July 31, 2012

Clever Spider!
Unfortunately it did not make an appearance for the photo shoot.

July 30, 2012

Long after the beautiful orange flowers have gone, the Leonotis leonurus,
also known as Lion's Tail and Wild Dagga, still stands proud

July 29, 2012

Beautiful flowers at my brother's house.
The plant looks a lot like a Christ Thorn, but the stem is rough and does not have thorns.

July 28, 2012

What an exciting day I had today!
We spent the day as extras/background on the film set of "Mary and Martha"
I could not resist a quick shot of the back of Director Philip Noyce's chair

July 27, 2012

There was no time for a photo today!
We spotted this Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill in the Game Reserve last week.
Although it was quite far off the road, we were intrigued with the way it was pecking at the dung and then throwing its head back as if it had found something to swallow - Grubs or seeds?
We decided it has to be seeds because the dung seemed quite old and dry and grubs would
probably not have been living happily in there.
Such a beautiful bird and another "first sighting" to add to my list! 

July 26, 2012

Startled by the flash!
These beautiful wooden fish have been a part of my life for a number of years.
I love their eyes that seem watch my every move!
They always look quite frightened when I approach - fortunately they can't swim away!

July 25, 2012

"Draw out of the cup"
Long afternoon shadows, lovely lines with a touch of unexpected graffiti.
Yesterday I tried to capture the lines of the long corridor at school,
but was not satisfied with the result. Surprisingly today we had added graffiti.
I had fun with Picasa and I think the result is rather stunning!

July 24, 2012

A beautiful Mother of Pearl Butterfly playing hide and seek in the Bottlebrush Tree.
Last weekend children from a Children's Home stayed over in our boarding
facility during their visit to our beautiful little town.
While I was outside watering the garden, I watched the children playing hide and seek in the hostel grounds.
I have not seen that game being played since my boys were small! 

July 23, 2012

 The sign has seen 95 days ... and the countdown is now in the final stretch.

Only 4 days to go and today the rings went up!

Thank you Mrs Robins - you are so clever :)

Wikipedia: The five Olympic rings:  blue, yellow, black, green and red represents the five inhabited continents of the world, united by "Olympism", while the six colors are those that appear on all the national flags of the world at the present time.  (Designed in 1912, adopted in June 1914 and debuted at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics)

July 22, 2012

A Vygie flower - remains beautiful even though it is curling up to die.

July 21, 2012

Yesterday's photo has made me take a closer look at things that I never bothered with before!
I found this growing on discarded food scraps in the compost bin!

July 20, 2012

Mildew or Fungi?  I am not sure, but it does make a stunning Miniature Landscape!
One of the dog-food bowls have been missing for a number of days, and this is what was
growing in it when I discovered under the TV trolley this afternoon!
I find it quite interesting that the growth starts off as tiny round balls that seem to explode into fluffy little trees!

July 19, 2012

Soaking up the warm afternoon sunshine

July 18, 2012

By the time I got home from school today the light was bad and a chilly wind was blowing.
All I found to  photograph was a fly with an abundance of facial hair.
It kept on drumming on the flower with its forelegs as if tapping out a code of sorts. Eerie...

July 17, 2012

Make sure you all bee dressed up in winter woollies - legwarmers to boot!
We are having a rather cold spell, but still no rain for Zululand.

July 16, 2012

"But Mommy, I do NOT like vegetables....."   (I just love the expression on his face!)
This little Vervet monkey was chewing and chewing and chewing but could not get himself to swallow whatever it was. Higher up in the branches others were doing the same. Perhaps they were just chewing on the leaves of that specific tree to get nourishment from the juices?
Today was the first day of the new school term and needless to say, I did not not have time for photography. This photo was taken yesterday afternoon. My cousin and his wife (have not seen them for 5 years!) stayed over and I took them for a quick sunset drive in the Hluhluwe Imfolozi Game Reserve. Although we did not see much, we had a lot of fun and laughs while reminiscing about the care-free as well as not-so-carefree childhood days growing up in Kenya in the 1950's and early 60's. 

July 15, 2012

Barbets in different attire - all dressed up for breakfast at Maggiez! 

A Crested Barbet and a Black Collared Barbet came to visit

July 14, 2012

Perfectly packed Bottlebrush stamens.

It is quite amazing that such an abundance of stamens are packed into such a small 'parcel'

They come out all creased, but straighten up quite quickly - ironed by the sun ;)

The last photo shows the stamens have matured and are starting to burst open to reveal the pollen

July 13, 2012

 Hibiscus stamens always make wonderful photos. 

Today I experimented with my macro conversion lens and I was quite surprised 

to find that pollen grains (I used to think of it as powder, not grains) are spiky!

Probably to make them stick together - it makes perfect sense!

How awesome is The Creator - to give such attention to something so small.

July 12, 2012

Scientific name: Petrea volubilis

Common name: Petrea, Queen's Wreath, Sandpaper Vine,  Blue Bird Vine, Fleur de Dieu

The name Petrea was given to commemorate the name of Lord Petre, who, in the 18th Century, became famous for his wonderful collection of exotic plants. Volubilis means "twining." 

One of the common names "Fleur de Dieu" means "Flower of God"

http://toptropicals.com/html/toptropicals/plant_wk/petrea.htm

July 11, 2012

 Today I found out that the beautiful flower of the Strelitzia is followed by beauty in another form!

Above is an empty seed pod and below is a macro shot of a pod still containing the seeds.

The bright orange tufts are probably to attract the attention of birds.

Соединенные Штаты Америки использовали к началу зрители список @ maggiezlenz в течение длительного времени, но и России в настоящее время принято более. Я очень рад, что мои фотографии, которыми пользуются люди, которые буквально живут на "другой стороне Земли из Южной Африки. Ваша поддержка приветствуется. Google Translate замечательно - здесь я обращаюсь к Вам на русском языке! Любовь это :-)

July 10, 2012

This week I would like to keep with the floral theme, although there is not much flowering going on in my garden at the moment! We have had hardly any rain since Cyclone Irina at the beginning of March. 
This Wood Sorrel (Oxalis) grows in a crack in the cement in the back courtyard.

July 9, 2012

The beautiful Impala Lily (Adenium obesum) is now in bloom.

July 8, 2012

 You look totally ridiculous still wearing that Fascinator, Maude! 

The Durban July was YESTERDAY!

You're just jealous Muriel. It certainly still works for me.... I can feel it!

The Vodacom Durban July is the biggest betting horse race of the year in South Africa.
It takes place on the first Saturday of July and is also a major fashion event and platform for aspiring designers.

July 7, 2012

Awesome colours of the seedpod of a Mrs Garfield Lily. It was even more awesome when  round black seeds were lined up along the inner ridge - before the birds got to it!
Lesson # 99: Fetch camera immediately, don't think "that will make a lovely photo for tomorrow" :)

July 6, 2012

Mother was either scolding, or the youngster was not quite taken with the song....
I did not touch my camera today - this shot one was taken a while back in the game reserve 

July 5, 2012

Maggiez Patio Feeding Scheme!
Further to yesterday's post, I can't resist posting this one that I managed to get this morning.
There was much activity around the apple, with a few worried glances from the guys that were patiently awaiting their turn for a bite.

July 4, 2012

 The expression on this Mousebird's face was quite comical when it realised that breakfast had not yet been served! As if it could not believe it's eyes, it clambered even higher to have a closer look.

I have often wondered why there is so much apple left when I lock up in the evening, yet in the morning only the skeleton remains. I never suspected that it might be Mousebirds entering the patio area.

Unfortunately for this guy the Bulbuls and Barbets had a feast late yesterday afternoon. 

July 3, 2012

A very busy photo today, but being the first time that I managed to capture the beautiful
colour of the little Blue Waxbill, I decided to post it anyway.
Cute and fluffy - puffed up against the morning chill - these birds are only 12-14cm in size.

July 2, 2012

All in a day's work...
Today was spent in the kitchen - a batch of Marmalade completed, with a batch of
Tomato Jam still in the making.
Yummy!

July 1, 2012

A beautiful little female Stonechat.