May Gifts

Inspirational words on a textured back-ground by Kim Klassen 

May. A soft syllable, a gentle name for the best month in the garden year: cool, misty mornings gently burned away with a warming autumn sun, followed by breezy afternoons and chilly nights.  

Aaah, the changing seasons! How I LOVE May! Balmy Autumn days, sitting out on the patio with a cup of tea watching the birds as they revel in the perfect weather! And this is the one month where we seem to be one with the rest of the world - while the Northern Hemisphere is rejoicing in spring, it seems as if we, here in South Africa, have been given a second spring, gently easing into the colder months to come. The discussion of philosophy is over; it's time for work to begin! 

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I had a Dove ...

A Laughing Dove in my old Peach tree last winter - a tribute to Flutterby, my little pet Laughing Dove that I was blessed enough to have in my life for 6 months before she found her mate and started a family of her own. 

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I had a dove, and the sweet dove died; 

And I have thought it died of grieving: 

Oh, what could it grieve for? 

its feet were tied With a silken thread of my own hands’ weaving. 

Sweet little red feet! Why should you die– 

Why would you leave me, sweet bird! why? 

You lived alone in the forest tree; 

Why, pretty thing! would you not live with me? 

I kiss’d you oft and gave you white peas; 

Why not live sweetly, as in the green trees? 

- John Keats. 

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Ink sketch and Watercolour wash on Visual 200gsm 

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Hedgehogs and fires

Just before Winter in March 2008, Golden Girl and Sethlong had 6 babies, first pink and wrinkly with soft little spines, but soon perfect little replicas of their parents.

Unfortunately, soon after they were weaned, their mother, Golden Girl, died. I found her dead early one morning under some grass and all the babies wandering aimlessly around. I couldn't find any cause of why she had died, no apparent injuries, and up until that time she had seemed perfectly healthy.

Sethlong exploring the new area

I gathered all the babies and Sethlong, the father, and moved them to a new enclosure in my bathroom court yard so that I can keep a closer eye on them. An amazing thing happened, quite contrary to Hedgehog behaviour - Sethlong seemed to take over the care of the youngsters. They would follow him all around the garden and at night I would find all 7 of them huddled together in the same box.

One of the new nesting boxes - the photos were taken at night, so I'm sorry about the quality....

It was quite a business, having to put out 7 food bowls every night, and never being sure whether Sethlong was eating the bulk of the food and whether the babies were getting enough or not.

One evening, I found Sethlong kicking out all the grass out of one of the nest boxes - couldn't figure out a reason, unless he wanted to make a new place for himself...

Sethlong threw most of the grass out of one of the nest boxes ... wonder why?

When the babies were about 12 weeks old, I took them all to our local game reserve (Krugersdorp Game Reserve), where they have a huge 4ha aviary and where I felt they would have enough space to ramble to their hearts content and also be safe from predators and the raging veld fires we experience here in South Africa every Winter.

These fires, besides being necessary for the natural evolution of things, cause massive loss of life amongst small mammals, reptiles and birds every year. Many tortoises, hedgehogs and ground nesting birds fall victim to this phenomena. But on a good note, after the fires have either been extinguished or burnt themselves out, you will see big flocks of egrets, herons and storks foraging around for crispy insects.

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I'm serious, stay away!

We were feeding the Ostriches on a recent visit to 'Rustig', a resort with various wild animals and hiking trails up the mountain, not far from Magaliesburg in Skeerpoort (Gauteng, South Africa) and this male put up a spectacular show of protecting his females, ignoring our offerings and charging the fence from time-to-time, a real force to be reckoned with! 

Every now and then he would nonchalantly pretend to be pecking at something on the ground, a ruse that worked a few times, but when the unsuspecting victim got closer, his attitude changed completely! In one instance, an elderly gentleman almost got his ear pecked off! 

This is one of his beautiful ladies he was protecting, a gentle gal with gorgeous long eyelashes who was delighted with the offerings of corn and seeds.

Camera : Fuji FinePix 2800Zoom 

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Just wondering...

1. What you did this weekend...? 
2. What you had for breakfast this morning? 
3. What's your favourite colour...? 
4. What do you have planned for the week ahead...? 

I'd love to hear from you! 

Me, myself, had a very quiet weekend, some rain and a beautiful veggie platter for lunch at the Magalies Hotel on Sunday, topped off with a lovely HOT Irish coffee (it was cool outside as we sat under the thatch, with a cold Autumn breeze, so that's my excuse!) 

I don't eat breakfast, so can't tell you anything there! 

 My favourite colour depends on my mood - mostly it's blue, but currently orange is ruling, even surfacing in most of my paintings and the decor in my house. 

 My week ahead looks pretty quiet, the way I like it. No rushing around here, just spending some time in the garden, checking on the Laughing Dove's new babies (they built their nest in the lower branches of the trees, so with a ladder I can just have a quick peek inside), painting, making a couple of items of jewelry and, oh yes, I have to prepare more nest boxes for my chickens, I have eight hens squabbling over four next boxes! 

 Hope you have a great week ahead of you! 

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