Sunshine Simplicities

𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱: Honestly… I don’t know what I was hoping to find, but this is the dungeon of the Victoria Manor Hotel in Cradock, and when I saw that opening in the wall… well, it’s that thing called curiosity. And lucky for me, I’m not a cat.

Also, I’m calling it a dungeon, it sounds cool. But you can call it a cellar if you like.

The history in this building seeps through the walls, down every passage, up every staircase and beyond every door… but nowhere as much as in the dungeon.

You see, during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the Victoria Hotel (as it was known back then) was commandeered by British forces, who turned the cellar into a jail for captured Boers.

And in this dark and dusty dungeon 125 years ago, prehaps a soldier slipped a coin into the dust. And prehaps I was hoping to find this.

Or a letter. Yes, a secret letter would have been even better.

But besides a few cobwebs, I left with nothing, except maybe an even wilder imagination. What if there’s a…

“No, there isn’t. Just stop it.”

And then I dusted myself off, went back upstairs and joined the others on stage for our panel discussion on Day Two of the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival at Die Tuishuise and Victoria Manor.❤️

Putting these poor Fast Fox vellies to the test🤣.

𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀: I talk a lot, sometimes even to myself, but this was something else.

My slot was 1 hour 15 minutes, presenting to a room full of educators, academics, authors, poets… clever people really; about short story writing and social media, and how best to integrate the two.

So I did my thing, presented my slides and then beamed up an image. Surprise!

“You have 10 minutes to write a story. What you see and what you feel when you look at this photo.”

Evil laugh… hehehe turning the tables. How ever did I find myself in this blissful predicament…🤭

“No talking. Cell phones away please. Right, you may begin.”

I kid you not. That room was silent.

Some deep in thought, staring at the image. Others immediately began scribbling away as the time ticked by.

“4 minutes.”

Everybody writing their stories. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

“Pens down, thank you.”

And then I randomly chose stories to read. We didn’t have enough time to read them all, I wish I could have. I didn’t want anybody to think their work was not worthy of being read aloud.

The ones I did read were absolutely beautiful. So evocative. Thought provoking. Real.

I have all the stories with me and can’t wait to read them.

It’s been an insanely busy weekend at the Schreiner Karoo Writers Festival and I have loads and loads to share with you.

Festival things, old buildings, graveyard mysteries… Lesa-Maré Harris and myself even created our very own ‘stoep tasting’ last night.🤣

But I’ll tell you about that later. Or maybe not.🫣🍷🤪

Die Tuishuise and Victoria Manor
ZBrands South Africa
Amazwi South African Museum of Literature
AVBOB Poetry
Fast Fox Brand

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 '𝗹𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆' 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆: Except for the first bit. Also, it’s a long post.

Many ladies have asked me what lipstick I use… well, MY colour has just been discontinued 😫.

And then I popped into Foschini in Walmer Park and there it was, L’Oreal Matte Resistance, colour 245… the angels began singing.

I walked out with the last two… mind you I think I should have bought the ‘tester’ as well. Also, it was on a ridiculous special.

Side note: Be sure to let your lipstick dry 100% before eating, drinking etc. (I do have permanent lipstain. But it’s too light and was an absolute waste of time, money and pain.)

Anyway… back to the real subject.

Men can join in here.🙋‍♂️

So I also spotted my fave Rimmel Brow Pen. And it was also marked down. The choralling angels just took it up a level.🎶

I bought four.

Anyway, that brow pen got me thinking about mean people.

You see, a few weeks back a friend-of-friend told me she has a problem with my eyebrows! Like her face looked truly pained when she said it.

It started with her telling me how much she loves my red lipstick, and my blog.

“But those brows! No… those need to go”

Excuse me? What!

I mentioned it to her the next time I saw her, thinking maybe she had just had one too many tipples and lost her filter that time.

Nope... seems them brows are causing her much distress.🥸

And this has had me thinking…

People can be mean. Sometimes totally unintentionally. I promise you, this friend did not say this from an ugly place. She just didn’t think.

Folks we need to be kinder. We don’t always get it right, but we seriously need to try.

This wasn’t even about a faceless troll on social media.

This was a friend telling me she doesn’t like something about my appearance.

I mean what gives an individual the right to crit others on their personal choices. Be it hair colour. Dress sense. Eye shadow. Or heaven forbid… eyebrows🤣.

Yes, by all means tell me discreetly if my make-up is smudged, if there’s a bat in the cave 🦇, or if I have the proverbially asparagus in my teeth.

But don’t make it personal.

And this brings me to social media.

Throughout the day, I am checking. For scammers, for trolls, for mean people. I have learnt to ignore them, but I worry about them upsetting you. Harrassing you, being mean to you.

So I refresh, I hide, delete and block.

(I block a lot, sorry if it meant you didn’t win that Hilux🤣)

I lose followers, and that’s okay. We don’t need them here in our happy place.

Personally, I chose to put myself out there by starting this page. Never knowing if people would like it or follow me.

I write, read, cringe, read, post, edit, save. And hold my breath.

Every single post.
Every single day.

And that’s my choice. I love what I do. And I love writing. And taking photos.

But please don’t be mean to each other.

Brent Lindeque wrote about online bullying the other day. It was an incredible article. He writes so damn well. Somebody didn’t like his hair again.

Anyway… he spoke about the dangers of online bullying. About how he had broad enough shoulders to manage the ugliness but how so many other folk don’t.

And how your words could be the tipping point in a person’s life. Remember, we have no idea what someone is going through. Right now, in this very moment.

A day or two later, Claudia Henkle did a video about how trolls have really hurt her. She was so sad. And then ladies continued in the comments, being mean about her eyebrows. I kid you not.

What is it about eyebrows?🥸

People… we need to stop this.

It hurts.
Creates self-doubt.
It brews.
And it consumes.

But I am also darn stubborn. So I’ll also show you the finger when I want to.

I bought four! Four brow pens!🤣

So to celebrate finding my red lipstick and my brow pen, I went to the Wimpy and had a good old burger and chips. Wimpy is my downfall😬.

Please note the tap water. This is to cancel the chip calories.🤣🤣🤣

Also, I only ate half the bun. And I ran. So the calories and I are good.

Anyway, can we all try to be a little more kind. A smile, a hug, a compliment.

Or you can give me wine.🍷That’s also kind.