Happiness

The day draws

to a close

and still

in my

garden clothes,

mosquitoes

fly in the

wake

of the fan

as T cooks and shows me the love of the man

who brings me red wine and encouraging words

as the paint flows from the brush and my soul soars.

Fluffy fun

Darrel from Green Withens Birding sent this to me the other day. The top of the page was missing but I think the idea is for you to copy it, delete my answers and replace them with your own, sending it back and on, to whosoever you choose. I don't normally enjoy 'forwards' but I found this one entertaining. If you feel to, please email me with your answers, I am curious,
(and confidential) and no, I don't know what happened to numbers 6, 45 and 49.
heatherzoomer@yahoo.co.uk

1. What time did you get up this morning? 05.00a.m.
2. Diamonds or pearls? neither
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Mission Impossible I think
4. What is your favorite TV show? anything with David Attenborough
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? black coffee, golden virginia
7. What food do you dislike? pig face, cow heel, tripe
8. What is your favourite CD at the moment? The Mighty Sparrow, Calypso compilation
9. What kind of car do you drive? Nissan '95 2400 pick up
10. Favourite sandwich? T's cheese, onion, parsley and tomato
11. What characteristic do you despise? intolerance
12. Favourite item of clothing? whatever is clean
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, were would you go? Senegal
14. What colour is your bathroom? Green and orange
15. Favourite brand of clothing? Auntie Edlyn, in Mount Hartman
16. Where would you retire to? I won't be
17. What was your most recent memorable birthday? the last one
18. Favourite sport to watch? Liverpool football club closely followed by Stanford 20 20 cricket
19. Furthest place you are sending this? No idea
20. Who do you least expect to send this back? Never expect
21. Person you expect to send it back first? ditto
22. Favourite saying ? "KNOWLEDGE rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also."Carl Jung
23. When is your birthday? March 19th
24. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning
25. What is your shoe size? 5 U.K.
26. Pets? 1 dog, 1 cat, 18 rabbits and counting
27. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? the celery seeds are up
28. What did you want to be when you were little? grown up
29. How are you today? still growing
30. What is your favourite candy? real Turkish delight
31. What is your favourite flower? gypsophilia
32. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? tomorrow
33. What church do you attend? depends on who is getting married or who dead
34. What is your full name? Moomin Zoomin
35. What are you listening to right now? the obituaries on next door's t.v.
36. What was the last thing you ate? Italian tuna and herb potatoes
37. Do you wish on stars? always
38. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? pink
39. How is the weather right now? 73'F with a nice breeze
40. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Dad
41. Do you like the person who sent this to you? yes, he never fails to surprise me
42. Favourite soft drink? T's home made juice
43. Favourite restaurant(s)? Home
44. Hair colour? L'Oreal mahogany right now
46. Favourite day of the year? today
47. What was your favorite toy as a child? Edward bear
48. Summer or winter? summer
50. Chocolate or Vanilla? chocolate
51. Do you want your friends to email you back? that would be nice
52. When was the last time you cried? when I was upset
53. What is under your bed? 2 suitcases and T's trainers
54 Who is the friend you have had the longest? my children
55. What did you do last night? dreamt

It is good to know a little about your friends and family, n,est pas?Be Blessed

Self portrait

She's back, seemingly, with a vengeance,
not so,
just intention, concentration and determination.
T says this is how I look when
I am happy.

Singlehanded sailing kitecam compilation

Absent

This is where Zooms sits when she is blogging.

The chair is empty because she is tending to all

the creative things that are crying for attention.

She is trying very hard to do what her heart

really wants her to do. She may be a while.

AWOL

Remember this?

Moaning Minnie has become very big for her boots.

Whilst still very shy of people she has become a fearsome huntress.

She no longer moans continuously and we now call her Cathy,

pronounced 'Catty' here. Yes, I know. She has been content with her,

somewhat limited territory, comprising of the upstairs hall, bedroom

and veranda, up until now.

Last night, presumably by way of the adjacent breadfruit tree,

she went out,

only to reappear in the early hours just before dawn, when I recognised her commanding cries issuing from outside the front door.

She has become a 'catten', the feline equivalent of a teenager,

beguiling, belligerent and bossy.

While waiting for paint to dry,

Outside the studio window,

where bouganvilliae bloom,

the bass,

from distant speaker box,

has ceased its belly boom,

and now,

the smooth billed anis

does sing its' soulful cry

to calm and sooth and quell

the need

for curlews' lullaby.

liverpool anthem

Foul

Being creative
is, sometimes,
a soul searching
dive into the
unknown, and
in the words of

BLISS HILL
http://blisshill.blogspot.com/2007/08/day-in-studio.html
I find there is often a stage in my work, where I look at it and feel there are some major issues in there that possibly can't be resolved. But I know now to work on and get through to the other side,"

This is so true,
but, I wonder,
if she lives,
in the tropics,
where, in the midst
of our earnest
soul baring
searches,
mosquitoes and
house flies
bar our path
to 'the other side.'

Any distraction can topple us from the brink of the edge of knowing, the right stroke, the missing colour, the composition correction, just as you take a deep breath and dive, a house fly lands on your arm, a mosquito bites at your ankle or sings in your ear. All is lost.



But let us speak
of more serious matters.
Thanks to our cable
provider,
a misnomer
if ever there was one,
we were forced to watch
THE MATCH
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/21012008/58/premier-league-crouch-rescues-liverpool.html

on this.

Reading the countdown commentary,was not what we were looking forward to and lacked,
shall we say, atmosphere.
I know it was a draw and there was a home goal in there somewhere and how yer mean yer didn't know I was a Scouser, " yer wanna make sumthink of it or wa?"

...and to think I nearly didn't..............

Having been working so hard in Corn Buck and the house needing cleaning etc., and what with all the failed attempts I have made at posting images at Illustration Friday , (my shortcomings, not theirs) I almost didn't bother to do this, but, now, I am so glad that I did.
I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to penelope dullaghan and brianna privett at Illustration Friday and to snorkblog, without whose patient advice, none of this would have been possible.

Stitch

An abstract response this week to the Illustration Friday topic 'Stitch' ,

one of an aperture being held together.

Kakakakakakakakaka................

The three acres
of family land, known as
Corn Buck,
is where we
are working at the
moment.
These are today's
'before'

and 'after'
photographs.

We are clearing
the land.
We each have a cutlass.
It is hard work.


This was my
'before' area
today.







and 'after'

it is true,

T helped me.



Whilst the work is hard, creating callouses
and muscle,

(we refuse to use Gramoxone, (Paraquat)
as recommended by the ministry of agriculture,)

it is also rewarding and each day presents
new surprises.















































Such as the machine gun call of this
lizard cuckoo,
in the grapefruit tree, alerting me
to observe,
take a five
and delight in our island paradise.

.......two in the bush.

Having
endeavoured
to
photograph
these
two
birds
for
over
a
week
now







I
finally
succeed,

only
to
fail
at
identifying
them.

Finches
perhaps,
they
are
much
bigger

and more colourful, (with blue, green wings and russet and gold, and dark coloured heads, all caught in a moment as they don't stay still for long) than our bullfinches, enjoy each others' company and flit from the grasses to the trees.

Any
suggestions
please?
Perhaps Darrel at Green Withens Birding can help.

Monkey Business

A wild,

Mona Monkey,

the

most

recent

visitor

to

Annandale

Falls.

You Make My Day Award

The plans and
resolutions
for the
New Year,
including blogging,
art work
and fitness campaigns, that I so earnestly wanted to adhere to, have been somewhat thwarted by other realities, but my frustrations were instantly dissipated on receiving the above, from A Kite Rises. I sincerely hope that the delight that this gave me can be felt by my nominees, all of whom, 'Make My Day.'
In this spirit my awards go to;
A Kite Rises
Beholder's Eye
Colouring outside the lines
Cream
Green Withens Birding
Guyana-Gyal
La Gringa's Blogicito
Living Dominica
Merry go round
Passion for Painting

All of these people contribute, in different ways, to 'Making My Day', in their own and very special, unique way, with gratitude to A Kite Rises for giving me this opportunity to show my appreciation.

feed the cat

Happy New Year everyone, and don't forget to 'feed the cat.'

Sorrel info for Zanne

Hello Zanne,
Tried sending
an e-mail
but it
bounced
back so;
Thank you
for visiting
my blog.
As with all the
successes in the garden , our sorrel thrives
on healthy neglect.

The seeds were planted, 3 to a hole, about 4" deep. The soil there is a heavy clay loam, quite wet but well draining, at the top of a south facing slope. We are about 1800 feet above sea level and here it is cooler and with high humidity. The seeds we planted were from Tropica who appear to be a French company called Technisem. Of course we now have lots of seeds from the plants but I am slightly hesitant to use them as there was some mealy bug on some of them. We didn't use any manure, or fertiliser, as the soil in that spot has been nourished by years of leaf fall, mangoes, kitchen waste etc. All we did was watch them grow. If you are interested there are more garden stories here, Garden ,although, with my usual efficiency, I seem to have forgotten to note when we planted the sorrel. I think it was in June. The plants are now producing new flowers. I have visited GoGrow lovely blog, I will be visiting often.

Season's Greetings

Amidst
the
tinsel
and
the
wrapping
paper,

Season's
Greetings
to
everyone

and
most
especially
to

all of you who comment on this blog, with love and best wishes to all,
from Zooms and T. xxx

I'll be down by the river

Beside

the

river

basking

in

dappled

sunlight

ripples

and

eddies

recite

soporific

symphonies

blue

sky

reflections

vie

with

deep

pool

desires

and

there,

shade

and

light

and

quiet

contemplation,

redeem.

Tradition

T
returned
home,
triumphant,
last night,
having,
successfully,
secured
our
Christmas
dinner.
Apparently,
he
was
extremely
lucky
as
there
were
only
seven,
of
the
original two hundred and fifty, remaining in the shop.