Terri’s topic this week is colours of lava and black. I am sharing some of my photographs from inside the Sudwala Caves in South Africa.
This is what Wikipedia says about these caves:
The Sudwala Caves in Mpumalanga, South Africa, are set in Precambrian dolomite rock, which was first laid down about 2.8 billion years ago. The caves themselves formed about 240 million years ago. They are one of the oldest caves in the world.
Picture caption: TC and I in front of Samson’s Pillar inside the Sudwala caves
My photographs are of Chateau du Chambord in the Loire Valley in France.
Picture caption: Photograph of Chateau de ChambordExit into the lavish gardens at Chateau de Chambordfront entrance to Chateau de ChambordInternal entrance at the top of a short flight of stairsInternal door in Chateau de Chambord with short flights of stairs
The Double Helix Staircase
The double helix staircase is believed to have been designed by Leonard da Vinci and is the most striking architectural featuring of the Chateau de Chambord. Positioned in the centre of the immense square-shaped keep, the celebrated staircase comprises of two sets of staircases twisting one above the other to get to the main floors of the building. When two people climb the stairs at the same time, they can see each other at intervals but will never meet. The stairs were intended to be used by each of the King’s wife and his mistresses.
The two pictures below are my photograph of the staircase as drawn by an artist and my photograph of the staircase from my visit to Chambord.
The four photographs in the gallery below are animal shots taken at sunset in two different game reserves in South Africa.
Three hippos in the lake at sunsetA single hippo in the lake at sunsetThree giraffes feeding at sunsetA single giraffe feeding at sunset
The photographs below are some of my favourite animal and other captures during the day time.
A herd of Cape Buffalo drinking at the dam in the early morningA mother cheetah and her four young cubs feedingThe dam in the Pilanesberg National Park steaming after a sudden big drop in temperaturesA leopard pausing at the top of a koppie just before disappearingFive giraffes watching a pair of lions sleeping.
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
Well, that was enough poetic suffering, oops I mean creativity, for this week. Now on to some photographs …
Thursday Doors
These are some doors photographs from my trip to Paris in April. These photographs are of the Pont des Arts, Institut de France is located at one entry point of the bridge in Paris which crosses the River Seine. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2026/09/10/bbq-dam-lock-tour/
The Flower Hour
More beautiful wisteria photographs from this past week. They are starting to go off now so this will be the last of them. The purple irises benefited from the rain early this week and are plentiful and vivid.
Terri’s challenge is beach views. At first I couldn’t think of any beach pictures as I’m not a beach lover, but then I remembered the ones I took in January at St Lucia when I went to Cape Vidal at night to see the loggerhead turtle.
Last year I got no flowers at all. So this late July I started tending the vine. I watered it and fed it with fertiliser. This spring I have been rewarded with several lovely flowers.
Picture caption: A cluster of four wisteria flowers against the garden wall.
A close up of a single wisteria flower. Its petals are white and purple.
David is this week’s host and he has asked poets to write about life changes as follows:
Sometimes life changes enough that something familiar becomes new again.
“Think of something you have experienced in the past, are experiencing now, or imagine experiencing in the future: doing an ordinary thing you have done many times before, but under changed circumstances that make it feel like a first time.”
During our trip to the Kruger National Park last week we had the tremendous good luck to see an African fish eagle landing on its nest. It was making its iconic call known as the Sound of Africa.
I am introducing my poem with a video of the cry of the African fish eagle.
Loud, haunting
the yodel-like call
disrupted the music
inside the vehicle
Sound of Africa
ringing forth
evocative and stirring
We jumped. Looked
Encircled by leafy branches
African fish eagle landed
on its messy nest
head thrown backwards
projecting the sound
far across the veld
Picture caption: African fish eagle landing on its nest. I love the encircling tree.Picture caption: The typical calling posture of an African fish eagle with its head thrust forward.
Picture caption: This large safari vehicle has doors. The reason I took the photograph though was the little silhouette on top of the cab. What could it be?
The little creature on top of the cab in the vehicle photograph is a vervet monkey. This are adorable but also little terrorists who will steal very efficiently and effectively. This one had just pinched food out of the vehicle of a family of tourists. The family was quite shocked and horrified at having a bag of treats snatched out of the hands of a small child. Naughty it might be but it was so adorable with its look of complete innocence as it ate its treat.
And for Terri’s golden Sunday Stills a few pictures of Borke’s Luck Potholes. We were so lucky with our timing and the mellow winter sun turned the rocky facings to gold. Have I mentioned that yellow is my favourite colour (grin!)
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
