City stroll to the Companie Gardens

My car is in for a major repair and I am using public transport. This morning I walked through the city up to the Companie Gardens to catch a bus to where I stay.
Walking up Long Street I saw this magical african display in a shop window.

Quite a contrast to St. Georges cathedral ..

and the black Madonna.

Outside some insurance buildings suggest solidity.

In the gardens I remember that Cecil Rhode's vision was as fleeting as the clouds in the sky.

On the ground and in the real are the beautiful flowers, fleeting but reborn again in a constant cycle of life.

Some are a fleeting temptation.

At the far end is a rose garden. For me this rose is the ultimate female expression in its ever changing image.

And there is the war memorial for the horses. This reminds me of the year of the horse which we are in, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

The horse is my birth sign and makes me reflect on new projects, volatility and discernment to find the right path.

Waking up - Devils Peak

Yesterday I walked through the fynbos below Devils Peak. A blanket of fog was covering the harbour and bay. Only the tower of an oil rig was piercing the tranquility.

Humans and nature meet. The spirit of Madiba and a bird of prey keeping the watch.

It rained the night before. Nature had a wet dream.

Covering everything with an abundance of glittering drops of most precious water. 

Everything is decorated in beautiful freshness.

Drops about to fall, tears of heaven nurturing the earth.

The dry season seems to be over soon. The first protea flowering in a virgin glory.

The proteas are full of birds. Joyful noise is all around.

Moist, wetness lets unfold and buds new life.

I come up out of the fog and the air becomes clear.

I find my aim and direction.

Up at the road, where the water comes down Table Mountain, I see the boundary between the real and the reflection.

I meet a butterfly resting in the grass. It is soaking up the sun to gain strength to fly.

I take of my shirt, feel the warmth and soak it up on my way down.

Early Morning Newlands

Today and last Sunday morning I walked in Newlands forest. I got inspired by a friend and walked bare feet for the first time today.

This was opening a whole new world of sensing.

Visually the morning light revealed the patterns of nature.

Perfect forms continuously unfolding.

Shadow play with the morning sun.

Illuminating the path ahead.

I am trying a new path, where I haven't been before.

Patterns are everywhere. On the small mushrooms,

On the tree trunk ...

and the tree is a pattern in itself.

All striving to bear fruit to start unfolding patterns again.

Eerie Oude Schip - Sandy Bay

This morning I drove to Hout Bay and walked along the Rocket Way, down to Oude schip and along the coast to Sandy Bay.
A nearly full moon was setting in the morning light. Slowly she is fading away.

A strong cool breeze made it difficult to take makro pictures.  It made the flower look like burning in short lived flames. 

On the way down I saw this flowers arranged in a bouquet like for a funeral.

A deadly spider is waiting for its catch.

It is low tide and I can cross over to the Oude Schip peninsula. The barge ran aground 20 years ago, now stuck and slowly rusting away.

The rocks belong to the oystercatcher.

This is an eerie place. The wreck of the "Harvest Capella" lies upside down on the rocks.

A stone hippo guards this end of the world. A stern warning "Don't go further".

This is a burial ground for seals.

I am glad to leave, crossing the isthmus towards safer ground.

After a while I reach beautiful Sandy Bay. A skinny dip in the icy crystal clear sea washes away the dark feelings.

  

Camps Bay Pipe Track

I got a bit sunburned yesterday and wanted to stay in the shade. So today I walked along the Camps Bay pipe track. The sun was still hiding behind Table Mountain.

Lions Head looks best in the morning sun.

The track follows one of the old cast iron water pipes.

The pipe is a nice piece of colonial engineering , it supplied the town with fresh mountain water.

I went up the Woody ravine for a short while. A mystical pocket of indigenous forest made me sit down and absorb the atmosphere.

This time of the year flowers are rare but some fight the heat and drought.

On my way back the birds are out and about in the sun.

Newlands Forest Summer Morning

It is real summer in Cape town. After a hot day the morning is foggy, but the forest is bone dry.

Seeds have fallen and shells are empty.

The pines are looking taller today, stretching themselves high into the sky.

Some beetles are feasting on the pods and ...

and in the last flowers.

At the stream a spider tries to catch the thirsty and careless.

The ruined shed is corroding, slowly letting the sun in to dry what has been wet, dark and damp so long.