la Brocanteuse: January 2013

There is a old Gaelic saying:

" Keep a thing seven years and you'll find a use for it"

Well, the images I am sharing in this post,

has not been around seven years yet,

but rather those that has somehow just landed in forgotten files the past year or two.

Just random moments, those in between as one move from one subject to the next , camera in hand.

Since I am about to switch over

from PC to MAC after "for ever"

(all most 20 years?)

I have been working on "cleaning up"

my computer files this weekend,

sorting , dumping, copying files to cd for storing..

remembering occasions

as I work through digital albums

it seems like yesterday...

so as I am about to press "delete from file"

on the moments

I remember another saying:

"Everything is good for something"

at least I will have them here in this post

should I want to look back

so copy the good ones, delete the not so good
and start anew.

if not today - when?

There are few things so freeing, then to "declutter".

Have a good week

Colette

all above images : home-Stb

image: Henrique Wilding

I shall be finishing research

for a story I am working on, more about that later.

We are home and ready for 2013

rested

and looking forward to what the year holds for us

It is going to be a good one!

I can feel it in my bones

We spent our summer break in Vermont

at the beach house,

where friends pop in and out

some stay over night, or a few days,

others take the boardwalk home..

Friends from up country that visited us here for the first time, remarked that our home was not "typical" beach house style

which surprised me..

what is typical beach house style?

old weathered painting~market find

not much has changed since we moved here in 2000
13 years ago..
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I still tuck a little olive branch on arrival behind the Oath of Hippocrates Plaque
found years ago in Skiathos~Greece

actually, it was the first purchase for our beach house.

the olive trees, that is another story...

I still collect old chrystals
and hang them from the iron chandelier

For us personally,

we like to bring the colors and textures we see and feel outside here on this beautiful stretch of the coast, into our home ..

unplanned, yet in a way expected.

old hand colored engravings in white washed frames

the table cannot be moved,

not a inch..it is cast on site

from cement and sea sand..

always adding old hemp and linen of course..

in fact, of the few items added continuously,
stones, shells, etched pieces of glass
driftwood and pebbles for paths

are allso the faded linen covered books
collected at Hermanus Village weekend markets

gift from me to our books..

new etBLANC bookends, slip cast from the originals

found at Amboise ~ Place du Marche.

also et BLANC: French ladies plaque in Baroque frame
for the curves of the frame
remind me of a breaking wave

shells and driftwood ..

as for the necessary..

simple, open and practical arrangements
to make it comfortable
for all who visit to help themselves
and to be at home here

linen and cotton throws for sudden cool sea breezes

easy and uncomplicated
to focus on what matters when we are here,

nature, time to relax, to listen, to hear...
to do nothing important, yet most fulfilling
making it VERY important indeed

shell project: collecting shells on daily walks to string and add to the outside shower...

collected from here:

BREKFIS BAAI ~ VERMONT

with kelp waving back and forth in the sea

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

visiting our friends

just over an hour's drive further south

to the most southern point of Africa

happy colors of the trawlers lying in the harbour at Struisbaai next to l'Agulhas

so random moving side to side with the tide

This image appears different every day..

since it depends on the time they arrive back from sea,

how the light falls on the blue sea and the changes in the sky

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I adore how the fishermen choose

the bright colors for their boats..

I can just imagine the contemplation when standing there at the local hardware store..

choosing what will become recognised

by family from ashore..

waiting for the catch of the day

time to pause...

Cape l'Agulhas

Dd and our friends, each with their own thoughts,

below them the very tip of Africa
where two oceans meet

The Indian and the Atlantic Oceans

time at the beach house allow for

impromptu meals with friends...

sharing the catch of the day at a harbour cafe

and the best of all, even after years,

the excitement on arrival ,

the smell of kelp and taste of salty sea air,
the cry of the seagulls,

the cool breezes from the sea,

the colors, oh the colors

will always make us go back again, and again ...

Boardwalk to Brekfis Baai

to the natural hues we see here

so many different shades
sea colors of blue and washed,
lime stone and caramel

foamy white and pale,
misty, grey, green,moody,
even charcoal and loud
unpredictable in it's sameness..

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I guess blue and white are the "typical" beach house colors...true

then we have never had the typical beach house..

for us it is in all it's hues taken from what we bring in as we collect from the source...bit by bit

inevitable that colors echo what is outside

and

the gifts bestowed on us from visiting friends
fit in perfectly with the hues here

LUNA porcelain t light holders

this is our beach house...

always the same, hues may brighten or lighten

but most importantly

we leave here, refreshed, loved and lucky - oh so lucky in a GOOD way

"Luck or chance is fortune (whether bad or good) which occurs beyond one's control, without regard to one's will,intention or desired result. In the prescriptive sense, luck is a supernatural and deterministic concept that there are forces (e.g. gods or spirits) which prescribe that certain events occur very much the way laws of physics will prescribe that certain events occur."
~ wikipedia
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ must be the physics of the Ocean with all it's mystical force and spirit in it's depths that calms us as we open ourselves to it's offerings, smells and movement.
Never the same, yet always majestically present .