Tricia's Thoughts

I was thinking of all of you in cold climates this morning and wanted to share these photo’s with you that I took on Sunday afternoon just before the mother and father of all storms!!

I hope you enjoy them and that they brighten your day!

And then, here is one more from my recent trip to Italy ….. a cold but beautiful sunny day in mid October …..

Yesterday I joined about 99 other people as the audience for a TV chat / panel Show. The reason I went was because a friend of mine was forming part of the panel for one of the shows (they film 2 in the same evening). I certainly was not there to form part of the filmed audience, so sat right at the back, out of camera lighting, with some of my friends. Clapping and laughing at the jokes is ok, I just didn’t want to be filmed. The topics were “Infidelity in marriages and relationships” and “Victim or Victor thinking”.

Both potentially good conversations when people feel safe enough to get beneath the clichés and to really think. They had on the panel for the first one, A leading female TV presenter from our own “Idols”, whose husband had cheated on her; the features editor of FHM (a leading men’s magazine in SA); and the stunningly beautiful owner of a strip club (with 2 of her girls in the audience). Hot stuff …. yes, but all too safely played as Gigi, yes that was her name, played up the innocence, , and the TV presenter was hurt. The features editor was the most deep thinking, and rescued the show. I forgot to mention our host, a DJ from one of the radio stations. Good looking, and with the gift of the gab, but lacked that something that encourages something more from his guests.

The second show on Victim or Victor thinking is very appropriate to SA. Here, they had again shown some originality with the choice of guests, with a leading actor, an ex-SA Beauty Queen, and a motivational speaker. The ex-Beauty Queen was dynamic, not just for her looks or her thoughts, but for what she is actually doing. She was the only one who had originally phrased thoughts, and who was inspiring not by what she said as much as by what she has done.

The whole experience got me thinking about what makes a good show, or for that matter a good conversation, and I’m sure they will do something good in the cutting room with what occurred. However in real life, we don’t get a cutting room and conversation is increasingly a dying art. So here’s my first thoughts about this in no particular order:

• Passion for what is being discussed
• Humour that is clever and not gross
• Clever use of words to get me thinking … Happy’s Blog is one of the classics for me in this (I hope you don’t mind me mentioning you?)
• A point of view that differs from the norm – being original in thinking
• judgement-free dialogue (judgements kill the conversation since they beg an argument or acquiescence – they’re like yes/no questions).
• personal stories
• talking from the heart, – when the speaker preaches, my ears close – I’ve come to hear you, not Wayne Dyer!!
• speaking from an ‘I’ perspective not “we” – owning what is said – it’s amazing how this changes what I’m able to say when I put myself in the picture and don’t just aim it at “you”.
• Respect for one another’s ideas ….. maybe this should be first …
• the ability to listen to what other’s say
• questions …. not assuming all the answers … it’s is interesting to note that the more exciting the conversation is, the more questions are raised. If the conversation stays in the safe harbour of what (we) I think, my mind is not switched on ….
• Leaving ego at the door … it’s about the conversation not how good/clever/profound I look saying what I’m saying ……

I wonder what you would add to the list …. and I wonder if I should change the name of my blog from Tricia’s Thoughts (much as I love the alliteration) to Tricia’s conversation ….. I’d much rather be having a conversation ……

What a day!! I’ve spent the whole day sorting through all my music and copying it onto my laptop and IPod so that I won’t have heavy CD’s to cart with me and still have everything I love with me. I’ve not finished yet, but I’ve 951 albums recorded so far!!! There’s at least another 100 to go!!

It’s not just copying them … it is also that I’m taking the time to sort them as well and having such fun meeting old faithfuls that I’ve not heard for some years.  Nostalgia!! It’s hard to beat.

When I get this finished, I need to sort all my pictures ……

What a week!!!

Tanya went into hospital yesterday and they operated to do a bone graft on her so badly, sadly mangled and broken bones in her leg. The operation went well so she is home now and starting the whole recuperation process. The leg hurts a bit, but the modern painkillers are superb. She’ll have to keep her leg up for the weekend, but after that she’ll be hobbling around again and the healing process should speed up dramatically.

Zilla, my other daughter will have her knee operated on in December, 7th. This looks to be a simple procedure through a “key hole”!!  She should be out the same day, and then a week later she flies out here for 4 weeks holiday. 4 weeks!!! This is going to be the longest holiday we will all have had. The time is planning out beautifully. We will have a week in Mozambique, 4 nights in a game reserve, another 4 at a popular beach resort (so the grandchildren can be with other youth for New Years Eve) and then down to St Francis and the wonderful restful time by the sea in Tanya and Paul’s house there. Bliss … I can’t wait.

Meanwhile, the movers are moving in on 18th to pack and move all my stuff, and before that I’m off to Cape Town for 5 days to do some teaching.

At the guesthouse, the whole sale process continues, and it looks as though this wonderful place will go to Auction in the first week of December. It’s been a difficult time, because we had an offer, and had to decide if we accepted the offer or took the risk of auction ….. the odds make the auction more attractive right now.

And … they finally managed to put Windows 7 on my laptop. Now I’m having to discover what all the differences are. The machine has speeded up, and that’s the first thing I notice, and it all looks cleaner. I’ll let you know as I find other advantages …..

Take care, all of you and have a good weekend.

Sunday morning …. SUN day morning … sun shining softening the slight crispness of this still spring like morning … all the trees in bloom so that Johannesburg seems to be wearing a wonderful green and purple mantle that picks out all the avenues. Johannesburg is THE most treed city in the world, and at this time of the year it is magnificent with it’s coloured mantle.

I woke gently, and took time to shower and dress, revelling in the beauty around me. Then, with a friend went in search of breakfast …. Zoo Lake beckoned, but when we got there it was crowded with people. Artist’s in the Sun display their work on the 1st Sunday of the month, and there was a large Marquee up which indicated that there was more than this happening. I wasn’t in the mood for crowds, so we drove round the corner to a little Italian coffee shop that makes the best cappuccino’s in SA! They’re closed on Sundays. Un-deterred, we drove around another corner to a new place I’d noticed with a large garden patio area so we could sit outside under the trees and surrounded by birds.

This place turned out to be a delight. A wholly organic place with the lightness of touch of French patisseries!! Free-trade Coffee, a shot of wheatgrass (terribly healthy but rather like munching alongside cows!!), Eggs Benedict, and an oatmeal apple pancake with creme fraiche. A totally decadent breakfast leisurely taken. Catherine who runs Gingko is a lovely hostess/chef/owner. and the experience is definitely one to repeat. By the time we left, Lunch was out on the buffet, and it was a very tempting site with lots of unusual combinations, colours, smells. I’m definitely taking Sally (the chef at High View Gardens) there to sample and be inspired.

Then we cruised the streets of JHB, heading north towards my daughters home. She’d been calling me all week to come and see the changes to her garden. We spent a lovely couple of hours admiring her work, sipping champagne (I’ve forgotten what we were celebrating – probably the changes to the garden) and feasting on a delicious salad my granddaughter made.

From there, back towards home, but a brief side visit to see a friend who is feeling very crook, with a viral infection. We didn’t stay long, but long enough to cheer her up a bit and make her laugh, before heading home, tired … extremely well fed, and with that lovely glow that comes after a day outside with friends, family, laughter and the odd glass of bubbly!!

Now, I’m all set for a busy week again. It’s been ages since I’ve had such a decadent and relaxing day.

I’m off to the hospital this morning to hear what the doctor has to say about Tanya’s leg, then back to meet with the removal people who will be here to give me a quote, meeting with the auctioneers who will give me a valuation on this place, and then a meeting with some staff who have concerns over the changes ….. meetings, meetings, meetings!!!!

OooH, and also somewhere in there, I want to pop in and have Windows 7 installed ……….

Enjoy your day ….