Skimming Stones | Sula's Blog | Sula1968 A South African poet, potter and mother

Just over two weeks ago, Fjord was part of a conversation about ruptured appendix.  He heard that a person had his appendix removed because it ruptured.  Over night he became a severe hypochondriac.  Every day he talked about appendixes exploding and poison going into his body.  He imagined tummy pains and was convinced that this had happened to him, more …

I totally love baking but I do not enjoy decorating (primarily because I suck at it).  For Fjord’s 7th birthday he didn’t want a car, or superhero cake, he wanted a stapeliad flower.  Through Cliff he has learned a love of plants and gardening.  His favourite flowers are such boy flowers, they are stinky.  Stapeliads (or carrion plants) have the …

On 1 September, Santam launched a television campaign aimed at highlighting how thinking patterns influence our behaviour. The precedent is simple: of all the species on our planet, humans are the only ones who actively and knowingly seek out risk, often against their own better judgement. Consider how often we text while driving or drive under the influence. We neglect …

On Sunday we discovered 3 nurseries on Main Road in Pomona (I thought it was Benoni) until I checked later.   My husband Cliff is an avid gardener and our children are picking up on his enthusiasm.  Sunkist Nursery at 311 Main Road was a great discovery!  They have a lovely tea garden and play area, were we enjoyed a Sunday …

Sometimes it takes me an awful long time to discover places.  In my 14 years in Joburg I had often heard of Uncle Tim’s Cabin in Benoni, it was only a few weeks ago that we visited there for the first time.  Yesterday we planned to visit a nursery and I suggested that we try to find one which we …

I’m not mad about party packs for children to take home after a party and like to try to think of alternatives.  Since we always have the children’s birthday parties at home it is good to have something for the children to do other than run around and play on the trampoline.  Having a craft activity at the party provides …

I had an old Kenwood Food Processor which was my Mum’s, it was about 25 years old and still going strong, until I decided to grate mozzarella cheese in it (don’t try this, it’s lethal to food processors).  Just before I tried to grate the mozzarella, my mother in law told me that hers tore apart when she tried grating …

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a big issue with SANRAL and the e-tolls which have been implemented in Gauteng.  I won’t go into my feelings about the system here.  Through social media I have ‘met’ many people who have taken up the fight against this system.  I have already written a piece about the unifying effect which …

Introduction It is well-known that South Africa has one of the highest road accident death rates in the world.  Although up-to-date and reliable statistics are hard to come by, it is widely appreciated that in excess of 11 000 people die annually on South Africa’s roads.  In fact some sources indicate that annually road accident deaths in South Africa exceed …

Today’s prompt from the writer’s bootcamp is “The world is wrong about…”.  Whew where do we start? greed? pollution? over population? materialism? broken value systems? instant gratification? power ego Or enigmas like the fact that it’s ok for children to be addicted to violent computer games but Enid Blyton is politically incorrect. My husband Cliff is right, almost every problem …

My husband is a romantic.  This is not always as cute as it sounds.  He expects that as his soul mate I should read his mind.  Why should he waste time with trifling communication when I should simply know what he is thinking?  This sometimes leads to disappointment on his part.  For example the day that I have not packed …

Acacia’s 4th birthday party is next Saturday.  I need to be vaguely organised and have discovered that baked cheesecakes freeze very well.  Just as well I decided to make it a week early.  Arrggghhh I made a mistake, my first cheesecake cracked, I searched for reasons on this page which has a selection of tips to prevent cracking and realised …

Once a week we have pizza for supper, usually because left overs make a great school lunch the following day for Fjord.  I have 3 metal pizza pans and make the dough in my bread machine.  For Christmas we were given a white pizza serving plate which was bought at PnP Hyper, when I went looking for another there were …

UPDATE : 2018, it seems that this product is no longer available Sometimes I really like to share when I find a great new product.  PnP Foam Blast is my kids product of the month.  A while ago my Mum told me that my nieces in Durban love the PnP Foam Blast.  I had not noticed it in the Pick …

Today writers bootcamp are being ambiguous, the prompt is ‘Pinings’.  I’m not sure if they are referring to the warm, sad, hollow feelings which echo in memories, such as the smell of lemonade on my grandparents copper bar counter, or the way the sunlight caught drops of water from the spray of our little motor boat on Lake Kariba.  Or …