Culebra Sunday

 

Perched on sweet comfort

Breathing in and breathing out

The moment is full

Culebra Sunday

 

In small crevices 

 Breezes plant whimsically

Treasure for the soul

Culebra Sunday

Individual

Standing alone, one by one

Rooted together

Forewarning: Sorry, You Cold People

Yesterday on a small walkabout, I was surprised to see that the flower trees are just covered in blossoms. I was trying to remember how long it had been since the last time and it seemed not quite right. But Time and I have long been comrades and I know it's best to leave the big T alone unless necessary. Later in the day a friend mentioned that the blooming is two months early, without me even mentioning the display. Great! My internal clock still has a working alarm button.

Every year this tree and its sister deck out in yellow finery. I do it no justice in this photo, unfortunately.

Later on, heading to town, I saw this sweet baby, new to the neighborhood. I only had my phone with me and the photo came out pretty funky, but since he'd just been born that morning, I'm using it! He is shadowed by his Mama, standing close by. The man who owns the horse didn't know for sure that  she was pregnant so it was a good surprise and all is well.

Happy birthday, darling boy

I thought it was too early for the moonrise but a glance at English Karen's facebook post from Gibraltar from two hours earlier led me outside. And there it was, the moon. La bella luna.

It wasn't quite the same as our moon...no, really.

Moon view from Gibraltar  photo credit ~ Karen Clayton

The thing that is the same about both of them (to me) is that they both look soft and squishable. That's not a quality I think I've ever attributed to the moon before but last night? Yes. Maybe I was just in need of my pillow.

I can only (thankfully) imagine how far away Spring must feel to folks who are doorknob high in snow. Second story doorknob in some cases. But it will return eventually. In the meantime, I'm scattering petals in your path.

Have a manifest marvelous melting Monday. Do something mobile.

That Was Different

Because of uncontrollable circumstances (boring, not resolved but worked around), bread and hot sauce day was yesterday, Sunday, instead of Friday. There was a whole different feel to life on the street, a feeling that happens in a lot of places on a Sunday, but I only live here. It's almost like the very air is different, more serene, even if it is blowing like stink out - which it wasn't, much (the umbrella is my wind gauge; if it doesn't blow over or away, it's not real windy out. Don't try this at home, leave it to the highly educated in wind specialists. Thank you).

So there I was, glad the morning rain moved away, with a book that was only half interesting, a cat who was wondering what I was doing, and all around me, hummingbirds, banana quits, lizards, bougainvillea blooms on steroids. Instead of in bed/getting ready for Sunday Funday at Dakity/thinking of doing other things that need doing but get put off because it is Sunday.

Because we've had a lot of rain lately, sunlight seemed more major, light seems brighter.

I love his little claws and sassy 'do

This reminds me of a Chinese calendar, those long cloth kinds with mountains and flowers on them

Late in the afternoon, Bonilla came by to do some work on the dinghy. By then, it was actually hot out, but a few more things got done, to make way for more things that need to get done. It's happening!

Have a mountains in the mist Monday. Do something meandering (even if it is just in your head).

It Must be Culebra Sunday

An immediate write-down of what I was thinking/dreaming when I woke up: "See that other people are the ticket to Earth Miles. Really meeting people, understanding more about anyone who is not in your shoes, more Earth Miles. Earn as you go." I don't know if it makes any sense, but it was clear as could be at the time.

Got keys?

This song by Judee Sill, one of my favorite female singers, was the next thought. Maybe I should have skipped those jalepenos last night?

Have a set it free Sunday! Do something unsaddled.

p.s. Yesterday's lizard was a female crowned crested!!! anole, thanks for the correction of gender and proper name, T!

Culebra Sunday

Have a simple, sensuous Sunday! Do something saturated in succulence.

Wow Culebra Sunday

Yesterday was a strange day, in the 'sit back in your chair with your forefinger under your chin saying Huh' kind of way. The news in my world was dominated by the events that have taken, and are taking place on the UC Davis campus. You know the one. Not having television and watching youtube clips, it might have more impact on me, seeing it as a single event and not an endless news loop, surrounded by the other crazy news that blasts the brains.

The peace in my world was dominated by a walk I took to town, a slow, intentional, get away from the horrors for awhile walk; to take photos on a windy day of blue skies and bluer water, to pick up some library books (on Sunday, the library is closed, but the free books on the deck are there for the taking), and somehow work a Sunday Bloody Mary into the mix at Dinghy Dock. All goals were accomplished. And more.

Mangroves

Another point of view

Baby iguana...so green!

My kinda town

About half way to town, a friend of mine, who was also in a Sunday Bloody sort of mood, drove by and we drove to town, with a pit stop at the library and on the Dinghy Dock, where Sausage and Football Sunday was just getting under way. Steve made up some great Bloody Mary's, talk was of the changing weather and football.

Crash number dos

It was then we noticed a sailboat acting sort of crazy 100 feet away from us. Under a full mainsail, they first hit one sailboat, then spun around and hit a dock. Apparently realizing they had little control over the boat, the mainsail was dropped and a little outboard engine was started. And re-started. And re-started, to get them off the dock. Another attempt was made to...do what? We all watched in dis-belief as they charged BACK to the original hit sailboat, and, as the owner in the stern was aware, came right back and into him again. No fenders out. Once again starting the engine that had failed, they charged away from that boat, spun in a circle and headed for the public dock, going around the end and over to the other side, where they apparently were going to raft up to a boat already tied up. At that point, a guy in the bar who is staying on that boat took off running. Before he got back, the sailboat was once again in motion. Out away from the dock, another spin and heading right toward the end of the dock. They did manage to get a fender out and tied up side to. When Dan (the guy from the sailboat) got back, we asked what the deal was. The deal was...it was some people from Fajardo and the 'captain' was very drunk. What a surprise! 

About ten minutes later, three agency boats, the Coast Guard, DRN, and Customs, were roaring around the harbor, AFTER the main event was over of course, with the happily unaware pin ball wizard of a captain out of any chance of being apprehended. Where are the cops when you need them was so perfectly the cliche... After a minute or two, they headed out toward Dakity. I didn't find out what that was about, which is not a bad thing.

After a jalapeno mango sausage, accompanied by beverages, I'd had about all the distraction I thought I needed and headed home, my entertainment quota almost overfull.

Waiting for me in email was one of the more powerful videos I've seen of the whole Occupy movement. In context, UC Davis students are calling for the resignation of Chancellor Katehi  (you can read the explanation from a junior faculty member and sign the petition here). As Chancellor Katehi was getting ready to leave the building, the students and faculty formed a line, sat down and linked arms, from the building to her car. Here is how it went.

I've probably watched this five or six times now and the pressure in my chest is the same each time. It isn't chills, it isn't teary...it is awe. This is how things should be done. 

No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.

--Hannah Arendt

Have a motivated Monday. Do something. Just do something.

More This and That Culerba Randomness

The 'Little House' in Boothbay Harbor, Maine

As most of you who read this blog know, I'm a big fan of tiny homes (good thing, since I live in one), and take photos of them where ever I go. I've watched the 'tiny home movement' get bigger and bigger as the years (and the economy) pass by, seeing some who are drawn because of need financially become aware of the many levels of freedom that come along in a Less is More style of life. All that to say, while I'm always preaching buy local and make it yourself, one gift you might consider this year, for someone else or for yourself, is a book by another man I tend to go on about, Lloyd Kahn, of Shelter fame. Lloyd's latest book, Tiny Homes, Simple Shelter, can be ordered now, but won't be available until February (I think), but if you want something to sit down with to help you dream a dream into reality, this is one of the good pushes.

free use by wikipedia

From the simple sublime to the simple sub-air level...I read this article yesterday and was really surprised. One of those craft things that occasionally come my way (the logic of the internet brain? interested in gardening, cooking, tiny homes...AH HA, must be interested in crafts! which I'm not, except from an admirer's viewpoint). I thought it was pretty great because it was so simple and has such a nice effect. I don't pay much attention to things like bath salts, maybe because I've not been a tub owner in a long, long, long time...but if you have and use a tub and you want a treat (or you want to give a treat, which is the whole purpose of this article I think), here you go! You can get fancier with it, but if you want simple, there it is. Crap, I took more time to write that than it will take you to make this.

Yesterday was pretty quiet around here. The mayor's funeral happened, lines of cars going by and an actual hearse (usually it is a truck bed or sometimes Michael's horse drawn carriage, which I think is really beautiful), and a line of vehicles heading to the cemetery. I watched them go by...

The air was soft, all day long. And quiet, even when it got breezy. Breathtaking heat is becoming a calender page we've turned, regaining some energy and not watering with sweat - it's so nice to greet a friend without both saying, Sorry for the sweaty cheeks! This is what it was like from my yard...

When I turned to come back inside (the air may be balmy but it is still full of mosquitoes at dusk if you live by mangroves) Miz CWIM was watching...and waiting for her humble servant to serve her dinner. And of course, living to serve her, said humble servant did just that.

Have a sedate (not sedated) Sunday. Do something stately.

Weather or Not

These photos are from a couple of evenings ago and yesterday morning. But we are still in the same weather pattern of very calm air. It was and is almost eerie strange, in a beautiful way.

Frangipani at sunset

Sonny looking quite elegant

Good night, Vieques

Little Bit/Nikoli practicing for the tightrope act

Yesterday's dawning

Amazing gazing

 

For some reason, this song was in my head this morning. It's an old song, written and sung by some old friends. Friends I fully blame for any weirdness that I might carry around and exhibit today. Their music infiltrated and subverted pretty much my whole life path...and except for one who has gone on ahead of us, they are still making music today, separately and sometimes together, lo these 40 plus years later. Thanks, Cowboy(s), for leading me down a strange and wonderful garden path. It really is all your fault!

Have a subdued Sunday! Do something quietly subversive.

Pan gave me a couple of branches of this plant, which I stuck in the ground and got - magic!

Sunday Sun Moment

Today we're in a swirl of sun and clouds, fast rains and glowing greens. Simple Sunday.

Happy Birthday, Tessa!

Have a serene Sunday. Do something singular, with savvy.

Things different, things the same. Culebra.

I've been running out of time the last two days, starting my mornings where they should be started, outside instead of on the computer. And sleeping better. That combo means less blog post time. If I was really good, I'd do posts earlier, but that's not how I usually roll.

So here is what made me really, really delighted this morning. A pelican on my little bay, which I've not seen for ages. Pelicans mean a healthy, food filled body of water and I used to have dozens of them here. The absence has been glaring, with fishermen stopping at the cart to ask if the peli's have come back. One doesn't mean a comeback, but it was enough for now.

When I walked down to the other end of the yard, CWIM came along. She wasn't being companionable as much as she was keeping an eye on me because her breakfast was next on the agenda.

I have managed to foil (literally) the iguanas and keep these orchids. For now. They are the first thing I see when I walk out my door, with the water beyond them...not a bad way to start the day. Yes, I am the luckiest woman in the world. I know.

Have a sunny Sunday (oops, sorry, Chris)! Do something sensational.