I sense autumn is on its way. I see it in the light and smell it on the breeze that wafts across the Peninsula. The heat rising from the earth is less intense than last week and if you sit for a while under one of the sprawling milkwoods of Kommetjie, there is a chill that takes you by surprise after the scorching summer we have had.
The swells at the Outer Kom are getting more impressive, a sign that cold fronts are passing closer to the Cape again. Random cottonwool clouds drift gently overhead, providing intermittent relief from the direct sunlight which still burns even in late February.
The lawn is burnt to a crisp, as our well has dried up for the first time in 29 years and I only water individual plants now. A few days of autumn rain - if we get any - will revive it. I'll just let nature take its course. A sign of the lack of water is nocturnal visits by porcupines, who have been digging under the fence for no apparent reason, but I now realise that they are looking for water from our fountain, as they have also been biting the irrigation pipes. I put a bowl of water outside the fence for them and that seems to have solved the problem.
Another sign of autumn is the gathering of flocks of birds preparing for the long haul back to the northern hemisphere. Once they are all gone, we will know that summer is truly over. I'm sure they stay until the last possible moment. I would.
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