Went out at sunrise yesterday and took these photos. Getting to know my new camera.
Click to enlarge:
A flower of a vine growing among'st the ripening maize.
Cosmos.
A weed, one of the few good things to come out of our 2nd War of Independence, (Boer War 1899 - 1902). Came with British imported horse feed from Argentina.
Took the British Empire, at the high't of it's Imperial power, three years to defeat a handful of peasant farmers.
Cosmos flowers come in white and purple, and various shades of pink.
Spent four afternoons last week doing a photography course with a professional photographer. The last lesson was a still life photograph. To get the following photo took about 40 photos. The object was placed on a black cloth backdrop and the photo had to look as if it was floating in space. I eventually got it (almost) right!.
Click to enlarge,
It's not 100%, (slight blue tinge left back, (but I think I got the idea). The roses were slightly wilted but I liked the motto.
This time of the year is called the "festive season" here in the good old R of SA. Well for many it becomes a season of tragedy and immense sadness due to the carnage on our roads at this time of the year.
Last Saturday the Italian Leprechaun and I went to fetch a friend from hospital in Pietermaritzburg. As we got on to the N3 highway heading south I knew this drive was going to be no picnic. The traffic was bumper to bumper on both the south bound lanes and and almost as bad on the north bound. There is no room for evasive action if someone should do something stupid in front of you.
At the small town of Mooi River (Pretty River) +- 30km south of this point in the photo below is the "Mooi toll plaza". Traffic south bound going through the toll was +- 6,000 an hour, not counting the heavy trucks which average 5,000 a day on this road. Heading north the count was +- 3000 an hour.
Looking south, from here the N3 stretches 200 km to the port city of Durban on the Indian ocean. At Durban the N3 crosses the N2 highway heading north and south just inland of the coast and all the seaside holiday resorts, the destination of all the inland holiday makers. People pay thousands of rands for a few days stay at these resorts, some never get there or if they get there some never get home.
I took this photo on Sunday morning and the traffic has reduced to a trickle. The day before was a totally different story, the south bound on ramp where we joined the flow is just around the corner on the left.
Looking north, the N3 stretches for more than 400 km to the city of Johannesburg, after that still further north to our capital city Pretoria, and the further north still for hundreds of kilometers further.
No one drives a small car any more, the bigger the better and it had better be a 4 X 4 SUV or you are a nobody. The speed limit on our main roads is 120 km and hour, about 70 mph, but few obey this rule. Most of the highway is under average speed camera coverage. The authorities collect millions, (maybe billions) of rands in traffic fine, never seems to change any-ones speeding.
In spite of cars being bumper to bumper on both lanes there are the weavers who look for the slightest gap and weave from left to right into these gaps as they pass others at excessive speeds. Even when you have no where for you to go, you will get some fool behind you flashing his head lights at you to get out of the way.
After collecting our friend at the hospital we took the N3 heading north. We were about 20 km north of Pietermaritzburg when the first ambulance passed us red light flashing and sirens howling then a police car, another ambulance. I lost count of the emergency vehicles that had passed.
About 30 km further we came to the scene of the accident on the south bound lanes, shattered vehicles scattered in all directions, bodies lying everywhere. One large SUV was lying on it's side with it's roof ripped off and the bodies of two children still strapped in the back seat. One amazing thing though is the fast reaction time by the emergency service in situations like this, (lots of practice I suppose). At this time of the year all emergency services are on high alert 24/7.
How did this happen? Well people are stupid, selfish and think they own the road. Hundreds die on our roads during the so called "festive season." During the June/July school holidays the results are the same.
At the moment the road authorities are adding a third lane, especially on steeper parts of the road, eventually the whole of the N3 highway will be a 6 lane highway, doubt it will make much difference though.
South Africa has one of the most stringent learner drive laws in the world. You have to been trained by a register'd and licensed driving school, then you get tested and get your learner drivers licence, more training by the driving school then tested for your drivers licence, fail one part of the test and you start from the beginning again. But once behind the wheel of their own car all this seems to be forgotten at once.
My father taught me to drive and told me that the most dangerous part of the car is the "nut" holding the steering wheel.
Will be travelling north about 600 km on this highway myself on the 2nd January, not looking forward to the trip.
On Saturday the Italian leprechaun and I did our monthly trip to the big city, or the mall to be exact. We got there just after 8 am, the huge parking lot was still empty, inside all the shops were still closed, but the "Mug $ Bean" coffee shop was open.
We took a table right at the opposite side of the coffee shop where the class partitions were rolled back. Just outside, about 10 meters from our table, was the kiddies play area, with all sorts of ride on, or ride in machines, that rock and sway, and have lights that flash once the necessary token has been inserted.
While we were eating I looked down to my right and there right next to the table looking at all these kids delights stood a little black toddler, not two years old. I looked around and saw his parents sitting a few tables away watching him.
The little one stood there quite still while we ate, babbling away in his baby Zulu at us and we babbled back. We finished our breakfast, paid our bill and stood up to leave. As I was about to walk off I felt a small warm hand take mine, he was coming with me.
What to do now?
The Leprechaun saw my dilemma and held out his arms to the little one, who reached up and happily allowed himself to be picked up, he then carried him back to his parents. Well the little guy was not happy about that, he thought we were going to take him to all those magical rides.
Wish I'd thought to take a photo of him, cute as a button.
Ears of ripening wheat in the last rays of the sun.
Click to enlarge.
Food for the nation.
Standing tall.
It rained buckets last night, from about 6pm until just before midnight, one of our typical summer storms. All the weather "fundis", pronounced fundees, ( self proclaimed experts,from the the Zulu word mFundis, meaning teacher or preacher, and now very much part of SA's colloquial English) predicted a long drought, so much for their prediction!
But my post is about the flower photos I took yesterday.
Click to enlarge.
We had a light shower the night before.
Rose leaves with rain drops.
My camera's lens was touching the bottom petals of this flower.
The epitome of "delicate".
Mauve beauty.
One of my aphorisms is "nature is hairy", and most of my photo's show it.
Very small but pretty.
Took this photo of a Skink while I was sitting on my veranda yesterday.
Click to enlarge.
This skink is walking across a vertical wall as easily as you would walk across your living room floor. Note the iridescent colours reflected from it's scales. When attacked by other animals skinks are able to shed their tail, which thrashes about distracting the attacker allowing the skink to escape. It doesn't take too long and the skink grows a new tail.
