Domesticated Lady

Picture: I took this one in Bloubergstrand, on Fri 13 May this year.

Sunday 29 May 2011

“Sunday morning, rain is falling” – cool song by Maroon 5, from their album, Songs About Jane. (Lucky Jane!)

Granting myself the sheer pleasure of solitude and silence. If I quieten my environment, I enter a different realm, one where my senses are heightened, and I’m able to tune in to the usually indiscernible sounds of the fridge humming and the wall clock ticking. Sometimes my fridge sounds like there’s a living creature running around inside the motor, or like it’s changing gears!

Another place where I immerse myself in the silence and other-worldliness of the experience, is in the sauna (at gym). I love the smell, the heat, the wood, but I particularly love the solitude. I haven’t been to the gym for a month and a bit, but this week is The Great Return. (Trumpet!!!!!) Watch this space for the RAVE when I’ve had my first swim after about six weeks. Oh, God, I can’t wait!!!! That feeling of slipping into the pool for the first time, that dream-like sensation of swimming underwater and having nothing but the sound of the water swishing as your soundtrack. Indescribably awesome. (Or, as my son says, “ow-where-some”.)

Another grey, overcast day, the cold air forcing me to wear the thick, dark blue cardigan that I made for myself what feels like a hundred years ago, when I had time to knit. When I knew how to. It’s like a blanket with sleeves.  Everyone in the family thinks it’s theirs. Then I have another mistake-turned-magical-creation, a huge red jersey that three people can wear at the same time - were they to be so inclined. It’s funny how, as the years passed, my children went from playing inside the red jersey – Come on, Mom, let’s all wear it together! – to thinking it was an atrocity, best kept hidden from society, full circle to wanting to wear it (individually) to snuggle under in winter. It definitely has an “artistic” feel to it, and makes one actually feel like creating something. In my case, writing a song or typing a blog article, in my son’s case, drawing a picture, typing a story or composing a piece of music, and in my daughter’s case, grabbing the X-Box controller and creating a new SIMMS character!

And so, as I bask in the afterglow of the week gone by and prepare myself for a different kind of magic – a week with my children – I’m struck again by the human spirit and its capacity to handle practically anything. I love my children more than I could ever have thought possible, and yet we live this way, trying to meet the needs of all involved, trying to create as normal as possible an arrangement, a patchwork quilt that, like so many projects I’ve started over the years, will never be completed. Part-time everything, that’s me. I sometimes wonder - I know I’ve written this before in a blog post – about how this living arrangement impacts on other things in our lives.

But that’s another story!

I have had THE most interesting week. (Insert big loopy grin.) On Thursday I did my 14th and last night at Don Pedro’s, which had a magic all its own. My musical knight in shining armour, Wayne Bosch, pitched up and did the first set with me. Yay!!!! I had decided to do only originals on the night, and had written up my set lists to pace myself a certain way. Also, I knew beforehand that he’d be doing the first set, so I choose the songs accordingly: I did most of the up-tempo sambas with him, as well as some ballads and bossas, to vary the pace of the set. I really appreciated his turning up, because he was clearly not well, dealing with flu symptoms. Shame!

I did the second set on my own, which was sort of back-to-front, as it meant that set was more laid-back than the first, but it worked, I suppose. What really made my night was seeing my friends there, and feeling the wonderful support I get from people I’ve known, some for many years and some for just a few weeks. My mom was there, as were Tracy, Carl, Chantel and Andre, Roshiela, Joe, Russell, David and David, as well as June and Elton.

Something that added a different dimension to the night was selling a few copies of a CD of 5 original songs I’d put together, called “Extracts”. The songs were recorded at one of my concerts at Baran’s last year. On Wednesday I selected the songs and designed the cover, bought the blank CDs and cases, and got everything done in time to take some along on Thursday night.

I felt so many things on Thursday night, but the overall feeling was one of having achieved something significant and life-altering, in the 14 weeks at Don Pedro’s. The truth is I’d reconnected with myself as a soloist, a vital step in my life, and the timing could not have been better. The people I’d met at Don Pedro’s, especially the friends I plan to stay in touch with, also made my time there thoroughly enjoyable and memorable. Over the weeks, friends I hadn’t seen in years pitched up to listen to me, and right on the last night, I discovered that someone I’d met there was actually someone I’d first encountered 36 years ago! If you believe, as I do, that there are no coincidences, then that has to be a hugely significant encounter. I always ask the universe to grant me a life full of wonderful surprises – I’d say that definitely qualifies as one.

But today has its very own character: a long, hostile list of household chores just waiting for me, tapping its fingers impatiently as I type merrily away like I haven’t a care in the world. Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but here goes: I HATE HOUSEWORK. I fantasize about the day I have enough money to employ someone to clean my house once a week. Housework, as essential as it may be, and as character-building as my mother would have me believe, means one thing and one thing only, when I’m alone: less time for two of my loves, music and words.

And so, as a sanity-saving, survival technique, this is how I draw up my list of chores:
1. Clean Summer’s room
2. Play guitar
3. Clean Nick’s room
4. Play guitar
5. Clean my room
6. Play guitar
7. Etc.
8. Play guitar
9. Same ol’ same ol’
10. Play guitar 

I’m serious! I would NEVER survive a day like this without doing it my way. So, yes, it takes me about six hours to get through the whole house, but at least I meet my own Trudy needs along the way. Who said the rules for these things had to be the same for everyone? Oh, and when I’m NOT playing the guitar, and I’m actually doing the work, I play all my favourite CDs! So I get to listen to a diversity of artists, all of whom I love: Jamie Cullum, Djavan, Santana, Stevie Wonder, Cleo Laine, Ivan Lins, Ray Charles, Renee Olstead, Sting, Hilton Schilder, Michel Petrucciani, Herbie Hancock, etc. etc. etc.

Yup, so that’s “How To Clean Your Whole House in One Day”, by Trudy Rushin.

Hey, I should write a manual!

(Ooops – when I next find time, I want to write about Friday night, when I sang at the District 6 Homecoming Centre and heard some amazing artists, including “DAT”, and Saturday night, when I had a scrumptious dinner experience at What’s On, in town.
Like I said, I've had THE coolest week! )