Hello Friends, for those of you who are new, welcome! The majority of friends reading this have known me for quite a while, many of them were customers of my shop in Santa Cruz. It was the kind of store where someone might come in for a gift or a sofa, and we would spend an hour talking about life.
It’s now mid-March and I have been trying to write something since the new year. Happy New Year! As always I have high hopes for new beginnings. I took the image below from my office on New Years Day. We’ve all had quite a wet winter!
Hidden In the Hills last November was incredible! You might remember I told you I would be on the morning news to promote it, and I think it really helped. The crew walked in one minute before it aired live, we ran long, I did not show what I wanted, but I think it turned out fine (watch it here). We had over 2000 people come through and they had a great time, my artists and I were thrilled! I just about sold out, when it was all over my walls and niches were so bare. I have been wanting to weave for a while, and I had found this gorgeous hand spun, hand dyed indigo yarn (at the thrift!) so I picked some dried brittlebush and made this quick little piece. The bees are from Sharon McCoy, found at the Sonoran Arts League. I offered classes and this week some lovely ladies are coming over to make charcuterie sets while learning the basics of hand building. Fingers crossed the weather stays lovely so we can work in the courtyard.
This will be the second year I’m making art full time. Mostly. I did take on an interior design job. I swore I wouldn’t but I love to help and my client is going to love the final results! It’s allowed me to sign up for some interesting workshops. I’m headed to Connecticut in June, and am on the lookout for other cool classes. I am interested in so many art forms and have so many ideas in my head right now it’s hard to keep focused. Only 9 months until the next HITH!
I’ve just added my newest pieces to my online store, right now there is a good collection of work but they are going fast! I am continuing to make and still need to add this collection below.
In case you missed it on Instagram or Facebook, we went on a safari! It was the coolest thing I have EVER done. I’ve never even thought about it, never been on my radar but Andy wanted to go to South Africa to see his car in production so we made it a real vacation. We stayed at Kwandwe Great Fish River Lodge. It is 56,000 acres and there are 55 guests at any given time in three different lodges so you rarely see anyone else, only the animals! They are restoring the native habitat after years of farming and reintroducing endangered species, as well as giving back to the local community. We were three feet away from a pair of young lion brothers and watched them stalk a warthog, we were almost trampled by a huge bull elephant. This is my FAVORITE video!
We went on foot to get a look at a white rhino with her young one, exhilarating! What got me the most was the colors. The zebra hang out with the giraffe because they can see further so they know when to run. The colors of them together was so beautiful! It was also the same colors as I saw…wait a second.
I wrote this on the way to the airport so I would remember –
Colors: All over the countryside bright green grass with huge ant hills that look like boulders. Even in one small area, they’ll be completely different colors, from deep to light terracotta to light gray, slate, tan and almost white. The soil is that varied, reminding me of Sedona, except for these massive anthills. They match the leopard tortoise (above), which match the zebra, which match the giraffe, and springbok and waterbeast and impala. Even the monkeys with white and black faces on warm gray.
I don’t have many fears – small spaces, dangerous staircases, and monkeys and baboons! I faced my fear on the way back to the room one morning when there were monkeys in the trees on the sides of a bridge I needed to cross. I was terrified but I did it and they didn’t attack me 🙂 The beautiful lodge where we stayed has high lines to keep the bull elephants out, but every other animal might be in the bushes when you walk to your room. On our last evening we watched two herds of elephants (one up very very close and one above us in the mountains) for almost two hours. It was amazing. We followed a herd of five teenage white rhinos, then saw a few more, then a mother and baby, then a black rhino with her baby, and more and more. Our guide and tracker were the best, they better be because our lives were in their capable hands!
We saw mongoose on an anthill, just like in pictures, and a family of ostrich with three babies! We saw buffalo. We saw baboons from far away, thankfully. The only animal we did not see was a leopard, so technically we need to go back, but this trip was such perfection. Every outing was so incredible it almost washed away they memory of the previous. I’m so happy I have some video to refresh, and we hired our guide to take pictures as well. We went out twice a day for about 4 hours each time. In the evenings he would find the most beautiful spot and set up snacks and a bar for sundowners.
This is from the last evening, he made us barbecue, vegetarian for me. I tell you, using the loo in the bushes where there might be any sort of creature hiding out nearby is also very exhilarating! And showering outside in the perfect sunshine where again any sort of animal could be watching you was so fun! I definitely want to put in an outdoor shower when we build our casita. 100% for Andy and I this was our happy place and the best part of our trip by far. We wished we would have stayed there the whole time!
We then went to Cape Town. I need to remind us when planning a vacation that Andy and I do not care for cities. I had no idea what to expect but I think growing up in the SF bay area I am a little jaded. Everywhere we turned it felt like San Francisco, Aptos, San Bruno. We rented a Cobra and drove along the coast that might as well been the PCH. We stayed on Table Mountain, and although it was incredibly windy, the fog rolling over it was pretty a cool thing to watch. We went down to the waterfront which has a spot with juried local vendors. I bought some very cool clothes and fabric (below) that made me cry in front of the shopkeeper as they were the colors I’d fallen in love with. As a designer I’ve had many clients with African artifacts and textiles that they wanted to use in their home. I can honestly say that I have never understood it until now, I’m so sorry, I get it now!
I had filled this box with some elephant food, giant acacia thorns and treasures from Kwandwe and it brought me so much joy to peek in!
We then went to Franschhoek, wine country. Again, I am jaded or just lucky, it felt very similar to St. Helena and the Napa Valley. I enjoyed walking out the door from our lovely hotel and visiting all of the local stores. We went to two wineries with farm to table restaurants and I had the most incredible meals of my life. The weather was perfect the entire trip, we felt so lucky.
On the flight home I watched The Last Tourist. I urge everyone to watch it and share. It’s horrifying to see what is happening to humans, animals and the planet because of the tourism industry and the fact that people just don’t think about the impact they’re having.
I’m still wrapping my head around this trip and the fantastic things we experienced. We got back home over a week ago and I’m still recuperating. I had SO much energy at the safari lodge. I was on minimal sleep and hopped out of bed at 5am every morning, unheard of for me.
If you are social media inclined, I’m putting a few things on tic toc, pretty active on Instagram and I have shared some things on Facebook recently. I’m seriously considering YouTube because I’ve found that I love to ramble on about different things and don’t like being limited by time.
One last image, I’ve just installed the safari inspired pods I made when we got back. And this awesome elephant egg to remind us how we could have been trampled, a newly made vase, a piece of Willie, our saguaro that fell last year, and some porcupine needles I brought home 🙂
Much love, I hope you’re doing well,
Scarlett
