Keeping warm this winter

Two of the best ways to keep the chills away this winter.

A glass of sherry and a crackling fire.

Flooding in HDR

Even though there is still another month to go till the end of winter we've already had the 3rd wettest winter ever in Port Elizabeth.  Last week we had two days of rain again and this following the flooding we had three weeks ago means that there is a lots of water around.  I drove out to have a look at the Seaview Road just outside the city which is over 1,5 meters under water.  Took this picture to the side of the road with the clouds reflecting in the water and then played around with a bit of HDR to give it that extra effect. 

Spring has sprung

Today is Spring Day here in South Africa and I want to celebrate the arrival of this beautiful season with a flowery post.

We recently spent the day in the Gamtoos Valley and I found these flowering succulents just below the Kouga Dam wall which can be seen in the background. The sun was kinda in the wrong spot, but putting the sun behind me wouldn't have made sense as you wouldn't be able to see the dam. Plus the view the other way wasn't that good. Anyway, if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, enjoy Spring and have a stunning day. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere, I know you are glaring at the screen. So to you I want to say, "Go outside and enjoy what is left of Summer cause Winter has packed up down here and is heading your way."

Firefly note: Caroline is the Editor of Veld & Flora, the journal of the Botanical Society of South Africa, and a regular visitor to this here blog. She sent me some info on the flowering succulent in question.

"The succulent is BRYOPHYLLUM delagoense (Chandelier plant) Previously known as KALANCHOE tubiflora. Erect growing succulent. Cylindrical grey leaves with prominent darker mottling. Bears tubular orange flowers in clusters in winter. Produces offsets (plantlets) on the tips every leaf as well as many seedlings. Rapidly forms dense clumps in ideal conditions, invades hot, dry areas in the savannah regions of Northern Province, Mpumalanga and Gauteng. Originates from Madagascar. "

Autumn

I have had a second picture selected to be paired with a poem on The Poetry Project website (and hopefully the book that will follow). Its a site run by a cyber friend of mine who takes poems from relatively unknown poets and pair them up with pictures from local photographers. The first one was used with a poem called At God's Gate. This time around my picture below was paired with a poem called Autumn by Aboo Hansa.

AUTUMN

High but not so strong was the morning sun
A later rise and earlier set, has all of nature adjusting their clocks
Dew glistens on the knife like blades of grass
Birds chirp to the beat of the concrete jungle, oblivious to the depravity of space
A sigh of relief breathed from the overture of heat
Trees begin to shed their green garments opting for a rather rusty look with hues of browns, yellows and reds
A crisp Autumnal breeze hits my face
The smell of a new beginning, the smell of Autumn

Autumn colours

I was looking through some of my older pictures and found myself looking through the pics I took in Germany on a work trip about a year and a half ago. I realised that I haven't posted any of them before, so I may just end up doing a bit of Germany over the next couple of days.

Seeing that we are in the mids of autumn (fall) with winter trying to bang the door down, I will start with some autumn pics I took in the town of Wurzburg. Wurzburg was my favorite of the places we got to go during the trip. Sitting on to of a hill overlooking the town is the Fortress Marienberg. First fortified a 1000 years ago, the foundation of the current fortress was laid in about 1200.

This was some kind of creeper covering a wall inside the fortress

We don't have scenes like this where I come from, at least not around Port Elizabeth

I had to get a close-up of the leaves on the ground. I just love the autumn colours