Archie,Rocket and Mother goose







Stalag 49: Mother goose remains in place

Rocket happy to be photographed now..note Bee`s interest in the background to the upper right of picture

Drinking

Eating: she definitly likes rice breads, and rabbit nuts[ surprised that we can get these here]

Being nosey!

Being watched.

Ticking off

In view of my "ticking off" for being longwinded, I have come across these imiges that I should like to share:

Loops ,I hope that you like these as well!

                      This one is for my viewer from Finland..I have no idea who you are, but its good to meet you!

                                 I like this idea very much. Perhaps up in my kitchen in neon lights!

                               I have come to realise that not only do I like books, but I like pictures of books,
pictures of text and numbers. Perhaps is genetic thing to do with graphics from our Dad.

                                            This is for Little..study using negative space

                                        And this one is a ghoulish one that I am quite fascinated by. its an elephant skull                                              







This great 30`s American poster should be pinned on my notice board.
My children all tell me that they only look at the photos in my blog!

Introducing the work of Pieter Hugo

From his series "The Hyena and other men"

http://www.pieterhugo.com/selected-work/the-hyena-other-men/2.jpg/

 Pieter Hugo is a young South African photographer causing a stir and winning prizes for his unsettling images of the continent's marginal people.

His phots are disturbing and often pose more questions than they answer,but those who have spent any time in Africa will immediatly recognise them as true reflections of some of the less "racey" places and dynamics of Africa.
 The hyena men series, were taken in Nigeria.

If you can face it, do take a look at his web site.



photos



My irises are out!





These are "strawberries with a history"

Strawberry plants from Wimbeldon..yes..YOUR Wimbledon [brought over as seeds]

Bee taking an unusual interest in Rocket

"Elephant ear succulents" thats not their official name but I forget what it is.

Bong taking an unusual interest in Rocket

Rocket sound alseep without a care in the world!

Plenty of travel for all.

It has been a week of making arrangements and I have the following to report:


Little flies back to the farm next Thursday 23rd for his spring break. He returns to school on 4th October. [ this marks two years at Bishops]

Big flies to UK, Paris and then The States on 6th Oct and returns around 28th Oct

Jessie arrives on 5th October for a break, and we plan to go to Hermanus on the south coast whale watching for a few days before she flies home on 17th October.

www.whalewatchsa.com. [ there are some stunning close up pictures of whales on this site.]

We will collect Little from school on Friday 15th October and he will spend the weekend with us.

I depart on the 28th October to meet Viki in Jo`berg,[ Just as Big returns] we will fly to Victoria Falls for a two nights and thence in a light aircraft to Baines Camp on the Okavango for a further 4 nights of Elephants and water safaris.

We return to the farm on 4th November for a few days and then potter down to Cape Town for a few more days, Viki will fly home on 14th November.

Little leaves for his school trip to the States on 10th December.

Tommy and Finn arrive from UK on 23rd December till 5th Jan

Little returns from the States on 23rd December.

CHRISTMAS

NEW YEAR

Rocket and the pots

This weekend it has been HOT..and I mean real Africa hot..so I have, at least arranged the pots that were delivered from Upington, and have put all my herbs into the shabby old vine baskets that I found in the scrap yard.

Bee looking somewhat intimidating at dusk tonight.

rectangular pots by the white pillars

For the rest ,I have been catching up on admin in the cool of the air-co. This afternoon, Moses, who had been at the campong for the day, knocked on our window at 4.00pm, with one of his hugest smiles and a small creature dangling from a piece of twine around its neck.
At first I thought it was a baby meer cat, but no, its a small African or Cape Squirrel.

Rocket resting from her stoning.

We asked Moses how he caught it, and he said they had spotted it running through the campong and thrown rocks at it [he was totally unashamed], but after the last incident, remembered that Bossy had told him never to kill animals on his land, so Moses had "rescued" it and brought it up to the farm dangling on the twine.
Bossy immediately grabbed it and untied the rope, much to Moses horror.."He bite you Bossy...he bite you".
The tiny squirrel was too shocked to do anything other than breath heavily and rest in Edwin hands.
I have some syringes and filled one with water and to Moses and Smallies amazement, the small creature took in drops of water and then allowed herself to be settled in a plastic box [like a hovis bread bin] we put some nuts and grasses in, along with a lump of that carpet underlay, felty stuff. I have covered the box with a cloth, and after several checks..Rocket, has snuggled down in the carpet underlay.
Big and I have decided to leave "HER", in the open braai room tonight, if she has enough strength to get out and escape on her own, then so be it. If she is still there in the morning then we shall have a rethink.

Pigs nipple pots by sunset!

I have called her Rocket, because this afternoon I was looking through my herbs and lettuces planted 10 days ago, and Rocket is the only thing I am missing!

My selection of herbs, freshly planted in vine baskets, the blue bin has my salad leaves.

"Daddy "size pots next to pool

Mummy size pots next to guest rooms [Bee giving some dimension to then]

Kak`s recycling Centre and scrap yard

 

Kak, has its own very large scrap yard, and for the two years that we have been here I have wanted to go in with my camera and grub around, but have never quite found the courage.The site is always surrounded by dodgy looking folk and ramshackle lorries backing through the gates, with ramshackle drivers, whistling toothless instructions to each other.


Eugene is an avid scrap yard comber and asked if I would like to join him in a visit there on Friday.


What a joy..a truly mind boggling experience.


The detritus of every soul in the area caught inside the four walls of this massive space.
It  has always tickled me tickles me that it calls itself a recycling centre, but there was evidence of can and paper/card recycling, as for everything else, vast piles of rusting farm machinery blistered by the sun, and every imaginable piece of fallout from a persons life.


At the very back of the scrap yard, they also cure, sheep skin, so mixed into the whole chaotic mess, is the distinct smell of aging pelts and salt crystals oozing in the heat.


I shall have to pay several visits before I can really get the sum of this place, but what amazed me most was the colour and the patina of the metals. I took 120 photos in less than an hour and could have spent longer...much longer there, but they close at 1.00 on a Friday.

The Carob Border, green fingers and eating herbs for the next few months on acoount of my "Pot" blow out!

My gardening continues at a pace. In fact I think I rather overdid it last week, and my poor old bod went into melt down over the weekend and refused to co operate with me on the gardening front, so I simply had to chill in the farm. The temperatures reached and unseasonal 35 degrees with a fierce hair dryer wind blowing.


Below find some "Work in progress" pictures of my latest border "The Carob Tree border", Eugene very kindly gave me some water irises that he promises are stunning but need a "bog garden", when I raised my brows, he laughed and said "It is possible in the desert". He then gave me explicit instructions on how to construct the "bog", and during last week I started to construct it. Moses has enough difficulty understanding my very basic garden instructions, and even if I draw pictures for him, he doesn't understand them..so I HAD to do this myself..no easy think in this landscape.
First a 1M X 1M by ½ meter deep square had to be dug in the border...awful...truly awful work...then the hole lined with double thickness tarp, then filled with water...irises laid in at this point, then backfilled with compost and proper soil and all squidged down and topped with raisin mulch,[ its important to know that I had to divert three of the sprinklers to permanently feed the bog]..It took most of last week to achieve but its done, now I have to finish the rest of the border!

Left of the Carob tree is the huge Cycad that will eventually go near the new driveway entrance.

                                                  The spiky leaves to the left are the water irises

                                    The stone henge edging will continue all the way around the border.

                                       I spent a week overhauling the iris border, and its looking very neat now.

At some point last week Bossy came careering up to the farm, I was deep inside the pit at this point, he asked me to get in the car immediately with him....."Why...Look" I said pointing to my mud encrusted state. "Because there is a guy with a lorry selling palms on the crossroads at Kak.
I didn't need to be asked twice and leapt into the bakkie. Sure enough there was a huge lorry parked on the junction with some very decent huge palms.
We negotiated for 1 huge cycad and 6 baby cycads [for the car park at the factory]. Three medium palms for the factory. 4 huge coconut palms for the old kraal and two med sized palms for the new driveway. [not nearly under construction yet]..I wanted more but didn't want to push my luck.


Anyway all, bar the 2 med sized palms are in now, and I'm on such a roll that I informed Bossy that I would make the trip into UP today [Monday] for the sole purpose of buying some pots for the patio and around the exterior of the farm.
So cocky was I, that when a little tramp like man came to ask me for parking money [ these guys put a florescent bib on and con passing motorists for money], usually I give them a couple of rand and drive off without a thought, but on this occasion I was very rude, and refused to pay him a cent, hopping into my car and revving it up so loudly that he jumped back onto the pavement as I hurtled off. This I can only explain as "purchasing euphoria." Or "Buying rage" to put it more bluntly.

WE NOW NEED TO ORGANISE A LORRY TO COLLECT THE POTS...Bossy is being very "grown up" about this. Its most unusual for me to have a blow out on this scale, and I  justified it by telling myself how much hard work I have been putting into the farm garden, and how "The garden" deserves a reward!

I have purchased 13 pots. None of them are small either.....YIKES. What am I going to fill them with?.....I don't know yet, but will face that when I have all the "loot" safely back at the farm.
Tazzy you will be tickled I have purchased two "Pigs nipple pots"..I think only Tazzy will understand this so please forgive. Everyone else will have to wait for photos of them in situ!

Oh and before I forget, Dotti, I have planted mixed salad leaves, corriander ,flat leaf parsley and chives..am out of rocket/basil and chillies, but Eugene has given me lemon grass, rosmery, mint and celery leaf plants. So I`m feeling "herb rich" at the moment, what with his discovery of a bay tree in my garden, and raised beds bordered by Oregano.

DYNAMITE

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A peacful scene on a building site

Dynamite is used liberally here in the desert, they have a local "Mr Dynamite" who, along with his team [actually ,one assistant], are called in when the earths crust, which lies very close to the surface here, proves too hard to break through with conventional weapons such as metal spikes and spades and diggers.

The reasons Mr Dynamite may be called range from the planting of a tree to the building of a road....Apparantly he is surprisingly inexpensive.

In Bossys case, he and his buddy Niki, had been trying to excavate foundations, to build a new storage facility. The land upon which this is being done is  across the Augrabies road, and its just visible from the farm.

Sand being piled ontop of dynamite

In Africa, when something is being dynamited, particuarly if it is near a road [as this was], the dynamite team, are required to block the road to ensure no traffic is passing when the "bang/s" happen. No police are envolved, no health and safety officers..no nothing, save for a radio between Mr Dynamite and his assistant.

Mr Dynamite stands back with all the onlookers..pacing and walking around in circles, which is not very confidence inspiring for the spectators..I had an inate sense of him needing quite urgently, to visit the bathroom!

Any way suddenly his radio starts crackling, and delivers  a garbled message, we see a thin spire of smoke from the pile of sand under which the dynamite has been packed, and then a small figure in the distance, in a bright blue boiler suit, running full pelt towards us.

While concentrating on the small figure running. my entire body jumps, when a loud bang explodes the pile of sand, followed by another and then another.
There is a long pause, and the guy in the bright blue boiler suit, emerges from the dust, smiling and looking as though he has earned his wages today. Traffic start to free up around the area, and I return to the farm, wonfdering if I really did just witness this..above lies the evidence

............Only in Africa.

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I love the central images..rather spooky though!

..Whoops..pictures all over the place again! The only excuse I have is the dynamite!