A GATHERING WE WILL GO

 Penny  (Back Valley Seasons) commissioned one of my small niche carvings recently and asked me to do a post with  photos showing where I find the objects that go into them.

Many times it's a case of 'the early bird get's the worm' so we set off to weekend markets at the crack of dawn.....

.... to arrive there when stall holders have just set up their wares.
Our favourite market is just under an hour's drive away and begins at 6.00am.

Sometimes I find small or unusual pieces on street vendors tables...

.... at scrapyards and junk shops throughout KwaZulu Natal

Vintage furniture dealers out in the country...

Wherever we go we are on the look out for shops that sell old bits and pieces, though it's becoming harder and harder to find the bargains. We live in hope...

Beach gathering is my favourite pastime. Husband goes fishing on three coasts..... North, South and the most beautiful of all, the Wild Coast in the Transkei. When I can I will tag along and we holiday at the Wild Coast at least once a year.

Up at dawn to catch the ferry across the estuary ....

to the other side where I spend the whole day walking....

.... sifting through shells

searching for solitary cowries in sand hollows and pools

collecting driftwood 

... and pebbles.

HAPPINESS IS .............

Bouquets of old spoons from the scrap yard,

Containers filled with pencils...

I LOVE pencils!

Art books... particularly African Art books,



Piles of sketchbooks filled with ideas,

Monkeys that peep .....

Sundays on the The Midlands Meander (an art route through KwaZulu Natal) .....

Browsing through country shops,

Being amazed by creatures made from wire and beads,

Stopping somewhere for tea .... lunch ..... and tea again

Beautiful scenery.... snow ..... fresh air in rural Natal

Happiness is spending time with my family (yep, that's my brother in the top right corner above ...... Lets see if he reads my blog :-)

All photos are mine except for The Dlaminis above from Zulu-Lulu Trading on the Midlands Meander.

SO MUCH HAPPINESS by Naomi Shihab Nye

It is difficult to know what to do

with so

much happiness.

With sadness there is something

to rub

against,

A wound to tend with lotion and cloth.

When the world falls in around you,

you

have pieces to pick up,

Something to hold in your hands,

like

ticket stubs or change.

But happiness floats.

It doesn't need you to hold it down.

It doesn't need anything.

Happiness lands on the roof

of the next

house,

singing,

And disappears when it wants to.

You are happy either way.

Even the fact that you once lived

in a

peaceful

tree

house

And now live over a quarry of noise

and

dust

Cannot make you unhappy.

Everything has a life of its own,

It too could wake up filled with possibilities

Of coffee cake and ripe peaches,

And love even the floor

which needs to

be swept,

The soiled linens and scratched records…..

Since there is no place large enough

To contain so much happiness,

You shrug, you raise your hands,

and it

flows out of

you

Into everything you touch.

You are not

responsible.

You take no credit,

as the night sky

takes no credit

For the moon, but continues to hold it,

and to share it,

And in that way, be known.

- Naomi Shihab Nye