Seneca Hill Perennials

February 15, 2008

Our last full day here, and it’s been a wonderful trip, but I am ready to go home.

Started the morning off badly with my insides in a minor turmoil, but the morning’s schedule was such that I had time to work through it, lie down and doze a bit before we ever got moving.  Dawie’s assistant was supposed to pick us up c. 9:30, but he actually showed closer to 11AM.  We left him to collect seeds for Dawie (in his official capacity, D is a horticulturist w/ some gov’t dep’t, and he runs a nursery which distributes 20-30,000 little trees annually to communities and schools – he estimates maybe 10% get cared for and survive, but it’s an excellent idea) and headed off to Kerkenberg to see the Kniphofia multiflora that grow on the backside of the memorial to Piet Retief and the Boer trekkers who came through there on their way to Natal in 1837 (PR’s daughter painted his name and the date on the inside of the stone cave there, on the occasion of his 57th b-day); the knips were only in bud, though.  Stopped nearby to photograph Gladiolus papilio and nab a few seeds; then stopped to photograph Brunsvigia grandiflora and collected some nearby seeds of Hypoxis colchicifolia, from a plant that was loaded with stems; stopped a little later to collect Gladiolus dalenii seeds (I am assured they are likely to have green flowers).

Eventually we arrived at our new digs, across Sterkfontein Dam (i.e. reservoir) from the chalet we stayed in for the last two nights, where we couldn’t book tonight.  This new place costs more – 700R for the three of us – but it is splendid where the other was rudimentary.  John and I said our good-bys to Dawie; Cameron was not with us, because he had set off early in the morning with the Germans (Petra and her group) to take them to Sentinel; so John and I spent a lovely afternoon wallowing in the luxury of a spacious, clean, well-equipped chalet, reading, chatting and relaxing.  It was very nice.  John prepared a magnificent dinner of roasted vegetables (sweet and white potatoes, courgettes) and roasted chicken breasts seasoned and left to sit for a few hours with some Moroccan spice rub; for dessert he managed an apple pastry by “caramelizing” apple slices (simmered in a frying pan and flavored with a little OJ – we have no spices), adding a few little sour blackberries from the adjoining field, placing the fruit mix in a casserole and topping it with a lid of ready-made puff pastry.  It could have used some cinnamon and such, and cream on top, but it was a pretty impressive production given what he had to work with.

Cameron finally came home at 6:30, precisely when J and I panicked and walked down to the reception bldg to see whether the Germans’ two cars were still parked there and, if they were, to start debating how to find him.  We arrived there just as he pulled in with the Germans.  The guy really is amazingly tough – two days crawling around Sentinel, the second about 11 hours long from start to finish.  Anyway, he was very happy to be handed a cold beer and sat down to a full dinner, and we all had a very nice time expressing our thanks and happiness with the trip.

After dinner Cameron worked out the accounts and figured out what I owed him.  He and John pored over his photos and got some more ID’d, while I tidied up my files (after washing the dishes).

Before Cameron got back I had a lovely long talk w/Doug and got caught up on the Presidential campaigns (Obama moving ahead of Clinton) and the Westminster Dog Show (won by a beagle, alas). 

So all is pretty much ready – bags mostly reordered for travel, though I’ll have to figure out how to dress in the AM for some botanizing while staying clean enough to slip into travel clothes at or before the airport.  Logistics.  Got the rest of my seed either cleaned and packed into mailers, or discarded, depending. 

And that is that.  As all travel writers tell you, travel is partly about self-discovery, and I think I have worked out some useful things for myself on this trip.  Africa is not where I belong; home is where I belong; but it’s sure been interesting.