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.

More thoughts on weather

Peering through the louvers towards Ross hill, I can see the rain clouds approaching.
The heat has been building these past few days and this tropical wave will bring a welcome relief to all of us here in Grenada. However, it is not easy to enjoy our respite. All of us here that experienced Hurricane Ivan, know full well how the people of the Turks and Cacaos must be feeling and can only imagine the horror of what is happening in Haiti. We fear for our friends in Cuba who brought light to this village after five months without any. It is impossible to truly explain how it feels to survive a major hurricane.
I watch The Weather Channel with despair. I know this is an American programme but the reporting on their Tropical Update section is so unsympathetic to the peoples of the Caribbean that it enrages me. Here is an opportunity, if ever there was one, to invite aid and assistance and yet we are glanced over with barely a mention, unless the weather system in question, is likely to affect the U.S.
Thunder rolls above my head and brings an end to this post.
To be continued....

Weather

All or thoughts are with those who are are on islands that are experiencing the forces of nature that overwhelm and destroy. Right now , right here, we have unusual heat and no rain.

Buddha Still Life With Pink Stapler

Note to self; never a good idea to try and sketch Buddha when in a vexation with said self.

Letter to God

Dear God,
So sorry to bother but there are one or two things that have been bothering me for some time now and this seems the perfect moment to discuss them. Firstly, it matters not whether the music in Your Name, be Reggae for Jah or Godster Rap, neither will have any influence on my relationship with You, other than I may be forced to break more than one Commandment, in the near future, if your DJ 'pulls up' again. Secondly, can you please inform all of your preachers, prophets, pastors and priests that I don't like to be shouted at, or do they have to do that because the rest of the flock are stone deaf because of the volume of the above, on what was, up to now, a peaceful Sunday afternoon?

Thanks for listening, if you can hear me,
yours truly,
Zooms.

New Arrivals

Anansi

Caribbean pride

Congratulations to Jamaica and Usain Bolt, the world's fastest man.
Also to Richard Thompson and our neighbours in Trinidad and Tobago.
Good luck to our very own Randy Lewis on Sunday/Monday.
Read more here

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.

Shade

It is noon and too hot to work.
I walk home
by way of the river.

Carnival

Still a bit fuggish but it seems to be clearing. I was going to write a post about carnival but BBB has done an excellent job already.

Rescue

Am in a fug
but not for long,
I found a place
to make me strong.



Just click on the camel.

Emancipation Day Holiday

Today is a public holiday to celebrate Emancipation Day, which was actually on Friday gone. As we walked home from Corn Buck, Dave and friends were by Connie's Shop, and wished us Happy Easter. They were well emancipated, as we may be, later on.

Synchronicity

Sometimes, without the slightest notion of why,
a little seed starts to grow. This one began
here
and led me
here
which turned out to be the same website that appeared
when I was trying to find the fungi from the previous post.

Fungi

Candy striped, tiny toadstool,
found hiding beneath the foliage,
when weeding a drain.

Grenada's Randy Lewis Wins Men's Triple Jump

In Monte Carlo today at the IAAF World Athletics Tour

'The men’s Triple Jump was won with a 17.42m performance from Grenada’s Randy Lewis, so defeating World champion Nelson Evora of Portugal who improved his season’s best by one centimetre (17.24) for second place. Third was Dmitrij Valukevic of Slovakia (17.20).'

Congratulations Randy, what an achievement.

Stormy Weather

At this time of year we watch the waves of weather, that race off the West coast of Africa. We chart their gradual progress, from their conception, with curiosity, to their imminent arrival, with concern. One such wave has passed us and my attention is caught by the most recent. When viewing these images with detachment, I can afford the luxury of being able to admire their undeniable beauty and form. The chart featured here demonstrates the power of these images. It fills me with wonder to watch the way in which The Canary Islands are, seemingly, excluded from participating in precipitation.

Today

I weed beans, therefore, I am.

Guyana Beware

I am not usually a political animal but jus' so you know.

Yellow Yellow

No batteries for the camera at the moment but just to let you know we all very happy, here in beautiful Grenada.

Election Day

All work and no play...................

Can it really be



















seven months, since we



















went to the beach?

Green Herons

As seen, yesterday, from the bar of the
Grenada Yacht Club.

Blown away

We have had a lot of heavy wind and rain.

The Antillean Bullfinches are rebuilding.

Lemongrass harvest

Lemongrass is easy to grow,
makes a tea that is good for you,
tastes delicious, and provides a fragrance
that soothes, revives and repels
mosquitoes.
























It does not give these gifts kindly,
the leaf edge
does cut like a razor blade,
albeit anti bacterial, anti fungal, antiseptic.

























Effective against fever, flatulence, inflammation,
cramps, stress and indigestion,
toxicity and hypertension.

Trueway Cobway

Washday

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

Mango Magic

After a morning spent weeding, there is nothing
quite like sucking on a Julie mango, in the shade.

My Music

I love music. I love how it revives me, moves me, uplifts and surprises me. Life without music is no life at all. I love soca and reggae, I can live without Celine Dion and most of the Top 40 but there are times that I long to hear something other. Not being in possession of a credit card or a budget sufficiently large enough to purchase C.D's, or any idea of what I wanted, I had, until recently, a bit of a dilemma. How was I to give my consciousness a little shift, for those times in the studio, when ideas are brewing, or when I want to drown out the sound of the cartoons from someone else's T.V., or when the heated, rum enhanced, discussion,

"Watch, le' me tell ya sumthin'"

flies in from the road, at the very moment when the artwork was balancing on a tightrope of completion, or what about when I just feel to sit and sip on a glass of wine and gaze across the valley?

Little did I know that help was at hand.

Free Albums Galore is an excellent blog that brings you succinct, interesting album reviews, drawing from a truly eclectic mix. I really like the format and the download is free, simple and safe, and doesn't require me to know one end of an ipod or an MP3 player, from the other.

Today, I chose;

which you can read about and download here.

At the Lisztonian website, you can enjoy

"free classical piano music from popular composers and works".

Once again, this is a secure site, safe and easy to use but the interesting thing about this site is the pianist. Jeremiah Jones is hoping to buy his own Steinway. I hope this mention will excuse my lack of financial contribution, but for anyone else who feels the need for a personal pianist, in their own home, I can truly recommend Jeremiah's recordings.

Of all the breadfruit trees in all the world and you had to fall out of mine.

These two fell out of the breadfruit tree today. They are
temporarily housed in this little cage, to protect them from
the yard fowl and the cat, but I am hoping their mother will
return to claim them. The nest is not their own. They are,
approximately, 2 -3" long, have black and tan wing feathers
and their bills are slightly hooked. Baby ground doves
perhaps?
What to do? If no birds come to claim them,
what and how to feed them? I like birds, but
not in the house, owing to a bad experience
with next door's budgie, as a child.

St. George's.

Having paid the light and phone bill we enjoy
the shade of the Sendall Tunnel, on our way
to pay the water bill.
























On our return, school is out and we take a
five and drink a soda and watch this building
that once was known as 'Our Place', on the
corner of Halifax and St John's Street,
























where jazz once played, with Preston Holas
and Bumpy Jones, where Dave Stewart
once jammed with them, as Jerry Hall looked on.

Weather

There

is

a

palpable

change,

as

the

rain clouds

threaten

the

dominance,

of

the

tail end

of

the

dry season

sun.

Forest canopy

The only place to be, when waiting for a rain to fall , awash

in waves of deep heat, on this, the first day of hurricane season.

Osprey nest at Dyfi junction?

My daughter told me to watch out for this,
on the train journey from Aberystwyth, in Wales,
to Neston, on the Wirral.

(The usual apologies for the quality of the pictures.

The nest is on top of the pole.)

Herring gulls nesting on a garage roof in Aberystwyth.

A Red Kite was seen above the town on Sunday morning.

I am astonished at the seeming influx of magpies, crows
and wood pigeons since I left the U.K. The wood pigeons
seem to be thriving, much bigger than I remember.

My Beautiful Mother

My
mother
was
a
beautiful,
special,
person,
who was
funny,
entertaining,
elegant,
extraordinarily
brave,
very
loving
and
forever
young.

I am
going
to
England
for a while.

My Curly Headed Baby

For my Mum who died yesterday

Tarrus Riley -

Enjoy.

On the corner of Hillsborough and Grenville Street

I sometimes
forget,
especially
when in
St George's,
in the heat
of the day,
on my way
to the
bus stand,
dodging
the traffic
and
the drains






















to stop

and look

and see.

It is my
ignorance
of history,
or former
occupancy,
that shames
my
latent
curiosity.

Caught in the act.

The face

of

the thief

who

sneaked

a bite

of

my lunch,

mistaking

Marmite

for

chocolate

spread.

Tillandsia