show her what I am doing. When she gets home from school in the afternoons she immediately goes onto my blog and this helps to keep me alive for her because if we are very, very lucky we see each other every two years.

Rosie

Here is my Valentine's Day gift to myself! Her name is Rosie and I have placed the thimble next to her to give you an idea of her size. She is a tiny little girl cub. I also photographed her with Augusta Sue who is a 28 cm girl bear. I simply love these two little girlies and their photographs really do not do them justice.

Happy Valentine's Day Georgia and Jesse

I love you guys very, very much.

Happy

Happy

What a surprise!

I visited The Paper Daisy Company today and came home with a wonderful bag of goodies. Elena has the most amazing collection of ribbons and boxes and baskets and embelishments - bits of everything to satisfy any crafter and/or bearmaker. I also brought with me the Fall/Winter 2005 catalogue of The Boyds Collection International - she was tossing the catalogue and it has page after page of ideas for bears. In addition to this entire stash, Elena gave me a very stylish be-ribboned box containing a coffee mug with The Paper Daisy Company logo and her name on it. I was very pleasantly surprised at her studio and I'm so proud of my friend! The next time I go for a visit I shall take lots of pictures to post here.

Scrapbook

I found this delightful picture on Bonnie's blog this morning. I keep a bear scrapbook - no, not the modern, expensive, artistic scrapbook but the oldfashioned "cut and paste pretty pictures" type. Since I started with bear making last year I collect pictures of the beautiful artist bears and any other pictures relating to bears. In this respect I am quite a pirate and "steal" the pics from other blogs!! Please be rest assured, the pics are not for re-sale, but purely for my own gloating!

A little fun

A few pics of us having a great time.

... and to my gorgeous boy Jesse

Lots of love, Granny

... and to my gorgeous boy Jesse

Lots of love, Granny

An early Valentine's Day wish

To my darling Georgia

Happy Valentine!

All my love, Granny

The most beautiful photograph

What an honour it was to stroke this magnificent creature. Whilst he was allowing us to stroke and pet him, he was purring like an old steam engine. Sheer magic!! This is Africa at her very best.

Toby

My 8th little bear. He now belongs to Bianca.

A wonderful weekend with special friends

These are a select few of the many, many pictures take this weekend. Saturday morning started very early so that we could visit the Cheetahs. What absoloutely maginificent creatures! We had the opportunity of touching and being photographed with a Cheetah ambassador. His name is Byron and he was reared in a house and would still refer sleeping on a bed! We saw wild dogs, hyena's, buck, ostriches etc. Later in the afternoon we went on a game drive at Heia Safari Lodge and saw Rhino's, Gemsbok, Zebra, Impala and the Hippo's in their pool. This was Africa at her very best. This morning was another very early start to go up in a hot air balloon. What an experience! We flew in the blue balloon and the rest of the party flew in the red balloon. We went up to 5000 metres, the maximum height permitted in the area. After the flight we were given glasses of champagne. Poor Karen was terrified as she hates heights and flying but Eddie and I and Andreas loved it. Karen arranged this weekend to celebrate Andreas's birthday and what a celebration. It was magic ... thank you so much, my friend, for all the effort and creativity.

For Bianca

I went to bed at 02h00 this morning! I wanted to complete a little bear for Bianca. I had planned to give it to her for Valentine's Day but then decided to make it for her instead of flowers for the operation. However, all my nocturnal efforts did not bring it to life by the morning light. Eddie needs to install the hardware and I need another 2 or 3 hours to do the finishing touches. This was my first bear, not done from a kit. I sourced the pattern and chose the fabric accordingly! Whilst I was sewing Jemima made herself comfortable in my sewing basket and made an absolute nuisance of herself by wacking my hand, the thread, the machine's needle ....... But at least I had company through the night!

Peace ...

Is there a sight more calm and peaceful than this? I cannot imagine my life without kitties!

MEMORIES

Everyone who knows me well, knows that I have a passion for shopping. Retail therapy. I don't drink alcohol, I do not smoke cigarettes, I do not gamble (how I have wanted to say that!). I do not take sleeping pills, tranquilisers, anti-depressants, etc. BUT ... I do retail therapy, in super huge quantities. When we travel I always bring back "things" and these "things" serve as a constant reminder of those happy travels and the people I share them with. The exquisite Scottish thistle which I bought in Loch Lomond - when I look at it I see my Scottish clan and I can smell the mist on the water. The little notebook procured in the Stockland shopping mall in Rockhampton, the Beef Capital of Australia - I feel Candice and Georgia next to me and I hear all the Christmas shopping sounds. These objects transport me to my loved ones in faraway places. My home is filled with objects from all over ... my pictures in my kitchen from Amsterdam, my dressing table lady from Swaziland, my Shark stuff from Durban, my teddy bear from the shop next to the littlest church in Harrismith. Pearls from Singapore, something from Dubai, shells from Yepoon, boxes from IKEA in Glasgow, the kitchen wreathe from Watervall
Boven. Such special memories with such special people. And now we are in a recession and we won't be going abroad for quite some time and we won't be doing Retail Therapy for quite some time so all my "stuff" will give me great comfort!