People cleaning windows on a high-rise building. They are seated in a open topped cage that is lifted up by a mechanical hoist.Man seated in a cage on a mechanical hoist. He is overseeing the construction of an outdoor stage for a music concert in Grande Place, Brussels. Horse and carriage with its driver on the streets of LondonMan serving ice-creams from an ice-cream van on a hot day in BrightonLondon busCarousel with its operators in London
The two challenges fitted together naturally for me this week.
Ode to a Giraffe
My spirit rejoices, sense of well being restored
Enthusiasm, returning as though never misplaced
Patience a virtue that brings its own reward
Anxiety and stress with peacefulness replaced
I bask in the liquid depths of your calm gaze
Silent queen who uses her voice so rarely
Chewing thoughtfully as if
Viewing life through a rose coloured haze
How I wish I could see the world so clearly
Instead, change has always scared me stiff
***
Oh, that I could derive such simple pleasure
From the action of consuming my daily bread
Absorbing the sun’s warmth as golden treasure
Grateful for nature’s bounty that keep’s me fed
Your gentle expression and swaying grace
Neck swinging in rhythm with your amble
Unworried and totally at ease
In you, trouble and strife find no place
Watching you, my thoughts unscramble
Floating away on grace’s mellow breeze
***
Within the borders of this manmade sanctuary
You are free to follow your natural instincts
No familial burdens to make you weary
Societal expectations, wordless but succinct
Within the boundaries you are free to roam
Unimpeded by responsibilities choker chain
That always pulls me up short
Despite the fact we ultimately walk alone
It is necessary for us to share other’s pain
Obligation and duty not easy to thwart
***
Your environment artificially maintained
By humans who are deemed more intelligent
Yet, it seems our hands and feet are chained
To the way of life that’s our inheritance
I seek out your environment as my escape
From a frantic world spinning ever faster
Core central pillar
Pivotal in the wild and untamed landscape
My soul temporarily heals, avoiding disaster
Nature acts as my life’s tiller
Sunday Stills and CFFC
Terri’s Sunday Stills challenge is animals with antlers, horns and hooves. I am featuring the giraffe that inspired my poem above. Giraffes have hooves. Giraffes do not have horns. They have ossicones which are horn-like, skin-and-fur-covered bone structures on top of a their head’s that develop from hardened cartilage. You can join in here: http://secondwindleisure.com/2026/09/20/sunday-stills-animal-of-the-month-antlers-horns-and-hooves/
Dan’s challenge is where/what/when we vacation. Naturally, I mainly vacation in the bush either at a safari lodge or some other facility that is close to animals and nature. You can join in Dan’s challenge here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/09/21/where-what-when-we-vacation-cffc/
Isn’t this just the most beautiful giraffe you ever saw?
This is a portrait photograph of the same giraffe. These photographs were taken at Welgevonden Private Game Reserve in South Africa.
This photograph is of TC and I celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary at Welgevonden Private Game Reserve in February this year. There is a herd of elephants in the background.
The above photograph is of a Cape buffalo. Cape buffalo have large, heavy horns that typically curve downward and then sweep upward. In mature Cape buffalo bulls, the bases of the horns fuse together across the forehead to form a heavy, hard bone shield called a “boss”.
Today, I’m participating in six challenges. I think that is a record for me. Between the new job, my parents and their medical and other needs, and my painting, I run out of time every single week. I do write three articles a week for LatinosUSA and two a month for Writing to be Read and those are of my own crafting, so I don’t feel to bad about not posting personal blog posts as often. There are only so many hours in a week. I have also been experimenting with cakes for my parent’s wedding anniversary celebration next week. My new firm closes on 15 December. I am very excited as I think I’ll be able to create a gingerbread house this year. I need about a week pre-Christmas to do that.
Anyhow, on with this week’s poems and photographs. PS, I am having trouble with WP which is flipping all my portrait photographs landscape if I use a slideshow or gallery format. Is anyone else having this problem?
Kim’s beautiful challenge is Adagio for Strings. I had a tough week trying to solve some complex accounting problems. The muse was stubborn and only brought this when I listened to the beautiful music Kim provided for inspiration. Bad muse!
A single clivia with the sun shining on its front blossoms
Picture caption: Two clivia with the sun creating dappled patters on some blossoms
A single clivia in full sunshine
Picture caption: Lion Scream – a protest cake that was based on The Scream painting by Edvard Munch. The burning volcano in the background and the river of blood represent the Sixth Mass Extinction that is currently underway. This one is manmade and not a circumstance of nature …
CFFC & Thursday Doors
These two challenges, hosted by Dan Antion, just went together this week.
Dan’s CFFC theme is where/when/how we shop. I decided to take you on a shopping tour of a few places in Brussels, Bruges, Bath, and Borough Market, UK (but not shopped at as I don’t like shopping). You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/09/14/where-what-when-we-shop-cffc/
Bruges and Brussels
Chocolate shop in BrusselsPaul’s in BrusselsA display of sweet treats in BrugesShop window in Brussels with a delightful display of mice families toys
Amsterdam
A street lined with shops in Amsterdam
The window of an art gallery in Amsterdam. I took the picture because I liked the artwork.
Entrance of the van Gogh Museum shop in Amsterdam. I like how van Gogh’s self portrait is displayed on the door.
Bath, UK
People queueing in Bath to go into Sally Lunn’s bakery
Borough Market, London
People shopping at Borough Market
I took this photograph as I walked into Borough Market
I am late this week with my W3 and Esther Chilton’s writing challenge combined contribution. This is partly due to the fact that my W3 poem did not meet all the stated requirements in the way requested. I bent the rules so I am publishing this with a reference to the W3 inspiration source but I’m not linking to the challenge.
Two orange butterflies on purple flowers in the DrakensbergBee on a cosmos flower in our local parkBeetle on a garden plantStinkbug on a garden tapButterfly on the outside flagstones
Warning, spiders ahead!
Some sort of orb spider in the DrakensbergThe same orb spider from a different angle which results in different lightingB&W picture of a golden orb spider in the bush
When I was a girl of nine, I contracted chicken pox. Within a week, my three younger sisters also went down with the virus. There were no vaccinations for chicken pox back then and Laura, aged one year old, and I were both very sick. I remember the day before the spots broke out in support of my claim of feeling unwell. It was a Saturday so we were all at home. I lay on a bean bag in the family room in a patch of winter sunshine feeling to ill to even read. My mother brought me a chicken mayonnaise sandwich at lunchtime but I could not eat it. Not even a bite. She was annoyed when she saw the untouched sandwich and said I was naughty to not eat it. She didn’t believe me when I said I was nauseous. On reflection, its strange that she didn’t believe me as I was never fussy about food and a chicken mayonnaise sandwich was a treat. I’ve never forgotten that she didn’t believe me. A day or two later, I came out in the tell tale rash and Mom knew I had chicken pox. One by one, the other children got sick and came out in rashes. The rash was itchy and I had to lie in a bath with Epsom Salts a few times a day to help sooth my skin which has always been ultra sensitive. We were all warned not to scratch the rash as that would leave scars. The only good thing I remember about this period is that I missed all the end of term tests for my grade. I was given an exemption from writing the tests due to contagious illness. I still have a few white scars along my hairline as testimony to my having had chickenpox. I never liked chicken mayonnaise sandwiches after this and still don’t ever eat them.
An interesting thing about this episode of childhood illness is that Mom never got chickenpox. We all assumed she’d had this virus as a child. A few years ago, my mother contracted chicken pox at the age of eighty four. This illness was a real test of her resilience and she had to be hospitalised for a few days. Her skin was yellow and she looked like a dried pear. It’s amazing that she cared for four sick children and never picked up the illness. Her resistance must have been good at the time.
Dan has featured the Japanese Room for his Thursday Doors post so I am staying with the Japan theme and sharing two doors/gates I saw in Japan in December 2024. You can join in here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/08/06/japanese-room/
Picture caption: The Akasaka Imperial Gardens front gate in Tokyo Picture caption: Heavy wooden gates of a Bhuddist temple in Tokyo
Picture caption: Purple iris. Photograph by Robbie Chealdle
This is my acrylic painting of a jacaranda tree. I particularly like it because when placed in the sunshine, the purples change colour and shades of pink, blue and purple become evident.
I’m late this week. I had planned to post this last night but I had a three-hour art class in the morning and then I had to take Mom back to the optometrist for more tests and to chose new frames for her two new pairs of glasses. My mother loves shopping and she can not be hurried, and shouldn’t be because she enjoys it so much, so she tried on just about every frame in the shop. We chose two really lovely frames and she is very happy. I was exhausted when we got home at 4pm as I learned a new technique at art which was quite difficult to implement initially (I’ve got the hang of it now) and then all the traffic and stress of the tests. The good news is the technique looks really good on my current painting and Mom’s eyes are doing a lot better.
This photograph of a gold roses cake I made for my mother’s birthday some years ago is the inspiration for this poem.
Picture caption: Gold roses chocolate cake
The Invastion (double tanka prose)
Whenever I see a shoebox, I am reminded of cockroaches. During the height of my cake making phase, I used to make a lot of fondant flowers. To create the cupped shape of the various flowers, I moulded tinfoil into a bowl shape of the correct size for the flower and carefully arranged the flower inside. I then placed the flowers inside a shoebox and left them to dry for at least a week. Some layered flowers, like roses, took me three weeks to a month to make as I gradually added additional petal layers week by week. I kept a collection of empty shoe boxes in my pantry and used them when I needed them. There were at least ten piled up on a shelf at any given time. Early one summer, I noticed we had several cockroaches in the kitchen. I set some cockroach traps around the room but the problem continued to escalate. A few weeks later, I decided to clear out the entire pantry in an attempt to get rid of the cockroaches. When I brought down the shoeboxes, I discovered they had been adopted as cockroach nests and the boxes were full of these nasty, little creatures. The boxes were disposed of, the pantry cleaned from top to toe, and cockroach traps set just about everywhere. This did bring an end to the invasion but I have never recovered from the horror of discovering all those revolving insects inside those shoeboxes. I no longer collect shoeboxes and am paranoid about cleaning under the fridges and stoves to ensure no unwanted visitors gain a foothold in my kitchen.
Picture caption: Young male nyala antelopePicture caption: head and shoulders of a hartebeestPicture caption: adult hippo walking down an embankmentPicture caption: head and shoulders of a dark maned lion lying in the grassPicture caption: spotted thick knee bird resting in front of the wheel of the carPicture caption: spotted thick knee bird standing in front of the wheel of the carPicture caption: close up of an adult male lion from the side
Terri’s Flower Hour
When I went shopping this morning I saw this gorgeous King Protea flower. I bought it to photograph with a view to paining it. Terri’s The Flower Hour prompt is patriotic florals. The Giant or King protea is the national flower of South Africa.
It doesn’t rain in Johannesburg during the winter. At least it never did until this year. This week, after the winter solstice, we got rain and a heavy mist. While in the traffic on my way into the office, I wrote this poem and took the accompanying photograph. Unusual for my home city.
Picture caption: I loved the doors of this building, 3 Place Denfert-Rochereau, Paris. The late evening sky turned the white of the building blue and the light glows a lovely yellow from the inside. I liked the arched shape of these large doors with the square inlay.
Click on the slideshow to view two giraffes that I saw at Welgevonden Game Reserve in the Waterkloof, South Africa. This is a series of three photographs of the heads and upper necks of two young giraffes against a bright, blue sky. In the first photograph, the two animals are close together but apart. In the second and third photograph, the two giraffes have crossed their necks at the top so that their heads are pointing in opposite directions. In the second photo, the animals are looking straight ahead while in the last photograph they are looking up with their heads angled upwards.
Picture caption: Dam at Pilanesberg Game Reserve with autumn foliage in the front and hills in the background. the predominant colour is misty bluePicture caption: small dam on the golf course at the Johannesburg Country Club in Woodmead. The sky is very blue and so is the water.Picture caption: Trees in autumn red and yellow at the Johannesburg Country Club. The sky is a bright blue.
Another crazy week has come to an end. My mother has had a terrible few weeks with blepharitis and severe eye pain. This condition, combined with her chronic dry eye has made her quality of life very poor. She’s been wearing a hat pulled right down over her eyes and the antibiotic cream made her practically blind. Very worrying for me from a fall risk point of view.
I took her to my optometrist at 7.30am this morning (she squeezed her in) and she now has a whole treatment plan to treat both chronic conditions. I’m hoping she will have no pain and be able to read again soon.
TC has also been in India for the last two weeks. He arrives home this afternoon. When he’s not home I have to do everything so life feels even busier than usual.
This is the main reason why my post is late this week but, as I always say, better late than never.
I’ve been learning colour theory for my painting. I am very happy with the results and will share a new painting incorporating my new skills soon. In the meantime, here is a poem about colour theory.
Esther’s challenge for last week was to write about pets. I’m late but never mind, I’m often late. You can read other peoples work and join in Esther’s new challenge here:
Dog Tragedy (shadorma prose)
When I was a girl of twelve we lived on a plot in Honeydew, Johannesburg. It was the second time we lived in this same house as my father had returned to his dream of farming part-time. The property was large with much of the ‘garden’ comprising wild veld grass and scrub bushes. My parents bought two pedigree Great Dane dogs because my mother had always liked this breed and there was a lot of space for them to run about. They were also supposed to be guard dogs but that didn’t pan out well because Harry and Lucy were exceptionally stupid animals. They were a lovely rich light brown colour, with friendly temperaments, and slobbery mouths. I have never been a big fan of slobber but I did like this gangly pair who were always delighted to see me and full of enthusiasm for life.
Some months later, my mother was asked to take another dog. The dog’s family was immigrating and they needed to rehome her. My mother agreed and the new dog soon settled into the family. Her name was Runt and she was partly Chihuahua and partly who knows what. I took a great liking to Runt and she became my dog.
The property adjacent to ours was a working sheep farm. The sheep were even more stupid than Harry and Lucy who took great pleasure in barking madly every time a sheep came into view on the other side of the fence. The sheep never knew what to do about the barking and just stood frozen until the dogs grew bored and moved on to new entertainment. Runt, however, was a clever dog. She also had the instincts of a hunter. Runt took a great interest in the sheep over the fence.
One morning, Harry and Runt were missing when we awoke. We called and called when breakfast was served but no dogs appeared. Eventually, Harry turned up in a bad state. He had been shot in the leg and was bleeding badly. My father had to take him to the vet for treatment. Runt never came home. Later that day, the farmer came to call. Runt had discovered a hole in the fence and she and Harry had wriggled through. Runt had led Harry in an attack on one of the lambs. The farmer, hearing the commotion, had shot at the dogs, killing Runt and injuring Harry. In those days, farmers defended their livestock by shooting any predators which is part of the reason why wild dogs and leopards are so endangered now. I was devastated when I learned the news and I’ve never had another dog since. We were told the lamb had died but there was never any proof of that.
