DAY 19 4 August 2017 We have plants!

There is an avo tree in the garden but they don't bear fruit until about 7 years old. 

George adjusted the drainage levels to the Suikinkitsu and tomorrow we will know if it has been successful. The tap gets turned on in the morning... 

One of the chicken's has gone broody and has been put into solitary confinement. Huge commotion and clucking. 

The big event was going to buy plants at a couple of nurseries. Lots of helpful advice and we came home with a boot full of ferns, black grass (Ophiopogon nigrens) and white agapanthus. We also bought materials for the final building projects.

Waterside planting for the Yin pool

Wiseman planted most of the plants around the Yin pool and it looks very good; the plants in the cracks in the wall will be the finishing touch.

DAY 18 3 August 2017 Pond and Pebbles

Waterproof membrane and stone edging down.

Wiseman the gardener, cleared the compost heap from one of the banana pits today and it's quite a deep hole. The chickens loved it and all moved in to feast on the insects and grubs.

Pond construction underway  

The highlight of the day was laying the membrane and waterproofing around the Suikinkitsu; then laying the edge stones and some of the loose beach-gravel. It's looking good! 

Chicken Heaven

Under Construction  

Slight problem though with the drainage run-off missing the holes in the top of the suikinkitsu! But that will be resolved tomorrow with some ingenuity and waterproof paint. 

One of the daily delights is watching the Trumpeter Hornbills fly back and forth across the site. Smart-looking black and white birds with large bills; they call as they fly. Yesterday I watched one pecking loudly at his reflection in a glass shed-window pane, while his mate looked on bemused!

Hornbills and most birds fly in the same corridor across site. Today a large troupe of Hornbills perched in a nearby tree. 

More fun with the monkeys and water pistol - they really don't like it, but still try and sneak into the chicken coop and peep through the windows to see if there is any fruit left out in the kitchen. Them's clever...

Heavy-duty steak frying for family supper

The water in the house is mainly rainwater collected from the roofs. It is pumped up to a header tank on the dunes once a day with an intriguing whooshing noise; the pump will be solar powered in the future. 

DAY 17 2 August 2017 Three Treasures

Three balls turned up today

More steps and walls today. We are slowly working our way around the site and the new and existing stone walls are linking up in a nice sinuous line.

Steps and Walls

George has started the Sneeze-Wood steps down from the studio. Their position and number of steps has be divined and they look very good as they emerge nicely out of the grass bank.

The Milkwood log that has been lurking in the grass area outside the studio doors has been difficult to resolve. We think it could be split into planks to make a low bench- tomorrow's job perhaps?

Infilling the gap between the oil drum and ceramic pot has called for ingenuity. Glass bottles, abalone shells and expanding foam. 

Three treasures turned up in the shrubbery I was clearing today. A round white pebble, a black ball and a hard dried Guava fruit. Not sure why this is significant?

This evening I divined the edge of the future pond- it is presently a pit for growing bananas which isn't  successful. It lies directly in the Bird Line and will be visible from the studio.

DAY 16 1 August 2017 Yin Pool

Placing black basalt pebbles in the Yin Pool

There was an electricity outage all day from 6.30am-6.50pm. Luckily there is a gas hob and plenty of hot water.

Lots of discussions about siting of objects and vistas across site. We repositioned one of George's sculptures on the 'Bird Line' at the far end of the garden and it looks very good there.

An unusual mixture of infill materials

Wiseman and George tackle more step and wall building and I start infilling the void between the ceramic pot and the oil drum. We decided on glass wine bottles and abalone shells to create a mix of air gaps and resonance.

The Yin Pool is filled with water

Reflections of the Guava tree

We collected a bucket of black basalt pebbles and I finished lining the Yin pool. I filled the pond with water and wonderful reflections of the Guava tree appear.  The overflow water trickles into the base of the 'Mother-stone' and then out into the garden. 

DAY 14 30 July 2017 Divining Rock Art

Koi San Rock Art (diagram) showing animals, shaman and Spirit-energy lines.

It had been raining in the night and it's a cool cloudy morning. The 'Hardedah' in the garden enjoyed the moist earth and worms. 

Hahdedah 

Yoga in the forest at 8.30am for a one and a half hour session, watched by monkeys with jungle bird-song in the trees. It's a continuous yoga flow with no rest between positions - very good for the stamina.

A bit more polishing of the basalt Mother-stone that will form a focus for the Yin Pool

Fragment of rock art that could be divined about 40 feet away

After lunch we visit friends of Claire and George, a retired farmer and his wife in Gonubie, who is an expert on Koi-San (Bushman) artefacts and rock-art. Victor has a collection of fascinating  stone tools that he found on his land, about 50Km away, and has a particular interest in rock art. The  Kei River valley has many sites, some hundreds of thousands of years old, others dating from the Victorian times. They are typically found along low cliff walls in the shelter of the overhanging rocks.

Victor has two fragments of rock art on his wall and tells me that they emit energy fields that can be dowsed and hands me his dowsing sticks. I don't quite believe him, but discover that I can dowse them from various directions and even from across the road.

There are various prints on his wall. They show animals, shamans or spirit guides and mythical spirit animals; they are connected by sinuous spirit lines of energy. Victor explains that the shamans were initiated into the Otherworld through water, and that their guides/teachers were fish-tailed creatures called Abantubomlambo that look very much like mermaids. So she returns...

KoiSan rock art showing mermaid-like spirit guides. 

DAY 15 31July 2017 Polishing Basalt

Polishing the black basalt 'Mother-stone' that will stand by the Yin pool.

I'm intrigued that the Mermaid has returned-four times in three days. I'm not sure why but she has returned in very different guises...

Mermaid 4

Claire returned from dropping off the kids this morning with a powerful water-pistol to discourage the monkeys from stealing the chicken's eggs and fruit from the kitchen... it's made of garish coloured plastic and has two power settings and it looks like it might do the trick. She's been lacing banana skins with chilli powder but they seem not to mind. 

Finishing with a bees waxed rag

I spent most of the day polishing a black sea-washed basalt stone which will stand on the edge of the Yin pool. It has a wonderful pregnant shape which has been accentuated by polishing it to a high gloss by hand and mechanical buffers.

The garden has quietly and by its own volition balanced its elements in a Yin Yang sort of way. The sunlit raised, dry, white vertical whale-bone on its tall plinth now has its counterpoint in the low, concealed, shady, black-pebble lined Yin pool.

Later I washed out the suikinkitsu in readiness for assembling it tomorrow and installed a couple of the stepping-stones which is trickier than it looks. George installed some steps and I'm looking at locations to plant some ferns and irises.

Washing out the Suikinkitsu  

DAY 13 29July 2017 Kwelera Estuary Walk

A remnant Stone-age tool found on site has found a home in the top of the bamboo standpipe; the three facets on the tool are typical of this area.

Building the retaining wall behind the Yin pool was a jigsaw-puzzle of large and small boulders. We used the geotextile to prevent soil slipping out which worked well and later will plant ferns in the cracks. The pool got its final coat of waterproofing.

The basalt 'Mother' stone before polishing. The red colour is the reflection of my overalls on the wet stone.

We divined the position of the 'Mother' stone we picked up off the beach, it turns out to be at the overflow position of the Yin pool. George then showed me how to polish it using whet stones, which is long slow process but can be finished off with a mechanical buffer.

We all go out to lunch at a nursery that grows roses - I choose very delicious fish and chips.

Delicious hake, calamari and chips

Then a visit to artist Margery Bradfield, whose large drawings look like energy or geomancy maps, but she explains they are actually prayers for communities or people. They start with a single central dot and then friends and visitors are invited to make a mark; the ensuing drawings unfold as circuits and meanderings of relationships between dots encircled by tiny lettering. 

Walking with Gabby on the salt-marshes

Margery lives in a cottage with a dachshund called Gabby above the Kwelera Estuary. We walk to the beach and along the salt-marsh to the sea, with Fish Eagles, Osprey and Long Crested Eagles flying overhead and small hermit crabs, carrying a variety of shells scurrying in the pools at our feet. 

Kwelera Estuary Panorama

Walking along the Estuary with Claire, Anna and Gabby the dachshund.

After cups of tea it's home for some more basalt polishing. Then supper, blog and bed.

Drawing by Margery Bradfield at Driftwood Studios. It hangs in my bedroom. 

Detail  

DAY 12 28 July 2017 Suikinkitsu

https://www.facebook.com/sara.mark.37/videos/10155595620731057/ 

DAY 12 28 July 2017 Polishing the Guava tree

The Guava tree has been polished

Continued with the construction of the Yin pool. The waterproofing system is a fleece blanket coated with layers of brown acrylic paint, which is used here for farm-dams (reservoirs). Lots of households here collect the rainwater from their roofs in huge tanks; Claire and George's house has 30,000L capacity. The rains start again in September. 

The Guava tree trunk in its polished glory

The Guava tree has become a central element and later I experiment with polishing the smooth sinuous trunks of the tree with cooking oil and a soft cloth; the dull brown branches turn to a wonderful bright olive-gold colour which glows in the low evening sun. 

The lamp on its stone base 

George and I agree that 'fire' needs to be included somewhere in the layout to balance the elements. I dowse the position for an knarled, pitted stone that slowly develops into a stand for an old iron lantern that's been knocking around for years. Another surprise incremental development. 

Out on the town

Later, Claire and I go for a girl's night out in East London. An acoustic band, 'Folkify' are playing in a small music venue; a guitarist, violinist and a beat-box player. It's a fun evening; an eclectic selection of folksy-ballads, blues and 'golden-oldy'  covers of Jethro Tull, Uriah Heap and James Taylor. A large glass of red wine costs about £1.00.

Home to bed under a magnificent starry sky and a waxing moon.

DAY 11 27 July 2017 Eggs, stones and drips

Breakfast  

I'm really enjoying living with a flock of happy chickens and their delicious daily offerings. This my breakfast today - a golden-yolked poached on toast! 

Positioning the steps, stone edging and route

Wiseman the gardener and George got digging again this morning.  The project continues to grow in scope and size and today we were digging out the old stone wall behind the 'Yin' pool so that the waterproof lining can be incorporated. I hope we haven't gone too Yin! They removed one large stone and there was a huge black toad and then a swarm of flies arrived.

The Xhosa people are very suspicious of toads and river creatures as they consider them to be manifestations of 'ancestral' spirits. We will have to make sure that there is enough active sunlit golden Yang elements to balance the energies in the garden.

Watching the ripples in the stone basin  

We set up the suikinkitsu and enjoyed listening to the tinkle of the flowing and dripping water through a copper tube. The Japanese use long bamboo poles to amplify the sound. Anna and her friend spent quite a long time playing with the water and listening to the suikinkitsu - lovely to see. The chickens and dog seem to enjoy it too. 

My visit to the beach

Later we returned to the beach; the sea rolls and roars on the cobble stones and I picked up several large abalone shells and a selection of basalt pebbles.

George and a friend drove to town to buy agricultural fleece and black, waterproof epoxy paint to create the pool and lay under the gravel and keep the weeds under control.

DAY 10 26July 2017 Beautiful Plumbing

The plumbing is working and the stone basin filled with water

I was up at 8am and George had already tested the new concrete base and bowl to the suikinkitsu; a lovely tinkling sound. The rest of the day was spent backfilling trenches, plumbing in the water-feed to the stand-pipe, fitting the brass tap and divining the position of the steps and pebble areas. Lots of back-breaking work!

Home grown chillies  

 After yesterday's monkey attack Claire is plotting her revenge and has bought a powerful pump-action water pistol and we're brewing a super strong brew of home-grown chillies! George is plotting his counter-attack with catapults and pebbles.... we'll see who wins...

Whale-bones and shell. The young hump-back was washed up on the beach about a year ago.

This project is the first I have divined the positions of elements such as stand-pipe, steps and walls. I'm amazed how well it works. George spent a lot of time this morning trying to find the roof-water supply pipe to the main house to no avail; the divining rods didn't help either. But, when I changed the question to "where is the tap to be positioned" the rods swung into action and located a much better position 30 feet away! 

This afternoon I realised there were actually two lines across site. The 'Bird' line that follows an old river bed and track,  that the birds follow and a North-South line that visually lines up some existing elements in the garden, such as the whale-bone sculpture, an old tree trunk and a square brick plinth right at the end of the vista. This is exciting as it beds everything into its wider setting. 

This afternoon I realised there were actually bone in the foreground and tree stump. 

At 3.30pm we turned on the tap to the stand-pipe and trickle of water filled the stone basins and ran out into the ground  it was lovely to see the sky reflected and the ripples fan out across the water surface  our first visitor was a thirsty chicken.

A chicken finds a new drinks-venue

About 5pm we took the car down to the beach and collected cobbles for the edging to the gravel area, the black pebbles for the Yin pool and some stepping stones. We also found a black-stone that we think could form the backdrop to the Yin pool.

Lots of discussion about how we were going to waterproof various junctions and keep the weeds under control.

Then back home for supper! 

DAY 9 25 July 2017 Under Monkey Attack

On the roof, in the garden and in the house

There were five monkeys in the house this morning; they ate the bread, stole the eggs and then ate Claire's beans in the kitchen garden. They are brazen and only chasing them with a stick drives them away.

I'm wondering about how to construct the Suikinkitsu overflow pool without making a big 'thing' of it and mocked-up a small 'Yin' pool lined with black pebbles that would surrounded with shady ferns. I spent time this morning breaking up old clay to puddle the hole, but black polythene maybe safer. 

The chickens lay eggs in this giant plant pot- sadly the monkeys got this morning's offerings

There's quite a lot of work to do reconstructing the garden wall but we located the flights and numbers of steps with the diviners.

The oil drum that will form the lining of the hole has been cut to size and treated and after lunch George mixed concrete to line the base of the suikinkitsu- very hard work!

We have decided against green bamboo for the standpipe and are using some driftwood bamboo which is grey and well seasoned. It looks very good against the stone basin and it split open easily to accommodate the copper stand pipe. 

The bamboo stand-pipe in position  

Home-made Pizza for supper. 

Cooked in a frying pan and then grilled. Delicious. 

DAY 8 24 July 2017 Labyrinths and more

Lucky beans (Erythrina) collected in the forest yesterday stored an abalone shell

Claire and the family left for school early and I had a leisurely start. Great excitement and loud clucking noises as one of the chickens snuck inside and went downstairs to lay an egg on the wall in the ground floor corridor and then needed to be let out. 

She was very insistent until I let her out! 

Then I started researching African stone tools. The indigenous people here were  Khoi San hunter-gatherers, who were later displaced by the Bantu people from Western Africa. The remnant of the stone-scraper that George found on site shows the typical triangular knapping pattern that is typical of stone tools in this area. 

A collection of local tool finds showing the typical triangular knapping pattern.

There are archeological remains in the nearby dunes, also half-buried middens of shellfish and pottery shards left by wandering groups of people over 120,000 years ago to almost present day. 

George dug the trench for the suikinkitsu overflow- a mammoth feat of shovel work and I washed a set of three 'found' glass electricity insulators which will hang off the guava tree as a gateway feature and bell/chime for the labyrinth.   

A low growing Guava tree branch forms a low gateway to the labyrinth.  

The divining rods confirmed the position of its centre and  the number and position of the steps up the bank.

After lunch I researched Guava Leaf Tea- which is a very good source of vitamin C and then various types of labyrinth on line; we know it has to be 3 metres in diameter so that fixes the number of circuits. Tomorrow I will start setting it out; it will probably be made of black basalt and limestone beach pebbles and have a well or reservoir at its centre.

The weather was warmer today but it's turned very cold and windy again tonight.  I watched Buttons, the dog, make his bed; he's very particular and drags it around and pummels it to make sure it's cosy and comfortable before settling down for the night.

DAY 7 23 July 2017 Yoga and Monkeys

They look cute but.... 

Cher runs a weekly Sunday morning yoga class at 'Tea in the Trees' tea-garden on a small wooden platform in the forest.

Early morning yoga in the forest

It's about a 20 minute drive away past small game reserves with views of buck and giraffe through the fence. Vervet monkeys with their babies run over the road, along telegraph wires and peer out of roadside trees.

'Tea in the Trees' tea room hosts yoga classes in the forest

There were five of us in the class for an energetic 1.5 hours of bending and stretching. It was lovely to see the African trees overhead and I feel much better for some exercise, especially after the strenuous hole-digging yesterday.

We then collect the children from swimming and sailing in The Lagoon nearby and return for coffee and a fry-up brunch.

I discover I've been bitten by pepper-mites and all my clothes and bedding have to be washed and I'm sprayed with organic herbal spray to get rid of them- very itchy!

Cintsa Lagoon looks very inviting 

This afternoon it rained and I spent time reading up on Japanese gardens for inspiration. We consider how to cast the concrete slab under the Suikinkitsu and what happens to the overflow water - I suggest a well at the centre of a labyrinth.

A Neolithic stone scrapper is unearthed in the pit today. Very exciting. 

The overall scheme is getting bigger by the day and will be under construction for months to come! I will get the divining rods out again tomorrow to test some of our ideas; the Place seems to know what it wants.

The garden after rain. An old tree stump may form a future sculpture.... 

Apparently, it's going to get warmer next week which is excellent news as I'm having to layer all my clothes in the evening. I'm wearing yoga leggings, a pair of trousers, a dress, socks and trainers and two fleeces tonight.

The Scops Owls are calling and it's time for bed... 9pm!! 

Anna's window art

DAY 6 22 July 2017 To the bamboo grove

To collect the bamboo water spout

Up early and off to the hardware store to buy plumbing fittings to feed the stone basins and suikinkitsu, via a visit to the beach at Cintsa to look at the ocean. There is some remarkable geology here with what looks like fossilised bubbles of mud. It's the first time I've seen a bumpy horizon due to the huge swell out at sea. Then onto a coffee shop at a garden centre overlooking a pond that serves excellent Americanos. 

Cintsa Beach with its amazing geology

Then back home to harvest bamboo for the Suikinkitsu pipework. There is a stand of bamboo that grows in a nearby river-valley and George tells me that the Japanese harvest bamboo at the New Moon; which just happens to be now! In the East they 'leach' the sugars from green bamboo by floating it in the sea for several weeks, which preserves it. Sadly we are going to miss out this process so we have cut two poles to allow for a shorter life span. 

The bamboo grove is an eerie place; the canes knock together in the wind.

It's an amazing walk back to the studio following the river upstream along a low cliff of square blocks of sandstone full of Maidenhair ferns, indigenous agapanthus and Vlei Lilies. 

The river valley follows a low cliff

We come across an abandoned orchard of mangos and papayas and a well full of water and then we have to scramble up an old dam. Why anyone would plant a garden in such a remote spot in the forest is intriguing; perhaps they divined fresh water here? 

Ferns,agapanthus and Vlei Lilies

On our return I'm down the hole for more excavations and George plumbs in the feed to the Suikinkitsu; we're making progress. We are going to line the pit with a cut-down oil drum to prevent soil creeping in and hopefully improve the acoustics. 

Hard at work

Claire makes a hearty butternut broth for supper, but it's followed by a long power cut, so it's out with the solar lamp and phone torches and off early to bed, clutching our hot water bottles. 

DAY 5 21 July 2017 Excavations begin

Here we go!

Today the gardener, Wiseman started digging the pit for the suikinkitsu. After various trials with old woks and aluminium discs we discovered that the best sound is produced by a tiny trickle of water dripping into a plastic bowl! Unexpected and beautiful.  

A veggie braai- a South African rarity! Meat is big here.

This evening we had a vegetarian braai (BBQ) under a starry Southern sky with the roar of the Pacific in the distance over the dunes. It's very cold at night- lots of layers are  required.

DAY 4 20 July 2017 Divining Rods

George finishing the divining rods

George finished a simplified version the divining rods today and we set off to explore the site. I'm keen that the 'Land' and 'Place' inform as many of the interventions as possible, such as the placing of the suikinkitsu, steps, paths and other features. I located the energy line travelling north-east west and discerned the centre point of a labyrinth that will form part of a meandering contemplation-walk.

We have decided against the solar fountain pump and will use water collected from the studio roof to feed the hand-washing bowl and suikinkitsu. The existing pipework runs about four feet away and taps can be installed to direct and regulate the flow. I also divined the position  for the installation of the Suikinkitsu!

The ceramic pot will form the chamber of the Suikinkitsu  

We also started to prune the guava tree on the bank that form the backdrop to the Suikinkitsu and define the route to and from the labyrinth. There is a low wall of boulders that edged the old track that will be rebuilt to create informal steps and seating overlooking the labyrinth.

Oh what a lovely tap. Rain water harvested from the studio roof will feed the Suikinkitsu. 

Claire, George and the kids went for an educational visit to a local plastic-bag factory in East London today. Apparently it's very difficult to recycle plastic bags because the machines are easily damaged by dirt; the best way is to burn them at the very high temperatures as fuel for energy production! 

Delicious baked sweet potato and butternut squash for supper. It's chill at night and I'm glad of my Camino cold weather gear and hot water bottle. 

Buttons the dog

DAY 3 19 July 2017 Suikinkutsu

The 8 old ladies are part of the family and lay gold-yoked eggs.

A leisurely start.

My proposal for this residency is to make and install a Suikinkutsu (trans. Water Koto Cave); an underground echo chamber which amplifies the sound of water trickling into it; they often form part of the hand-washing ritual of the Tea Ceremony. The idea is that it is an integral part of the site, using site-specific water and where possible materials.

The studio hosts a regular Mindfulness Retreat and George and Claire are excited that the Suikinkutsu could form part of it. We spent some time wandering around the garden this morning considering sites for the Suikinkutsu and an associated walk for contemplation.

A beach boulder that George carved will form the basin of the Suikinkitsu. We're investigating a solar fountain to feed it...? 

George has carved shallow large Kwelera beach pebble with shallow basins. It's been knocking around his storage area for a while- it's time has come! 

The studio

The surrounding forest is home to lots of different birds. Hornbills, Hardeedas, Golden Orioles, Green pigeons.George explains that they tend to fly a certain path across the site on the line of an old track. I'm very curious and ask if he has some divining rods. "No" he says, and sets too!

They Will have brass rods and turned drift-wood handles; I suspect the Earth-energies will be strong here and I'm wondering how they might effect the work.

It gets pitch-black dark about 6pm and we have home-made pasta for supper and then watch 'The Truman Show'; a good film to revisit about the quest for authenticity.

Beach Treasure

'65 Minutes for Mandela' is a national community project to mark his birthday. We go and pick-up plastic off the beach - here it is... 'Shadow Treasure'.

The stars in the Southern sky are bright and intense and the milky way stretches across its breadth. Wonderful. 

DAY 2 18 July 2017 Kwelera

Ripening bananas in the kitchen

Hurtling down the longitudes I arrive in Johannesburg at 7am. Here they announce airport security like an exciting and sophisticated fashion trend.

I'm on my way to East London, a city-port in the Eastern Cape 1000Km east of Cape Town, on a domestic flight. It's 18 degrees when I arrive at 11am. I'm met by Claire Cockott,  friend from my York days. She and her husband George run an artist's residency near Kwelera.

Enroute  home is a visit to a seed merchant in the back streets of East London, to buy chicken feed, followed by the St Bernard's Hospice charity shop to buy a present for a neighbours daughter's  birthday. Sadly, they were right out of fairies....

Kwelera is a tiny village with a few shops and from there it's a 15 minute drive to Driftwood Studios. The studios and house are tucked behind the sand-dunes in an area of ancient dune-forest and I can hear the thunder of the Pacific Ocean in the garden.

I remember that exactly a year ago  I reached another ocean. The Atlantic at Finisterra on the Galician coast, at the end of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.

There, the sea was a peaceful iridescent powder-blue, here it roars dark; sucking and rumbling over black basalt pebbles, strewn with abalone shells and driftwood.

George and Claire beside the Pacific

George built the house on what was an old caravan park behind the dunes; it's a beautiful modern house with long arcades of wooden columns and polished concrete floors. My bedroom is on the ground-floor over looking the vegetable garden (which is regularly raided by troupes of monkeys) and has a lovely ensuite shower room with a hand-made sea-cobble floor. 

The first floor colonnade  

Their family consists of two children, Angus and Anna, eight chickens who all have names, a cat and a dog called Buttons - who chases the monkeys!

But it's cool because it's midwinter here and I'm very glad I bought a hot water bottle, warm socks and pyjamas!

George and Claire's children are sleeping over at a friend's house, so we go out for supper in a local restuarant- then it's time to lie out flat. I'm going to sleep well after my sky-wandering last night.

Amazing seaweed amongst basalt pebbles

DAY 1. 17 July 2017

A South African Residency

I set off for Heathrow on the 65 bus and suddenly I'm on my way to Johannesburg. The South African Airways flight takes off at 7pm and I watch the sky turn to a deep azure blue along the wing of the plane. Trying to sleep sitting up is a struggle, but there's something uncannily cosy about a night flight; hundreds of dreaming people hurtling through the pitch black sky.