Columbia Valley Skulls October 2011

I don't understand such disrespect. At least take the entire head!
did they do this while there was still skin on the bones? I really do not understand. I hope I never understand.

No crown can really undo the arm.

This one was spare the infamy and is still complete, obviously not killed by a hunter.

I don't hunt but I understand hunting to eat but I do not understand trophy hunting. Also I should point out that both these skulls were found in a nature reserve.

Agapanthus

I have grown to realize that the name of this blog may be more appropriate than I had realized at the time. I realize now that I am for ever smelling things around me, noticing smells and particularly the smells of flowers. This alone would make it worth it for me to be in South Africa right now.
Truly I enjoy all type of flowers and the agapanthi (I imagine this is the correct plural form of agapanthus) are not scented flowers but still I think they are stunning.

 

These are not small flowers either. 

and the bees like them too.

Kid's photos

I always wondered why women would wear yoga outfits while shopping or generally away from yoga classes but now I know. As illustrated below: sometimes it is hard to tell where life will take you and you can find yourself in a spontaneous yoga pose.
Charlotte demonstrates the case in the photo below. One second you are walking around having a perfectly normal day. Then Kaboom, next second your body is taken over by a previous reincarnation when you were a master yogi.

Isn't she cute !?!?  And not to brag or anything (OK, I'm bragging) but she let's me hold her.

Her brother with another fruit. Contrary to what the photo seems to suggest he is her BIG brother... it is not that he is small it is just the pineapple is very big!

In fact he is so big that he was a scary warlord as Halloween this year.

Exhibition of African Photography in Bamako, Mali

You just have to go to BBC World coverage of this exhibit. How I which I could be there to see it "live".

Here is an example of the photos they show. This one is by Akintunde Akinyele.

Photos of a Normal Walk in the Area Where I am

It is hard to remember what I used to notice, but here are some totally plain and random photos of what I see when I take my friend's dogs for a walk.

Jacaranda trees lining the street.

Before the walk one of the dog is resting. It is a dog's life!

View of a house above its wall.

Hadeda sitting on the roof.

Metal representations of  guinea fowls on my front steps.

Petals on the ground.

Security, security! It is Johannesburg after all.

More jacaranda shots. I never tire of them.

View of a garden from the other side of the wall.

The back of my friend's house.

One of the garden I like walking by.

African see-saw.

Yellow!!

Cacti growing back to their wild state.

They mean it. They come with AK47s. It happened to me once because of a simple misunderstanding. I was living at fourth eleven street and when they ask my name their were checking the name they had for the previous renter at 4th eleventh street. My name of course appeared wrong to them which they took as a sign that I was telling that I was in trouble and they stormed into the house with their AK47. But it all ended well.

Eleven Eleven Eleven

Today is 11-11-11. (I felt I had to post a blog just to capture it)

It is going to be an easy birthday to remember for babies born today. But you want to be born in a culture where 11 is viewed as an auspicious number!

Funnily enough I remember where I was the evening of  07-07-70. As a kid I though it was pretty special and I remember noticing it in the evening while my parents were watching the news and when the newscast said the date out loud. But I can't remember where I was for 07-07-07, thirty seven years later things were not so magical anymore.

Fabulous summer days in Johannesburg

Weather for Johannesburg Wednesday November 10th 2010

30°C | 86°F

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Clear

Wind: NW at 19 km/h

Humidity: 15%

31°

17°

27°

14°

30°

17°

30°

12°

It is finally summer in Johannesburg.
Last week was in the low to mid 20C (mid to high 70F) which is not quite warm enough for my taste. But now the days are fabulous and the evenings are heavenly.
I should explain that in Johannesburg you don't get the real hot African temperatures because we area ta 1800m (5760') elevation, which is significant. As a result Johannesburg probably has one the best climate in the world....... I don't have to be here so obviously I like it.

Punjabi Lamb Curry with Spinach or Palak Gosht Punjab

I thought I should show you how nice the recipes from "50 great curries of India" were.
Remember this is a book by Camellia Panjabi


I made this one last night. It really is very nice, try it. You can choose how hot you want it and regardless of what you choose it is a very flavourful dish. I have to admit that this is one of the rare dishes for which I was unable to accurately imagine the flavour just by reading the recipe. It actually tastes a lot better than it reads.

- Fresh Ginger
- Garlic
- Green chilies (choose the heat you want right there)
- a little cumin powder
- Yogurt
         Puree together.

- Cubed Lamb
         Mix in yogurt mixture and let sit for at least an hour.

         While the lamb is doing its thing either defrost
- a package of frozen pureed spinach
             or blanched and chopped some
- Fresh Spinach

              In the pot where the curry will be cooked
- Oil
- Bay Leaves
- Black Cardamon (black only and not too many)
      temper

- chopped onions (quite a bit)
      add to spices and fry until soft and maybe even a little brown

- Coriander powder
- Cumin powder (about half the amount of Coriander)
      add to onions and fry for a couple of minutes then add a little water and let cook for another couple of
      minutes
      Add meat and marinade and cook


      Not too long before you are ready to serve add spinach and
- a little bit of nutmeg

Plastic Bottlle House

I am always interested in different cheap and practical ways to build small houses. In fact even though I have never built a house in addition to my collection of bread cookbooks and other cookbooks I also have a quite a collection of building books. My  favourite is one which is more theoretical than practical (but I also have very practical books such as a book about electrical wiring and about plumbing) which is called something like "build like you care" or maybe "design like you care". I can't remember its title and I am trying to find it on the internet to give you the real title but so far I have not found it.

Added later::
I found it at amazon.com it is:
"Design like you give a damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises";
Author: Architecture for Humanity; (come on go check them out!)
Editors: Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair.

All this to say that I found an interesting article about a house built with plastic bottles filled with sand. The technique is not entirely new. I remember clearly that the book I mentioned as my favourite had at least one building built with bags full of dirt, but just the same I thought it was interesting.
My one concern about it would be that the base of the bottles exposed to the outside and so exposed to the sun will become brittle and break. This of course would release the sand they contain which in turn would mean that they loose their structural strength. I would worry about the life span a house like this. In any of those container-packed-with-dirt/sand techniques the life span of the container (bag or bottles or anything else) pretty much defines the life span of the house. Or at least this is the way I see it. However the article mentions that not only is a house like this a third of the price a house built with bricks and mortar but it is more "more durable". I just can't beleive it.

Photo from the BBC World  News article, link below

 You can see how the bottles are exposed to the elements.

This is an article in BBC World News (which yo must know by now is my preferred source of internet news when traveling. You can find it here.
Of course another interesting thing about this is the fact that this project should make it to international news.

One more Look at the Area near Miette (Jasper National Park)

One last post about my last road trip in Canada. I started by going back to Miette Hotsprings (where I had already been once this year). It was a beautiful fall this year and it was nice to go back.

This one (below) is not actually near Miette. It is on the way there, where I camped the first night. The Drive from Calgary to Miette can easily be done in one day if you feel so incline but I didn't want to rush especially since I drove the David Thompson Highway to get there and from my point of view this has to be one of the nicest drive in the Rockies ...and that has to be saying something.

The area around the hotsprings is just amazing. Unfortunately this year there seem to be quite a few cougar incidents in the Rockies and the campsite closest to the hotsprings was closed because a cougar had killed a dog. So I ended up "camping" on the parking lot of the springs which was not as nice as being in a campsite with a fire it etc and I ended up staying for less than a week.

I don't think I can ever get tired of this particular mountain ridge (Roche Miette).

I did a lot of hiking, especially since I was supposed to be training for my trip to Patagonia (which has been canceled obviously otherwise I would be there right now) and looking at the photos I have I was surprised to see that I do not have pictures from the hiking. It is probably because I was into training and carried a heavy backpack (loaded with books!!!) more than into photo taking.

Here is a photo of hte view from Sulfur Skyline I took in August this year (the first time this year I stayed at Miette).

You can see the hotspring facilities in the valley and Roche Miette in the distance to the right.