We have been planting but it is not where we started - we started with a clean slate. Yes I know April is past – and it seems like most entries begin at the end of the month. Have been finding it difficult to find time for entries but there is lots to report. I will start at the beginning and catch up by some time in May… and I may post date a few entries until I catch up to current happenings.
The landscaper arrived April 1, no fooling, with seven men to work on clearing our garden. Mick was recommended by our friend Magrit and they worked very hard to help us get the most out of their one day here. The pictures show the before, during and after, although it begins with the after since I cannot figure out how to move the images around the way I want.
It was great to see the cleared beds. Of course it turned out, as it always does, that this step was really just the beginning. We still needed to clear out old roots, level the ground, add mulch – you get the picture. It seems to be taking a long time to actually plant all 90 items we bought at the Kirstenbosch sale - and every move or idea seems to have ramifications - like planting the crocosmia aurea involved moving some dietes. Nonetheless, here are a few photos of the cleared land and the plan for one of the big beds. They removed about 8 stumps,6 shrubs and trees. They trimmed a huge broken branch off of a willow and both dug up and replanted a banana tree. It was a pretty wild day!
And then, FLU – yup I got sick. Definitely a drag except for the fact that our good friend Jeni came and made me real chicken broth. I ate/drank it for 3 days straight. Got some antibiotics and rested, at least partially so I would be better for our long Easter weekend break.
And then it was off to De Hoop Nature Reserve with Michael, Jeni, Myrtle and me. De Hoop is a beautiful reserve located in the Western Cape bordering the Indian Ocean. It is huge and one can simply walk around in the bush among the wild animals. We stayed in a self-catering cottage and ate the best foods that we cooked ourselves! They revamped the accommodations here last year - the space was very comfortable and well appointed - much better than average.
We spent our days walking, reading and playing boule and Scrabble. (Thank you Frosty’s for giving us the travel set.) The primary animals we saw were bontebok, Cape Mountain Zebras and eland (one of the largest antelopes). We did see a beautiful yellow mongoose the first evening we arrived as well. We saw a large troop of baboons while walking one afternoon but went in the other direction as they are unpredictable creatures and not always friendly. Walking beside the vlei (meaning a place by water) we saw these hymaenthus blossoms - it's a very small flower that sends up its flower first to be followed by its leaves (I think.) We were treated by loads of them in a place where Jeni was surprised to see them. One thing we could not capture was the light and colors of some of the scrub and bushes. There were so many greens and one very vibrant somewhat yellowy green shrub which we all wished we could identify!
It was kind of funny as I was the only Christian in the bunch and I normally choose to celebrate Greek Easter, which did not coincide this Spring (oops Fall here, must remember). We still did have a small Easter bunny hunt on Sunday morning, hiding chocolate around our cottage. Prizes were thoroughly enjoyed, thanks to Jeni.
There were many terrific birds of course, one of them, the black oystercatcher, is Michael’s favorite and he took the most fantastic photos of a few pairs. It is now past their breeding period so they are pretty nonchalant about human presence on their beaches.
Another fun discovery was of a small bird that none of us had seen before called a capped wheatear, which is related to something called a chat. Apparently it is a common bird across the country so we were all surprised to never have seen it before. We watched it hopping about in an open field as dusk approached one evening for quite a long while. Of course we did not have the camera but we did capture the crowned plover who was foraging around one morning in front of our cottage.
One of our days we went down to the coast to a place called Koppie Aileen, a wild beach and very cold water - I dipped while Michael kind of swam. Myrtle and Jeni declined such madness. That is where Michael photographed the Oyster Catchers.
As we returned late that afternoon, we saw zebras feeding just beyond the field in front of our cottage. Michael dropped me off and I walked within 50 yards to take these photographs - they are such gorgeous animals with really distinct markings. Seeing them so closely I realized how brown their muzzles are on the top half becoming dark on the underside. Undoubtably it has something to do with camouflage or sun protection or something a zoologist could explain. But for my part, it was simply beautiful. The Cape Mountain Zebra is endangered and De Hoop is one of the nature reserves where they live protected and undisturbed by predators.
On the way home we stopped in Swellendam to visit a potter couple friends of Jeni and Hyme's. It was a most relaxing afternoon unfortunately punctuated by horrendous traffic on our return trip to Cape town - 4 hours for a 2.5 hour trip - yuck! The saving item for me was being able to look at the beautiful mountains while crawling through the traffic.
Next report on Greek Easter and the planting fanatics.
One of the best people memories was when our friend Moriah showed us the male and female restio plants in the field and explain how one can identify them in the veldt. She has an amazing depth of knowledge about South african plants. Actually many in our group were very knowledgeable so it was wonderful to be touring the veldt with them. 
We were also treated to the time and expertise of Tim and Judy's local artist friend Willem - he is a master of detail and showed us some rarely seen blooms- specifically a white sparaxis with purple center (in the middle of the photos.)
