Ooops

Apologies for the layout of the post below, it didn't look like that in the preview, but then, I find the preview seldom looks like the actual post . Any helpful suggestions will be gratefully received.

Time

This morning I wanted to write

about Xena and her new friends

and about the enemy in the garden

who ate all the leaves on my lime tree

and how yesterday, when the house rumbled

and all the glasses jangled

and the bottles and the fridge walked

and how I worried about my two best friends,

Jen at Living Dominica and Guyana-Gyal,

but, instead, I have to got to town to pay bills.

The Zoo.

The Zoo

Watercolour

8 1/4" x 6"

Having long been an admirer of the Illustration Friday website, the time has finally come to rise to the challenge.

Abundance

T returns from the garden with the fruits of our labours. We are not great meat eaters but usually treat ourselves to a little chicken something on a Sunday. Today T is cooking baked chicken.
In the photograph, clockwise from the top left hand corner, 'Common pork,' the local small leafed basil, parsley, large leafed basil, cucumber, squash, chadon beni and cabbage.




His seasoning mix is a feast for the eyes, the pungent aroma of fresh herbs pervades the senses and primes the appetite.











Whilst stealing this sumptuous image,
of chicken smothered in succulent secrets,
I spy the slivers of cinnamon spice.











And so I hope I succeed in sharing with you our special Sunday delight, that tastes of time spent under the sun, of seedlings tenderly nurtured, of showers as blessings, of love and joy and the fulfillment of wishes.

T's baked chicken with rice, sweet blugga plantain, salad and squash.

Pay It Forward

Having read about the 'Pay It Forward' game at Christine's blog

Passion for Painting

and realising that if I was quick I would actually have the opportunity to receive a piece of her unique and beautiful work, I couldn't let this pass me by.

Here's the deal for "Pay it Forward"---
"I will send a handmade gift (it will probably be a small painting) to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

How inspiring. Please visit Passion for Painting to see Christine's work and to read more about other artists who are participating in this excellent idea.







River stones.
Acrylic on ply. 1'x1'

The walking tree

Banana trees are called fig trees here. They are very easy to grow and constantly reproduce themselves. If you are starting from scratch and buy a little plant it will take about three months for it to bare fruit. When the fruit is still young it is called green fig and these are used for cooking as a savoury vegetable. If you want the fruit to grow into a banana you leave it on the tree until it is full, cut it and leave it to ripen. Our fig trees are called Gummyshell and have a delicious, creamy, subtle flavour. Once the tree has born fruit you cut it down but at the base of that tree will be another little tree and the cycle continues. So you see, it is also true to say that fig trees can walk.
I am fascinated by them, the way that they grow and the beauty in the detail. This is the first of a series of paintings inspired by these bountiful trees.



Fig tree. Leaf and trunk detail.
Acrylic on ply.
1'x3' and 1'x1'

Cat and Mouse

I am feeling better today, not 100% and still a little wobbly,

but more like my old self, the self that T says he misses and wants back, the one who gardens and paints and has ideas, who likes to walk up in the forestry and along the beach and find things, to watch the river and the clouds and listen to 'rain coming'. The one who likes red wine and simple food and the murmur of moonlit conversations.

I am feeling better today.

Cold cure

This is 'Bitter Fence'. It is for The Cold. You make tea with it. As nice as the rum and lime remedy made me feel, it didn't actually make me better, so we have moved on to more traditional methods.
As its' name implies, this tea does not taste nice but I hope it works because the one they give you if this doesn't work, tastes even worse.
That one is called 'Zeeberpik' or 'zibapik' or something like that.
T's grandfather knew a lot about bush medicine and taught T a lot.
Today, Thursday, the Doctor comes to the village medical station and I could go up there but this is just a cold and I have every confidence in T's tea.

The butterfly effect.

One of the things I like most about blogging is the unexpected surprise that greets you on an ordinary day. The kind of surprise that changes your whole perspective and opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Passion for Painting is where today's delight came from.