Tamiko and Brett

Dear Family,

I have had a wonderful experience today. I have made friends with Tamiko and Brett Sher. She is half Japanese and he was raised in South Africa. They are really good friends. I found him because I saw these beautiful handwoven throws in the airport over a year ago when we moved here. I didn't want to pay that price (does that surprise you?) so I e-mailed to the address on the card thinking there was a shop that sold in that wasn't in the airport. He e-mailed back and I found he is 10 minutes from here. They live in a lovely home with their business in their home. I fell in love with his pillows, throws, scarves, purses, etc. It is high end quality stuff and he sold anything to me wholesale. We've become friends. I've taken missionary couples over there...mission president's wives over there because it is such fun. Their house is lovely, their gardens are lovely, and their workman are great as well as the beautiful things they have to sell. He will often call and say, "where have you been...come over" He likes my input with his new designs. They are all handwoven fabrics or African prints or Kuba cloths from Congo. ANYWAY, they have become good friends. They are in their very early forties.....artsy, kind, lovely people. He called a couple of weeks ago and wanted me to come over for a Christmas present they had for me. Well, I finally went today and took them gifts, but you won't believe what he gave me. He has a trunk with treasures in it that he has shown me before. He got them 20-24 years ago as he and his father went into the bush and would buy treasures from the people...mostly Zulus. He sold to dealers, collectors and the biggest African collection in the Smithsonian is from him. Also in the main museum here are things he sold to them. (By the way I went with another So. African friend to the bead collection in that museum and we went into the basement and she just kept pulling out drawers for us to see the massive African bead collection.....because I love the beads so.) He told me he was going to let me pick something from his collection for Christmas......you have to know that this collection means a great deal to him....it is valuable, but mostly an emotional collection. We sat on his living room floor and went through the collection and he told me about every piece....mostly being Zulu beadwork....bracelets, earrings, and many many belts. He also has some baskets, head rests, and a few dolls. It is mind boggling. I told him I couldn't choose as I didn't feel right about that. He gave me a beautiful Zulu necklace from the early 1940's. It is extremely valuable and very hard to find anymore. It is red, black, green, pink, yellow, and light blue. You can tell the age by the colors and size of the beads which he knows all about and about which I am learning. THEN he gave me a pair of Zulu earrings that the men wore. They are wooden, round, about 2 inches in diameter and they have mosaic like designs put on it with tiny, tiny nails. They are fabulous and have definitely been used. I treasure them. The earlobes are stretched those 2 inches to be able to wear them. I treasure the 2 hours going through his treasures and learning about it and hearing about the tales of meeting the people, and bargaining and dancing with them and becoming their friends. It is a lost venture now as the old treasures like these are gone and now it is dangerous to go and try because of the robbers. Some still go out for the new treasures which are still beautiful, but the old things like this are gone. It was quite a day. We are going to have them to dinner in January when the Andersons are here and he is going to show pictures of his trips into the bush and also show a ceremony with him and British Airways. He and some Nbele women designed the bright colors that are on the tail of those planes. I want you all to meet the two of them when you come. Ann has met him as have Ben and Isaac. We went to meet the owls that live in his trees. He talks to them every night. Enough.....just wanted to share the day with you. It was very special to me....couldn't get over it. I try to be spiritual every moment of my life but find I'm still worldly a lot too.......And I love it.