So what impresses you much?

A positive attitude
Humaneness
Acceptance
Integrity . . .
The list of things that can't be bought goes on and on . . . and so does my task to keep on working at achieving these.

Joie de vivre

I firmly believe that happiness is a choice, and joyfulness an attitude.

Anthony Quinn in Zorba the Greek

Catastrophe 2015 TV Series

I find most sitcoms and comedy films quite boring – slapstick, been there, seen it, yawn – but every now and then something pops ups that tickles my funny bones so delightfully that it makes me laugh out loud.

Catastrophe is one of those rare comedies, deliciously surprising and yet, so very, very real. The catch line only gives you a slight indication of what is to come: An American man and an Irish woman make a bloody mess as they struggle to fall in love in London.

Catastrophe is for anyone who loves unexpected, slightly dark, British comedy, and I am thrilled to report that the second season is already in the making.

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney in Catastrophe

Boychoir

An important part of evenings on my own is watching movies or TV series and fortunately one doesn’t have to consider anyone else's preferences.

Recently, I watched Boychoir from acclaimed Canadian director François Girard. It is the story of a gifted, but troubled 12-year-old youngster (Garett Wareing) struggling against the odds to find his voice at a prestigious East Coast music school. He clashes with the school's demanding choir master (Dustin Hoffman) who pushes him to fulfill his true potential. Co-starring in this inspiring drama are Kathy Bates, Josh Lucas, Debra Winger and Kevin McHale.

I thoroughly enjoyed this uplifting film, and it will be on my list for best movies of 2015.

South Africa's wetland feral horses

In the triangle between the R44, the R43 and the Atlantic Ocean lays the Bot River Estuary with the Cape Nature Reserve, Rooisand astride where it spills into the sea.

The lagoon is famous for South Africa's only herd of feral horses to be found in a wetland habitat. They are a little shy, but not aggressive or dangerous and roam free from Kleinmond to Fisherhaven. I often see them, even walking past my house on their way to the beach at the end of my road.

Many years ago, so one of the stories is told, a local farmer, tired of farming, sold all his cattle and turned his horses loose into the wilderness. Somehow these horses survived in the wetlands, and even thrived. They were once so seldom seen that many people doubted their existence.

Another story has it that at the end of the Anglo Boer War, evacuating British soldiers let their cavalry horses loose in the great vlei of the Kleinmond lagoon. By the 1940’s the herd had grown to over 400. Totally wild, the horses roamed the river area, decimating precious grazing. Farmers began to round them up or shoot them. Apparently only three horses escaped the attempt to eradicate the herd.

These animals have been isolated and not cross-bred with other stock for over 100 years. Today their descendents can be seen splashing through the lagoon or cantering between the dunes. This unique herd of over 20 wild horses are cherished by most who live here, and have become quite a tourist attraction.

Remember

Thinking

Yayoi and Iris made me think: Keep doing what you are doing long enough, and you will become a master at it. They are living proof of it.

So, whether that something that I am doing is good or bad, big or small – if I persist, I will become a master at it, whether I like it or not.

On the topic of rare birds . . .

There is ageing gracefully, and then there is Iris: Iris Apfel (born August 29, 1921) is an American businesswoman, interior designer, and fashion icon. Apfel consults and lectures about style and other fashion topics.

The former interior designer was 83 years old and over a decade into her retirement when her second career started and she became an It Girl. At age 90 in 2012, Apfel was a visiting professor at University of Texas at Austin.

The documentary Iris by Albert Maysles was released in April 2015.

And when asked what’s next, then? She answered: "Oh, I’ve got so many projects on the fire. The movie is coming out. The kids come from Texas. I’m working on another handbag collection. I have another jewellery collection, too. I’m starting a new book—musings, things that pop into my head, little essays, and one-liners. A lot is going on."

Iris Apfel doesn’t give a hoot. This woman is a law unto herself.

Charmingly rude, brilliantly abrupt, wearing gigantic owlish glasses and necklaces that look like pythons sliding around her oesophagus, Apfel is the kind of rare nonagenarian people want to keep hold of.

"I would tell everybody to keep as busy as possible, because if you have obligations and things to do, you can put any problems aside and stop kvetching."

Iris Apfel (94)

Celebrating an unusual octogenarian

Yayoi Kusama (86 years old) is acknowledged as one of the most important living artists to come out of Japan, and an important voice of the avant-garde.

She started to paint using polka dots and nets as motifs at around age ten, and created fantastic paintings in watercolors, pastels and oils.

In 1977, after returning from New York, Kusama checked herself into the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill and eventually took up permanent residence. She has been living at the hospital since, by choice. Her studio, where she has continued to produce work since the mid-1970s, is a short distance from the hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

"A polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement ... Polka dots are a way to infinity."

Fame Becomes Her

By Arthur Lubow

I entered the studio of Yayoi Kusama like Alice wandering into Wonderland. The generic concrete three-story building is located across the avenue from a private Tokyo mental hospital, in which this 83-year-old woman—who is widely thought to be Japan’s greatest living artist—has resided voluntarily for 35 years. For a few minutes I waited as the finishing touches of her maquillage were applied. And then the diminutive and self-aggrandizing Kusama appeared, made up outrageously in a vermilion wig and matching lipstick and dress, her expression frozen in an intense gaze that blended imperiousness with traces of confusion. Assistants watched anxiously. Solicitous of her frailty, they also feared her unpredictable “Off with their heads!”-like flashes of anger. They were well aware that she has fired her longtime secretary three times and, for good measure, once impulsively dismissed her primary art dealer. She is the Red Queen come to life.

Read more: http://www.wmagazine.com/culture/art-and-design/2012/06/yayoi-kusama-japanese-artist

Thougts on Yayoi Kusama

There is something to be said about a single-minded dotted life like Yayoi's – first of all, to keep on repeating out loudly what you want, in her case fame, does come true. The power of words: What you say is what you will get.

Secondly, one has to admire this woman, however crazy you might think she is and/or dislike her work, she has persisted in her quest and has achieved what she set out to do.

Whatever her reasons and motivations – I find her diligence and perseverance inspiring.

"I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb the stairs to Heaven, and I will look down on my beautiful life."

Yayoi Kusama