Protea nitida and Protea repens by the sea

Some fynbos plants have to be visited and observed at close range to be appreciated or even noticed. Few people may ever see the inconspicuous ones. Like some people they live unnoticed, hidden in full view although sometimes remotely.

Others are big or in-your-face enough, even when seen from a distance, like celebrities recognised during a limited heyday. Common property in crowds, often lonely as the glances linger only briefly or the vacant stares flicker little recognition.

Among the bigger and striking fynbos plants are shrubs like Protea repens and trees like P. nitida, inaccessible and unperturbed by what passes on the highway next to them in the Kogelberg by the sea. Noticed briefly by many from afar, familiar to some that drive past here regularly, they define the vaguely remembered countryside. At the critical moment of attempted recall the name often slips the mind.

Appealing landscapes on fenced off private properties next to the road make up the persona of the land... free for all to see all the time, yet mostly inaccessible. What is pretty there catches the drivers momentary glance and the passengers longer, semi-vacant stare, or some longing.

A little of it persists in memories, vague acknowledgments that nature is stunning, that the country is pretty, that life is good. Habits shape people, also the habit of seeing without noting, the habit of ignoring the best that was seen on the day.