Update Monday December 14th 2009.
Spent the last week doing more of this thing called 'relaxing' and
can highly recommend it. Have read so many books that I have even taken to writing the
great literary novel in my head which is going to make me rich and even more infamous .
My inspiration wlll be the great South Easterly wind that has
been blowing through Froggy Farm over the last four days. The book will be a tragedy
along the lines of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, but instead of Quasimodo calling out
THE BELLS, THE BELLS, in desparation, I have a vision of Hughie calling out THE WIND, THE WIND with
the same dramatic intonation. This is about as far as I have got on the great literary novel
but will keep you posted.
On a more serious note the wind is pretty fierce, gusting at
up to 40/50 miles and hour and when you open the front door you make sure that you are
holding on pretty tight. You will notice if you ever get the oportunity to visit this part of South
Africa that the trees all appear to grow slightly slanted in one directation and the explanation is
this very strong summer wind that can blow continously for weeks on end.
On wednesday went to see the outputs from a workshop in
University of Cape Town last week on digital storytelling . When Hughie was out here earlier this
year, he had worked with Lesley and Cat to compile
digital stories that were being told by the San People about Rock Art up in Wildedebeest
Kuil beside Kimberly. Some of the outputs from this can be seen on You Tube and also
on www.kalaharipeoples.net website. The session in the University was very interesting and
the potential of digital storytelling for communication as a way of capturing and
imparting information and knowledge could be very powerful.
On the same day we went to see the Rhodes monument which is very near
the University. It was erected in memory of Cecil Rhodes who was one of many founding fathers
of South Africa and looks out across the plain towards the sea in the west and the Mountains in the
Nortrh. No doubt the view from the memorial has changed drastically since it was built, but
it is still a very imposing monument and not even slightly 'understated' which is how Lesley
referred to it before we arrived at the site! Cecil Rhodes had a dream of extending the
British Empire in Africa from the Cape to Cairo, indeed his dying words at the age of, I think, 49
were a rather understated quote -
"so little done, so
much to do.''
mary
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