Happy Sixth Birthday

My granddaughter just turned six which got me searching through the photos of our recent time together. They illustrate diverse aspects of her personality and the reasons I'm so utterly in love with her.

Six of my favorite things about this lovely, dear child:

1. She confidently walks her own path in her own way. She reminds me of her mother in that way which makes my heart happy.

2. She's always up for grand adventures.

3. She likes going to the beach, likes to run and likes to swim after diving wholeheartedly into whatever water is available. It's how she lives her life, too, come to think about it.

4. She likes to play with dolls (and wear aprons and make a pretty tote bag) and lets me play with her.

5. She likes art- drawing, using pencil crayons and painting with vibrant colors. Her creativity extends to  clothes designing and we have such fun doing this together. My mother, her great grandmother, loved clothes and fabric, designed and made clothes for me throughout my childhood, and had a keen eye for color and design. It brings me great pleasure to see this sense burgeoning in my granddaughter.

6. She picked my birthday bouquet while we were on one of our adventures. She's surprisingly thoughtful that way.

It's hard to stop since there's also her zany sense of fun, like wearing a butterfly crown in the belief that she's really a princess, or putting stickers everywhere including on her grandfather's iPhone, or wearing tattoos wherever anyone will draw them on her, or leaving little love notes where I can find them and have my heart warmed…

If the child is mother of the woman, she's on a good path. She brings a unique mixture of her ancestors expressed in a sassy but sweet self.  May her journey contain all that she needs to grow into her full,  beautiful self and offer her the ways to share her gifts with the sweet face of mother earth. Earth needs her gifts.

A Hike to The Sea

From my daughter's home in the Rain Forest to the sea at Paria Bay is a sixteen mile round trip hike through primary forest. One morning my daughter invited me to hike this trail to take advantage of an up to then rare sunny day and an even rarer opportunity for time alone together. I was in so off we set.

This is the secluded beach we reached 3 1/2 hours of beautiful sights and good conversation later. 

The only way to reach Paria Bay is by hiking or by boat, no roads for cars, so we were the only people there for the first two hours. If you think of paradise, this is the beach you would think of.

My daughter, a great swimmer, went out beyond the waves to take a luxurious swim after her walk.

An interesting rock formation, seen above also, called Church Rock located at the southern end of the beach. The tide was high so we had to rock hop to get there. The surf was vigorous and swirled around the statue as it broke on the rocks. The sounds of nothing else but nature was indeed spiritual and made me realize how well named it is. A walk up and down the length of the beach refreshed my soul.

Leatherback turtles use Paria Bay Beach as one of their nesting sites. They lumber up onto the beach (next month) at night, dig a hole about four feet deep, lay some 80 eggs and cover up by flipping sand around so that the nest is no longer identifiable. Then off they swim leaving their offspring to make their hazardous journey over open stretches of sand back to the sea 60 days later. Not many make it.

On the way back we stopped at Paria Falls where the abundance of recent rain made the falls so full that the mist spray coming off it kept us from being able to get much closer and still see the falls. It was a beautiful diversion nonetheless and shows a bit of what the forest we hiked through looks like.

It felt good to be out in nature, to challenge my body and enjoy the company of someone I love. 

Sweet, as my grandson would say.

Fall Colors in Our Neighborhood

I'm struck by the beautiful colors in our neighborhood these days of extended fall. They're different than the dramatic colors of my native New England, a bit more subtle and subdued, but lovely nonetheless. Much of the color come from the leaves still on the vines after the recent grape harvest that is the source of our wonderful regional wines.

Taken yesterday on a country road down our hill:

Taken from my balcony this afternoon as the sun momentarily broke through the clouds.
Those are vineyards in the distance peppered with olive groves.
The first photo looks west and the second, south:

Doing What's Right

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." - Aldo Leopold


A simple criteria, not easy but simple. 


Some recent photos that show simple ways to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community:

And two new additions of cousin love and cousin love writ large because isn't love what's it's all about?!

What's important to you these days? 

Rain Forest Flowers

Here are just a few of the flowers I've met along the way in Trinidad, some on hikes in the rain forest, some in my daughter's yard and some in a friend's garden (thank you Bunty and Rory). 

It's a beautiful time of year in the Caribbean. 

Please enjoy...

Croton

Another color of Croton

Clerodendron:

Butterfly lilly:

French kiss:

Locally known as the Snake plant:

 Red ginger:

Oxalis:

Agouma:

No one knew the name for this:

Costus sp., known locally as the penis plant:

Chaconia, Trinidad's national flower:

Poinsettia:

Heliconia; known locally as Sexy pink:

Aphelandra sinclairiana:

Angel's trumpet:

Orchid (they grow wild all through the rain forest):

Anthurium:

Ixora:

Crown of thorns:

Hibiscus:

Having my camera always with me this trip has kept my eyes open in a new way to this environment. 

It's been a visual feast for me. What's catching your eye these days?