Would you agree that this has been the most terrifyingly cold winter ever? I mean it is so darn cold that my one and only pair of thermal PJs have me sitting next to them as they are hung out to dry. You know how you baste a chicken? Well, so too do I turn and scrunch my PJs so that they are warm and ready to wear again that night. In fact, so often have they been draped over this bod of mine that I am starting to look like a chair that needs re-upholstering.
BUT, the VEEERY good part to this terrifyingly cold winter is that there is smoke coming out of the barrel of the Rosa Gun! My goodness are we pumping! The orders are coming in at such a rate that Ismael at the post office is thinking of getting in a special person just for us.You see, Rosa Serums and Oils whilst known for their remarkable, anti-ageing properties are simply stunning in adverse weather conditons. Such as are found in deserts (we have two customers in Libya.... well, we hope we still have 2 customers in the Libyan Desert) and the climatic conditions in the coldest of cold places - Jozi! You see, whilst Dullstroom dips to minus at night, it is a sort of bearable cold. Jozi on the other hand has a bone crunching cold that is unlike anywhere else. Marginally higher temps mean nothing. Dry cold is like dry ice. Your skin kind of peels away to the touch. Know what I mean? Tarrrrah (trumpet call)... and along comes Rosa Organics Serums & Oils to the rescue. Hydration, Protection and Comfort. And the best of all is that treating stressed skin in winter = Beee-utiful New You in summer!!! And this is because the healing repairing and rejuvenating properties in Rosa Serums are strutting their stuff silently, yet effectively all winter long. YAY!
Rosa News BudWhich brings me to a very important news bud. Check out www.rosaorganics.com. Our new website went live in July and we are pleased to say that it has hit the mark. Rosa Organics is targeted at the initiated. Results driven people who are also too busy to switch from one skin care range to another in search of the panacea to a well-cared for, youthful looking sin. At the same time, these initiates are environmentally friendly, or have got to the age where they would rather save their liver functioning to metabolizing a glass of good red wine, than the parabens and petro-chemicals in some of the skin care offerings on the shelves. So check us out. read our ethos and stock up on Rosa if you haven't already done so!
Burn Out!
Last year I wrote a review for a Harley Davidson Launch I attended wherein I drew reference to my love for the song BURN OUT by Sipho "hotsticks" Mabuse. I poignantly remembered the day I first heard that song played and how to me it epitomised all that is unique and compelling about Africa. Not the words of the song per se, rather the score that is so unmistakenly African and yet at the same time Universal. When I hear the first bars of that song, I always stop in my tracks and feel good about what makes up this harsh, yet magical continent called Africa. But that was last year..... I fear.
This year I haven't been feeling so good about Africa, South Africa to be precise. The strikes that have cost the country billions, in an economy that could do with a boost not a boot. Malema and his talk about Nationalisation (that we even have to worry about him is a worry in itself), and the fact that the currently dis-advantaged are losing interest and enthusiasm has tempered my gung ho attitude just marginally. Some of us seem to be dragging ourselves through the days rather than embracing each new day with energy and verve. And if we do have the energy and verve, it is of the self-seeking kind. If you can remember when someone offered assistance without there being something in it for them, please do drop me a line? With the advent of a ME, ME, ME society, I have become proficient at fixing the jets on the gas heater, I can make a fire with only one match, I now know all about water pressure and how to manage it, and I have become super fit without having been near a gym all winter; of all which has come our of necessity and not intention. I moved Rosa's think tank and bottling plant to Dullstroom because I honestly believed the energy of the place would be beneficial to the brand. The natural beauty of the countryside that is hard to describe because it is so unremarkable in its beauty, and my perception that the locals would warm and welcoming? The beauty persists and will do so in eternity and in this there is energy for Eons to come. The town and its inhabitants? Try unwelcoming and parochial in the first instance and down right lazy and morose in the second! Rosa has been here for six months and has tried to employ like number of people and yesterday saw me throwing up my hands in dismay yelling BURNED OUT!! You can take a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink. There are plenty of thirsty horses come month end lining up at the Post Office, ID book in one hand; the other waiting for their Government pay-out. It is such an occasion that people put up Gazebos in the field opposite.This town is rapidly losing its charm.And not just to Rosa. The visitors too, who keep this town in gravy, are gatvol at having to pay R75 for a jar of honey that costs them R35 at home. Or R55 for the tiniest slither of cheese you have ever seen (made locally so no distibution costs), or paying R20 more for a 9kg cylinder of gas when the price is supposed to be regulated. And take the car guards that line the streets left and right from Friday to Sunday to play on the pockets of the visitors to this town when not one of the cars parked outside the numerous restaurants and shops is able to be stolen? eTV featured Mpumulanga a week ago telling of how it is hitting the skids. Pilgrims Rest is no more. Sabi is following suit and Dullstroom is going to have to do a lot more than fleece the visitors, if it wants to avoid the slide to obscurity. But for all that, I love the place and Rosa has indeed flourished because I have had my soul restored by waking up each morning to beauty and my little friend the ram Duiker who tippy toes Ethereally through the scrub behind the house. Souls do not need people for restoration, you see. You need intention and faith and the place in which to practice these. A happy soul and all else follows!
Back to Burn Out, though, by Sipho "Hotsticks" Mabuse. My dismay at the play of events described above had a reprieve. I was watching an excellent movie on Mzanzi the other day, and at the end of this movie, as a filler between programmes, there it was.... the haunting refrain of Burn Out. I stood stock still and watched as two African men danced against a backdrop of the music video of Sipho Mabuse and his group playing Burn Out, a long, long time ago. Longer even than 1994; 1984 in fact. And I thought to myself...... I thought "There is magic yet in this land" Africa is a timeless continent, a magical space and we can all make a difference, if only we try.
And it is on this note that I leave you....
"At the back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: It comes and goes. but if one believes, then miracles occur."
Henry Valentine Miller - American Novelist and Painter
