A late afternoon stroll

Went down to sit on a bench at the rocks today - after all, why live here if you don't do that? A minor cold front has passed over Cape Town for the last few days and now the sea has caught up with the clouds - as I sat there, the swells rose visibly as they thundered in from the Atlantic and in no time at all the air was filled with the deafening roar generated by crashing waves. I would imagine that the roar of an approaching tsunami would alert anyone to it long before they could see it. It must be enough to strike terror in any heart.

After enjoying the ozone for a while, the noise actually became almost painful to the ear (I know, it doesn't seem right) and I retreated back to the relatively muffled comfort of home a short distance away. The local guinea fowl pair came rushing out from under the hedge to greet me, knowing that it was dinner time, and a large flock of doves and pigeons swooped down from the dying gum tree and the rooftops. Less than a week ago, there were five young guinea fowl, but I have seen no sign of them for a while now and you may be sure that either the crows or the black cat from next door has got them. The cat lurks in the shadow of the fence and so the birds are easy prey as they peck away at an assortment of mixed grains that I put out for them every day. I should squirt it with the hose - that will sort it out, if only for a little while!

Looking after the family

I'm often asked why I do so much for my family. I work at various forms of employment, do the garden, maintain the house, shop, cook, attend to the animals and still manage to spend a lot of time in coffee shops. I'm expected to produce meals of restaurant quality at all times, lend a hand in the garage on weekends and occasionally wash the car. A hot pudding in winter and a cold pudding in summer must always be on the menu. I mend clothing when absolutely necessary and taxi them around in an emergency. I sometimes do wonder why I do it and there are certainly times when I could quite easily give it all up for a single life, preferably in luxury far away!

But in the words of James Brown, I feel good! It makes me happy to know that when they come home, there is a meal waiting, clean clothes are in the cupboard, the TV remote has batteries, the dogs have been fed and bathed when necessary, there's soap in the soapdish and toothpaste in the tube. It feels good to be able to provide comfort on a rainy day and a place to relax without stress after a busy day.

In return, I get to do pretty much what I want with what little is left of my time (actually quite a lot!) and am free to travel locally and overseas without having to drag an unwilling partner to places that won't interest him. That is worth many years of puddings, hot and cold!

Another great day in Kommetjie

Today I awoke to the scent of jasmine wafting through the open window and the sound of a flotilla of 30 to 40 white tunny boats heading out to the fishing grounds. They made a pretty sight in the early pink sunlight as they went in search of the tuna which has been elusive for such a long time now. This is competition fishing, so hopefully it was 'weigh and release'.

It was a mild day, sunny but with high clouds, and towards evening a friend and I took my dogs for a long walk from the lighthouse to the island and back. They love to go out and sniff at every blade of grass or bush along the way, straining at their leashes as though they have never seen the outside world beyond our fence.
At one stage when I was holding them both, I was being dragged along so strongly that I could imagine myself with six beagles in each hand and a brace of pheasant between my teeth! There must have been some really interesting messages out there today, as they sniffed and replied to literally every one.

We stopped off at the memorial bench at the car park to watch the sea for a while and I took a photo of the scene to the south west and another to the north. You can scarcely believe it is the same time and place, but the edge of a cloud bank was clearly defined right overhead. No wonder they say you can have all four seasons in one day here in Cape Town!

Right now the setting sun is casting deep shadows among the warm red rocks of the Sentinel and Chapman's Peak, and sparkling off the windows of the cable station on top of Table Mountain.

Another perfect day draws to a close.

Changing the way you think

Did you know that every minute of every day is an opportunity to reinvent yourself? That is one of the most exciting things about life. You do not have to be the same person your whole life. You can choose from so much. The most obvious choice would be to try and improve your circumstances if you are not in a good place at a particular time in your life. But it can be as simple as changing from not liking Marmite to deciding to have it on toast for breakfast every day. Or telling yourself firmly that you actually have no fear of spiders and are not going to let them bother you any more. Your mind is your most powerful tool, because no-one else can control it for you, unless you allow them to. And that is where the problem lies...

We allow too many outside influences to dictate how and what we should think. This causes anxiety in areas such as what we look like, what we sound like, what clothes we wear, what car we drive, our behaviour and our social standing. Advertising is a powerful force in moulding our thoughts in the direction desired by the producers of the items being manufactured, and it is only our fear of being thought inferior to our peers that keeps us in tow.

The only way to control your own mind is to form your own opinion on the events and experiences that shape your life, rather than reacting in the way you have been taught. An example would be the binpickers that we loathe so much - why do we? Is it because we regard even the rubbish we throw away as "ours" in this proprietorial society we have created? Or is it because of an inner fear that, but for circumstances that have weighed in our favour, it could be us digging through the trash? Or is it revulsion at the thought of someone actually eating off the remains of the Sunday roast? I know it is for me.

So I have decided not to loathe the binpickers, and put out food that we could still eat without acquiring botulism, in clean packaging on top of the bin. Perhaps they will learn to trust us and know that they don't need to open the bin because there won't be anything edible inside and that will solve a few problems. And wouldn't it be nice to have done something even so small for another human being, rather than wait for the 'season of goodwill'?

It only requires a change in the way you think.

Low tide at the lighthouse

With a solar eclipse today, and a new moon so thin I haven't spotted it yet, the tide was exceptionally low early this morning when we took the dogs down to the lighthouse. Last week the tide was low enough to gather black mussels, but the rocks had been picked clean the day before by a group of about thirty (according to local talk) who had just stripped the mussel beds without regard for the law of conservation which restricts you to 50 a day per person and you have to have a permit for them. The law enforcement officers were called to attend to their duty, but as is always the case, fear of intimidation or worse kept them well away from the scene until most of them had left.

Today we were alone down there and the most inaccessible mussels were now exposed by the low tide. Although the shells were very big, when they were steamed open the mussels were very small, as if they hadn't had enough food for a long time. So the gatherers last week probably had very slim pickings indeed which serves them right. It's very difficult to encourage a culture of conservation and awareness of the need to consider future generations in those who have no interest in such things. These things aside, it was lovely down there, with no wind and not a soul in sight.

We've been going down there for more than thirty years - seems like it's gone by in a flash. It's quite different to be level with the sea down on this vast, very smooth shelf of rock which was once the sea bed, rather than looking down from the path at the top of the jumble slope of rocks which have piled up on the shoreline over millenia. When the tide rises, the rocks are covered quickly, rather in the way an estuary covers up its mudflats as the sea rushes upstream. In winter, massive seas rush up the rocky slope but never make it to the top, as it is a perfect natural barrier to dissipate the power of the sea, rather like the 'dolosse' that are used at harbours around our coastline. I often wonder what it was about this short section of coastline that caused the boulders to pile up - it hasn't happened anywhere else on the Peninsula as far as I am aware - perhaps it is the feature that the geologists refer to as a wavecut platform. I'd love to know.

HWCFA and Monty at the edge of the rocks

A quiet scene showing the slope of rounded boulders

Solitude

A sad snake story

In my mother's garden in Clovelly, a pair of robins have raised two chicks about to fledge. Yesterday there was a commotion in the garden, with all the birds fussing and fluttering near the nest. Everyone rushed outside, as they know what this signifies and, sure enough, there was the resident cobra, very large, slithering up to the nest. Frantic robin parents divebombed the cobra, getting dangerously close to the gaping mouth, but nothing was going to stop it and it wasn't long before the first chick was gone. The commotion continued and the snake slid off up the mountain taking a circuitous route towards its home, but then turned round and came back to the nest for the other chick. It then made its way to an old tree stump on the top lawn, where it coiled up for a few minutes in the sun before heading for the hole under the steps where it lives.

The robins fluttered around it the whole time, sitting on the step and watching as it disappeared from view. If they could have, I'm sure they would have blocked the hole with a big rock.

The cat went to have a look and appeared to be hypnotised by the snake. We had to throw a rock at the cat to chase it away.

The cobras have been there for many years, and we have no idea how many there are, but this one was slightly speckled, while the other sightings are of even colouring and recently one only about three feet long. So maybe there are a whole nest of them!

Cat commotion

There has just been a tremendous commotion on the roof! In the good old days before the 'problem' baboons were 'eliminated', it would have been the local troop taking a shortcut over the house, but they haven't been around in months. Then there was caterwauling, and then silence. My kitty, Felix, is always up on the roof (double-storey) catching pigeons, but I couldn't imagine a pigeon inflicting damage on the cat and thought it might be the sparrowhawk trying to catch something far too big.

I called the cat and went down to the back alley but she didn't appear and there was no sign that she might have fallen to her doom. I kept calling and eventually she peeped over the edge of the roof but wasn't ready to come down. As I looked up into the trees that line the side of the property, I spied a white cat high in the branches. The neighbour's cat, trespassing in Felix's hunting ground! Having established that it was just a little healthy competition, I went back inside and the interloper must have made its way down the tree and back home, because shortly afterwards Felix arrived in the kitchen, her tail like a bottlebrush and very pleased with herself!

 White cat in tree - middle left.











Below is Felix's route to the roof - runs up the pole then swings round to the left and pulls herself onto the bamboo!

Butter wouldn't melt in the mouth after seeing off the competition!