Tiah Beautement's Blog, page 181

The lessons of clothes

I am a regular reader of the blog, The Thoughtful Dresser, by Linda Grant. The blog is not updated as frequently now that her book of the same name is out. However, she still does post from time to time. Her last post brought another blog to my attention, Advanced Style. I especially enjoyed this post. Maybe it has something to do with that poem by Dylan Thomas, "Do not go gentle into that good night." Or maybe it has to do with my wonderment the first time I saw members of the Red Hat Society s

Knot Knitting Write Along....

Think we may have over done the puns... Since my last knitting post I have accomplished this: Yep, that's it. Bosom Buddies better not be waiting by their post box ...sheesh. Is that all you have on the needles? No. I also have this: But I haven't touched any of it since my parents left from their visit...in June... I miss knitting. The problem is that I have too much to do during my "child-free" moments, and my knitting is not up to snuff to knit most of it while children are awake. I can do th

Black impulse shopping

Monday I took two children to the grocery store(s). Just before concluding our nightmare day I spontaneously threw in two juice boxes. At the sight of the juice their eyes widen to the size of saucers in wonderment of their good luck.They hadn't even asked for them - what a treat! It was an impulse purchase - the juice boxes sported drawings of black children on them. Amazing. I have a niece who is going through a big Barbie and ballet stage. So I bought her a ballet Barbie for Christmas. No, no

Andre Brink

Some books are like a portrait in words: Before I Forget, by Andre Brink US, UK, SA I found this book achingly beautiful, sensual and moving. So much so, that I worry when I read another of his works I'll be disappointed if it isn't as good. (Clearly, I am not scared enough, because another of his works followed me home from a bookshop the other week....) Andre Brink is another well-know, highly respected literature heavy weight. Like Nadine Gordimer, he is a patron of New Contrast Magazine. Som

A case for the short story

My grandmother is well known for her saying regarding motherhood: "Sometimes all you accomplish is that your children grow a day older." There is a lot to be said for that little line of wisdom. A lot. I could make an entire blog post about it, but for today, I am using it for just one purpose : To illustrate that many women don't read because they can hardly get anything done other than survival. Life with small children is chaos, a little fact that people like to sweep under the carpet. (Yes,

Who is today's woman?

From today's Guardian: You're yesterday's woman, Bridget Interesting. And... ? So we are to be over the books of Jane Austin, yet have main characters with a backbone who may be aware of fashion, but not ruled by it. Did the writer of the article actually ever read Jane Austin? In fact - didn't Lizzie in Pride and Prejudiced have a backbone? What was fluffy and dizzy about Elinor in Sense and Sensibility? Jane Austin was scathing about her social commentary about the plight of women in genteel s

We're back and I now know my password

Hello. We're back. My brain is fried. Other than that small detail, life is good. We, the children and I, had lovely time. I did not get lost. I did not manage to get myself into weird situation. I felt like I was on holiday despite having two extra children around. We even went to the Aquarium and I enjoyed it very much. Oh, and met the nice person who still seems like a nice person face to face. I was scared shirtless, but think dealing with neurotic people is par for the course in nice person

Blog boundaries

Because I have a tendency to see my life as a "comedy in error," there is an understandable misunderstanding amongst some people to think nothing goes right in my life. Which always leads to a puzzled look on my face thinking, "Last I checked I live in a house, both kids are still alive, husband hasn't left me and we eat three meals a day plus snacks...doing rather well, I think." No, I'm not being flippant. As a woman who was essentially told her first son was dead in utero (idiots), and learni

So how poor are you?

When I first proposed ball-skills the teacher looked at me eagerly and announced, "I have over 60 kids for you to teach!" 60+children/3 = 20+ kids a session Um, excuse me...actually did I say I'd do this? *runs away screaming* There is only one of me. Darling "assistant" does not count. These were numbers I could not handle on poor sleep with a baby in tow. Thus, to lower the numbers we eliminated all the children enrolled in the professional organisation's class. That one elimination cut my cla

I think we're in Cape Town

I am in Cape Town. At least I hope I am. I am actually writing this on Monday while waiting for somebody to charge up my car battery. But blog has cool "publish on X date" feature, and blog tells me it is happy to post this post on Wednesday. Guess we'll see if it works. And if it does work, it will be Wednesday when you read this, and I will be in Cape Town - I hope. It isn't going well. You may have guessed that at the words "charge up my car battery." But really, that is...