A's wedding.

We attended a friends wedding on sat. We had to fight through 'nightmare' traffic to get there(London). We took over an hour to go about a mile.I don't know how I kept my cool, it was surely by God's grace. Fortunately we still managed to look good on arrival, not dishevelled and disgruntled.I thought we were very late, only to find the neither bride, groom nor bridal party had arrived. We were actually part of the bridal party. Obviously, they were all battling the same traffic. This is the situation here in the UK. We have to put up with narrow roads, bottlenecks,etc. On top of that there are roadworks every corner. Diversions without warning seem to be the norm. This particular road we had to negotiate, is notorious for traffic, and I noticed a large shopping mall has suddenly sprang up smack bang in the middle of it with no provision for extra roads, so lets just say you had 1000 more cars trying to fit onto this dual carriageway with buses in bus lanes and rd works....it was quite interesting.

I must say I so enjoyed the praise and worship at the ceremony. Very refreshing after that drive! I styled Arashia's locs. I pulled the hair up into about 7 flat twists at the back, curled the top. It was lovely. Note the outfit Arashia is wearing? She made it herself. She is a fashion designer, and likes to make evening/formal wear - with a bit of flair. Click on the images to see it better.

Check out my Nigerian outfit and 'gele'(headgear). Even my friend Funmi said I carried it well.This is the 1st time I wore the gele, and I tied it myself.I'm already used to tying headgear the Ghanaian way, but I wanted to try the Nigerian method, as it gives extra sparkle and I think they are just beautiful.

The gold scarf covering was made by my good friend Helen.

wghs dinner dance

A few pics of us going to an old school re-union. It was a dinner-dance held at the Royal National Hotel in Russell square - London. A truly memorable event fundraising for the school. I set my sls on perm rods and soft spikes. My old school, known us Wesley Girls' High school is about 150yrs old, located in the town of cape coast(famous for it's forts and castles and role in the slave trade). It was begun by Methodist missionaries (British)in the 1800s and is probably the best school in Ghana. They've consistently achieved the best exam results since I can remember, and produced some very well rounded individuals including moi! Seriously, old girls have achieved many influential positions, high court judges, doctors, heads of institutions, business women,fashion designers or SAHM home educating like me. I have many fond memories of the place, as it was a boarding school and it became home from home for 5yrs during my teenage yrs. In 2006, we had the privilege of meeting ms Garnet again, the headmistress for over 30yrs. She was the guest of honour at our 'do' and believe it or not, she knew all of us who attended the event and even remembered our names. I guess we were sent to her office enough times for breaking some rule or other. She was always just and fair and allowed you to explain yourself.

Notice the length of Arashia's locs. Hmmm, loc envy is not a good thing. Re tightening is well over due.

1st recipe -waakye and stew

Justlocs,Thandi,Meimeika, this is for you,recipe no 1, Enjoy.....


For the waakye(rice and black-eyed beans)

Take a small bag of black eye peas (beans)-about 300 gm, and add enough water to cover three inches above them. Add a large pinch of baking soda. In Ghana there are special leaves/sticks added to give a distinctive colour and flavour, but here in the west, we don't always have access to it, so baking soda does the trick. Boil until the beans are soft to the touch (not mushy, but soft). The water becomes a burgundy colour. Add about a teaspoon of salt then add enough rice about 400gm so it's 1 1/4 in under the water. Mix. Reduce heat to medium/low and cover for about 30 min, or until rice is finished cooking. You can cheat and use canned black-eye peas, as I have done before, but results are not the same. My personal trick is to add 2tbs of dark soy sauce and 1bs sesame oil for flavour and intensify the colour whilst rice/bean mixture is cooking but it's entirely optional.

For the Stew: You will need:1 tbs tomato paste(optional), 1 large onion sliced. 2 cans 435gm tomatoes, blended or chopped, 1 large stock (boulion)beef/chicken /vegetable cube, 1/2 finger ginger peeled and diced, 2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced, 1/4 tsp. Red chilli pepper, black pepper,salt/season all to taste., 1/4 cup vegetable oil. 1/2tsp Curry powder (optional). 1lb cubed meat (You can use chicken or fish).

If you are using meat....

(you can see the stew simmering away)

In a pan add the meat, garlic, ginger, 1/2 teaspoon of salt or season all, and enough water to cover all the meat. Stir all ingredients together and allow to boil until meat is tender to the bite. When meat is to your liking, fry it in heated vegetable oil , until crisp on the outside, but soft inside. This step is optional as not everyone likes their meat fried. DO NOT POUR THE WATER FROM THE BOILED MEAT AWAY. This will be used as a seasoning for your stew later.

For egg eating vegetarians.......

Boil some eggs and set aside.

In a different pan, add 2 generous tbs oil, and allow it to heat up on medium heat. Add onions and allow to fry for about 10 minutes. This will remove the water from the onions. Add the tomatoes and allow it to fry as well. Stir often, as you don't want the bottom to burn. Add the tomato paste. Mix into the onion/tomato mixture add some garlic, a little fresh chopped ginger and add about 1/2 cup of water(use water from the boiled meat if using meat.) add about 1/2 of the stock cube, 1/4 teaspoon of curry, and a little bit of the chilli pepper. Mix until it's dissolved. taste and add more pepper/seasoning if needed. Allow this to simmer until thickened, and there is a film of oil on top. Turn off the heat, peel and add boiled eggs.

Meat eaters........

Add the meat and most of the meat stock (from boiling)to the stew and stir so that meat is buried in stew. MAKE SURE YOU STIR FREQUENTLY. Allow to simmer until thickened and there's a film of oil . Keep stirring and add more water from the boiled meat if needed. Add seasoning to taste. It will be done, when it's thick with a browny-red colour.
This is usually accompanied on the side by SHITO sauce, which is a hot pepper sauce made from chillies and smoked dried shrimps and fish. You may be able to purchase it in a Ghanaian shop, but I do without it sometimes and it's just as tasty.

Don't put stuff on your locs!!!

So I thought I was being smart and decided to put a lil' gel ...u know the type white folks put in their hair to harden and mould it?..yeah that type, on the ends of 5 locs to hold them together. Instead of holding together, they all totally unravelled. But u can see from the previous post that my consultant fixed them. I was quite embarrased to tell her how those locs came apart, seeing that I know better. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you sisterlocking/microlocking folks this:
Just don't put stuff on your locs!!! You could cause them to unravel. (A little mist of a few drops of eo and the tiniest amount of oil is probably fine.) This will also apply to anyone who has micro-locs, but not necessarily traditional locs. In my experience, it's much easier to unintentionally, undo tiny baby/teenage locs than bigger ones. So be warned.

art journals/5th retightening

A group of us have started another round of art journals. In the 1st we picked a colour or season for a theme. This time we picked an emotion/feeling. Mine's FAITH. Actually, mine's neither emotion nor feeling, faith is a spiritual choice. Still....Each woman gets a book/sketch bk. You decorate the cover and do a few pgs of your journal. It can be drawing /painting/stitching/glueing/embroidery,whatever you want to do. You then pass it on to the next woman who will do some art- in your theme- in your bk. You do the same with the bk that another woman will send to you and so on. This is 1 of 2 I did in Seiwa's journal.(click on it to see it close-up).They're wax paintings. I'll put up a better pics tomorrow.

AND.....

I got my hair did! It only took 2 1/2hrs so it was well worth it. My loctitian's now working from home again so no more nightmare parking. She gave me a voucher to park.Also she says I can use sls moisturising spray, nappylocs dew spray or similar. I might just make me own. Check out my locs.

Loc jewelry

My 1st attempt at making earrings. I decided to learn to make jewelry. Actually, I want to make loc jewelry - with matching earrings. I watched a couple of youtube vids and decided to get some tools and dive in. So I've made 3 loc-rings, Arashia's wearing one. These 2 , I made to fit Anne's locs. My friend's setting up a workshop with a pro so I can learn properly. Hopefully I'll be able to make some for sisterlock wearers to be tried on my locs when they are more settled. I was inspired by these ladies on 'luvinlocs' knappysoul and 'pinky2D4'(youtube)making beautiful loc-jewelry

groundnut soup(Ghana style)

I cooked some groundnut(peanut) soup with chicken today. The trouble with this soup is you have to siphon a lot of oil off. The soup brings out all the oil in the peanuts and when You add the chicken..... well, you can always use skinless chicken. It's best eaten with Fufu. But you can have it with gari, rice, yam, kenkey, (a kinda sour corn mash),banku( super-thick corn porridge), sweet potatoes, even bread if you want. My friend Eni who is Nigerian and I have decided to exchange foods every wed (when we meet at the sports centre). She's bringing me moimoi which is a bean dish from Nigeria and I'm taking her some of my 'Nkate-nkwai'(twi), Nketie Wonu'(Ga) aka groundnut soup. That way we can sample dishes from each other's country.
Going through my hair I've discovered a few locs on the edges that completely unraveled-after 8mths!! I thought I was supposed to have 'African' hair as I'm all african. Actually I have a great- great grandfather on my mother side who was dutch (he was the governor hmmm.....)and some suspected arab ancestry on my father side, so I have them to blame for this state of affairs. Fortunately I have 99.9% african blood,so most of my hair is locked in spite of its loose coily texture in places. I managed to track my loctitian today and she has graciously inserted me in her hectic schedule for friday. Phew!Sorry about that big forehead and looking bug eyed in the above pics, I was trying to show the growth at my hairline. My hairline is gradually improving, for this I give God all the glory.

credit crunch?

It's time for my babies to be tightenend again and all I managed to do is tighten 1 1/2 locs out of 380. It's ridiculous. I can't seem to find the time, or get settled - there's always something....*sigh* I am at this very moment searching for Angela's card so I can call and make a booking. Somehow when I take 4-5hrs out of my day to go and get my hair done, everyone understands. We even have take-aways. But I'm attempting to DIY, dinner must be cooked per normal, everything must continue as is.. no interruption. But I won't grumble. I'm just going to have to ask hubby for the 50 quid to go and do the deed. Thankfully, God has blessed us in the middle of the credit crunch so I can actually afford it. But I'd rather save it and send it back home to my mother. I send money home regularly as do all my siblings to take care of my aging parents(all you africans will probably relate) but my mum's had some challenges and I want to up the total to get the extras she needs. We've had to hire extra help to help care for her and I want her to have whatever her lil' heart desires. My dad too, bless him. God's faithful and he will provide.

I've been tagged!

I've never been tagged b4 so I hope I'm doing it the right way.

1. Link to the person that tagged you
http://divalareine.blogspot.com/

2.Post the rules on your blog

3. Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.

So here goes:
1. I love the sound of rain when I'm going to sleep ,or background sounds of voices or music.

2. I enjoy Ghanaian food(red red,beans in palm nut sauce and ripe plantain is my fav/or apim-green plantain and Nkontomire..YUMMY) and like to wear my traditional attire (cloth or kente with headgear) to church or important functions.

3. I learned to swim in my mid-40s.

4. I'm an artist and love to do wax paintings. Back in the eighties, Anne and I travelled from Ghana to Sierra Leone to have an Art exhibition. At that time it was rare for anyone our age to go outside the country for an exhibition. It was very successful and we were featured in neswpapers and TV.

5. My daughter is also my best friend. We both like Ghanaian praise and worship in 'twi' or 'Ga' and often sing and dance along with the music.

6. I usually ask God for my parking space b4 I go out (except for that 4th retightening trip!) and I usually get it.
Last, but not least....I know,Iknow it said 6 not 7 things, nevertheless
I hate arrogance and the use of foul language!

Tag 6 random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
http://luvlockd.blogspot.com/
http://www.thandislocsnlife.blogspot.com/

http://rchgrl1.blogspot.com/

http://happilynappilynish.blogspot.com/

http://mylocsjourney.blogspot.com/

http://www.yooforea.blogspot.com/

Guys, if you've recently been tagged you can ignore this. I picked you bc you're all at a similar stage of locking as me and I read your blogs hehehe.

Anyone whose reading this, if you haven't been tagged consider yourself 'it'.

Rebellious teens?

No, I prefer to call them locs with character. This is how my locs look and I've decided I like it. It dawned on me that the fuzzy,frizzy stage is to be enjoyed. My locs are simply deciding what they're going to be when they grow up. I like wild and I like the volume. They will not always be like this. One day I will wake up to find them fully developed, all 'behaving', but for now..... I'll Enjoy big hair.

PhotoArtistry

I didn't quite know what to do with my hair so I wrapped it at the front. It made my locs look big and bushy. So that's how I wore it to Anne's 'do'. A wrap is a good standby when your locs won't behave.

My friend Anne(she has traditional locs) is the owner of photoartistry. This was the opening of their new premises. It was wonderful, especially since I had the priveledge of seeing the place when it was a huge, empty shell. Anne and her team worked very hard to transform this place and it includes offices, workshops, conference hall and gallery. If U want to know more about PhotoArtistry, just google it. They do some fabulous work on canvas acrylic and more. Anne is not only a business woman, she is an artist and a painter and has had quite a few exhibitions. She is one of the people who has encouraged me to revive my art skills and also make my dream of making hair/skin potions into reality. The 3 in above pic is Anne, Seiwa and me. We 3 have been friends for years, both in Ghana and UK. Seiwa,(in the middle) a former sisterlock wearer,is an artist too and very creative. She's the one who got me onto the Art journals(on my website http://www.locsdiary.piczo.com/) and now she's hooked me on another. Regarding her hair, I wait with bated breath to see what she's gonna do. I'ts def going to be locked again, but I don't know what method she's going to go with.

moor mill

Paul's (hubby) brother and wife and baby were visiting from the US so the whole fam went to lunch at Moor Mill which is an old country pub/restaurant/motel. It was a mill, back in the day, and U can still see the wheels turning. We had typical UK weather, snippets of sunshine and bursts of wind and rain.

Arashia's twist-locs

Arashia's locs were started with 2 st twists. Tightened mainly with the nappyloc tool or bodkin. I'm not a fan of the latch-hook. I might try a crotchet-hook sometime. These pics were taken a week after being tightened by moi. She has 350 or more locs. Many of them would be the size of extra large sls. Some a lot thicker. Her hair is very dense and thick and U can hardly see the scalp even after retightening. She also put a bit of colour in some locs. We are trying to keep to a 4wk touch up schedule, but often find ourselves going 0ver 6wks. This last retight took about 3 days of doing a bit here and a bit there.It took longer bc there was so much growth, I had some repairs to do and I split 4 locs. There are 2 more to split near the crown. I'm leaving all the thick ones in the back intact as they're not really noticeable.