{"id":607,"date":"2011-09-07T20:23:59","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T19:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=607"},"modified":"2014-04-14T08:01:37","modified_gmt":"2014-04-14T07:01:37","slug":"spring-has-sprung-in-windhoek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/?p=607","title":{"rendered":"Spring has Sprung in Windhoek"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Spring is definitely in the air in Namibia. \u00a0At least that&#8217;s what my daughter tells me &#8211; she informed me that September 1 was &#8220;spring day&#8221;. \u00a0Apparently in South Africa and Namibia, it&#8217;s not the 21st that heralds the coming of spring, but the 1st of September. \u00a0And given the weather these days, it&#8217;s not a moment too soon!<\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s not just the schoolchildren that herald the coming of spring (apparently Spring Day is the one day of the year they don&#8217;t have to wear their school uniforms). \u00a0Dotting the hillsides surrounding Windhoek, white blossoms have begun appearing on trees that otherwise are bare twigs &#8211; the blossoms precede the leaves. \u00a0I&#8217;m not sure what kind of tree &#8211; I think it&#8217;s some sort of &#8220;false thorn&#8221; (Albizia) but they are everywhere and it looks amazing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164746.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-608\" title=\"Image 201194164746\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164746.jpg?resize=600%2C337&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164746.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164746.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164746.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From a distance, it looks like these are traditional blossoms. \u00a0Technically, they are &#8211; but they are shaped like little fuzzballs. \u00a0Take a closer look:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165213.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-610\" title=\"Image 201194165213\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165213.jpg?resize=600%2C337&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165213.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165213.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165213.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165306.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-611\" title=\"Image 201194165306\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165306.jpg?resize=600%2C362&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"600\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165306.jpg?resize=1024%2C618&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165306.jpg?resize=300%2C181&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165306.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s that object to the left of the blossom? \u00a0Let&#8217;s fiddle around with the focus:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165320.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-612\" title=\"Image 201194165320\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165320.jpg?resize=600%2C337&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165320.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165320.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194165320.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you go back to the original photo you can also see the moon just above the tree.<\/p>\n<p>So spring has sprung in Windhoek, and now we are patiently waiting for the &#8220;rainy season&#8221; due in just a few short weeks. \u00a0For as they say, &#8220;October showers bring November flowers&#8221;&#8230;.or something like that.<\/p>\n<p>To close out this post, here&#8217;s one more version of the original photo, using a &#8220;soft black and white&#8221; effect:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164814.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-609\" title=\"Image 201194164814\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164814.jpg?resize=600%2C337&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164814.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164814.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Image-201194164814.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spring is definitely in the air in Namibia. \u00a0At least that&#8217;s what my daughter tells me &#8211; she informed me that September 1 was &#8220;spring day&#8221;. \u00a0Apparently in South Africa and Namibia, it&#8217;s not the 21st that heralds the coming of spring, but the 1st of September. \u00a0And given the weather these days, it&#8217;s not [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[339,70,107],"tags":[286,367,1794,1791,245,368,366,351],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-namibia","category-random-musings","category-wildlife","tag-blossoms","tag-botany","tag-namibia","tag-photography","tag-seasons","tag-spring","tag-trees","tag-windhoek"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2896,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/2896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tazmpictures.com\/site\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}