catching up
Will I ever get caught up with everything?! I’ve just drawn April’s Review and Win contest winner… Taking the bonus entries for ‘first’ reviews into account, this month’s lucky winner is Rebecca P, with her review of my ever-popular AquaAmi Sea Turtle pattern:
I love this pattern, it is easy to follow and allows the crocheter to create a beautiful turtle. It is also the cutest and most realistic turtle I have been able to find.
Congratulations, Rebecca, I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize!
While I’m here, I thought I’d share a couple more Cape Town photos with you. Remember the ugly round tower block I’m living in at the moment? It was only when we visited Signal Hill and looked across the city towards Table Mountain that we fully appreciated what an eyesore the 3 towers really are: here’s a pic of them rising above the city and spoiling the view of the mountain:
We’re staying in the middle one. At least it won’t be for too long, and we have the spectacular views to enjoy while we’re up here 🙂
And one more point of interest: the currency (South African Rands, ZAR) has pictures of the Big 5 animals on it – isn’t that cool?! (Apart from the hunting connotations, but I’ll choose to ignore that.) It’s much easier to remember that R10 is a rhino instead of some random historical figure I’ve never heard of, like on most banknotes 🙂
FYI, the banknote animals are:
R10 Rhinoceros
R20 Elephant
R50 Lion
R100 Cape Buffalo
R200 Leopard
Just don’t ask me why they are in that order – I have no idea!
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Susan said
Hi June
I just came across your blog. I am South African but left my country 13 years ago. I am loving seeing your pictures of South African wildlife. I miss it so much. Thank you!
June said
You’re welcome, Susan! I’m glad you’re enjoying my pics – I’ll keep doing my monthly updates until I run out of interesting things to photograph 😉
Becky said
THank you I love my dinos, now i need to find time to make them. 😀
Megan said
Oh wow! I love the money! It is so pretty! 🙂
Meg P said
I had no idea — I hadn’t been through all the wild animals yet, but I love the AfriAmi set — now I know what I’ll use my Easter CAL discount for!
And yes, please, a WATER Buffalo pattern would be great! I completely understand the challenge on the leopard spots.
Meg P said
Lovely photos — now when will we see PlanetJune patterns for all those animals on the S.A. bank notes?
June said
Actually, I’ve already designed patterns for three of the five: Rhino, Elephant and Lion (and Lioness)… Leopard would be tricky because of the spots – I’ve yet to conquer that challenge! – and I’m not convinced that anyone would really want a Buffalo pattern 😉
Becky said
I think the buffalo would be a great pattern. 😀
Kimberly & guide dog Abby said
I’m curious if the currency has any tactile markings? I know the US is behind most of the rest of the world in making their currency accessible to blind people. I love the pictures of all the animals, except the buffalo; he’s kinda ugly. 😉
June said
I had a good feel and I couldn’t detect any tactile markings. There is a slight tactile clue: all the notes are the same height, but the bills get wider as they become more valuable. In practice, I don’t think that would be sufficient for a blind person to identify the notes though! I hadn’t considered before how difficult that must be – and it’s not something a guide dog can help with.
You’re right though: poor buffalo doesn’t have a very cute face. Maybe I can cutify him for a crochet pattern!
Kimberly & guide dog Abby said
Thank you, very interesting! There are two common solutions that I know of. The low-tech one is to have a sighted person identify each bill, and the blind person folds the bills in specific ways to identify them later. The high-tech (and more expensive way) is to use a money identifier device and then fold the bills.
With the SA money, I’d think a flat template with each bill’s width could work. Lay the bill in each slot til you find the one that the width matches. Most blind people are familiar with writing guides or signature guides, so a money template would be familiar to use.
I’m not sure that poor buffalo could ever look “cute” 😉 Getting his horns to curve correctly would be a neat trick, though.
June said
Oh, how ingenious to fold each denomination differently! So obvious when you think about it, but it would never have occurred to me.
And it sounds like there is demand for *some* sort of buffalo pattern, at least – I’ll get my thinking cap on 😉
val said
wonderful that you are settling in! Don’t know the reason for the order of the money…but they certainly are beautiful!!!
Carina said
Well, I know even less than you about animals in SA (or anywhere else for that matter)… Would be terrible, and rather questionable, if that was the reasoning behind the animals… 😐
Carina said
Maybe it’s how rare they are? Fewer leopards so they are worth more? 😉
June said
I could be wrong, but I thought that rhinos were endangered and leopards were common?! So maybe it’s reverse scarcity order… Actually, it’s probably something nasty like how easy it is to hunt one 🙁