Day 69 - Bird of Paradise

 

Lockdown Day 69 - Level 3 Day 3 - I need to get this garden in the front all cleaned up. Here are some of the Strelitzia flowers in full bloom in our garden. The are better known as the Bird of Paradise flower as you can clearly see. One of the people who came to view our garden cottage has signed the lease and is moving in at the end of the month. They are a young couple getting their first home together away from there parents. 

This is a new start for everyone as I am out looking for new opportunities to move forward.

Day 64 - Cyclamen Tunnel

Lockdown Day 64 - I had to go to President Hyper to buy groceries for one of the council women from our local area who has not been outside since the Coronavirus had been declared a pandemic. It has not been easy doing shopping for someone else who you hardly even know. 

Anyhoo, I had to go through that disinfectant tunnel again, this time my temperature was a nice cool 31.9°C. On the otherside of the tunnel was these lovely bright coloured flowers, according to the price lollipop stand they were called Cyclamen.

Witchweed

 

I got reports of pilgrims camping in the veld near my home, so I got dress and was about to set out to see them off, when the heavens opened up and poured cats and dogs. An hour later the downpour was over so off I set, through the wet veld and just before reaching the reported location of the camp, a flash of purple caught my eye.

Among the damp grass was this beautiful looking plant, only to find out later that it is a grass parasitic plant called Witchweed. This plant attaches itself to the grass' roots and steals soil nutrients and moisture from the grass. Beautiful but deadly.

Eleven Orchids

 

Valentines Day or what it actually should be called, Single Awareness Day. Cynical as I am, today it was all about flowers and I was all ready for the Annual Orchid Count... leave taken, cellphone and camera batteries were all charged, water bottles filled, sunblock, cap and a bandana for the neck, all my stuff was packed and ready when the clock hit 8 this morning. Last year it was drizzling and still I got sun burnt but today looked like it is going to be a scorcher before we even set out and it was.

 
I am not sure how many there were but about 20 counters set out into the Protea forested veld to look for the Albertina Sisulu Orchid. All in a row we search with keen eyes hoping to be the first to find this rare critically endangered orchid and it wasn't long before we found them.
 

 

Not often do we see one of the pollinators, a butterfly, not sure what type but a butterfly none the less.

 

Because it was so hot we didn't see as many animals as we did last year, this year I saw a fleeting glimpse of a duiker, a scrub hare, francolins, guinefowls, and quite a few insects. Nice to see the insects as there is a growing concern that insects are dying out by the millions. There was this one that looked like a dragonfly and battled to fly. I left the count line to try and get a good photo of it. After following it for a couple of metres I managed to get this photo (above) of an antlion.

 

Sadly we only managed to find 11 Albertina Silulu Orchids today. Another 2 were counted in the refuge area last week by a group from Wits University. Although we had good rains the previous month we don't know much about these beautiful and rare ground orchids. They only flower for a few weeks of the year, and it seems that they don't flower every year.

Snowflake's Birthday

 

It is Taleesha's birthday today, just as she reminded us on Friday so we won't forget. Flowers and chocolates arrived for the birthday snowflake and the one that I like the most are these orchids. She has now asked me twice already, how does one look after orchids.

Yesterday Today Tomorrow

 

The Brunfelsia pauciflora is not an indigenous plant in South Africa as it orginates from the Amazon yet here are 2 of them in my garden. Know locally as a Yesterday Today and Tomorrow as the flowers I've been told changes colours from white to purple on a daily rate, hence the name as the flowers are never the yesterday, today, and tomorrow. And I don't have the patience to check if this is true.

Green Flowers

 

Forget Spring, Summer has arrived with vengeance. Okay not the summer thunderstorms, that is still to come, but the heat. Thank goodness I have aircon at the office, and on the ride home, I forgo the jacket and live for the ride not the slide.

As I arrived home after work, I noticed this flowering plant in my front garden, it had these green flowers which if memory is correct will turn to white later. Nice to be back home.

Pushing Up Daisies

With the thoughts about life and death being a lot on my mind lately, it was great just to pause for a moment in this spinning wheel of life and smell the flowers, in this case daisies which have bloomed in my garden. Oh such lovely flowers, and I am not getting enough time to enjoy them. Oh well just keep on moving 1 step in front of the next...

Where have all the flowers gone?

Where have all the flowers gone, a long time passing. Seeing these beautiful red poppies, and with the remembrance of D-Day just the other day, I thought about how wasteful all these wars have been. With 'Merica being in a constant state of war, actually 93% of its entire existence, that is since it was founded in 1776, she has been at war for 222 out of 239 years. 

Now with Trump's toys being thrown out over Iran, Ethiopia had an attempted coup d'etat and the internet has been shut down in the entire country, and China being a big bully as they expand globally. When will they ever learn?

So here I am looking at these poppies, and thinking about when will the world ever be free of tyranny. When will the Lord return?

Purple Bush

I going got home about 1am this morning after the long drive up from Pietermarizburg. After a quick hot shower, I was soon past out. The alarm woke me at 5am, darn I have to get ready for work. 

Mid afternoon, the lack of sleep was catching up with me. Eish I thought I would never make it but here I am, ready for bed. The ride home on the Vespa gave me a second wind enough to smell the pretty purple flowers growing in the front garden. I think by tomorrow my internal clock would be reset. Night everyone, sleep tight.

Purple Love

Is it only me, that finds the orchid one of the most erotic flowers in the universe and yet this one has a sense of menace in its look. Oh purple love!

We closed early at work because tomorrow is Good Friday, and I took the opportunity to visit my mentor, Tom, and in the entrance hall of his home was these beautiful sexy orchids, they just made my day.   

Hurry up and Wait

Rushing home after work and then waiting for 2 groups of people to come view our cottage, hurry up and wait. The wait gave me time to admire our front garden which has become wild. Walking around I take mental notes of what to do in the garden. oh so much work and not sure when I am going to get to it all. Oh well the single strelitzia flower still gives me reason to smile.

Golden Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud when I stumbled into the kitchen this Monday morning only to get an eyeful of a flowering daffodil. We bought Lynda some daffodil bulbs just sprouting for her birthday last Friday and this morning she was blessed with golden daffodils just starting to bloom. 

Like Bees to the Flower

This obnoxious cactus in my front garden produces these awesome flowers every so often and the bees  simply love them. Did I ever mention that I have this garden that attracts butterflies and bees from all over. The nectar must be sweet with this prickly plant.

December Flowers

Wow, what has happened to this year? It is December already and the year is just about over. This last weeke has been hard with the lightning strike and all. The last of the replacement items came this morning after a drive to Crown Mines. Never again. Never again will I go down town during month end. It was hot, crowded, and very unpleasant but thank God, it is all over and I am back home with the gentle breeze and scented flowers lofting through the windows. Ahhh this is what the doctor ordered.

Fairy Irises

The fairy irises are in full bloom in our garden. They say that when the iris flowers, it heralds the rain. Yeah come summer African rains, come. This heat is starting to get a tad uncomfortable. 

Maybe the irises are blooming for the nonagenarians who have recently crossed over. Last Friday my great aunt Isa past on at the age of 95 and now I hear that Stanley Lieber also past at the age of 95 yesterday. Better known as Stan Lee, this real life hero will not be forgotten. 

Bobbejanstert

The veld is alive with purple flowers, the Bobbejanstert (Baboon's Tail) or for the boffens the Xerophyta Retinervis. Arriving home early from work, with still enough daylight hours and with a missing cat, Paddington who has not been home for a few nights now, it was an perfect opportunity to take a walk into the veld. 

Having so much colour all around me was beautiful, and yet it was awesome to find a white Bobbejanstert. Yes a white one among the purple. 

No Paddy was found.

Green Fingers

Being behind a desk now, I don’t get around much, so after work I pop into Tom and Glenda’s home to catch up on things.

Now I don’t know if it is Tom, Glenda, or their gardener that has the green fingers but these orchids in Tom and Glenda’s garden are beautiful and there are so many of them, oh how I just love orchids. The light was dying and I had to be on my way home, so I just had enough light to snap this photo of this sexy flower. 

Spring Blossoms

The spring blossoms are all over bursting into life, as the weather warms up. Although there is usually a cold snap round about the 1st of September which heralds spring into season, it feels sure like spring is already here with temperatures reach 27°C.

Ahhh spring is in the air, with the birds and the bees, well they are doing what they have to do.

Orange Flower

I am in a state of flux at the moment. I am either here or there, not sure. News from Matthew is that his mom has had a stroke and it is being complicated with infections. In the meanwhile it looks like I will be in Pietermarizburg towards the end of the month and here I am either here or there.

Arriving home on Sunday afternoon, Lynda pointed out some flowers that were about to blossom, so here I am in the front garden taking a photo of that very flower that is now in full bloom. Since the 2 big trees have been removed, the front is really putting on a show of colours. 

I seem lost, but somehow God is still there showing me that He still cares. Look how he has taken care of my front garden without much intervention from me. If there was it would have been a mess.