Here it is about six months later, starting a family of its own.
THE BEAUTY AT FALSE BLUFF WITH CAYMAN ROCA ON THE HORIZON
27 January 2016
Red banana, redux
Remember that newly planted red banana that I posted about in December, 2014 - with the pictures of how fast it had grown over a period of just three weeks? The "not-yet-a-tree" had been planted at the base of a newly installed utility pole not too far from the kitchen.
Here it is about six months later, starting a family of its own.
Here it is about six months later, starting a family of its own.
20 January 2016
17 January 2016
Mr. Julio
There are several earlier blog posts here, with pictures, of some of Mr. Julio Lopez's hand-carved woodwork.
His studio and workshop are at his home; and his studio is loaded with lovely things on display that are made mostly from rosewood, sometimes from mahogany (the piece of a rocking horse, shown in the July 25, 2013, post is of mahogany and was considered by Mr. Julio to be a piece of trash when I found it at his workshop, on the ground, helping to prop up a bench).
I try to visit him when I'm in Bluefields and often commission something from a piece of rosewood I get to pick out. He taught me early that many craftsman darken their rosewood pieces with shoe polish - so I always opt for un-shoe-polished.
And I always ask him to sign what he's made for me, which is what he's doing here:
The shallow rosewood bowl shown above has a sea turtle carved at each end. The bowl is now in Richmond and currently filled with small 'officer' shells that I've collected on the beach at False Bluff (at least one local has told me these are called officer shells because they have stripes).
His studio and workshop are at his home; and his studio is loaded with lovely things on display that are made mostly from rosewood, sometimes from mahogany (the piece of a rocking horse, shown in the July 25, 2013, post is of mahogany and was considered by Mr. Julio to be a piece of trash when I found it at his workshop, on the ground, helping to prop up a bench).
I try to visit him when I'm in Bluefields and often commission something from a piece of rosewood I get to pick out. He taught me early that many craftsman darken their rosewood pieces with shoe polish - so I always opt for un-shoe-polished.
And I always ask him to sign what he's made for me, which is what he's doing here:
The shallow rosewood bowl shown above has a sea turtle carved at each end. The bowl is now in Richmond and currently filled with small 'officer' shells that I've collected on the beach at False Bluff (at least one local has told me these are called officer shells because they have stripes).
12 January 2016
ENEL comes to visit
...often.
ENEL (Empresa Nicaragüense de Electricidad) was created in 1994 and is the national company in charge of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization throughout Nicaragua.
During the last couple of years ENEL installed power lines that run from the west side of the country to Kukra on the east, down the Caribbean coast to El Bluff, and then across Bluefields Bay to - of course - Bluefields. And while much of this construction was ongoing I wrote a lot of posts about ENEL's activity on, and use of, False Bluff facilities between April and November, 2014.
Having electricity along the Caribbean coast - any part of the coast - was a huge surprise to us and is a game changer. All of my plans for False Bluff had revolved around solar power. Now, solar is "an" option, not the "only" option (we'd not given serious consideration to wind power because of the maintenance issues involved).
Much of ENEL's construction work was staged from False Bluff. Watching it (and living with it) on a daily basis was interesting and thirteen posts here show the incredible amount, and difficulty, of what ENEL did to make it happen.
But with the precedent that our invitation set during construction in 2014, any time any work needs to be done on the lines for miles in either direction of False Bluff - False Bluff is where ENEL comes.
I think the crews like to visit False Bluff above and beyond the fact that being here provides easy access, and puts them close, to their work.
And when they come to work they often stay for days, living in the house, hanging hammocks in the sea grapes, enjoying the Caribbean, cooking, doing their laundry...
and, of course, working.
ENEL (Empresa Nicaragüense de Electricidad) was created in 1994 and is the national company in charge of electricity generation, transmission, distribution and commercialization throughout Nicaragua.
During the last couple of years ENEL installed power lines that run from the west side of the country to Kukra on the east, down the Caribbean coast to El Bluff, and then across Bluefields Bay to - of course - Bluefields. And while much of this construction was ongoing I wrote a lot of posts about ENEL's activity on, and use of, False Bluff facilities between April and November, 2014.
Having electricity along the Caribbean coast - any part of the coast - was a huge surprise to us and is a game changer. All of my plans for False Bluff had revolved around solar power. Now, solar is "an" option, not the "only" option (we'd not given serious consideration to wind power because of the maintenance issues involved).
Much of ENEL's construction work was staged from False Bluff. Watching it (and living with it) on a daily basis was interesting and thirteen posts here show the incredible amount, and difficulty, of what ENEL did to make it happen.
But with the precedent that our invitation set during construction in 2014, any time any work needs to be done on the lines for miles in either direction of False Bluff - False Bluff is where ENEL comes.
I think the crews like to visit False Bluff above and beyond the fact that being here provides easy access, and puts them close, to their work.
And when they come to work they often stay for days, living in the house, hanging hammocks in the sea grapes, enjoying the Caribbean, cooking, doing their laundry...
and, of course, working.
04 January 2016
Damn, I missed this...bad timing
One of my favorite plants here at False Bluff forms a wreath around the base of a coconut tree.
Merry Christmas year 'round (no pun intended) from nature!
Merry Christmas year 'round (no pun intended) from nature!
Lots of earlier posts about this zoysia grass (even when I mistakenly labeled it 'bermuda' grass), incuding how it first came to be at False Bluff.
26 December 2015
Bearing already
We've planted hundreds of coconut trees over the years and are still finding places for more. Now the trees we've been planting over these years - are beginning to bear.
This is what the trees looked like about a year after they were planted (looking along the walkway that leads from the dock, heading toward the house with the Caribbean to the right).
Here are the same trees in 2013.
And in 2015 here's what they look like heading down the walkway toward the dock, away from the house...
Among the earliest planted along the walkway is this one, the first to bear.
Here's a close up of a machete-shaped (but green) part of the tree that will flower and then produce those huge seeds we know as coconuts.
(Visually, coconut trees are integral to Caribbean beach life. Growing, bearing coconut trees however are a mixed blessing as I've written in earlier posts. Picking up and moving just the fruit of thousands of coconut trees is a huge chore...and with more trees being planted, constantly, the chore will grow. But we may have solved the problem of what to do with the coconuts once we collect them from our big front yard.)
This is what the trees looked like about a year after they were planted (looking along the walkway that leads from the dock, heading toward the house with the Caribbean to the right).
Here are the same trees in 2013.
And in 2015 here's what they look like heading down the walkway toward the dock, away from the house...
Among the earliest planted along the walkway is this one, the first to bear.
Here's a close up of a machete-shaped (but green) part of the tree that will flower and then produce those huge seeds we know as coconuts.
(Visually, coconut trees are integral to Caribbean beach life. Growing, bearing coconut trees however are a mixed blessing as I've written in earlier posts. Picking up and moving just the fruit of thousands of coconut trees is a huge chore...and with more trees being planted, constantly, the chore will grow. But we may have solved the problem of what to do with the coconuts once we collect them from our big front yard.)
16 December 2015
The way a coconut tree grows
Each new frond of a coconut tree unfurls upward from the center of the tree in a tightly wrapped spear shape...
And then opens into the shape recognized all over the world.
Here are a few more of the young coconut trees that we've planted in the last few years.
And then opens into the shape recognized all over the world.
Here are a few more of the young coconut trees that we've planted in the last few years.
09 December 2015
Socorro
I've met some incredible people in Nicaragua and one of them is Socorro Woods who is an academic, a feminist, and a friend.
Educated all over the world, among other degrees she holds are a degree in History and Native Administration, and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University in Canada. (I can't recall what degree she earned at a Czechoslovakia university she attended...sorry, Socorro.)
Socorro published her first book in 2005. "I've Never Shared This With Anybody" is a study of Creole women's experiences of racial and sexual discrimination and of their need for self-recovery. It's a compelling read.
While I was in Nicaragua recently Socorro disappeared from Bluefields for a couple of weeks - she went to New York where she'd been invited to speak before the United Nations.
With the assistance of Nadine Jubb, she prepared and presented a paper entitled "Guardians of Autonomy and Human Rights: the Roles Played and Challenges Faced by NGOs and Civil Society in Promoting Autonomy in the Caribbean Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua."
Her paper was delivered to an International Research Seminar organized by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations about non-governmental organizations in autonomous regions. Socorro's lived most of her life in one of Nicaragua's two autonomous regions and knows well how autonomy works - or doesn't work.
Educated all over the world, among other degrees she holds are a degree in History and Native Administration, and a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University in Canada. (I can't recall what degree she earned at a Czechoslovakia university she attended...sorry, Socorro.)
Socorro published her first book in 2005. "I've Never Shared This With Anybody" is a study of Creole women's experiences of racial and sexual discrimination and of their need for self-recovery. It's a compelling read.
While I was in Nicaragua recently Socorro disappeared from Bluefields for a couple of weeks - she went to New York where she'd been invited to speak before the United Nations.
With the assistance of Nadine Jubb, she prepared and presented a paper entitled "Guardians of Autonomy and Human Rights: the Roles Played and Challenges Faced by NGOs and Civil Society in Promoting Autonomy in the Caribbean Autonomous Regions of Nicaragua."
Her paper was delivered to an International Research Seminar organized by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations about non-governmental organizations in autonomous regions. Socorro's lived most of her life in one of Nicaragua's two autonomous regions and knows well how autonomy works - or doesn't work.
02 December 2015
Roof repair
On the only dry and sunny day in two weeks, the roof got fixed.
Not too long after our roof was first put on we had some really heavy winds and, since these blew through before we'd put the netting on, they flipped parts of the new roof around and up..... The net went on after the damage was done, kind of like many other things in life (see January 8, 2014 post).
Not too long after that we noticed some leaks had developed along the peak. The netting was preventing additional wind damage but wasn't fixing the damage that had already been done. According to local lore the roofing material we use has to be cut when the moon is right - weather conditions don't matter much, just the phase of the moon.
The new roof fronds are unloaded in a light mist, an intermission in a day of steady rain (that white pole sticking up in the background is the gate across our canal).
The roofing material is piled up until the next morning - beside a bench with a bag full of rope that'll be used to help keep the guys who'll work on the roof safe...and to get the stuff on top of the house.
Bright and early the next day - and for once in weeks the day actually turned out to be bright - two guys went up and moved the net aside in order to get at the area that needed work.
Once that was done, the ground man began feeding the fronds up a ladder, one piece at a time; and the new roofing, the palm fronds that were going to stop our leaks, was put in place along the peak and then netting was dragged back into position and tied down.
I've removed old, and installed new, shingles on a couple of roofs...and the clean up turned out to be worse than the actual roof work - which is metronomically soothing. But roofing with palm fronds makes clean up quick and easy: rake and burn and we're in a part of the world where burning piles of leaves can still be done.
Not too long after our roof was first put on we had some really heavy winds and, since these blew through before we'd put the netting on, they flipped parts of the new roof around and up..... The net went on after the damage was done, kind of like many other things in life (see January 8, 2014 post).
Not too long after that we noticed some leaks had developed along the peak. The netting was preventing additional wind damage but wasn't fixing the damage that had already been done. According to local lore the roofing material we use has to be cut when the moon is right - weather conditions don't matter much, just the phase of the moon.
The new roof fronds are unloaded in a light mist, an intermission in a day of steady rain (that white pole sticking up in the background is the gate across our canal).
The roofing material is piled up until the next morning - beside a bench with a bag full of rope that'll be used to help keep the guys who'll work on the roof safe...and to get the stuff on top of the house.
Bright and early the next day - and for once in weeks the day actually turned out to be bright - two guys went up and moved the net aside in order to get at the area that needed work.
Once that was done, the ground man began feeding the fronds up a ladder, one piece at a time; and the new roofing, the palm fronds that were going to stop our leaks, was put in place along the peak and then netting was dragged back into position and tied down.
I've removed old, and installed new, shingles on a couple of roofs...and the clean up turned out to be worse than the actual roof work - which is metronomically soothing. But roofing with palm fronds makes clean up quick and easy: rake and burn and we're in a part of the world where burning piles of leaves can still be done.
30 November 2015
Parrots by the hundred
I need a new camera.
My point and shoot just couldn't handle pictures of the parrots that came out to feed the first few weeks of the rainy season: they were too far away and too active.
They came by the noisy hundreds in all their unbelievable colors, wheeling around the house. If they'd let me get closer I might have been able to have gotten a couple of decent shots - but they weren't having any of that regardless of how careful and quiet and slow I crept toward them.
Here are a couple of the really bad pictures I did manage to get of part of the flock that landed, screaming, on a couple of trees right outside my bedroom window. Let me tell you, waking up to twenty-five or so parrots having what sounds like an argument is quite an experience.
And here's what they came to feed on. We've got lots of the trees that make these green cherry-like fruits. This particular tree is just in front of the house.
I'm told the parrots feed heavily for a short time early in the rainy season and then disappear into the forest to eat bugs until the next rainy season rolls around. I didn't even know we had them.
My point and shoot just couldn't handle pictures of the parrots that came out to feed the first few weeks of the rainy season: they were too far away and too active.
They came by the noisy hundreds in all their unbelievable colors, wheeling around the house. If they'd let me get closer I might have been able to have gotten a couple of decent shots - but they weren't having any of that regardless of how careful and quiet and slow I crept toward them.
Here are a couple of the really bad pictures I did manage to get of part of the flock that landed, screaming, on a couple of trees right outside my bedroom window. Let me tell you, waking up to twenty-five or so parrots having what sounds like an argument is quite an experience.
And here's what they came to feed on. We've got lots of the trees that make these green cherry-like fruits. This particular tree is just in front of the house.
I'm told the parrots feed heavily for a short time early in the rainy season and then disappear into the forest to eat bugs until the next rainy season rolls around. I didn't even know we had them.
24 November 2015
Monkey
He was a street dog, foraging for food and running the neighborhood. He was shy and nobody could put a hand on him. He was sick, and getting sicker.
When he collapsed in a nearby alley we collected him on an old sheet because he could no longer stand, a sure death sentence for a forager. He was emaciated and had no hair left; and he had open, oozing sores over his entire body. When we got to the vet's office people moved out of the way, more in disgust than pity; and the vet said he's very anemic and will probably die soon...
I said I'd try, and I did. Later, when he was strong enough to be neutered the vet guessed his age at five.
Ten years on and he'd still not quite got the hang of civilization. He really liked going for walks, although we know he missed running the neighborhood.
He really liked the company of the cats, far more than that of the other dog. He really liked dependable meals. He really liked fresh water, and soft beds that he could position to his liking. He really liked just being near his people.
And he loved being brushed although his skin, long-healed, was always tender.
Last night he was buried in the garden next to a hydrangea and we hated leaving him in the cold.
He's buried in our hearts forever.
When he collapsed in a nearby alley we collected him on an old sheet because he could no longer stand, a sure death sentence for a forager. He was emaciated and had no hair left; and he had open, oozing sores over his entire body. When we got to the vet's office people moved out of the way, more in disgust than pity; and the vet said he's very anemic and will probably die soon...
I said I'd try, and I did. Later, when he was strong enough to be neutered the vet guessed his age at five.
Ten years on and he'd still not quite got the hang of civilization. He really liked going for walks, although we know he missed running the neighborhood.
He really liked the company of the cats, far more than that of the other dog. He really liked dependable meals. He really liked fresh water, and soft beds that he could position to his liking. He really liked just being near his people.
And he loved being brushed although his skin, long-healed, was always tender.
Last night he was buried in the garden next to a hydrangea and we hated leaving him in the cold.
He's buried in our hearts forever.
22 November 2015
Friends, redux
I've done a couple of recent posts about a favorite pair of shoes that were old when I bought them. Their rebirth in Bluefields was a surprising treat: a treat that they could be reborn and a treat to watch people use skills seemingly lost in Virginia and maybe in other parts of the U.S. as well.
I showed up at Los Hermanos #2 in time for an appointment I'd made the day before and was given a seat so I could wait rather than wander around town barefoot with my crutches. The shoes were given to an apprentice who sat at one side of the shop's front door under the watchful eye of, apparently, one of the hermanos, who sat at the other.
Then surgery began with cleaning the soles of the shoes themselves and cutting new soles to general size and shape from rolls of sole material.
Both the newly cut sole material and the bottom of the old shoes were roughed up really good with sandpaper...
and a viscous glue was applied to the entire surface of each of the two pieces which were then pressed together by hand, followed by a few taps with a hammer.
The apprentice handed each shoe, with freshly glued new piece of sole material, to the hermano, who very carefully cut away the excess, fitting the new to the old.
Each shoe was then returned to the apprentice who as carefully cut a channel in which a heavy waxed thread would - in addition to the glue - bind the old top to the new bottom...even around that awkward little toe indentation which, until I found Los Hermanos, made it seem as though I was finally going to lose these old friends.
The final phase of this resurrection was to sew the pieces together, by hand, one stitch at a time.
When the job was done I paid the boss, gave both guys my sincere thanks.....and walked out in my new shoes.
I showed up at Los Hermanos #2 in time for an appointment I'd made the day before and was given a seat so I could wait rather than wander around town barefoot with my crutches. The shoes were given to an apprentice who sat at one side of the shop's front door under the watchful eye of, apparently, one of the hermanos, who sat at the other.
Then surgery began with cleaning the soles of the shoes themselves and cutting new soles to general size and shape from rolls of sole material.
Both the newly cut sole material and the bottom of the old shoes were roughed up really good with sandpaper...
and a viscous glue was applied to the entire surface of each of the two pieces which were then pressed together by hand, followed by a few taps with a hammer.
The apprentice handed each shoe, with freshly glued new piece of sole material, to the hermano, who very carefully cut away the excess, fitting the new to the old.
Each shoe was then returned to the apprentice who as carefully cut a channel in which a heavy waxed thread would - in addition to the glue - bind the old top to the new bottom...even around that awkward little toe indentation which, until I found Los Hermanos, made it seem as though I was finally going to lose these old friends.
The final phase of this resurrection was to sew the pieces together, by hand, one stitch at a time.
When the job was done I paid the boss, gave both guys my sincere thanks.....and walked out in my new shoes.
16 November 2015
Finally...
Following a year of pain the likes of which I can't begin to describe...these things are ready for the trash bin only a month after surgery thanks to Dr. G and his posse.
12 November 2015
Good friends, 2
Previously I lamented my inability to find replacement soles for a pair of well-loved and comfortable shoes, pointing out that there are shoe repair places all over Bluefields but none with these really odd-shaped soles.
But among the many shoe repair places is "Zapateria Los Hermanos." Run in a very professional manner it turned out these brothers have two locations.
I went with Zapateria Los Hermanos #2 because among their selection were rolls of "sole" material of different thicknesses from which odd-sized replacement soles could be cut and custom fitted to my shoes...
But among the many shoe repair places is "Zapateria Los Hermanos." Run in a very professional manner it turned out these brothers have two locations.
#1 is open air.....
#2 is not...
which was just what I needed.
(#2 includes drive up service which I didn't need)
I made an appointment for "good friends redux."
06 November 2015
The scent of the flower
When my dear friend Sylvia Fox was growing up in Pearl Lagoon there were Ylang-ylang trees growing everywhere. Sylvia grew up poor, as many in Nicaragua did - and still do - but that didn't mean there weren't special things available.
Sylvia's shown here at the edge of Volcan Masaya on our trip to Catarina, the small town where the Ylang-ylang trees that are now blooming at False Bluff came from some years ago (the smell in the air at the edge of the volcano is a far cry from that at False Bluff).
The scent of the Ylang-ylang tree is said by many to be the basis for Chanel #5 and after having the Ylang-ylang bloom at False Bluff I can believe it. Sylvia said that as children she and her sisters would put Ylang-ylang flowers into alcohol...which turned out to be sort of a way of extracting the essential oil.
Sylvia's shown here at the edge of Volcan Masaya on our trip to Catarina, the small town where the Ylang-ylang trees that are now blooming at False Bluff came from some years ago (the smell in the air at the edge of the volcano is a far cry from that at False Bluff).
The scent of the Ylang-ylang tree is said by many to be the basis for Chanel #5 and after having the Ylang-ylang bloom at False Bluff I can believe it. Sylvia said that as children she and her sisters would put Ylang-ylang flowers into alcohol...which turned out to be sort of a way of extracting the essential oil.
On Sundays or on other special occasions these girls would perfume themselves with the Ylang-ylang scented, fast-evaporating alcohol. Sylvia and I have laughed about this over the years, the fact that these young women along Nicaragua's Caribbean coast were using Chanel #5 decades ago...without even knowing it.
For Sylvia's birthday this year one of my gifts to her was some Ylang-ylang scented alcohol in which I had steeped a couple of weeks' worth of flowers (and it really does smell like Chanel #5 whether that story is true or not).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)