[The running bit comes second.. just because.. it turned out that way!]
Here you can see some last London pics, including my mom and my littlest brother Bruce Moose. Of my four brothers, my sister, and me, who all came to England from South Africa at one time or another, he is the 'last man standing'! Bravo Bro!! Everyone else is all over the world. In total: Australia, Dubai, Scotland, England, South Africa, and now ITALY!! 6 kids 6 countries!
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Uncle Bruce Moose, in our almost empty house
Last man standing in England
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Gabriel at Stepney City Farm, one of his favourite places,
just near to where we used to live
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Gabriel's real live birthday card to his cousin in Dubai
who was turning 3!
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| Granny and Gabriel in his tent playing! What a cool Nonna! |
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Guess where we are??? Me and my Mom??
The Thames Beach in the middle of London at low tide!
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Our Family, outside the Tate Modern, for the Marlene Dumas Exhibition.
Marlene is an amazing amazing South African artist living in Holland.
We went with my mom! Mauri has made whole albums and blogs about
everything we did with my mom
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| One of mine and Gabriel's last runs in London. Look who we met outside a church in Shoreditch. What a lovely image of protection and goodness for our journey |
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Gabriel and his Granny from South Africa, who visited us for a lovey few weeks just before we left.
We are trying to talk to Granny-Nonna on Skype when we can so that Gabriel knows his Granny!
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| Us leaving our London home for the final time, at 3am on the 31st of March 2015. Quite different to the many times we left at the crack of dawn to go running and exploring the fields and dales of England! |
AND SO!
TOY.
TOY is in a box, somewhere between England and Sicily. I think he may be feeling a bit lost and ungrounded and missing Gabriel by now. And one must also consider that he isn't even finished being made yet, I am still making his jeans and his shirt and I need to do something with his hair, and he himself needs some time and attention to properly make himself the way he wants to be.. But we will find TOY, one day. Hopefully before Gabriel grows out of being seen with TOY!
Otherwise I suppose I will just keep TOY in the box of things that I am collecting for Gabriel to one day give him, to tell Gabriel as much as I can about Gabriel especially the things he won't remember from the beginning times.
But if we do manage to keep making toy, then THIS: [carry on reading!] is what I was writing:
Back in the days of London, [pre-31 March 2015] which feels quite far away already, I did also promise TOY, that I would make him a whole family. I even got a new Necchi [Italian of course!] to help with making, and lots of funky fabric pieces from the The Cloth House in Soho in London. And bits and bobs from here and there, that jumped into my pockets.
I feel a bit sad that I haven't started TOY again, and that he is all alone. But it will be ok, sometimes things just need a bit of time, and there are other very important things going on right now, which also make me very happy. I'm getting to spend a lot of time with Gabriel while he is little, and with Maurizio, both of which are absolutely priceless, and running a bit, usually with Gabriel in our jogger, exploring Palermo. [note to self to write review of Baby Jogger Summit X3! ] We've also run some races! The second part of this blog is meant to be about one weekend of that, if I get there, and don't run out of space on the internet before then.
Also, for prospects of employment, [I hope!] I have been trying my best to work hard at learning English Grammar. And then of course there is the little matter of learning Italian!!
Me and the online dictionary and online 'how to conjucate verbs' etc are reading the meraviglioso 'Il Coniglietto di Velluto' E proprio incantevole!
But..TOY will be back, somehow, some time, when the time comes! Making and creating is part of our family. It's important. And, I know this much, I must work with my hands, and I must run to keep my soul alive. [with some little things joined on, such as trees and other things!]
I should explain, a little, relating to TOY, about dolls, even though I've already got a lot about TOY [in London] on this blog. And as I keep thinking lately, isn't it curious, that I was never really a dolly girl when I was little, I was a tom boy. I liked fishing, cimbing, running, exploring, and stuff... creative stuff too, for sure. But no 'girl stuff'! I suspect it was a self created rule, growing up with so many brothers and my little sister being much little-er in years, and in size!
Ok just quickly, I want to show you something about the types of dolls I dreamed in London to make with my hands, one day. Please check out this amazing amazing artist: Fig and Me. AND: Inviting Play - Hand Made Dolls
They both absolutely imbibe the very tingly and magical process of dolls and stories and making and how it all comes together. Much better than I could ever hope to explain!
Here are some pics just to show you even though there are the links!
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Inviting Play. Her dolls are wonderfully
imagined characters, and I love that this
doll is feminine combined with girl power
TomBoy-ish stuff. See how powerful dolls
can be in teaching important stuff to kids
through play! [I cringe when I think of
the plastic factory made barbie dolls, Kens
and Spider Men being the only option of
imaginary worlds many kids!]
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| Fig and Me: Boy Doll, The Doll maker of Fig and Me, lives in Canada and you can see that her dolls are imagined right out of the beautiful spacious and green woody mountain-ness of Canada. |
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This is also Fig and Me, and the sleigh
is made by her husband who is a wood craftsman. So it is a beautiful creative combination. Also, She is originally from Mexico, so no doubt that contributes
to lots of the colour and music in her
dolls!They are wonderful at creating photographic stories with the little people and their things! |
Also, if you consider that doll making is in fact an ancient art, filled with ritual and healing, then doll making is all the more powerfull today, as an expression of the human condition. Here we go : Healing and Transformative Dolls
These dolls and their makers, hold amazing resonance for me. Here are 3 dolls that I particularly like. I love the combination of colour, story, texture, design, drawing, imagination, play, expression and all the powerful magic that shimmers, [even on the internet!], from things that are imagined from the soul, and then made by hand. These artists are very brave and strong to finish their dolls, and for them to turn out to be so beautiful and magical.
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| Gaia |
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| Healing Doll |
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| Spirit Dancer |
One of the doll makers from 'Healing and Transformative Dolls' says this:
"A doll can be a tool, works on the artist as the artist works on it. It instructs, contains the sacred, represents the deep desire of the body to recreate itself, expresses every emotion from anger to love, pain to joy. It embellishes space. A doll allows you to see who you are" Elinor Peace Bailey
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"Piglet is just brushing some snow from his house when he spots Pooh, who is walking around in a circle. Piglet asks Pooh what he is doing, and Pooh says that he is hunting and tracking something, although he doesn't know quite what he is hunting and tracking, and he'll have to wait until he finds the something to find out." [A.A.Milne, Winnie the Pooh]
Today, I made a little person from found bark and sticks and bits of ceramic, just quickly, in the countryside. Here she is, dancing on a Saturday afternoon in May.
I'm glad she found this space! She reminds me a tiny bit of TOY because she is not perfect but she is made with my hands and is colourful and quite talkative I think!
Let us proceed, with something I started before. This bit, is where I think today's little dancer fits in, somehow. Naturally, I was delighted to meet her when she arrived!
About this whole topic of what is happening with the world of TOY at the moment, I am reminded of a piece of paper I have in one of our boxes somewhere between London and Palermo. It was given to me years ago by an important person. It turned out to be quite an epiphony for me in many ways. It's still something that I find is good for me to visit from time to time. Thanks to the internet, this is more or less like the one he gave me, even if it's a bit small!
And so.. Here it is, and it is most often called 'The Gestalt Cycle of Contact'.
It started off as a therapeutic framework but it is often also applied to the creative process, which in itself is very much about ebbs and flows and change. You could say it's about the contact we have with our 'self' [so our soul and our mind and our heart and even our bodies through our senses and how they all link up and talk and 'make contact']. Of course, its also about our selves in contact with the environment and how we manage that and are impacted by it.
And alongside, there is the continual movement of conscious and unconscious processing of ideas thoughts etc. All of these 'things', although they overlap, or even go off on simultaneous tangents, also have stages, and the GESTALT CYCLE explains them well.
Once again I am drawn to contemplate, in particular, the period of 'withdrawal' or the 'fertile void' which is often seen as a kind of incubation period, where in fact lots of unconcsious work is going on. Even if we may only realise retrospectively what this sort of seemingly slow, or stuck, or confusing period may have been, in fact, it is a vital part of the cycle. After a few years of trying to understand myself in relation to this cycle, I try to look for the clues and know, that there is a time for everything. While sometimes we need to actively step into the next zone, at times, we also need to just be patient and wait a bit and let things unfold.
I think also, that because TOY is from London, just like Gabriel, then I have this notion that they should be together. Admittedly, perhaps in a way, this is more about me trying to integrate two worlds and two homes and two ways of being. Being an artist, I am visual. My inner and outer worlds, my environment so to speak, need to find some resonance with each other. I am in a lucky position because I loved London and I love Italy, so there is certainly no 'good and bad' . But of course there are still elements of partings and endings, beginnings, a lot of change and a lot of adapting. In cycles of change, and in growth, which implies change, there is always duality. So in a sense, you could say that maybe there is a necessary struggle of duality going on. I suppose TOY is maybe taking on some of that symbolism for me. But it's positive and I must work through it in that spirit. Out of change comes new colours, new textures, new images, and befittingly, new language! I am not discarding one world for another. I am integrating, this I must remember.
Here are two lovely jewels from Carl Jung, which I found and which are about exactly all of the above. Perhaps the 'numinous character of the "child" ' could be TOY, or something similar, sort of. Most importantly, it is important to PLAY.
“In the psychology of the individual there is always, at such moments, an agonizing situation of conflict from which there seems to be no way out-at least for the conscious mind… But out of this collision of opposites the unconscious psyche always creates a third thing of an irrational nature, which the conscious mind neither expects nor understands. It presents itself in a form that is neither a straight “yes” nor a straight “no,” and is consequently rejected by both. For the conscious mind knows nothing beyond the opposites and, as a result, has no knowledge of the thing that unites them. Since, however, the solution of the conflict through the union of opposites is of vital importance, and is moreover the very thing that the conscious mind is longing for, some inkling of the creative act, and of the significance of it, nevertheless gets through. From this comes the numinous character of the “child.” ...Carl Jung
"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves" ... Carl Jung
And finally, because we are talking about opposites and integration and Winnie the Pooh walking round in circles, then I must pop another talisman of mine here, also a favourite of Jung's - just to remind me and ponder over... it might help!
A precept in alchemy: “One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth.” explained HERE
And that, peeps, is where we are with TOY, on this day the 18th of May.
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Now for running.
I wanted to write about the weekend of the 8th and 9th of May and specifically about 2 lovely little races in 2 different corners of Sicily, that I was fortunate enough to take part. It's nearly 2 weeks ago now, but I'll try and write something anyway, just briefly.
On Saturday the 9th of May, was the '6 ore di San Gregorio per Vivere', a brand new event for Sicily, organised by a lovely lady runner from Catania: Eleonora Suizzo. They don't have a website, but you can read about it on Maurizio's webpage. San Gregorio is a little village very near to Catania. The race was a 6 hour race, where you had to run around a piazza and the distance was 500meters. So the idea is that you run as far as you can within the 6 hours and the winner is the one who has run the furtherst in that time. "The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves" ... Carl Jung
And finally, because we are talking about opposites and integration and Winnie the Pooh walking round in circles, then I must pop another talisman of mine here, also a favourite of Jung's - just to remind me and ponder over... it might help!
A precept in alchemy: “One becomes two, two becomes three, and out of the third comes the one as the fourth.” explained HERE
And that, peeps, is where we are with TOY, on this day the 18th of May.
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Now for running.
I wanted to write about the weekend of the 8th and 9th of May and specifically about 2 lovely little races in 2 different corners of Sicily, that I was fortunate enough to take part. It's nearly 2 weeks ago now, but I'll try and write something anyway, just briefly.
It was with some trepidation that I embarked on this race. My inclination and preference in running races is to run point to point or one lap, to run on trails if possible, to run long distances and to run in less crowded conditions. The thought of running round the same 500 meter lap in continual full few of spectators for 6 hours was rather daunting to me. Also I seldom ever run more than 10kms at a time these days, and that's with the baby jogger, so not exactly speedy!
I'm an artist, I'm visual and I love that about running, seeing new things, watching a path unfold, going on the journey, and so on. I love nature and fresh air and big open spaces. But I decided to give it a try. Cities and towns are great playgrounds for running too, it has to be said! Also being new in Sicily, it was a good way to meet some more runners and visit a new place, and of course, to run in full view of the glorious Mount Etna is an experience in itself.
Naturally Maurizio was armed with camera's and Gabriel in his jogging buggy, and of course, Frida the dog dutifully and quietly for a dog, in tow.
The organisation of the race was fantastic, the marshalls and everyone involved were as friendly, welcoming and helpful as you could ever wish for. Naturally, even with only 26 runners in total [not bad for a first race, AND an ultra, in Sicily it must be said! I say that, because In general, unlike in the UK, the shorter distances are favoured by most runners. So it is a lot of work to set up a new ultra and entice the runners!]
I noticed that there were still the amazing group photo's popping up all over the place before the race. Let me explain, Sicilians have this amazing skill, - I think they must be born with it, I havent figured it out yet - to suddenly within seconds and out of nowhere to create this amazing group photo, just like a professional school photo. Talls at the back, mediums on the side, shorties in front, and then the clowns and the yoga experts doing funky poses in the front just to make it unique. Every face can be seen and it's all perfectly symetrical and graceful, and everyone is smiling joyously. You'd think they'd paid a film director to achieve these photo's! So, there was lots of that!
Anyway, the race began at exactly mid day, and it was quite a hot day! Luckily this was easily dealt with by the water station open every second of the race, about 100meters after the 'start' and then the hose pipe, manned by a series of eager young sprayers, just near the finish. So in effect you could run pretty much permanently drenched and satiated at all times. Then to top that, there was no shortage of encouragement from fellow runners, marshalls, family and onlookers. So never could you really let yourself get too demoralised or tired, or, perhaps more importantly, bored!!
I was pleasently suprised:
1.I didn't get bored of the scenery or the repetitious laps, partly because of one very important factor - nearly every single lap, I was greated with a most wonderful and delighful scene of Gabriel and his Papi, playing, singing, collecting things, eating icecream, shouting Mama Mama and generally just having a lovely time, it seemed. I was able to be part of that every 500 meters! I even did a few laps with the baby jogger just for a change!
2. I didn't feel too self conscious being visible and 'on show' for 6 hours. It felt more like I was just inside a typical Italian Piazza full of joviallity and community and intrigue.
3. luckily the roads were blocked so we werent invaded by fumes and car noises and it was only a little village and the race itself was quite familial and un-celebrity, so that was perfect.
All in all, I really enjoyed the race. I met some lovely new people and now have a barage of new FB friends! The race banter is still carrying on almost 2 weeks later, which just shows how fully the Sicilians enter into events, with all their heart and soul and enthusiasm. You just can't help being picked up by these waves when you run a Sicilian event! I still think I prefer a less visible ultra, with a more 'linear' plot, but I can happily say that I have tried and thoroughly enjoyed a 6 hour circuit ultra and what better place to do that than Sicily!!
Here are some pics. It is hard to get pics of Mauri because he is doing all the picture taking and I hardly ever manage to have a camera to hand to get proper pics of Mr Camera Man himself!
But hopefully in my next blog whenever that may be, and whatever it may be about, I will have more pics of our family all together!
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This was made by one of the people taking photographs,
its of all the ladies running the 6 hour race.
Look how he wrote it in English,
How lovely and welcoming is that!!
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| The little chocolate icecream eating man at the 6 hour race, photo taken by his Papa naturally! |
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| Me and Gabriel after the race, with the blue blue sky of Sicily behind us. |
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| The Baby Jogger Team doing a few laps at the 6 hour race! You can see that Gabriel is quite at home, and quite used to going on running excercisions of all types in the jogger. But he does especially love to get a good bit of applause when we sometimes run through the finishing line together! Running with Gabriel has been a most unique and lovely experience. I have enjoyed every second of it, while we've been able to do it. |
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Seeing Gabriel and Maurizio during the 6 hour run.
They must have been clapping or singing or both!
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| Finally, the finish of the 6 hour run. Our family. |
After the race, we stayed a little while and then headed back to Palermo, on the other side of the Island. We arrived back at about 2am, hitting the sack almost immediately. Gabriel didn't even have his bath!
And guess what, a few hours later we were up again, heading off to the lovely Camporeal EcoTrail, one of Aldo Siragusa's lovely trails, not far from Palermo. This was a [more or less] 16km trail heading off out of the village climbing up for about 3 or 4 kms into the mountains, and then round and about and back.
The perfect little ending to a weekend of running. My legs were of course a bit tired from Saturday and so I took it fairly easy. Also, at least the first 3 or 4 kms of this trail were single track, and quite technical. As much as I LOVE these kinds of trails and relish them, I am not good at running them. I am a bit like Gabriel the toddler trying to traverse 'big' steps at almost 2 years old. As for going down, well, I tend to stand aside and let the gazelle like Sicilians scamper down and then take my sedentry place somewhere behind them. If there are a lot of uphills, not too technical, I am lucky because I can claw back some time and catch up a bit. But I had a great run, I loved being in the mountains and smelling and feeling all the wonderfully colourful and arromatic Sicilian plants right in front of me and under my feet. I am also often pleasantly surprised to see some familiar leaves and branches and petals, from home in South Africa, here in Sicily!
So it is a great treat and my soul gets its food. It's like a bit of home in home for me.
But it doesnt end there! After the race, was the 'pasta party'. For 5 euro's per person you literally got a cultural banquet and feast. It was outdoors, I think in the grounds of a restaurant or guesthouse, I am not sure. but there were wooden beches and tables, and big wine barrels as standing tables, wine and bread and tables laden with food.
Maurizio went and came back with 2 ginormous sandwiches full of prosciutto and formagio. Delicious! I thought, for 5 Euro's that was the lunch and I was delighted, and full!
But low and behold, then, he came with plates of pasta and more plates of sliced cheese, which we naturally ate. Then, it carried on, there was salsiccia AND bowls of freshly made racotta straight from the hot warm vat, being ladled out by the farmers themselves!
It was a fantastic day, and Gabriel even got to play football with some really sweet boys who shared their football with him, even though he was much much littler than them, and stopped them from playing their own game. They were even calling him little affectionate names like 'Gioia' and 'Piccolo' and being quite protective and encouraging him with his ball skills! [which is a challenge, as they haven't quite had time to emerge yet!]
I thought, how lovely it is, that Gabriel will grow up in this kind of community where little children are given a voice and noticed and loved.
And then we came home, full of lovely food, fresh air, our limbs excercised and our souls fed. And the even better news was that we were coming home to see Tata, who was out of hospital and safe and sound at the Crispi Residence!! Thank goodness!!
That surely makes the whole topic of making dolls and running not all that important in the grand scheme of things.
Some pics from the trail race below, and what Mauri wrote about the race, HERE
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Me and my monkey after the trai race.
Unfortunately I cant carry Mauri as well,
otherwise I would carry both monkeys!!
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| Another one after the race, Gabriel partaking of the food from the runners table, Good boy, getting his energy! |
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| My age category after the race. If you read Maurizio's race report, you will see that he explains about the town as still holding onto traditional crafts and trades, one of them being wood work. The medals and trophies for the race were all hand made and hand painted by local students. So that was a real treat and more soul food for me! |
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| The hand made wooden medals on ribbons. |
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The ricotta cheese farmers handing out bowls of ricotta.
This is one of Sicily's biggest traditions.
They use ricotta in many many foods, and it is amazing,
nothing at all like the ricotta I've had
anywhere else in the world! ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| My Monkey's!!! eating eating eating at the pasta party! |
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| Brick Lane, just up the road from us, famous for its really happening and ever changing Graffiti. Just before we left we saw an atist in real life, working in the day time! |
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| Gabriel and Mauri hanging out in Gabriel's Indian TP and Toddler Den - slash - extra reading place for Mauri! |
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| believe it or not ,this mask came from Gabriel's TP. Perfect for the king of hats and sillyness and dressing up at any opportunity! |
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| Gabriel in our family lounge and play room, with lovely light coming through the windows. What a pensive little boy today! |
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On my way to or from work,
I must have run into Mauri with his camera,
no doubt fetching or dropping Gabriel at Noahs Ark |
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| Domestica Gynastica in Tarling Street. |
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| Making Toy at our family table |
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| The boys hard at work, eating books and eating supper, together, once our table was gone! |
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| One of Gabriel's last time playing in the London parks and playgrounds. This one is near Brick Lane. There were many many parks within a few km radius of our home, with kids playing all year round in all weather. Gabriel and me used to go 'park hopping' as part of our little runs through the streets of London. Mauri knew the best parks because he looked after Gabriel the most. |
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| Me eating my first, and last minute, salt beef sandwich at the Bagel Bake on Brick lane, a most famous and very old bagel shop in London, open 24/7, where anything you bought was delicious and cheap as chips [for London at least!]. Mauri got round to trying a lot more things than I ever did when I lived in London 'proper' |
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| One of our family suppers that we used to have every night. Mauri always seems to do the most stuff, and is the best at most things, making family feasts [every day!!] and being Gabriels most perfect Pappi he could ever wish for, for starters! |
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Gabriel with his teddies just before we left,
Look what is most important in a little boy's life,
and MUST go on the aeroplane!
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| This is the Spitalfields City Farm. We had 3 City farms within walking distance of our home, and they all had animals and farming and organic markets and activities for kids, and Gabriel loved to go there. Here is Gabriel on a motorbike next to a real Yurt! |
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| The Thames path, near Canary Wharf and near our home. I ran along this path many times in all seasons. London is so crowded and dense, that you need space to rest your eyes and hopefully less crowds sometimes, and this was always a good option! |
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| Little monkey with my work hat on!! just outside our front door |
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No explanation needed. Buona Notte!!
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