Minor Appearance

Morris is famous! It made the Zululand Observer!

(Click on the image to be able to read)

Swamped!

That's what happened at the Mtunzini River/swamp area last Sunday! While the men happily indulged in their favourite pastime, fishing, I had the overwhelming pleasure of attempting to capture the vast variety of colours, shapes and textures on film. Apart from the familiar sight  of the Zebra grazing at the picnic spot, we also had a chance visit of a juvenile palm nut vulture coming for a sip in a puddle on the bush road. Trying out the black-and-white and sepia functions of my camera lured me into the swamp and kept me entertained until the swamp was...swamped by the incoming tide. 

A Welcome Visit

My niece, Adrie, and her family visited us this weekend. They actually live about 800km from here, but were spending the week at Umhloti. So we took some family photographs.  Here are Adrie, Wouther (her husband), Walther and Lara. 

Little Lara kept squirming out of every photograph:

It was, however, possible to bribe her with sunglasses!

 

  

Sun, Sand and Seafood

Last weekend we spent a day at Sinkwasi (about 60 km from here). The sun was warm and the waves were jade. Near the horizon we could see the big white splashes of whales breeching every now and again.

I managed to make a quick miniature watercolour sketch.  What fascinated me most, was the near-translucent jade colour of the breaking waves:

Travis caught something for the pan. If he doesn't catch, it means there is no fish :-)

We were there at dead low tide and managed to collect some sizable mussels.

(We each have a licence)

 

Since we also bought some crayfish from divers, we ended up with a feast for supper!  (They are lying on their backs, so as not to spill the yummie lemon-garlic butter!)

Des did most of the cooking and we had alovely meal.

Feathered Friends

Although I love animals and have always enjoyed the birds in my garden, I never had birds as pets, so when I (and my three cats) married Des (and his son, dog and budgie and lovebird), I didn’t really know what to do with the birds (besides feeding them). I tried to hold Cheeks once or twice, but was scared that it would bite me.

Then Des bought me a little baby ringneck, whose feathers were still only promises hidden in quills. I named it Pretty, because it was so ugly. This helpless little thing awaked all my mothering instincts from the first moment. I fed it, cuddled it and carried it around wrapped in a small towel. Soon it became quite natural for me to pick Cheeks up as well.

A couple of months later a baby Sun Conure was added to the roost. Des called it Strawberry, for its quilled red head looked like one.

Very soon after that Des’ son brought an African Grey, Koos, that had flown into their garden a year earlier and so it happened that now we had five birds.

Each one has its own personality: Little Snowy is an introverted Phlegmatic who prefers to stay in its cage and has only recently started interacting with me in little ways.

Cheeks is a happy little chappie who loves attention and is aptly called a lovebird.

Strawbs is a full blown sanguine, a demonstrative cuddler, who complains VERY loudly when not given attention and has consequently become the brat, whose noisy squeals gets it attention.

Pretty is definitely Choleric. It (proven to be a "he" after its second molting) has the neatest feathers, learns its words very quickly and has definite relational boundaries.

Koos - a deep melancholic. You never know with which foot he steps off the sleeping perch in the morning and have to watch your moves with him if it was the wrong one.

With a beak like his, he clears a whole couch for himself very easily. I’m the only one who takes him on my finger and scratches his head. Des and Travis have great respect for the finger cruncher attached to the front of his head.

The parrots certainly keep us entertained. Pretty talks the hind leg off a donkey and recently acquired the habit of interjecting "Jaaaaa!" (South-African "yes") in exactly the right places of our conversations with each other. The latest addition to its repertoire is,"You must be nice to me!"
Apart from his whistles and calls, Koos has learnt to wave and say "bye-bye" and gives me a good night-kiss every night. When left too long in the morning, he starts calling, "Come!... Come!"

They all take turns sitting on my shoulder or on the perch next to my computer while I work or paint during the day. Night time they all get covered up and Strawbs has a special hanging blanket in her cage which she likes to cuddle underneath.

Every now and again Des threatens to buy a Macaw, Cockatoo or some other parrot, under strong objections from my side. But who knows - the bird family may still grow!

Mabibi Weekend

We have just spent a weekend at Mabibi, North of Sodwana. When the sun came up on Saturday morning, we were already on the dirt road to the Coastal Forest Reserve.

There are only ten camp sites, and then there is the lodge, Thonga Village, nextdoor. That means that the beach was not crowded.



Although it was overcast in the mornings, the sky soon cleared to warm, sunny days. I snorkeled until my fingers were wrinkled, then belly boarded until I nearly regained my childhood. Travis fished, of coarse. Des too, until the tip of his rod broke. Then he joined me, directing me from the rocks to the best snorkeling pools, and then telling me which waves to surf ;-))

The boardwalk/stairs would have made us fit quickly, had we stayed longer. It really is long.

Travis, dressed up for the night shift:

My highlight was the visit from a genet on the last evening. It came as close as the edge of the light, picking up bones that we had tossed into the bush. Judging by the amount of light reflected by its eyes, it must have incredible night vision.

On Monday, a public holiday, we started on our way home, taking the scenic route, i.e. via Lake Sibaya. Unfortunately, after about 5 km along the lake, the vehicle in front of us got stuck, blocking the way, and we had to turn back and seek help. (They did get unstuck eventually and later passed us on our way home.)

Needless to say, I photographed nearly every Nguni we encountered, so as to supplement my library of Nguni references for paintings. I must say I am very pleased with the latest additions! This is only one of them. A lot of them seemed to have real Harley handle bars for horns!

This one Travis caught at Goedertrouw (Phobane Lake) on 13 October 2007.