Flowers Enhance My Days

Tags

Alamanda, botanicals, coralito, datura, Let's Be Wild FLOWERS, malinche, Manzana de Agua, Maracuya

First Light: Sun-drenched Datura

Wow folks! I wasn’t ready to publish, but looks like these flowers wanted to come out and say, “HI!”
When a painting has that run-away hard-headed stubborness, I give it its rein and let it fly! I’ll do the same for this one!
This is for this week’s Wild Weekly’s Let’s Be Wild challenge!   Can you guess that this week’s subject is FLOWERS?!!!

Enjoy the runaway colors arranged with respect to a color wheel!

Ode to 668 East Beach

Tags

Childhood memories, Gulfport Mississippi, Hurricane Camille, Hurricane Katrina, WordPress Daily Prompt Ode

668 East Beach

The Daily Prompt rolled through my inbox this morning and stated: “A place from your past or childhood, one that you’re fond of, is destroyed. Write it a memorial.”

Nothing stood out as I pondered this prompt, and then I remembered my Aunt Lulu’s stately home on 668 East Beach, Gulfport, Mississippi, USA.   Gulfport was a long drive from the alluvial cotton fields of my Mississippi Delta childhood, and my father made that journey about once a year to see his sister Lulu Williams Anderson.  Daddy was born in 1913, and I don’t remember how much older she was than he.  I do remember that she sometimes seemed – (to me, the baby child of Aunt Lulu’s baby brother) – as old as God!

D is for Desayuno

Tags

Bolones, breakfast in ecuador, Chifles, desayuno, desayuno in ecuador, encebollado, Frizztext story challenge d, grilled tuna, quinoa

Good Morning, World! (Breakfast art by Hank Groff) Photo by Marie Groff

Emerging from a ‘painting fog,’ I am groping for clarity of mind to pull this post together! Painting and conversation don’t mix well, even if my conversation is with the keyboard!  Attempting to catch up with Frizztext’s story alphabet, I present to you a wide variety of breakfast items from Ecuador.   Desayuno by any other name would still equal breakfast!

Queensland Australia Floods

Sweet Gypsy Pauline just sent this out regarding the flooding in Australia. Let’s hope the storm exhausts itself soon.

Here are some images from an online ABC report: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-27/queensland-floods-as-oswald-moves-south/4486174
Z

gypsy life

Queensland is once more being inundated with a massive storm system. It is slow-moving and dumping enormous amounts of rain and lashing gale-force winds of over 100kph. Over 6 days it has moved south from Cairns in the north. Yesterday it reached Brisbane, our beautiful capital city, after the huge storms of 2011 many people had only just put their lives back together again. My heart aches for these poor families.

Late yesterday We went down to our beach to see what the storms were doing. Jack took this photo of one of a big old tree blown over. So sad to see. The visibility was almost nil and the waves were roaring and wild

Jack took some photos but we did not stay long it was scary watching the awesome power of nature.

This morning we are watching the TV showing all the flooding. So far Bundaberg is the worst affected, with…

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The Rain Stopped – Get Outside NOW!

Tags

Alamanda, Heliconia, Jake's Sunday Post Focused Attention, jama ecuador, Let's Be Wild Photo Challenge Now, Muddy Roads, The Rainy Season Jama Ecuador

Ready, Set, Let’s Go NOW!!

After weeks and weeks of slow, gentle rains, the skies lightened yesterday, and I joined my fellow locals and mudded my way to town!    Although my kitchen  held a generous supply of basics, I’ve learned to always be prepared for unstable weather to flex its muscles and hang around for weeks.     I pulled a few weeds in the yard, which was a bit too muddy for weeding.

The test crop of quinoa (see Q is for Quinoa!)  is quite happy in this cool moist weather!

Hmmmm.  Should I walk to town in the mud or chance going later in the rain?  The trek would give me great material for this week’s challenge of “NOW” at Let’s Be Wild.    Oh yes, I looked forward to snapping images as I mudded to town and back!

I love my life n this last bend of the river.

Would you like to tag along?   Let’s Go!

C is for Chivo, Cabra, Chivato

Tags

Cabra, Chivas, Chivatos, Chivos, Frizztext Story Challenge C, Goats, Manabi Rural Life

Out for a Sunday Stroll…

This new year kicks off a new Frizztext Alphabet Challenge, and my personal challenge is to use Spanish words each week.    Although ‘ceviche’ popped to the front of my mental list, I realized that my number-one garden pest also starts with a C.

Mano de la Paz Finds A New Home

Tags

Acrylic Painting, El Matal Ecuador, Jama Coaque, Jama Coaque Art, Lisa Brunetti Paintings, Mano de la Paz Painting, museo bahia de caraquez, The Mola Series

Pottery Shards

The mystery painting that held my attention for many weeks finally reached its new home!  Patricia Adams Farmer gave readers a sneak peek in her amazing feature, “The Totalmente Zen Art of Lisa Brunetti”  Thanks again, Patricia, and thanks to all of you who visited her column and left such thoughtful comments.

Detail Mano Swirl – collection of Museo Bahia de Caraquez – 2012

New clients from the Jama area especially liked my graphic six-foot tall painting, Mano Swirl,  that belongs to the Museo Bahia de Caraquez (Ecuador) and depicts a pre-Columbian relic from the area.   Anyone who walks the beaches of the Jama area, will come away with pottery fragments from the Jama Coaque culture.

Museo Bahia de Caraquez (Ecuador) – Jama Coaque Culture

Detail/Artifact/Jama Coaque Culture – Museo Bahia de Caraquez

The  Jama Coaque Indians left behind a legacy of amazing artifacts. The  hand and the swirl patterns are often associated with their culture.

Sellos were most likely used for rolling designs on textiles and skin.

The inspiration for the current painting came from a small  “sello” artifact from the Casa del Alabado Museum collection in Quito Ecuador.   The Indians most likely used sellos to stamp patterns onto bodies and textiles.    We decided to go with a scientific likeness for this  “Jama Coaque” painting.

Jama Coaque SelloCasa Alabado/Quito Ecuador

I often placed the painting on the floor and my computer on the painting for easy reference of the museum image.

Using watercolor techniques with acrylic paints, I slowly added layers of color and shadow.  

Buen Viaje, Bob!

Tags

Backpack Travel Latin America, Bob Pirancafe

The joys of new airports, new people, new countries, new adventures!

Bob of Pirancafe blog is presently in flight via Alitalia between Rome Italy and Buenos Aires.   A highly-talented photographer, writer and journalist,  he has disconnected from his post in Slovenia and is embarking on a ’14 to 16 month jaunt around the planet’, starting in Buenos Aires.

See his end-of-year summary for an at-a-glance sampling of his photos and posts, and then check his ITINERARY for this trip.   Join me in following his journey via update/newsletter and posts from South America to Central America to U.S. Pacific Northwest,  then over to Guam, the Phillipines…  He might even toss a few lucky subscribers a few items he finds along the way!

Know any best-kept secrets for transportation or lodging, starting with Argentina? Leave Bob a comment on his blog!

Join me in wishing Bob a great journey;  who knows – his trail might come through your turf before his journey is finished!

Buen Viaje, Bob!

Z

 

Words Sometime Fail Me

Tags

ceibo trees, Jama Coaque Art, Jama Coaque Sellos Manos, Jesus Jazz & buddhism, Lisa Brunetti art, Patricia Adams Farmer, Rain Jama Ecuador January 2013

How Does One Spell Mud?!!!!  When walking to town in THIS, I briefly wondered if I was on the right track!

After six months of extreme dry weather, typical of this dry rain-forest climate, the clouds turned on their taps and kicked off the new year with slow gentle rain.   And more rain.  And more rain.   And more rain.

Friends from Colorado are in town to check on their home that’s under construction in the area.   I’ve upgraded from a life ankle deep in mud on the river to a short stay at a cute hostal while they are here.    (The photo above shows the road between my house and town.)   All’s fine here, though the internet has been painfully slow.  I have had problems sending emails, commenting on other posts or replying to WordPress comments.

2012 Best of Nature

Tags

chrysalis, Costa Rica Butterflies, Holwer Monkeys, Iguana Images, metamorphosis, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, Photography by Lisa Brunetti, SA Best Science Nature Images 2012, Scientific American Best Nature Images 2012

He sails through the air with the greatest of ease! (Costa Rica Howler Monkey)

Stephen Schwartzman of Portraits of Wildflowers posted his Best of 2012 Nature Photos and told of a query from Scientific American’s Alex Wild  for “your best science/nature images…  See Stephen’s post HERE>

Many of my posts from 2012 featured encounters with nature from my life of total immersion in Costa Rica’s dry rain forest.  The howler monkeys taught me the nuances of their communications; the trusting little ones often scampered down the tree limbs to get a closer glimpse at the strange two-legged creature that sometimes spoke their language!

Light & Shadow – Illumination Through An Artist’s Eyes

Tags

Dark and Light, Ecuador, Hacienda Guachala Ecuador, Light and Shadow, WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge - Illumination

First Light: Sun-drenched Datura

The WordPress photo challenge for this week is Illumination.    The above datura illustrates the dramatic effect of early-morning light.   The image below shows the opposite view, which also captures a golden beam of light while the rest of the landscape awaits its turn.

We often associate illumination with man-made objects like ethereal church windows or dreamy night-time settings. Artists often seek the sun’s dramatic light, which creates shadows that are just as important as the light.

A is for Árbol; B is for Bicicleta!

Tags

arbol, bicycles, ceibo trees, frizztest story challenge b, frizztext story challenge a, life in ecuador

Frizztext’s first two alphabet challenges for 2013 are for the letters A and B. When possible, I plan to use Spanish words!

You might remember that I have my very own personal welcome wagon when I pass through the outskirts of town!  Even if I am in a hurry, I always stop and bask in her gentle nature!  (See Children & Their Gifts)

She makes me feel like royalty!

This past week when Maria dashed out to greet me, I thought, “If I’m going to stop and talk with her, we might as well have a lesson in English!”

Scary Creepy Crawling Critters!

Tags

Iguanas, Let's Be Wild Photo Challenge - Scary, mystery fish ecuador estero, Scorpion, snakes, Waspo, Wild Weekly Photo Challenge- Scary

Well good morning to you as well! Meet the inspector of a just-finished bench design!

Great news: Let’s Be Wild selected one of the images of the turtles as this week’s first place winner!  I’m stoked!   Go see the winning images HERE.  Now that “New Beginnings” is officially finished, a fun theme follows;  I certainly cross paths with plenty of photo-ops that illustrate SCARY!  Although few things scare me, I suspect that a few of these images will be creepy to some of you!

New Beginnings II – Chrysalis

Tags

chrysalis, Let's Be Wild New Beginnings, Maracuya Pests, Passionfruit pests, Wild Weekly Photo Challenge - New Beginnings

“A Maracuya Day!”

So I was in a deep painting fog, but ready to take a break.   I reflected that  Tina on Travels and Trifles posted her amazing photos of the sea turtles;  please visit her post HERE – she is a very talented woman!   (Plus: one can never see too many of those great little tanks!)

I pondered, ‘What else could I have posted?” – and viola! – I remembered being disgusted when the caterpillars defoliated the maracuya/passion fruit crop.

This week’s theme also makes me think of Tracy Chapman’s CD by that same title, and the song, “Heaven’s Here On Earth.”     There seems to be a growing awareness for reclaiming our connection with Mother Earth; enjoy the song while scrolling through the images.  Maybe, just maybe, we can find our way back to nature, where our species can heal.

“Ok.. Let’s Baptize them with Lemon-Grass & Garlic Tea!”

My organic attempts did not work.  Squashing the creepy crawliers was my best attack…   Many survived, though the crop was destroyed.  The survivors later thanked me with an amazing early-morning performance.

New Beginnings

Tags

Let's Be Wild New Beginnings, Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, Playa San Miguel Costa Rica, Pretoma, Wild Weekly Photo Challenge - New Beginnings

An Olive Ridley Sea Turtle Egg;  What are its chances of survival?

Happy New Year, everyone!  I am so honored that one of my images won Let’s Be Wild’s ‘Exploration’ category.   See the image HERE.  This week’s photo challenge (ending today!) is “New Beginnings.”   Let’s go once again to Playa San Miguel, Costa Rica and watch the olive ridley sea turtles’ new beginnings.

While the female turtle is in her egg-laying trance, the biologists record data then transfer the eggs to a nursery.

The eggs are buried the same depth as the turtle’s original nest.

In 40 to 60 days, the magical awakening begins, and the hatchlings quickly find their way to the surface and follow the call of the ocean.

Through Foreign Eyes

Tags

central park traditions, christmas in ecuador, christmas traditions, jama ecuador

The Story Of Christmas

(Jan. 2013) “An artist’s eyes never rest,’ and mine have been working overtime in the Jama Ecuador area!  The Cevallos-Sabando family invited me to their Christmas Eve family feast, which is traditionally served around midnight.  Their home and country store, located on the prominent corner on incoming Jama Avenue,  faces the highly-popular park in the center of town.   Throughout the year, friends, neighbors and strangers ebb and flow past the storefront, where an always-changing sidewalk display reflects the current holiday theme.  On Christmas Eve, a cluster of people sat in plastic chairs and stared at the nativity scene while family members visited near the corner door and greeted passersby.

(Update Dec. 2016: The buildings in the background were destroyed in the April 2016 earthquake, and the one where the people are sitting has damage and is being altered…)

The Sabando/Cevallos Family — A Relaxed Greeting Party in Jama Ecuador

I arrived early to help my friends with the preparation of the meal, and was surprised to be immediately seated for an end-of-day meal!   Not too hungry, I served a token amount of beef and rice then washed it down with fresh coconut water. Pulling my paring knife from my purse, I then began prepping vegetables.  (Sometimes we learn to be prepared!)

When the kitchen duties were finished, I absorbed the buzz of activities in the center of town.  Through foreign eyes I witnessed so much more than the goings on in my friends’ downstairs kitchen!