Anne-apolis

 As I prepare to spend five weeks away from home, to be followed shortly after with some house sitting, I might not be writing on this blog as frequently. This blog has become a key component of my weekly life in retirement, and I spent many years before retiring planning a structure week-to-week. I spent quite some thought and energy with the help of some key mentors, in crafting my routine to be sure I have a good balance of the things that give me joy and purpose. I need to remind myself of which of these things to preserve, whether I am staying in a hotel room, with family or in someone else's home, and which things are ok to take a vacation from while abroad To start my day, I like to keep to a schedule of a couple of things that help to set me in a good frame of mind, whatever else I have planned for the day. First of these is my yoga: I have subscribed to an app that generates a curated routine, where I can set the duration and type of yoga. I normally spend 15 minutes on th...

  I have just spent the last few days examining a Masters dissertation on rainwater and grey-water harvesting for a student from one of the other South African universities. In the process, I have been reflecting on other projects that I have been involved with over the years, as I am very conscious of living in a water-stressed region, which will become an increasingly important concern in the next few decades.  First, a clarification on terminology: grey-water refers to any water that has previously been used, whether for bathing, washing clothes or other types of washing, but excludes waste water from toilets or urinals. This is called black water and requires very specialised treatment because of the pathogens in the water.  It is technically challenging to purify recycled water, whether from rainwater or domestic use, to meet drinking water standards. For obvious reasons of safety, this is highly regulated. So here I will be focusing on the much simpler consideration...

  My first hands-on exposure to fishponds was when I was in my early teens and my dad had proudly brought home some plastic sheeting that he had salvaged from one of his construction sites. We had a long and narrow garden, quite well under control at the top of the property with large sliding doors opening onto a lawn. Lower down the site, it became progressively wilder, with many indigenous trees planted by my parents and rough veld grass. My dad's scheme for the plastic was for the very highest part of the garden, where there was quite an outcrop of natural rock. The plan was to build a series of small fishponds that would naturally discharge into each other down the slope and would water the rockery below when the system overflowed. The idea was to keep it technically very simple, as it would have been disruptive and expensive to introduce pumps and irrigation through the natural rock. Our first task was to make some rough measurements, bearing in mind the size and shape of the ...