Mother Goose And Her Off-Spring On A Family Outing At Lavender Blue

Mother Goose And Her Kids On A Family Walk At Lavender Blue

Lavender Blue is a popular farmers market on the road to Gonubie just outside East London. It is the right place for a family outing on Saturday mornings. From fresh bread, herbs, homemade cakes and jams to seedlings from the nursery - everything can be found there. There is a playground for kids as well and a little pond.

The Occasional Laziness

The pond is home to some feathered other families with their kids!

Everything has to be taught the right way

And as it so happened, they were just taken on a walk by their mothers when I was there!

Soo Bored By All This Teaching!

Some were reluctant to follow on this strenuous walk in the sun! But not for long. Seeing their brothers and sisters walk away made them change their mind very quickly!

Konrad Lorenz would have loved this!

It turned out to be fun.

Whatever it is - it does taste good

There was a lot to eat

Careful, Careful.........

and to see

Anyway.....

and even more to talk about

The Watchful Eye Of A Mother

under the watchful eye of their mother

Do Not Come Close To Her Feet......You Might Be In For A Serious Beating!

Thank God On The Way Home.....

Christmas At The Esplanade

This year East London's Beachfront is going to sparkle under the new red, green, golden, blue and silver light of hundred's of Baobab wire Christmas trees, that the municipality has set up on the boardwalk.

The beachfront looks absolutely amazing at night.

New Christmas Decoration Baobab Wire Trees

Green Right Through

Anticipation

Bone White

Green Eyed Crab Beauty

There have been some serious complaints lately that no more stories, pictures and other weird things have been published on this blog. The reason is the never-ending and ever-lasting, growing project "The Mdantsane Way".

To soothe the nerves a little bit ( especially the ones of my mother ) I am posting some nice shots of a green eyed beauty today.

Seen, stalked, captured and shot ( with camera of course) at the Wild Coast in the Transkei.

Ocean Meadows

Chocolat Negro Underwater Photography

Under The Boardwalk By The Sea

A Small Time Capsule Of The Wankie National Park 1959

Time Capsule Rhodesia 1959 - A Pictorial Tour Of A Beautiful Country

Main Camp in the Wankie Game Reserve. This is a pet ground hornbill, much pampered by all visitors

About my love for old pictures and photographs, you know. My fascination of finding a timeline between a place, eternalised on pictures years ago and the reality of the same place today, I am sharing with you now.

In the beginning when I started this blog my vision was to create a time capsule for me and the ones I share and have shared my life with.  There was a moment when I realized I have lived so much already, have been given so much, received so much, experienced so much that I could fill ten adventure story books for boys and girls. This is a blessing of the highest kind. 

But to my great disgust and even greater fear I had to accept the fact that some memories were starting to fade, becoming not so clear anymore. The past is taken over by the future at a rapid pace. 

And life is still exciting ! Another great blessing. But what of all this would I like to remember ? And what would I like the others that come after me to remember ?

I want to remember pretty accurately everything I had in my life. 

Soon I realized others have been doing it all the time inconsciously. Small time capsules are everwhere, still vibrating with energy in some hidden places, waiting to be found just to be sent on a journey of spreading wisdom again. I see them everywhere, small time capsules created by writers, painters, publishing houses and individuals who have left their memories in written or pictorial form behind for the world to see. They are waiting to be released so that they can time travel again. The whole universe consists of traveling time capsules.

One of the few places where men and animals are friends Wankie Game Reserve 1959

So today I am sending a small African time capsule from 1959 in your direction. May it float across the vast cyber universe forever. May somebody find a liking to it. The time capsule has left a beautiful place named Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia, many decades ago. What it had to say at the time was of greatest accuracy and importance. It is not anymore.

South of the Victoria Falls the road leads to the Wankie Game Reserve, fast becoming recognized as the best game reserve in Southern Africa and, for density and variety of animal life, comparable even to the great game reserves of East Africa. Wankie takes it's name in corrputed fashion from the chief Wange, who ruled over this wild stretch of countryside before the white man came with modern ideas of game conservation. Scenically and geologically, it is a projection of the Kalahari, and there is talk of great a companion reserve being developed one day in Betchuana, across the boundary line which marks the western limit of the Wankie Game Reserve. Such a development would turn the twin reserves into the greatest single area in all Africa for game conservation. ( Pictures, Text by Howard Timmins Cape Town, 1959)

The Wankie Game Reserve is called the Hwange National Park today.

A Thousand Feet Are Going Nowhere - Part 2

My Big Brother

I spotted him from far but I knew immediately it is him

My bigger brother

God, I was so glad to see him

It's been such a long time

But there he was with his sweet little face

and big bright, honest eyes,

all dressed up

smiling back at me

Oh, my beautiful big brother

I do love you very much

Men At Work

Men at Work can sometimes be a scary thing to watch.

I had this thought for the first time when I saw my father cutting the garden hedge with an electric chain saw.

And I was offered many occasions since then to re-think this thought and ponder on it deeply.

Admittedly the neon brights safety ropes can not be overlooked and they are nicely criss crossing each other. They men seem all to be attached. The question is just to what are they attached ? I guess to each other. But the end of the rope .. ?

The one who was left on the bottom seems to have similar thoughts or he has his own serious topics to meditate on.

Today Is A Good Hair Day

Some Things Remain Unchanged

These images were taken in the early 1970's, when Namibia was still called South West Africa. The Herero women in the photos are on their way to celebrate Herero Day in Okahandja wearing their distinct traditional dress.

The Herero came under the influence of German missionaries during the 19th century who took exception to what they considered to be the immodesty of the traditional Herero dress, or lack of dress. At the time the Victorian Dress was still considered to be appropriate for a woman and the missionaries wifes dressed the women of the Herero accordingly by sewing long dresses for them that covered the arms and the neck. The first dresses were sewn of a material called Blueprint, imported from Germnay.

But I must say I love African creativeness.  Just look at the girl in the back with the leather boots and the red mini skirt. No matter under what and whose influence Africans came over the years, there will always be uniqueness and freedom of interpretation in what they do.

Herero Women On A Farm

After a while the Herero women adopted the style of dress for which they are so famous today. The dress itself falls to the ankles and has long sleeves and a bodice that buttons up close to the neck. Over this, many women also wear a shawl. 

Under the dress the women wear seven petticoats to add fullness to the skirts. The uniquely shaped headpiece is said to resemble and pay homage to the horns of their cattle. Although  Namibia is a modern African country today, Herero women are still seen proudly wearing this elaborate costume in rural parts of the country as well as in the capital Windhoek capital. 

And by the way the cream colored handbag is the bomb and some vintage loving ladies would go crazy about it.  

Another Classy Old Lady

One of the many classy old ladies in Southernwood