The Time Between

What happened to the weeks between 9th April when Tony was here and today - May 15th? Well, I'll tell you - two weeks of whirlwind and wonderful socialising, reconnecting with so many wonderful friends, and then Tony left for Johannesburg where he spent a fabulous weekend with his brother and family.

I then embarked on Term II and literally hit the ground running - or whirling and twirling and swirling might be a more apt description. And now we are in full swing, rehearsing for this exciting 100 years of Eurythmy celebration. The days pass by in a whirl of forms and tones, and the tension is palpable.We have a vast body of work to cover and everyone is really committed.

Working at this level - real performance Eurythmy with a group of 'professionals' is such a deeply nourishing experience. And working on a complete concerto: Dvoraks' Cello Concerto adapted for Piano, Cello and Flute, with live musicians, and covering three progressive movements which have a truly transformative quality is such a gift. I could not have come to do this work at a more opportune and rewarding time. Obviously the work that I do towards the celebration counts for my BA assessments; what a way to get the degree!

I have difficulty contemplating my return home whilst being simultaneously immensely excited. I feel these bubbles fizzing around the solar plexus when I imagine myself boarding my homeward bound flight, but there are all kinds of conflicting feelings that circulate around in the same region. So I am just doing one day at a time...

I have, in the meantime, been to the opera La Boheme - a unique experience being part of a 90% white audience on their feet, standing ovation, cheering and shrieking their appreication for an entirely black cast of opera singers. Amazing. I have been to the theatre where I laughed from the beginning to the end of the play at one of Cape Town's premier comedy actors, I have dined with friends whose stories I have been priveleged to share and whose life journeys now mingle with mine and others in my somewhat saturated memory; I have journeyed to the Stanford Valley where I climbed a mountain covered in Fynbos (plants such as proteas that are unique and indiginous to the Cape which has its own Floral Kingdom) and looked out over magnificent mountains, lakes and forests; I have assisted in the planning and execution of two vegetable gardens for friends; I have enjoyed a wonderfully mild Autumn; I have walked the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in a maze-like pattern, marvelling at previously known and loved botanicals; I have been up Table Mountain - no adjectives here - you just have to experience the power of this place for yourself; I have connected to all manner of people and places.
So - some images:

The View over Camps Bay from the top of Table Mountain

A kiss on the top of one of the Worlds' Seven Sacred Sites! 

Lunch with Alan, Sally and Peggy at Hartenberg Wine Estate

Dear Friends gathering at High Noon - Ros' family farm in Elandskloof

Stanford Valley Farm - Fynbos flourishes on these slopes

Tony's farewell dinner -

Jurie Jean, Ros, Grant

Tony Mynda Dale Mike

Five weeks and counting!
xx

End of Term, Tony, My Birthday and Easter......

So much time has passed and the above events have come and gone.

First to the end of term 1. We did two performances - one at the Centre where each year showed the work that they had done during that term - I was in 8 pieces - and we then performed a selection of those pieces at the National WaldorfTeachers' Conference which was held at Michael Oak School - the very first Waldorf school that I worked at back in the day. It was such a powerful experience being back there - and particularly in the context of what I am now doing. They are celebrating their 50th birthday in June and I have been invited to participate in the celebrations.

My teacher Silke and I backstage

My schoolmates waiting backstage.......

The day after the performance my holiday really began and kicked off with a bang as Tony arrived! Fetched him from the airport with great delight. To everyone's amazement, he logged into local time immediately, showing no signs of jetlag whatsoever! We had a brunch to welcome him and here is a photo of us with Dale (Tony's sister) and Mike (her husband) and Sarah (Tony's daughter) and Rod (her boyfriend)

Tony is loving being in this city in which he spent many, many years, and seeing old friends and places is just great. Will not yet comment on his perspective about all of this.

So now I am 62! I always recall my mother saying that one of her favourite authors began her writing career at the age of 62. SO - you just never know. I celebrated my birthday with a small party for some friends and we had a most delightful evening.

Me and Ros

Rod, Mynda, Sarah, Tones

Paternoster is a fishing village on the West Coast ( my wonderful wild west coast) about half an hour beyond Langebaan (my lovely lagoon) where an ordinance was passed that declared that all the architecture around the development of beach houses in the bay were to follow strictly the design of the old fisherman's cottages. The result is a village of great beauty on a wide stretch of beach where you can walk forever...... We had huge fires in the courtyard fireplaces, copious amounts of magnificent cape red wine, lots of laughter and real relaxation.....

Today we are going to do a Peninsula Ramble with Rod and Sarah - a drive around this spectacular coastline and then dinner with dear old friends Rupert and Renee...... What a life.....!



Abschluss!

The end of term (Abschluss) performance took place last night. In all humility I can say that it was an incredible success. It was so amazing for me to watch the work of the first and second year studets as I have not seen their classes - and the quality and style of their work is amazing. As is ours, apparently - we were highly commended by everyone there.

The piece de resistance was The Witches - a medley of prose and poetry taking from Shakespeare, Herrick and Walter de la Mare. Although the piece was not yet complete - as in performance ready - we decided to go ahead and end the evening with it, and to simply have some fun! We wore masks and witchy type headgear and veils and we were sensational!!

We are performing again on Monday, so even though the term work has ended, we will continue rehearsing the rest of this week so that we are ready for the performances which we will present at the National Waldorf Teacher's conference being held in Cape Town (where I will take photographs and post them). Actually it is being held at Michael Oak School, where my Waldorf journey began some 39 years ago! This school is celebrating its 50th Anniversary in June, and I was contacted by the organiser last week to participate in the celebration! So much is happening during my time here - I could not have planned it all more perfectly if I tried!

So one term done and one to go. I have such mixed feelings about it all. The head of the school told me last night - after congratulating me on a great performance - that they love having me here at the school and are wondering how to keep me here!!! Yikes!

The weather here is still mild and settled. Wonderful summery days and slightly cool nights, so even though the days are shortened, summer lingers......

Only 6 more sleeps til Tony arrives!  We are in for a seriously social whirlwind - the diary is chokka!
I miss everyone who reads this blog........
mxxxx

Sunday Scorcher

Its Sunday afternoon and its cooking! It has been a perfect day, albeit hot and windless. I have been home the whole day, by choice, as it is my dedicated day of rest. I have alternately swum endlessly in the wondrous pool and been deep into the assignments that I am required to review for my exam in May. There is a large volume of work I need to get through and this is the ideal way to do it.

This is where I swim.......

And this is where I work.....

Week 6 added another piece - a rather cosmic speech piece which we will perform for the Centenial celebrations. Yet, from this coming week, the added work will be balanced by the fact that I dont start school until 10am most days as my classmates are doing a theory module which I am not required to do! A later start means more time for reviewing of assignments and less time on my feet!

Went to my favourite little beach early yesterday morning - another perfect day - a great time of sitting and watching the wondrous symphony of sea, sky and sand play itself out before my eyes, a swimtime of being bashed and crashed and dashed and dumped by the waves, some rock-clambering and rock-pool peering and then off to a cup of coffee with Dale and Mike, home for a shower, off to the 'other side of the mountain' to have lunch and fascinating conversation with David and some more beach visiting, then home and change and out for a gorgeously gourmet dinner with old friends, Ian and Karin Woods and their daughter Alexandra. What a great day!!

Danger Beach

View to the left of Danger Beach looking at Simonstown

Blaauwbergstrand with view of TABLE MOUNTAIN

The sublte signs of the season's change impinges on my awareness daily. Yet other than the shortening of the days and a minor chill in the air in the morning and evening, I would not yet describe this as Autumn. Late Summer in the Shiny Cape.

One month until TONY visits!!!! Yahoooo!

Hugsxx

Week 5 draws to a close

The time is flying by. I am more than halfway through Term 1. The workload is ridiculous!!! There are a number of factors for this situation: I am condensing a year's work into two terms which means that the Solo pieces normally learned and performed at the end of the year must be done now, I have to join the fourth year's for the teaching as the BA class only consists of two students, so I am doing their workload as well as the BA's pieces and then there is the work for the performance with the Stage Troupe for the centenial celebrations! This all adds up to intensive 7 - 8 hours a day of Eurythmy and a total of 14 pieces that I have to learn simultaneously!!! Yesterday we started a piece and then I went completely blank! Just stood there unable to access the file for the piece! My teacher laughed and sympathised. I think she is amazed that I am still standing!!

Sometimes I feel like a Whirling Dervish!

Still doing some great beachtime in the early mornings on the weekend and still loving the Cape.

Here are my classmates:

Shereen, Maya, Elizabeth, Laura, Mynda, David

(Absent Emma)

We have a lot of fun together and you would never think that I am old enough to be their mother or maybe even grandmother! We are classmates and we gossip and laugh and giggle and share.......They each have amazing stories to tell, including how they got to be studying Eurythmy. I am getting very close to them!

Those of you who know him will recognise Peter Smith in this pic with me and Ros. He lives in Germany and is visiting here and we had a wonderful al fresco dinner on Ros's deck. He is such a great guy and it was wonderful to see him.

And here we are at dinner - an that's Kevin Ovenstone on the right!

Kevin has been a great buddy to me since I have been here - he is a really amazing guy and we had a lot of fun and conversation together. He left yesterday for Angola to join a research vessel offshore on which he is employed as a Medic. I now have the use of his car for some weeks!

Gotta go to school........xx



Here comes Monday!

I have to be very disciplined about resting on the weekends. From Monday to Friday I demand so much of my body (and mind) that I have to promise them that they can recover on the weekend. So I dont make too many arrangements and ensure that there is plenty of time for sitting about and having a few naps.

So one way to really enjoy sitting about is to drive down to St. James or Fishoek beach and sit on the sand and watch the water and the birds and the people and the clouds and gaze raputrously at the mountains, behind the beach, around the bays and stretching out on the horizon of False Bay to Hangklip. After some frolicking in the water, it is time to sit again.

Another way to sit and recharge is to go out to the other coastline, just beyond Camps Bay (non-South Africans should google these divine places) climb down the rocks with a picnic bag and a blanket and a good old friend, Patrick, and watch the waves and the birds and the clouds and the rocks and the setting of the mighty Sun.

And then to sit some more and watch as the darkness increases in the dome of the heavens, to observe, out of the inky vastness, the emergence of the scinitillating stars.

Also sitting at the outdoor table on the deck, looking out over the beautiful garden to the valley and mountains beyond, reviewing the weeks' work and preparing for the week ahead. This is a very productive form of sitting.

So here comes Monday and I am ready to twirl.......

The Pics from Millers Point

Those of you who know them - here they are:

Karyn. Me, Candice, Ann, Thalo

Anni and I

Whence went the week?

So its Sunday again. I think that this blog will only be updated on the weekend as from Monday to Friday I hardly touch the ground!

The training is intense. On Tuesday I did seven and a half hours on the floor! Could hardly speak when I got home, let alone move. Sat massaging arnica into the soles of my feet. So it is really a stretch, physically, but also mentally as there is so much inner work that has to go on - and Silke, my teacher, has got the sight to see all that etheric stuff.  But I am not complaining - I LOVE it.

We started rehearsing for the big Centeniall Performance on Friday - met some other Eurythmists who will join us for some of the pieces.

I have chosen two pieces for my Solo work - for Music I am doing a Chopin Nocturne - Opus 9 No. 2 (you tube will play it for you) and it has a form choreographed by Dr. Steiner himself. It is a real challenge to match the form to the music and during my solo time with the pianist, Tim, who seems very Tim-id, I ventured to say "At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I reckon that Steiner was just doodling in the part of the form." Well, Tim gave a great big chuckle, so I discovered that he has a sense of humour and I can work much better with  him now!

For my Solo speech piece I have chosen a poem by Solovieff, A Russian poet, would you believe. I am going to write it here - as I have to learn it and I think I know it now:

To thee, Oh Earth my Goddess, now I kneel
And through thy Being's fragrant cloudy veil
The flaming of they deepest heart I feel
The beat of the world-pulse I hear and hail.

The noonday beams are sending their strong glowing
With blessing heavy from the light-dome down
And in their silent glare, the voices I hear growing
Of freedom-thirsty stream and songful forest brown

The Mystery of Marriage is here revealed, I trust
Between the Earth Soul and the Heaven's Light
And, burning in the flames of Love'd delight
All  earthly pain is blown away like dust.....


Wow!

Llandudno beach is my current flavour of the week. What a heavenly spot.

And here is Patick on the rocks...

I am living in a bubble. Reality is here and now and there is another bubble somewhere holding my other life.... my beloved family.... and friends.....xxx

A Sunday Morning Stroll along the Beachfront

You can drive to Muizenburg and park the car at the station and then duck under the railway line and head for the pathway that borders the sea/rocks/shoreline/beach. The breeze blows the chi from the sea through your soul. The swells of the water crash over the rocks, swishing and swirling, creating amazing energy. Along the way, on a sandy stretch of beach, you can jump into the water and catch some excellent body-surfing waves. Then a quick fresh-water shower and moving on past St James, Dalebrook to Kalk Bay - which has to be one of the most delightful, trendy, happening places on the southern tip of Africa!

Breakfast in a French Cafe up a cobbled side street, an amble along the main road, venturing into shops with enticing wares. Then home again home again...

Today was 37 degrees! Stay in the shade and drink drink drink.....

And here comes week 2.

Saturday Morning at the Old Biscuit Mill

In the suburb of Woodstock, in a disused old mill and bakery, you will find everyone who comprises "trendy, foodie, Capetonians" milling around in two massive food tents and consuming and purchasing the most delicious goodies.

And I wondered around there and had (a good cup of) coffee with none othere than
SARAH and RODERICK!!!

And here they/we are:

So we had a lovely morning together and we all hope that we will have many more together times whilst I am in Cape Town. It was SOO good to see the 'Wakins"....

At the end of the week the fourth year and BA students gather with the teachers for a Review of the week. It emerged that everyone in the class was feeling battered - physically - after coming back from 2 months holiday and diving straight into some serious work. I was really pleased to hear that they were all suffering too, as I thought I was the only one and I thought it was due to my 'mature' years!

It was a fantastic week of Euryhtmy and whilst I am planning to rest by body for the rest of the weekend, I am looking forward to next week.

Will dine tonight with all the Baraks.......

A Millers' Point Surprise

A Millers' Point Surprise

I was in class and the secretary knocked on the door and said that there was a phonecall for me in the office. Huh? "Hello Mynda, this is Candice (my cousin and god-daughter) and I am in Cape Town. I'm leaving tomorrow. Can we meet?"

I told her I would call her when my class was finished. Class resumed and we were then told that all our classes from 11 - 4 were cancelled as my classmates were going to do a performance at the Constantia Waldorf school. YAY! "Hello Candice. Come get me!"

So we had a joyous reunion, a coffee in Kalk Bay, and then she said that more family - Anni, Karen and the kids, were at the beach. Miller's Point is a small, secluded, protected, exquisite beach on the way to Cape Point. And there, tucked behind a massive boulder, were these beings that I have not seen for so many many years. Thalo was in my class in Class 1 - she is now 19! We were all overjoyed at reuniting - I sat blinking furiously trying to comprehend how all those threads came together to create this meeting.... It's beyond me. Literally!

School is fantastic. I am in my element, my bliss, my twirling, whirling, radiating, wondrous bliss..... and my calves are complaining.

Candice will send pics and I will post them.....
Saw my boy on Skype today - he looked so handsome.... Dominique is in Sydney - have a blast sweetheart.

View of Scarborough from Chapmans Peak

The Big Old Pink House

Inside this big old lady, I spend at least 3 - 4 hours a day on my feet, moving, moving, moving. My body is wondering what happened! I move and sweat and sweat and move, and I dont seem to be more puffed than my 20-something classmates. So either I am going to be incredibly fit when this stint is done, or.....

The level of teaching from both my teachers is superb. Silke specialises in Tone (music) Eurythmy and Michelle specialises in Speech Eurythmy. They are world renowned and students come from overseas to train with them. And working with them now, I understand why. So besides the purpose of the mission, the BA Degree, I am enveloped in a wondrous world of learning and experiencing a whole new depth of Eurythmy.

The Cape still mesmerises me. It has a magic that is powerful and beguiling. Hmm....

I miss my family and friends. A lot.

xxxx

The BIg Old Pink House on Victoria Road. Day one at school.

The Centre for Creative Education is housed in a rambling, pinkish, rather delapidated, characterful ex- orphanage. The building is like a many-armed old grandmother, embracing busy and active children, all engaged in artisitic endeavors. One gets the feeling that one day the old grandmother will simply etherise and the building will just crumble into dust; meanwhile, she does a stirling job.

Our opening ceremony was shared with the Bachelor of Education students. We numbered about 85 in all and I was blown away (as I'd been uprepared, having left SA before the Rainbow Nation really started formig) by the variety of colours and how they blended together. A young girl (with a white skin) showed her joy at renewing contact, after the 6 week break, with her young man-with-a-black-skin friend. It was normal and natural and as it should be. But it was new to me, and so, so moving. A vibrant, creative, positive group of young adults shared a ceremonial opening to the new year that was both sacred and joyful.

I am doing a module on Introduction to Educational Research so that when the time comes to write my dissertation I will have the required process and format knowledge. I will work in the mornings with the 4th year students as a refresher and then in the afternoons will work on duos and solos for my degree work. My classmates are 30 to 40 years my junior and are delighted to have me along for the ride! My day starts at 9 and ends at 5 or 6. SO - pretty full on!

I have really settled into a new routine at home - yoga by the pool at dawn followed by many lengths swimming and am so thankful for this beautiful space.My sister-in-law Dale has been a superstar in assisting me to get organised and from today will lend me her car, which will facilitate my freedom!!!

Every now and then, a wave of 'homesickness' envelopes me as I miss my NZ life and my family in particular. Yet the sensing of being in the right place at the right time is undeniable.

January 30th 2012

Well I am off to school today! Got my lunchbag packed and my school bag with my Eurythmy shoes and pencil case and I feel like I am 7 years old!! And the best news of all is that I had a brilliant night's sleep. So - the worst of the jetlag is over and I am ready and rearing to go....

The days since my arrival have been a blur of images of the magnificent beauty of the Mother City, which I am unashamedly in love with. A trip around the Peninsula with old friend David van Ryswyk, reminded my why Vasco da Gama, in the 1600's, declared  this southernmost tip of Africa "The Fairest Cape in all the World".

I am settling  into my life here in Constantia, graciously hosted by Ros Ovenstone - another old and dear friend - and have created an infrastructure to support my mission. This is the view from my bedroom window - scroll across and down to get the full picture: