Coast to coast across Southern Africa

19 Apr '07 2:38 am

Jack, how beautiful your photos were of the sky over this desert. The clouds, the rainbow, everything rivaled any garden. Thanks for sharing this amazing journy.

19 Apr '07 6:06 am

Hi, Jack - Wow! Another wonderful batch of pictures! The landscapes are so wide-open and seemingly endless! And the skyscapes are amazing! I half expected to see groups of kangaroos or emus, but, then, oops! Wrong continent! And isn't it interesting how the colonial peoples (everywhere in the world) built buildings just those at home regardless of the different climate!

The same, of course, happened here in Canada, where the first colonists nearly froze to death in their Brittany-styled homes without adequate heating, etc. Our winters (well, at least the winters in the East, where they first explored and settled) were quite a shock to them!!

Isn't it interesting how, only now, are we realizing that those indigenous peoples actually KNEW something about where they lived, and they knew how to take advantage of natural elements to help them thrive. Now we are finally building earth-sheltered homes and orienting them in the direction of the sun or planting trees for shade instead of depending upon air conditioning!! What works in Europe doesn't work so well in the desert, and what works in Canada certainly doesn't make sense in the tropics. And that's what makes the planet such a rich and wonderful place!!

Well, that's my sermon for today. Thanks so much for the pictures!

gordonf

19 Apr '07 6:55 pm

Jack! What stunning colourful skies!! Amazing! Your photo no 6, could be a prize winner: for its theme, clarity, colours, lighting, the peace and mystery it emanates!! I loved it!

20 Apr '07 12:01 pm

Thanks for the images, Jack. I particularly liked the sculpted rocks. Who needs modern sculpture with those around? You definitely make the desert a more appealing place to visit. Makes you think what a precious resource water can be.

28 Apr '07 7:24 pm

One last pic, to show my cuttings. All but one of the mesymbs and the gazania are growing nicely. But my desert mesymb, which was like a sponge filled with water when I cut it, and which I would most like to have succeeded, didn't. Interestingly there were two pieces that looked as though they might just root. Both of them disappeared overnight, some nights apart, from the pan in which they were planted. Except for an avocado with a good piece knawed out of it just before, I have had no sign of nocturnal visitors: no droppings, no stealings. So the lone pan on the right is my failure story. Next to it are the gazanias and then three pots with mesymbs. THe 'autumn' reflections are of a bag of oranges on the sink just catching the sun - it took me a while to figure that out myself Confused

1 May '07 8:58 am

Again, WOW!

Thank you so much for sharing the photos and description of a place I knew nothing about. You are lucky to live in such a beautiful land...

Coast to coast across Southern Africa

Gardens in the sky

Grand Pictures

Stunning skies!

Progress report: desert cuttings

Wow!!