This is a close relative of our national flower, the King Protea. The protea in Paul's photograph is called 'Pink Ice', and it's been growing in our garden for about four years. The flowers are always so perfectly formed, and since I work from home, I love to go out into the garden and admire them when I'm having a bad day.
Which reminds me... our national cricket team is named after our national flower (don't laugh - we've just gotten used to the idea ourselves :) ), and they had a particularly nailbiting match last night in the Super 8 round of the Cricket World Cup. Judging by discussions on the radio today, I wasn't the only one pacing the room and having heart palpitations while watching the closing overs of the game. Sometimes it's tough being a spectator.