25 February 2016

You may have heard: we had a hurricane.  And I’m glad to tell you this is NOT a photo of our place.

This is more like what the damage looked like around our place.  Austin tells me he lost the cashew trees and the sapadilla (“sugar plum”) trees – and that’s about it.

But the power is still off.  We have a small generator for running the incubator.  Will it be enough to save the hatch?   We’ll know by tomorrow.   And how will the following 2 weeks’ worth of eggs do?   Probably not well at all, but we’ll see.

Anyway, I thought you’d like to see this.

The Laundromat.

The Washing Machine.

The Washing Machine with its Power Source.

The Rinse Cycle !!!

I thought I’d do laundry every day, but then I kept hoping the power would just come on and I put it off.  Two days ago the power was restored up to Mahen’s Export, only 1 km. away. Thus far and no farther….

Alas, now the communal water tank is empty – no power to pump it.  We will try with our little generator, but I’m not too optimistic.    Anyway, I’ll go back to the “Laundromat” this morning, I guess.

Last shot for the week.   The only damaged house I saw in all of Valley Road – down near the water treatment plant on the way to town.

A bunch of people came to stand in the door as we were taking the photo.  Made me feel guilty, as if I were treating their disaster like entertainment.  So we stopped again on the home with some groceries.

And now I realize, I should have bought myself another Victory Bar (laundry soap).  Drat.

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18 February 2016

Here is a funny new hibiscus with my favorite flower show host.

Earlier this week Austin brought candle nuts for me to photograph, and I thought they were boring and then they were lost.   BAM!  Suddenly it was Wednesday, and nothing in my camera.

So I asked visiting son Guy to help.  He suggested the mushroom that sprung up overnight.

“No, Mom – you took a bad picture.  Let me.”

“Isn’t that better?”

Followed by explanations of photo composition, Rule of Threes, sweet spot and the like.   It all went over my old gray head.

Shadows of the two of us on the trail.   Who looks like a triangular lump?

Puddles in the road on the walk home.

I confess, I’m not really into the flora or the fauna right now.  Finally (amazingly), there is a production team in place for a radio drama I wrote three years ago.  I am having a roller-coaster blast trying to rewrite what I thought was a finished play and I now see is a crappy first draft…. because it is Going To Be PRODUCED…. starting in a few weeks!

Anyhoo, that is all I had until this morning when I got another happy shock of drama news.  Steven Good, the family friend “Hollywood actor” who did the coconut oil shoot for me in July 2014 ….

got a leading role in a newly released Hollywood movie!   NIGHTMARE NURSE.  (ha ha ha ha).    Take a look at the trailer – I think this movie will at least earn back its production costs – it looks like a fun Date Movie.     Here is the link:  https://www.tugg.com/events/86429

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May you all have a week that is as happy as mine just ended!

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11 February 2016

My daughter-in-law Mami is the guest photographer for the week.   These were some of the jewels in her camera from this morning.   First up,  my son Guy gets to see his horse Ryu (“Dragon”).

Winky plays in the creek (or goes fishing), because the creek is running, because it’s been raining!

Son Leo and cousin Kiki play with the puppies.   (Austin has fallen for the fluffy white female and is trying to figure out how to justify keeping a fifth dog.)

Leo feeds the chickens.  I bet he doesn’t get to do THIS in Fukuoka!

Our bee man comes to check the hives.  We do not harvest honey, but we do end up with some honeycomb.

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Bowden men are a hairy lot.   What can I say?

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4 February 2016

This one flower perfumed my whole house for two days.  When I mentioned it to Austin, he remarked how unusual it is:  not that one gardenia can fill a house, but that gardenias are even blooming now.  They are a November flower.

The plants are off-schedule because of the changed rain pattern.

Also to do with flowers, the Orchid House is still going.

And one precocious orchid has put out its FIRST SPRAY.   (I’ll get a photo next week of the opened buds)

 

GREAT GOOSE ROUND UP

This is the big news of the week.  The goose pen got made and so we moved all but one of the geese to their new home.  (Remember the gosling who bonded to the chicks – he wouldn’t join the gaggle.)   Walking the geese over was a whole family affair.   Here you see Junia leading the way down the hill.

Down the hill and over, they come to the gate of their fence.

They jumped in the pond and were back out by the time I got there.  We threw some feed onto the pond for the talapia.

And the geese retraced their steps trying to get out of their new paradise.  They have no gratitude!

By and by a few of them found their new feed bowl.

And the whole gaggle crowded around – at which time the rest of us sneaked away.

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Two more odd, and oddly related, photos in my camera this week.

The more recent …. more bare feet in Sigatoka.  Maybe I’m the only person who thinks it is funny to see people barefoot in town.

This is some fellow Akka was talking with at the bus stand.   But half the time when Junia goes to town, this could be Junia….   And here is the other photo I took early in the week and forgot all about:

How freaky!   That is more than 700 amputations a year here!   I wonder if any of it is related to paucity of good shoes?

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