Scotty dancer dog!

Now I've seen it all.
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Red, white and blue

We nearly lost out on a walk as it was raining when we woke up, but Sue sms-ed with a bright and cheerful message to get out of bed and join her at Newlands Forest because it was clearing up. (Sue was full of the joys of life - or should I say joie de vivre - having been to the France vs USA World Cup soccer match at the Cape Town Stadium on Friday night which was a really exciting event by all accounts.)
When we arrived we realized it was one of our best places - the Dogwoods. They are quite strict here and have a special poo bin, so once we had the poos done, bundled in plastic bags and popped in the bin, we set off: Paul and Pauline, Sue, the Foodlady, the Alpha Male (feeling better after his bacterial invasion), Dougal and me. Here is Paul with his red shoes on a carpet of red pine needles, with the AM looking on. It was quite wet from the storm last night, and the streams were in full spate. Some were easy to cross, but others were not and we had to be carried across. (You can see the white water in the photo below.) At one raging stream, the Alpha Male threw Dougal across the white swirling water onto the rocks on the other side, and made the Food Lady rather cross but then she and I will never understand the male psyche. Dougal said he preferred being chucked across and risking a broken leg or two to being carried, so everyone was happy in the end. Deep in the Dogwoods, we saw some lovely red berries that belong to the Cape Holly (Ilex mitis), and along Alice's path we saw some white berries that belong to the Dogwood, (Curtisia dentata). Because it was so wet, the spoil-sport Food Lady didn't bring any tea, which was a pity because it was actually a lovely day as you can see, and all too soon we were back on the road to the carpark. (Dougal and I were ahead chasing enticing smells.) Later on we heard some rather sad news that made us all feel blue. A 14-year old American boy from Texas fell down one of the ladders on the Skeleton Gorge path and died. In this rather appropriately gloomy photo taken on our walk, you can see Skeleton Gorge on the left hand side. Such a sad thing to have happened. We are all feeling so sorry for the boy's family and friends.

More *#*#enberg photos

Check out these lovely photos from Alice taken on yesterday's walk up the Swearword Mountain.
Cape sugarbird.

Wild and windy on Vlakkenberg

Five of us ventured out this morning: Dougal, me, the Food Lady, Alice and the birthday girl - Pauline. We started at the top of Price Drive where there are now some parking spots despite Fort Vlaggenberg's objections. This is Fort Vlaggenberg - the name that the FL calls this hideous fortress at the start of the walk with the two equally hideous Alsations. Today it was, appropriately, flying the English flag along with all its high tech equipment. (Vlakkenberg, aka the Swear Word Mountain, also used to be called Vlaggenberg - flag mountain.)

The weather was rather windy and stormy-looking as you can see, but we walked (some of us ran and had to keep stopping to wait when we were shouted at) up the hill to the top. It was very windy up there and Alice was getting ear-ache, so we turned straight round and came back down where it was perfectly calm and sheltered.

We found a view site for tea - rusks, dates, dried fruit and nougat for the humans, and rusks and beanos for us. Dougal and me (with leads on because of our nervous FL!) looking down on Groot Constantia estate - hoping to spot the baboons we could smell. After tea took another little side path called "ii" that went enticingly down into the baboon-scented forest, and came out again near the cars. Alf Morris's silver trees (Leucadendron argenteum) looked spectacular against the black sky. Read Alice's description of them here.
Then all too soon it was home again.

Go, do your thing ...

Paul sent this cartoon, and I thought it was appropriate for the Food Lady who spends FAR too much time on the computer and not enough time developing her style on interesting walks.

New Yorkie

Don't you just hate dogs like this! They make me feel like I need to go on diet and visit the doggie parlour again! Click here to visit this dog blog.

Amber

We heard some very sad news today. Amber, a beautiful long-legged ridgeback, died the other day of cancer. I actually never met her, but she came to one or two Boxing Day bashes here and the legend lives on. Sam, the Labrador who preceded me, had an almighty crush on her!
Photos: Top: Amber when she was young and bouncy on the mountains above Kalk Bay. Above: Amber feeding her puppies - she was a devoted mother and raised 16 healthy pups!

In the words of her owners, Graham and Daleen:
"While we are very tearful now, we also have to be thankful for the time we had together. When she was an only dog, we went to restaurants together. We went on holiday to Beaverlac, where an admiring Boerbul slept outside our cottage and taught her to chase baboons. We went to Mountain Mist, where she terrorised the resident dassies. We went to Velddrift, where she canoed on the river with us. She chased Himalayan Thars on Table Mountain, Fallow Deer at Rhodes Memorial and seagulls at Blouberg Beach. She hunted molerats and field mice on Rondebosch Common. She raised 16 beautiful puppies and enjoyed the 700 hectares of mountain farm with 2 of them for the past 3 years. She had a wonderful hunting dog life - we just wish it had been much longer.
"We have comforting news that her grand-daughter in the Czech Republic, who carries Amber's name Anbar Shumba (= Amber Lion) has Amber's wonderful nature and delivered 10 beautiful puppies on the day Amber died. We hope that many other people will be able to experience Amber in some way through her progeny."

Dougal, the Alpha Male, the Food Lady and I send our condolences to Graham, Daleen and her two sons, Red and Copper.

Amber cooling off in her favourite pan on top of Bergvliet Farm in Gansbaai, after a 5 km hike in summer.