Happy Easter and Happy Holidays to all! (I got Easter Eggs for the boys and stashed them away and out of sight, for the Easter egg Hunt to come. However, a week after I had finished my liver detox diet (and was self righteously proclaiming its benefits to everyone!)… I RAIDED the secret chocolate egg stash …needless to say…I need to get more Easter Eggs or else the boys might excommunicate the Bunny FOREVER!)
WORKING
Finesse Column : Check out my column in the latest Finesse magazine…its called ‘On NAUGHTY CHILDREN’ / 'OOR STOUTE KINDERS' … its essentially a tribute to Asjas’ little boy … but is actually in honour of all ‘spirited’ children everywhere … (and their parents who… lovingly …put up with them!!!)
The ‘F’Word- Did this speech at the Voelgoed expo and got such a great response that am including it in my Motivational Talks lineup – It deals with the taboo topic of Forgiveness.
Green & Blue / Groen & Blou…Handed all the illustrations over to Publishers today. Working on layout and then book goes into print… should be on the shelves in June! Yippee! Got the boys and their friends to do some of the Green and Blue pics too. So have ended up with blue buffaloes, blue monkeys, green dragons, green princesses and a HUGE blue ice cream courtesy of Benjamin!
Here’s an excerpt:
‘And Mom likes GREEN...’ said Steven with a smile ‘ Green cos she is delirious …( that’s a big word for ‘crazy about’)…. trees!’ he added, ‘ Green lettuce from our garden…her eyes are green ….her diary is green…’,
'…She loves the green light sabre sword in Star Wars…and the green part inside a peppermint chocolate…’ gabbled Billy.
'Chocolate is cool’ said Jonathan.
DANCING
Hey! I went to a Mr Y - Neil Diamond concert the other night! Went with some of the Sex in the Suburbs moms (Cos the show was at our kids’ school) … Must say it was quite a new and weird experience going to one of his concerts as neither a girlfriend nor wife. Just goes to show that even at my (tender young! ) age…new experiences always lie ahead of me! Well my alter ego, Roxy Sydenham took over, and has written an entry in her WASSUP section about the evening… so if you’re interested in what went down please read on in Who’s Roxy Sydenham…just bear in mind that she embellishes most tales!
GREENING
Hope you guys took part in Earth Hour in March? Every year more people commit to creating consciousness around the subject ( or… most importantly… exploit the shady hour with a spot of surreptitious snogging!) . My boys had friends sleeping over and at 8:30 I used Earth Hour as an excuse to calm them all down. By candlelight I read them stories until all but Sebastian had nodded off to dreamland. As I left he whispered…’I’m glad we’re trying to help the polar bears mom…goodnight’. I also encouraged my friends to brave the dark for an hour and get romantic over some candles… and my friends Danny and Kim sent this pic!
READING
Reading Sarah Ban Breathnach’s ‘Something More’. Beautifully scribed and very powerful stuff. Ironically am ploughing through her chapters about marriage and survival. Also reading A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian. By Marina Lewycka………… Crazy lovely novel which follows an immigrant Ukranian family in
‘Use the technology which the engineer has developed, but use it with a humble and questioningly spirit. Never allow technology to be your master, and never use it to gain mastery over others.’
A little out of the box …which I love of course… with a fresh and funny writing style.
TWEETING
Am trying NOT be a techno twit…so my techno terrific sister has hooked me up to the strange phenomenon of Twitter. Please join me so I don’t feel like the only little bird sitting on the telegraph pole! My username is tashasutherland …so start tweeting …or is that twittering? or tweaking? or ….never mind…should be TEWIFFIC HUH?!
BREATHING
Snippie Forsythe and her hubby treated the boys and I to a weekend up in the mountains past Lydenberg. Lucy Dover and her family joined in. There were seven kids between us! My boys thought it was the best time of their lives. There were mountain hikes, story telling, charades, treasure hunts …and their clothes were drenched in dirt at the end of every day! Just the way it should be! I had good soul breathing time too! Yoga every morning facing the magical mountains and horserides in the mist. YUM! Luverlly Stuff!
P.S. The Horse I rode was called Lucky. So Snippie (who is intent on setting single me up with some single dude) wryly commented that ‘at least Natasha got Lucky in Lydenberg!!’
SEEING
My sister, Tami, and friend Cynthia came for a visit over the hols, and cos the boys were at dad for the week we decided to do a 3 movie fest in one day! It was mad. Talking rabbits, adrenalin addicted bomb disposal dudes, jabberwocky duels, pre communist
Alice
Joy and chocolate to all
Love
Natasha