Grateful for...

... the rain

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Lately the rain here in Gauteng, South Africa, always amazes me. It's so NOISY! Where are the days when rain gently fell with a soft pitter-patter on the roof, lulling the senses into sleep? These days it's accompanied by high winds, HUGE raindrops that drown out even your voice and wild thunder and lightning beating about the landscape with a viciousness that is quite scary.

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Nevertheless, I am GRATEFUL for the rain...

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Photograph of my patio on a textured back-ground by Kim Klassen

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Death on the roads

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SAFETY FIRST

Dead hedgehogs lying in the road cause much concern among hedgehog-lovers - and much controversy too.

Either it means that hedgehog numbers are being depleted by these casualties, or that the population must be vigorous to provide a continuous supply of victims.

It has also been suggested that hedgehogs are gradually learning not to roll up in front of cars, but to run for it, and that the 'runners' survive and pass on their genes to future generations. But the 'runners' are just as likely to be squashed as the 'rollers-up', as they will probably find themselves in the path of one of the car's tyres.

Hedgehogs can run quite fast, but not fast enough to avoid a car; and rolling up is no defense against four wheels.

In any case, there has been too little time, in evolutionary terms, for the hedgehog to adapt its way of life to the presence of the internal combustion engine, I think!
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"

My Native land, Good Night!

“Here an ancient oriel window opened glassless to the sky

and the light of the hunter's moon washed us in silver.”
- Unknown

Black ink sketch on a textured back-ground by Kim Klassen

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It was full moon last night and when I switched off the garden lights, my garden was bathed in a golden glow... and I could've sworn I saw the fairies hiding under the mushrooms...

One website explains the full moon thus,
"The moon and sun are on a line, with Earth in between. It’s as though Earth is the fulcrum of a seesaw, and the moon and sun are sitting on either end of the seesaw. Thus as the sun sets in the west, the full moon rises. When the sun is below our feet at midnight, the full moon is highest in the sky. When the sun rises again at dawn, the full moon is setting."

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"Lunar eclipses can only occur at full moon, where the moon's orbit allows it to pass through the earth's shadow. Lunar eclipses do not occur every month because the moon sometimes passes above or below the earth's shadow. Lunar eclipses can occur only when the full moon occurs near two nodes of the orbit, either the ascending or descending nodes. This causes eclipses to only occur about every 6 months, and often 2 weeks before or after a solar eclipse at new moon at the opposite node.

Full Moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various "magical phenomena" such as lycanthropy. Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a full moon."
This info from WIKIPEDIA

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There you have it! No excuse for any bad behaviour in the future!

Have a good night tonight!

Camera : Fuji FinePix 2800ZOOM - taken in my garden

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Learn to be still

Early this morning, just as the sun was rising at about 5.30am, I saw that my little clump of cacti (Echinopsis) was flowering, the early morning light giving them a lilac tinge (they are actually pink), so I rushed for the camera, but when I got back the light had changed slightly already.

That brought home the thought that we should learn to be still, enjoy the moment as it is happening, even if we do miss putting it on film for posterity. Because now I missed half the precious moments anyway....

Cactus (Echinopsis) and flowers in my garden on a back-ground texture by Kim Klassen
- Camera Kodak EasyShare C195

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sometimes it’s good
to just let life
swirl around you.
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A Prickly Friend

TWO'S COMPANY

Some of the hedgehog colonies in the Scottish islands might have started simply because people like hedgehogs.

Apparently, during the second World War, members of the armed forces who were stationed there, smuggled them in, hidden at the bottom of their kit-bags, to keep them company. Some animals managed to survive the journey, and prospered in their new home. It's not the only occurrence of hedgehogs as family pets; hedgehogs on Alderney are supposed to be the descendants of animals bought from Harrods about 30 years ago!
Info from "Everything You Want To Know about Hedgehogs - Dilys Breese"