This month’s theme was Balance. A simple word until real life gets involved. Because balance rarely arrives as a perfect arrangement. Work does not stay neatly on one side. Rest does not always feel restful. Phones help us and interrupt us. Routines support us and sometimes trap us. Families, weather, friendship, travel, food, sport, imagination…
Next week in Brida, we begin a new rhythm. After a month of Balance, we move gently into Rest. Not the decorative kind of rest. Not the kind that appears in wellness quotes beside a candle and a cup of tea, although we are not against tea if tea is doing its job. This is…
We went live for Issue 52 of Peeling Potatoes in what appeared to be a freezing cold South Africa, which meant, naturally, that the first serious academic matter of the day was not Relationship Balance, Digital Balance, or any other official calendar-approved balance, but tights. Fruitloop appeared dressed in black, and The Mayor immediately wanted…
The Rooms, Roads and Relationships That Keep Us Human One of the pleasures of putting together The Pineapple is that we never quite know what the finished issue will become. We start with a theme. This month it was Balance. Then the articles begin to arrive. A table conversation here. A member story there. A…
Balance has taken us in many directions this month. We have talked about work and rest, friendships and routines, health and energy, social batteries and silent forests, puzzles, cocktails, coffee, family, challenge, and the curious discovery that life rarely stays balanced for very long. This coming week is the final full week of our Balance…
I closed the door because my husband was prancing around on the outskirts of my office. Well, technically, he was sweeping the floor and doing laundry, but in Fruitloop language that is still prancing. Domestic ballet with a broom. Laundry choreography. The Mayor heard the noise, of course, because The Mayor hears everything that can…
Balance is not something we solve once. It comes back on Monday morning. It appears in the inbox, in the body, in the family, in the calendar, in the group chat, in the weather, in the bank account, and sometimes in the mysterious question of whether we still have enough energy to speak to other…
Balance is not a perfect state. It is what people do while life keeps happening. And life, as this week’s Pineapple makes very clear, does not usually happen neatly. It happens during 100-kilometre walks, broken dishwashers, awkward work emails, money mistakes, rooftop pools, social batteries, family routines, emotional storms, strange apartments, unexpected neighbours, middle-aged maintenance,…
I knew we were in trouble before we even started, because we had barely gone live and The Mayor was already asking why I was crying. I was not crying. There was a hair stuck in my lashes, and it was tickling me, which is completely different. Naturally, this led to the very important academic…
Every week, before Brida goes into the wild, we consult the Potato Pancake. This is not a spreadsheet. It is not a management tool. It is not approved by productivity experts, lifestyle coaches, financial planners, relationship therapists, sports scientists or people who colour-code their sock drawers. It is better than that. It tells us what…
