From my Window...

Thursday was a much cooler day, with the humidity almost gone entirely, and today Friday is warmer again.

From my window, today

Back In Stratford

A pair of passing ducks settled in the swimming pool the other day. Abby was very interested. They swam around for a bit then flew off.

The eagle type birds we saw circling overhead do seem to be Turkey Vultures, it looks like that one

At the Trailer at Bayfield

Vette's in the Park

Last night (Friday) we packed the car and drove to Bayfield, about 60 km northwest of Stratford where my family have a trailer.

Today was the first day that has been really sunny and we took a walk into Bayfield and

Stratford's Pets

The Stratford Swans

Friday dawned overcast with showers. It's a bit cooler but still humid. Glynis and I went downtown to see if we could find a jeweler to repair the minute hand of an old clock. On the way home we drove along the bank of the Avon River and saw "Stratford's Pets", the herd of swans. In April each year after spending the winter indoors, the Stratford swans waddle through the streets of the city to the sound of horns and bagpipes. Their destination is the Avon River where they remain until the following autumn. Yesterday I spotted 4 Golden Eagles riding thermals over the house. These eagles are

Back in Canada - 2013

 

Flying over the Alps en route to Amsterdam,
The Netherlands

After deciding in January this year (2013) to visit my sister and family in Canada, the time had arrived and I landed at Pearson Airport in Toronto at 19:40 on Tuesday 2nd July after a total of 17 hours flying and a 5 hour stop over in Amsterdam.

Ear plugs and an anti-nausea tablet helped to get through the 10 hour flight from Johannesburg to Holland. Keeping a look out for a pass over the southern tip of Greenland made the 7 hour flight from Amsterdam to Toronto a bit more enjoyable.  The cloud was broken as we neared Greenland so I was able to see some of the jagged coastline as we flew over, but cloud covered the rest of the ice covered island

Bush Baby

Lesser Bushbaby

I was woken last night at about 3 am by a sound I can only describe as a fruit bat with a guava stuck in it's throat - a very deep, loud squeak. I listened through the window and noticed it was moving in the trees. I got up and looked through my bathroom window and saw a small animal jump from one tree to another. It was not a fruit bat, because they don't jump and flop from tree to tree. After a short while I saw a small squirrel shaped creature emerge from the tree and walk along the telephone lines to a cactus tree where it stopped and pulled off some flower buds.

After some investigation on the the net this morning I identified it as a lesser bushbaby, Galago Moholi and borrowed pic from the net.

Photo: Duke University Primate Center

http://lemur.duke.edu/animals/lesserbushbaby/

(VIDEO) Christmas Day Durban Snow

On Christmas day, my friend Leon, his family and I had a bit of fun and put this short story out on national TV news that evening...

Belinda has always wanted a white Christmas, but with a family and the ever increasing costs of overseas travel, getting to see a white Christmas was not possible. But this year her husband promised her she would have some snow.



TX: 25 December 2009