The patient woke up feeling poorly - now there's a surprise! After having two difficult extractions and two easier ones, one half of her face looks like a hamster with a winter's supply of food in the cheek and the other side is quite normal. Although the post-op instruction sheet mentions eating soft foods and rinsing your mouth with salt and bicarb after eating, there's no mention of what to do if you just vomit it all up again. The antibiotics and painkillers are supposed to be taken after meals. So far there have been no meals, not much to drink and no watching TV due to nausea. Why did no one mention that aspect? Luckily I'm here to wait on her hand and foot if needed, so it's no problem to be bedridden and especially in view of the absolutely foul weather we are experiencing on this last day of October. Still in winter clothes!
The garden is benefiting from the extra-long rainy season, so I'm not complaining about that aspect (sorry, Robin, if I'm still worrying about the weather!) and it seems as though we are living in England, with everyone's obsession with discussing the weather every time they meet. With the other subjects available to talk about being related to politics and crime, you can't blame us for choosing the weather!
While I'm sitting here typing this blog, I'm watching All Time Hits on VH1. Playing at the moment is Take My Breath Away (Top Gun sountrack). I bet there's no one out there who doesn't get taken back in time by that one - a young Tom Cruise before the media stripped away any romantic illusions we all used to have about movie stars. Simple days of yore.
Now it's The Byrds singing Turn, Turn, Turn. This song from the 60s represents a great deal of my philosophy on life - to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under Heaven. If we can accept everything that comes into our lives as being the thing that we need at that moment, even if it is not apparent at the time, we are able to deal with the bad times so much better, knowing that without bad times we cannot appreciate good times. A very basic tenet that can contribute to great peace of mind.
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
On the go all day
It's been an interesting, if somewhat exhausting day! I started with a breakfast meeting at Kirstenbosch with an eminent chemistry professor for a discussion on genetic modification in general and food in particular (a subject dear to my heart) and then a most enjoyable bit of general chit-chat. We were at school together, so this was not a formal meeting, just in case you were wondering - it was good to be able to have a discussion with an expert in the field. I don't often come across people who are experts on what interests me, so if I meet up with a geologist or archeologist or chemical engineer (hi, Michael) or doctor (hi, Lynelle) or any other kind of expert, I like to ask questions and this always takes up time. So I was pleased that he found time in his schedule for answering my questions and I was also able to answer some of his.
After that, it was a drive back to Kommetjie to fetch K, who was having her impacted wisdom teeth taken out today - had to stop at the chemist on the way to get a tablet which apparently gives you amnesia so you don't resent the dentist after he has hacked your teeth out. That involved queuing for 20 minutes. Then back to Claremont and a two-hour wait while she was in the dentist's chair. I hobbled around Cavendish Square in a pair of closed shoes that catch my toe most painfully, but I was instructed to go to Woolies and buy chicken noodle soup - only to find that, despite the rainy weather today, it is summer and they don't stock it. Then it was back in the car, K still numb from the local anaesthetic and so still fairly cheerful, but we had to stop again at the chemist to get the antibiotics and painkillers - another 20 minute wait, during which the feeling came back with a vengeance. Anyway, it is all under control and the patient will just have to wait it out. The main thing is that years of pain and associated infections will be a thing of the past.
I almost omitted a very exciting incident! While driving over Ou Kaapse Weg on the way to the dentist, a bee flew in the window and landed on the seat between my legs and got wedged under my thigh. When you see that kind of thing happen in the movies, they are not exaggerating the panic that ensues as you try to keep driving straight in heavy traffic while desperately swatting at a bee that you really don't want to be stung by! We managed to grab it in a tissue and stuff it into the glove compartment - it wouldn't do to have thrown the tissue and the bee out of the window - can you imagine all the hooting that would have gone on?!
So I've travelled about 100 kilometres today, spent hours waiting in various queues, and am ready to flop into bed, but I've been invited out for my favourite Kerula Prawn Curry (yes, that one!), so bed will have to wait a bit longer.
After that, it was a drive back to Kommetjie to fetch K, who was having her impacted wisdom teeth taken out today - had to stop at the chemist on the way to get a tablet which apparently gives you amnesia so you don't resent the dentist after he has hacked your teeth out. That involved queuing for 20 minutes. Then back to Claremont and a two-hour wait while she was in the dentist's chair. I hobbled around Cavendish Square in a pair of closed shoes that catch my toe most painfully, but I was instructed to go to Woolies and buy chicken noodle soup - only to find that, despite the rainy weather today, it is summer and they don't stock it. Then it was back in the car, K still numb from the local anaesthetic and so still fairly cheerful, but we had to stop again at the chemist to get the antibiotics and painkillers - another 20 minute wait, during which the feeling came back with a vengeance. Anyway, it is all under control and the patient will just have to wait it out. The main thing is that years of pain and associated infections will be a thing of the past.
I almost omitted a very exciting incident! While driving over Ou Kaapse Weg on the way to the dentist, a bee flew in the window and landed on the seat between my legs and got wedged under my thigh. When you see that kind of thing happen in the movies, they are not exaggerating the panic that ensues as you try to keep driving straight in heavy traffic while desperately swatting at a bee that you really don't want to be stung by! We managed to grab it in a tissue and stuff it into the glove compartment - it wouldn't do to have thrown the tissue and the bee out of the window - can you imagine all the hooting that would have gone on?!
So I've travelled about 100 kilometres today, spent hours waiting in various queues, and am ready to flop into bed, but I've been invited out for my favourite Kerula Prawn Curry (yes, that one!), so bed will have to wait a bit longer.
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
My little rescue dog, Susie
I was reminded today of the procedure that was followed when we found our little dog, Susie, at an animal rescue organisation eleven years ago. We had got a puppy from a neighbour a few years before and decided to get a companion for him. I happened to ride past ...... and executed a sharp left turn on a whim as I saw the sign. It was as though something had swung the wheel on my behalf as I barely slowed down due to the impulsiveness of the decision to go in. I wandered past the cages and came to a large enclosure filled with every kind of mongrel - sounds better in Afrikaans - brak you could imagine. They rushed to greet me at the fence, barking excitedly, and I have to say it was not a nice experience. I can't bear animals in any kind of cage.
And then I noticed a little dog with the dirtiest matted coat - a kind of brown colour - just staring up at me, totally quiet, not joining in the hullabaloo. She just looked, almost as though she had given up being noticed. I immediately phoned HWCFA and told him I had found a companion for Monty and he rushed around from work to have a look. I think he was a bit taken aback at the state of her, but agreed that we should take her.
I went to the office to give them the good news and was surprised to hear that she had been in that cage for three months already. I couldn't believe that she had been left in that condition. I was even more surprised to hear that they wanted to inspect my home and garden for suitability before letting me take her, and nearly fell on my back when they wanted R200 for her. Obviously I had no idea how these things worked! Anyway, I arranged an appointment for them to inspect and said I would take her once she had been to the parlour and been completely shaved and cleaned up. They told me that she had been spayed when they first got her, as is their modus operandi.
Once I had been approved as a suitable owner (by viewing my fence and observing no unprotected water hazards), I went back to collect her. What a shock! She looked like a skinny rat, shaved bald but fortunately now a shiny white. She really did not look pretty. The matted hair had covered a multitude of sins, not the least of which was the fact that they had never taken her back to the vet to have the spaying stitches removed. Poor little dog. She was a bundle of nerves, cowering if you made the slightest sudden movement and sitting on the spot at a moderately raised voice. She had apparently been kept outside in a not very salubrious area and must have been starved (she still gobbles everything in sight after 11 years with us) and is so frightened by thunder that she can squeeze herself under our bed which is only a 4-inch gap and has to be given Rescue Remedy.
The most remarkable thing, though, was that she had never made one sound since I first saw her and I thought she was mute, but after two weeks in her new home, where she was allowed to sleep on the bed and the couch and any other warm and cosy place she fancied, she suddenly gave a little bark and we realised that it was trauma that had kept her silent. How sad that people can be so cruel.
I'm very happy that we have been able to give her a life of doggie luxury and security, and she has rewarded us by being the best possible watchdog and a good hot water bottle in winter.
The point of all this is to say that, if you are considering getting a pet, rescue doggies should be top of the list and given extra special treatment, by way of compensating the canine world for all the people who should never have been allowed to own an animal. They will reward you with companionship, security and undying gratitude.
.
And then I noticed a little dog with the dirtiest matted coat - a kind of brown colour - just staring up at me, totally quiet, not joining in the hullabaloo. She just looked, almost as though she had given up being noticed. I immediately phoned HWCFA and told him I had found a companion for Monty and he rushed around from work to have a look. I think he was a bit taken aback at the state of her, but agreed that we should take her.
I went to the office to give them the good news and was surprised to hear that she had been in that cage for three months already. I couldn't believe that she had been left in that condition. I was even more surprised to hear that they wanted to inspect my home and garden for suitability before letting me take her, and nearly fell on my back when they wanted R200 for her. Obviously I had no idea how these things worked! Anyway, I arranged an appointment for them to inspect and said I would take her once she had been to the parlour and been completely shaved and cleaned up. They told me that she had been spayed when they first got her, as is their modus operandi.
Once I had been approved as a suitable owner (by viewing my fence and observing no unprotected water hazards), I went back to collect her. What a shock! She looked like a skinny rat, shaved bald but fortunately now a shiny white. She really did not look pretty. The matted hair had covered a multitude of sins, not the least of which was the fact that they had never taken her back to the vet to have the spaying stitches removed. Poor little dog. She was a bundle of nerves, cowering if you made the slightest sudden movement and sitting on the spot at a moderately raised voice. She had apparently been kept outside in a not very salubrious area and must have been starved (she still gobbles everything in sight after 11 years with us) and is so frightened by thunder that she can squeeze herself under our bed which is only a 4-inch gap and has to be given Rescue Remedy.
The most remarkable thing, though, was that she had never made one sound since I first saw her and I thought she was mute, but after two weeks in her new home, where she was allowed to sleep on the bed and the couch and any other warm and cosy place she fancied, she suddenly gave a little bark and we realised that it was trauma that had kept her silent. How sad that people can be so cruel.
I'm very happy that we have been able to give her a life of doggie luxury and security, and she has rewarded us by being the best possible watchdog and a good hot water bottle in winter.
The point of all this is to say that, if you are considering getting a pet, rescue doggies should be top of the list and given extra special treatment, by way of compensating the canine world for all the people who should never have been allowed to own an animal. They will reward you with companionship, security and undying gratitude..
Monday, 28 October 2013
Tree tales
The big gum tree at the top of the garden is dying. I've never known a gum tree to die. None of the others in the road have died. In fact they are so old they have been cut down numerous times and the regrowth has been more vigorous than the original trees. Some have three trunks growing from the initial bole. My initial thought was that someone has poisoned it. So I investigated as well as I could, examining the trunk for drill holes (felt rather like Dr G from Crime and Investigation!), but found nothing. This doesn't mean that an ecoplug hasn't been put into a root - a large wild banana plant was removed from underneath the tree a few months ago.
I have considered that it might be the neighbour, but his house is the one that I have calculated will take the direct hit when it comes down and I would have just asked the council to take it down if it were me. I then took a walk up the road to see what kind of sea view the new houses have a little way up the mountain, and saw that they were more than adequate without having to resort to desperate measures. None of this solves the actual problem, which is - when is it going to fall and will I be driving down my driveway when it does?
A friend stopped to chat as I was pondering these important matters at the foot of the tree and reminded me of an incident some years ago. A house up the road had a large Norfolk pine growing in a back corner of the garden and out of the blue, it drooped and died. Interested parties took a look and discovered three drilled holes with a distinct diesel smell. They also followed the line of sight between the tree and possible obstructions to sea views and blow me down if they didn't catch out the dominee! He eventually confessed (how appropriate) to perhaps having had something to do with it, but it says nothing for his sermons or even his vocation that he couldn't practice what he preached!
I have considered that it might be the neighbour, but his house is the one that I have calculated will take the direct hit when it comes down and I would have just asked the council to take it down if it were me. I then took a walk up the road to see what kind of sea view the new houses have a little way up the mountain, and saw that they were more than adequate without having to resort to desperate measures. None of this solves the actual problem, which is - when is it going to fall and will I be driving down my driveway when it does?
A friend stopped to chat as I was pondering these important matters at the foot of the tree and reminded me of an incident some years ago. A house up the road had a large Norfolk pine growing in a back corner of the garden and out of the blue, it drooped and died. Interested parties took a look and discovered three drilled holes with a distinct diesel smell. They also followed the line of sight between the tree and possible obstructions to sea views and blow me down if they didn't catch out the dominee! He eventually confessed (how appropriate) to perhaps having had something to do with it, but it says nothing for his sermons or even his vocation that he couldn't practice what he preached!
Sunday, 27 October 2013
A perfect day
Woke up to a mini summer today. A gentle walk with the dogs down at the rocks set the tone for a day free from any gearbox-changing or related garage activities. A few petunias are now gracing the flowerbeds, the watering has been done, garden neatened up with rubbish disposed of. After a leisurely braai (during which the grand prix passed unnoticed - how times change!), the camping mattress came out and it was snooze time for HWCFA while I passed the time of day with a lunchtime guest who was too polite to also have a nod.
A drift of ozone-laden air is coming in now from the sea and high ice clouds are sweeping in from the west - harbingers of another cold front. But nothing compared to what will be hitting the UK tonight, we hear - a hurricane with forecasts of severe flooding and wind damage during Monday morning rush hour throughout Wales and southern England. With friends and relatives in the area, we can only sympathise and hope they will all keep safe - my feeling is that in such circumstances a day off work should be compulsory purely to keep accidents to a minimum. I try to never go out in heavy rain and will put off any appointment in bad weather.
Happy to be here at the tip of Africa!
Friday, 25 October 2013
The red jacket
A new shop has opened in Kommetjie, buying and selling old and new items, so I took the opportunity to offload 6 Noritake saucers that I have had in a cupboard for 25 years. The cups had chipped or cracked before that, due to the usual bad handling that goes on in kitchens. If we just slowed down a little, I'm sure our dinner services would last forever. Amazingly enough, they were thrilled to have them and we settled on a mutually acceptable monetary exchange. Anything was acceptable to me - I mean, fancy being paid for something you haven't used for 25 years!
As I was leaving the shop, a red jacket/car coat type of garment caught my eye and I took it off the rail as I always do when it's red. I tried it on and it was exactly what I have been looking for over many years. Imagine my excitement to see that it cost less than they had paid me for the saucers! I headed straight back to the counter, paid and put it into the packet recently vacated by the crockery.
I got home and modelled it for my daughter, who immediately told me that it made me look twice the size I already am, and did I really want that? I have to admit the rest of my get-up was not ideal. Flat Crocs, knee-length denims and dishevelled hair pulled back with an Alice band. I don't always look in the mirror too carefully before going out! However, I do think that in high heels and slimline black pants, with a decent hairstyle and a spot of makeup, the Tweedledum effect might well be lessened! And if it isn't, should I care? I'm only 5' 2" so everything makes me look bigger than I had hoped. I've spent my whole life trying not to offend others by wearing inappropriate clothing, but all you have to do is walk down Longbeach Mall to see that not many people care for my ocular sensibilities.
It's said that every dog has his day, and I had mine when I was much younger - it's perhaps time to remember I can't be 18 forever - physically, that is. Mentally is another story for another day.
As I was leaving the shop, a red jacket/car coat type of garment caught my eye and I took it off the rail as I always do when it's red. I tried it on and it was exactly what I have been looking for over many years. Imagine my excitement to see that it cost less than they had paid me for the saucers! I headed straight back to the counter, paid and put it into the packet recently vacated by the crockery.
I got home and modelled it for my daughter, who immediately told me that it made me look twice the size I already am, and did I really want that? I have to admit the rest of my get-up was not ideal. Flat Crocs, knee-length denims and dishevelled hair pulled back with an Alice band. I don't always look in the mirror too carefully before going out! However, I do think that in high heels and slimline black pants, with a decent hairstyle and a spot of makeup, the Tweedledum effect might well be lessened! And if it isn't, should I care? I'm only 5' 2" so everything makes me look bigger than I had hoped. I've spent my whole life trying not to offend others by wearing inappropriate clothing, but all you have to do is walk down Longbeach Mall to see that not many people care for my ocular sensibilities.
It's said that every dog has his day, and I had mine when I was much younger - it's perhaps time to remember I can't be 18 forever - physically, that is. Mentally is another story for another day.
Thursday, 24 October 2013
Cloud contemplation
As this is my second blog today (I was inspired to write very early this morning and have been nose to the grindstone with 'real' work all day), I'm sharing some cloud pictures from this week. The first two and the last two are tonight's clouds. Aren't they pretty?
Early morning
As I lie here in bed just before sunrise, a tiny sunbird alights on the topmost twig of the bougainvillea outside the window and tweets joyfully as it greets the day. A flurry in the branches reveals her colourful, iridescent mate and they flit off together to start another day's nectar-gathering. A boubou calls out half a song on the fence and in the old spider gum just beyond, a male dove relentlessly courts a female who seems to be a reluctant bride, flapping just out of reach from branch to branch before taking flight. He pursues her, not put off in the least.
Gulls are starting to wheel in the sky over the bay where, through the ancient milkwoods, I can see the first sunlight reflecting off the breakers, tingeing the pure white surf with golden light. A small flock of sacred ibis passes silently overhead.
Out to sea, a fishing boat ploughs through the swell, creating a bow wave of spray that reaches halfway down its length. It's in a hurry to get to the fishing grounds. Here's hoping the sea gives up some of its abundance today to put food on tables.
Although the surface of the sea was smooth when I started writing this, already the south-easterly wind which prevails here in summer has picked up with the rising of the sun and white horses are galloping away towards the horizon.
It promises to be a beautiful day.
Gulls are starting to wheel in the sky over the bay where, through the ancient milkwoods, I can see the first sunlight reflecting off the breakers, tingeing the pure white surf with golden light. A small flock of sacred ibis passes silently overhead.
Out to sea, a fishing boat ploughs through the swell, creating a bow wave of spray that reaches halfway down its length. It's in a hurry to get to the fishing grounds. Here's hoping the sea gives up some of its abundance today to put food on tables.
Although the surface of the sea was smooth when I started writing this, already the south-easterly wind which prevails here in summer has picked up with the rising of the sun and white horses are galloping away towards the horizon.
It promises to be a beautiful day.
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Spiders in the night
At 1.30 this morning, HWCFA nudges me awake. Seeing the kitchen light still on, I immediately think he is going to make me phone K to see where she is (he is quite paranoid about her whereabouts, thinking that anything untoward only happens in the early hours of the morning!). But no! It 's something far more serious. He aims the light of his cellphone at the ceiling and there, just above him, is a very large rain spider! "You're going to have to get rid of that," comes the instruction. Being in a position of strength here (I'm not in the slightest bit worried about a spider), I venture to suggest that we just leave it to catch whatever bugs might be about and go back to sleep. This is met with some consternation, to put it politely. "It might go into my shirt (hanging on the door) or into my pants! (hanging on the doorknob)." That might be quite fun.
So up I get and tootle off to get the kitchen ladder, scratch around in the cupboard for a jar with a wide enough mouth that the spider's legs don't get injured and find a piece of paper to slide between the jar and the ceiling, assuming that Operation Spider Removal goes without a hitch. With comments from the peanut gallery coming thick and fast, I ascend the little ladder to the top rung, which has no balancing device except a knee against a metal bar and of course miss the spider at the first attempt. It scuttles off and it's back down the ladder to reposition myself for another assault on Everest. This time the jar fits snugly over the spider and I slide the paper into place and descend triumphantly from aloft. All is under control.
I go out onto the balcony and toss it into the neighbour's bushes, then retire to the kitchen for a well-deserved cup of tea! I often wonder what this family would do if I refused to remove the moths, spiders, geckos and other inhabitants. Perhaps I'll do that next time...
So up I get and tootle off to get the kitchen ladder, scratch around in the cupboard for a jar with a wide enough mouth that the spider's legs don't get injured and find a piece of paper to slide between the jar and the ceiling, assuming that Operation Spider Removal goes without a hitch. With comments from the peanut gallery coming thick and fast, I ascend the little ladder to the top rung, which has no balancing device except a knee against a metal bar and of course miss the spider at the first attempt. It scuttles off and it's back down the ladder to reposition myself for another assault on Everest. This time the jar fits snugly over the spider and I slide the paper into place and descend triumphantly from aloft. All is under control.
I go out onto the balcony and toss it into the neighbour's bushes, then retire to the kitchen for a well-deserved cup of tea! I often wonder what this family would do if I refused to remove the moths, spiders, geckos and other inhabitants. Perhaps I'll do that next time...
Tuesday, 22 October 2013
Slight whinge, deflected
I haven't left the house today. Very unusual and relates to admin work for the business. I was going to write about it, but nothing will be served by whinging about bureaucracy and how it feeds unemployment and business closures. Let them learn for themselves.
The most annoying thing about having stayed inside all day is that I seem to have missed out on the lovely weather that we are being treated to. No wind. Fluffy clouds. Sunny skies. I'm cooking curry tonight, having lived on boiled skinless chicken, rice and green vegetables for some weeks now. Still boiled chicken, rice and green veg, but the curry part will lift it to gourmet level! Looking forward to it.
The day was enhanced by a rave review of my book, An Invitation to Think, available on Amazon (punt, punt) and a call from someone wanting to come and look at my paintings. All good news. Re the book, I was told that social media is the way to go to market anything you do, and it is obvious that everybody who does anything is taking this route. But I don't know how successful it is for them. For myself, I find it a little wimpy to have to keep referring to your achievements, but this is apparently how you attract readers on the web, by continually posting reminders so that newcomers can hear about you.
Having had a public studio, I think I must be pretty immune by now to unfavourable criticism and take it from whence it comes - a lack of self-esteem does not feature on my resume. The irksome part is false promises. There was always the: "I'll buy it when I win the Lotto", "I'm just going to fetch my husband" or "I'm just going to draw money at the ATM"! You eventually just smile and wave goodbye. The right person will always turn up eventually.
There is an author who I follow on Twitter who constantly exhorts his followers to buy his books from Amazon and seems to have some success with it, as he frequently retweets favourable reviews. Note the word favourable. He has tried without success to have his books published the traditional route, but has always been turned down despite excellent writing, reviews and winning a major book prize. He, too, is at the mercy of someone behind a desk. The thing to remember is that they often make a major error of judgment and some of the world's greatest literary talents were turned down up to twenty times before someone 'took a chance' on them. I hope his day will come.
And now my curry is calling...!
The most annoying thing about having stayed inside all day is that I seem to have missed out on the lovely weather that we are being treated to. No wind. Fluffy clouds. Sunny skies. I'm cooking curry tonight, having lived on boiled skinless chicken, rice and green vegetables for some weeks now. Still boiled chicken, rice and green veg, but the curry part will lift it to gourmet level! Looking forward to it.
The day was enhanced by a rave review of my book, An Invitation to Think, available on Amazon (punt, punt) and a call from someone wanting to come and look at my paintings. All good news. Re the book, I was told that social media is the way to go to market anything you do, and it is obvious that everybody who does anything is taking this route. But I don't know how successful it is for them. For myself, I find it a little wimpy to have to keep referring to your achievements, but this is apparently how you attract readers on the web, by continually posting reminders so that newcomers can hear about you.
Having had a public studio, I think I must be pretty immune by now to unfavourable criticism and take it from whence it comes - a lack of self-esteem does not feature on my resume. The irksome part is false promises. There was always the: "I'll buy it when I win the Lotto", "I'm just going to fetch my husband" or "I'm just going to draw money at the ATM"! You eventually just smile and wave goodbye. The right person will always turn up eventually.
There is an author who I follow on Twitter who constantly exhorts his followers to buy his books from Amazon and seems to have some success with it, as he frequently retweets favourable reviews. Note the word favourable. He has tried without success to have his books published the traditional route, but has always been turned down despite excellent writing, reviews and winning a major book prize. He, too, is at the mercy of someone behind a desk. The thing to remember is that they often make a major error of judgment and some of the world's greatest literary talents were turned down up to twenty times before someone 'took a chance' on them. I hope his day will come.
And now my curry is calling...!
Monday, 21 October 2013
Ebony and ivory
We were discussing the latest fatal shark attack at Jeffrey's Bay recently. One of the waiters, a Zimbabwean (a trained male nurse who is unable to work as such in this country), asked me what kind of person the victim was. Correctly assuming he meant 'colour', I told him it was a white man and he asked if sharks ate black people. It was an interesting question, as it shows how people perceive the world differently. His concern was that if he went swimming in the sea, would a shark want to eat him. I gave it a little thought, then told him that I thought it highly unlikely that a shark would care about the colour of a victim's skin and the low incidence of shark attacks reported for black people was probably related to culture, where the proportion of white people in the water would far outweigh the number of black people, simply due to their propensity for swimming rather than staying in the shallows. He was quite happy with that explanation, particularly when I informed him that in the Eastern Cape, where the proportion of black people in the water is greater, three black people have succumbed to shark attacks and he agreed that the sharks didn't have a preference..
He then asked me if white people could be albinos and I assured him that it was something that could occur in any race, as it was a lack of any pigmentation whatsoever, and that being an albino did not make you white. He said that was what he thought but the white people he had asked had told him no. He obviously feels a need to discuss the black/white issue with someone who understands what he is getting at. I hope I fulfilled his expectations and that we will have many more discussions.
You will have noticed an irritating number of references to black and white, when in fact we are neither. We are various shades of pigmentation, and the basis of the need for such discrimination should be purely for identification. Unfortunately both sides have become accustomed to lumping each extreme into a colour code, with accompanying stereotyping. We have learned to judge people according to their skin colour and while being a firm believer in not being judgmental, it can be difficult to persuade others to take a different view of their fellow man.
My viewpoint is that, if you must judge, rather base it on behaviour than skin colour, as the only real divisions between mankind relate to culture. It would be a great place to start in breaking down the walls we have built between ourselves and perhaps encourage a little more tolerance once we gain a greater knowledge of other people's circumstances.
Here endeth the lesson.
He then asked me if white people could be albinos and I assured him that it was something that could occur in any race, as it was a lack of any pigmentation whatsoever, and that being an albino did not make you white. He said that was what he thought but the white people he had asked had told him no. He obviously feels a need to discuss the black/white issue with someone who understands what he is getting at. I hope I fulfilled his expectations and that we will have many more discussions.
You will have noticed an irritating number of references to black and white, when in fact we are neither. We are various shades of pigmentation, and the basis of the need for such discrimination should be purely for identification. Unfortunately both sides have become accustomed to lumping each extreme into a colour code, with accompanying stereotyping. We have learned to judge people according to their skin colour and while being a firm believer in not being judgmental, it can be difficult to persuade others to take a different view of their fellow man.
My viewpoint is that, if you must judge, rather base it on behaviour than skin colour, as the only real divisions between mankind relate to culture. It would be a great place to start in breaking down the walls we have built between ourselves and perhaps encourage a little more tolerance once we gain a greater knowledge of other people's circumstances.
Here endeth the lesson.
Sunday, 20 October 2013
Making ourselves useful
Another lazy day. This is of course in preparation for some serious work in the next few weeks, catching up on all sorts of things I have been procrastinating over. I must be one of the most skilled procrastinators in the world. It is almost a hobby. But it's time to change hobbies, so I'm psyching up to do it. I have no doubt that once I have swept out the old, something new and exciting will step in to replace it.
We haven't taken the Mini out for a few weeks and it seems that the sound system has sucked the life out of the battery, so once we had fixed that, it was time to pile the little yappers into the car and set off on a mini tour of the Peninsula. We always take the same route - down past Witsands, Misty Cliffs and Scarborough - as the colour of the sea there seems to be unrivalled anywhere else in the Peninsula. If I lived in Misty Cliffs, I'm sure I would just sit and watch the sea all day - at least here in Kommetjie I only have The Gap to look through!
As we drove along the road between these dots of civilisation, we passed a car with its bonnet up, and I looked to see who the occupants were - a young woman and a little girl. Knowing what it's like to be stranded at the side of the road, I mentioned this to HWCFA and he immediately did a U-turn to see what he could do to help. She was very grateful - possibly even more so because the man who stopped to help was accompanied by a middle-aged woman (could that really be me?) and two fluffy white dogs - and stuck her head in the window to thank me while HWCFA fiddled with jumper leads and spanners. I told her that she couldn't have been rescued by a better person, as people have been known to set sail across oceans only due to the fact that he has been aboard - in his youth he was known as McGyver.
And in no time at all, her car was sorted out and off she drove. Certainly was her lucky day that we passed by at that time and that I looked to see who was in the car. We wouldn't have stopped except that it was an unaccompanied female. So all's well that ended well.
We haven't taken the Mini out for a few weeks and it seems that the sound system has sucked the life out of the battery, so once we had fixed that, it was time to pile the little yappers into the car and set off on a mini tour of the Peninsula. We always take the same route - down past Witsands, Misty Cliffs and Scarborough - as the colour of the sea there seems to be unrivalled anywhere else in the Peninsula. If I lived in Misty Cliffs, I'm sure I would just sit and watch the sea all day - at least here in Kommetjie I only have The Gap to look through!
As we drove along the road between these dots of civilisation, we passed a car with its bonnet up, and I looked to see who the occupants were - a young woman and a little girl. Knowing what it's like to be stranded at the side of the road, I mentioned this to HWCFA and he immediately did a U-turn to see what he could do to help. She was very grateful - possibly even more so because the man who stopped to help was accompanied by a middle-aged woman (could that really be me?) and two fluffy white dogs - and stuck her head in the window to thank me while HWCFA fiddled with jumper leads and spanners. I told her that she couldn't have been rescued by a better person, as people have been known to set sail across oceans only due to the fact that he has been aboard - in his youth he was known as McGyver.
And in no time at all, her car was sorted out and off she drove. Certainly was her lucky day that we passed by at that time and that I looked to see who was in the car. We wouldn't have stopped except that it was an unaccompanied female. So all's well that ended well.
Saturday, 19 October 2013
Blustery day, summer on the way
The sun shone brightly today but the blustery southeaster was bothersome. Our usual Saturday morning gathering - today at the Blue Water Cafe, Imhoff Farm - was in a delightful setting, with endless views across the Noordhoek valley. A large flock of flamingos could be seen in the distance at the sewage farm (sounds a whole lot worse than it really is!) and the expanse of Wildevoelvlei reflected the blue and cloudless sky. But the poor birds had a hard time of it.
A number of herons were trying to make nests in the tall gum trees nearby, carrying sticks in their beaks as they attempted to fly into the headwind and sometimes flapping on the spot during stronger gusts. Crows constantly harassed them, no doubt on the lookout for eggs or an early chick. To raise the tone of the company, a juvenile gymnogene swooped down from its perch in a nearby pine tree, where it would have remained unnoticed had it not joined the action. A lone peacock shrieked its raucous cry from the field where four handsome horses grazed and galloped and rolled in the long grass. Two young girls arrived with bridles and managed to catch three of them without trouble, but the fourth had other ideas and gave a great display of running away, reminiscent of a time when horses galloped across the plains in wild herds. It too succumbed to domesticity and was led away to take some unlucky person on a beach ride. Probably had oats for breakfast!
A number of herons were trying to make nests in the tall gum trees nearby, carrying sticks in their beaks as they attempted to fly into the headwind and sometimes flapping on the spot during stronger gusts. Crows constantly harassed them, no doubt on the lookout for eggs or an early chick. To raise the tone of the company, a juvenile gymnogene swooped down from its perch in a nearby pine tree, where it would have remained unnoticed had it not joined the action. A lone peacock shrieked its raucous cry from the field where four handsome horses grazed and galloped and rolled in the long grass. Two young girls arrived with bridles and managed to catch three of them without trouble, but the fourth had other ideas and gave a great display of running away, reminiscent of a time when horses galloped across the plains in wild herds. It too succumbed to domesticity and was led away to take some unlucky person on a beach ride. Probably had oats for breakfast!
The afternoon was spent in couch potato mode - something quite unusual for me, as I don't like watching much TV - due to the still unpleasant wind outside, but I eventually answered the call of the sea and wandered down to the rocks to sit on a bench and watch the surfers at a small but nicely formed Outer Kom.
Then it was back to the couch to watch some documentaries and I almost missed a lovely sunset!
Friday, 18 October 2013
Another wonderful musical talent
Wow! Just been to a piano recital by Jan Hugo - a 22-year-old South African musical genius who has been winning international awards and scholarships since the age of 11. At the age of 13 he was invited to study in Italy under a number of distinguished tutors, passing all his exams cum laude. He is now only 22 and studying in Italy and Germany at the same time, commuting for lessons. It seems remarkable that there can be anyone who could teach him anything, but perhaps to an untrained ear every pianist is perfect.
What a privilege to hear this incredibly talented young man play the piano. He made the instrument do things I didn't know a piano could do. Although I am not a fundi on classical music, I love to see live recitals so that I can watch the hands fly over the keys, sometimes in a complete blur. It never fails to amaze me how someone can remember all those notes and complicated tempo changes, not to mention how the composer thought it up in the first place! It makes today's pop music seem terribly trivial.
After the recital, he came to mingle with the audience and I shook his hand (not very firmly - wouldn't do to damage those fingers!) and told him how marvellously he had entertained us. I asked how long he practised each day - 6 to 7 hours, he said. I don't know if he ever sees the light of day, but music must be his life or he would not be so accomplished and I doubt that he cares about much else. I think the life of a concert pianist must be rather solitary, but how lucky the rest of the world is to have the opportunity to listen to such talent.
What a privilege to hear this incredibly talented young man play the piano. He made the instrument do things I didn't know a piano could do. Although I am not a fundi on classical music, I love to see live recitals so that I can watch the hands fly over the keys, sometimes in a complete blur. It never fails to amaze me how someone can remember all those notes and complicated tempo changes, not to mention how the composer thought it up in the first place! It makes today's pop music seem terribly trivial.
After the recital, he came to mingle with the audience and I shook his hand (not very firmly - wouldn't do to damage those fingers!) and told him how marvellously he had entertained us. I asked how long he practised each day - 6 to 7 hours, he said. I don't know if he ever sees the light of day, but music must be his life or he would not be so accomplished and I doubt that he cares about much else. I think the life of a concert pianist must be rather solitary, but how lucky the rest of the world is to have the opportunity to listen to such talent.
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Still moaning about the cold!
We were doing our usual complaining about the weather this morning at the coffee shop, as we huddled in our winter clothes, me with two blankets (everyone else only had one), in the freezing wind. Imagine this in the middle of October, we said, fondly remembering days of yore when we tanned behind the bathing boxes on Fish Hoek beach in the September school holidays. Come to think of it, we lay there rather than on the front lawns specifically to get out of the wind, so maybe it was just as cold then. However, at least there was sunshine!
A lady passing by said, 'You Cape Town people are funny. Do you all come from Cape Town?' We told her how long each of us had lived here and she said, 'So how many years is it since summer began in September? Ever since I can remember, summer starts at the end of December!' I told her that I could distinctly remember summer in September from 40 years ago and her expression was along the lines of 'I rest my case!' I suppose she has a point. After all, winter only begins in August, so we have at least 7 months of good weather - it's just that the dates have shifted.
Here in Kommetjie, the onset of summer and the accompanying south-east wind means that, no matter how big the waves are, we don't hear them as the wind is offshore. I rather miss the constant rumble and find the silence a little too quiet. I remember spending time in the Drakensberg, far from the sea, and being amazed that a place could be so devoid of any sound. Not a bird cheeped nor a blade of grass rustled. Although there's no disputing the awe-inspiring majesty of the mountains, give me the thundering waves of the Outer Kom any day.
A lady passing by said, 'You Cape Town people are funny. Do you all come from Cape Town?' We told her how long each of us had lived here and she said, 'So how many years is it since summer began in September? Ever since I can remember, summer starts at the end of December!' I told her that I could distinctly remember summer in September from 40 years ago and her expression was along the lines of 'I rest my case!' I suppose she has a point. After all, winter only begins in August, so we have at least 7 months of good weather - it's just that the dates have shifted.
Here in Kommetjie, the onset of summer and the accompanying south-east wind means that, no matter how big the waves are, we don't hear them as the wind is offshore. I rather miss the constant rumble and find the silence a little too quiet. I remember spending time in the Drakensberg, far from the sea, and being amazed that a place could be so devoid of any sound. Not a bird cheeped nor a blade of grass rustled. Although there's no disputing the awe-inspiring majesty of the mountains, give me the thundering waves of the Outer Kom any day.
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Freezing winds but hot sun
And still spring is holding out on us. The chill off the sea means jerseys and even jackets if you are in the shade. If you step into the sun out of the wind, you have to take them all off again because the sun is fierce. Visitors from the northern hemisphere please note: you cannot expose yourself to the sun here in the same way as at home - the ozone is thin and you will burn severely. That is why we can tell you are a tourist; the redness of your arms, legs and back of the neck. When we go north we are told to look out for pickpockets, but when you come to us you must beware of the sun.
Apparently the hole in the ozone layer is the cause of increased surface temperatures in southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Patagonia and Antarctica. Who would have thought? It is also indirectly causing the strong winds that develop in Antarctica to reach higher latitudes, and is probably the reason why we are experiencing more south-westerly storm systems with heavier rainfall and freezing winds, rather than the almost mild north-westerly cold fronts and gentle rain of twenty years ago.
Scientists say that the hole reached maximum size in 2006 and has reduced since then, with some considering that it will have returned to normal density by 2065. I look forward to it.
Apparently the hole in the ozone layer is the cause of increased surface temperatures in southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Patagonia and Antarctica. Who would have thought? It is also indirectly causing the strong winds that develop in Antarctica to reach higher latitudes, and is probably the reason why we are experiencing more south-westerly storm systems with heavier rainfall and freezing winds, rather than the almost mild north-westerly cold fronts and gentle rain of twenty years ago.
Scientists say that the hole reached maximum size in 2006 and has reduced since then, with some considering that it will have returned to normal density by 2065. I look forward to it.
Monday, 14 October 2013
Questions, always questions
The bou-bou is shouting out its joyous song from the hedge. It hasn't a care in the world, just like the other birds tweeting in the garden. They are not worrying about the weather - their feathers are warm and waterproof and easy to launder. A quick shake and the raindrops are dispersed. They don't worry about where the next meal is coming from. There's always a berry or a bug close by. For the raptors, there are smaller birds and animals waiting to be caught. Are raptors top of the bird food chain? Never thought about that before. What catches a raptor?
We should take a lesson from nature and worry less while enjoying life more. Step off the treadmill and slow down a bit. Sit in quiet contemplation without the incessant background noise that has become part of our lives. Perhaps it is easy for me, living where I do, to find a quiet spot with only the sound of the sea and the wind rustling through the trees, the warmth of the sun on my face as I lie facing up towards the sky, remembering that we are spinning around on this earth as it travels through space, only anchored through the soles of our feet via gravity. That's quite something to think about. If the earth slowed in its spin, would we weigh less? Float above the ground? What do you think?
We should take a lesson from nature and worry less while enjoying life more. Step off the treadmill and slow down a bit. Sit in quiet contemplation without the incessant background noise that has become part of our lives. Perhaps it is easy for me, living where I do, to find a quiet spot with only the sound of the sea and the wind rustling through the trees, the warmth of the sun on my face as I lie facing up towards the sky, remembering that we are spinning around on this earth as it travels through space, only anchored through the soles of our feet via gravity. That's quite something to think about. If the earth slowed in its spin, would we weigh less? Float above the ground? What do you think?
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Some peaceful scenes
Cold, wet and windy day. Nothing to report except took out and put back the gearbox again. So just posting some nice photos for a peaceful evening. These are random shots over two years.
Friday, 11 October 2013
The waiting game
What a day! Left home at 9.30 to send a fax from the local post shop. I have never been able to get the cabling right since I moved the computer/printer upstairs and haven't been able to send a fax since! I had a computer expert round twice but he couldn't get it to work either - I don't know what that says about his skills - but eventually I will have to try another route and sort it out. Anyway, the receiver of the fax had run out of paper and I would have to wait until that was refilled before I could send the fax.
Off to the mall - I'm going to plant some seeds for the vegetable patch (taking a chance on porcupines and baboons again) so am looking for seed trays. Didn't find any so will use beer can trays - plenty of those around. I then did a small shop for the weekend and stopped at one of my favourite coffee shops for coffee and scrambled egg. Still waiting to send the fax. I then browsed the interesting section of the bookshop and bumped into a good friend who was bulk buying books - she just loves reading and has her favourite authors - she emailed one author who she felt had not got his plot right (lost the plot?), but surprisingly he did not reply! We agreed to meet a little later for lunch, so I trawled the mall with my Pick n Pay trolley while I waited to send the fax. Then it was back to the coffee shop, where they were a little surprised to see me again within the hour, and we spent a very pleasant hour or so catching up on each others lives. Still waiting to send the fax.
Eventually I left the mall to go home and got a call to say the paper was nearly in the fax machine and I could send it soon - so I stopped off at Espresso in Kommetjie to wait to send the fax, and of course came across another friend and more chatting ensued, sans refreshments. Eventually I was told I could send the fax and trundled off the to post shop for the second time - it was then 3pm - sent the fax and received a call to say that the paper roll was in back to front. I read the letter over the phone. So that was nearly a whole day wasted apart from the social pleasantry.
I get home and carry two bags of groceries up the wooden stairs. The security gate at the top is closed so I have to put the bags on the tread to open it. Of course, the contents of one of the bags falls one storey to the bricks below and, of course, it's not the potatoes and onions. It's the milk, two containers of cream, a container of blueberries and three packs of meat! The milk and cream bounced, unbelievably, and the meat was none the worse for a bit of tenderising, but R30 worth of blueberries scattered far and wide across the brick paving. I was certainly not going to let that go to waste, so I picked up every single one and washed them thoroughly. I will enjoy them later with some plain yoghurt.
So that's what my day consisted of (oh, I also stopped off to say goodbye to an old gentleman friend who is moving up the Garden Route, just to add to my list of things to do). He Who Can Fix Anything says I am never at home. Well, it's hardly surprising when you spend your life waiting for other people to sort themselves out. I need not mention who I was sending the fax to!
Off to the mall - I'm going to plant some seeds for the vegetable patch (taking a chance on porcupines and baboons again) so am looking for seed trays. Didn't find any so will use beer can trays - plenty of those around. I then did a small shop for the weekend and stopped at one of my favourite coffee shops for coffee and scrambled egg. Still waiting to send the fax. I then browsed the interesting section of the bookshop and bumped into a good friend who was bulk buying books - she just loves reading and has her favourite authors - she emailed one author who she felt had not got his plot right (lost the plot?), but surprisingly he did not reply! We agreed to meet a little later for lunch, so I trawled the mall with my Pick n Pay trolley while I waited to send the fax. Then it was back to the coffee shop, where they were a little surprised to see me again within the hour, and we spent a very pleasant hour or so catching up on each others lives. Still waiting to send the fax.
Eventually I left the mall to go home and got a call to say the paper was nearly in the fax machine and I could send it soon - so I stopped off at Espresso in Kommetjie to wait to send the fax, and of course came across another friend and more chatting ensued, sans refreshments. Eventually I was told I could send the fax and trundled off the to post shop for the second time - it was then 3pm - sent the fax and received a call to say that the paper roll was in back to front. I read the letter over the phone. So that was nearly a whole day wasted apart from the social pleasantry.
I get home and carry two bags of groceries up the wooden stairs. The security gate at the top is closed so I have to put the bags on the tread to open it. Of course, the contents of one of the bags falls one storey to the bricks below and, of course, it's not the potatoes and onions. It's the milk, two containers of cream, a container of blueberries and three packs of meat! The milk and cream bounced, unbelievably, and the meat was none the worse for a bit of tenderising, but R30 worth of blueberries scattered far and wide across the brick paving. I was certainly not going to let that go to waste, so I picked up every single one and washed them thoroughly. I will enjoy them later with some plain yoghurt.
So that's what my day consisted of (oh, I also stopped off to say goodbye to an old gentleman friend who is moving up the Garden Route, just to add to my list of things to do). He Who Can Fix Anything says I am never at home. Well, it's hardly surprising when you spend your life waiting for other people to sort themselves out. I need not mention who I was sending the fax to!
Thursday, 10 October 2013
A new bug in town
This interesting creature crossed my path the other day and became the subject of much discussion on Facebook:
When I say 'crossed my path', I mean it fell out of the pile of laundry I picked up from the bedroom floor. I saw something move and knew immediately that I had to catch it and remove it, as the rest of the family don't do bugs of any description. Somehow it has always been my job to get rid of spiders, moths, mosquitoes, flies, fish moths, geckos and anything else that could possibly cause the slightest irritation, inconvenience or life-threatening situation. (I removed a snake once, but have yet to reveal that to HWCFA.)
This thing moved like the wind and at first glance I knew I had never seen anything like it. It looked like an insect with centipede legs and the body was 3cm long. I grabbed a sock and swooped. By good luck, I had it first time and took it outside to take a closer look and photograph it for identification. I had to catch it a few times before it stood still long enough to take the photo - have you ever tried to get a bug to pose? I posted the photo on Facebook and waited for someone to ID my visitor. Suggestions ranged from twenty-legged, long-tailed windrunner to gedditoutahere.
Many people responded to my request and in no time it was identified as a house centipede. A look on Google told me that it eats silverfish, flies, spiders, moths, mosquitoes and bed bugs(!), so I rushed back outside to see if I could find it and bring it back inside as a welcome guest, hoping it had a large family to bring with it, but it was nowhere to be seen. Its main feature is speed: 0.4m in 1 second - impressive, and so I was lucky to catch it.
Although it is admittedly a very useful creature, I can't say that I would enjoy having it run across my face in the night!
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Some simple stargazing
If you are in any way interested in astronomy, an absolute must is the holding of star parties. These events require no outlay. You are the host and your guests are the stars in the sky! The following guidelines will ensure that your party is a resounding success:
Venue: A dark part of the garden where there is no light interference from your windows, the neighbours and street lamps. If this is impossible to find, a roofless tent is the answer - put up a simple screen to block out direct light.
Date: A week before and after new moon. These dates will be convenient for all your guests, weather permitting. If you wish to commune with the moon, these are still the best dates, as a full moon has no features and prevents interaction with most of your guests.
Dress code: A warm jacket and a beanie - balaclavas are not recommended as the neighbourhood watch has a particular interest in interviewing people wearing balaclavas.
Equipment: 1) A deck chair or pool lounger. Your face needs to point up at the stars and you don't want to have to go to the chiropractor after your star party. 2) A pair of light binoculars - if they are too heavy, your arms will get tired and you won't enjoy your party. 3) A small torch - NB it must have red cellophane covering its lens, as white light destroys your night vision. It takes the human eye the time from sunset to darkness (twilight) to adjust to our limited night vision, which was no doubt very useful to our early ancestors, and red light doesn't seem to affect this. You don't want to have to wait another half hour to see your fainter guests. It goes without saying that a torch with an unprotected lens is as welcome at a star party as bacon at a barmitzvah.
Preparation: Study your star chart and reference books inside, before going out to greet your guests. It is a confirmation of the guest list and you don't want to appear as though you don't know who you have invited.
Refreshments: A light snack is always welcome and a flask of coffee can cheer you up in the cold. If you add something stronger to the coffee, you will probably have double the amount of guests, but the more the merrier!
The entertainment: Lie back on your lounger and just gaze out into the universe. Pick out the brighter stars and see if you can assemble the constellations. Stars give off energy in the form of heat and light and tend to twinkle. If they don't twinkle, they will be planets, reflecting light from the sun to a lesser or greater degree depending on the composition of their atmosphere. If they don't twinkle and are moving across the sky, they will doubtless be satellites, the best known being the International Space Station - always worth a look as it hurtles across the sky in 6 minutes. If they don't twinkle and zig-zag randomly across the sky, they will be intergalactic visitors - nothing to worry about. Look for fuzzy blobs - these are clusters of stars, from 20 to millions, or nebulae (clouds of gas and dust lit up by nearby stars).
Once you have got over your excitement at having identified a few things, take the binoculars and have a closer look at those fuzzy blobs. You will immediately notice that the sky in between the brighter stars has a lot more stars than you could see with the naked eye, and you will see lovely little asterisms such as a coathanger, a string of pearls and other such imaginative clusters. Your only disappointment will be that everything is in black and white, with only the occasional red or blue star being apparent. Our eyes cannot take in enough light to reproduce the colours that are evident from the photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The best part of being the host of a star party is that when you've had enough, you can just go to bed and the guests will carry on without you.
Venue: A dark part of the garden where there is no light interference from your windows, the neighbours and street lamps. If this is impossible to find, a roofless tent is the answer - put up a simple screen to block out direct light.
Date: A week before and after new moon. These dates will be convenient for all your guests, weather permitting. If you wish to commune with the moon, these are still the best dates, as a full moon has no features and prevents interaction with most of your guests.
Dress code: A warm jacket and a beanie - balaclavas are not recommended as the neighbourhood watch has a particular interest in interviewing people wearing balaclavas.
Equipment: 1) A deck chair or pool lounger. Your face needs to point up at the stars and you don't want to have to go to the chiropractor after your star party. 2) A pair of light binoculars - if they are too heavy, your arms will get tired and you won't enjoy your party. 3) A small torch - NB it must have red cellophane covering its lens, as white light destroys your night vision. It takes the human eye the time from sunset to darkness (twilight) to adjust to our limited night vision, which was no doubt very useful to our early ancestors, and red light doesn't seem to affect this. You don't want to have to wait another half hour to see your fainter guests. It goes without saying that a torch with an unprotected lens is as welcome at a star party as bacon at a barmitzvah.
Preparation: Study your star chart and reference books inside, before going out to greet your guests. It is a confirmation of the guest list and you don't want to appear as though you don't know who you have invited.
Refreshments: A light snack is always welcome and a flask of coffee can cheer you up in the cold. If you add something stronger to the coffee, you will probably have double the amount of guests, but the more the merrier!
The entertainment: Lie back on your lounger and just gaze out into the universe. Pick out the brighter stars and see if you can assemble the constellations. Stars give off energy in the form of heat and light and tend to twinkle. If they don't twinkle, they will be planets, reflecting light from the sun to a lesser or greater degree depending on the composition of their atmosphere. If they don't twinkle and are moving across the sky, they will doubtless be satellites, the best known being the International Space Station - always worth a look as it hurtles across the sky in 6 minutes. If they don't twinkle and zig-zag randomly across the sky, they will be intergalactic visitors - nothing to worry about. Look for fuzzy blobs - these are clusters of stars, from 20 to millions, or nebulae (clouds of gas and dust lit up by nearby stars).
Once you have got over your excitement at having identified a few things, take the binoculars and have a closer look at those fuzzy blobs. You will immediately notice that the sky in between the brighter stars has a lot more stars than you could see with the naked eye, and you will see lovely little asterisms such as a coathanger, a string of pearls and other such imaginative clusters. Your only disappointment will be that everything is in black and white, with only the occasional red or blue star being apparent. Our eyes cannot take in enough light to reproduce the colours that are evident from the photographs taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
The best part of being the host of a star party is that when you've had enough, you can just go to bed and the guests will carry on without you.
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Still staring skywards!
Today my father smsed me to say he was looking at the moon and Venus - it was lunchtime. I posted yesterday that they are daylight objects, but it isn't always easy to locate Venus. However, due to its position near the crescent moon, Saturn, Mercury and Antares, much has been said in the astronomical media about this very pretty asterism. Once I had found the moon, going on Dad's very precise instructions, it was quite simple to find Venus. Having rather strange eyesight - I can sometimes see things I would never expect to, but can't read instruction manuals or can labels - I used binoculars, and it was quite amazing. It was a pinpoint of light in the blue sky, as if someone was shining a torch. This is because of the constant cloud cover around Venus, which causes the sunlight to reflect right back, making this the brightest object in the sky after the sun. After familiarising myself with its location, I could spot Venus quite easily without the binoculars anytime I cared to look up.
As I gazed skyward, birds darted back and forth like aeroplanes over the big cities of Europe, and a gust of strong south-east wind blew a formation of sacred ibis into an untidy flock. I thought they were going to be blown out to sea as they were struggling to regain their composure and they blew a few hundred metres before managing to re-form into two groups and continue on their evening journey to their roost.
If you look just after sunset, you will see the dance between the stars, moon and planets for the last time - I'm not sure when they will line up again, but you can be sure I'll keep you posted!
As I gazed skyward, birds darted back and forth like aeroplanes over the big cities of Europe, and a gust of strong south-east wind blew a formation of sacred ibis into an untidy flock. I thought they were going to be blown out to sea as they were struggling to regain their composure and they blew a few hundred metres before managing to re-form into two groups and continue on their evening journey to their roost.
If you look just after sunset, you will see the dance between the stars, moon and planets for the last time - I'm not sure when they will line up again, but you can be sure I'll keep you posted!
Monday, 7 October 2013
Danger swooping in from the sky
Yesterday afternoon, the pigeons and doves had started to gather for evening feeding. I was relaxing in the sunshine out of the icy wind, upstairs on the deck. Suddenly every bird rose from its perch as one, from branches, rooftops, walls and telephone poles. They scattered in every direction, not forming a flock, and the banking and swooping of their flight indicated extreme panic. I knew immediately that a raptor was on its way and scanned the sky for the cause of all the commotion. Sure enough, there it came - the black sparrowhawk, wings neatly folded to give it optimum speed as it came out of nowhere.
As the birds scattered, its wings spread and it changed direction, having selected the most likely victim, no doubt. Unfortunately they all disappeared from view behind the house, but the hunt was unsuccessful, as the sparrowhawk soon landed on the uppermost branch of the big gum tree at the top of the garden. I was able to get a good view with binoculars and it seemed to be a teenager, with a few white feathers still on top of the head but otherwise in adult plumage, with a blue ring on the left leg. No pigeons came back to the area, and they could be seen flying randomly in small groups to keep up the confusion. The sparrowhawk eventually left in disgust.
I wondered if the simultaneous startled flight of all the birds was in any way connected to the inborn mechanism which allows them to flock in such perfect unison when they want to, similar to the way fish shoal, and whether it only needs one bird to be alert and the others automatically respond. Any ideas?
As the birds scattered, its wings spread and it changed direction, having selected the most likely victim, no doubt. Unfortunately they all disappeared from view behind the house, but the hunt was unsuccessful, as the sparrowhawk soon landed on the uppermost branch of the big gum tree at the top of the garden. I was able to get a good view with binoculars and it seemed to be a teenager, with a few white feathers still on top of the head but otherwise in adult plumage, with a blue ring on the left leg. No pigeons came back to the area, and they could be seen flying randomly in small groups to keep up the confusion. The sparrowhawk eventually left in disgust.
I wondered if the simultaneous startled flight of all the birds was in any way connected to the inborn mechanism which allows them to flock in such perfect unison when they want to, similar to the way fish shoal, and whether it only needs one bird to be alert and the others automatically respond. Any ideas?
Exciting evening sky
My computer conspired against me yesterday. It ran so slowly I could barely use it - very frustrating when you just want to quickly put in a comment on Facebook! Then when I did manage to post a comment, it disappeared and I don't know where it is now - out in the ether, I suppose! Facebook suddenly updated with posts from half a day ago and to top it all, my anti-virus did an update which took five hours, so I just went to bed and read a book. However, what I was really trying to do was Google to find out what the stars above the moon were! I couldn't find any books that told me and we are so reliant on being able to find out anything instantly on our computers - talk about the world being at your fingertips - that sometimes the written word seems too slow.
I thought they must be Saturn and Mercury, which would explain why they weren't on any charts, and Venus was higher up - the asterism was too beautiful - tiny crescent moon with Saturn above Mercury below and Venus, the brightest planet in the sky, higher up. The computer is working again this morning and I could confirm all this, but it was too late to send out a message to alert anyone interested to dash outside and take a look. Frustrating for me, but doubtless of little consequence for those who don't ever look up! I always feel compelled to share these exciting events. As an added bonus, the bright red heart of the scorpion, Antares, is above Venus, making the evening horizon quite spectacular.
The good news is you can see it again on Tuesday 8 October just after sunset. The diagram below illustrates how we can see Mercury and Saturn despite their orbits being so different.
I thought they must be Saturn and Mercury, which would explain why they weren't on any charts, and Venus was higher up - the asterism was too beautiful - tiny crescent moon with Saturn above Mercury below and Venus, the brightest planet in the sky, higher up. The computer is working again this morning and I could confirm all this, but it was too late to send out a message to alert anyone interested to dash outside and take a look. Frustrating for me, but doubtless of little consequence for those who don't ever look up! I always feel compelled to share these exciting events. As an added bonus, the bright red heart of the scorpion, Antares, is above Venus, making the evening horizon quite spectacular.
The good news is you can see it again on Tuesday 8 October just after sunset. The diagram below illustrates how we can see Mercury and Saturn despite their orbits being so different.
Saturday, 5 October 2013
Wintry weather and rugby
The first picture was taken a year ago and the second two today. You can see there is a vast difference in the weather. We are definitely having a very late spring. Today the southeaster is freezing, gale force on top of Table Mountain (the cableway is closed) and it's winter clothes all round. Unbelievable in October. The combination of low clouds, drizzle and a southeaster means that there is no sound from the sea (the wind is offshore), the sea has blown completely flat and even the birds seem to be hiding in the hedges.
It's difficult to motivate yourself to do anything but lie on the couch and read a book, and I suppose there's nothing wrong with doing that from time to time. It just goes against the grain. I feel I should always be doing something constructive. As my daughter says, it's good to take a day off now and then - you don't have to work every day. A lifetime's habits are hard to break!
So I watched tennis - yay! I think I must be the only person in the country who is not watching rugby. I can't even tell you who is playing or what time! I've never been one for team sports - I prefer to watch individual skill. I can't even say that rugby games are too long, because tennis can go on for up to 5 hours! The advantage of being the only one not watching rugby is that during the game I can drive practically anywhere without passing a car on the road, or walk along the path at the bay without seeing a soul.
In actual fact, I suppose the real reason I never watch rugby is because no-one else in this household does. Oops! Just receiving smses to say things are not going well for us in the rugby from those watching elsewhere. Now I know - it's the bad tempers that go with losing that prevent me from being a fan.
Friday, 4 October 2013
The top shelf
At last the third duvet is back in the top cupboard! You probably think that it's because the weather has warmed up sufficiently to discard it. That is true. It got folded and put on the chair, waiting for me to put it away. Unfortunately I am vertically challenged and even a reasonable low cupboard requires a stepladder if I want to put anything in it. Why we bothered with anything higher than my head in the kitchen is still a mystery. Once something has been put on a high shelf, it can be ten years before it sees the light of day. Every so often, I take out the stepladder just to see what's in the cupboards. Usually I can't come to any decision about what to do with the jersey I knitted when I was 15, or the china biscuit barrel that I just might use one day, or even the neatly folded pile of bubble wrap which I might want to use if I ever need to move house. And so everything gets put back on the top shelf and the doors are closed until the next bout of enthusiasm some years down the line.
But back to the third duvet...
Every morning I would look at it and think, 'I'll go and get the ladder' and by the time I got to the kitchen, I had completely forgotten about it, having been distracted by the view of Table Mountain, or the clouds scudding across the sky or even a ship passing by in The Gap. Later in the day, I would look at it and think, 'I'll to and get the ladder' and once again, by the time I got to the kitchen, I had completely forgotten about it. There are too many other things to think about and do. This went on for four days, but this morning, as I walked to the kitchen, I said to myself 'Get the ladder, get the ladder, get the ladder...' and it worked.
While I was up there, looking at the top shelves of the bedroom cupboards, stuffed to bursting with an assortment of blankets, duvets, old pillows and the like, which you never know when you might need, my thoughts turned to giving them a clean out, but I will have to be ruthless and take a black bag with me to make sure that at least half of it doesn't find its way back to that top shelf!
But back to the third duvet...
Every morning I would look at it and think, 'I'll go and get the ladder' and by the time I got to the kitchen, I had completely forgotten about it, having been distracted by the view of Table Mountain, or the clouds scudding across the sky or even a ship passing by in The Gap. Later in the day, I would look at it and think, 'I'll to and get the ladder' and once again, by the time I got to the kitchen, I had completely forgotten about it. There are too many other things to think about and do. This went on for four days, but this morning, as I walked to the kitchen, I said to myself 'Get the ladder, get the ladder, get the ladder...' and it worked.
While I was up there, looking at the top shelves of the bedroom cupboards, stuffed to bursting with an assortment of blankets, duvets, old pillows and the like, which you never know when you might need, my thoughts turned to giving them a clean out, but I will have to be ruthless and take a black bag with me to make sure that at least half of it doesn't find its way back to that top shelf!
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Spinach saga
I am currently on a very limited diet of basically green vegetables, a few almonds and walnuts, half a carrot, half a sweet potato, a piece of free-range (skinless) chicken and two eggs, a glass of green juice (kale, celery, ginger, parsley, cucumber, coriander, apple) - strictly no white potatoes, aubergines or tomatoes. Hmm. Next time you see me, you will also want to go on this nutrition plan.
Spinach is the Houdini of leafy greens - you start off with a big potful and end up with two tablespoons of wilted mush - so I thought I would take the easy way out and buy one of those bulk packs of ready washed and chopped spinach from the supermarket. The bag was enormous (1kg) and stuffed so full I don't know how they closed it at the packing factory.
To open it, I stabbed it joyously with a knife, and a virtual explosion of chopped spinach jack-in-the-boxed all over the kitchen counter. It seemed as though it would never end as I shook out pile after pile of finely shredded greenery and still the bag was tightly packed. I stuffed as much as I could into the cooking pot, thinking back to the fairytale I used to read the kids about the magic cooking pot that wouldn't stop pouring out porridge until it eventually filled the whole house. I grabbed two large-sized storage containers (those nice ones with the clip-on lids that hold just about everything that's in my fridge) and soon they were also filled. Still more in the bag! As a last resort, I clingwrapped the bag to contain the rest of the spinach and put that in the fridge with the rest. I'd still like to know how they closed it originally.
The sad part is that it will only produce about 3 cups of cooked spinach in the end, and it is taking up most of my fridge space. Looks like I'll have to plant some in the garden rather, so that I can store it on the stalk!
Spinach is the Houdini of leafy greens - you start off with a big potful and end up with two tablespoons of wilted mush - so I thought I would take the easy way out and buy one of those bulk packs of ready washed and chopped spinach from the supermarket. The bag was enormous (1kg) and stuffed so full I don't know how they closed it at the packing factory.
To open it, I stabbed it joyously with a knife, and a virtual explosion of chopped spinach jack-in-the-boxed all over the kitchen counter. It seemed as though it would never end as I shook out pile after pile of finely shredded greenery and still the bag was tightly packed. I stuffed as much as I could into the cooking pot, thinking back to the fairytale I used to read the kids about the magic cooking pot that wouldn't stop pouring out porridge until it eventually filled the whole house. I grabbed two large-sized storage containers (those nice ones with the clip-on lids that hold just about everything that's in my fridge) and soon they were also filled. Still more in the bag! As a last resort, I clingwrapped the bag to contain the rest of the spinach and put that in the fridge with the rest. I'd still like to know how they closed it originally.
The sad part is that it will only produce about 3 cups of cooked spinach in the end, and it is taking up most of my fridge space. Looks like I'll have to plant some in the garden rather, so that I can store it on the stalk!
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
The haves and the have-nots
Turns out I was a little too optimistic about the ease of getting a police clearance certificate for a friend. I was told on Monday that I could make an appointment with the relevant lady at the police station, the first time being on Wednesday morning, and the certificate would be organised. What actually happened was that the lady came out of her office, took the money, gave me a receipt and stapled the documents together. This took 20 minutes, while I was left waiting at the counter. She then gave me a piece of paper with instructions to send it all to Pretoria, where it would take 15-28 days to process. I must phone them after 15 days to find out if it is ready. Not quite the service I had been led to believe in on Monday. I can only imagine I needed an appointment because it took so long for her to walk from her office to the desk and she needed time to prepare.
While I was waiting, there was at least a small diversion with the arrival of a police van and an assortment of six scruffy individuals were bundled out and ushered off to the cells. There was a general air of nonchalance in the group except for one young man who was handcuffed and had obviously been resisting arrest. The young woman I recognised immediately. She hangs around in Kommetjie and had her head in my bin the other day. She completely ignored my exhortations for her to remove herself from the area, which was no doubt linked to them all being there on drug charges, according to the officers on duty. I looked at her and nodded to show that I remembered her, but I doubt whether she cared!
The scene was quite distressing for me, as all I could think was that these were all some mother's children and how sad it all was. Here I was, arranging a certificate of no criminal record for a young man who has the world at his feet, and these unfortunate souls are at the other end of the social spectrum, with what appears to be little hope of a good life. It reminded me to be constantly grateful for everything I have, particularly my family.
While I was waiting, there was at least a small diversion with the arrival of a police van and an assortment of six scruffy individuals were bundled out and ushered off to the cells. There was a general air of nonchalance in the group except for one young man who was handcuffed and had obviously been resisting arrest. The young woman I recognised immediately. She hangs around in Kommetjie and had her head in my bin the other day. She completely ignored my exhortations for her to remove herself from the area, which was no doubt linked to them all being there on drug charges, according to the officers on duty. I looked at her and nodded to show that I remembered her, but I doubt whether she cared!
The scene was quite distressing for me, as all I could think was that these were all some mother's children and how sad it all was. Here I was, arranging a certificate of no criminal record for a young man who has the world at his feet, and these unfortunate souls are at the other end of the social spectrum, with what appears to be little hope of a good life. It reminded me to be constantly grateful for everything I have, particularly my family.
Tuesday, 1 October 2013
A near miss
I have absolutely nothing to report about today that could possibly be of any interest to anybody! I have been busy working on my 4th Toastmasters speech that I must give tomorrow night, and have decided to use the same speech I am giving at Astronomy the next night. Killing two birds with one stone. Hopefully there won't be a duplication of guests!
Apart from that, I spent a pleasant morning with friends, then shopped for first aid supplies - HWCFA sliced himself up with an angle-grinder yesterday - I say that quite casually, but in actual fact he could quite easily have hit something serious and no longer be here. However, he has been protected by a large host of guardian angels his whole life, so I see no reason why they would give up on him at this late stage. As always, he will use his mind to heal himself, and no doubt in a week or two there will be little sign of injury.
And so to bed, perchance to read...
Apart from that, I spent a pleasant morning with friends, then shopped for first aid supplies - HWCFA sliced himself up with an angle-grinder yesterday - I say that quite casually, but in actual fact he could quite easily have hit something serious and no longer be here. However, he has been protected by a large host of guardian angels his whole life, so I see no reason why they would give up on him at this late stage. As always, he will use his mind to heal himself, and no doubt in a week or two there will be little sign of injury.
And so to bed, perchance to read...
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