Fever dreams

I lost a day this week to self induced fever dreams. Not knowing what the kakistocracy* will bring, I chose to submit to an annual Covid vaccination. While my body did due diligence and responded appropriately to the injected material, I was late de-icing the birdbath when a rather unique wanderer stopped by.

Identification is either. Black Headed Grosbeak, or a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. However this little fellow doesn’t really fit the coloring of either male or female of these birds, and, if the latter, is out of normal winter migration range. I’m more inclined to settle for him being a male and a hybrid. A mongrel of sorts. I have read that these grosbeak cousins do interbreed on occasion when populations are scarce.

But what do I really know? I’m an amateur twitcher, a homemade from scratch naturalist using the internet and apps as my tutors. I welcome correction by any expert birder out there.

Meanwhile, on a slightly fevered foray into thin sun outback it was discovered that Foxy Ferox, the maybe Aloe ferox (Cape Aloe, bitter aloe) is putting out a flower spike.

Identification on this aloe is questionable, like the bird. I adopted Foxy in 2020 as a pup from a neighbour who identified it as Aloe Ferox and counseled that it should come inside in winter. After a year or two in a pot, I made a rock warmed niche in a rockery for Foxy and abandoned her to the elements. She survived last winter with a blanket of cottonwood leaves and a bucket over her on the rare couple of nights which promised to be below 25 F. Foxy might also be a hybrid. Aloe are good at that, apparently. I’m attempting to nurture a resilience to northern Chihauhauan desert winters in her, as in myself. Cold isn’t my favorite condition.

The vaccine induced fever only lasted a night and a day. Blue skies, warm sun, drifting leaves, birds, plants and a new design to carve** in the autumn-beautiful outback got me through the immunisation reaction. Not sure the same solution will work for surviving the kakistocracy though I’m going to give it my best shot. I have great teachers, after all.

*it sounds like a South African multilingual slang word, but kakistocracy is a real term which I first encountered in political philosophy classes with Prof Terence Beard (yes I managed to stay awake) in 1975. With its root in Greek language, it means government by the worst, least qualified and most unscrupulous.

Oh! for the days of a naartjie in the oligarchy.

**The new design, working title: Fever Dream of the Kakistocracy, or Snake in the Woods will be coming your way in a four colour block print card form in January 2025 to usher in the Year of the Wood Snake. If you don’t get a card and want one, let me have an address.

The design will also be available in 2025 in a single colour limited edition print on cotton canvas library book bags/ market totes and cotton dish towels. I’m not holding my breath for a warm welcome in the marketplace. It’s not one of my more accessible designs but I love it. Printed repeatedly on cloth, the design ripples and swirls like the reflected light on water which I can disappear into when I paddle. I might even make myself an item of clothing with cloth printed in this design. Because why not clothe oneself in ripples of light?Or snakes in the woods.