6th photo in the 6th folder - a tag

I’ve been tagged by Karen of Border Town Notes to locate the 6th photo in my 6th folder and talk about it. I'm guessing we're talking about my photographic folders here - which are many!


The photo above was taken a year or two ago in the arboretum just up the road from where I live. The arboretum was created in the 1886 by J Storr-Lister, the planter of the first commercial forests in South Africa. It covers an area of approximately 28ha, contains over 600 species of trees, several of which are over 100 years old, and it is a declared Provincial Heritage Site. The arboretum abuts an old manor house which dates back to 1795 and rise up the slopes of the Constantiaberg Mountain. The arboretum was originally created to test the adaptation of species from countries with a similar climate to South Africa, which means there are plenty of Australian specimens in the arboretum.

This shot is of one of the many eucalypts in the arboretum – there is something about these silvery-brown trunks which soar into the sky which makes them very photogenic. Limited as I am by the terms of the tag, I have to point out that this is not one of my better shots of these lovely trees. (Lovely trees, I should point out, which have a nasty habit of dropping heavy branches without warning!)


I first became well acquainted with the arboretum when, together with several eminent academics, I started and ran a small NGO - the aim of which was to try and prevent, amongst many other things, the South African National Parks (SANParks) from felling all the pines and eucalypts in the Table Mountain National Park. Although not indigenous (and thus out of line with botanical biodiversity objectives in an area described as a biodiversity “hotspot”) the plantations provide an invaluable shaded recreation area for the people of Cape Town – particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. For many, the plantations have become a fundamental part of their cultural heritage. In fact, recognizing the significance of these shaded areas, the government had promised just a few years earlier, after having consulted with the people of Cape Town and several scientists, that these plantations would remain in perpetuity for the benefit of the people of Cape Town. It should be borne in mind that the plantations only make up about two percent of the entire Park and are effectively managed by a local forestry company. As such, their impact on matters “biodiversical” is minimal and, one would think their value in a hot and generally treeless environment, is significant.


Sadly, politics being what it is, the zeal for alien eradication (fauna and flora, and some would say human…) in the new South Africa being what it is and mad botanists being, well, myopic and mad, most of, if not all, the pines and eucalypts will be gone by 2020. Even the eucalypts in the arboretum are potentially under threat, including the one in the photograph.

Enjoy admiring this tree while it still stands and remember that few grasp the concept of balance and fewer still are able to accept that change and evolution are inevitable.


In time honoured tradition, I'm supposed to pass this tag on - but I know many of you have already done this one - if you haven't and would like to, consider yourself tagged.

Randomly Meme and a bit of a Writerly Meme

John from Country Don't Mean Dumb has tagged me for seven random things about myself. Here are the rules of the game:

1. Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
4. Tag seven random [?] people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.

Hmm, so seven random things, eh... ummm...

1. I don't drink tea, coffee or alcohol but give me cocoa and I'm happy.
2. As a kid I spent lots of time hanging upside down off a trapeze bar which hung from a tree in our garden.
3. I was thrown out of art college for being over-confident. Ha bloody ha - aren't other people's perceptions wonderful things.
4. I am a dog person. Actually, more specifically, I'm a Golden Retriever person. In fact, I might be part Golden Retriever.
5. One of my favourite memories is sitting with my granny in her "bauernstube", drinking tea, eating anchovy toast and listening to her stories.
6. I once helped Santa build his grotto (my one and only foray into the world of "window and shop design").
7. When I was six I decided I was going to be the boss and an owner of a big company and sit with my feet on the desk. Well, I got the feet on the desk bit right, at least!


And now onto the tagging...

And yes, you're it!

1. Wanderlust Scarlett
2. Verilion ('cos she needs something to get her blogging momentum going again)
3. Moon Topples (because he's slipped on NaBloPoMo and clearly needs motivation)
4. Sameera
5. Canterbury Soul
6. Le Laquet
7. Rambler


I was also tagged for a meme by Monideepa a while ago. It was a writer's strengths and weaknesses meme. Well, I did the strengths in an earlier meme and it's over here.
As for weaknesses. I suspect my greatest is the same as a great many other writers.... Procrastination. I don't know what it is but there are some days when even mowing the lawn becomes more appealing and important than writing. It's bizarre, since I love writing and being in the flow of writing, and yet boy, oh boy, can I procrastinate. I suspect this might be because it links to another weakness, not totally trusting my muse, fearing she may let me down halfway through. Since I'm not a plotting and planning type of writer, writing is often a rollercoaster. I have no idea where the story is going and I think there are times when I'm just numbed into inaction. Strange, because I know if I just trust to the muse, the story flows. Yes, well, on that note...

I'm not tagging anyone for this, because most of you have already done the strengths meme, but if you want to do it, go ahead!

Sweet Award, another Meme and...

...continuing phoktober.

Dear Rambler over at Virtual Ramblings gave me a Sweet Award - that's just so sweet of him! He said: "Absolute Vanilla does truly deserve this, the kind of issues she deals with, and the stands she takes, does make her really sweet." Thank you, Rambler - you too are very sweet and were given your award deservedly.


Now, in time honoured tradition, I have to pass the award on and so I do to Wanderlust Scarlett, Canterbury Soul, Jefferson Davis, Vesper and Marie.

And talking of Marie, she, the Deep Thinker, tagged me with a meme... It doesn't appear to have a name so it's probably best referred to as "Three things that enliven you more than blogging". Only three?!

"The rules (I just hate rules) are as follows - words in italics have been added by the one who hates rules... for anyone playing further, take the italicised words out - if you want... ;-) :

* 1. After your intro, copy/paste this line and the rules below it: The originator - one Damien Riley - wants to see how far it goes so please keep his link intact: http://rileycentral.net/

* 2. Encourage people to post with the incentive of a link (People need an incentive? I thought self motivation and interest usually did it! ;-) ) by including those who have passed it along here: Audrey, Celtic Angel, JM, Romance Writer, Deep Thinker.

* 3. Visit at least 3 on the list who’ve written and passed this meme. Leave them a comment. I so hate being told what to do. Rules, I'm sure, are half mankinds' problem...

And then you are supposed to, “pick three things that enrapture, consume, fascinate, or otherwise enliven you more than blogging. Then write a few lines about each to explain what the nonblog activity does for you, why and how.”

So, here goes...

1. Writing: For as long as I can remember I've loved writing. I wrote my first play when I was about eight - it was performed on rollerskates, thus predating Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express by a good few years! It was called Little Girl Lost and I charged the neighbourhood kids five cents to come and watch. The hero was played by the German boy from across the road - he only got the part because he could rollerskate! Needless to say the playwright was also the leading lady... So, what does writing do for me - it takes me to other worlds, other states of being and it makes my soul sing. How? Because I get to give flight to my imagination and I tap into a far greater creativity than my own - there are times when I'm writing a novel, that I feel I am merely a conduit for something so much bigger than me.

Where the words happen...

2. Photography: This is something I've only recently rediscovered when Significant Other bought me a shiny new Nikon. I'd been into photography as a student but eventually gave it up when the developing costs became too exhorbitant. Now digital has opened that wonderful world of creativity to me again. As to why I do it - again, it takes me to other places (Significant Other asssures me I go into a sort of fugue state when I get behind the lens), it enables me to see the world very differently, encourages me to be so much more observant and it allows me to indulge in a visual form of creativity.





3. Cooking: My grandfather was a cook, all my mother's family cook passionately, so I guess maybe this passion is in the blood. Again, for me it's about creativity. Cooking is not a chore, it's an culinary adventure. When I was first married all I could cook was good old spaghetti bolognese. Within a year or two I was doing choux pastry, souffles and dinner parties. I suppose it never occurred to me to be afraid in the kitchen or to think something might go wrong (though I have had one spectacular blunder involving a dinner party, gelatine and raspberry mousse...). I think there is also something about food that has been prepared with love and joy that simply makes it taste that much better. Today, health problems preclude all sorts of things from my diet but it doesn't stop me from experimenting and trying new things - if anything, cooking simply but tastily creates more of a challenge. And while I have shelves of cookery books (my preferences lean towards Italian and French country cooking), I now read them for ideas and them make up my own recipes - like my grandfather, I have learned to "cook by ear". As for the why, I like to know exactly what I'm eating, I enjoy my own food, I love it that others enjoy it too and, above all, I love the art of creation in still another form!

Berry pavlova

Now, I tag Wanderlust Scarlett and Verilion.