Nature’s Little Barometers

 When I was out walking early this morning I noticed a steady stream of little white butterflies heading east. As the day has progressed this stream, has turned into a torrent and butterflies have been buzzing (do butterflies buzz??) past my windows all day. I love seeing these little creatures at this time of the year and I bore Lisa senseless by chirping (year after year after year) that nature’s Little Barometers are on the move and it is going to rain really hard.

Why do I call the white butterflies nature’s little barometers? Well, years ago one of my older cousins told me that when the air pressure drops the butterflies hatch; and when the air pressure drops it usually rains.

However, I thought that maybe I should check this on the internet and I have to confess that I can’t find any reference to the air pressure and hatching butterflies – or I just haven’t looked in the right place. But it does make sense doesn’t it? White butterflies = Highveld rainy season.

I did find this little snippet about them:

The white butterflies in South Africa (mainly Brown-veined Whites, Belenois aurota aurota, left) originate in the Kalahari and in other arid regions of the Northern Cape.  During some years, they have a massive population explosion where the numbers get so big that they eat all the leaves of the available food plants.  If the adults stayed in that area, there would not be any food left for their larvae so they move off towards the east, and lay their eggs as they go along.  They basically keep on flying until they die, but in many cases they actually reach the Indian ocean and are often still seen flying into the sea.

End of Year

Apart from wishes for peace and goodwill to all man kind there are a few other wishes I wish for.

Politics in SA:

I have just read Killing Kennedy by Bill O’Reilly. It is an excellent read and nice to have a bit of an update of the history of that era. A comment the writer made really stuck with me and is pertinent apropos Mangaung :

‘He (Kennedy) behaves like the president of the United Sates; a man who long ago stopped defining himself by party affiliation.’ 20 months into his presidency, at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I wish for a president to behave like a president of South Africa.

My Political Language:

These days I refer to politicians as ‘those M*@#$  F**&%s'. Judging the looks I get, I should possibly tone it down a bit and refer to them as 'those silly sausages'....but what the hell.

I wish people would appreciate a bit of good old fashioned swearing on occasion.

The Mayan Doomsday Calender:

Why do people believe this rubbish – the end of the world is about to happen tomorrow?  This is something for movies and SciFi thrillers only.

I wish people would focus on something a bit more constructive and creative.

365 Days Is Not Enough:

I am convinced there is a bunch of mad scientists at CERN cranking up that particle accelerator, thus making time go faster. (this is almost as bad as the Mayan stuff *grin*) Do you also feel that 365 days this year is not enough?

I wish time would slow down just a tad (or throw the mad scientists into the accelerator)

French Camino Walk:

Despite my thoughts a few weeks ago that I would walk only half the French Camino (because of time away) I have now thought what the hell, I will just do the whole thing.

I wish for the time (6 weeks) to do the whole French Camino.

All My New Year Resolutions:

Some on the list are bit difficult but there is nothing there that unachievable.

I wish (and hope) that I achieve them all in 2013.

Last But Not Least:

My very best wishes to you for a wonderful Christmas season and lots of happiness, wealth and good health for 2013.

The Duvet Effect

The Duvet Effect happens when you buy a new duvet cover.

You put it on the bed then take a look around to check how good it looks in the room. And horror of horrors, all of a sudden the curtains look dreadful and are pulled from the rails, the walls are painted and the carpet replaced. Because you have some paint left over, the passage gets painted, then the other bedrooms, then the carpets are ripped up and replaced with wooden flooring, the light fittings are changed, new bathroom suites installed, kitchen demolished and you even consider buying a new car. All because you spent R450.00 on a new duvet cover from Mr Price.

I have just gone, and am going, through this. I had the interior of my house repainted this week. It was sorely needed and something I have been putting off for ages, years in fact! I can’t stand the disruption; I can’t stand taking down all the pictures, curtains, stacking everything in the middle of the room. This really affects me – I was fussing over Bracken and Lisa pointed out that she was fine – it was me who was getting more and more ruffled and neurotic. The handy man Shane, who is charge of this painting operation, is also working his way through a long list of household repairs and maintenance items as well. He is back on Monday to touch up some of the paint issues and complete the repairs and everything is messy, messy, messy!

But to get back to the Duvet Effect. Yip, you guessed it. Blinds and curtains have found their way to the rubbish bin area, stuff is being chucked out left, right and centre, new frames being quoted for on pictures, I am about to rip out some light fittings, new curtains have been purchased, new furniture being considered and so it goes on.

I would seriously suggest that any quote you get for painting/repairs/a new duvet cover is multiplied by 10 and divide by .25; you might then be close to what it is actually going to cost you.

An Amazing Christmas Present

Lisa gave me the most amazing Christmas present this year. And she says it will over the next 10 years worth of Christmas, birthday and mothers day presents but I am feeling that it was well worth it.

I have been on a 5 day detox diet. The really super thing about this is that Brittany, the young lady who dreams up the menus for the detox, makes the food and delivers it to you every day. You get breakfast, snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner…all neatly packaged and each meal throughout the week is something completely different, extremely tasty and a nice surprise because you don’t know what you are getting until it arrives.

I could live like this for ever...

But here’s the thing – it is all veggie and all raw. Yes, all raw. Nothing is cooked and the blend of vegetables, nuts and seeds is quite amazing – you feel as if you are eating a brand new type of vegetable and you don’t feel like you are just eating veg and raw veg at that. Delicious and fresh tastes abound.

I felt a bit peckish on the second day but after that I was fine. Apparently it is the high nutrition content of the food that keeps you from not feeling hungry.

If you are interested in this detox diet you can contact Brittany through her website: http://joziuncooked.wordpress.com/ . The website by the way is quite a treat as well. Lots of interesting recipes etc. So if you are bored with same old, same old veg it is worth having a look at what you can do to jazz things up. (her email is joziuncooked@gmail.com)

This is a sample of a couple of the menus.

Habits and other things

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. Aristotle

Writing, like exercise is something you have to get into the habit of doing. If not everyday, you need to write, run or walk consistently. The point is: if you don’t write or exercise regularly you get out of the habit.

I have gotten out of the habit of writing. And writing is something I enjoy doing tremendously. I have put a lot of things have been put on the backburner, filed away for another day and there have been such very infrequent blogs. Likewise my exercise program has gone for a ball of chalk.

So before I get trapped in the NYR trap I have set my goals now, this month, before 1 January comes around.

I have made my list of blogs to be written and outlined the small little book to be written about Bracken. I have my plan in place.

I also have my plan in place for another pilgrimage next year – in September/October 2013 I will be heading for Le Puy in France to do the first part of the French Camino. It is about 800km from Le Puy to the Spanish border where the Spanish Camino begins. In a couple of years time I will start in Geneva and walk to Le Puy thus completing this entire route.

I understand that this section of the French Camino is really pretty and quite a ‘foodie’ experience – something to look forward to indeed. Nothing like a plan to get the exercise regimen on track and nothing like a journey to look forward to.