January 31, 2008
First day in South Africa, spent in Napier (Cameron and Rhoda’s home) and environs.
Backtracking a bit, the trip here went surprisingly well. Was a bundle of nerves beforehand, but successfully negotiated the shuttle ride to the airport, checking of luggage, etc. Having made the mistake of actually arriving 3 hours before departure (totally, totally unnecessary), sat around airport much too long. Had window seat and companionable seat partner (Penny, originally from Durban, now works some with hospice and with arranging at-home waking of dead and “green” burial – unusual occupations– …). Flight went fine, aside from sleep disrupted by two very loud, drunk missionaries in seat in front of me, who compared notes on when they found Jesus and were actually overheard saying things like “we have the Truth”. Eventually I asked them to keep it down, and they did, for a few minutes. Flying time is approximately 14.5 hours, Dulles to Johannesburg. Jo-burg airport much improved over last visit -accosted only once by helpful tip-seeker (politely rejected). CT flight left on time – SAA seems much better at on-time departures than are US carriers. Baggage delivery is extraordinarily slow, though. Met by dear Cameron and embarked on 2-hour drive home, with ongoing lecture about geology, soil types, and major crops of areas we were passing through (in the dark). Home by 10: 30 PM or so, greeted by Rhoda, cup of tea and chat – amazed to find self feeling perfectly OK, not exhausted, not disoriented. Took a shower, slept like a log, woke at 7 AM, fell asleep again and got up at 10 AM, thereby throwing everyone’s schedule off except my own. Felt great.
After breakfast, Cameron took me up Napier Mountain to see the fynbos – absolutely astonishing, despite the fact that this is of course a winter-rainfall region. They have had unusually high summer rainfall this year, so things are unusually green. Saw many ericas, quite a few in bloom, including the low-growing large-brilliant-red flowered E. cerinthoides. Admired Watsonia schlecteri and Pseudoselaga pulchra. Did not take notes – just enjoyed. Located several plants of the blue Disa, Disa graminifolia. Visited colonies of Haemanthus sanguineus and Agapanthus africanus; also saw Disa cornuta, Protea cynaroides in bud and seed (but no open flowers), and plants (no blooms) of Erica recurvata, a spectacular and spectacularly rare Erica, only rediscovered in 2007. Photos taken w/new camera were mostly bad, reminding me of need to spend a lot of time learning the ropes (or buttons).
After lunch – nice salad of quinoa, tuna, cucumber and apple, finely diced – downloaded and studied bad pictures. Cameron showed me around their backyard nursery, a fascinating higgledy-piggledy mish mash of amazing plants, some pets, some for sale, all potted (mostly in black poly bags). Ceropagia mcmasteri (his own discovery, from family farm in Cathcart) is blooming with elegant upright spidery chalices of green, brown and white –quite wonderful – Brachystelma cathcartensis is loaded with seed pods (put in request for 100 seeds). Cameron went to rest, and I got to work figuring out how to get more out of my camera, with particular attention to careful focusing (autofocus is bad choice for plants – it and I disagree about desired focus) and controlling exposure (camera tends to overexpose a bit). Also discovered white balance settings, and found color temperature was set so as to (probably) produce too-blue pics. Think I’m getting a slightly better notion of what the machine can do. More study tomorrow.
Am told John Manning will arrive tomorrow PM, and we will set out at 4 AM Saturday for Glen Avon in Somerset East. Am also assured that we are in fact going to climb that 100-ft chain ladder to the top of Sentinel Peak. Have expressed my enthusiasm (not).
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