Sophie and Hugh in Silvermine

Today Hugh and Sophie joined us (the Food Lady, Sue, Thea, Alice, Dougal and me) for a walk in Silvermine. Their mom and dad are away and Hugh came to stay with us, and Sophie with Alice - lucky her! We were a bit nervous that Boris might come but Thea didn't bring him again.Hugh and I at the start of the walk. Sophie amongst the flowers. Hugh and Dougal waiting for the others to catch up ...

Hugh climbing to the top but I couldn't get so high up. (I am at the bottom left.)Tea was a bit disappointing for the humans as the Food Lady had left the hot water behind. Senility and decay creeping up. But we had nice rusks, and they also had Sue's delicious crunchies that we are never allowed to sample. The view down to the dam.

A beautiful, creamy white King Protea, (Protea cynaroides).

On the road back to the car park: Thea, Alice, Sophie and Hugh. Alice was having a bit of trouble with a muscle in her leg. Dougal took a shine to a Maltese poodle in a jacket - look at him! Honestly! But she disappeared into the ladies loo with her owners and Dougal, being a gentledog, didn't follow.

Watching Homeward Bound

Our favourite movie is Homeward Bound - an adaptation of The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford. It was on tv last night, and we all settled down with Simon to watch it.

The invisible Jonkersdam

This berg-windy morning (nothing to do with bergie paté that I am not allowed to eat!) we all walked along the Jonkersdam path but it must be an invisible dam because we couldn't find it at all and there were lots of us looking: Alice (!), Lucy, Josie, Sue, Thea, Pauline, Paul, the Food lady, Dougal and He-who-must-be-obeyed: the Alpha Male. We came to a large fence with a sign that said rude and hurtful things about dogs, so we couldn't climb up the Rooikrans hill but luckily there was another nice path to walk along.
Shirley said in her book that there would be lots of lovely flowers and there sure were. Even pink and frilly Oxalis hirta flowers which is a most unusual occurrence. And this handsome red Gladiolus priorii.

The path was lovely and sandy and soft and Thea decided to do without her shoes for a while.

Paul, Lucy, Sue and the Alpha Male found a nice tea spot for us and we indulged in rusks and beanos (even Josie was seen nibbling daintily on a piece of rusk).

The weather got progressively cooler and more to a scottish-terrier's liking, but Josie was not happy when her ears started blowing in the wind.

We turned back again, and saw this funny looking plant - wild cotton or katoenbos (Gomphocarpus cancellatus).

While we looked for mice, the FL found these little grasshoppers that live in restios. They are Besticoides meridionalis and are out and about from January to May. This is a daisy (possibly Berkheya barbata) they are on though, not a restio.

Homeward bound.

Another dog blog

I was born when Simon was in the south of France, that is why I have a French name. (I was named after Coco Chanel - she of the little black number.) So I was excited to come across a dog blog all about dogs in the south of France. Go to Riviera Dogs.

This photo is of Louise. She is a bit old for me though ...

This scottie looks more my tpye ...

Cats are as crazy as dogs!

David and Gordon recently did up their bathroom and put mirror doors on the cupboards. Their cat Streak is freaked out by the other three cats that mysteriously appear and she growls and hisses at them.

Then Streak collapses on David's gym bag to recover. But when she wakes up, they are still there!

A Sunday stroll up Steenberg Peak

Today there were us two dogs, and four humans: Paul and Pauline, Sue and the Foodlady (Alpha Male is full of cold and sniffles and has a gruff voice that is a bit alarming). We were a bit worried because there was a sign saying that only three people could walk and the fourth one was crossed out, but luckily no-one got cross with us for being four, and we saw lots and lots of other people in groups of more than three. We walked up Steenberg and had tea on the top. There was a nice natural drinking bowl at tea, and some rocks for me to practice my mountaineering skills. This is me leaping from rock to rock, but Dougal preferred to hunt for rodents and reptiles in the fynbos in his rather manic fashion. Usually all you can see of him is his tail sticking up over the bushes. What we are always hoping to find, but maybe not as big as this Cape Crag Lizard or Rooiskurwejantjie (Pseudocordylus microlepidotus microlepidotus). Paul's grass Pentaschistis curvifolia was looking most beautiful today in many different colours.

When we got back to Wolfkop Car Park I thought I might join another group that was heading off, but then remembered that I am no longer a puppy with boundless energy, and changed my mind. You can just see me in the middle of the photo, weighing up the pros and cons ...