The fire season has come early this year. We have had two - on successive Friday nights starting at about ten pm. The first was a nasty one and was set by some viscious or insane arsonist in our back pasture. It got quite close to the waterberry forest and obviously our thatched house. Thanks to Taurai, firebreaks already in place, and to our neighbours we managed to put it out before any real damage was done. Last night they burnt the commonage or main paddock in the vlei but this was manageable. I sat in the landy, by myself and watched it burn itself out against the firebreaks and the main road and didn't get to bed until 2 am. I had to see it burn itself out out just in case the wind got up and it jumped the firebreaks. Gastly things bush fires, for all they are spectacular and beautiful (at a distance) at night. What sort of nutter is it that likes starting these things. Australia also has an annual problem and this year it has been disastrous for some poor folk.
The weather has been very cold this last month and there is a nasty flue bug around which I have escaped but which Jill and one Martha our housekeeper have both been aflicted by.
It is very dry and the garden at its winter bleakest although the aloes and kalenchoe have been in flower (not very special this year) and the "bogies"are spectacular.
The vervet monkeys continue to be a plague. Anyone out there with some bright ideas on how to control them?
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Sunday, 10 July 2011
New letter July 2011
It is some time since I posted any news. This is largely due to my indifferent knowledge of this technology! I hope to over come this deficiency by more regular use of the site!
This must surely be the coldest winter since we have been living here, which is I am surprised to note, some fifteen years. Despite the cold the garden is looking fair but cold winds and light frosts have reduced the poinsetias to a few bushes still in the full glory of their brilliant crimson show. The aloe blossom this year has been less spectacular than usual and many of the plants have already lost their blooms while other have had a delayed start. This goes for the kalenchoe as well. They are just starting to flower now, almost three weeks late.
We are re-thatching the cottage and office this year and will have to live with the mess and inconvenience for the next few weeks but it will be worth it if only to reduce the dust when it's dry and the leaks when its raining.
We keep busy. The nursery takes up as much time as Jill can spare from marmalade making. I manage to bring up a few pockets of citrus from my consulting work in the low veld, so this year we will have a generous supply of grapefruit (my favourite) and orange marmalade as well as a delicious three-fruits mix Jill contrived with oranges, grape fruit and lemons.
An exiting new development is the plan to develop an arts centre here. With Tutani and his sculptors, together with a new "partner"involved in promoting traditional drama and dance. We are contemplating the idea of a combinatin of attractions using our garden and spare a spare building to provide a venue for school children and adults' productions. In addition we are thinking of building a traditional homestead complex of kitchen, meeting place and bedrooms, where we hope to display many of the fast disappearing household items such as wooden neck rests (pillows) foot stools, carved doors, drums and the like. We will be seeking more partners in this venture as our ideas become firmer.
This must surely be the coldest winter since we have been living here, which is I am surprised to note, some fifteen years. Despite the cold the garden is looking fair but cold winds and light frosts have reduced the poinsetias to a few bushes still in the full glory of their brilliant crimson show. The aloe blossom this year has been less spectacular than usual and many of the plants have already lost their blooms while other have had a delayed start. This goes for the kalenchoe as well. They are just starting to flower now, almost three weeks late.
We are re-thatching the cottage and office this year and will have to live with the mess and inconvenience for the next few weeks but it will be worth it if only to reduce the dust when it's dry and the leaks when its raining.
We keep busy. The nursery takes up as much time as Jill can spare from marmalade making. I manage to bring up a few pockets of citrus from my consulting work in the low veld, so this year we will have a generous supply of grapefruit (my favourite) and orange marmalade as well as a delicious three-fruits mix Jill contrived with oranges, grape fruit and lemons.
An exiting new development is the plan to develop an arts centre here. With Tutani and his sculptors, together with a new "partner"involved in promoting traditional drama and dance. We are contemplating the idea of a combinatin of attractions using our garden and spare a spare building to provide a venue for school children and adults' productions. In addition we are thinking of building a traditional homestead complex of kitchen, meeting place and bedrooms, where we hope to display many of the fast disappearing household items such as wooden neck rests (pillows) foot stools, carved doors, drums and the like. We will be seeking more partners in this venture as our ideas become firmer.
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