They were having some mid-afternoon madness - usually reserved for the late evening. This chap is getting chonky again in defiance of my meal planning. The box behind him is an extremely rare Gibson lap steel guitar from 1967 belonging to @sad_ivan (who was supposed to collect it after I discovered that fewer than 50 were known to have been made and hence they were a chunk more valuable than we’d suspected… but COVID).
The world has been too long deprived of Trinket! … or Bun as she’s known around here. I recently saw that a Youtuber I enjoy calls their cat, “Pigbunny,” which is a perfect cat name. My camera seems to be working fine with a different memory card. I’d already decided if it packed up, I’d just get another ‘obsolete’ model like it. This sensor apparently has quite the reputation for getting analogue-looking results. I’ve ordered a pair of native TTartisans lenses for it - a 50mm f1.2 and a 17mm f1.4 (cheap as chips at <US$200 for the pair despite very good reviews - which I think will be a super-versatile pair. It makes photography difficult - manual focus lenses shooting at fast apertures with very little depth-of-field to nail the focus. But it’s exactly like the film camera I’ve used for so many years. And when I do get a sharp picture at f1.4 and 1/60th it makes me very pleased. It’s a big chunk of the experience of shooting film without the cost… or the tedious scanning.
A grab-shot of my boy moments before he jumped up next to me where he is as I write. He had a scare the other day where he tangled himself in the handle of a paper shopping bag that then followed him making hideous noises no matter where he ran. Even after being rescued - and his assailant banished forever - he’s been a nervous fella for a few days. We shan’t let such grotesque monsters come into contact with our high-strung boy again.
We popped into The World of Birds the other day. I was remembering that I first went there in 1983 and have found it fascinating ever since. Apart from the rehabilitation they do (there are a huge whack of pied crows and spotted eagle owls no doubt mostly brought in injured) you get a chance to see birds up close in real life that you’d seldom or never get to see - like this handsome Amazonian Blue and Yellow Macaw. ...
Trinket likes secret places for her daytime summer naps.
Trinket enjoying a rainy sunday.
It’s not hard to love the warthog. Knee-high to most of the things you see on the savannahs and deserts of sub-Saharan Africa. Tough as nails. Trotting along with their maned and whiskered piglets in a train, their tails up like flags. Or down on their wrists nosing in the dirt. Unlovely but loveable - they’re jaunty endurance in the face of powerful challenges. This, like the last one, was taken in 2012.
The very beautiful Impala. While the lowveld is thick with these, I never get tired of them. One of the most beautiful and graceful antelope you’ll ever see. In full panic they make astonishing leaps during their dashes for safety - taking to the air like 75kg swallows. Impala is one of the all-time most beautiful animal names. But I also like the Afrikaans, “rooibok,” - which means simply red buck. ...
Klipspringers. Look at the little ballet hooflets. Found this as well, while scrolling through Lightroom. I got some great footage of Klipspringers over Christmas. Now I just have to bring myself to face Davinci and edit that stuff. In the meanwhile, here’s a pic I took in 2012 at about the same place in the Karoo National Park - Klipspringerpas. These are basically the Southern African equivalent of mountain goats. The name means ‘rockjumper.’ Those dainty little hooves do great work for leaping about cliffs and boulders.
This fat boy is as tranquil as ever - fastidiously washing his face. He’s taken to lounging about in the shade outside - including in flower pots with his limbs hanging out. One day he’ll let me photograph him like that.