Sabine Hofer - Afternoon Tea

Sabine Hofer - photo by Nigel A JAMES

Dragon Fire and Water Girl!

Sabine Hofer has always been a very sporting person, but, just 8 years ago, something happened that changed her active ideas completely. Her course took a brand-new direction, she became a “Dragon Girl”.

It was 2004. Another normal day at work. And her colleague, Barbara Hofmann’s idea of forming a Dragon Boat team to compete in competitions seemed just like another good idea. Another new sport and just for one season. Why not!

And, so it was that the training began. It was hard. Neither Sabine nor any of the other twenty “athletes” had expected such drill, but, the first race was coming and they were determined to do the best that they could.

And their best was better than they thought. Paddling to the beat of a drum and being kept on course by a steersman, they went down the river and into place number 2. They were thrilled, and, with success to their name they signed up for more.

And their luck kept on coming. This 4000 year old Chinese sport, complete with its colourful traditions of boats that look just like dragons which eat rice before every race was all theirs. They had mastered it all, and, in doing so, had entered a world that they never knew existed!

Having qualified for so many races, they have now been all over Europe. Everywhere, they have found, there are people who like dragon boating, too. And the reason is simple.

This is a sport that’s for everyone. Age makes no difference, dragons are friendly and they are there for us all. And the fun? This is no question, and it’s not only for those in the boats. Watching the action is just as exciting – and one doesn’t have to get wet. But, feeling the strength of the water and being part of a team that’s moving at speed is well worth the very hard training and the time that one spends.

Today is Europe, tomorrow the world, but the fun of the racing is wherever one presently is!



More info:

http://www.dreamboat-elin.at/

Poem for February

Ship in Rough Sea - pencil drawing by Nigel A JAMES

The Sea-Wife
By Rudyard Kipling


There dwells a wife by the Northern Gate,
And a wealthy wife is she;
She breeds a breed o’ rovin’ men
And casts them over sea.

And some are drowned in deep water,
And some in sight o’ shore,
And word goes back to the weary wife
And ever she sends more.

For since that wife had gate or gear,
Or hearth or garth or bield,
She willed her sons to the white harvest,
And that is a bitter yield.

She wills her sons to the wet ploughing,
To ride the horse of tree,
And syne her sons come back again
Far-spent from out the sea.

The good wife’s sons come home again
With little into their hands,
But the lore of men that ha’ dealt wi’ men
in the new and naked lands;

But the faith of men that ha’ brothered men
By more than easy death,
And the eyes o’ men that ha’ read wi’ men
In the open books of death.

Rich are they, rich in wonders seen,
But poor in the goods o’ men;
So what they ha’ got by the skin o’ their teeth
They sell for teeth again.

For whatever they lose to the naked life
Or win to their hearts’ desire,
They tell it all to the weary wife
That nods beside the fire.

Her hearth is wide to every wind
That makes the white ash spin;
And tide and tide and ‘tween the tides
Her sons go out and in.

(Out with great mirth that do desire
Hazard of trackless ways,
In with content to wait their watch
And warm before the blaze);

And some return by failing light,
And some in waking dream,
For she hears the heels of the dripping ghosts
That ride the rough roof-beam.

Home, they come from all the ports,
The living and the dead;
The good wife’s sons come home again
For her blessing on their head!

Grace Crivellaro - afternoon chat

Grace Crivellaro - photo by Nigel A JAMES

Set Patterns

All of us are products of our past. We are the sum of the places we have seen, the things we have done,  the people we have met and the passions within us. And, the more fun we have had, the more fun we are now, and Grace Crivellaro, if first impressions are anything to go by, must have had one wow of a good time until now!

And, Grace’s greatest passion of all has always been sewing, and so, after leaving school in London, she took up her studies in the world of fashion and design. After graduation, work and experience followed, and her next years were her London years. But there was one more passion growing within her.

It was travel. And, so it was, that she packed her bags and set sail for the south China sea and a life in Hong Kong. It was a whirl. There were the shadows and the shades of a culture so different. There were people, there were sounds , there were tastes and there were smells; and these were the elements that were beginning to show in her work, and, these were the patterns that were to be in her luggage on her way to her next stage in life!

It was Padua in Italy. Here, not far from Venice, was the centre of design and creation, and Grace was there, too. And she flowered. Everything was how it should be. But life, however great it may seem, is full of surprises, and Grace went from perfect to better!

Along came her family and Padua became the place of her roots; and she has never looked back. And not only that! Grace found a brand new direction as well. She became a teacher in English. As well as working with youngsters of primary school age, she is also actively involved in getting adults to jump once again the hurdles of going back to the class room, and she’s very good at it. But her designs are still simmering away!

Grace is presently working on the idea behind her future website. Soon, we will all be able to dive into her world that’s as deep as the years she’s been working. We will be able to see the work she has done, and, at the same time, be able to admire her current creations! And, with her daughter now studying art and design in London, a tradition is about to unfold, a tradition that takes in the world and is there for us all!

Everyone wants to look great, and that’s what Grace and her daughter are doing for us!





nj  njmailboy@gmail.com

Trixi Beck - Afternoon Coffee

Trixi Beck - photo by Nigel A JAMES

A Tale of Four Tails

Babies bring changes. This everyone knows. And it’s as true in Vienna as everywhere else. But, the powerful combination of child plus dog has the untamed force of reform that can turn even the slowest of backwater lives into a torrent of mainstream power and speed that carries all in its wake on its journey to the unknown shores of the future!

The dog was meant to be a companion and good influence for baby Vicky. Trixi and her husband firmly believed that pets were the best thing that could happen to kids, and this is undoubtedly true; they weren’t barking up the wrong tree. But things rarely turn out the way they are planned, and the dog – a golden retriever – became, instead, the source of a brand new direction.

The obvious happened. Walks in the cold freezing mornings of winter, visits to the vets, and all associated costs, etc. But, it was the kennel club that made the big difference. Dogs need training, and the club is the only place to go – and where there are dogs there are people – and the people at the club were all just as different as the dogs they had with them – that is, to say, except for one little thing.

Both, dogs and people are very social animals, and Trixi found she was enjoying the club just as much as her dog was, there was just as much wagging of tongues as there was wagging of tails! And so it was, that after some time, she, too, became a trainer and is now very busy helping others to shape the habits of their 4 legged friends and companions.

But, dogs are individuals, and many reflect the ways and the moods of their owners. But there is one place that Trixi can’t take her dogs to, and that is the conventions in London that she regularly goes to. She is an ardent fan of Buffy and Angel, a TV soap of yesteryear, and for her, and many others too, this show lives on in the fun of the meetings that they go to. But what about her little girl, Vicki?

She has now become a budding 12 year old and does well at school; and, maybe the dogs did make a difference. With canine company, one does learn respect. Pets, just like people, do let others know when they don’t want disturbing, and people with dogs, are, on the whole, extremely considerate. But, who knows? Maybe it’s the right kind of people who attract the right kind of dog, and now in Trixi’s household there are two beautiful dogs, a border collie called Cleo, and an Australian shepherd which answers to Sweeny. And these are two happy friends; their life is no dogs’ life! And, I secretly wonder, too, who, in reality is really wagging whose tail?

nj 2010