Click to enlarge.
Photo by E Bucceri. Caught in the act intent on getting the photo.
The result, this cosmos flower has flowered 6 months to early.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Focussed.
The photographer photographed. While taking photos of wildflowers yesterday the Italian leprechaun photographed me. Never ask me to "pose" for a photo, I sort of freeze, my smile looks like the rictus on a corpse and my whole body language subtly changes.
Click to enlarge.
Photo by E Bucceri. Caught in the act intent on getting the photo.
The result, this cosmos flower has flowered 6 months to early.
Click to enlarge.
Photo by E Bucceri. Caught in the act intent on getting the photo.
The result, this cosmos flower has flowered 6 months to early.
Thursday, 24 October 2013
"To everything there is a season..."
The tiny body of a dead Red billed Quelea, and the lush new plant growth reminded me of this verses in Ecclesiastes, 3: 1 - 2.
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;
A time to be born, and a time to die;
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; "
And then verse 19, ''For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth the beasts; even one thing befalleth them; as one dieth so dieth the other; yea they all have one breath; so that man hath no pre-eminence above a beast; for all is vanity". Authorised King James version.
Monday, 21 October 2013
How the other half lives.
This weekend past I had the privilege of seeing how the other half lives. My sister in law, (ex wife's sister) and her husband invited the Italian leprechaun and I to spend a weekend, Friday to Sunday, with them at the exclusive resort/golf estate, on the Lower KZN South Coast, where they own a villa. The whole resort is built in a Mediterranean style, thus the "villa". I will write more about this place, but for now some pictures of the environment and some of the amazing bird life.
The other staff members at school wanted to know how we managed to get Friday off, I wonder if they've never heard of brown nosing? (Well something like that, just ask nicely, if you don't ask you don't get).
Click to enlarge:
Above is a picture from the estates country club where we had a late breakfast on Saturday morning. In view is part of the tournament class 18 hole golf course. There is also a 9 hole golf course.
The other staff members at school wanted to know how we managed to get Friday off, I wonder if they've never heard of brown nosing? (Well something like that, just ask nicely, if you don't ask you don't get).
Click to enlarge:
Above is a picture from the estates country club where we had a late breakfast on Saturday morning. In view is part of the tournament class 18 hole golf course. There is also a 9 hole golf course.
One of the many beautiful views in this "paradise", it's all one can call it. In the background one of the hundreds of "villas".
Cape glossy starling in all iridescent beauty. The bird and animal life here are incredibly tame, and the vegetation lush and verdant.
Miles and miles of pristine beaches, South Africa has +/- 3,000 miles of beautiful beaches. KZN is on the Indian ocean, with the warm Mozambican current flowing south down the coast.
Low tide and wet sand gleaming like a mirror.
Dabbling. This Egyptian goose was literally at my feet, I could have touched it.
The only negative aspect, I'm sure it's not constitutional, at least shouldn't be. I won't be exaggerating much if I say there aren't many private resorts/estates in the world measure up to this place. You got the money they got a place for you.
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Walking buddies.
Apart from my dogs I have also acquired my landlords dogs as walking buddies.
Click to enlarge.
Left of picture is Bear, and he looks like a bear, huge and woolly, middle foreground is Dot, a scrap of a little mongrel. The dogs have given up trying to catch the guinea fowl, sometime just for the sake of their pride they will make a half hearted attempt, at which the guinea fowl fly off a little way and settle down again.
Bear and Bruno. My other three dogs were of into the lush wheat fields to terrorise mice and other small creatures.
Click to enlarge.
Left of picture is Bear, and he looks like a bear, huge and woolly, middle foreground is Dot, a scrap of a little mongrel. The dogs have given up trying to catch the guinea fowl, sometime just for the sake of their pride they will make a half hearted attempt, at which the guinea fowl fly off a little way and settle down again.
Bear and Bruno. My other three dogs were of into the lush wheat fields to terrorise mice and other small creatures.
Saturday, 12 October 2013
Sky scape, sunset & purple perfection.
These photos were all taken on my evening walks earlier this week.
Click to enlarge:
Cloud scape over the wheat fields. We are desperately starting to need rain, every evening we see a clouds build up only for the to disappear over night. The last two days the temperature has reached the mid 40's Celsius. Weather people predict a cold front moving in from the south tomorrow, with possible rain, and a temperature of 17 Celsius, maximum.
Sunset, the arc of the sun is moving further and further south, nice to get up in the morning and the sun is up at 5:30.
Purple perfection, I find these tiny flowers irresistible, so do bees and other insects. Enlarge the photo to see the detail in the two flowers in focus.
Click to enlarge:
Cloud scape over the wheat fields. We are desperately starting to need rain, every evening we see a clouds build up only for the to disappear over night. The last two days the temperature has reached the mid 40's Celsius. Weather people predict a cold front moving in from the south tomorrow, with possible rain, and a temperature of 17 Celsius, maximum.
Sunset, the arc of the sun is moving further and further south, nice to get up in the morning and the sun is up at 5:30.
Purple perfection, I find these tiny flowers irresistible, so do bees and other insects. Enlarge the photo to see the detail in the two flowers in focus.
Friday, 4 October 2013
Garden of rememberance.
One thing I remember is armistice day, 11hour of the 11th day, of the 11th month. This was the time date and month that the 1st World War ended, and on this day the ending of both Wars is commemorated in South Africa. Every year on this day the old soldiers gather at this monument. The numbers are dwindling fast and soon they will be no more.
My dad was there every year with his campaign ribbons, Ethiopia, North Africa, (Egypt to Libya), and the his Italian ribbon, and all his medals (gongs he used call them). A bugler would play the Last post, one of the towns minister (usually the Anglican priest for some reason), Would deliver an eulogy, say a prayer, the old soldiers would come to rickety attention, salute the monument and would be dismissed.
Click to enlarge.
I wonder how long their names will live?
All the names of the men who fell in Weenen county, which included Estcourt at that time. Weenen means place of weeping in Afrikaans and with very good reason too,
Many of theses surnames can still be found in the local telephone book. R.LI (Rhodesian light infantry), this guy obviously joined up in the then Rhodesia. 1st R.N.C, (Royal Natal Carbineers) S.A.A.F (South African Air Force) my dad was in the Air Force, 31st Heavy Bomber Sqn, that flew Liberator Bombers. S.A.E.C. (South African Engineering Corps). The Engineering Corps was renowned for there bridge building and bridge repair work. S.S.B, usually known as the One Special Service Battalion, (I did my first three months of infantry "basic" with 1 S.S.B).
One S.S.B. was founded in the 1920's it's purpose was criminal rehabilitation, if the judge/magistrate found you guilty of a crime obviously not murder or rape, you were sent to One S.S.B. During the war they always managed to let the enemy know that they were facing a bunch of hardened criminals, and they had a ferocious reputation as cold blooded killers among the enemy. Great psychological warfare. When I did my basic training with S.S.B (!966) it was no longer a dumping place for criminals, but the instructors still treated us if we were .
South Africans of all languages, creeds and colours, were always willing to volunteer, in great numbers, (to help the "auld" country) although most of them had no real connection with England.
My dad was there every year with his campaign ribbons, Ethiopia, North Africa, (Egypt to Libya), and the his Italian ribbon, and all his medals (gongs he used call them). A bugler would play the Last post, one of the towns minister (usually the Anglican priest for some reason), Would deliver an eulogy, say a prayer, the old soldiers would come to rickety attention, salute the monument and would be dismissed.
I wonder how long their names will live?
All the names of the men who fell in Weenen county, which included Estcourt at that time. Weenen means place of weeping in Afrikaans and with very good reason too,
Many of theses surnames can still be found in the local telephone book. R.LI (Rhodesian light infantry), this guy obviously joined up in the then Rhodesia. 1st R.N.C, (Royal Natal Carbineers) S.A.A.F (South African Air Force) my dad was in the Air Force, 31st Heavy Bomber Sqn, that flew Liberator Bombers. S.A.E.C. (South African Engineering Corps). The Engineering Corps was renowned for there bridge building and bridge repair work. S.S.B, usually known as the One Special Service Battalion, (I did my first three months of infantry "basic" with 1 S.S.B).
One S.S.B. was founded in the 1920's it's purpose was criminal rehabilitation, if the judge/magistrate found you guilty of a crime obviously not murder or rape, you were sent to One S.S.B. During the war they always managed to let the enemy know that they were facing a bunch of hardened criminals, and they had a ferocious reputation as cold blooded killers among the enemy. Great psychological warfare. When I did my basic training with S.S.B (!966) it was no longer a dumping place for criminals, but the instructors still treated us if we were .
South Africans of all languages, creeds and colours, were always willing to volunteer, in great numbers, (to help the "auld" country) although most of them had no real connection with England.
Thursday, 3 October 2013
Our dorp.
"Dorp" is the Afrikaans word for small town, and Estcourt is a small town. Had to go into town very early this morning to draw money at my banks ATM, get there too late and you have queues half way round the block, especially here at the beginning of the month.
Took my camera with to get some sunrise shots over our "dorp".
Click to enlarge.
Sunrise over our "dorp". Just behind where I was standing is the towns water works, the water in Estcourt is very, very good. The tree covered area centre right of the photo is known in Afrikaans as "Skuld bult," translation "Debt Hill", a k a "Snob Hill". The road on the left is the one I use coming in to work every day.
Top end of Wagen (Wagon) Road, on "Skuld Bult", the school I'm librarian at is about 100 meters behind me at this point.
Heading down "Wagen road", the poor oxen must have sweated pulling loaded wagons up this hill.
Not many towns can claim to have their biggest factory right in the CBD! Directly ahead is the Nestle coffee factory, said to be the biggest coffee producer in the Southern hemisphere, and as you can see they are busy enlarging the plant so as to double it's capacity. Do South Africans like their coffee or what? Here you don't have to stop and smell the coffee, all day long you have the smell of roasting coffee beans permeating the air.
Harding street, the "Dorp's" main thoroughfare, the Nestle coffee factory is just to the left of me at this point. Just across the street on the right are the old Civic buildings, now a National monument. Where the three palm trees are with the two flag staff you can just see part of the Town Hall peeping out.
Albert street, named after Queen Victoria's husband, there is also a Victoria road. The ATM's I made use of are just to my left. On the right you will see a café advertising Halal Food. Most of the businesses in this street are Muslim owned.
Estcourt has a large Muslim community with several mosques. I have made very good friends with several Muslims especially during the time I though I might make my fortune as a businessman, The only people who ever helped me with credit, cash loans, (no security, no interest) were Muslims. There is one to whom I still owe thousands, when I told that the business was going down the tubes and there was no way I could repay him, he shrugged his shoulders and said "ins Allah" (God wills), patted me on the shoulder and told me to forget about it, and that I must never ever think about it again. To this day we are still good friends and I always get a great big bear hug as greeting when we meet.
Estcourt has several other large factories apart from the coffee factory. South Africa's iconic "Eskort bacon" is produced here. When the founders of this business round about the late 1920's approached the town fathers to be allowed to use the town's name as their product name, the horrified answer was a flat "NO!" use the town's name how very low class, thus the spelling "Eskort". There is a huge factory that makes "Masonite" (a tough, hard pressboard) out of low grade timber, a very big milk powder factory, that produces tens of thousands of tons of milk powder for export. There are also a wide range of smaller manufacturers, producing a wide range of goods.
Of course every "dorp" has a garden of remembrance, does not matter how small the "dorp" is there is always one commemorating it's sons who fell during the two World War's and other conflicts. More about this in the next post.
Took my camera with to get some sunrise shots over our "dorp".
Click to enlarge.
Sunrise over our "dorp". Just behind where I was standing is the towns water works, the water in Estcourt is very, very good. The tree covered area centre right of the photo is known in Afrikaans as "Skuld bult," translation "Debt Hill", a k a "Snob Hill". The road on the left is the one I use coming in to work every day.
Top end of Wagen (Wagon) Road, on "Skuld Bult", the school I'm librarian at is about 100 meters behind me at this point.
Heading down "Wagen road", the poor oxen must have sweated pulling loaded wagons up this hill.
Not many towns can claim to have their biggest factory right in the CBD! Directly ahead is the Nestle coffee factory, said to be the biggest coffee producer in the Southern hemisphere, and as you can see they are busy enlarging the plant so as to double it's capacity. Do South Africans like their coffee or what? Here you don't have to stop and smell the coffee, all day long you have the smell of roasting coffee beans permeating the air.
Harding street, the "Dorp's" main thoroughfare, the Nestle coffee factory is just to the left of me at this point. Just across the street on the right are the old Civic buildings, now a National monument. Where the three palm trees are with the two flag staff you can just see part of the Town Hall peeping out.
Albert street, named after Queen Victoria's husband, there is also a Victoria road. The ATM's I made use of are just to my left. On the right you will see a café advertising Halal Food. Most of the businesses in this street are Muslim owned.
Estcourt has a large Muslim community with several mosques. I have made very good friends with several Muslims especially during the time I though I might make my fortune as a businessman, The only people who ever helped me with credit, cash loans, (no security, no interest) were Muslims. There is one to whom I still owe thousands, when I told that the business was going down the tubes and there was no way I could repay him, he shrugged his shoulders and said "ins Allah" (God wills), patted me on the shoulder and told me to forget about it, and that I must never ever think about it again. To this day we are still good friends and I always get a great big bear hug as greeting when we meet.
Estcourt has several other large factories apart from the coffee factory. South Africa's iconic "Eskort bacon" is produced here. When the founders of this business round about the late 1920's approached the town fathers to be allowed to use the town's name as their product name, the horrified answer was a flat "NO!" use the town's name how very low class, thus the spelling "Eskort". There is a huge factory that makes "Masonite" (a tough, hard pressboard) out of low grade timber, a very big milk powder factory, that produces tens of thousands of tons of milk powder for export. There are also a wide range of smaller manufacturers, producing a wide range of goods.
Of course every "dorp" has a garden of remembrance, does not matter how small the "dorp" is there is always one commemorating it's sons who fell during the two World War's and other conflicts. More about this in the next post.
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