Richard Scott Blog - 2nd March 2025

Last week I wanted to post a picture of what Joanne, and I call Telly Tubby land. It’s that moment, every morning this time of year, that the sun comes up while we are driving to work and Joanne shouts “Look its Teletubbies”. It’s a good laugh, and the sky really reminds me of the days 20 odd years ago when all you did was watch Teletubbies with your kids. Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po.

Although we live in Teletubby land, it is still beautiful.

Anyway, back to the real world; Monday was great. I look forward each morning to my morning coffee on the deck and my own little admin and news catch up.

Spot the socks.

The guys all rocked up around 8am and I went off with Hendrik to go collect some seaweed for the compost pile. Once a week he does that, and I felt like doing it for a change.

When I got back I decided to do something about the Wi-Fi in the house. There were a couple of old routers, and they were causing the entire house Wi-Fi to LAG, so I called in Wynand, and he made it all go away with what they call CUDY. Google it.

I also got stuck into updating the paintings section on the website. It’s a new edition. Have a look: www.richardscott.com.

I managed to do a few more sketches of the VASE series. I was experimenting with curves at the top of the Vases and curves around the edges, as I was warned against corners.

Always doodling. A sketch from 2024 being coloured in.

Joanne came home later than usual, and we had leftovers from the weekend for supper and one of Joanne's new inventions: Homemade coconut and strawberry ice cream on a stick.

Tuesday was backgammoning all f-ing day. Excuse my French. I was struggling with the board on all fronts. I won’t go into detail, but it also put me in a shitty mood, which I haven’t had in a while. Nonetheless I managed to pull it together and left the touch up for Frans to do on Wednesday.

Coffee shot for Angelina.

Backgammon anyone?

Testing the epoxy depth. Just making sure the 3D prints do not raise to the top, like last time.

Testing different glues.

Temperature testing. The epoxy acts differently at different temperatures. Story of our lives.

I found this and sent it to Angelina and Joanne. I ticked off all 12 boxes. How many can you tick off?

Lunch. Comparing olive oils. The Speyseniersberg one wins as I love the pepper aftertaste.

Wednesday I woke up at 3am with that backgammon board on my mind. I was cross with myself for not taking my time. I knew Frans would be able to save it, but I was not sure if it would be done on time, Friday.

I sat on my phone and wrote out a list as long as a month end shopping till slip. I eventually fell asleep at 4.30, just in time for a 30 minute snooze.

I wanted to go into town to do some ceramics but decided on the spur of the moment that the backgammon board was too important. I had after all, three months to complete it. I saw an Instagram reel where a YouTuber interviews an elderly man about a life hack. One of them was to take chances like Elon Musk. He said Boeing was taking no risks and had yet to launch a rocket, where as Elon Musk was experimenting and learning. So, I guess, three boards down, I am on the same trajectory.

As promised last week, here is a Ship Mast update: Wednesday afternoon we moved that 70 year old ship mast upstairs as a seating place for the wedding. It took all four of us a wee while to do it as it must weigh 300kg.

Ship Masts and Wine Barrels.

Hendrik did a great job cutting out the seats and sanding and varnishing the mast.

David De Beer from Scoot Doctor sent me a pic of my art he randomly spotted.

After that it was a quick change and off to meet Joanne at the mall to run a few errands.

I popped in to see Willem at ZEDMEN suits to get my blue ZEDMEN suit tailored. It was great to see him and connect again after a while. He made me feel like a million dollars. That’s the secret to sales.

Thursday, I finally got to go to Mervyn and do some ceramics. I learnt how to use slip to glue pieces together which is a much quicker method. Mervyn popped in and gave me a few pointers. The best one was to work on 4 or five of the same items at once. This way, it forces you to build slowly and not fast.

Work work work.

As usual I was covered in white powder from the clay. I did manage to remove most of it with a wet cloth. I picked Joanne up and we popped into to see Jacques for Joanne's measurement for the dress. It was also great to spend time with Jacques and catch up and hear all about his Paris trip.

Jacques weaving his magic with Joanne.

Friday was all day in studio finalising the Backgammon board and the Candy Wine Barrel. It was also February the 28^th which is month end and financial year end, so a lot of time was also spent on the books with the auditors. Blah stuff. I would rather be doing ceramics, but business is a balance.

Joanne was at work Friday, which was unusual. So, I used the time to build a few plinths to hide stuff in the garden next Saturday, wedding day. It was fun to get stuck into some woodwork after so long. I used to make up my own creates, until REBUL came along.

Frans finishing off a mask shift plinth for me.

Joyride. Graffiti on construction planks.

Art is all about the imperfections.

And then some.

Nonetheless, I got to work till around 5pm. I cleaned up the studio with Frans and Hendrik and then got stuck into cooking a batch of seeds and legumes for the weekend. I did some barley, lentils, chickpeas, millet and also 3 trays of seed and nut snaps. Angelina taught us how to use the power of seeds and their natural binding elements to make delicious snap crackers. Being Richard Scott, I added in chilli flake, peri-peri and real birds eye chilies to the one tray. The second one got a good dose of salt, and the 3^rd tray was left alone as I was taught.

Joanne came home and we had supper and went for a nice long sunset beach walk. It was nice to catch up on the day and watch our sun set on our beach.

Angelina came home, so that was nice. She did me another You Tube video. Here is a link to the previous one: https://youtu.be/dvzGElFdLbE

And this piece is off to a collector in Johannesburg.

We watched a movie on Netflix, and both dozed off on the couch while Angelina watched her series.

On Saturday I popped out to do some wedding clothes shopping with Richie.
I don’t think I have ever been clothes shopping with Richie in the 22 years he has been on this planet. Nonetheless we both agreed to get it over with ASAP. 

Sending Angelina a thrifting photo.

Strange enough though “the shopping mall gods” were on our side as we found two nice pair of pants and two  really nice shirts at the first shop. We then had a bite to eat, and I dropped Richie at home and headed home myself.

We bumped into our good friend Bob. If it was not for Bob, then Richie would not have had his own Aeroplane. Thanks Bob.

Joanne was in full swing cleaning and tidying up the house. I didn’t recognise the place, and you know that feeling when you are looking for the salt and pepper in its normal place for the last 20 years. Hee hee, it was fun but nice as everything was neat and clean. The kids were all home studying.

We had a lunch on the deck at around 2pm and then chilled on the couch doing last minute lists and emails and calls and post wedding lunch appointments with the UK family and our German friends coming over for the wedding.

I managed to spend an hour in the studio sorting out bits and pieces for next week. The studio is still looking very clean.

Joanne and I went for a long sunset beach walk and crashed on the couch while the kids were playing some science/world statistics game. I had to step in when they agreed the moon has no axis and that is why you do not see the dark side of the moon.

Well, the moon does have an access, and I needed two round objects to show you that the moon does rotate and yes, strangely enough you never see the one side, the dark side.
By 9.30 Joanne and I were ready for bed. Seemingly, so we’re the kids.

Sunday was peace and quiet. Joanne was wondering how the garden was gonna look for next Saturday, so the kids and I lay out the chairs etc. It was fun.

Quick studio check, and Joanne on the iron and me on the garden fork. Sunday morning stuff.  The kids all had plans, so there was no big family Sunday lunch.

Thanks for reading

Until next Sunday.

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