#naphopomo Day 26 Fixing

if something is broken

my husband will fix it.

#naphopomo Day 11 the Raincoat

Rain is coming and T has left his raincoat on the hook

Seasons Greetings to Everyone

Surprise!

 

I am not good in the mornings. I am not one of those bouncy,happy, chatty, jump out of bed and straight away carpe deum types. I surface slowly, dragged from a world that is as reluctant to let me go as I am to leave.Coffee helps, as does bird song and the dark before dawn and the stillness of a day not yet begun by anyone. I have written morning pages for years now. I have volumes of mostly illegible, subconscious scribbling interspersed with patterns and ideas and sketches. A soup of stuff that flows in these early hours unrestrained by 'the critic' or the dollar. The ritual done, I get out of bed, make it and wander downstairs to the kitchen, where T will be with more coffee and porridge.......and this particular morning...Angel Trumpets to start the day!

The View From The Shed

T left early for Corn Buck this morning. The rain
met me just as I was about to make the fourth
and last river crossing. Taking cover in the dry
leaf mold below the old tree, I realised this was a
'whole day rain' and was just thinking of making
a dash for it when T arrived, in chivalrous fashion,
bearing a whole piece of old galvanise above his
head, in order to shelter and escort me across
the river and into the shed, where we drank hot,
sweet, strong coffee from the flask and shared our
riotously ambitious, rain inspired, dreams for the future .

Shelling Peas

Taking another pod
she makes it
pop
and
using her nail
to split it,
she then
frees the peas,
with
the slide of
her thumb,
into the
stainless steel bowl.
Letting
the empty shell
fall to the floor,
she picks another one.

Independence

Children from Constantine school parade through the village to celebrate Independence Day. I especially love those cool shades and the green shoes........

When Current go.....

Kite bust
fall on line,
current go
just in time
for the news.







everybody vex,
like they
never did have
boy days.








hold on now,
it nice you know,
peace and quiet
when current go,
no boom boom
in me ears.






Oh, so,
me one then
that hears
them beasts bawl,
just for we,
and,
darlin',
candlelight
works good
for me.

Buenos Dias Mi Amigos

Muchas, muchas gracias y todos los amigos de Colombia, Los Rollos Bogota, el Bingo Santander, Manitee, Pedro el Leon! y todos los amigos, dispénseme, no recuerdo todos, pero, muchas gracias y todos por un dia perfecto.
I was helping my mother in law in the bar at the waterfalls today, and these lovely gentlemen from Colombia, who are here in Grenada helping to upgrade the electricity supply, came and spent some time with us.

Turmeric

Known as 'saffron' in Grenada. For more information see here.

Sign 2

When you work, hard and long,
in the hot sun and you go home,
to come back the next day to find
that someone has picked all of your
waternuts, that are young still,
or mangoes, half ripe,
or oranges that your father wanted to sell to buy sugar,
then you can understand the man
who found it was time to put up this sign.

From coconuts to compost

I sit in the shade of
the coconut palm
and drink a young coconut water,
that T has given me
to cure my stomach upset.



















I watch as T
cuts and carries the grass,
for our new compost maker.



















It is heavy.






















When your land
is in need of enrichment
and you have no cow,
no problem,
borrow one,
that way you get
free manure
and the owner has
one less animal to feed.














Others view the proceedings
with indifference, but then,
they have seen it all before.

Friday in St. George's.

In the heat of the day,
when you done sell
and you tired
and you hot
and you hungry,
pass through the gap,
between Digicel and KFC
in Granby Street,
























take a seat
and a bite to eat,
a local lunch
or a sandwich
in the cool inner courtyard
relax a while
























leave the hustle and bustle
and bask in a smile.

Washday

These were drying in the sun on our way home from work today.

Evening

As

the

day

draws

to

its'

end

the

sky

is

alive

with

a

flotilla

of

kites

that

will

sing

me

to

sleep.

Wronged

So tell me,
what would
you do,
honestly,
if,
as you pass
the cakolee tree
and
you


see,









take a closer


look.
















In our
Garden of Eden
there is no time
for
Temptation.















I think this
was a
Lesser Antillean Racer.

To T it is
a serpent,

in the wrong place.

Easter Saturday

At five a.m.
the conch shell
blows,
time
to come and buy.
Pork, mutton,
beef and goat.
We know these
humble beasts,
their origins,
their pastures
and the labours
of their masters.







In the
early morning,
when
the mist
still
shrouds
the mountain,
no
shrink wrapped
disguises here.






This is village life,
raw and real,
filled with laughter,
and a slaughter
that bears
honest
testimony,











to a
hard working,
God fearing,
fun loving
people,
a community,
that knows how
to work
and move
and love
and live,
together.

Christmas,
Easter,
Carnival
all
punctuated
by
conch shell
fanfare
and food for all.

Quite in the cocoa.

Before
Ivan,
there
was
a
lot
of
cocoa
grown
in
Grenada.
Some
trees
still
remain.
This
one
is
by
the
river,
near
where we made the carrot beds in Corn Buck . Some years ago now, I remember an animated discussion, between my co workers, who were disputing the paternity of one of their younger sister's, soon to be, baby.
Apparently, the child was conceived 'quite in the cocoa'.
A blessing, to be sure.

"Cocoa"
watercolour, 9"x12"

Sorrel, story and secrets.

This is West Indian sorrel
which we grow from seed.
Sorrel is the traditional
Christmas drink in the Caribbean.
It is refreshing and delicious,
it has healing properties
and is the perfect partner
when mixed with rum.




After harvesting the waxy
calyxes,







they are cleaned,
by removing the seed pod,
and washed,
before combining them with
'sugar and spice and all things nice.'




This website
www.meredithlaurence.com/?p=37
has more information and includes this delightful
Anansi story.

I like to put ginger in my sorrel,





and
other
secret
ingredients,
which,
if you are passing on Christmas day,
you will be very welcome
to
come
and
share.

With apologies

This post was going to be

an interesting story

for you, from me,

but now, the day is spent

and so are we,

but all our dreams

will be of

'grooving'

fig tree.