SHADOWS

Summer is blasting us with heat as though it is reluctant to make way for autumn. Seeking shade is one way of coping with the hot weather and this set me thinking about shadows. Herewith is a group of pictures that inadvertently illustrated shadows. The first shows shadows cast by trees lining an extension of our street:

These donkeys sheltering in the shade of trees are a short way from where I live:

Here is the Bell Cow – a member of the Urban Herd we have not seen for a very long time – casting a shadow of her own:

A Red Hartebeest does the same as it grazes next to a road in the Mountain Zebra National Park:

As does a Crowned Lapwing:

Lastly, this baby elephant seeks shelter within the shadow of its mother in the Addo Elephant National Park:

ANIMALS IN MY STREET

The street I live in is an elliptical one and we overlook an open lawn that runs along one of the main roads to enter town. Regular readers are familiar with what I call the Urban Herd as well as some of the donkeys that roam through our town at will. I start with a donkey resting on the grassy verge while its companions were grazing on the lush kikuyu grass growing further along the street.

One afternoon I was alerted to the baleful sound of this bull calf bellowing mournfully “where are you? where are you?” outside my front gate, whilst its companion sought comfort from the tree trunk behind it. They had become separated from the rest of their section of the Urban Herd and were feeling lost, lonely and abandoned. I am pleased to report that it wasn’t very long before they were united with their respective mothers as the herd wandered down from grazing a short distance away.

There are many occasions when even adult members of the Urban Herd become separated from the rest because they are concentrating on eating something delicious – as this cow, which is eating fallen jacaranda flowers on my street.

Here is a small portion of the Urban Herd grazing on the open lawn below our home. The housing development and bush in the background is where the wild fires raged not that long ago.

Sometimes the Urban Herd work their way right up to our street. These ones are on the corner. Note the cattle egret on the right of the photograph.

To end this brief look at some of the animals that frequent the street where I live, is a picture of twin calves outside our back gate. Some of you may be aware that if twins are born of the same sex they are likely to be as normal as any other cow or bull. However, if one is a bull and the other is a heifer, they are known as Freemartins. In such a case the bull will grow up to be fine but the chances are stacked against the heifer as she is likely to be sterile.

GREEN IS GOLD

Robert Frost wrote that Nature’s first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold. That doesn’t really apply where I live as most of our trees are evergreen. The wild grasses turn from green to gold to brown as the seasons cycle through, and a few of our trees lose their leaves – only without the spectacular changes of colour witnessed in the northern hemisphere. Nonetheless, that first green that spruces up our world after the spring rains fall is something very special. We have enjoyed fairly good rains so far and in celebration I plan to share a variety of green hues (and other things by the way) with you.

Unfortunately, although the rain is very welcome it also dilutes the chemicals that keep our swimming pool water clean and clear. The rain water also contains contaminants which add to the bacterial load of the water and encourages the immediate growth of algae. What had been a sparkling pool the day before quickly looks like this:

The fever tree (Vachellia xanthophloea) is one of the easiest thorn trees to identify as it has green to yellow bark that tends to be a greener yellow when the tree is still young and which turns more yellow as the tree ages. Some of you may recall the description of the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever-trees in Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. This is one of several that have been planted on the campus of Rhodes University:

These donkeys are emerging from the rather attractive garden of our local doctor’s rooms:

While the focus of this photograph is the Psychedelic Jackal Cow (which we have seen around with the Urban Herd since she was born), it is the background of green trees I would like you to enjoy as well:

In my garden, I notice that many of the aloes are now putting out new leaves:

Then there is this golden bug which contrasts beautifully with the green leaves it is visiting:

MY CHRISTMAS DAY 2023

The day dawned overcast and damp. The mizzle turned to drizzle, which is why these donkeys were sheltering outside a shop in High Street:

This is the Cathedral of St Michael and St George that separates Upper High Street from Lower High Street:

Closer to home, this donkey cart – empty of a load – was being driven from somewhere to somewhere else:

In the absence of picking flowers in this damp weather, I made up a posy of lavender leaves, lavender flowers and sprigs of rosemary to decorate our table with. I found this colourful nymph of  a Green Milkweed locust (Phymateus leprosus) on the rosemary bush:

I see there’s a tiny snail above it. A little below it was a Longhorn beetle:

At last our Christmas meal was ready. The food was placed on the sideboard for easy serving and the salad on the table. The wine had not yet been poured either; here is our table set for three:

It has been a peaceful Christmas spiced with the joy of hearing from our scattered family and well as from friends.

DONKEYS IN TOWN

A mother nuzzling her newborn on the grassy verge outside a school sportsfield.

Looking expectantly at me through my car window.

Making short work of a Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise) plant opposite my back gate.

Eating grass on a traffic island on the edge of the CBD.

A fuzzy baby not far from where I live.

A donkey in the suburbs in an older part of Grahamstown.