When you live as close to your pets as I do, you realise how different their personalities are. Cat the cat is a gentle, introverted soul, who does not take well to change. If Cat were a Human I think he would have been a poet. It took a very long time for him to trust me, (more than a year) and to move out of the culvert under the highway into the house. The dogs did nothing to help, chasing him whenever they saw him, although I threatened them with death, (a fly swatter my grandfather made about 40 years ago).
Just when Cat became really settled in, (that took several years) I got Bruno the miniature Doberman Pinscher. The moment Bruno saw Cat the cat he decided this was a very dangerous animal and attacked Cat, I don't think Bruno had ever seen a cat before. After more than three months Cat has still not recovered, though Bruno has accepted Cat. Cat now only comes sneaking into the house, through the kitchen window, after dark. Where he spends his days I don't know, in his old haunt, the culvert, maybe?
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Cat sitting on his favourite spot in the kitchen, in front of the micro wave.
Cat is more, much more than twice the size of Bruno and could have thrashed him if he wished. Cat the cat is a Big cat a very big cat, and one day I must weigh him.
My old cat, (inherited from my mother) Matewis, would have given Bruno a hiding he would never have forgotten. Matewis, (Afrikaans for Matthew) lived to the ripe old age of 22. When it came to attitude, Matewis could have taught Garfield a thing or two.
Cat's favourite time of day is while I'm shaving and bathing at 5am, the dogs are still in their beds, and we can spend some quality time together in the bathroom.
Found this photo on the Internet some where and thought it had a worthwhile message.
"The best things in life are not things."
One of our teachers, who teaches the LSeN class, (Learners with Special Needs) also does remedial teaching after after hours for a nominal fee. A week or two ago, was approached by the parent of a learner in Grd. 1, and asked if she would give her child remedial lessons. When asked what was the problem, reading, writing or what ever, the parent said, no her child was coping well in class but she wanted her to excel in maths and science. Maths & science in Grd 1? The child has only been in school for five months and still has almost 12 years to go.
The next day I saw this cartoon strip in The Witness newspaper.
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Some times parents just expect to much.
I never cease to be intrigued by sunsets, took these to photos on Monday just as the sun disappeared below the horizon.
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The colours in these photos are completely natural, with effects added.
This one was taken a minute or two after the first.
Went looking for some thing different to photograph this afternoon, waited until the sun was low on the horizon and took these photos against the light reflected off the water.
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Grass stems with the last grass seed glistening in the reflected light.
Silhouette of willow branches, the "shadows" in the background are out of focus willow twigs.
Ripples on the water looking like molten silver.
On my way back from my usual evening walk with the dogs, I spotted this Long-crested eagle sitting on the very top of a willow tree. The sun had set and the light was very bad, had to shoot this picture at a very long distance against the western sky, so it's a silhouette, without much detail. Once again I came to appreciated the usefulness of a tripod.
Long-crested eagle, (Laphaetus occipitalis). The bird was facing away from me and looking over it's shoulder. In spite of the long distance it was very aware of me.
This is the first time I've managed to get a photo of this bird, though I've seen it often enough on my daily walks but always at a long distance. It always flies away before I can get close enough to take a photo. Prey, mainly rodents, but also reptiles and insects.
Photo above from Wikipedia.
Walked down to the small pond just below the cottage and tried to capture some late evening reflections in the water.
Reflection of the leafless willow tree that stands on the dam wall, with a slight rosy glow on the water from the sunset.
Willow tree trunk reflection.
Reflection of reeds.
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