A cool walk

Everyone chickened out of the Sunday walk because of the rain, but as soon as there was a break, we two and our humans headed for the misty hills. We parked at the new Cecilia Park parking spot, and set off up the path past these beautiful pink watsonias that towered above us Scotties. They are Watsonia borbonica and lots of them have now come up in the Granite Fynbos in place of boring sterile pines - which unfortunately are still plentiful here as you can see further up, despite the poor sad shouters for shade's misguided laments. The species name borbonica refers to Ile de Bourbon, now Réunion, as apparently it was thought to have come from there when they named it in the dim and distant past (in the 1700s sometime!).
I don't think our humans have these funny shaped Wild Card Permits for dog walking like what is shown on the board. Nor do they carry trowels to keep us under control. But they have a family Wild Card on a piece of paper though, so maybe it includes us.
We saw many waterfalls.
A silene of sorts - Silene undulata or bellidoides. It belongs to the carnation family.
Misty mountain top with two indigenous Mountain Cypress (Widdringtonia nodiflora) trees and a dead pine emerging from the forested slopes of Table Mountain.
Another waterfall in Cecilia Ravine - usually our best cooling-down place but today we didn't need to cool down as it was just a cool day all round.
Some grass caught in the flash - possibly Rooigras (Themeda triandra).
The Foodlady's little orchid that featured on an earlier post - now flowering and showing that it is a thread orchid - Holothrix villosa subsp. villosa.
In fact, there were lots of little thread orchids growing under a rock on the path back from the big Cecilia waterfall.
Me having a shake after a swim in the river that leads back to the car park.
The magic forest path, with yellowwoods and asparagus ferns and a stream that always flows.
Back in the cleared area next to the car park were lots of Garden Acraea butterflies - these two entwined on a Larkspur Baroe (Cyphia bulbosa) - a member of the lobelia family.
We were having such fun we just didn't want it to end ...
so Dougal had to be forcibly removed to the car - most undignified!

Bowling a maiden over

Last Sunday we went for a walk in Silvermine - up Maiden's Peak and onto Klein Tuinkop - one of our faves. In fact it quite bowls me over it is such a fantastic walk. Only Pauline joined the Alph, the Food Lady, Dougal and me - mostly because the Food Lady forgot to put the starting time on the blog and then there was a mix up of smses. (Just bearing out what the Alph has said time and time again - although no-one ever listens to him - that you cannot trust electronic stuff). Anyway - the Food Lady is on about grass now (thanks to Paul and Pauline) - and sadly there are very few books on the grasses of the Cape Peninsula. So here is the first unidentified grass ...
These little creeping pea-like weeds along the side of the gravel road to Maidens Peak are most probably the introduced species Yellow Clover (Trifolium campestre var. campestre), which is closely related to the common clover of "I'm looking over ..." fame.
Some more grass - this time Paul's Grass - Pentaschistis curvifolia - which is in full bloom at the moment. This section of the walk was burned about two years ago and is now FULL of the most interesting and exciting plants
like this Microdon dubius which has the rather strange common name of Cat's Tail - not at all like the cat's tail I try to bite off every now and then when the neighbour's cat ventures into the garden!
and this orchid - possibly Acrolophia lamellata ...
and lots and lots and lots of these dainty little bulbs - Geissorhiza tenella - with the boring common name of Klein Pypies.
Me and the Alph waiting for the flower-worshipers (Pauline and the FL) and the lunatic rodent hunter (Dougal) to catch up. Look at me gazing adoringly at our Alph.
Ant dance in a Roella ciliata - a member of the bellflower family Campanulaceae. Me and the Alph wished we had a bell to ring to tell them to hurry up and continue the walk! Some more grass, some Mountain Dahlias (Liparia splendens) and me.
Eventually we got up onto Klein Tuinkop. A snary (Arti-speak for scary) eagle with Kommejie in the distance.
On the top of Klein Tuinkop were lots of these tiny, red-leafed crassulas which the Food Lady had never seen in flower - they are Crassula obtusa. (Identified thanks to the Friends of Silvermine Nature Area's wonderful new cd Flora Doc: A database of the flora of the Cape Peninsula.)
Tea on Klein Tuinkop: the Alph and Pauline. We could SMELL dassies...
so we spent a while checking the place out - but the FL usually gets a bit antsy if we go too far. And of course, all the best dassies are just too far.
A strange and glowing Halloween flower - Harveya squamosa. A parasitic annual.
The only downside of this walk is the long gravel road home again - not so great for paws. This is tired scotty behind some Vlaktee flowers (Syncarpha gnaphaloides).
A white form of Lachnaea grandiflora - usually they are pink. But maybe when they grow on Maidens Peak, they are lily white. Their common name is Grand Stringbark, and they belong to the Thymelaeaceae family - phew - altogether too many vowels for a Scotty to spell! And the Thymel-whatyoumacallit - is the same family that my friends, the gnidias, belong to.
Monkey beetle orgy on a Sour Fig flower (Carpobrotus edulis).
On the way home we came across lots of dogs just setting out with their humans, but we were so tired that we hardly had the energy for social interaction.

We hope you will be back soon Sue and Paul - we missed you!

Up the Corner ...

... and into the mist. We only had two hours today because we had to be back for the rugby, so Paul, Pauline and Sue met us at Kloof Corner and we all set off up the path. Come on you lot, you are getting left behind!
Strong winds were blowing but we were not going up to the top, so we didn't have to worry about the cable car closing.
This is a very pretty flower with an ugly name - Scabious - which means scabby or mangy - another word that we get called by our humans especially when we have been rolling in unmentionable things. (Apparently some species were said to cure the disease of Scabies that is why they got that name.) It looks like a daisy but it is not a daisy - belonging to the Dipsaceae family. Like daisies, it has a composite flower with florets.You can see the black sepal bristles sticking up between the buds. The Food Lady has no idea which species this is. There are three that occur here, but they all look much the same.
Another genus that all look similar is Aspalathus, but this prickly leaved one seems to be Aspalathus cordata.
You can see the Alph disappearing up into the mist.
But luckily he was waiting for us at the top of the steps. This is the end of the path, and it goes over a sheer cliff if you turn right at the top, so we carried on to the left.
Of course, there is the option to go straight up, but no-one took it today.
Lady's hand Cyanella hyacinthoides all wet and blowy in the mist.
The Alph striding ahead,
and Pauline and Sue following. Paul was photographing somewhere further back.
The in-your-face pink Pelargonium cucculatum was flowering, and the Chincherinchees (Ornithogalum thyrsoides) were out - can you spot one growing in a rocky pocket half way up the cliff? And note the lichen fractallating all over the cliff.
We turned round at the start of the India Venster path, and went back to the steps. Do we need to go all the way down again?
The mist was lifting a bit and we got to see a bit of Camp's Bay and Cape Town, but Lion's Head was still hidden in the clouds.
Another prickly plant is Climber's Friend (Cliffortia ruscifolia). It has a good strong root system, so despite being prickly, its a good plant to grab if you have opposable thumbs and are falling. Note the red feathery flowers - they are wind pollinated and belong to the Rose family.
Very soon we were down again, and the FL just had time to snap this beetle in a Roella ciliata flower before we were bundled back into the car and home to watch the All Blacks nearly being mashed up by the French. And then SA won the cricket which was good.

Touch wood the FL seems to have worked out what the problem with the Internet was.

Posh Dogs

Yesterday we were taken to Green Point Park where all the posh dogs go. In posh parks, though, you have to be on leads. Dawnie came too and disgraced herself by trying to swim in one of the ornamental fountains. She is not posh.
But we managed to look like city slicker dogs as we strolled sedately past kids playing - which I usually find irresistible, but the Alph would brook no unruly behaviour so I resisted.
Checking out the new waterwheel.
Then some balloons escaped from one of the parties and blew past us and into the flower beds in front of the soccer stadium where they popped. Well, that was the end of Dougal's walk!