Monday, 16 December 2013
Short and sweet
Another spectacular day in Kommetjie. Started off with an early walk this morning. Golden sunlight on the lighthouse and blue, blue seas. Terns on silent wings heading to feeding grounds. Grass birds and sparrows chattering and flocking over the low scrub. Oystercatchers preening on the rocks. Somewhere nearby, an otter is going about its business. All is quiet.
Saturday, 14 December 2013
Barefoot and loving it!
I've never been one for wearing shoes. They have always been rather an inconvenient necessity, something you need to wear to keep your feet warm in winter, or to go with the business suit or evening dress you are wearing. But I'm one of those who kicks her shoes off at the door, usually before I step over the threshold. It might have something to do with living in a wooden house with wooden floors, but that is really just to avoid the noise factor. There is something about walking barefoot on wood that gives you a connection to the earth even when you are three metres above it, and walking outside in the garden without shoes is an absolute must. The best part of summer is not having to wear shoes.
I'm sure I must be a source of great amusement to the neighbours if they ever observe me making my way up the driveway at the end of the day to put the porcupine food under the hedge. The gravel driveway stretches for 60 feet and I hobble along, knees bent, looking for the smoothest patches to put a foot and sometimes going more sideways than forwards. I also have this idea that if I move as fast as possible, the discomfort of the sharpish stones will be less noticeable. The alternative is to walk on the grass, but this year's crop of thorns has exceeded all previous years, due to the lawn not being cut regularly enough to halt the development of the seeds of the thorn plants.They are starting to dry now and are losing their soft greenness. So it's a toss-up between stones and thorns.
I have winter feet and summer feet. Winter feet are soft and smooth and pretty clean, having been ensconced in soft socks for many months. Summer feet have a hard ridge with cracks that require a good scrubbing with sandpaper after soaking in a footbath of very hot water and bubble bath to soften them up and rid them of the day's dirt. While this may sound absolutely revolting to someone who never goes barefoot, I can assure you that I exaggerate, and that I know many people who could do with a smoothing from an electric sander!
Copious layers of heel balm follow, which attracts every dog and cat hair between the bathroom and the bed, and I can tell you that despite the blurb in the advertising, it doesn't work. The only solution to cracked heels is to wear socks and shoes. Fixed in three days.
Our garage is very well used and a great deal of grinding and planing and wire-brushing goes on in there. All this is extremely hazardous to the bare foot, and there is no way of avoiding the area, as the washing machine is kept in the garage - an excellent way to avoid flooding in the house (after 32 years here, I am still waiting for the washing machine to flood, but at least I know it won't happen upstairs). I'm always pulling bits of metal out of my feet and have taken to sweeping the area with a giant magnet every so often to pick up errant metal fragments. Glass is a bit more difficult to track.
You might ask why I don't just wear shoes. The simple answer is, I just hate wearing them. I'm sure some psychologist would say it's rebellion against the restriction of the freedom we had when we first appeared on earth - that's good enough for me!
I'm sure I must be a source of great amusement to the neighbours if they ever observe me making my way up the driveway at the end of the day to put the porcupine food under the hedge. The gravel driveway stretches for 60 feet and I hobble along, knees bent, looking for the smoothest patches to put a foot and sometimes going more sideways than forwards. I also have this idea that if I move as fast as possible, the discomfort of the sharpish stones will be less noticeable. The alternative is to walk on the grass, but this year's crop of thorns has exceeded all previous years, due to the lawn not being cut regularly enough to halt the development of the seeds of the thorn plants.They are starting to dry now and are losing their soft greenness. So it's a toss-up between stones and thorns.
I have winter feet and summer feet. Winter feet are soft and smooth and pretty clean, having been ensconced in soft socks for many months. Summer feet have a hard ridge with cracks that require a good scrubbing with sandpaper after soaking in a footbath of very hot water and bubble bath to soften them up and rid them of the day's dirt. While this may sound absolutely revolting to someone who never goes barefoot, I can assure you that I exaggerate, and that I know many people who could do with a smoothing from an electric sander!
Copious layers of heel balm follow, which attracts every dog and cat hair between the bathroom and the bed, and I can tell you that despite the blurb in the advertising, it doesn't work. The only solution to cracked heels is to wear socks and shoes. Fixed in three days.
Our garage is very well used and a great deal of grinding and planing and wire-brushing goes on in there. All this is extremely hazardous to the bare foot, and there is no way of avoiding the area, as the washing machine is kept in the garage - an excellent way to avoid flooding in the house (after 32 years here, I am still waiting for the washing machine to flood, but at least I know it won't happen upstairs). I'm always pulling bits of metal out of my feet and have taken to sweeping the area with a giant magnet every so often to pick up errant metal fragments. Glass is a bit more difficult to track.
You might ask why I don't just wear shoes. The simple answer is, I just hate wearing them. I'm sure some psychologist would say it's rebellion against the restriction of the freedom we had when we first appeared on earth - that's good enough for me!
Friday, 13 December 2013
Making a coat for the Mini
Been too busy to blog. Still too busy to blog. Looks like everyone will be on holiday except me. Par for the course.
Spent a few hours over the last day or two making a car cover for the Mini. Let me say straight away that I did very little of the work! The credit goes to my good friend, Anke, who is a whizz with a sewing machine and with a lifetime of design experience just did the most marvellous job! My contribution was to buy the material, give her a piece of chalk and hold the material over the car to make the templates. I did make her copious cups of tea while she sewed and assisted with the fittings. The amount of material involved made it seem like we were making a wedding dress, but deft fingers and a magnifying glass for threading the needle made short work of what seemed like a massive job. Between us we only have two good eyes, but our perspective is great and we shared many a laugh as she slaved away.
The finished product, complete with hole for aerial, is awaiting the return home of HWCFA. Let's hope he likes his surprise!
Spent a few hours over the last day or two making a car cover for the Mini. Let me say straight away that I did very little of the work! The credit goes to my good friend, Anke, who is a whizz with a sewing machine and with a lifetime of design experience just did the most marvellous job! My contribution was to buy the material, give her a piece of chalk and hold the material over the car to make the templates. I did make her copious cups of tea while she sewed and assisted with the fittings. The amount of material involved made it seem like we were making a wedding dress, but deft fingers and a magnifying glass for threading the needle made short work of what seemed like a massive job. Between us we only have two good eyes, but our perspective is great and we shared many a laugh as she slaved away.
The finished product, complete with hole for aerial, is awaiting the return home of HWCFA. Let's hope he likes his surprise!
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Reflecting on the world
As the world dissects the successes and failures, highlights and low points of the memorial service for Nelson Mandela, it is perhaps worth reflecting on whether we all set expectations for others that are culturally removed from ours. There will always be shortcomings in the performance of those who haven't grown up in circumstances equal to ours, just as we may prove to be a disappointment to those who have aspired to the trappings of Western culture, yet not having an understanding of the way it works. Traditions and beliefs divide mankind, not the colour of our skin. We have only to observe what is happening all over the world. Religious fanatics kill each other, believing that their's is the only true way. In some parts of the world, gay people are persecuted and judged by people who have no knowledge except for what someone else has taught them. The world is held hostage to debt through financial manipulation while the media teach us to admire the rich, the thin, the beautiful, rather than look for the inner beauty of real people.
The word that is the villain here is 'domination'. Mandela fought against domination by any group over another, and was sent to this world to teach us how to treat our fellow man. Very few have listened to him, although everyone says he was the man they admired most in the world for his humane qualities and ability to forgive. The only way in which his memory could be suitably honoured would be if everyone adopted his philosophy. Why admire someone whose example you are not prepared to follow? There have been others before him who taught that we could all be like him. All it takes is the decision to do it and never deviate from your resolve. Anything less will be an insult to your existence.
Madiba was a very old soul, as evidenced by his level of enlightenment. Honour him with your actions.
The word that is the villain here is 'domination'. Mandela fought against domination by any group over another, and was sent to this world to teach us how to treat our fellow man. Very few have listened to him, although everyone says he was the man they admired most in the world for his humane qualities and ability to forgive. The only way in which his memory could be suitably honoured would be if everyone adopted his philosophy. Why admire someone whose example you are not prepared to follow? There have been others before him who taught that we could all be like him. All it takes is the decision to do it and never deviate from your resolve. Anything less will be an insult to your existence.
Madiba was a very old soul, as evidenced by his level of enlightenment. Honour him with your actions.
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| Stairway to heaven? 11.12.13 |
Tidying up loose ends and planning ahead
Still slogging away in the run-up to the year end and Christmas break. If it's anything like last year, I will still be working between Christmas and New Year, but with no plans for going anywhere, that doesn't really matter. It's madness out there on the roads and the malls are crowded - not circumstances I enjoy very much - and I'm already looking forward to the end of the summer holidays, when Cape Town becomes ours again.
I'm working on a list of destinations and things to do for my new blog, A Tourist for a Day, and that's going to be great fun. We sometimes neglect to travel in our own country, forgetting that millions arrive here each year to see things we take for granted. It may be like that all over the world - how many Romans visit the Colosseum or Parisians the Eiffel Tower?
I'll be taking a variety of friends with me, one at a time, to give a balanced viewpoint. Two heads are generally better than one, and if there are two bodies as well, so much the better. Any suggestions on places to go and things to do are most welcome. I hope it will be an interesting and informative blog that will blossom into a more extensive travelogue in the future! After all, if some travel books are written by authors who never leave their armchairs, how much better won't life experience be?
I'm working on a list of destinations and things to do for my new blog, A Tourist for a Day, and that's going to be great fun. We sometimes neglect to travel in our own country, forgetting that millions arrive here each year to see things we take for granted. It may be like that all over the world - how many Romans visit the Colosseum or Parisians the Eiffel Tower?
I'll be taking a variety of friends with me, one at a time, to give a balanced viewpoint. Two heads are generally better than one, and if there are two bodies as well, so much the better. Any suggestions on places to go and things to do are most welcome. I hope it will be an interesting and informative blog that will blossom into a more extensive travelogue in the future! After all, if some travel books are written by authors who never leave their armchairs, how much better won't life experience be?
Monday, 9 December 2013
Twitching
I am not a birdwatcher of note, but I do enjoy watching them as they flit among the branches, feeding on aphids, small spiders, caterpillars, snails and the odd berry. Nature at work is far better than throwing poison on the garden. Even better, the red hibiscus is a magnet for the double-collared sunbirds which bred successfully in the vicinity this year. I try to plant things that attract birdlife, but if you really want to see them at play, the best way is to stand with the hose and spray the water over a tree or shrub. In no time, you will have two or three little birds bathing among the foliage, and if the light is right, you will have a rainbow as well!
Even observing birds in the sky is not as easy as one thinks. Yesterday, my father and sister, twitchers of note who can identify birds just by their call, let alone visual identification, spent an afternoon in the shade of the eaves, looking skyward, and where I saw swallows, they saw martins, swallows, swifts and an Alpine swift. They looked the same to me! Glossy ibis, a fine pair of Steppe Buzzards, mousebirds, a prinia, Cape batis, Cape white eyes and a malachite sunbird also made an appearance specially for them, so all in all, it was a fine afternoon's birding! There was an added bonus as we saw Venus shining brightly in a blue sky - a marvellous sight visible with the naked eye, even with my poor vision - one eye for long distance and the other for close-ups with various sparkles thrown in for good measure.
It seems as though I should spend a little more time with the binoculars, although I doubt whether there is enough time left to catch up with their superior knowledge!
Even observing birds in the sky is not as easy as one thinks. Yesterday, my father and sister, twitchers of note who can identify birds just by their call, let alone visual identification, spent an afternoon in the shade of the eaves, looking skyward, and where I saw swallows, they saw martins, swallows, swifts and an Alpine swift. They looked the same to me! Glossy ibis, a fine pair of Steppe Buzzards, mousebirds, a prinia, Cape batis, Cape white eyes and a malachite sunbird also made an appearance specially for them, so all in all, it was a fine afternoon's birding! There was an added bonus as we saw Venus shining brightly in a blue sky - a marvellous sight visible with the naked eye, even with my poor vision - one eye for long distance and the other for close-ups with various sparkles thrown in for good measure.
It seems as though I should spend a little more time with the binoculars, although I doubt whether there is enough time left to catch up with their superior knowledge!
Last day of holiday
Wasn't yesterday just the most perfect day? No wind in Kommetjie, at least not where I live, and a sea as calm as a lake. An early walk along the boardwalk with the dogs revealed once again that this is the very best time of day to be up and about, while everyone else is still drinking their first cup of tea.
The heat of the day can be oppressive even next to the sea, and yesterday was no exception. We spent the day with Robert and my Mom and Dad relaxing under the trees in the garden, having a little quality time together before Robert heads back to London today. As expected, the visit was all too short, and yet just enough to not have a chance to get back into the rut of familiarity. Although mothers miss their children when they leave home, it is always for the best for both parties. Birds must leave the nest and make their way into the world. There comes a time when you have to let them spread their wings and fly. How far they fly depends to a large extent on what you fed them as nestlings. I can say without hesitation that Robert will fly as far as his wings will take him. He has flourished away from home and learned that he is his own person, with a contribution to make to the world, living every day as it comes and learning not to fear the future.
You can judge a person's character by the way they treat their animals. I think Robert's pretty safe there.
There's not much more I could ask for.
The heat of the day can be oppressive even next to the sea, and yesterday was no exception. We spent the day with Robert and my Mom and Dad relaxing under the trees in the garden, having a little quality time together before Robert heads back to London today. As expected, the visit was all too short, and yet just enough to not have a chance to get back into the rut of familiarity. Although mothers miss their children when they leave home, it is always for the best for both parties. Birds must leave the nest and make their way into the world. There comes a time when you have to let them spread their wings and fly. How far they fly depends to a large extent on what you fed them as nestlings. I can say without hesitation that Robert will fly as far as his wings will take him. He has flourished away from home and learned that he is his own person, with a contribution to make to the world, living every day as it comes and learning not to fear the future.
You can judge a person's character by the way they treat their animals. I think Robert's pretty safe there.
There's not much more I could ask for.
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