L’Atelier Colette….

My beautiful friend Colette has recently opened a stylish Atelier in her home town of Stellenbosch and it is truly a treasure ! I have stolen some of her images  from her blog, because you have to see how incredible the Atelier is-she hosts regular open days and sells the most exquisite range of French linens and furniture and  other desirable” objets “!

all images via http://labrocanteuse.blogspot.ae/

I am beyond jealous of anyone living close enough to be able to pop in and absorb the ambiance of this lovely space.

Colette and I worked together in a design store a hundred years ago and we became close friends, mostly due to our mutual obsession with design and decoration. Her home was an old double story Durban house and was filled with the most beautiful furniture, linens and artwork I had ever seen. One would have imagined I may have been slightly intimidated by such a doyenne of taste and style but she was kind, generous and warm and embraced me like a member of her family. Her husband traveled a lot at the time, so we spent a huge amount of time together and I remember her once serving me a plate of soup on a tray with a white linen cloth, silver cutlery, an individual butter dish with beautifully rolled butter balls and a crystal glass of wine. Everything she touched she made special , unique and exquisite and as I have got older I have realised that “effortless” style like that takes a lot of work.

   

Looking at her images of her store, it is clear to me that she has infused the space with her very special touch. For those of you lucky enough to live close  to Stellenbosch, please do keep and eye on her Facebook page for the next open day.

all images via http://labrocanteuse.blogspot.ae/

She also has a blog called La Brocanteuse-definitely worth a read for anyone whol loves French style.

L’Atelier Colette-Stellenbosch South Africa

Contact number: +27 83 454 3963

I wish my wonderful friend Colette all the success in the world…I hope she has many, many busy open days and that there are still a few items left by the time I eventually get my act together and go to Stellenbosch for a visit!!

365 Paintings for Ants..

image viahttp://paintingsforants.tumblr.com/

The title captivated me instantly….the miniature paintings mesmerised me…this artist is incredible! I love her work, not only for the fact that she lives and works in arguably the most beautiful city in the world, but also for the fact that she is South African and her works reflects every day life in that crazy country that I still view as home.

image via http://paintingsforants.tumblr.com/

image via http://paintingsforants.tumblr.com/

View Lorraine Loots website and work here: 

 

The Notorious Melissa Bachman……

I am on my soap box yet again….

image via http://www.mirror.co.uk/

This image has shocked South Africa and the world and has prompted people to petition the South African Government to ban Melissa Bachman from ever entering the country again, let alone hunting our incredibly beautiful wild animals. (there are other images of her with a zebra and buck which she killed but I simply could not have them on my blog)

While I loathe to give this heartless woman even a small bit of additional publicity, I feel compelled to add my voice to the almost 300 000 people who find her actions equally as abhorrent as I do. The online petition can be found here–please take a few minutes and sign the petition to stop this woman from ever being allowed back into South Africa to hunt. American (and others) big game hunters pay enormous amounts of money to hunt animals in South Africa and there are game farms where the animals are bred specifically for this purpose. That in itself is barbaric, and worthy of a blog post of its own , but in this woman’s case, the animal was rounded up and ” placed ” in the area for her to kill. Where is the challenge in that? Where is the challenge when she uses a rifle with an enormous scope to give her a hugely unfair advantage…there is no skill in that.

My father used to hunt (without fancy rifles and scopes) and while I did accompany him on a couple of trips, it was not something I enjoyed and I certainly do not approve of hunting for sport now.  He would only kill enough animals to give him meat and skins he could use…no part of the animal was wasted and there was no sport in it. This hideous woman’s pride is evident for all to see and it is sickening.

This month has been a particularly bad one for wild animals in Soutth Africa..about a week ago, the Western Black Rhino was  declared officially extinct due to constant and relentless poaching for their horns, which is allegedly an aphrodisiac much sought after by Chinese men with erectile issues. The horn is all the poachers take , and the rest of the animal is left to rot or be eaten by scavengers. It is a huge problem and a fight which the game rangers have sadly lost. I remember as a young child wondering how on earth an animal could become extinct (we were learning about the dodo at the time) and I never ever imagined that I would see animals become extinct in my lifetime. It does not bear thinking about and if we don’t act now, our  grandchildren will be learning about these animals in books because they had all been hunted or poached to extinction.

The biggest problem is that the Government of South Africa condones this method of hunting because of the incredible amount of revenue it brings in…what I find so strange is that they have not considered that this is a finite source of income …what happens when there are no more animals left to hunt? Oops….game parks bring in even larger amounts of revenue than hunting does and it is sustainable as long as the animals are protected from hunters and poachers. Are they truly that short sighted? Surely someone has studied the basics of economics and can see that the short term gains are exactly that?

image via  dangerousanimalswallpapers.blogspot.ae

I am positive that this petition will serve its purpose and I am heartened by the amount of people who have come together to share  their disgust in this woman’s behaviour. It has also reminded me once again of the undeniable power of social media….alone, my voice means very little but combined with the 300 000 other people, the Government HAS to listen and do something.

Please also take the time to read this letter to Melissa Bachman by a South African journalist and blogger. It is extremely well written and sums up my feelings precisely!