A short stroll in the sunshine

It didn't take much to lure me away from my desk this morning. Early clouds have melted away and a few hours of sunshine have allowed the brilliant white daisies which crowd the open spaces of Kommetjie to spread their petals and turn their faces to the sun. Interspersed with the daisies are fresh yellow sorrel and early pink vygies. The orange daisies will follow after the white ones have turned to seed. A bokmakierie sits on a fence and double-collared sunbirds abound in the last of the aloes.

As I cross the boardwalk straddling the small vlei that has appeared after the winter rains, I can hear a new batch of frogs croaking among the reeds. The last lot were dinner for the sacred ibis. A black-headed heron stalks nearby, its characteristic stop-start gait too slow for me to stay and watch. Broaching the rise to the sea, I can see the snoek boats streaking across the water, heading back to unload their catch in the harbour. They throw up vast curtains of spray as they launch into the air from the top of a wave and crash into the next swell. Pity the fisherman who loses his footing on the way down - I'm sure many a bone has been broken that way. Larger ships rise and fall more sedately on the horizon, where I doubt that soup will be on the menu today.

Spiny lizards lounge lazily on the rocks. They know this is just a harbinger of spring and that there are many more storms to come. In the meantime, let's all do what lizards do!