Tag Archives: orange

Yellow fields and blue skies

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Yellow fields and blue skies
We took a drive out to Riebeek Kasteel - a little town in the Riebeek Valley recently. If you've been out into the Cape countryside, I'm sure you'll believe me when I say that the view in real life is so much prettier than what this photo portrays!

In case you're wondering, the white nets that you see in photo cover the grape vines. I assume that they're used to protect the ripening grapes from the harshness of the sun. It's curious to me though that only this patch is covered - do you think it could be because this particular patch is used to provide grapes for late-harvest wines?

Red leaves

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Orange vines, red leaves
These could be some of the last autumn leaves to fall. The signs of Spring are already starting to show in our garden - we have a lemon and naartjie trees full of fruit, our proteas have started bearing flower heads, and the air smells fresher than ever.

Even though we've been having great weather, it's not quite time to put away the warm clothes and double duvets. This little taste of warm weather won't last too long - winter isn't over yet! :)

Orange leaves glowing

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Orange leaves glowing
So far we've had far more grey and wet days this year than last. If you were here during the World Cup football you'll remember that we had plenty of cold-yet-sunny days in June/July.

Even though it's been very wet, grey and cold we have had the odd sunny day, and even though it's still cold the sun and blue sky is a welcome reprieve from the winter grey.

I, and perhaps the rest of Cape Town, may complain about the wet and grey conditions, but this is tempered with memories of 2003 when we had much less rain than normal which led to summer water restrictions. In reality, we're grateful for the rain, but I have to be honest and stay that I'd far prefer Johannesburg's warm and rainy weather!

The vineyards are orange

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The vineyards are orange
On 2 February 1659, Jan van Riebeeck (founder and Dutch Commander of the Cape), produced the first wine recorded in South Africa. Today Cape Town and its surrounding areas are well-known for wine production - possibly because of the ideal weather (not too cold, not too hot, with a lovely summer sea breeze to cool the grapes) but more likely because of its inhabitants love the drink (arguably) a little too much. :)

This is a closer view of the vineyards shown in yesterday's post about graffiti. Many vines in vineyards over Cape Town have already lost their leaves, but like this one, some still have a beautiful red/orange hue.

Strelitzia, the bird-flower

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Strelitzia, the bird-flower
Given its appearance, it's no wonder that the Strelitzia is some times referred to as the Bird-of-Paradise, or Crane Flower.

The Strelitzia Reginae is indigenous to South Africa - and in fact, although this isn't ours, we do have one in our garden. The foliage of this plant is evergreen and the large leaves are shaped a little like those of a banana tree - only smaller.

An interesting piece of trivia, that may help you out in a game-show some day, is that (according to Wikipedia) the Strelitzia is named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of King George III - although, I believe the flower is somewhat prettier than the painting of the queen shows her to have been. :-o

The sun sets on summer : 3#6

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Sun sets on summer (and a pirate boat)
The boat that you see in the distance is the Jolly Roger - the pirate ship that parents sometimes hire out for kiddie parties.

Wouldn't it be awesome to hire the boat for an adult pirate party - at around this time of day?

In case you missed my previous post, I'm publishing a few photos of the sun setting on what could have been the last warm day until summer arrives at the end of the year. See the previous photo in the series here.

The sun sets on summer : 2#6

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The sun sets on summer
Every once in a while Cape Town's setting sun treats us to the most beautifully brilliant-orange hue. I believe this has to do with the frequency of red and orange light being far lower than the other visible light in the spectrum. On days when a lot of dust has been scattered into the atmosphere the light with a higher frequency is easily blocked by the dust particles, allowing mostly the low-frequency orange and red light to reach us.

But, that said, I guess it's best not to think about the physics of light and to just enjoy the beauty of it. :)  In case you missed my previous post, I'll be publishing a few photos of the sun setting on (what I suspect may have been) the last reasonably warm day until summer arrives at the end of the year. See the first photo in the series here.

The sun sets on summer : 1#6

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The sun sets on summer
It's kinda depressing that summer appears to be over. I'm really not enjoying this cold weather that we've been having of the past few days.

You may have noticed that I'm about a week behind on publishing photos. So, please excuse me while I take the opportunity to catch up by posting a small set of photos that I took on Friday. This set of pics may after all turn out to be the our last reminder of Cape Town's last warm day until summer arrives!

Do you recognise the location?