acacia blossoms

acacia blossoms

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sunday





python vine and termite mound


Sunday afternoon. The heavy heat is broken at last by the pounding strength of an electrical storm. The air is cool and fresh and water lies in pools on the ground reflecting a grey sky.  The air is now pungent with smells - ozone rich, with a hint of damp soil and kraal manure. Green leaves pump out oxygen and the giraffe resume browsing on the hebaclada bushes.  During the storm they stood straight up. I wondered if they were ever struck by lightening.  Ostriches, I know, tend to sit down and lay their long necks on the ground during a lightening storm.

The storm has moved on accross lake Zibidianja towards the spillway.  Distant crumping sounds trail in its wake.  The rain was gentle this time when it came. It was calming, cooling, soporific. It made me want to lie down and snooze. So instead I am making tea, eating a shortbread biscuit (from the stash reserved for visitors) and thinking about the storm. This too shall pass - the squashing heat, the turgid air, the lazy bones - and it has.


this acacia tree has been visited over the years by elephants
particularly the young elephants that like to eat the bark
it reminds me of those lovely drawings by Arthur Rackham entwining tree spirits and fantastic creatures
an imagination running free

sunday parkoff



6 comments:

Lori ann said...

beautiful beautiful writing val, coupled with the photos, i'm almost there. i hope it's cooled down some now. those giraffe must be too elegant and digified to lay down for the storm. xxx
:)

Angela said...

Zibidianja, what a name, and tree spirits, and ostriches and giraffe in a thunderstorm... what a world! Too lovely writing, Val, yes imagination running free. You`ll be in my dreams tonight.
And Lori, not long and you`ll see elephants and giraffe again!

e said...

I dreamt I was reading your blog the other night, Val. It is lovely to get caught up on your posts, lovely as always.

Val said...

Lori - yes i think giraffe are just so cool they wouldnt worry about a little bit of lightening!

Geli - thanks Geli - sweet dreams!

E - really? wow! i hope it was a good happy dream? thanks for your kind words.

Thanks for your support dear friends - you make it happen. xxV

Jenny Woolf said...

What very nice pictures, not that many but they do convey a feeling of the place, excellently. I am intrigued at the idea of ostriches laying their necks on the ground during a storm. How amazing that they know how to do this. I never thought about what happens to giraffes!

Cheryl Cato said...

I know you are thankful for the rain. It is springtime here (almost) & we are getting blessed rain. Over the last 3 days we've had over 5 inches!!! If it will just rain to the west of us as well as here the lakes will refill.

The acacia tree is beautiful as is the blue sky and green all about the sunday parkoff.