Oh my word. All my good intentions to keep my blog up to date once a week have come to nought. I see I last posted in March - that is 2 months ago now!
So the latest exciting happenings here are that we caught the Mole that has been causing havoc in our back garden for the past 6 months. I happened to be at the kitchen sink washing dishes one morning, and I saw it sunning itself on the lawn. I couldn't believe how huge it really was, so I called hubby to come and have a look.
In that time Max & Charlie realised something was going on outside the kitchen window and dashed out. In no time at all they had the mole on its back with much noisy barking. Hubby got the dogs off the mole and I got Max & Charlie into the house, while hubby managed to get the mole into a bucket with the aid of a mop.
I think it was stunned but not hurt. We took it to a large empty plot and released it there. My word it was angry and just wanted to attack us until it realised the futility and started looking for a place to burrow in.
I keep all my vegetable peelings to add to my compost bins. I usually try and avoid letting seeds get into it, but obviously sometimes a few still make it into the bin with the peelings. I recently put some of this lovely earthy smelling compost around my lemon tree, growing in a pot next to the side of the swimming pool.
Next thing there was a butternut plant growing out of the pot. I have left it to see what would happen, and it is providing the most wonderful source of gorgeous yellow flowers and pretty green tendrils. There isn't much space for me to photograph these flowers and tendrils without squashing the plant or falling into the pool with my camera, but I am thoroughly enjoying it while I have it. I wonder if it will ever manage to produce butternuts that grow to maturity for us to harvest and consume in this unsuitable and inhospitable environment, but I shall give put extra nutrients into this pot to support both the baby lemon tree, and the butternut plant.
Not quite as busy as bees, and I haven't found a use for ants yet, although I do sometimes wonder if they help pollinate some plants? They seem to be very busy collecting something from inside the little florets of the bromeliad and taking it off somewhere. Do they collect nectar like bees and birds? Does pollen move around on their feet? What are they doing in the flowers? So many questions....
Watching the progress of my bromeliad flower. I really do enjoy the flowers while they last, but I must admit I find it quite difficult to photograph artistically - especially as my plants are growing in the garden in amongst other plants, and wooden railway sleepers etc. So getting good angles isn't the easiest task. I love my tripod for indoor table top photography, but it is just too tall for plants that are low like this, even when I spread the legs. I wonder what good alternatives there are, other than attempting to get really good at hand held shots.
Okay, so I was just reading an article published by DPS called Tips to Help You Start a Successful Blog, and amongst many of the tips I need to pick up is that I need to have a purpose for my blog instead of just drifting along.... Yeah, I guess that makes sense. So as I started this photo blog with Felicia Daisies, and feeling fired up about photographing flowers, perhaps I should revisit my initial intentions and go back to exactly that! This is my photographic journey to learning to take the kinds of flower photographs I see by other fabulous photographers and wish I could achieve something as beautiful. So instead of being too hard on myself because nothing is good enough yet, accept that this is where I am currently, and try and improve along the way. So as one of my bromeliads is flowering right now, why don't I try and improve my vision as I document it's progress.
Only heard about Tygerberg Nature Reserve for the first time about a month ago, and when Karen and I tried going there on her birthday 4th October, before we went to Barnyard Theatre, the whole mountain was covered in dense mist and one couldn't see more than a couple of meters ahead. So we endeavoured to get there early this time. Couldn't have been a better day, but we didn't factor in that it would take 2 hours in the morning traffic to get from Brackenfell to the nature reserve not very far away. So instead of being there at 7:30 when the gates opened, we only arrived about 9am, by which time it was already hot and in full sun. But there were clear skies and it was a great day to be out. Very steep hike up a tar road to the first lookout point. They said it was 200m, but in the heat, and walking up such a steep hill it felt like at least 400m for my unfit legs and lungs. But the view towards Table Mountain was wonderful.
Another couple of hundred meters took us to the summit with 360 degree views. Absolutely spectacular but unfortunately not particularly photogenic in every direction due to all the microwave and cellphone towers with dishes, in all directions, and of course massive supporting cables intersecting the skyline. So it meant careful positioning to avoid cables and towers in the photos.
Interesting information about a lovely old canon - I never knew there had been canons installed at frequent intervals to act as a communication system. Fascinating to learn a bit more about the history of the country I have called home since 1972 when I left my homeland, Rhodesia.
And then a walk down one of the dirt trails took us to a couple of tunnels under major roads that cuts through the nature reserve. The second tunnel was so wet and muddy that unfortunately we didn't walk through it. We only learned on our return that there was a dam on the other side, so I'm sure I would have enjoyed that. Anyway, I'd love to visit here again, and then I definitely will go through that tunnel despite the mud.
Loving all the arums I've had lately. Remind me so much of my granny. She had arum lilies as well as a whole garden full of other wonderful flowers. She used to let me cut flowers to make arrangements in the house when we went to stay with her for school holidays. One day I made an arrangement of arum lilies. We got visitors and they were shocked to see the big flower arrangement. That's when I learned that some people consider them to be funeral flowers. But granny never let anything like that faze her. I decided to try some abstracts using depth of field to capture the wonderful curves on the flower. I'm not totally happy with what I've achieved so far, so will try and improve tomorrow morning if there is no wind. After a day of gardening today, there is too much wind this afternoon for any photography!
Oh my word. All my good intentions to keep my blog up to date once a week have come to nought. I see I last posted in March - that is 2 months ago now!
I keep all my vegetable peelings to add to my compost bins. I usually try and avoid letting seeds get into it, but obviously sometimes a few still make it into the bin with the peelings. I recently put some of this lovely earthy smelling compost around my lemon tree, growing in a pot next to the side of the swimming pool. 
Watching the progress of my bromeliad flower. I really do enjoy the flowers while they last, but I must admit I find it quite difficult to photograph artistically - especially as my plants are growing in the garden in amongst other plants, and wooden railway sleepers etc. So getting good angles isn't the easiest task. I love my tripod for indoor table top photography, but it is just too tall for plants that are low like this, even when I spread the legs. I wonder what good alternatives there are, other than attempting to get really good at hand held shots.
Only heard about Tygerberg Nature Reserve for the first time about a month ago, and when Karen and I tried going there on her birthday 4th October, before we went to Barnyard Theatre, the whole mountain was covered in dense mist and one couldn't see more than a couple of meters ahead. So we endeavoured to get there early this time. Couldn't have been a better day, but we didn't factor in that it would take 2 hours in the morning traffic to get from Brackenfell to the nature reserve not very far away. So instead of being there at 7:30 when the gates opened, we only arrived about 9am, by which time it was already hot and in full sun. But there were clear skies and it was a great day to be out. Very steep hike up a tar road to the first lookout point. They said it was 200m, but in the heat, and walking up such a steep hill it felt like at least 400m for my unfit legs and lungs. But the view towards Table Mountain was wonderful. 
And then a walk down one of the dirt trails took us to a couple of tunnels under major roads that cuts through the nature reserve. The second tunnel was so wet and muddy that unfortunately we didn't walk through it. We only learned on our return that there was a dam on the other side, so I'm sure I would have enjoyed that. Anyway, I'd love to visit here again, and then I definitely will go through that tunnel despite the mud.
