Hosts.

Vandalism is the most pointless and useless  form of expression.

Design is a significant architechtural attempt at creation.

Durban Beachfront.

"Busker".
Photo taken by George and Craig.

This is one of the world's best beaches.....as long as you are blissfully unaware of it's dangers. Large sharks, high crime and pesky sellers are the order of the day. The Shark's board is presently  making changes to Natal's 320 km of shark-nets that were put in place in the fifties and sixties to reduce the effect on other  marine animals, while keeping shark numbers down. Experienced divers may be interested in looking at  www.sharkbookings.com/dive-packages for some interesting dives.

On the Maharani Hotel end of the Durban hotel strip is a small market where you can pick up beautifully made Zulu beadwork, hand-made leather belts from Mozambique and grass bracelets. "Durbs" has only one thing in common with Jo'burg: Bunnychow. Don't wear large pieces of gold jewellery and  do have the courtesy to give a fair  tip to anyone who helps park your motor vehicle and offers to watch it for a few hours....this is almost a South African tradition. You can get to the city by taxi , bus or Combi (the Combi taxi's will charge a very small fee and you simply wait until the driver is happy that he has enough fare-paying customers). You must remember though, that Durban has had taxi wars so shootouts are not anything out of the ordinary. Durban has a population of over three million people; many languages are spoken but English will get you around easily. South Africa has seen turbulant times and most Durban residents are cautious but friendly.

" Hippy - Asprins "

Explaining death. There is no formula to do it. Designers use it as themes and combine it with design concepts to acquire a design conclusion. It is an artistic means to an end…..just as our lives are a means to an end. I wrote a short fiction piece for an assignment submission recently. As a puppeteer will tell you that every puppet must have a reason to be made, this story was written for the the mother; for the soldier; for the day any adult needs to explain softly about death to  someone's child.

" HIPPY - ASPRINS "

 There had been fourteen days of catastrophic rain. Dead stock lay near dams and the seeding wet grains could now only be used for animal feed. A  baby rabbit lay near the porch steps…drowned in the deluge and washed out from it's warren. I buried it in the corner of the hospital garden and planted a pale white and pink Hippeastrum next to it. One of the flowers had withered and fallen off, leaving three strange spell - like balls filled with seed wafers, suspended on an elegant stem. Leia had watched me from the  ward window.

  Leia was a  translucent, blue veined  eleven year old with eyelashes that swept the room like a butterfly-wing flicker. We spoke about the fragile grey animal and  we talked about death…it wasn't the first time. Carcinoma was her uninvited daily companion.  As I was leaving the ward, she said,  " Do they come in different colours?". I said, "What?". She answered, "The Hippy-asprins." I  laughed and said, "Yes, they come in all sorts of colours. The  wild  ones in South Africa  are called  'Naked Lady'  but  centuries ago the  Greeks  called them the  'Knight's Star' . The silver - eyes love them".  

 The silver-eyes are a shivery, little smokey green- grey bird with silver rings around their eyes, outlined in black. Their  tiny bowl-like  nests are crafted from spiderwebs, grass and a little bit of moss. They migrate North at the end of summer in flocks, travelling unbelievable distances during the night.  They love fruit and shoot across the garden like electric bullets whenever anything disturbs them while they are chatting or feeding. Every year, a handful migrate South and return to the  garden of our hospital near the Springs.

 Sybil the giant walked in to the ward with two tiny  silver-eye finches held captive in her big fists. She was in a good mood today. Be careful…..she's going to eat them for breakfast on the first day of her holidays, Leia thought. This nurse was a deadly weapon on two legs with military training in weapons disposal :  that is exactly what she looked like…..a giant weapons disposal unit with a voice like a projectile missile about to explode. Her age belied her strength. The earth shuddered when she moved and she could lift three children off the ground with the  swoop of  one arm. The silver eyes had flown against a large window and stunned themselves into a dazed stupor. The imprisoned  birds enchanted the  delighted Leia into a mesmerised silence which faded when the birds were released into the courtyard.

 Every morning, J.J 's flotation chair was wheeled outside  into the haven of this courtyard garden. Her paralysed hand would rest on a soft, purple butterfly cushion and the breeze would stroke her old face. Leia ate her hospital breakfast  of fruit and brown bread next to J.J and would watch the silver-eyes bounce between long soft, moving plant fronds and Hippeastrum straps, sometimes clinging upside down like delicate trapeze artists as they sipped a little nectar from dainty flower cups. The days were changing and all the spoilt summer fruit under the trees had been eaten. The birds didn't return to the garden one day. 

  " Do you think J.J  is scared of dying? " Leia had asked. She had been more tired than usual and was struggling with her bird-sized breakfast. The child waited for the inquisitive  pale green- feathered garden bullets and they did not come. 

  " No, she is ready …  the day J.J  goes to sleep forever, she will leave  with the silver- eyes and fly north in the dark. She  can fly back next summer and eat fruit from the apricot trees in the courtyard. It will be her turn next. Her  life is almost  like that special shadow that roses cast when the sun flickers through onto a white wall in the early morning",  Sybil the giant had said. The child understood. She was ready too. Her life was like the seed of a 'Hippy-asprin', she thought. The following afternoon, it was Leia who went to sleep and no one could  wake her up. The last thing she had said to J.J was, " I don't like the stuff in the bread".

 Every year one little silver - eye makes it's nest in the hospital garden, close to old  J. J's chair;  sometimes in the old apricot tree. It makes a swift flight across the garden in front of her chair as she is wheeled out in the mornings. The garden has filled with hundreds of majestic pale pink and white ' Naked Ladies '. In my own garden, a little further from the Springs, the Western silver-eyes bounce on the  Hippeastrums in the large shaded  pots outside my window. Like the little girl that left to look for her "Knight's star" at the end of her eleventh summer, these are not quivering, frightened mice-like birds…their wing-beats are fierce;  their eyes are calm; and their  spirits are as big and tough as the old forgotten  size 16 leather army boots of Sybil the giant.

 Written by Dheborah Quirke

 8th January 2012.

Tattooed Valentine.

(Guys only)

Give your Valentine a controversial "Year of the Dragon 2012" coin (the dragon has been scrutinised by experts and described by some as looking both hungry and drunk ) from the Perth Mint and suggest you both go and try Ashtanga yoga together or a Chanting and chai course. One special creature has a red finish and an inset ruby eye. In the dragons of the world collection is a wonderful little Welsh dragon. Have a look  at www.yogaspace.com.au/events/retreats.php    and
www.perthmint.com.au

Go and see ' U Ram Choe '   kinetic sculptures exhibition at the John Curtin Gallery in Kent Street, Bentley, Perth. Then try making a 'Monk's Tipple' in Irish coffee glasses at home with Benedictine (instead of whiskey), brown sugar and coffee, drizzled with cold, thickened, fresh cream (try pouring it gently over a warm spoon). Don't buy glasses just for this....nice coffee mugs are fine. You can use a  tiny sprinkle of chocolate (on the cream) before you watch a movie. Scatter some rose petals somewhere. (ie.  in the empty and clean bath,  across the freshly made bed,  or on the clean board that the Monk's Tipples are standing on).

www.johncurtingallery.curtin.edu.au

Visit  Penguin Island, near Rockingham. The ferry runs all day and only takes 15 minutes, leaving  on the hour from Mersey Point, near Safety Bay Road. Pay the fare at the office next to the pier. Take some fresh rolls, cheese, ham and  and frozen juice in a small cooler bag and don't worry too much about a camera…enjoy the gentle experience. You may see sea lions from the ferry but the penguins will be in the backs of the caves on  the beaches that are not out of bounds. Give yourself plenty of time to get to the last ferry and don't wade over if you are planning to woo someone gorgeous.
www.penguinisland.com.au

The 2 hour walk around 51 black steel sculptures at Lake Ballard is  a great idea but not on  Valentines Day. 40 minutes drive from Menzies and over an  hours drive from Kalgoorlie, you will need to be prepared for extreme  conditions. Limping home tired, sore and thirsty is not very romantic. You will need insect repellant. headshade and fluids. Think….windburn, sunstroke, heatstroke.

Lie on a quiet grassy hill. Hand paint a tiny frog and glue to a piece of red string and tie on your pal's wrist. It will bring good luck and they  should wear it until the cord falls off. 

Have a moon-picnic outside  in your own back garden. Lay everything out on a blanket and lie and watch the stars. Turn off the phone. Give your mate a small stone or a piece of driftwood  you picked up on a walk together with "I love……….."  engraved on it. An old boyfriend carved me a bird from cuttlefish while we sat on the beach and I adored him for it. Leave them with a little survive-without you pack when you  leave:  put a note which says, I'll call you soon" in it,  a tiny package of fudge or a special chocolate, a tiny flower, and little treats to nibble on. 

The Restless.....

When you travel, follow this rule: Be portable. 

Take your front door key: wear your watch: carry your C.V, music, photos, emergency numbers etc on a usb-drive or on an MP3 player: take a silk and wool scarf. Keep a kilt pin in your wallet and a small black ballpoint pen in your bag. Wear one pair of flat shoes and one compelling ring or chain  which will cross over from day to night. Make safety your codeword.

Species

Excellence in design. It is something intangible. This medium-sized example has it's home in the Ongerup district of Western Australia........unquestionably beautiful. It's full length was between 10 and 12 cm. Believe me, I wasn't going to get any closer. She has a stinging bite if disturbed and if you look closely, her back has eight fine white spots and a dusty layer of fine hairs. On the day I took this rare photograph, she was suspended on a few tough threads suspended over a distance of a few meters. The flies are wrapped up instantly and collected over a few days in preparation for the life which will emerge from her pale champagne coloured nest which she has spun between flower branches below.


Great design websites I have found recently are:

www. core77. com        (design portfolios,competitions and scholarships)
www.bigdesigninspirations.com                       (examples of great design)
www.site.aircraft.fr

Alien landscapes.

Wednesday 2nd February, 2012.
voice from Australia

Can you imagine passing through alien landscapes and never describing them to anyone because you assumed that everyone else was doing the same thing? I have seen the most beautiful bus stop. I have stood in a cloud of black butterflies on an island full of skulls while  my eyes have seen landscapes that would fill both dreams and nightmares. From today, I am going to record snapshot views and glimpses of this place that we all exist on. This will be my own record and interpretation of our world and it's landscapes.