Emergencies!

Every morning I tell myself that today I would make an entry in my blog, but by the end of the day nothing has happened. Well, actually nothing on the blog, but in real life so much have been going on that just took priority over me writing ...

For the past 2 weeks I have been doing mega shifts at the hospitals in and around Cape Town. I have now actually asked some hospitals to remove my name from their databank as a locum nurse, as I either live to far from them, or (well, I did not tell them this) I just do not want to work for them! Currently I work in 2 trauma units and our Convention centre. The hospitals is fun - busy as hell but good in a weird kinda way. the centre is dead boring, but the biggest draw point is their access to internet. So my days at the centre is spent browsing sites dealing with glass.

I was under the impression that Saturday and Sunday was going to be easy-peasy in a small trauma unit - not! I had one staff nurse to help me, a unit that I have only worked in once before, and a doctor with round hands. God, the days of nursing slaves is long gone and banned!

On Sunday the hospital matron tried to force me to go and work in ICU nursing a little prem baby. I refused. I was so tired from the previous day and the days before that working long shifts and trying to fit in a couple of hours at the torch, that I just did not feel competent enough taking charge of a tiny life. Instead I choose a chaotic day of non-stop drama with really sick people and emergencies. At 17:00 I got my second breath and skipped and jumped through the madness till 19:00 when I could go home.

Tomorrow is a big day on my calender. I have a meeting with an organization that help to promote art and craft in Cape Town, and all my work is done. All I need to do tomorrow is a last bit of cleaning and packing. Oh, and I need to get a photo taken of myself ...

The pics is some of the work that I have done in the weeks gone by. I will take photos of all the new stuff in the next day or 3 ...

Do I call it work, or is is just fun?

I have been busy these last few weeks practising new and old tecniques on my torch. So I saw these funky looking beads on http://www.lampworketc.com/, and decided to try and figure the methology out. After many hours and failed beads I had a group of improving beads until the last final perfect bead! And then, when I went online, I found a tutorial on the same bead! But I am still happy that I could figure the process out all by myself, and had overcome the troubleshooting all by myself!

Melvin, a local wire and paper artist, made the most amazing sculptures for my displays. I love the fact that I will now be using art to display my own art! And all it took was an initial meeting, a follow-up to check progress, and should he need to make changes, and 1 week later I have the finished product!

These last few weeks consisted just out of dashing from one point to the next. Work the day in the studio (or meetings), then a quick bath before I race to the hospital for a short shift from 19:00 till 24:00, then racing to Brackenfell and Liefie, a quick chat and me passing out in bed. A couple of hours later (05:30) gets rudely awaken by the alarm, rushing to get ahead of the morning traffic back to the city and my home. Unlock the studio, and start working ...

But then I love my current life so much, and do I really want to change it?

I got some silversmithing tools this week, and this will help me to make more finished jewellry at home, not try and race through it all on my favourite day of the week. Wednesdays is definately the best ever, and I really enjoy interacting with the other students. Brenda is also such a help and and her patientce with me is worth mentioning. I have learnt such a lot these last few months, and love the chalange that silver offers me.

6 months after my last entry ...

I have been busy - that's my excuse, ok!

Winter in Cape town is not always pretty. We have had a lot of flooding in the last few days, and the bitter cold is seeping through every fiber of my being. The only happy one seems to be Thomas. Electrical blankets is apparently made for cats own personal useage ...

I will start to upload pictures of my work during the next few days.

First Entry

It is late at night, hot and humid. Did I mention the mozzies? Hungry little buggers, them are!!! Sorry, but there area no pictures as yet, need to sort some stuff out, but belive me, I will have some serious eyecandy for your eyes in the next few days ...