I have never considered myself artistic. Even as a child I preferred to read the names of the crayon colors and organize them into little Virgo sorted categories than to use them to create. I would rather colour in and focus on staying within the lines than to draw or paint my own picture. So how I end up in any art classes is usually by accident rather than design.

My friends Retha and Patty had attended an art class in our village which was based on something called Awakening Spirit Through Art, or ASTAR. There is more info on the process here, but in summary it is utilizing the healing power of art made in an atmosphere of total acceptance, using a variety of methods to help adults to let go of fear and judgement and to bypass the analytical mind to enable free authentic expression. Retha showed me her pieces and I instantly signed up. 

Retha and I attended the class yesterday and I loved it. It was in a stunning, bright studio in Celeste’s gorgeous home here in Hout Bay and there were about 10 women attending this week. There is a different ‘theme’ each class, the theme for this class was circles. We were each given a large circle of paper.

We started out with Celeste the instructor showing us how to use the various mediums.

There were lots of different bits and pieces to play with, from fabric, beads, paper, seashells, sand, glitter, paints, dyes, washes, crayons & pastels to all manner of things to explore.

We were asked to choose a seat, each seat had been set up with various tools. Celeste then asked us to close our eyes and she grounded us and took us through a visualization to a past memory. She took us to the age of 5 years old, which to me was a time of great, deep emotional pain and trauma. I could not land on a happy memory. My mind has shut out so much of my childhood at that age. She then took us to a place in our memory where we were ‘creating’ something and my memory leapt forward and settled on a painting class I had attended when I first moved to South Africa 24 years ago. That was my memory.

I didn’t think or let my mind get in the way of the creative process. I just picked up a pastel and started. We filled in the inner circle.

I used paper, pastels, dye, feathers, dried flowers and paint. I’ve only now recognized that the dried Bougainvillea was the same plant we had growing on the wall of the house I lived in when I moved to George.

We then had a tea break and were served muffins, cheese and drinks. As Norm had so kindly made me cheesy scrambled eggs and bacon that morning before I left I only had a coffee. 

We then had to blindly choose a card turned face down from a tray. Mine was the perfect message for an analytical Virgo.

Nothing is a coincidence.

We then settled back into completing the outside circle of our piece. I used a white feather to represent my Cherokee ancestors, the Guinea fowl feather is for my present African existence. Kalahari sand for Africa, with a flower above each to represent my grandmother and the many hours spent digging in Georgia dirt planting the flowers she dearly loved.

I really did succeed in not using my concious mind, I just let it all evolve organically. When we finished we stuck them up on the wall and we all had to say one positive thing that we liked about our piece. We were asked to say nothing about our other fellow attendee’s art. 

When it was my turn, I said that I was pleased with how it represents my life coming full circle. My original Cherokee roots speaking to my newer African roots. The Native to Native common thread. 

We will attend a follow up class in a few weeks, but I really enjoyed it and would recommend it. I give it a 5 Kitten stars rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. 

After we finished I went round to Retha’s place for a bit then she dropped me home. Norm and I watched the Olympic triathlon event then later we had a date night as Caitlin is away in George for a baby shower.

We went to Constantia village as we fancied Japanese food, only to discover that where the Japanese restaurant used to be is now another branch of Raj which is an Indian food restaurant. I’ve not heard great things about them and they were pretty empty so we went to Primi Piatti. We were pleasantly surprised to discover they had enlarged their offerings to include Low Carb options! We got off to a rough start as we were served sparkling water rather than still and the cocktail I ordered was basically a glass of frozen ice.

As a starter Norm ordered the salad caprese, but the waiter heard ‘Greek salad’. Never mind, Norm seemed to enjoy it.

I ordered the Caesar Lettuce Wraps at R65. Baby cos leaves filled with crispy bacon & grilled chicken; topped with boiled eggs, croutons, anchovy, pecorino shavings & Caesar dressing. Served with garlic-rubbed crostini which I didn’t eat. The rest was Banting friendly, other than the salad dressing.

I really enjoyed that starter, I ate every bite other than the ciabatta!

For his main Norm chose the fillet steak with mushroom sauce and had cauliflower mash to accompany it, it is called the Filletto al funghi: Flame-grilled beef fillet tournedos, served sliced with a mushroom, green peppercorn, brandy & mustard sauce at R175. It was massive and he loved it. 

I had my fave dish which is non-Banting but as I had minimal carbs all day I wasn’t bothered. It was the CHICKEN CAMPAGNOLA: Scallops of chicken sautéed in garlic, mustard, mushrooms, rosemary, white wine & cream. Served with linguine & roasted vegetables on the side.

The veg arrived separately so Norm and I shared those. I detest rosemary and picked that out when I spotted it. But it was all very yummy.

We had a lovely romantic evening then headed back to Hout Bay.

We are so pleased that so many restaurants in Cape Town are offering Low Carb High Fat options, here is the Eatout list of venues. 

We tried the Col’Cacchio low carb menu on Friday as Norm was in the city for a meeting and we met for a cheeky weekday lunch. They have lots of options.

We both ordered the Chicken Parmigiana on zoodles, the Verde Rosso.


It was so delicious and guilt free. I love zucchini noodles!

We had a hectic week, I’ve been assigned to project manage a new project so I produced my initial deliverables and got as organized as I can prior to the commercials being in place. My Mom went home from the hospital after her accident and is hopefully working towards her goal of coming to SA in October. 

The goodies I ordered from Mr Price Home arrived and I put them out in the lounge.

We have had the full range of weather this week from hot days, pouring rain and wind to the expected norm for August of cold winter days. We had a stunning full moon on Thursday which was still visible while driving into work Friday morning.

Image credit.

This week I was notified that I won a bottle of wine, a tour and wine tasting at Klein Constantia, a local vineyard. I won a competition on Crush.

As it’s my birthday in a few weeks I think I will book it for that weekend.

The Olympics closing ceremony is tonight, it’s been a week of watching all manner of sports. I cheer on all my countries, the US, South Africa, and Great Britain. My Brit husband Norman was involved in the Olympics in 1988 and 2000 and is rejoicing in the high medal count that GB has achieved.

This has been South Africa’s biggest medal count since they were accepted back into the Olympics in 1992. A lot of controversy has surrounded Caster Samenya and her gender. Caster took gold in the 800 meters and had a social media campaign launched in support of her. #HandsOffCaster 

Trying to say that her genetics give her an unfair advantage is no different than saying that a very tall athlete has an advantage in the high jump. Or would be the same if 1.96 meter (6’5″) tall Mahama Cho called foul because he struggled to compete in the Tae Kwondo match against 2.0 meter (6′ 7″) Azerbaijan’s Radik Isaev. 

Today the weather is abysmal, we have spent the day in bed with the doggies watching the Olympic events we missed. 

I’m going to venture out of bed now to make some brunch. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. ❤️