As I was born in Namibia and spent a lot of my time on the farm or in the Etosha Game Reserve – my absolute favorite place on earth to this day – all my work has always been intrinisically connected with the beauty, wisdom and magic of the natural world.

This won’t change – and as I’m tackling a new writing project, it’s time for one of my “Do animals have a soul?” –cards to remind YOU to hug your furry friend and never forget that we are all interconnected. Here, in SOuth Africa, we call it Ubuntu – I am because you are. One won’t thrive without the other – what affects one, affects the other.

According to Albert Einstein we wouldn’t last beyond 5 years if the busy honey bee would vanish from the planet . . . A reason why we keep hives for happy wild bees that simply enjoy life and do what they were meant to do. And if one loses its way or drops from exhaustion during a cold winter day, I just take it on my hand and carry it home – they sense the intention.

See article here:
http://biancagubalke.com/interviews/home-for-happy-honey-bees/

And as to the little bat-eared fox – I just loved that moment when he emerged from his den, still dreaming, almost surprised to see the sun!

Born with Wings

I didn’t include bat-eared foxes in my magical realism novel “Born with Wings – The Immortal Life of Piu Piu”, but there’s a whole chapter on the Mantis and the Bees . . . If you are fond of Nature and its mystery, if you want to delve right into it, in this world and beyond, this may be for you! And I’d love to hear from YOU!

“Mystical life is the centre of all that I do and all that I think and all that I write.” ~ WB Yeats

After her earlier titles – ‘Into the Land of Snow’ and ‘Elephants never forgotten’ – Young Adult Fiction author Ellis Nelson recently launched into the Visionary Fiction category with her latest novel: ‘Timeless Tulips, Dark Diamonds’.

The author has a professional background as an Air Force officer, government contractor and teacher. Having lived in Europe for a while, she now calls Colorado, US, her home.

Strong female heroines intertwined in a mystical ghost story

IMAGINE YOU WERE BORN WITH WINGS, BUT YOU FORGOT HOW TO FLY?

Born with Wings, yet, ironically, unable to fly and feeling abandoned, the heroine of this story goes through fire in her burning quest to be free. Fear tells her there’s no escape but, impossible though it seems, deep in her soul she knows there is . . .

Set in a land of shifting realities – the Western Cape coast of South Africa, between Nature’s paradise and a ruthless world – the touching, dramatic and often hilarious human-animal relationships in the spiritual animal world awaken a sense of mindfulness and guardianship for the Earth that will leave you inspired and longing for more.

“Fascinating, intuitive and daring, this divine comedy leads us into the mysteries and magic of true spirituality. A book filled with light!”
– Zo Nicholas

Visionary Fiction featured on Book Review Universe

Writing a novel is a fulfilling, exhilarating, demanding passion. It’s what pulls an author through the weeks, months, even years of the ups and downs of self-belief and doubt, hard work, time, focus, courage and a willingness to always be open, to learn and to craft his or her skills. Once the book is completed and published there’s no sitting back: Now a whole new ball game begins as the finally completed chef d’oeuvre needs to get into readers’ hands. Many readers’ hands, that is! If no one knows about even the finest piece of literature ever written, it will soon be buried in a buzzing universe of other books and pages fighting for attention, all calling: “Read me!” “Read me!” “Read me!”

Exposure for your work of passion is suddenly the magic word! Even better: Book Reviews! As such, the Book Review Universe with Aaron C. Yeagle as its dedicated commander-in-chief offers writers exactly that – check it out. He also has a knack for creating quick little videos at lightning speed based on the book description. This means further exposure on YouTube. Besides, it also shows if and how a reader’s imagination is touched or intrigued by just a few words of text. How evocative is it, really?

While this also depends on the reader, the fact is that no book has a future without exposure. The more the better.

You may see the original trailer for “The Immortal Life of Piu Piu” HERE.

I shudder to think how many wonderful stories may have taken that route into oblivion . . . but . . . yes, there may be a but – but it’s not what you think! IMAGINE this: It’s a given fact that energy never dies. And books are exactly this: Energy! Imagination! Creativity! LIGHT!

Therefore I hope that, one day, in a completely different time and context, it sparks those same thoughts, those same lines, in someone else’s mind – as a book idea whose time has come – so this energy finally finds its way to capture and delight readers. It’s a comforting vision . . . and who knows? Energy always finds a way . . .

Who knows, YOU may be the next ‘dream-story-catcher’!

Good morning from Noordhoek

Autumn has started in our idyllic Noordhoek Valley, nestled between the Silvermine Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, 40 minutes south of Cape Town, South Africa. The first storms have waltzed through the garden, celebrating full moon. Ripping off golden leaves from the plane trees and hurling them high up into the air, they chased down into the valley, they crashed across the beach, they threw themselves against the roaring surf. The moon smiled as millions of twinkling, glittering, glowing, hopping, bopping, radiant rocking particles smiled back at him.

Slowly, the moonlight faded, leaving a milky disc above the sea. A milky impression. A milky memory . . .

More and more the colours changed. The darkness drifted, shifted, lifted. Pushed by soft pinks and orange and golden tints an explosion of light heralded the new morning above the heroic Helderberg mountains in the East.

Protea Susara

As the glorious autumn morning set my garden on fire, light pushing the night, the darkness, the memory of the moon and the shadows, a tall blooming shrub took my breath away: Protea Susara (Protea magnifica x Protea susannae) with creamy, salmon-coloured petals rimmed by steamy pinks, enclosing a soft white centre topped by a velvety black crown.

The nectar-loving birds, the bees and the beetles were already there – and I just noticed that I wrote an article exactly a year ago, featuring a photo from this magnificent species here: “Learning from the Bees”.

From a conservation point of view it appears that the Protea susannae is threatened by extinction, as a lot of its natural habitat is invaded by alien species. Judging by its beautiful flowers, year after year, I’m grateful to know that this gorgeous indigenous species can still proliferate in my garden. I just put it on my to-do-list for cuttings and seeds!

Born with Wings

For all those of you who love to read inspiring true stories about the magical mystical world, of Nature and beyond, you’d enjoy my visionary fiction novel ‘Born with Wings’ . It is entirely set in this part of the world, the so-called “Richest Floral Kingdom of the World”. A world heritage site.

Proteas play a big role – here’s an excerpt:

Almost overnight, the slopes of the mountains exploded into lavish yellows, oranges and golds as pincushions and leucadendrons started to bloom, with pockets of silver trees and proteas in between. Then there were more proteas!

“Oh, Great-grandad, I see they fascinate you as much as me!”

She saw herself following him through the veld and the mountains, discovering new species while he shared his wisdom with her: “Plants have a strong sense of place. A plant and its location belong intricately together. A similar plant in a different place naturally has a different vibration; hence it is not the exact same plant.”

She watched him take notes and make sketches of plants within their natural environment – and indeed, he used a quill! At times he added an insect, a butterfly or a bird, depending on its relationship with the plant, often as its pollinator. He collected the seeds and he cut flowers and leaves at different stages of growth for further studies and to execute the more detailed drawings at home. She walked on air within the timeless space they shared, absorbing his knowledge like a sponge.

“Look at the name of a plant for identification and classification purposes only. Beyond that, always remember that a plant is not a name.”

From the many species growing in the garden, Pippa already knew that proteas exhibited a wide variety of shapes. Their name had never meant anything to her.

“Did you ever notice how easily they adapt to any condition?”

Pippa nodded.

“Now think of their name: protea. Protea! Where does this come from . . . do you know? You tell me!”

As Pippa shook her head, he continued: “Well, then let me tell you: they were named after the shrewd Greek sea-god, Proteus! Proteus stood for change; the constantly changing nature of things. Imagine,” he muttered under his breath, removing his hat as he bent down to her, “imagine, the god could take on any form at will!” Hidden behind unruly brows, his blue eyes were alert and shining as if he were the mighty sea-god himself.

Pippa was gobsmacked.

“Oho ja! He could well be the stone over there . . . a pie in the sky or this noisy cricket on my hand!”

She stared at him incredulously.

Great-grandad gazed intently into her eyes and nodded: “He just focused on it and, voilà!” He snapped his finger and laughed. “Knew a lot more than we do, da jolly old Greeks. Besides slipping in and out of their roles all the time, creating nothing but human drama.”

Pippa looked up at him wide-eyed, her imagination spinning.

“Beware what you focus on or wish for, young lady,” he cautioned her, “it could well come true.”

© 2017-2019 Bianca Gubalke Author

I hope you enjoyed this little morning walk through my garden in Noordhoek and that it put a SMILE ON YOUR FACE!

I promise, there will be more!

So . . . until we meet again! And, please do connect!

I neither believe nor disbelieve in anything. That which can be imagined is as much an approximation to truth as that which can be proved by mathematics. One cannot always approach truth through reason; it confines us to a geometric cast of thought that calls for logic and credibility. We see the dead in our dreams and accept them as living, knowing at the same time they are dead. And although this dream mind is without reason, has it not its own credibility? There are things beyond reason. How can we comprehend a thousand billionth part of a second? Yet it must exist according to the system of mathematics.

As I grow older I am becoming more preoccupied with faith. We live by it more than we think and achieve by it more than we realize. I believe that faith is a precursor of all our ideas. Without faith, there never could have evolved hypothesis, theory, science or mathematics. I believe that faith is an extension of the mind. It is the key that negates the impossible. To deny faith is to refute oneself and the spirit that generates all our creative forces.

My faith is in the unknown, in all that we do not understand by reason; I believe that what is beyond our comprehension is a simple fact in other dimensions, and that in the realm of the unknown there is an infinite power for good. ( Extract of the book)

A brilliant mind . . . painting a vivid picture of an extraordinary life, a vibrant epoch and highly challenging times – always true to himself. An immortal life that keeps teaching the art of simplicity in all that connects us beyond all perceived barriers, even today.

Simply the best autobiography I’ve ever read! And will certainly reread!

While a buzzing Investec Cape Town Art Fair 2019 (ICTAF) has opened its doors in the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from Friday 15th to Sunday 17th of February 2019, providing a vibrant platform for galleries from South Africa, Africa and abroad (see list of galleries here) to engage with contemporary art lovers and art collectors from across the globe, Cape Town’s rather recent ‘centre for art and cultural expression, dedicated to the research and exhibition of 20th- and 21st-century visual art from South Africa and beyond’ – only a mere 30 km south of the mother city, in the Steenberg area, set against a mountain and vineyard landscape just below the Silvermine Mountain National Reserve – has invited to yet another exquisite exhibition not to be missed:

The NORVAL Foundation 

If you’re not yet familiar with this architectural gem, please click the link below. Envisioned by DHK Architects as a modern pavilion for art, the Norval Foundation is, from its generous lines to its  slightest detail, ‘a pure expression of form’. A place with an international flair, where every moment and each vista seem precious . . .

Allow me to share a few snapshot-impressions with you, at times accompanied by quotes from the NORVAL Foundation’s website :

Norval Foundation Atrium

Structural Response III by Serge Alain Nitegeka

“The theme of disrupted lives, disrupted work and disrupted spaces is, through his intervention within the Atrium, intended to enable a discussion about displacement.  His use of simple building materials such as pre-cut timber, references the aesthetics of temporary structures that forced migrants often construct.”

On the Mines – David Goldblatt

“Shown for the first time in its entirety, On the Mines: David Goldblatt is the last exhibition that the photographer personally helped conceptualise before his death in 2018. Goldblatt is revealed as the great chronicler and documenter of South Africa: the quiet observer of how the country, its peoples, its institutions and landscape have been inscribed by politics and power.”

David Goldblatt’s work was shown at the Documenta 11 and 12 in Kassel, Germany, as well as in the exhibition ILLUMInations at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011.

“Goldblatt is the recipient of the 2006 Hasselblad award, the 2009 Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, the 2013 ICP Infinity Award and, in 2016, he was awarded the Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of France.”

The exhibition of his historic photographs is accompanied by the words of his lifelong friend, political activist Nadine Gordimer, recipient of the Booker Prize in 1974 and the Nobel Prize of Literature in 1991. The text of this courageous South African woman – who helped Nelson Mandela with his famous speech “I am prepared to die” at the Rivonia Trial on 20 April 1964 – is read by Brenda Goldblatt.

Labour of Many – Ibrahim Mahama

As young artists and students of the ENSAAMA, Paris, we were highly impressed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude Javareff’s (brief: Christo’s) monumental installations and ‘wrappings’ – eg. the ‘Wrapped Reichstag’, ‘Pont Neuf’, ‘Valley Curtain’ and the pink ‘Surrounded Islands‘ – where the visual beauty and aesthetics were the driving force and a suitable material was decisive, not a deeper meaning, as the artists insisted. In the end, everything would disappear. Nothing would be left except the initial drawings, designs, technical data, exclusive photographs by Wolfgang Volz and documentaries by David and Albert Maysles (their film of Christo’s Valley Curtain was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short).

Significantly, Christo once famously said: “I think it takes much greater courage to create things to be gone than to create things that will remain.” Which obviously gave rise to some philosophical discussion amongst us art students.

I couldn’t help thinking back when confronted with Ibrahim Mahama’s impressive, equally gigantic but – as the title already indicates: “Labour of Many” – meaning strongly socially engaged, 9 m high indoor installation.

Here, the  young artist from Ghana (born 1987) ‘deeper meaning’ is the origin and the result. Massive surfaces covered with hessian or jute sacks . . . “contrasting the humility of the materials with the monumentality of the space” . . . while still bearing the traces, signs, wounds, marks of previous owners . . . telling the story of their journeys between the Far East and the West . . . “histories that have conspired to create the present.”

As Gabriela Salgado writes: “The fact that fabric constitutes a marker of identity as well as a sign of particular occasions in the African context turns these insertions into a kind of portraiture of the wearers. “

“Wrapped around heaps of merchandise in the market place or embracing the contours of a museum building, the spreads of jute fibres become an oversized socio political inquiry of the origin of materials, referencing what is normally hidden for the sake of concept or form. Ibrahim Mahama denudes the transits and ownerships of jute sacks along their lives as porters of goods, rendering visible the mechanisms of trade which define the world’s economy. “

The way Mahama literally ‘conquered’ the largest gallery in the NORVAL Foundation within a dialog of space, present and past, is impressive to say the least! It is extremely tangible, if not tactile: those materials, are they still alive? Bearing witness to the fragrances of the places and spaces they had touched, being pulled, thrown, schlepped, or gently laid, scribbled upon and stamped. In the silence of that muted, black and ochre space resounded the echos of the pathways they had travelled along, from ancient ‘silk roads’ to ‘art roads’ to come. Simply AMAZING!

Mahama’s work was shown at the Documenta 14 in Kassel, Germany.

Trade Winds by Yinka Shonibare CBE

The exhibition “Trade Winds – Yinka Shonibare CBE” in Gallery 9 in the NORVAL Foundation shows a major library installation – ‘African Library’ – of about 4,900 books, plus sculptures, photos, and a series of artworks, all created between the years 2008 to 2018, and connected through their use of  Dutch Wax fabric.

“African Library broadens the initial concept of the artwork by celebrating the contributions that immigrant and non-immigrant Africans have made to the continent’s independence movements, science, arts and technological innovation, by emblazoning their names in gold on the spines of key books. African Library includes a reading area where biographical details of these notable Africans can be accessed along with archival footage of leaders of African independence movements.”

Resume

The entire exhibition is so well designed that one wonders as to what came first: the space or the content!

Time for a drink or a little lunch on the terrace of  The Skotnes Restaurant  while enjoying the views from underneath elegant ‘sun-sails’ or get a pre-packed picnic basket from the Kiosk, a take-away coffee or a sweet sin from the delectable range of Italian gelato to enjoy while exploring The Sculpture Garden and dreaming on . . .

Each year around Christmas and New Year (the South African summer), massive flowering gums are exploding in magnificent colours of reds, oranges, pinks and whites in Noordhoek, South Africa. Our idyllic valley between the mountains of the Silvermine Nature Reserve – including Chapman’s Peak – and the Atlantic Ocean wouldn’t be the same without them! We’re blessed with a number of breathtaking specimen in our garden, as you can see below. It even seems to me that they’ve never been as stunning as this year, meaning after the worst drought we’ve ever seen down here. And it’s not over; we need much more rain . . .

Red and White Flowering Gums

As so many of our trees in South Africa, the Red Flowering Gum (Corymbia ficifolia, its leaves resembling the ficus genus ) comes originally from Australia and forms part of the Eucalyptus family. It doesn’t grow that tall – only to about 10 metres – in shades from crimson to orange, while the White or Pink Flowering gum (Corymbia  calophylla) – as you see on my photos  – can become a whopping 50 metres tall!

True Magic – and the background for my visionary fiction story “Born with Wings – The Immortal Life of Piu Piu”. Currently, the German version is being completed!

As I’m looking across the glorious expanse of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens along the flanks of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, I am in awe of the beauty and grandeur that just is – with us or without us – nurturing our soul by its mere presence.

Breathing in – breathing out . . . feeling Gratitude, Peace and a sense of Oneness.

It’s all we need to celebrate what lies behind and to welcome what’s in store for us – so we too stretch our wings and fly as though no one is watching . . .

To your spiritual journey 2019 – Happy New Year!

Get Your Copy on Amazon

Inspiring story that takes the reader to a magical realm beyond the physical world. Raises awareness of unconditional love and the interconnectedness of life.

5-Star-Review on Amazon on 14 November 2018

BORN WITH WINGS – BUY THE BOOK HERE

Don’t forget to download your extra Photo Book for Free!

While we’re all relieved that the worst drought in South African history (hopefully) lies behind us, with dams filled to over 70%, and while we continue to welcome each drop of rain, many of us were happy to greet the beginning of spring, on 21st September 2018, with a warm and sunny day! Remember, only a few days ago it still snowed on Table Mountain! We’re truly living in stressful, unpredictable times – is it good? Is it bad? Who knows! In any case, an explosion of colours and fragrances in my garden attracts many visitors – four-legged and winged. While I haven’t managed to capture a whole horde of wild porcupines that keep digging for roots and bulbs, leaving a real ‘work of art’ on the lawn, I got a nice shot of this robust buzzing little bugger today:

The carpenter bee (Xylocopa caffra)

The carpenter bee may be mistaken for a bumble bee, but it’s easy to differenciate them as the bumble bee has a rather furry, hairy abdomen with yellow ‘stripes’, while the larger carpenter bee has an almost beetle-like appearance with its shiny black carapace-like abdomen as on this morning’s photo here. They sound like mini-choppers as they shoot around flowering trees – like the beautiful pink keurboom (Virgilia divaricata Adamson & Virgilia oroboides) that I grew from seeds . . . from trees I had grown from seeds years ago . . . the typical passionate gardener’s story . . . and they often bomb into the heavenly plush – but just for some brief moments, before they soar back up into the air.

They are extremely fast and may appear intimidating to some, but these insects are, like all bees, essential pollinators, and rather curious than aggressive. Females do have a stinger, but they only use them if they feel that they are being attacked – like by a bee-eater.  Unfortunately, we do have bee-eaters in the garden who are keen on wild honey bee snacks – see more on honey bees in my article on “Learning from Wild Bees”.

Born with Wings – The Immortal Life of Piu Piu

In my visionary fiction novel, Born with Wings, I dedicated a whole chapter to the honey bee, explaining also the risks for the human species should these important, useful and interesting winged beings disappear. Even world-renowned physicist Albert Einstein said, that once the honey bee is gone, the human species would follow within 5 years . . . wherever that may be.

Wherever that may be is actually an interesting topic! Feared and avoided by many, we expand into that intuitive area in a creative way . . . yet, it has been confirmed by countless studies all over the world.

“The soul of man is immortal” ~ Plato

If this topic triggers your curiosity and interest …and if you are a nature lover …  do have a look at it by clicking on my book cover. The book comes with a free download of a full-colour photobook for my readers: