The Love Scout

In the modern world, African baskets are a hot commodity with collectors and designers. The term itself is misleading to say the least. “African” denotes an entire continent and thousands of different peoples and nationalities. To say that a basket is an authentic “African” product is like saying that a French basket is authentic “European.” The baskets of Africa are as varied and diverse as its people.

The people of the Zulu tribe who are located in South Africa have long utilized baskets for gathering as well as use in a number of religious ceremonies. The materials that are most commonly used for the basket itself are the Ilala Palm and Ncebe, which is the bark from the wild banana tree. The two are interwoven to make the basket more colorful, as the palm itself is naturally a plain cream color.

Certain berries, plants, roots, and other ingredients are used to create dyes for use in the Zulu basket. Brown and black are made from boiling tree roots for several days, while purple and blue are created by boiling Umdoni berries. Coral comes from the aloe plant, while orange comes from a small root of a plant being boiled. Maroon and burgundy is extracted from the bark of the Marula tree while pink and lilac are made from the leaves of a small bush. Yellow is extracted from a combination of wood ash and water while grey is made from plants that are soaked in mud for at least a week. Khaki green comes from even more unusual source-cow dung that is boiled with palm leaves.

Zulu basket makers also weave particular designs in the fibers of these containers that denote specific things. For example, a triangle pattern in a Zulu basket means “masculine” while a double triangle means “married man.” “Feminine” is symbolized by a diamond and a double diamond means “married woman.” A good luck and prosperity basket will have a design of squares or dots on it. Baskets are also woven especially for a bride on her wedding day. She will give this basket to her new husband to drink beer out of. A depiction of the marriage will be woven into the fibers to serve as a record of the event for future generations. Other historical designs that are popular on Zulu baskets include a series of diamonds which stands for “the shields of Shaka” and a zig-zag pattern that denotes “the assegais of Shaka.”

There are several different styles of Zulu baskets. As mentioned before, there is a beer basket that is specially designed to be watertight. There are also open baskets that are used for gathering food.

While many of these baskets are still used for particular occasions and religious ceremonies, the Zulu basket weavers have found a prosperous outlet for their talent in the sale of their products. European and American consumers are willing to pay extravagant prices for these authentic “African” baskets. In many cases, this income may be the only money that the family has, so the basket weavers are more than happy to peddle their wares while maintaining the same quality that the Zulu basket weavers have carried on through the generations.

Most men have a certain type of woman they are attracted to. Whether that is physical, emotional, or mental attributes, you can without a doubt find the woman you are looking for online.

Dating can be fun, but if your ultimate goal is to find your life partner, there is no reason to spend time with people who aren’t right for you.

A loving Romanian bride is probably not as hard to find as you may think. There are literally thousands of Romanian women that are looking for love and romance with western men. The reason for this is that the ratio of men to women in Romania is extremely lopsided, as there are far more women than men.

So, just find the right site on the web and start browsing through the photos and personal profiles of hundreds of interesting beautiful Romanian women. Hopefully, your perfect bride is somewhere there, waiting for you.

How can you be sure you have the picked the right one?

For a compatible relationship the couple should have common interests. You have to have something in common with your partner in order to be able to be with her and do things together

Talk online or over phone with her and try to find the answers to these questions:

Do you share common goals and priorities?

Where do you want to live?

How does each of you feel about spending and saving?

What are you building your future toward?

What kind of cars do you want to drive?

What things do you like to do together?

Are there things you love to do that you want to share with your partner?

How does your partner feel about doing those things?

Are there things your partner loves to do and wants you to love them too but you donÆt?

And then you must consider if there are things you love to do without your partner and if your partner is willing to understand and accept that?

Though women are supposed to stay at home and take care of kids and home but if she is an ambitious kind of a person then are you willing to let her have that career she has always wanted?

Talking about the distribution of housework is also an area to discuss ahead of time. How much time will be spent together and how much time will be spent apart?

The next thing that you have to look out for is whether your partner and your intellect match. It is very difficult to communicate with a dull or insensitive person. Ask these questions to yourself. When you talk to her, is she on the same level as you?

Another thing to consider is if you like each otherÆs friends? How does each of you feel about your partnerÆs family? Talk a lot about your friends and your family and make her know them.

But the most important thing, after youÆre getting to know each other better, is to ask yourself what qualities do you respect in her? Would you be happy if your child turns out like her? Can you accept this woman exactly as she is, for the rest of your life?

If the answers to the last 2 questions are “YES” you can start to make your luggage and come to Romania to meet her face to face.

Have a great flight!

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If you are like me, you have a handle on DIY home maintenance and you haven’t called a plumber or an electrician since George Bush Sr. was in the White House. My shop is the envy of every guy in the neighborhood, and I know my way around just about any home repair or remodeling project. So, when my wife asked if we could build a deck on the back of our log home, I didn’t give it a second thought. “A quick trip to the local lumber yard and I’ll have us grilling steaks on our new deck by Sunday, I told my bride.

When she hesitated after hearing my construction estimation, I knew there was more to this request than I had been told, and I was soon enlightened. Thanks to Oprah, or some other TV show I don’t watch, my wife had learned that decks have changed. “Nobody builds decks like they used to”, the newly crowned deck expert told me, “now they use composite materials or Brazilian woods that last forever”, I was informed.

The gauntlet had been laid in front of me; my wife knew more about a construction matter than me. I did what any man will do when challenged in such a manner, I fired-up the Internet and headed for Google. Oprah was not going to lecture to my wife about building decks and construction materials – that was my job.

What began as a simple weekend project had now become a research operation worthy of a government grant. I could never admit this to my wife, or Oprah, but I soon learned that nobody builds decks like they used to. The last deck I built was constructed using those greenish pine pressure-treated boards that oozed some kind of fluid and weighed five times what they should. Sometime during the last century we were told that wood preservative caused cancer and those heavy green boards disappeared from lumber yards.

Alternative choices for decking made of real wood became (and remain) slim. Because of the huge demand and limited supply such wood requires special orders for over-priced lumber that is never “in stock”. To address this market opportunity, composite materials appeared on the scene and are very popular. Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but I like wood and the thought of grilling my steak standing on a plastic deck just rubs me the wrong way.

Fortunately, I discovered that I am not alone in my wood lust and that there are companies who offer a better, natural solution to the decking dilemma. Our choices for decking materials other than composites and pressure-treated ugly boards now include woods from the forests of South America that last for decades… many, many decades. I discovered one such company named Brazilian Wood Depot located in Norcross, Georgia, that imports and distributes several species of premium, real-wood decking.

I contacted the owner, Eric Hoover, and received a cram course on real wood decking alternatives. These are beautiful woods that literally require no maintenance and are more durable than composite decking. What’s better still is that lifetime estimates range from 15 to 100 years depending on the species. You read that correctly – 100 years!

My research uncovered information that I would never have considered prior to that TV virus infecting my wife’s database. As an example, I have never built a deck, fence or other outside project with a preconceived notion of how long it would last. I would use what I thought was the best material for the job and know that in a couple years I would need to paint or stain again.

All wood grays over time and many people like a gray weathered appearance. However, an oil-based sealer will help preserve Brazilian decking and help retain the original color if you desire. Regarding the remarkable lifespan of these woods, the estimates are based on the “Janka hardness rating” (used to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring.)

Cambara – 15 years

Garapa – 25 years

Tigerwood – 40 years

Jatoba – 50 years

Cumaru – 80 years

Ipe’ – 100 years

Clearly, weather and the elements play a critical part in how long any material survives outdoors, so we are talking averages here. The life expectancy of a conventional deck surface of pine can be as short as 5 or 6 years unless you think navigating rot fractures and loose boards constitutes a “stable” deck. Redwood from the good old USA will last longer and is an ideal substitute for pressure-treated pine, but it is exorbitantly expensive and almost impossible to obtain.

Most composite decking manufacturers warrant against just about everything but color fading. However, I learned that many people’s experience is that it will begin to sag and discolor after 5 to 8 years. I followed some interesting online forums and blogs and discovered that composite decking has “love it or hate-it” fan clubs, so you will want to do your own research and I’d recommend that you dig deep. Some of the horror stories involving $20,000 deck fiascos could give you nightmares.

Affordability is the ultimate decision maker (unless you’re Oprah). As with all things, the bottom line will usually determine our ultimate choice, but I was in love with the beauty and structural soundness of the Brazilian decking woods I discovered. My cost analysis of using Brazilian hardwood versus pine or composite decking was a surprising exercise. My research results showed that pressure treated pine costs approximately $.80 per linear foot (plf), and although inexpensive, we’re talking about incurring that same expense many times over the lifetime of a house. Composite decking costs range from $2.00 to $4.00 plf, but again we’re looking at a reoccurring expense.

Surprisingly enough, the Brazilian woods, which are the most beautiful and offer the longest lasting solution, cost approximately $2.20 plf. After you factor out maintenance and factor in a projected 15 to 100 year lifespan, this was a no-brainer decision. In addition to being affordable and beautiful, Brazilian decking wood is extremely durable, needs no maintenance, is recyclable and biodegradable. I live in a log home – I really like wood, and I just discovered I could afford what I wanted.

After I shared what I had learned with my construction princess, she acknowledged that I had reclaimed my title as DIY PRO…. but there was one intsy, wincy, tiny little problem. “There’s this gorgeous log home for sale down by the lake just a few miles from here”, she purred. “And it doesn’t have a deck either, so you’ll be able to use everything you’ve learned when we build our new deck on that house after we buy it.” As I turned to slink away, she asked me where I was going. I answered that it was almost time for Oprah’s show and I needed all the help I could get.

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