The Journey Inward

The weather in Cape Town is quite unpredictable. It can go from sunny to cloudy to drizzly to stormy and back again in a matter of hours. It is also quite windy here, except in the bays protected by the mountains, like Camps and Clifton and Bantry.

On Beach Road where I am, the palm trees all lean away from the bay, as the wind whips up from there and is quite strong at times, even when it’s sunny and warm. The trees across the road are the opposite, because apparently the wind hits the buildings and bounces back!

There is a lot of construction in Cape Town, with apartment buildings being refurbished and possibly some new buildings going up. Nothing is terribly high, especially in the in demand bay areas, which is refreshing. Most places can’t be over 3 stories.

Here and in Pretoria and Johannesburg, people put gates and grills over their doors and windows for added protection. The building I’m staying in has grates on their first floor windows. I have a gate on the door to my apartment.

It’s nice to be at sea level with all the walking I’m doing, but now my lips are chapped from the wind, not the dryness!

South Africans say that we Americans roll our r‘s. When I challenge them, what they mean is that we pronounce our r’s. For example, my friend Teighler pronounces her name T-la, but we would say T-ler. I say what she says, but I’ve had lots of interesting conversations about the letter r. It reminds me of Mrs. Krystow, my 3rd and 5th grade teacher from New York who didn’t pronounce her r’s!

I met two delightful artisans yesterday at the Water Shed, the collaborative for artists. They both had the same muse, but brought it out in their art in different ways. The first woman introduced me to the flower of South Africa, the protea. It is a gorgeous flower that is unique in its many different sizes, shapes and colors. The botanist who discovered it, Carl Linnaeus, thought of the god Proteus’ ability to change his form and so named the flower after him.

This artist was so taken by the flower, that she uses the seed pods to create jewelry. I was drawn to a bronze ring. She was wearing the same one I liked, just bigger! She told me about the Proteus origin story and it really spoke to me and resonated in terms of the flexibility, versatility, creativity, and even the ability to change shape and form as needed.

Next, I met a woman who was selling gorgeous jewelry that caught my eye. She, too, was working from the protea, national flower, but in a bright and vibrant way. She showed me the flowers and their variety, and how she gathers and bunches them, then forms them into the jewelry. I was so taken by these that I did some early Christmas shopping. I love the pieces I got for myself to remind me of Africa. Sidenote: fynbos comes from the Dutch “fine bush” and is a shrubland plant community that is biodiverse and is where the protea live. Because I bought so much from her, she gave me a choice of free necklace. I loved the hammered silver shape of Africa, but the other appealed more by looks and then I read the explanation. It is the symbol for the wisdom in knowing that everything in the world is connected. She smiled widely when I chose it. Indeed, we are all connected!

I also loved a framed piece of art in one stall, but had no way to get it back to Pretoria and eventually home, but she does have a website and maybe I could ship something one day. These were made with pages from a book.

And finally, I loved this print of the three mountains, Devil’s Peak, Table Mountain and Lionshead so much that I went back and bought it today!