23/03/2026 by Anne

FLOWERS WITH WHITE CENTRES

As we have come through a particularly dry – and scorchingly hot – summer and are gradually moving into autumn, I thought of looking back through pictures I have taken of flowers with white centres. This succulent looks particularly attractive with the white centre surrounded by bright pink:

The Haemanthus albifloss is always a joy to see in my garden:

Many readers are familiar with the Jade Plant – so here is a close up of one of its flowers:

The Strelitzia reginae, or Crane Flower, looks majestic wherever it grows:

One has to go far to beat a protea in bloom:

Petunias are familiar to gardeners the world over:

21/03/2026 by Anne

THE CITY IN FLAMES – MICHAEL RUSSELL

I have always known that I wouldn’t want to be a spy, in fact I know I wouldn’t make a good spy! Why do people spy? Perhaps we cannot tell what we are capable of until a cause close to our beliefs drives us towards doing what we thought was impossible? What if, in the process of spying for your cause, you begin to have doubts about that cause?

The question uppermost in my mind whilst reading Michael Russell’s The City in Flames is who can one trust? This is the fifth novel featuring Stefan Gillespie – now I must seek the others, for I want to know more about him! I find it an interesting aspect of many modern thriller writers that their main characters tend to grow and develop each time we meet them.

The events in this novel take place during the Second World War in both London and Ireland. It is in Berlin though, that we get an inkling of the discord between the two branches of German Intelligence: the Abwehr and the Sicherheitdiens (SD). The former is fairly free of Nazi ideology while the latter is firmly in the hands of the Nazis. Vera, the German spy, works for the Abwehr and her lover for the SD. He dies before she sets off for England with a substitute partner. Their mission is not entirely clear, other than that she will eventually end up in Ireland. She is naturally pursued by British Intelligence from the time of landing until the dramatic close of the novel in Ireland. Who are these shadowy people?

We meet Detective Inspector Stefan Gillespie while he is working on his father’s farm in Wicklow, having been suspended from the Irish police for reasons he is unwilling to explain. He is later sent to London undercover – for reasons that are not immediately clear. During his time there, we witness the devious workings of the pub he has been assigned to; his meeting with Vera; the events of the night they are caught in the Blitz; and their brief walking holiday – at the end of which we realize that they might have an inkling that they have their suspicions about each other, despite their enjoyment of each other’s company.

There is no time for romance in their lives and the ongoing presence of the Special Branch policemen, who are obviously keeping tabs on them, makes us aware there is more to them and the current political situation than meets the eye. Then Vera disappears … Stefan is recalled to Ireland only to be drawn into a deeper plot to keep the Germans at bay. He meets up with Vera again and the two of them become more deeply involved in an action which requires them to trust each other.

Then the tables turn: which brings me back to the question of who on earth can one trust in this swirling underworld of spying, where so much is not what it appears to be. All in all, this is an interesting and informative read.

17/03/2026 by Anne

THE URBAN HERD ON THE MOVE

There have been moves afoot to rid the CBD and suburbs of the wandering fragments of what I call the Urban Herd. These animals are owned by people living in the eastern part of our town, close to a commonage set aside especially for the grazing of domestic stock. The owners complain that it is too small – I have driven past and not seen any animals in the demarcated area – and that, with the ongoing drought there is not enough grass for their animals to eat. For these people, owning cattle is an integral part of their culture and a visible sign of their wealth. Their solution has been to allow the cattle to roam free to seek grazing and water in the rest of town. So it is that we find parts of the Urban Herd in the far end of African Street where there is a cross road and the street leads up to Kingswood College:

Closer to where I live, these cows are grazing in a park just off Cradock Road, the main entrance to town from the western side:

It is a peaceful scene. Just above the park is Meurant Street, where these cows are blocking the late afternoon traffic created by people wishing to go to their homes in Hill 60:

Another main entrance to town is George Street, where I spotted these two eating the weeds growing on the pavement – or more likely sipping at the water from one of the ubiquitous leaks found all over town:

This cow is leading a herd walking past the well-kept playing fields of St. Andrew’s Preparatory School in Graham Street:

By now, evening is drawing in and we are back in African Street, this time close to the turn off to Peppergrove Mall – a major shopping centre in town:

The cattle – or some of them – were rounded up a while ago and the owners were expected to pay a fine or the animals would be moved to the nearest working pound in Alexandria. Our town was devoid of the Urban Herd for a couple of days but, as you can see, they are back!

14/03/2026 by Anne

CHICKEN OF THE WOODS

Moving from chicken feet (I had no takers for them) to Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus). Not real birds this time, but a fungus: more specifically, it is a sulphur-yellow bracket fungus of trees that can often be found in tiered clusters on oak. I wasn’t in the woods when I found it, but parked in New Street in Grahamstown. This is a young specimen that could probably be eaten – it is meant to be a delicacy, but even if you enjoy eating fungi, would you pick it from a street tree which has been exposed to the noxious fumes of passing vehicles?

This fungus is made up of several thick, overlapping brackets which are soft and spongy when young. The upper surface is velvety and yellow-orange with a zoned margin, while the underside is yellow and covered with pores. It is a polypore fungus, so that instead of having fleshy gills underneath, its underside is composed of millions of tiny spore-producing pores. The common name refers to the texture of its flesh, which is said to resemble cooked chicken. [So many things, from frog legs to snakes are said to taste like chicken – why not simply eat chicken?] According to one culinary site I looked up, Chicken in the woods has a lemony, meaty taste. Some think it tastes like its chicken namesake; others describe the flavour as being more like crab or lobster. Whatever your opinion, the chicken fungus makes a great substitute for meat in almost any dish.

Chicken of the woods is a saprophyte that feeds on dead or injured trees and can cause brown rot. It thus helps to decompose the wood of dead trees. Certainly, this particular oak tree – one of several street trees in this part of town – has been looking sickly for several years already. This picture, taken two years ago, shows that the tree must have lost a limb in a storm – the tree next to it had long since been chopped down.

Here you can see the fungus in a late stage of its development. It is tender only at the growing edges, and drier and tough where it is attached to the oak tree.

Photographed even later in 2024, the fungus now appears to have died. Chicken of the woods, however, persists throughout the year, becoming increasingly unrecognizable, until it resembles nothing more than a hard, brittle, bleached, piece of sytrofoam.

Foragers know to return to the same location much later for fresh ones.

I will certainly be keeping an eye on this particular chicken – but I won’t venture to taste it!

References:

https://rebeccalexa.com/how-to-identify-chicken-of-the-woods/

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/fungi/chicken-woods

https://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/chicken-of-the-woods.html

https://unrulygardening.com/chicken-of-the-woods-mushroom/

https://www.aldendirks.com/1001-mushrooms/16-chicken-of-the-woods-laetiporus-sulphureus

10/03/2026 by Anne

I HAVE JUST FINISHED READING …

I have just finished reading one of the most gentle, sad, yet heart-warming novels. Deborah Lawrenson’s The Art of Falling had me enthralled from beginning to end. A man leaves home and is not heard of again in twenty years – nothing! His wife regards herself as a widow. His daughter is bewildered, for she and her father had enjoyed a special bond which involved not only the stars, but an abiding interest in the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

That tower, and early attempts to stop it from falling over, is a recurring theme in the novel. The author points out that it seemed a perfect metaphor for the point where uncertainty and inevitability meet, and the link is made between buildings of flawed design and the imperfect blueprint of family life. The relationship between Tom Wainwright, the girl’s father, and a young Italian girl during the dying days of the Second World War is another theme. It is when she receives an invitation via her aunt – her father’s only living relative – to attend the opening of a piazza in Petriana that is to be named after her father, that Isabel – his daughter – decides to visit Italy and see what she can find out about her missing relative.

Why is her mother so against her going to Italy? Why had there been no communication from her father in twenty years? Had he returned to Italy? Why were they naming a piazza after him? What heroic deed had he done?

We begin by knowing only the scant details that Isabel does. As she is embraced by the community her father had known as a young British soldier, she learns more … meets useful people, learns about his relationship with Giuliana … meets a particularly helpful Italian man, Gianni, who tells her We will look for your father … and introduces her to yet another particularly helpful Italian man.

Meanwhile, we return to 1944 and to a period after the war that fills in our privileged reader’s knowledge of Tom Wainwright as a young man, who learns to speak Italian fluently, and who is embraced by the Parini family. We are introduced to Italian meals such as: First there was pasta served with crushed chicken livers and preserved tomatoes, then fried chicken, then rabbit and cauliflower fritters. Then, for dessert, she served walnuts with small glasses of vin santo.

The tower of Pisa threads its way throughout both the historical and the modern sections of the narrative. Isabel learns that her father had indeed returned to Italy. Gianni’s words ring true: If it is true that he came back to Italy then we will find him … no-one knows where he is now. There are no official traces of him. We discover that There is nothing to report about Tom’s whereabouts in Italy … The trail has gone cold.

Her relationship with Matteo deepens … is she unknowingly repeating the actions of her father? Matteo too is involved with the tower of Pisa. He has a child from a former relationship. He helps her to locate Giuliana … a tiny woman. She is in her mid-seventies and her eyes gleam brightly. She is a renowned botanical artist.

What follows is a threading through of tenderness, shock, disbelief, and incredible sadness. The overall impression though is of lives well lived in spite of the obstacles, changes of plan, misunderstandings, and bridging the cultural and linguistic gaps to reach a sense of fulfilment.

I highly recommend that you read this novel which, the author reveals on the opening page, is based on several real events, but the characters are completely fictitious. You won’t regret it.

Something Over Tea

Scribbles from my notebook