A process of discovery is available to us if we learn to see what we usually overlook. But what we discover depends more on our own personal filters than on what we think we are looking at. Continue reading “Surprises and encouragements: Learning to see”
This young Vervet monkey is part of a group enjoying early morning winter sunshine while eating berries from the Pigeonwood (Trema orientalis) tree. I like how the youngster is taking advantage of a wild banana (Strelizia nicolai) leaf as a partial hammock. Continue reading “Winter in the garden: a selection of photos”
The shortest day in the south and the longest day in the north, the Solstice reminds us of the balance in the seasonal cycles.
Having been somewhat abstracted of late, I thought some rather more abstract images might be appropriate for this post. All these photos I took in the garden during the past few weeks.
In art and photography abstracts tend to be less associated with the concretely representational. There are no hard and fast rules or definitive definitions, but abstracts deal more with patterns and forms, relationships between lines, shapes, textures, colours and contrasts, rather than with any realistic depiction. Continue reading “On being abstracted”
Reducing lawn size and planting for birds and other creatures motivated us to create a new flowerbed last year. Digging up a patch lawn was an off-putting chore, and so I starting reading about using no-dig methods as a respectable easy option. Continue reading “Making a no-dig flowerbed on the lawn”
On Friday, 27th July, we were fortunate enough to see a total eclipse of the moon. This eclipse is the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st century. Continue reading “Total eclipse of the moon”
Flowers are often the focus when we think about gardens, and when we photograph them too. Leaves, seeds, grasses and bark, although beautiful, interesting and photogenic, are neglected by comparison. Continue reading “The beauty of leaves”
Here in KwaZulu-Natal the winters are dry. The wild grasslands are golden but are brightened by wild flowers, and the remnants of woodland and forest have their flowering trees too, some of which we are fortunate to have in our garden. Continue reading “Drab busters: Winter flowers bearing brightness”
Our suburban sunrises and sunsets are circumscribed compared to those we have experienced in wilder places. In contrast to wide open spaces such as in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana, our garden skyscapes are fringed by trees and the horizons are close and small. Continue reading “African Sundown/Sundowner”
