Friday 30 July - National Pride

There's a song about this protea - it's called a Sugarbush. In Afrikaans it's Suikerbos and the words go, "Suikerbos ek wil jou he...."

This gorgeous specimen is just opening on the shrub in our school gardens. I noticed it as we were leaving school today. Unfortunately the sun was overhead and pretty bright so I got a bit of "white out" on the top but one gets the idea. I love these flowers. They are very special - and they're the South African national flower.

Thursday 29 July - raindrop

We had a drop of rain today......

Wednesday 28 July - bird bath

I rushed home after 5pm today. I had a bit of a panic wondering what I could take a photo of today. Somehow I just haven't had time to consider it today.

I wandered around the garden and spotted this bird bath that hasn't been cleaned out for a couple of weeks. I love the dry leaves, the colours and reflections.

Tuesday 27 July - Little terrors

My photo today is more fun than artistic. These little boys in grade 2 didn't do their homework in preparation for their computer lesson today. They were asked to find out the birthdays of six members of family and friends to enter into a birthday calendar we typed up last week. I told them to sit on the carpet whilst the rest of the class completed their task and then they could join us. When I looked again they were having great fun squeezing together into the space under the table. And I thought it was punishment! LOL

Monday 26 July - Gazania Seeds and other

Today I'm going to cheat and post two photos. This one was actually taken late yesterday. I was looking for insects on my gazanias and noticed this old flower that had dried out and the seeds were bursting forth. It makes a lovely sight. By the time I went back to look this afternoon the seeds had dispersed so I'm using this photo.

 Now this is the one I really took today. You can tell it's one of those days where I lacked inspiration. However these flowers are lovely when they open fully - so watch this space!

Sunday 25 July - Kalanchoe

This beautiful pot plant has endured four moves with us. It thrives on neglect. At the moment it's looking really good in its pot in a corner of the garden. Such a lovely colour.

Saturday 24 July - Light and Lines

I took this at a local teachers' college where I was doing Peer Coaching facilitation. I love the way the lines and the light in this foyer invite one to go up the stairs to explore...

Friday 23 July - Fruit Salad

I arrived home very late this evening. My sister, Sue and I drove out to see our Dad in the afternoon and by the time I came home it was dark. No outside photos for me today. So, anyone for fruit salad?

Thursday 22 July - Fly on White Daisy

Today's photo is a simple one. I came home late and the sun had gone down. However I managed to spot this little fly on one of the daisies. Such a simple flower but so striking.

Wednesday 21 July - Hopscotch

Our school has a  lot of these grids painted on the tarmac in the playground. The children love it and use them to play hopscotch. Watching them brings back memories of my own childhood. It was a very absorbing game....

Tuesday 20 July - Lasagne for supper

Dinner time and it's Lasagne tonight - one of my favourites. This is the dish just before I put it into the oven to bake. Time for a glass of wine.....

Monday 19 July - Greedy Mousebird

Our neighbours' loquat tree is laden with fruit at the moment. I spotted this mousebird having a good feast on the tree this afternoon. I had to take the photo with the zoom and I'm rather pleased that he came out clearly.

Sunday 18 July - Winter Trees

I was lying on the grass under these trees with my camera. I wanted to take a bird in flight but I didn't manage it this time. I did enjoy seeing the winter branches against the beautiful blue sky. Patterns in nature.

Saturday 17 July - Glum Mutt

Another photo of our two aging staffies. They are brother and sister and are aged 14. Mutt likes to take liberties and lean on Maggie but she quickly gets irritated. He is a bit senile these days and has developed some funny little habits - like he knows what time is bedtime and he comes into the living room and whines at Maggie until she goes to bed.

Friday 16 July - Monster Shadows

I love to come home and spend about half an hour in the back yard sitting in the sun with a cup of coffee. This afternoon I was sitting there chatting to my brother and I mentioned I needed to find a photo topic. He pointed out this shadow cast on a wall by our bare pin oak. Quite weird when you really look at it.

Thursday 15 July 2010 - Hearts in the window

This is the view from inside our kitchen. The curtains are necessary because of the proximity of the neighbour's house. I took the photo in the early evening and the light was great.

Wednesday 14 July - Glowing Gazania

I love gazanias. I have some in my garden and this afternoon I got home in time to catch the last of the direct sunlight on this one. It's amazing how the tiny ant casts a shadow on the petal...

Tuesday 13 July - Boy with a Fish.

This little statue in our garden has been here since we bought the house. I think it must have been part of a water feature at one time. Today I just noticed how happy he was looking with all the foliage around him flourishing after the recent rain.

Monday 12 July - Wiggly Worm

I was looking at my daisy bush when I saw this little worm with his nose in the pollen. Is he eating it? He must be a moth or butterfly in the making. At least he couldn't fly away before I took a photo...

Sunday 11 July - Zebra Plate

During our travels we heard about the Dedza Pottery in Malawi. We decided to pay them a visit and I fell in love with this plate. I just loved the expressions on the zebras' faces. It will be a reminder of our trip.

Saturday 10 July - Pink Church

I've often seen this lovely little church beside the road. It's just after Kokstad, on the way to Harding. This time I got Mark to stop so I could take a photo. Unfortunately I didn't get the angle quite right so it looks as if it's falling to the right. I just love all the contrasting colours against the winter dry grass.

13 June to 9 July - Trip blog

During this month we've been on the road traveling through Africa. We took loads of photos every day so I'm not going to upload them to this blog - instead check out the link to Tanzania4Tea for this period. www.Tanzania4Tea.blogspot.com