In Praise of Research and Researchers

See those tic tac sized eggs in the incubator? They're Little Hermit Hummingbird eggs and the first photo is one of them candled; the slight red patch is the three day old heart of this soon-to-be hummingbird which I saw beating. The next photo shows the scale to weigh them and the data on the two latest eggs. Two "dummy" eggs replace them in the thimble sized nest so the mother continues to sit on them. Once hatched in 16 days, they will be placed back in the nest and mother will feed them insects and nectar multiple times a day to grow them from a shriveled raisin sized hatchling to a full sized hummingbird in 17 days. It must be fast because they're so vulnerable to predation in their nest close to the ground and attached to the back of a fern frond. They're in the incubator to begin with because they're even more vulnerable as eggs and because Julian, the researcher who lives in a house on my daughters property for four months a year, will swab the inside of the hatched egg for DNA for his research.

This is Julian's seventh year studying these tiny hummingbirds in the rain forest of Trinidad, recording their mating songs and dances, collecting data about these little known and shy birds by watching them, banding them and trying to trace paternity. The Little Hermits live in leks, one lek for their life, and males display for the females by dancing and singing their hearts out in an effort to be chosen by a female for mating. Each lek has its own song and, if a male moves to another lek for some reason, he learns the song of the new lek. Imagine. No one knew this before. As for what more this research will teach us about these hummingbirds, birds in general or the world around us remains to be seen but already it has increased the sense of awe in those who talk to Julian, including me and my grandson pictured below helping make the bands for the hummingbirds. Perhaps it's enough.

Retreat Day

My daughter and her family are away today so I'm taking a retreat day to myself. I've hiked to the top of a nearby hill where there's a palm roofed structure open on all sides to shelter in out of the sun and occasional showers. The only sound is the wind and all it rustles and birds galore whose names I mostly don't know except for the peculiar echoing knock of a bell bird. The layers of hills in the distance display all shades of green in this lush rain forest environment. The breeze goes from warm against my skin to cool as the clouds scurry in to drop their rain and move on over the next ridge. Bits of wild flowers dot the area with color. Two old copper pots, huge and once used to roast cacao beans on now abandoned estates, are filled with water, small fish and water lilies to give them new purpose. A stream flowing down in a waterfall froths over rocks at its base in a gully by the house on this property. A flock of wild parrots  flies by squawking ferociously, voices so at odds with their beautifully colored plumage.

I've come to be alone and ask questions that need to be re-examined near my birthday. Who am I, what do I want to be doing, where do I want to be? The other vital question of with whom do I want to be has long since been answered, a sure base of love in my life. I realize in the tranquility I feel that the questions are being answered in deep ways that will become manifest as I pay attention to myself, my Honey and what opens up to us. Already I've felt the shift into an elder's identity, still on the journey but further along and in communication with more elder peers.

The morning blue sky has given way to afternoon gray. Clouds moved in and I can hear rain in the distance as it closes the gap between where it is and me. The rain is more immediate here as it pelts the fronds just over my head. As rain quickly slows, fog spills over the hills in back of me looking like it comes from the clouds themselvesthemselves. It's a lovely place. Its peace flows into me. I realize that this was the real agenda for today.


(I'm publishing this today even though it happened a few days ago because I just finished putting it all together. Such days are delightfully re-creative.)

Look Closely or Else

Just took a rain forest walk
and missed the snake wrapped round
a branch until the guide said to look
closely and see. It struck me that equivalents
happen each day- me walking by and missing
what's there until told to really look, to wake up
and pay attention, my task lest I get bitten.

A Friday Flash 55 for G- Man.
Ugh-my iPad app ate my post! It was up and had comments and disappeared! I'm trying again.

Holiday Travel

Tomorrow I leave with my Honey for Trinidad's Rain Forest where my daughter, her husband and our two grands live. I'll be there for Christmas, New Years and the worst part of the winter. I know, I'm spoiled.  I'm yearning to be with family, have time to play and hike to beautiful places, celebrate my birthday, go to the grands' gymnastic classes, see movies in English, play scrabble with my daughter, maybe even do some art with my friend, Bunty, and enjoy life. Oh, and train for a relay race (my section is 6 1/2 miles) with other family members as part of the National Marathon to End Breast Cancer in Jacksonville, FL in February. I've run the marathon, two half- marathons and now the relay  to celebrate my niece's wedding that weekend. It's "our" event as a family since losing my Honey's sister, Peg, to breast cancer in 2007. Her loss and my desire to do something about it sparked my running.

A downside is having only dial up access to the internet which makes blogging difficult (at best). Remember the days of dial up? UGH! There will be occasional visits to high speed land, so I'll keep in touch and share what I can as I'm able.

In the meanwhile, Happy Holidays to all. Enjoy your family, your spouse, and your life to the fullest. Let each person you love know it. Grandmothers, keep your eyes open for the depressed, angry young adolescents and see that they get help. They have a hard time asking for it or admitting to depression and if they don't get it they can distort reality to be something worth destroying. In these days of mental health cutbacks we must acknowledge that people who need help and don't get it can take it out on themselves or others. Both are too costly. Treatment saves lives. Let's do this.

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.

Wildflowers and Waterfalls - The Perfect Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, double 66's. My daughter, who lives here in Trinidad's Northern Rain Forest,  orchestrated a wonderful day for me and now that I have the magic combination of electricity, phone connection and internet all together, I wanted to share it with you.

The day started with what has been affectioately nicknamed "muffin bread"- made by my daughter, loved by my grands and now by me. Together with coffee and foamed milk, and a flower from the garden, it made for a good start to the day.

How about a drink made from flower petals boiled with cloves and fresh nutmeg from a tree nearby? It's sorrel, a popular beverage this time of year. It's a lovely jewel red color and I just love the whole idea of drinking flowers.

My birthday present from my daughter was a hike to a local waterfalls that I hadn't yet seen. My granddaughter accompanied us. Along the way my granddaughter picked wildflowers for me to make my birthday bouquet. She was excited by all the bright colors she found. I felt like a queen.

The destination of our hike was a series of five waterfalls reached by climbing up the river that connects them. We've had LOTS of rain since I arrived so the river is full and rushing with strong current. It meant that we had to scamper up rocks or bush to the side at times rather than always stay in the river. But I figured if my five year old granddaughter could do it so could I.

The reward for the challenging climb however was this beautiful sight, the fifth waterfalls, carved into a half moon cave and thunderous from recent rain. Our decision to bathe naked in the pool at the foot of the falls was modified somewhat, at least for me, when I felt the cold breeze blowing down the gorge. I backed into it as far as I could before getting too cold to continue. My daughter was far braver than I even through her screams.

A gorgeous, secluded spot. A perfect present. I felt exhilarated and rejuvenated. 

My granddaughter took this photo of me with my daughter at the top- sweaty, dirty, tied but very happy.

My second best present was this photo in the front yard with my grands, ages nine and a half and almost six. Their agreement to one smile a day in a photo was extra special on my special day. My daughter printed this and framed it for me to take home. Precious.

Add to this the fun of playing "Plants vs Zombies" with the grands and learning all kinds of new strategies, coloring with my granddaughter who is seriously into drawing and coloring these days, having home made pizza for lunch, my grands making brownies, the birthday treat I requested, sharing a delicious dinner made by my daughter from produce grown by her husband in their organic garden with three researchers living in a second house on their property who research the mating rituals of hermit hummingbirds and the lek- specific dialects they sing, and finally, in a rare occurrence, beating my daughter in Scrabble. 

I even connected to facebook and email long enough to be inundated with well wishes from around the world and an e card from my Honey. Perfect birthday. I feel loved and grateful for my life.

[Writing this in dial- up internet land is a long process that I am nevertheless glad to be able to do after my hiatus from blogging and my blog friends. The first post mysteriously disappeared when I changed the original title so I've added further details to this post in my eagerness to connect with you again.]

First Farmers

While hiking to the waterfalls pictured in the last post in the rain forest, I came across a long line of leaf cutter ants hard at work. Look closely and you'll see the tiny ants carrying (relatively) large leaf parts back to their comnunal home.

At first folks thought they were eating the leaves but, no, they were piling the leaves up so a certain kind of mold could grow on them and they then eat the mold. Growing food for their sustenance. Farmers. The first. Just one of the amazing things I've seen in the rain forest.