Zulu Love Letter

my Zulu Love Letter

We stopped by Shakaland again on our recent visit to KZN with my sister. While I was there, I bought another Valentine for Vince. A Zulu love letter.

Zulu Love Letters are African Beaded messages given by Zulu maidens to their lovers as symbols of their love and affection, each bead color of the Zulu Love Letter conveys a different message. The one I bought used only four colors:

WHITE: symbol of hope, purity, cleanliness and true love.
GREEN: love sickness, jealousy, I have become as thin as a blade of grass from pining for you. 

BLUE: faithfulness, if I were a dove I would fly through blue skies to reach you. 

RED: intense love, longing, my heart bleeds with love for you.

Happy Zulu Valentine's Day!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

... or should I say the big, the little and the ugly ... wildlife of South Africa.

It started off with the Big Five: lion, rhino, cape buffalo, elephant and leopard, the five game species that were most desired as hunter’s trophies in times gone past. They now represent the five species that visitors to classic African wilderness areas most want to see. Next came the Little Five which I blogged about last year.

vultures

But now it seems everyone wants to get in on the act. There are the ugly five – and if you’ve seen them, you know that they deserve this title. Although having said that, they are no less interesting and they do add to the whole African experience!  They are the:

• Hyena
• Wildebeest
• Warthog
• Vulture
• Marabou Stork

Cape mountain leopard

There are also the impossible five, because of their being so elusive and hard to find.  Trust me, they are. I have only seen night camera photographs of most of them. They are the:

• Aardvark
• Cape mountain leopard
• Pangolin
• White lion (in the wild)
• Riverine rabbit

seals on Seal Island

And in the sea, there are the Marine Five.

• Southern right whale
• Great white shark
• Bottlenose dolphins
• Cape fur seals
• African penguins

Five is not enough for the air. Kruger National Park has come up with the Big Six Birds, the ones that most birders come to the park to see.

southern ground hornbill

The Big Six Birds are:

• Kori Bustard
• Martial Eagle
• Lappetfaced Vulture
• Pel's Fishing Owl
• Saddle-billed Stork
• Southern Ground Hornbill

Southern hemisphere night sky, February 2015

Not to be outdone by the terra firma, the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa has even come up with their own list, the Big 5 of the African Sky.

• The Southern Pleiades open cluster
• Eta Carinae Nebula
• Coal Sack Nebula
• Omega Centauri globular cluster
• Milky Way Galaxy

Sadly, nowhere on any of these lists are some of my favorite iconic African animals. So I will come up with my own list. Some are easier to find than others, but it wouldn't be Africa without them:

• Zebra
• Giraffe
• Hippo
• Cheetah
• Gemsbok
• Kudu
• African wild dog

Guilded Lily

my first Chaîne event

The beginnings of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs go back. Way way back. Like 1248 back ... when Louis IX, the French King later canonized as Saint Louis, ordered the establishment of several professional guilds including that of the “Ayeurs” or goose roasters.

the crest

The purpose of the guild was to improve the technical knowledge of its members: apprentices, tradesmen and masters. During the reign of Louis XII in 1509, the guild’s knowledge was extended to include the preparation of other meats and poultry, including game, and it took the name “Rôtisseurs”. The French Revolution disbanded the guild system in 1793 and along with it,  La Chaîne. But fast forward to 1950 when the association was revived and re-established.

ribbon and medallion worn by a Chevalier or Dame de La Chaîne

Headquartered in Paris, today La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs - International Association of Gastronomy is a truly international society constantly developing and expanding. Represented in all five continents, the Association is dedicated to preserving the traditions and practices of the old guild in a completely contemporary and international context. Its roster of more than 25,000 members around the world consists of both professionals (like restauranteurs and sommeliers) and non-professionals.

On Sunday I joined the local chapter of La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs for a truly gourmet luncheon presented by one of the finest chefs in South Africa, David Higgs of 500, the signature restaurant at the Hotel Saxon.

the official welcome

Our friends who are La Chaîne members (members wear really great jewelry by the way!) had a guest cancel at the last minute. Would I be interested in taking her place? Uh yeah. I felt a little bad at first because Vince was in Dubai and couldn't participate. But I managed to get over my moment of hesitation pretty darn quick.

La Chaîne produces a variety of events throughout the year all over the world, from brunches to lunches to dinners to very formal banquets in keeping with its aim to promote the serving of fine food and wine in every form. I was told this was probably one of the more "casual" events - as casual as possible anyway with all that bling hanging around everyone's neck!

The French do love their confréries (brotherhoods or fraternities.) Although now they are no longer for men only. There is much more égalité in their fraternité. And to prove it, the head of the Johannesburg chapter of  La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is a woman.

on our way to Clos de Vougeot

The protocol and tradition on display at the Saxon did remind me of a dinner Vince and I once attended many years ago at the Château du Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy. That particular banquet was presented by the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, another brotherhood whose purpose is to promote the enjoyment of food and wine, this time though exclusively in Burgundy. It too is an international organization with members all over the world.

These events provide a glimpse into a rarefied world of gastronomy where the pursuit of quality and a love of pageantry are still on display. If you ever get a chance to experience it first hand, do not hesitate.

Goat love

Donna and Phil

I was planning to go to the Chinese New Year Festival at the Nan Hua Buddhist Temple in Bronkhorstspruit today to celebrate the Year of the Goat, but my plans changed at the last minute.

Luckily my friends Donna and Phil went and took these great pictures. Looks awesome! Maybe next year ...

Gong Hey Fat Choy!

The Blue Diamond Collection @ The JAG

Christmas decorations on the Cartier building

The Cartier building on Madison Avenue in NYC is sometimes referred to as "the house a necklace bought." The story is told that in 1915 Louis Cartier made history with the first natural, double-stranded Oriental pearl necklace costing $1.2 million (more than $16 million today). This necklace was placed on exhibition all over the world including Paris, London, and New York City.

Maisie and her double strand pearl necklace

In the fall of 1916, the necklace’s appearance in New York reportedly caused a huge uproar with women from all over coming to admire them. Among these ladies was Mae “Maisie” Plant. At the time Cartier’s New York Salon was on the second floor of a small building in an inconspicuous part of town. Coincidently, Maisie had just placed her $1.2 million mansion up for sale. Knowing she wanted to sell her mansion anyway, Maisie approached Cartier and proposed a trade…the mansion for the pearl necklace. Surprisingly, Cartier accepted.

That's a pretty good story. The Blue Diamond collection at the Johannesburg Art Gallery has a similar story, albeit in reverse. This time a grand dame gave up a piece of jewelry in order to establish an art gallery.  

The Johannesburg Art Gallery was established in 1910 by Lady Florence Phillips who sold off a 21.5 carat blue diamond given to her by her mining magnate husband, Lionel, in order to buy the first three oil paintings by Philip Wilson Steer which became the foundation of an art collection for a new museum in downtown Johannesburg. The collection went on to include a wealth of Impressionist art, the sublime Miss Fairfax by Rodin and the wonderful Anton van Wouw sculptures which Florence convinced her husband to donate as well.

I was immensely fortunate to be led through this remarkable collection by curator Antoinette Murdoch along with other members of the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.

Lady Florence Phillips was No Ordinary Woman, the title of her biography written in 1966 by Thelma Gutsche. Born in South Africa, Florence married diamond and gold mining magnate and British MP Sir Lionel Phillips. During her life, she was the driving force behind the restoration of Vergelegen and its gardens and the establishment of the best collection of Western Art in South Africa, The Johannesburg Art Gallery.

a portrait of Hugh Lane by John Singer Sargent

While living in London, she was introduced to Hugh Lane who was to become the curator and co-visionary for her new museum. Hugh Lane was a prominent Anglo-Irish art dealer who was the founder of the (now called) Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Tragically, he died in 1915 aboard the Lusitania when it was torpedoed, only a few months before the JAG building was officially opened.

Her original idea was to establish a museum of old Masters of Western Art, the first one of its kind in Africa, but Hugh convinced her that this would be difficult if not impossible. All the Old Masters were either in museums in Europe or had been purchased already by wealthy Americans industrialists. Any that came up for auction quickly sold at astronomical prices. He advised her to concentrate instead on the modern art of the time with artists who were "up and coming." You know, Picasso, Pissarro, Monet, Sisley. It was a wise choice!

The first three acquisitions were these three paintings by British artist Philip Wilson Steer. They are A Chelsea Window, The Lime-Kiln Near Corfe Castle, and Corfe Castle, all three completed in 1909. They were originally purchased from the Goupil Gallery in London, and they and the rest of the core Foundation Collection purchased in Europe were exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London before being finally shipped to South Africa.

A wall of Impressionist art from the Foundation Collection. In the forefront is one of the Anton van Wouw sculptures, the only South African art included in the initial collection. The 1907 Bronze is called The Sleeping Man - Basuto.

Miss Fairfax by Rodin

The Johannesburg Art Gallery is a jewel and a godsend when I get a hankering for Western Art. Thank you Florence!

Tinsel love

My favorite jewelry store in Joburg has moved. Tinsel. I went to the opening launch party last night to check out their new digs. It is huge, probably three times the size of their old studio / shop. They have also moved from a high foot traffic street in downtown Parkhurst to a garden setting in Risidale. Clearly they have evolved from a casually found window shop to a sought out destination. Good for them!

The talent behind Tinsel is by far the most sophisticated group of designers I have found in South Africa. I remember when I first stepped into their old shop in Parkhurst, I had an instant feeling of deja vu. Was I in San Francisco, Oakland, Manhattan, Brooklyn, ...  even Cape Town? Nope. Joburg.

Tinsel is more than just a jewelry shop. It is a gallery of jewelry art. There are number of jewelry makers represented in the gallery, all with their own unique esthetic. It is also primarily the workshop of Geraldine Fenn and Eric Loubser who specialise in creating one-of-a-kind pieces and commissions. (They're working on one for me now.) My favorite pieces in the shop are the ones that incorporate vintage bits into their contemporary designs. Like watch fobs and charms. So special.

Congratulations Geraldine and Eric!

A Film Lover's Weekend

The Jozi Film Festival is an annual event that showcases the latest films made by South African and international filmmakers in one of Africa's most vibrant cities - Johannesburg.

The Fourth Annual Jozi Film Festival takes place this weekend at the Bioscope in the CBD from Friday through Sunday and it will present a slate of films from emerging and established filmmakers, exploring a broad range of topics in a variety of genres. 

early morning screening @ Sundance

I do love my film festivals!

 

screening of the Audience Award Winner @ Tribeca

Competition categories for the Jozi Film Festival include: Best Feature Film, Best International Feature Film, Best Feature Documentary Film, Best International Documentary Feature Film, Best Short Fiction, Best International Short Fiction, Best Documentary Short, Best International Documentary Short, Best Student Film, and Audience Choice Award.



I have a couple of films on my list to check out including Children of the Light, a USA bio-documentary entry which tells the life story of Nobel Prize winner Desmond Tutu, one of the fathers of modern day South Africa.

And it's Oscars weekend too! What a great weekend for film.

For a list of films and to book tickets, click here.

PS ,,,

Archbishop Tutu's daughter introduced the film and entertained questions

Happy Mardi Gras!

our water element masks for the Cape Town Carnival in March

Mardi Gras - French for Fat Tuesday - refers to  Carnival celebrations beginning on or after the Epiphany or King's Day in January and culminating today, on the day before Ash Wednesday, Fat Tuesday. Ash Wednesday begins the long period of sacrifice and fasting called Lent leading up to the highest holy day of the Christian calendar, Easter. 

Traditionally for Christians, these were really dark days. No meat. No dairy. No eggs. That is why the British celebrate Shrovetide and especially Shrove Tuesday, another name for the day before Ash Wednesday, by eating up all the eggs and milk and butter in the house in the form of pancakes.

Lenten samovar tea

The same with Fat Tuesday. In the days when Catholics took Lent more seriously, it was the last day to feast on meat (carne- from Latin carō) and other rich and fatty foods. Ash Wednesday meant lean times ahead for 40 days.

Many Orthodox Catholics still keep a meat and dairy-less diet during Lent. We were in Russia during Lent one year and there were Lenten menu options for the observant in every restaurant where we dined. Now Roman Catholics are only required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and the only meatless days observed during Lent are the Fridays other than Good Friday.

There are many famous Carnival celebrations around the world, usually in places with traditionally large Roman Catholic populations. (The famous Fasnacht celebration in Basel, Switzerland, is a notable Protestant exception.)

Although now religion has become beside the point. Everyone parties during Mardi Gras season regardless of religion. For the massive celebrations, one thinks of the French Creole Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans, LA and Mobile, AL, Carnevale in Venice, the Caribbean Carnavals in Rio, Trinidad, and Panama City, the Portuguese-inspired one in Goa, India, the Spanish-inspired Carnival in the Canary Islands, and the massive French Canadian Carnival in Quebec. There are many, many more - mostly in Europe, Central and South America and the Caribbean.


Similar to the Notting Hill Carnival in London, the Cape Town Carnival owes nothing at all to the religious link of the other Carnivals. It is in the middle of March, almost a month into Lent. (The one in Notting Hill is in August.) I have noted before that South Africa does not have a big Catholic presence and the Portuguese had minimal influence on the surviving culture after they sailed off into the night.

The Cape Town Carnival may not be associated with Fat Tuesday but it sure looks like the Carnivals with which I am most familiar, namely Rio and New Orleans.

The theme this year is Elemental. Water. Air. Earth. Fire. Vince and I are planning to dress as Water, specifically its frozen form as ice and snow. Let the good times roll, Cape Town!

Tour of Olifantsfontein

Vince and I joined the Archaeological Society of South Africa on a tour of Olifansfontein near Pretoria. Led by Professor Alex Duffy, the talk and tour focused on the history of the ceramic pottery industry which flourished in this area. The highlight of the tour was an opportunity to visit the house and gardens of Sunlawns at Olifantsfontein, the home of Roland Cullinan who was the founder of the Ceramic Studio and the Linnware Studio.

Mistress of Sunlawns Pauline Cullinan with Professor Duffy and the resident pets

Professor Alex Duffey is an Art Historian, who completed his PhD in History of Art at the University of Pretoria in 1982. He became Professor in Art History in 1984 and lectured at the University of Pretoria until his retirement in 2012. He has published extensively on South African art, Chinese ceramics and Ancient trade with southern Africa, for which he received the Stals Prize from the South African Academy of Science and arts in 2010.

Professor Duffy brought an example of Transvaal Pottery creamware

First, a little background. Sir Thomas Cullinan (of Cullinan diamond fame) started a pottery at Olifantsfontein called the Transvaal Pottery in 1905. He imported potters from England and they produced a variety of household crockery until 1914, when the pottery closed. Sherds of this type of pottery are still found at archaeological sites that date to this era.

In 1924, Sir Thomas Cullinan's son, Roland Cullinan allowed three potters from Natal to start up a new pottery at Olifantsfontein called the Ceramic Studio. Between 1925 and 1942 they produced a variety of ceramic wares, including tile panels for Governmental Buildings and Post Offices in South Africa.

Roland Cullinan had the house Sunlawns built in 1931 and it houses every type of architectural pottery they produced, including examples of the many types of building bricks which the firm Conrand produced. In 1942 Conrand took over the Ceramic Studio and renamed it the Linnware Studio, which produced similar ceramics to those of the Ceramic Studio until 1962.  

Since Vince and I collect Linnware, we couldn't resist this rare opportunity to visit Sunlawns!

Irene Post Office

We met our group at the Irene Post Office which has a beautiful example of the ceramic tile mosaic panels produced by the Ceramic Studio. According to Professor Duffy, there are only about 100 examples left in South Africa and they are very vulnerable to destruction and decay. They are seriously in need of some kind of heritage protection.

The building was erected in a typical Department of Public Works style with the emphasis on using only South African materials where possible. The post office was completed in 1940.


 

ceramic tableau on the side of the post office

The extraordinary ceramic tile tableau depicts the Symbolic Ossewatrek's in Pretoria on 16 December 1938. It was painted by Rose Hope.

Since it was a Sunday, we couldn't go inside the post office but Professor Duffy told us that in the entrance hall there are tiles similar to Delft Blue. The tiles portray Van der Bijl as well as various historical buildings from the Western Cape like Tokai and Groot Constantia.




We were allowed to wander freely around the first floor and gardens and see the details Professor Duffy described during his talk.

the patio had many ceramic jars and flower boxes

 The Cape Dutch house was designed by Vivian Sydney Rees-Poole ...

the roof tiles were all made with Transvaal clay

The drawing room ...

Relief panel on lower portion of large sloping hood over fireplace

the relief  depicts the people of South Africa

Boers and Zulus

Bushmen, Xhosa and Englishmen

ceramic fanlights

ceramic switchplates

The hallways ...

the staircase riser tiles with depictions if Kirstenbosch flora

detail of the riser tiles

ceramic umbrella stand

The kitchen and skullery ...

the kitchen stove

The dining room ...

 The first floor bathroom ...

more Kirstenbosch tiles

ceramic mirror

pretty ceramic switchplate

The gardens were designed by Gertrude Jeckyll ...

Patio brickwork with the local clay brick factory stamp ...

Professor Duffy has just completed a new comprehensive book on the pottery of Olifantsfontein. It is at the publisher now. We have a copy of the first seminal work on the uniquely South African ceramic pottery which we bought at Collector's Treasury. We're looking forward to Professor Duffy's book launch soon!