Maddie's first walk

Alice was back - oh frabjous day! - with her new mad dog called Maddie. This was Maddie's first walk with us. Paul and Pauline were here, and Thea and Sue, and of course, the Food Lady, Alph and Dougal. We meandered a bit in good Food Lady style around a maze of white sandy paths that disappeared and re-appeared but eventually, thanks to Sue and the Alph, a good path was located and we set out in a stiff breeze up into the Baskloof Nature Reserve.
Some pretty little Lapeirousia anceps flowers growing in the white sand.
Ah - a signpost - we must be on a real path.
There were lots of everlasting daisies - in this photo you can see Cape Snow (Syncarpha vestita) and Edmondia sesamoides, the former with a red centre, and the latter with a yellow centre.
The fluffy seeds were blowing off this grass - possibly Thatch Grass (Hyparrhenia hirta).
More Cape Snow.
There were also lots of different types of Roella in flower. This one is probably Roella triflora.
The path took us through some magical areas with gorgeous flowers. But is was starting to get quite warm, and the wind dropped,
so we decided to go and have tea at Kleinplaas Dam so we dogs could have a cooling dip. The Food Lady's "five to ten minutes" turned out to be more like half an hour so we were really in need of a swim when we finally arrived at the dam.
Young Maddie really had a good time in the water and Dougal got wet up to his shoulders.
Paul found a shady spot in the rocks to cool off as humans are not allowed to swim here.
Tea time.
The SANParks peeps must be expecting some radical climate change events, as the marker for the depth of the water is quite high.
By now it was very hot and the cooling wind had disappeared. But best foot forward!
Looking for all the world like a spider, this assassin bug (possibly a species of Lopodytes) was lurking in a Yellow Ixia (Ixia dubia). Assassin bugs prey on other arthropods - creeping slowly up on them, grabbing them and injecting them with paralysing toxin. They can also inflict a nasty bite on inquisitive dog's noses.
It was so hot by this stage that I had to be carried home. The view from here was spectacular!
Poor old Dougal was left to find patches of shade to snatch a few moments to shelter from the fierce sun.
Here he is with Maddie having a relax in the shade. It was hot
and the path seemed to go on and on but at last the village of Scarborough came into view.
Before long we were back at the cars. Sue and the Food Lady went to pay for our permits at Mickey's Mouse Trap shop which is behind that grille. They were only R12 each.
Then Alice and Maddie went for a swim, Paul and Pauline went home and the rest of them had a drink at the Camel Rock Restaurant. Here is the Alph - my saviour and hero for carrying me all the way down.
And Sue.
And Thea who stood us drinks. There was even a bucket of water for us Scots and some rather rangy local dogs to interest us.
We stopped to check out the Notten's "family room across the mountain" in Scarborough. Some progress has been made.
Now are we hallucinating? I know we were really hot and tired, but these did look like camels and palm trees in the middle of Noordhoek.

A Skeleton Walk

We were left at home this Sunday. Dougal had a sore foot (which is better now), and I elected to stay and keep him company. The gale force Southeaster had nothing to do with my decision whatsoever! (Dawn was in her bush hiding from the Alph.) So as it was only the Alph and the FL, it was rather a skelton walk.
They took advantage of our absence to walk up one of their favourite paths, Donkergat, which they used to do often with Sam and Tombi (our predecessors) before the meanies at Kirstenbosch banned dogs.
A scary Pterodactyl tree in Skeleton Gorge.
Not really our favourite kind of path.
An unfurling fern frond.
On these eastern slopes of Table Mountain you often see the weed, Field Woundwort (Stachys arvensis), which originally comes from Europe, Asia and North Africa. It has a lovely minty smell when you brush past.
A closer look at the Field Woundwort flower.
Skeleton Gorge was sheltered from the roaring wind, but the path to Maclears Beacon had disappeared into the Southeaster cloud and it was mighty chilly (which we Scots actually like!).
Tea break at the top,
where the photographing phoodlady phound some Senecio grandiflorus plants with their phunny phat buds. These woolly plants are endemic to the Cape Peninsula.
They chose to come down Nursery Ravine - which was also surprisingly sheltered from the Southeaster and full of people and flowers; like these pretty Stonecrop flowers (Crassula pellucida).
A sticky end for this moth - caught in a Drosera hilaris. Not so hilarious for the moth!
Near the bottom of Nursery Ravine, they walked through the wild area of Kirstenbosch - again something we canines are prohibited from enjoying - where they saw lots of flowers like this rather odd Lady's Hand (Cyanella hyacinthoides),
lots of Blue Sceptre flowers (Aristea capitata),
and lots of Watsonia borbonica.
Having a rest in front of the enchanted pond in Kirstenbosch before hurrying home to us.

Meeting Luke

On the 18th November we joined the Timoneys and Luke for a fantastic weekend at Riversong. When we arrived, supper was all ready and the wine open. Here is the Alph - well, the Alph's left cheek and arm, Caroline, Katherine, Paul, Luke and Helen. Dougal and I were out and about having a scrounge around for tortoises and other exciting Cederberg things.
The next morning we set out for an early morning botanize with the Food Lady
who found some firework flowers (also called bloodroot or Dilatris ixiodes)
and some White Orchids - Disa harveiana subsp. longicalcarata.
After breakfast we set out again on another walk - our lucky day! We passed lots of interesting things, including these Grey Conebushes (Leucadendron pubescens) with sticky, hairy cones and lots of enticing smells,
but is got rather hot for us scots and we were grateful for to rest in some restio shade.
The Food Lady is fascinated by this rather disgusting plant which is all sticky and covered in dead and dying goggas. To make these poor hapless insects' lives even more miserable, this tentacled leafed bush is stalked by assassin bugs that are immune to the stickiness and go about injecting and sucking up any trapped gogga. Luverly. Read about them here.
At last we reached the cool tadpole pools where we all had a swim and Luke found a little snake eating tadpoles. Instead of leaping out he just stayed in the water and watched it as it swallowed the fat tadpole near his foot.
After lunch the humans relaxed at the cottage - here is Luke and Caroline (with the bunch of flowers that Era had very kindly placed in the cottage for us and a delicious fruit cake that Helen had baked),
while I did some tortoise hunting and Dougal did some mousing.
Then, official walk number three! Whoopeee. We went to the river for a swim in the lovely warm evening.
Perfection!
Caroline and Helen walking home again.
The boys wasted no time getting the fire going,
while the kitchen team were also working hard - Luke just moving from one to the other, and occasionally chatting to us too.
Another gastronomic extravaganza with the promise of rich pickings for us dogs - especially seeing as I was not allowed to chew up my tortoises.
Pudding.
Some night visitors - a Ribbon-wined lacewing,
and a rather terrifying scorpion that wanted to share Luke's bed on the veranda.
The next morning there was rolling thunder - and Dougal was reduced to a shivering wreck. He thinks that getting up on the bed is going to help! What a drip.
It was quite rainy and bleak outside, and I was rather reluctant to go out to investigate the tortoise population. Finally we decided to take the plunge and got to the bottom of the driveway before the rain forced us to turn round and go back to the cottage where we stayed put until it was time to pack up and to home.
Dramatic skies over Du Toits Kloof.