Lovely to have you visit – let me introduce myself:

My name is Karen Whitfield Wilding and I was born in 1957 in the then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to pioneering parents.  They had married in the late 1940’s after WWII and trekked to the wilderness of the African bush from the bustling civilised metropolis of the Eastern Cape in South Africa.  My childhood was unconventional to say the least – for the first few years of my life we lived in a caravan in the middle of nowhere.  Boarding school at five years old was the norm and every child in the bush knew that this was their fate –  Sunday afternoons getting onto the market gardener’s truck with all the cabbages and pumpkins as he went into market in Fort Victoria (now Masvingo) and dropped us to spend the week at school.  Friday’s journey home was with the Standard Bank clerk who brought the wages to my father to pay his builders.  Weekends were family time and usually spent on one or other farm eating, drinking and dancing on a verandah whilst us children ran wild and got up to all sorts of nonsense.  Verandahs were where life happened – weddings celebrated, new born babies passed from arm to arm, tea and sympathy extended on disappointments, deaths and disasters.

After finishing school and studies, I met my husband at my cousin’s wedding in Salisbury (now Harare) and it was love at first site (yes, it does happen).  He was the best man and I was the bridesmaid.  He had travelled up from Cape Town and I was then living in Johannesburg.  A few months after the wedding, I boldly left my job in Johannesburg and flew to Cape Town to pursue him with all the subtlety of a cavalry charge!  He didn’t stand a chance.  40 years later we are still together and have been blessed with a son and wonderful daughter in law, 2 grand darlings and twin daughters.

Life has never been dull or conventional with roads often travelled that should have been well left alone.  My love of old things and travelling, preferably to places with colour, different cultures and exotic foods (even though I am the fussiest eater in history), have often been hilarious and nerve wracking with many stories to share.  Most of my life I have been collecting things (no, I am not a hoarder, children) – buttons as a child (which I still have) and at present hat pins.  I have largely followed my passion as most of my career has been in industries related to them – history, art & collectibles, entertaining, people, places and flowers (lots of them).  I love old buildings and am sad when they are abandoned and neglected and have been known to rescue and renovate a few (and build a few from scratch!) as they all have a story of love and life lived.  Books and history still intrigue and delight and my happy space is trawling my poor, long suffering husband around some old dead fellow’s house or fusty old museum.

I recently had major health issues which led me to realise that life is fragile and should be lived 100%.  No dress rehearsal this and life is too short!  Carpe Diem – seize the moment and all that.  So, let’s journey together and see some interesting things along the way! Hope you find the road as windy, bumpy and interesting as I will.

Hugs,

Karen

If you would like to take this journey with me, please fill in the contact form below for further posts:

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