Summer Dragonflies and random sights at the river.

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A hot afternoon and no electricity made us to answer the river's call.
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This lady basking in the sun is an Elusive Skimmer (Orthetrum rubens) and they are endemic to the South Western Cape. Classified as rare.

We get regular chances to go out into nature as the power cuts shut everything down. Some shopping centers have generators to keep their businesses going, but who wants to be in a shopping center if one could rather be near the mountains and a river in nature?
Most of the power cut durations are 2.5hrs long, but then we have much longer ones that can stretch to 6-8hrs. So every day we have to monitor the power cut times and then plan our day of work around them.
But we do what we can.

A lovely stream and the river was low, as we had no rain.
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This river can get very angry during rainstorms, as the water flows off the mountains at a rush and many dead trees can attest to that.
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Just a wider look at the photo above.
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What you see below, is a line of smaller trees. These are young olive trees, as there is an olive farm on the opposite bank of the river. That planted hill is also on the farm.
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This doggy wanted to go to take a swing, but the owner restrained him.
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A view of the mountain from the river bank.
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Finally, the gold of sunset started setting in, and it was time for us to get back home.
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We are fortunate to have many places that we can go to during the power cut periods, but sadly we cannot travel too far out due to the terrible gas prices. In South Africa, we call the car gas by the name of "petrol", and we also have "diesel", but I don't know what this is called overseas.
They reckon that the power cuts will still last for a number of years, and by that time I will have taken photos of most everything around here from the biggest bug to the smallest ant, and many other of nature's residents in-between :)
But I am not complaining as life is a gift, and we have to make the best of it. As we only have the one chance.

I hope that you have enjoyed the story and the pictures.

And That's All Friends.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.

Thank you kindly for supporting a post on behalf of @papilloncharity

photography rivers dragonflies olives beauty proofofbrain neoxian silverbloggers amazingnature
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75 comments
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Great photos you have there, how i wish I am good at photography , I do admire great photos when I see them..

but who wants to be in a shopping center if one could rather be near the mountains and a river in nature?

Me!!!!!not when I go the shopping center to shop for the best shoes and clothes....just kidding..

But you are right.. nature is beautiful..very beautiful..

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Thank you for the kind compliment.

And a good joke as well :)

Nature is my future home!

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Wow! What an amazing place to explore. I love the dragonfly up close. Insects always remind me of aliens with their huge eyes :)

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I am happy that you liked the place and in fact, dragonflies have a pre-historic origin as the come from the dinosaur age. Olde world insects.

!PIZZA

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Seems like you never lost the mountain sight wherever you go, such beautiful background.
You're right, the gas prices hinders us from traveling around. Gas price rollback a little then rocket like crazy. The elites game.

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The mountains are my constant companions :D

Amazingly the gas prices always escalate during the end of year holidays as there are fortunes to be made for the new year.

Have a good Christmas my friend.

!PIZZA

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After much rain we have many dragon flies (I call them helicopters) attracting the swallows scooping through over the last three days, orchestrated melody of life on wings!

Have an amazing day!
!LOLZ
!WINEX

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Only the special birds in very fast flight can catch a dragonfly in flight. But the slower birds can get the helicopters that are sitting.
Watching the swallows getting them is indeed a spectacular sight.

Hope that your day was also good.

!LOLZ
!WINEX

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Only ever witness swallows enjoying feasting on wing, never noticed slower birds even capture them on the ground.

Have a great day !LUV

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(Edited)

Oh yeah, I was lining up an Emperor dragonfly hanging on a reed and of all birds, a Robin swooped in to take him away. I have also posted a Malachite sunbird with a dragonfly in its beak before.

Hope that your day was also good.

!PIZZA

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Merry Christmas, good to hear the birds have something between their teeth as well 😇

!LUV
!WINEX

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Thank you and I hope that you got some nice presents today Lady Joan 😊
Sad though to see them with my dragonflies 😥

!LUV
!WINEX

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One placed there for another, no presents only a lovely meal together as we do traditionally of late. !LOLZ

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I felt so out of place, as normally it's just the two of us on Christmas day. But Marian's aunt invited us for lunch and we decided that we will accept for a change. Her aunt's sister (80) was also there, and her daughter rocked up with her boyfriend. The great thing was that they brought their 3 rescued dogs with and so with her aunt's two dogs we had a crowd of 5 dogs.
So much fun to watch the dogs at the pool !LOLZ

So yeah, we had a bit of a different Christmas day and glad that you guys also had a meal together.

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Always fun to be with family, Woody had a blast then settled in between my son and his wife to watch an 80s movie which had us all reminiscing and laughing our heads off!

Boxing day my sister in law and her daughter arrived (not my brothers child), we shared a cold meats and salad while Sarge and Woody played together in the rain, muddy footprints throughout the house....

Thursday I will be going up to my brother in Pinetown to enjoy some time with them, they have two dogs and a cat, always great to go up there and relax the afternoon away.

Have a wonderful week!

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Sounds like you and the pets all have a wonderful time and it is always great to enjoy quality time with family. That dog Neo also ran through the house and we had a laugh when he came out of the pool and splashed Marian with water during his shaking the water off.

Was that sister in law the wife of your deceased brother? Great that they visited as it maintains the bond.

I don't know Pinetown very well as only passed through a few times. but it sounds like you will have a good visit.

Today feels like a Sunday and we didn't even know that it was another public holiday, so we hope that tomorrow things will become alive again. I see that Eskom is also ramping up with the power cuts again as now Level 3 was declared.

So soon it will be "hello darkness my old friend" again !LOLZ

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Try keep contact with everyone, not as easy as in previous years.

Yes my late brothers second wife who sadly does not contact his children, I make contact with them regularly, one of those bitter pills you learn to swallow!

With floods in April we have not been to visit them in their home about half an hour drive. October we spent a week with them up in the Berg, year feels like it was endless with additional problems down here.

I believe by mid January the stages will escalate to 8, maybe worse, who knows when anything will be 'fixed'. Temporary repair for holiday makers to the coast has opened a door for us to travel to my brother, crazy but true, Toti is totally gridlocked every day with only two roads off the freeway completely congested as well.

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This is such a sad thing in South African families. When the principal dies, the truth in the forced relationships reveals itself. When a friend of mine died, he left the house to his kids, with the condition that his wife, their step mother would live in the house until she passed away. Only then would the house go to the kids. Well, the kids forced their step mother out of the house, sold the house and emigrated to New Zealand.

Well a comfort is that you will see them now again, as a 30 minute drive is not far. Good that you saw them at the Berg.

It's all up in the air about the power black outs and I think that they are punting for the Karpowerships.
No more power cuts when the ships are plugged in, but it will kill the sea life in the surrounds.

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Every family has skeletons in the cupboard, best to leave them there....

West and East playing tug-o-war over Africa again same as Angolan war, world still none the wiser about our history, we have been here before.

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Yep! One can forgive, but never forget.

It seems that the world simply ignores history. The Angolan war was a mess with both sides claiming victory, and methinks that this will simply happen again.

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Irony is no one follows the actions taken over past instigators, try rectify, hence it continues.

We can only hope new projects, mindset and people take cognizance toward debated change.

Dragon flies swarming late afternoons like crazy here beautiful to watch too small to photograph.

!LUV

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these photos are very good quality and you have captured very good moments, congratulations

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(Edited)

Thank you and I am lucky to have a good camera. I spent a lot of time to practice with camera on dragonfly photos and it made things much easier to get the bigger things.

!LUV

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That's good, practice makes us do everything better.
Thank you. 🌸🌸

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Petrol is Benzin here and diesel is Diesel 😀

Somehow the power cuts have a positive effect: you get out and return with beautiful photos of the amazing landscapes and wildlife around you - I love the dragonfly shots most today 😊

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Benzine is a solvent here that we use to clean small fast moving machine parts, because of its quick drying actions. Some watch makers also use benzine to clean the moving parts inside the watches.

Diesel remains to be diesel 😉

Now with the new inverter battery, we will not have so many power cuts anymore. It can do up to 4 hours of power cuts, but the advice is to stop it at 3 hours in order for the battery to last longer.
However, the longer power cots 5-8 hours will still get us 😥 !LOLZ

Glad that you love the dragonflies my friend 😊

Cheers and thanks.

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Yep, we call such Benzin "cleaning benzin" 😉 !LOLZ

I do hope that my battery / power bank will never be needed except when I'm on a trip, but I am happy that now the power cuts will not be so bad for you anymore.

In 2023 I will take a photo of a dragonfly, promised 👉😀

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Thank you for your witness vote!
Have a !BEER on me!
To Opt-Out of my witness beer program just comment STOP below

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The difference is that our cars cannot run on Benzine 🤣 !LOLZ

Good to know that you already have a power bank and I hope that you will never have to use it at home.
They are very expensive here and ours is a "Kool Energy" 1.5kw Inverter with a Lithium battery.
Imported from China methinks.

You have promised that in 2021, 2022 and now in 2023, so maybe in 2050 I will start to believe you 😜

Cheers and thanks.

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I have bought the power bank after I bought the van and use it to recharge my laptop and other things when I'm on the road, but I haven't used it a lot yet.

2023 is the year of my dragonfly, believe me, my friend, I will take a photo of a huge dragonfly ... if I find one 😂 !LOLZ

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Well it is good that you have one and I hope that you will never need it for a power cut 😉

Beware, oh beware my friend, as if Mother nature finds out about your plan, she will make sure to only give you some frog photos 🤣 LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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Me too 👍

Oh, frogs can also look nice, and maybe I find one that has just caught a dragonfly 😉 !LOLZ

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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Shame, my heart would bleed if I saw a frog photo with a dragonfly in its mouth. I was even angry at a Malachite sunbird when I saw that it had a dragonfly 😥 !LOLZ

Cheers and thanks.

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👉🐸😁 !LOLZ

Have a !PIZZA from me, served with !LUV
!invest_vote

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That is a serious mountain range and I can just imagine the river raging during the rainy season.

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And a Merry Christmas to you madame.
That raging river has flooded the town a few times in the past and thankfully now they have installed concrete channels to lead the flood waters past the town.

!PIZZA

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