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19 Comments

  1. Dianne W
    April 13, 2018 @ 12:00 pm

    A lovely essay, Gerda. I grew up in Salt Lake and for a time lived near 21st East and 21st South. The Sugarhouse Park was the site of the Utah State Prison, it was very scary around there. We used to drive past it all the time and I always hated looking at the menacing building. I’m pleased to know a site with such a negative past has become a refuge and place of beauty in the city.

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    • Gerda Saunders
      April 14, 2018 @ 8:54 am

      Thanks so much for your lovely note, Dianne. How wonderful to hear that my snake-biting-its-tail post prompted your snake to bite its tail too: You can be assured that the prison vibes are now totally gone from the Sugarhouse Park site. I hope that you will be able to come and soak in the peace and beauty of the new disposition yourself. Let me know if you ever have the chance to come here, and we’ll go for a walk so you can tell m your memories!

      Reply

  2. Corrine
    April 13, 2018 @ 3:23 pm

    What a wonderful read and I’m so glad to see where you settled and your new adventures ?. We still have boxes to unpack but we are now settling in and exploring our new home in Ahwatukee Arizona. Sending my best ?

    Reply

    • Gerda Saunders
      April 14, 2018 @ 8:57 am

      I had a lovely stroll through your Facebook page yesterday–your new home seems so idyllic, and seems to come with an already-existing art community. Peter looked Ahwatukee up this morning, and we saw a satelite image of your neighborhood–how lovely it must be living at the foothills in a nature-friendly environment. Ah, those boxes–we are down to one or two. But I see you are already creating. Once you start to do that, you are HOME. Wish you everything of the best.

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  3. Kathy
    April 13, 2018 @ 7:00 pm

    So glad to read your latest essay. I have been missing you for the last few months and chalked it up to the fact that you all were moving. It seems you new place is wonderful and most fitting for the two of you. If you have a free afternoon in the next week or so I would love to meet for lunch and catch up. Always love to hear from you.
    Kathy

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    • Gerda Saunders
      April 14, 2018 @ 9:00 am

      So lovely to hear from you, Kathy. Yes, I was pretty overwhelmed with the move, but we seem to be settling in despite another box or two to be unpacked. We love our new place. Would so much love to see you. My lunchtimes next week are pretty open. Let’s find a time by e-mail, because I don’t check this every day. Can’t wait to catch up!

      Reply

  4. Rieks Stadler
    April 14, 2018 @ 8:25 am

    Baie interessant Gerda, en soos gewoonlik boeiend.Groete van die ou niggie down South.

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  5. Laurie Duncan
    April 14, 2018 @ 12:10 pm

    Thoughtful essay and I so appreciated the phrase “my serpent bites its tale”. No matter the level of my mental acuity, I find this a condition of being awake and thinking. Ah, then there is sleeping. Your work always informs me, so thanks for this,,

    Laurie Duncan

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  6. Laurie Duncan
    April 14, 2018 @ 12:10 pm

    Thoughtful essay and I so appreciated the phrase “my serpent bites its tale”. No matter the level of my mental acuity, I find this a condition of being awake and thinking. Ah, then there is sleeping. Your work always informs me, so thanks for this,,

    Laurie Duncan

    Reply

    • Gerda Saunders
      April 26, 2018 @ 10:47 pm

      I love your definition of “my serpent bites its tail.” I experience it in much the same way. I often find my serpent wiggling, like Kekule’s, when I am about to go to sleep. Your appreciation of my writing means so much to me.Thanks for being in touch.

      Reply

  7. Kathy Williams
    April 14, 2018 @ 3:54 pm

    Such a fun read, like you and siblings, me and my 3 brothers explored the world on our own from a very young age. During the summer we might make it home for lunch, most days we would not make it home till dusk. It didn’t matter that we grew up in the suburbs of San Francisco, every day was a new adventure. Your new home looks perfect.

    Reply

    • Gerda Saunders
      April 26, 2018 @ 10:48 pm

      So lovely to hear you had the same kind of freedom on the other side of the world. I am glad my–and your–grandkids get some of that–yours on the lake, and I hope in their own neighborhoods too. Saw Kathy and Ann today–we so missed you! We revisited the breakfasts on the first day of the school year! xoxox

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  8. Petrus Potgieter
    April 15, 2018 @ 12:18 pm

    What a wonderful essay. Dankie, Gerda!

    Reply

    • Gerda Saunders
      April 26, 2018 @ 10:45 pm

      Baie dankie, Poen. Jou waardering beteken baie vir my.

      Reply

  9. Carina
    April 16, 2018 @ 1:13 am

    Hallo – what a lovely entry to break the ‘silence’ since the move. Love the photo of you & Peter sitting on the rock and sending you lots of love:)
    XXX

    Reply

    • Gerda Saunders
      April 26, 2018 @ 10:52 pm

      Dearest Carina, thanks so much for your lovely note. I did not know that anyone noticed my “silence”–glad to hear YOU did. Thinking of you with so much love. I love you and your beautiful family. xoxox

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    • Gerda Saunders
      April 28, 2018 @ 9:05 am

      How wonderful to hear from you, Carina. Peter and I are really having a wonderful time living in our new place. Thinking of you and your lovely family. HOpe you are having a great time with Daegan and all the wonders a child brings into one’s life. I am seeing the wonder of childhood anew through my grandchildren. I wish they could get together with their cousin! love you very much.

      Reply

  10. Ria Saunders
    April 27, 2018 @ 4:03 am

    Dearest Gerda, we your family so enjoyed reading your serpent-bites -its -tail reverie; your essay is so beautifully written with a dreamlike quality and we identified with your reminiscing as we too spent endless magic hours at our river on the Bushveld farm.
    We are thrilled that your move to Sugar House has brought a special place with creek and koppie to your doorstep. You are blessed! Much love, Ria and Cliff Saunders

    Reply

    • Gerda Saunders
      April 27, 2018 @ 8:08 am

      Dearest Ria, I felt the same “farm” feeling when I went to your Bushveld farm than I did in my childhood. I first went there a year or so after my father lost our own farm. I did not realize then that the Bushveld farm would be my last experience of “farmness” and proximity to a river that I would have until now. Thanks so much for your kind words about our move to Sugarhouse. It would complete another circle for me if you and Cliff could be here to enjoy it with us. I have to say, though, that with all the gardens I have had in my life, that I still have “garden envy” for the little paradise you created in the back at your flats. Some people move to rivers, others–YOU–bring the riverness to themselves! We love you endlessly, serpent-biting-its-tail-ly.

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