Not quite there yet

The antibiotics kicked in at last and I am weak as a mewling kitten but slowly getting better. The housemate may need to go into hospital for more tests and  meet with a cardiologist. And this week there will be protests and  strikes all around us, police and army  moving in, the farm  workers desperate for pay increases.

But right now it is  quiet and overcast, birds mobbing the red flowering clusters dripping nectar on  the ‘farmers’ weeping bean tree’ next door. This broad-spreading  tree (Schotia brachypetala) is one I know from much higher up in Africa, beyond Limpopo and Swaziland, across Mozambique and  Zimbabwe, and it is also known as the huilboerboon, tree fuchsia or  African walnut. The  clusters of brilliant scarlet flowers overflow with copious nectar. This is  such a feast for the birds and there is enough nectar for  all of them, from the  larger starlings to the  malachite sunbirds and white-eyes. The seeds can be roasted and eaten as beans and the heartwood is a dark walnut once used to make wagon wheels. When I was a child, my sister and I  would  sit on rocks  near to the  flowering tree and try to count birds.

And right now I must take my  blank head and  feebleness back to bed. The dogs find me a very dull companion and I’m not much of a blogger either. Taking it slow.

 

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