stopping to smell the marigolds

Okay, okay, I’ll admit it – in these last couple of months, I have bitten off far more than I can chew. Every day when I wake up I make new lists, and have become increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of things I have/want/need to do. I still have orders to finish before next week, and four more markets to attend before the 25th. There’s also experimenting to be done with a new cotton manufacturer, experimenting with alpaca, some family business, a product shoot for The Carpenter’s Shop…the list goes on.

But I found time in the last couple days to do two things, and this gives me hope for better time management skills in the future: I planted marigolds in a blue ceramic pot,

(it’s not unusual for me to buy plants and then forget about them, until they’ve fossilised in their original containers),

and I consulted with a Chinese medicine practitioner about my gammy back. Parts of me feel better since I saw him on Thursday and let him stick needles in me, other parts don’t, but I think the pudding-test will be tomorrow, during and after the Kirstenbosch market. If I can barely move by the time we need to pack up, I probably won’t do a follow-up appointment. But if I can make it to the car unaccompanied, I’ll definitely go back. Also, he reckons that my spine issues probably started about four years ago, when I went down the slide in my local park, at Alex’s urging, and forgot to put my legs out when I landed. On my coccyx. Yep, it was bad. And stupid. Sigh.

Most retailers in South Africa will be closed tomorrow in honour of Nelson Mandela (it’s the funeral at Qunu), even the biggies like Woollies and Pick n’Pay, but at the Kirstenbosch Market we will wear black flowers and donate a percentage of sales to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

Back soon x

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