At last! A February day - sweltering heat, no wind, cloudless blue skies from horizon to horizon, glassy seas and complete lethargy in the housework department. This is the first day in weeks that it has been true summer and already I have had enough - looking forward to a much cooler day tomorrow!
I had to water the garden twice today and also filled up the porcupine's water bowl - I don't want to court disaster by not providing refreshment for my night raider. He is not beyond digging under the fence just to bite through the irrigation pipes as he did a few summers back.
Despite threatening to pick up the paint brushes today, the heat in my 'studio' (a space on the enclosed balcony) was just too intense and opening all the big sliding windows would have just let in more hot air. The inside temperature at 5.30 was 32 degrees, so no wonder it was takeaway ribs for dinner. I decided against a Thai pork curry.
The small birds have returned to the garden after a short absence and the trees were filled with grey-headed sparrows, robins, a bou-bou shrike, prinias and Cape white eyes - the sparrows in particular enjoyed a good bath in the fountain, and as usual I was holding the end of a hose and couldn't take a picture in time before they flew back into the safety of the branches.
Swallows have been feasting on the myriad bugs bothering us at the moment and can be seen swooping swiftly on high as they fill up for the long flight back to Europe in a few short weeks. The telephone wires (such as remain now that underground cables are favoured) are jam-packed with these pretty birds who seem to enjoy the flocking life. One would imagine them building condominiums of mud to enable them to live communally like weavers, but it seems socialising is for the daylight hours and they prefer to nest alone.
The end of the week is set to bring some rain, and as always, it is the variety of weather that keeps Cape Town top of my list of places to live.
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