An African cold

Tina of the esteemed Lens-Artist quartet assures you that she is: “ looking forward to seeing your interpretation of cold. It could be snow and ice, or a frosty window pane, or even your favorite flavor of ice cream! While she inspires us to all things cold she is certainly not an ice queen or cold hearted.  To see her interpretation click here

In Africa ice accompanied cold spells are irregular and like the people of Africa: not common.  Coincidentally l used images of ice crystals for Lens Artists number #1. The wonder of Fire in Ice

In response to my contribution number #1 Tina (bless her soul) remarked: “Well Abrie, you pulled out all of the stops for our first challenge. I love your subject at both ends of the day, and the ice crystals are amazing. And only someone who is indeed “da man” would have seen that little heart. Well done my friend!!”

In life I must have done something right to receive such a comment 🙂  Thanks again and apologies for flaunting your comment Tina. I needed a bit of pepping up.

Abandoned outbuilding – multi textured photographic heaven coated in ice

On 10 September 1981 the date was engraved on many a school desk in the Johannesburg area of South Africa. On that day and only on that day in the 18 years I stayed there it snowed. The word “SNEEU” (SNOW) was therefore added to the date which reminds me:

I was 14 years old at the time and in standard 6, still young and naive enough to believe everybody wants to play. But we were forbidden to play outside because of the snow!! We had to stay inside during the breaks. This didn’t gel with my need for adventure. I organized a “strike”, no a REVOLT.  I organized some of the boys to chant with me ‘We want to play outside”. But the problem was the teacher was really beautiful. Our chant was met with an unfairly beautiful smile which melted the boys’ resolve and inspired in-action. By the third repetition of the line I was the only one chanting. My attempt to become a famous union leader melted like snow flakes before the sun. I was the mother of non-revolts.

At least in the afternoon at home I was able to build my first snowman. My opportunity to build the second one only came when my children had the opportunity to build their first – 30 years later. Oh by the the way what is the difference between Snowmen and Snowwomen – snow balls…

Cold fun

I have done a detailed Afrikaans post about our stay at Sutherland, but the photos in this post, I did not use before. While the best photos can be viewed via that post, I do belief I included some others with aesthetic appeal. I agree – this pepping up business is getting irritating.

Abandoned Bedford

Loved farm dog which loves the cold

Brown and white

We were stuck on the farm; fortunately there were a lot of frozen pizzas around

 

An African scene

“The value of shade is the warm sun around it”. CJ Langenhoven (translation from Afrikaans)

But in life everything is relative. On a cold day the shade of a tree is useless, indeed the value of shade is the warm sun around it. And the shade of a tree makes it a shade cooler than any other shade, because unlike a building it does not radiate heat. But nightfall diminishes the power of shade. In the sunny hours of summer the tree above will be the popular kid. While not in the middle of summer it is certainly summer and sunny in South Africa. The tree is the popular kid.