Small Treasures

Another adventure this week along the coastal stroll was the discovery of a turtle stranded on the rocks after the high tide had receded.  I am sure the poor thing was quite happy to stay there until the next high tide but the adventurers thought otherwise and moved it to the edge of the sea from whence it swam off rapidly into the ocean. I subsequently read this article and now, if the scenario is ever repeated, Roy is under orders not to put it back in the water but to bring it home and to contact the Oceanarium in Cape Town. 

http://www.aquarium.co.za/blog/entry/stranded_turtles_what_to_do/

Hopefully it reached another warm spot in a safer place. We do have  various birds of prey like the Crows, Ravens and Bateleur Eagles which cruise the shoreline every morning. (I can still recall the awful sound and sight of a tortoise being dropped by a crow from a dizzy height onto the tarmac below.)

While the cell phone was at hand for taking photos, some plants were lucky enough to be snapped too.

Under the Radar

I do suffer from green envy when others extol the awesome rewards of their gardening exploits. Living within the natural territory of our brazen Chacma baboons, it has proved impossible to grow anything edible. This includes certain types of flowers and most bulbs too. 

From time to time, in a fit of optimism, I live dangerously and plant out one or two sacrificial plants in our garden. 

There is an Afrikaans idiomatic expression which mentions the baboon (bobbejaan) and seems to be very appropriate here: "Moenie die bobbejaan agter die bult gaan haal nie" (literally "Do not go and fetch the baboon from the other side of the hill") which loosely translates to: Don't think or speak of negative, pessimistic possibilities which have not been indicated by the situation or else they might actually transpire. In other words, don't tempt fate to fulfill your predictions of all manner of  imagined negative outcomes. Rather, be positive! In response to my fairly pessimistic nature, my dear friend in the Karoo has often used this expression to damp down my dark forebodings.

I guess by planting some edible plants, I am actually tempting fate, which, in this instance, is a baboon. (Perhaps a clue to the origin of the idiom!)

So, you can imagine my absolute glee when we discovered that a single Paprika Pepper plant had gone unnoticed, even to the point that the plant was dangling its decent-sized fruity secrets.

 

Today the baboons were very active in and around our garden and so, without further ado, we harvested our mini-crop. Most of them had not yet turned red but this has not detracted from our sense of sneaky triumph!

Stuffed BBQ Peppers

With bacon filling

Days of Loss

My very first post on this blog was about the pets in our lives. Unbelievably, in the months since then, we have lost all our cats. Jessup to old age, Stasha, far too young, to unexpected cancer and yesterday, Ollie, our beloved Persian, to a massive brain hemorrhage. The resultant behaviour from this was frightening and the panicky drive to the vet in rush-hour traffic just added to the horror.

Its never easy to lose a pet. Some losses feel harsher  than others, especially if the life has not been long enough and cut short. 

I came across this poem on the internet years ago after an especially painful loss. I don't know who the author is. Perhaps some people will find it soppy, but I like it. I think its called Rainbow Bridge.

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,

Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.

Where the friends of man and woman do run,

When their time on earth is over and done.

For here, between this world and the next,

Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.

On this golden land, they wait and they play,

Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.

No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,

For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.

Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,

Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.

They romp through the grass, without even a care,

Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.

All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,

Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.

For just at that instant, their eyes have met;

Together again, both person and pet.

So they run to each other, these friends from long past,

The time of their parting is over at last.

The sadness they felt while they were apart,

Has turned into joy once more in each heart.

They embrace with a love that will last forever,

And then, side-by-side, they cross over… together.

Coastal Morning Stroll

On the two days of every week when I go to work, I drop off Mad Dog and Roy on the way, in order for them to walk about 4 km back home along the Strandloper trail. 

Spot the Seal?

One morning last week, he heard high-pitched little shrieks from the direction of some grasses.  He investigated only to discover that the screeches were ones of passionate tortoisial effort! (tortoisial = adjective derived from noun: tortoise)

Further along, some adult African Black Oyster Catchers started dive-bombing him. Mad Dog had gone on ahead (fortunately). Roy noticed a movement between the rocks and spied this baby bird. 

Two adults stayed with the baby while another two adults shadowed Roy and Mad Dog for over two kilometers along the coast. A very effective Neighbourhood Watch!

Black Pearls of Pain

We went up to the plot last week to give our plants some extra water, over and above that which our neighbour gives them. It was fortuitous that we did because it was the first time ever that we have arrived there to find our little rain meter totally empty. Local residents confirmed that there had not been a drop of rain since we were there at the beginning of the month and the summer days have been scorchers. Looking towards February, the heat will increase in intensity. On Wednesday morning, before we returned to Cape Town, there was some merciful soft rain, which probably did not amount to more than 2 or 3 mm but, nevertheless, a very welcome top-up to what we had already doled out.

I brought home a few of my Ornamental Black Pearl Pepper fruit from the plot to harvest the seeds. Today I cut them open, collected the seeds, then chopped up the fruit into little pieces, put in a bottle and then filled to the brim with olive oil. The fruit is just too hot to put directly into food but perhaps the peppered oil will make it easy to control the heat. Hours later, my finger tips are burning like hell!!! Next time, I will engage my brain and wear gloves!

Roy's Rally

Take a drive in the Karoo with us along the R323. We turned north-west off the R62 which is about 10km before Ladismith (after Barrydale) and traveled on a tarred road for about 25km. Thereafter, a gravel road of about 50 km long is revealed in these slides, with backdrop of the distant Witteberge on the left at times and the Klein Swartberge on the right. Onwards then for another 20km on a tarred road to Laingsburg.

 

The R323 is an excellent way to link up with the N1 from the R62 and well worth knowing about. There are a few very sharp hairpin-bends which left my stomach in my mouth but  it is well sign-posted and nobody could say that they are not warned.

 A day after we left Laingsberg, my friend received a call for help from someone who had the misfortune to suffer two punctures along the road they were traveling and thus, no longer had a spare tyre. This was at 10 pm, when all businesses in the area are long closed and ordinary people are not inclined to go traveling in the lonely dark on rescue missions. They had to wait until sunrise before hitching a ride into town and assistance. 

We always have Tyre Weld with us as a back-up for such a scenario, as well as plenty of water. Very often, these areas have no cell phone reception and you do need to be prepared, even if only for a night in the car. And do keep your radio turned off, no matter how isolated you feel, as it is pointless arriving back at your car with the new tyre, only to find that the battery is flat!

Roads Traveled

We traveled up to the plot last week on the N2 and not only did we have Mad Dog with us but we were obliged to take along our rather old Persian cat, Oliver. He is our last surviving cat and it proved difficult to find an enthusiastic cat-lover to attend to his feeding and stroking needs while we were away. So, in the autumn of his life, Ollie has become a traveling cat. And a good one at that.

 

Wild bush-cat

We spent a few days watering plants and sealing the surface of the new deck. 

 

Painted Malthoid deck

 I noticed that the Waterberry tree was encrusted again with scale and spent some time gently rubbing it off. On the second morning of doing this, the ants were more aware of my intent and attacked my feet furiously as I decimated their partners in crime.

There are only two surviving green plums on the Harry Pickstone plum-tree, proving my point that bearing fruit is a massive undertaking for a plant, especially when there is no guarantee of regular watering in this harsh climate. I think that under these circumstances, it is best to prevent wasted effort by pinching out the buds at their first appearance. However, another tree has borne two fruit successfully since our last visit. This tree stood in our Cape Town garden for 20 years and barely grew an inch. In fact, it pretty much resembled a bonsai tree. We transplanted it to the plot, where it has found its growing rhythm and now, after bearing its very first fruit ever, we discover that it is not an Orange tree as previously believed,  but in fact, a Lemon tree. Lovely.

The two ornamental Black Pearl Peppers are absolutely flourishing!

Mad Dog and Ollie both blundered their way into this spider's web and destroyed hours of patient work.

Argiope Australis

After a quiet New Year under the stars, we decided that on Tuesday this week, we would leave a day earlier than planned and take a 200 km drive from the plot up to Laingsburg to visit my friend who has recently moved there. We left at midday, in the mounting heat, and drove via Barrydale towards Ladismith. About 10 km before Ladismith, we turned off the R62 and followed a 93 km route of which more than half  is a gravel road, undulating and with sharp bends. Luckily, my driver was excellent and I could enjoy the beautiful Karoo scenery. 

We spent two nights in Laingsburg with our friends. It is really quite a small town and the devastating flooding of the Buffels River in January, 1981, is well embedded in the memory and weave of the town. One of the historical notice boards, which are dotted around town, relates how a resident, crouching on her roof, observed brick houses imploding or spinning around off their foundations to face the opposite direction, in the force of the flooding waters. Our early morning walk in the only lush part of town, the Golf course, revealed surviving trees standing in straight lines, where roads, houses and people once existed.

Awesome Pepper Tree

On Thursday, we were once again on the road, this time using the N1 to Cape Town. I was amazed at the green tinge across the veld. When you consider that it is summer, it is surprising to see the relatively happy vegetation. This surely means that the winter rains in this region were unusually good last year.
 

Leaving Laingsburg

Descent of the notorious Hex River Pass into the
lush Hex River Valley and De Doorns

De Doorns' Matroosberg Peak, or "Sailor Mountain". 
Some people believe the peak to be named after a
rock resembling a sailor or "matroos" 
standing on the bow of a ship.

We were determined not to buy grapes from the peddlers on the side of the road. The boxes of grapes are stolen on a grand scale from the many vineyards on each side of the N1 in the Hex River Valley. Who would be a farmer?!

Rather than use the Huguenot Toll Tunnel through the mountains of Du Toits Kloof, we used the old road instead and enjoyed the stunning mountains.

Old Du Toits Kloof Pass road, Worcester side

Old Du Toits Kloof Pass road, Paarl side

Our biggest mistake on the trip was taking the Main Road along the coastline, from Muizenberg onwards, instead of using Ou Kaapse Weg. It is summer time on the False Bay coastline, schools only open next week and the traffic arrangements created for the two-year long roadworks project, meant a long crawl in the sun and salty air. 

Poor Ollie just stretched out in his cat-box and dreamed that he wasn't there.