Aloes for Gunda

Gunda, I may get a little wordy here. Bear with me. I photographed some snowbells for you - beautiful, delicate things - to symbolise an import settling so well into Africa, but they weren't quite right. Neither was the arum lily, a favourite of mine but funereal to some. No, that's not you. You, with your huge smile and great positivity, your endless curiosity and amusing stories, your desire to immerse yourself in Africa and her ways, your creativity. So the search continued. Aloes! I photographed the hot red-orange flowers against a mauve track running off into the distance...very symbolic, considering your search, your journeys. Finally, it came down to a small portion of the original image: still an aloe plant, still Africa, but more of me in it, for you, my friend. You took your life last Friday. We are all still absorbing this unchangeable fact. You are with him now, that love of your life, at last.