by Tilly Smith Dix Two topics seem of enormous relevance in my world at present. Okay, three. Rising crime, dating in our mature years, and raising children to be resilient. Why are we talking about children? Well, if we are lucky, we have grandchildren by the time we reach our sixties, or, we are lucky enough to get to embrace life as if we were grandparents by spending time and embracing our family’s pixies. I think most parents today are mostly on auto pilot. Working, sometimes even studying further once the kids are at school, playing taxi, paying bills, and trying to be good parents by sp ..read more

By Tilly Smith Dix A dear friend reminded me of this quote a while ago, “life is simple, just add water,” and I recalled these wise words from Leonardo da Vinci, “Water is the vital humour of the arid earth, flowing with unceasing vehemence through the ramifying veins, it replenishes all the parts.” Show me someone who is not soothed when watching water, and I’ll show you someone who is not in sync with nature. Being quiet, relaxing at a lake, pond, stream, river or the ocean, is one of my many soul churches. Raised by parents who had a deep appreciation for nature’s bounty, from its flora and ..read more

By Tilly Smith Dix I mentioned in my December blog, the sadness of losing my dear childhood friend to cancer at the end of 2022. Given the timing of Mariekie’s passing a service to celebrate her life took place on January 7, 2023. The live stream via YouTube was heart-warming and she would have approved, I’m certain. The pastor talked about helmets and crowns, which deeply resonated with me. We wear helmets to protect us when we have no choice but to face a problem and imagining a light on that helmet to help us navigate the challenge, makes sense. We wear our crowns of pride to celebrate what ..read more

by Tilly Smith Dix Love is the most abused word, too often used to cajole, influence, bully, placate, manipulate, and control, by some. However, the word like seems enormously underrated. Yes, this could become a conundrum, understanding whether we LIKE or LOVE someone, or something. A good friend once told me she loved her husband deeply but she sometimes disliked him. We then got into a discussion about this, to clarify if we could differentiate between those two emotions. Her response? “I love him as we have a strong bond, and he is a loving, caring husband and father. “However, there are t ..read more

by Tilly Smith Dix Grief is the price we pay for love, said Queen Elizabeth II, after the loss of her husband. This sentiment resonates deeply, as she apparently preferred to grieve in private. One has to respect her dedication to her nation, whether one is a royalist or not, which I’m not. Her solemn oath, to put her people first for as long as she lived, was honoured. No, she was not perfect but gosh, I think she tried her best. It could not have been easy for a man of distinction and pride to play second fiddle to a woman. He did it though, and I’m sure his wicked sense of humour often got ..read more

by Tilly Smith Dix Losing a beloved relative is never easy. However, watching their deterioration, struggles with memory, and the simple, basic functions of life, is worse. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Cancer, these seem to be the most dreaded enemies of the aged. When attending a celebration of a long, fruitful, mostly happy life that has left us, we do tend to dwell on the departure of the special soul we are paying homage to, instead of celebrating a life well-lived. While I was contemplating this thought, a granddaughter of this dearly departed, strong, feisty, clever soul we were p ..read more

by Tilly Smith Dix I’ve mentioned the piano tuner and piano removalist, Lachlan Brown, in a previous blog, and finally booked him to tune my piano last week. Well, not only did he do an exceptional job, as the piano needed some minor refurbishments after several big moves in the past 11 years, which included a trip across the ocean, but I got a free show to boot! This highly skilled and multi-talented man recently told me about his translating ancient Chinese poetry into English, to which he has now also composed music. Nosy as I am, I asked about it and for my trouble, I got a concert whilst ..read more

By Tilly Smith Dix My late dad used to say you knew you were getting old when most of your friends were dying. Sounds grim, right? I was thinking along those lines when friends from the past started reaching out across the waters to communicate with me. Sadly, much of their news brought heartache as they are in fact struggling with incurable illnesses, with one of them needing to go into a high-care home, and the other now on permanent oxygen to function basically. This shattering news brought so many wonderful memories of special friendships. None of these friendships were forced. Honesty alw ..read more

Text and photography by Tilly Smith Dix Little did I know when I bought a little black antique organ at Billy Moon in Parkhurst, Johannesburg years ago, how such a little treasure, the size of an upright piano, would create a story that sounds too good to be true. Made in Washington, NJ by the Cornish Company, this sweet little number got my attention when I was looking for an antique rolltop desk to serve as a vanity. I had invested in a beautifully hand-crafted French sleigh bed made by Van der Merwe & Son in Mooi River, South Africa some years earlier. I thought the bed deserved a vanit ..read more

Text and photography by Tilly Smith Dix It never fails to amase me how resilient people can be. We have all, at some time in our lives, at times too often, been through tough times, when we feel we simply could not deal with another setback. However, after some quiet time, a good sleep, deep breathing, perhaps a good cry (if you’re a woman or a man in touch with his gentle side), putting our shoulders back and looking life straight in the eye, we pick ourselves up and start taking baby steps towards fixing the problem by identifying the cause. Some of us blog to get the pain out of our system ..read more