Second Day at Home

We arrived at Heathrow at 0615 am and were in Reading waiting for trains at 0830. I caught a through train and got home at 1130. After that, washing was the order of the day. Everything has been washed  and is dry, waiting to be ironed. Post needs I dealing with and shopping for food.
By this morning, I was rested and had a list of things to do. I had forgotten that I had not finished with the Meyer 12 shaft loom which still had the warp on it from the Summer School.

So I wove off the last two samples using a weft of bamboo/cotton and lambswool and put one sample through my washing machine set to 40 degrees. The second unwashed sample is on the right and the shrinkage is about 40%. I was going to put the second sample through the machine at 60 degrees but I reckon 40 is quite enough. That is enough working on that warp and I have cut it off and tidied the loom up. The next weaving project is to weave as many scarves as I can from some handspun and natural dyed woolI have in the stash. There is a lot of yarn and I am hoping to get four scarves out of the one warp but I still have the sums to do. I have decided that I have a new rule. I have to complete at least one project before I  start on a new one. So this week should see me complete a few things! After all, I am not going away until next July when I go to Sweden. The house on the Aland Islands is booked and I am looking forward to spending time before and after the holiday looking at Swedish weaving. And if Drottningholm is putting on an opera around that time, that will be a magnificent bonus.

Of course I am going to Vienna and to Antwerp before that but they do not count as they are only four days each. And we are having a great get together at New Year to celebrate my eldest daughter's 50th birthday.

I do have paperwork to do and will start on that later today.

San Camp First Day

This is a very unusual place. We flew from Joburg to Maun in Botswana and then in a tiny plane out to the desert, it broke my RAF friends rule of 'Never fly in a plane with one engine'. Rather bumpy and nothing much to see except desert - shades of the Taklamat. Very posh tents which are 1940s. With mahogany furniture and chota hasuri, it keeps reminding me of my childhood. I spent the first ten years of my married life trying to persuade Michael that he would like to get me a cup of tea and a plain biscuit in bed every morning. Anne has just pointed out that I could buy a Teasmaid for this purpose and I will do just that.

Very Small Plane

Drinks at sundown in the desert. Note the array of bottles and the canvas washhand basin with five gallon drum of water for washing. This really brought back memories.

The camp in the desert

A bat eared fox

Alex having his head used as a lookout point by a meerkat. I have loads of meerkat photos which are to be downloaded to Anne when I get home. They keep us very busy here and there has not been much time for ourselves. This morning we also saw a lioness with two cubs but she was very unfriendly and we drove away quickly. The lions here are solitary and not used to vehicles and humans as they are in Nkwali. They are also much larger. No standing twelve foot away and taking photos here!!

I slept very well. I suspect because the night is not full of anything but wind. At Nkwali there were hippos grunting a few yards away, baboons barking danger calls and all sorts of rustling noises which were very alarming especially when they sounded like elephants. Not helped by the knowledge that there were watchmen round the camp all night. Well they would not pay watchmen if they were not needed, would they?

 

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Joburg Airport

A last drive in the desert starting at 0730am, then a four seater Cessna for an hour. Then hours at Maun airport. The Botswanans don't believe in time keeping. Then to Joburg where we are now waiting a flight to London. So it is all over. A great deal to be said for both camps but I would not come again. Anne is determined to come back with the whole family. Me, I am looking forward to getting home to looms.

I have posted some blogs written during our stay in the desert but Google does not like one because it has a lot of photos and takes a long time to upload. I will do this tomorrow when I get home.

 

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End of Summer School

The Summer School is over and I am back home with a huge list of things to do, mostly leading up to going to Africa next Sunday. So I inspected the clothes I want to take, putting them to be dry cleaned,washed or as is. Two loads of washing have been done and a lot of tidying up. I have not unpacked the stuff from the course as I must mend an error or two in someone else's warp. I brought it back from Guild eight days ago and would like to return it (mended, of course) before I leave.

I learnt a few new techniques at the course by Laura Thomas. False leno, a technique which involves incorprating random skips into tabby which produces a nice textured effect and a bit of fulling. The photo below shows my samples after being put through Laura's washing machine at 60 degrees. They have shrunk by 50%. The effect is rather nice and I will try this again to which end I bought some of the same lambswool as Laura uses.

The draft is of three blocks and floats of lambs wool have been created which, when washed and shrunk, pull the bamboo/cotton warp up. I like the one at the bottom best. I threw a weft of bamboo/cotton with every weft of lambs wool so that is pulled up into little loops. It feels really soft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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San Camp Fifth Day

Apart from seeing more meerkats, we went for a walk with the Bushmen in the evening and they showed us how to dig out a scorpion, how to catch birds, they made a fire from sticks, dug up bulbs from the desert to eat and to drink from. All very strange to us and we were very inquisitive about everything.

A tuber to drink from

Bushmen walking home

Some of the women

It has been incredibly hot midday but cold enough first thing to look for a sweater. This morning we spent a long time with the meerkats just observing. There were only us three as everyone else has moved on. And tomorrow we start the long journey home. Here to Maun in a little plane, Maun to Joburg, Joburg to London where we arrive at 0630 on Friday morning. I hope I can post these blogs in Joburg airport.

 

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San Camp Third Day

Last evening we went quad biking on the salt pans. Very exciting and especially when the stars came out- Milky Way and all. There is nothing out there. No noises, no vegetation, no insects which is a plus. This morning we looked at more meerkats.

And saw a very old baobab said to be more than 5000 years old because it has started shrinking.

Livingstone carved his sign on it as he passed by. Anne and Alex went out in the heat of the day because the lioness had been sighted and saw her eating her kill. I opted out. It was too hot outside and I was very comfortable.

I have taken a lot of photos of trees here. Most look dead and are waiting for the rains but there are a number of thorny shrubs which are carrying flowers like mimosa. But note the thorns which are two to three inches long.

 

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Nkwali Second Day

Another drive in the morning. More leopards, antelopes, birds and wart hogs. The latter two insist on moving away at high speed when humans appear so I have only limited photos.

Here is one of a bee-eater which I did manage to take. He. Is about five inches long.g

And here is a zebra. The tails are like well made braids, very regular in black and white with a black tassel at the end. I must try to get a photo.

A picture of the river crossing. We have taken to crossing a little downstream - by driving across. Unnerving. Yesterday evening we drove north up the main road to cross into the park at the main entrance. A different kind of landscape there. Rolling meadows with lots of grazing animals. One meadow had impala, warthogs, giraffes on it. When it gets dark, the driver's helper uses a powerful light to search for night animals. And we saw a couple of leopards. We watched a male leopard first as he searched for food then after 20 minutes or so, there was a ferocious snarling and a lot of movement which turned into the male chasing a female leopard up a tree. He sat at the bottom of the tree waiting for her but she was not having it. So he wandered off. After a while, she came down, had a sniff around and a hyena arrived feeling hostile at which our hero returned and the hyena retired rapidly to a great deal of snarling. All of this drama was lit up by a search light from our vehicle. I don't see why the animals ignore the light but there you are.

And I had a few textile thoughts this morning, to do with dead. white tree skeletons seen against a dark green background. I have not quite worked out how to do this yet. Weave the background and discharge it with a screen print of a tree. I will have to check but I have a feeling discharge paste rots silk. I wonder if a screen print using Seta colour would work or possibly that would run too much. Watered down acrylic paint. It sounds as though drawing is required as a start. Fortunately the current warp on the Megado is long enough for experiments. Manutex?

Off for tea now. The food is exceptional. I particularly like the salads at lunchtime. Anne and I have taken to writing down how we think the more interesting dishes are made.

 

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