Roosters are crowing, it must be Monday

Oh MJ, you might be saying to yourself, the roosters are always crowing on Culebra, what does that have to do with it being Monday? Nothing really, I just want to see if you are paying attention. Today's post is brought to you by the letter M.

On Friday, there was a serious event at the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat. The word from the weather services was that there would possibly be a huge ash cloud moving over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. That didn't happen, thankfully. I was on St. Croix when we got ash a couple of times and it was a pretty surreal event. Everything was covered in what looked like a dusting of snow and it was everywhere, sifting through the screens, through car vents, in your eyes and mouth and nose... A year later, the most unusual plants were growing all over the island. Botonists said it was because the ash somehow woke up long dormant seeds that had been in the soil but not *activated*. The old people said they remembered some of the plants from when they were children. It was odd and magic infused and then I heard the people of Montserrat were selling the ash as fertilizer, which was brilliant and about the only good I'd heard of coming from the volcano.

All of that to say that it seemed we might have a rather spectacular sunrise this morning. Unfortunately for photography [edited to note: MY photography - Laurie Knowlton and Bill Kunke got some stunning photos of the sunrise - I'm not sure what happened here on my patch of the island], we only got a half-ash sunrise, due to very little wind. The other side of that coin is a respite from ash borne respiratory issues, along with the itchy eyes it also brings with it.


Something that was stirring the air on Culebra for me was an afternoon moment at Mamacita's, listening to some new music! Milton, recently arrived from Rincon with Krista (Bartender Steve's sister) and baby Bliss, and Grady, an old friend of Walt's who is here from California, have gotten together a nice blend of classical (read acoustic) Spanish tunes along with some other styles, the one I heard being Bob Marley's Redemption Song. Milton plays guitar, Grady plays flute, conga and guitar. They are playing down at the ferry dock some afternoons and no doubt around some of the other spots in town. Check 'em out!


My yard is in need of some serious reorganization after Pan and crew got done taking out four junk trees that were blocking the sun from the trees I want growing; mango, avocado, papaya. My poor bougainvillea is lying all over the place, its support system gone. The temptation is to just cut it back and let it find some new supports but I can't quite bring myself to lop off seven years of its effort in reaching for the sun. Yet. So if you see me walking around with scratched and bleeding arms and legs, it's all in the cause of my botanical joy. If not, I used the loppers.


Enjoy your Monday!