A new day, a new dawn

There's a suggestion of Spring in the air this morning. The southeaster is breezily blowing in the upper layers, bringing dense cloud to the mountains to foliar feed the new vegetation and dispersing the smog of winter. The sun is rising noticeably earlier, and the sunbirds are nesting. A young fiscal shrike is learning to feed itself, swooping down from the old gum tree to the lawn below, returning mostly empty-beaked. The parent birds have vanished for the moment, but will no doubt return - they have lived here for many years.

The heavy seas have flattened as the wind blows offshore and dulls the crashing of the waves - the only real noise we have here in this distant outpost. Soon the white daisies will carpet the roadside and fields, even as far as the rocky shore, and a very short winter will be behind us. But this is Cape Town, and winter will return for brief visits well into October, although we will do our best to ignore it.
The clivias have been slow to bloom this year, but promise a magnificent display, with buds bursting from between the tightly strapped leaves. New growth is forthcoming everywhere, as the circle of life continues unhindered by the vagaries of the weather.
It's a new day, it's a new dawn.