Syringa Tree
Haiku 237
Denuded branches
Quickly mask the exposure
With a Cover-Up
.
The giant syringa tree that was heavily pruned a few months ago is making a game recovery. See Exposure
Syringa Tree 2 – Pruned
It took a while to get going, but now is in full swing. By this time next year you won’t be able to tell it was ever cut back.
A successful cover-up indeed.
Painted Skies
Here’s our own local Lonesome Pine.
A massive tree, I presume planted by the city council yonks ago. It stands on the grass verge outside a neighbour’s house.
And here are Laurel and Hardy singing “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine”.
They were exceptionally talented and worked so well together, as can be seen here in this little clip. Oliver Hardy had a lovely singing voice too.
Enjoy!
.
post script: Oh I admit it; the sole purpose of this post was for Laurel and Hardy’s marvellous clip!
Spring
Time for Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes!
Yes, it’s spring time here in the Cape.
post script: Thank you to George Harrison and David Bowie!
Time may change me, but I can’t trace time.
Inferno
Veld fires are an occasional hazard of living in a dry country with a hot sun.
Here you see winter trees on fire. The dry wood combusts instantly at the slightest spark; which might be caused by sunlight magnified on a dew drop, or someone’s carelessly tossed cigarette.
Well; not actually!
This is sunrise in my back garden.
Did I trick you?
post script: I would have added further photos depicting this amazing sunrise, but WP includes mini shots of all your photos under the main photo in the WP Reader, which would spoil the effect.
Autumn Leaves
Autumn leaves catching the slanting afternoon winter sunshine.
Apparently my oak tree still thinks it is autumn, as it clings on to its last few golden leaves.
Now to put this into perspective, mid-July here in Cape Town is like mid-January in the UK. I don’t recall ever seeing any leaves left on any deciduous trees that far into winter, when I was growing up there.
Oh, and the twisty branches in the front left are the grape vine.
Autumn Leaves
Turn to Brown.
Autumn Leaves 2
Or gold!
Autumn Leaves 3
Though temperatures are still summery here in Cape Town, there is a chill in the air once the sun goes down.
I guess it is Autumn!
Autumn Leaves 4
And in case you hadn’t noticed, there is a bird perched right at the top of the tree in that last photo, basking in the dawn’s early rays.
post script: Because you are probably singing it in your head anyway, you can listen to the song by Simon and Garfunkel here: Leaves That Are Green.
post post script: One again, to achieve the full effect of the colour of these Autumn leaves, tilt your screen away from you and watch them light up!
Silver Oak
Cloak
The massive Silver Oak
Adopts a temporary canopy
Of silver white clouds
To cover its nakedness
At the end of winter, gardens around the neighbourhood are a-buzz with chain saws, as trees are pruned. Every 5 years or so mine get a ‘Short back and sides’. Though they all look incredibly bald and even dead now, the 1st of September was the first day of Spring here in Cape Town.
In no time at all this tree will burst back into life with full force. Spring!
Enchanted Forest
Untouched photo of an Enchanted Forest in the North of England.
You can imagine fairies living here and magic in the air.
Winter Morn
Just to show that we do have a few trees in Cape Town that lose their leaves and display this lovely wintry skyline.
LM and SL check out the Puzzle Tree
I often walk past this interesting tree on my dog walks.
Puzzle Tree 2
I call it the Puzzle Tree, because pieces of bark fall off in chunks, and you can pick them up off the ground and try to match where they came from on the trunk, by the pattern.
Puzzle Tree 3
It is the only one of its kind around my area.
LM and Puzzle Tree 4
Little Money takes a closer look!
post script: A search on google says this tree is an American Sycamore.
post post script: Yesterday’s post, the enigma of Snow White’s apple, was solved by Midwestern Plant Girl, who wrote a post about it a while back, which you can read here. I had read this post, but forgotten (doh). So the apple is a chimera. I like the chimera cat in MWPG’s post.
Mad Cap Dog 