(to the tune of) What's going on?

As others have said, as all of us knew already...we had a sort of victory the other day, a moment in time. But, don't push me! I like to sort of roll around in them like a mud bath. Lovely silky moment and then, well, enough is enough.

Here is a brief and very bad synopsis of the moment. Victor Gonzalas is up to bad tricks at the mullecito. Go there and see what I mean. Want the flamingo to stay? Do something. At the very least GO there if you are on island. Get mad. Get active.

The victory has its black side, of course. Write, call, go make an appointment with the mayor if you can and ask what exactly the victory meant, in regard to the Zoni project (new road bulldozed out there behind the dunes...real nice), the Terruno project, Victor Gonzalas, the mayor's true position on development. I'm not insinuating anyting, but I am saying...all is not la la loverly.

And it's 1, 2, 3, what are we fighting for?

Here's what...and you know I can easily post a few hundred more.


But I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to post something way cool that Al brought by the cart for me to look at (ok, I waylaid him off the bridge and he came over, carrying a box that was pretty battered). Inside his flat rate box was an awesome fossil that he & Mary found while they were back in Texas. We set it up so I could get a shot of it. I think it would look very cool on the cart and Al agreed...and then he took it home. Boy, some people are SO selfish!!!

It's hard (for me) to get the nuances of ripples,
plus there are oyster shells and much more in there...very wonder full

The sea almonds are going...well, nuts!

as are the papayas - finally they are growing too fast for the critters to eat them in the bloom

Sometimes my yard is just heartbreakingly beautiful...okay, a lot of times

This is for anyone who can identify this tree and blossom...and for my brother, to let him know that that flower wasn't red...it was DEAD! Oopsy, I hate it when that happens!

So, onward we go, in the joy and the beauty and the fight to keep them from clear and present danger. But in the MEANTIME...Susie's opens tomorrow night for a new season. The air is cool and the sky is blue and the breeze is up enough that I got fairly soaked on one side coming home this afternoon in the dinghy. But it was warm and beautiful and that is why god made showers.

Happy Tuesday!

When Yesterday is Today (a common Culebra phenomenon)

Saturday morning Carlos the Engineer came by the cart, incognito. In other words, instead of jeans, button down shirt, boots, hard hat and a look of desperation, he had on baggies, a tee shirt, large dark sunglasses, a floppy hat and a huge smile. One source of the smile was that he'd brought "the love of my life" along with him. To go to the beach. To not think about the Project From Hell. But there he was, trying to cross the street from the fire station and he couldn't help himself...he started directing traffic! Sue and I called for him to stop it and come on over. He did, to let me know the bad news, that the crew would be working in the road by the cart on Monday so I'd have to be closed.

After a few deep breaths and really wanting him to go to the beach, I figured I'd go to the big island to see our friend in the hospital and use the day another way. So I did. Except...when I got back there was no crew anywhere doing anything. A call from Carlos confirmed I wasn't not seeing things. Apparently, the foreman's father died...so no one came to work. Don't EVEN ask me about that. My response was to order a Bloody Mary at Mamacita's, believing tomato juice and olives are a wonderful calming combo . Then I opened the cart, sold a bumper sticker to the last remaining person who hadn't gone to the beach already, closed the cart and went to birthday lunch with friends (not my birthday!).

This morning I called Sue (who lives in the house right behind the cart or one might say the cart is before the house) to ask if the crew had recouped enough to be working. She held the phone out...bang bang bang...loud grumble of engines. I had my answer. I'd get to stay home and play.

Which meant, it was time for the games to begin! Jack had bought my new 100' extension cord for the chain saw at Home Depot, Linda delivered it this morning and vrrrrrrroooooommm, baybee!!! Seven years of incredibly irritating tree stumps - if you can call a four foot leftover tree a stump, that kept re-growing new sprouts with the briefest of hint of moisture, are now almost gone. And I was only scared a little, for a second or two. We're talking serious fun here! I have to eke out the pleasure though, so I'll leave the rest for other days.

In other news, life stages continue to abound around me, in every form. Here is a bit on my take of what that means...

I love it when this orchid blooms - now it is truly Spring

I usually see these guys in their strollers...so seeing them walking around with Mom 1 & 2 was a little bit strange, as in, oh my, they aren't babies anymore! They were very good about posing but I think that they were really wanting a Treat of the Day. Sorry, boys! Try again tomorrow!

Finally! Some papaya blossoms that the birds haven't eaten first. So here are all the stages of a papaya coming to being. And nicely, these are at a height I can reach...if I stand on a chair.

This is the CWIM practicing for next year's Kitty Passion Play. She was quite disappointed to only get the part of a regretful prostitute this year but has high hopes for next. In the meantime,she's enjoying Passover a lot.

How hot peppers get hotter

I haven't grown sugar snap peas in decades. I forgot the initial beauty of their gentle curls unfolding, their tendrils reaching. I guess I really didn't believe they'd sprout, so I'll have to plant some more. Why is the garden so magic this year? I have no idea.