one hour. wherever you are in the world. this very saturday – march 29. at 8pm. sans lights. i’m up for the challenge!

Photograph by David Finato. Art Direction and Styling by Pia.

Suggestions for (earth) hour-long games to play in the dark are in the comments…

Please click ‘play’ on the music player below while you read this post, thank you (and be patient if there is a little delay in loading)…

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okay. so this is it. there is no more procrastinating. no more perfecting my words. no more clearing my throat. or doing more research. or reading more literature. or looking at pretty pictures. The truth is I can’t go to this place you see above, or this place you see below…

… it’s not because I have a broken leg or something. Or because I can’t afford it. No, it is because of something I said.

But what could I have said that could stop me from going to a place as magical as this? Well, the thing is that I only told one person. I mean, I am no speech maker. I only have a little quiet voice. and it wasn’t made for making loud noises. So I haven’t announced this to an audience. Or even a group of individuals.

Until today.

I can’t visit this place because, well, I made a pact. You know some people get tattoos, or get a second earring hole. Or maybe pierce their nose. Or their tongue. I made a pact. And I declared my pact to this person…

His name is Tenpa . And he was born in the country I can’t go to. And perhaps I’m crazy to have made a pact to say that I can’t go there, because it is obviously full of the inspiration I crave – full of nature, full of colour, and life, and natural wonders, and full of photo opportunities to say the least. In fact, just like all ethnic cultures that us creatives derive inspiration from, this country and it’s culture is at the height of it all. It is in fact, the rooftop of the world. Yes, I’m talking about magnificent Tibet…

Back in the early ’80’s, when some of us were sporting bubble skirts (yes i confess), and large bangs, and listening to Wham, Tenpa’s mom was walking across those mountains with her 5 year old son on her back. She was escaping. Although she had done nothing wrong except breath which all of us are ‘guilty’ of, she was getting the hell out of there. For 15 days she trekked through that snow. And there were others too. A group of about 10 people, some old, some young. And some died. I often close my eyes and try to imagine being Tenpa’s mom on that mountain top. She would have been about my age. What would I see? Would I look back and whisper goodbye to my home? And as I struggle through the snow with nothing but the clothes on my back and my son at my heels, what would I be thinking as I watched others on my same path lay down of exhaustion and die? If it was me I would be scared out of my wits. But something must have been scarier behind Tenpa’s amala than in front of her, otherwise she would never have made the trip. No woman, man or child in their right mind would make that trip without a good bloody, freakin’ scary reason.

So baby Tenpa made it to India alive and so did his amala. But not for long, she lasted ‘in freedom’ for only five years, and died when he was ten.

Fast forward to the year two thousand and Tenpa arrives in Sydney, stepping off a plane for the first time in his life. He’s been granted a special visa to live in Australia thanks to his Dad who endured over 14 years of imprisonment and brutal torture in China for being a Tibetan monk. And yes he was a special sort of monk, he was a Rinpoche. For us novices of Buddhism this means he was a reincarnation.

Now, I’m no Buddhist so I won’t go off on a tangent and pretend that I know anything about monks and reincarnation. But I do know I’ve met many people in my little 30 years on this planet and I can assure you that Tenpa’s pala is without a doubt the gentlest person I have ever met in my life. He has not even lifted a finger to kill a mosquito sucking on his arm. In fact, while he endures the sting from the blood sucking creature he just smiles at me. I can imagine why too, that sting must feel like a kiss compared to what he has endured in his lifetime.

So under miraculous circumstances, Tenpa and my life crossed paths, and we’ve been crossing and weaving each others paths ever since. And that is when I made the pact. My reasoning was simple – for as long as Tibetans are not free to come and go from their own country, then nor am I. I made a pact that I would not go there until Tibet was safe. More poignantly, saved.

Which brings me back to this post. We all know Tibet has been in turmoil for the last 50 years. We all know that it is in the media right now. And we all know why. So just like I put Africa in the Spotlight in light of the horrific-ness of what was happening in Kenya two months ago, the time has come to put Tibet in the spotlight. For some reason it is harder for me to get these words out about Tibet. And I can’t discuss the brutality that is going on right now because it makes me vomit. It has taken me many hours to even get these words out and onto this post.

But since I’m in the habit of making pacts, what the hell, I’m making another one. I am no Steven Spielberg, Björk, Tina Turner, or Richard Gere. But I am the friend of this man. And he is the friend of this man. And his people need us. And lets be honest, are we not sick of hearing about the abuse of human rights in the 21st century? I don’t want to hear about another Tibetan nun shot dead. Or see another photo of a young, unarmed Tibetan protester shot dead. I want to hear that our voices are being heard and we can make this world a better and safer place. And to do that I will be showcasing Tibet and everything and everyone inspirational connected with it here in the (blog)house along with all our other wonderful design finds from around the globe. Tibet will now be an official part of the (blog)house until everyone in Tibet and associated with Tibet is safe. And in the meantime, I stand by my friend while his voice echoes through the loud speakers. He does have a louder voice than me after all. There is no doubt you will be seeing Tenpa on the TV and in the papers in Australia and the world in the months to come. And it will be for all the right reasons. But my wish is that one fine day, my pact will be met and I will travel to Tibet with my best friend and have Tibetan tea in a place just like this…

All Tibet images courtesy of L’Internaute.

Photos of Tenpa la courtesy of Tenpa la and Jamie Williams.

And music by none other than the very talented Tenzin Cheogyal. Click here to visit his website, and here to download free mp3’s like this one you are listening to – another example of how generous the Tibetan people are.

I am in deadline mode again, writing an article for a travel magazine on one of my favourite places in the world. But I’ve just come to say hello while I take a tea break. And to confess: after all the research, writing and reminiscing on the memories of this beautiful island, I want to pack my bag and go back there right NOW. I figure, if I have to suffer the heartache of reviewing and writing about this magnificent place while it is cold, windy and dark outside, then you can suffer with me too. So although I can’t tell you where it is yet, I can show you a glimpse of where my heart has wandered off to today…

Photograph by Pia Jane Bijkerk

now back to work. sigh.

You are all probably well aware now that I am a nature girl. I am drawn to all things natural, and I gain all my styling inspiration from nature. And so while I am on my Sunday sloth fest, instead of getting out there amongst nature, I am going to bring the nature to us today. And all in the name of fabulous design. Let’s start with these beauties…

Hans Silvester is the photographer of this incredible book called Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa. My fabo friend Beve from the wonderful blog Afropolitans sent me this link knowing full well that it would make me jump up and down with girlish excitement. She also sent me the link to this great article about the book which is described as a tribal fashion show inspired by the wild trees, exotic flowers and lush vegetation of the area bordering Ethiopia, Kenya and Sudan… “these tribal people have created looks that put the most outlandish creations of Western catwalk couturiers to shame.” I have already ordered my copy from Amazon, as even though this article is so full of awesome images from the book, I cannot get enough of them. I need this book. now. Plus, who doesn’t love having their face-painted? Oh I am sooooooo inspired…

Next up on our nature walk through the blogosphere, I am taking you all with me here:

I found this treasure on what I believe to be my personal secret source of life’s most interesting and incredible things, a blog authored by a mysterious and extraordinarily talented chick. So who and what am I raving about? Cherry Coloured. And the author I must reveal, is more than just a pretty blogger, she answers by the name of Nyla, and she made this documentary about Jeff Buckley, which I only just realised (GASP!!!); she takes these beautiful photographs; and she finds and shares these treasures with us. Nyla’s blog is a must on your daily blogroll, that’s if you want to find such a place as this:

Yep, we are talking the ULTIMATE in fine nature backyards here. I am completely enraptured – a totally sustainable rainforest community nestled into the tree tops of a 6,000 foot rainforest mountain on the South Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The residence is called Finca Bellavista, and they even have high-speed Internet and WIFI. That means we could all live there and STILL blog away. Can’t you imagine us coo-ing each other from across the tree tops? You would all be invited to dinner on my treehouse terrace, where we can have a bloggers meeting right here…

So who is coming with me?

Oh I almost can’t keep up with this post, my imagination is running wild now. I am thinking of how we could dress our treehouses, with all the incredible finds we have been sharing on our blogs, including these French creations which I want vite…

These are called Living Stones, floor cushions in the shape of oversized pebbles that are made from 100% wool and are environmentally friendly with no use of chemical dyes. They also have an outdoor range:

Don’t the French just know what we want? But so do Kim and Jo, because they started me on the wander that lead me to these delightful pieces. As it goes, I was perusing their WINK post as I always do on my free weekends and as you know they introduce new bloggers, and this one called Shift caught my eye. So over I went and that is where I found the rocks for my new treehouse accomodation. This new blog has loads more inspiration, so go check it out. While you do that, I am just going to stick a flower in my hair, leaf through the pages of my new book, and sit on my treetop terrace on my new furniture. Hope to see you there…

After a long and very busy week, yesterday’s outing was a real treat: It started around 10am when friends Hayley and Gavin invited us on a day trip to the National Park Hoge Veluwe. This park is a real gem of The Netherlands as it consists of 5500 hectares of unspoilt woodlands, grassy plains, sand drifts and is the natural habitat of deer, mouflans (goats) and wild boars. The best way to see the park is by bike of which there are hundreds of free ones at your service, especially for park visitors. We all hopped on one each and set off to explore our surroundings. The air was so beautiful and reminded me very much of the fresh air of the West Coast of Canada. I was in heaven as I rode past moss-covered rocks, baby pine trees and thousands of lofty conifers. The most bizarre and beautiful of all was the sand field which just appeared before our eyes after riding through a few kilometres of thick forest, it was as if we had ridden on through a travel machine which had taken us right into the sahara…

As if that wasn’t enough to captivate us, right in the heart of the parkland is the Kröller-Müller Museum which houses an extensive collection of works by living and long gone artists, including some 200 paintings by Vincent van Gogh.

Two artists who tantalised my artist taste buds were Tom Claassen …

and Anselm Kiefer…

images from White Cube.

Although things got a little obscure with Anselm when we all discovered that he had used his sperm in one of his sculpture creations. Needless to say before we walked away in shock we all took a look at this masterpiece.

There is also a world famous sculpture garden within the museum grounds that we did not get time to visit but we are all keen to go back in warmer weather, take a picnic and spend a long lazy afternoon amongst the forest surroundings. Thanks again Hayley and Gav for a fab day out!

all other images courtesy of the Kröller-Müller Museum