Rio Cinto Ecuador
End of day – view from my friends’ front porch…
Subtle moods wash over the cloud forest from hour to hour. She can be sunny and bright one minute, and mysterious and moody another. Here is a token sample of specimen and native plants that decorate the landcape and gardens of my friends’ property in Mindo. Getting stronger every day, I’m hopeful to be visiting this lovely area in a few weeks and doing a few nature studies. Which ones do you think might inspire me?
Tree fern
Ginger – Delicate to see, hardy with the right weather conditions, and these beauties thrive here!
Ahhhh, for sure I will paint these night-blooming angels trumpets, if they are blooming.
For more flowers and foliage, keep scrolling!
Orchid
Did you ever pick wild berries when you were growing up?
Wild clematis?
Unique foliage plants distracted my attention.
Stately and a favorite to paint. Hummingbirds are the only pollinators of heliconias – true or false?
Ah, the monarchs are not far away!
Toucans have nibbled (Gorged?) bananas from this spot on the downstairs balcony!
Very sweet petite wildflower
Do you remember this from a previous post? (Timeout for Art – Bringing Nature Inside)
Brazilian Red Cloak, bamboo, pond, and view in the distance…
Strong sun and dense shadows – ah, what difference a touch of sun makes!
(from the Piper family?)
Yes, on reviewing the botanicals, I am still drawn to the angels trumpets paired with deep red ginger.
Time in Mindo will help me heal, don’t you agree? Feeling strongner and ready to resume painting!
More soon!
Gardens…
get thee to Mindo to soak up the beauty and to heal! 🙂
Alison
ja ja! si, i will be happy to soak up that beauty! thank you so much!
If Mindo doesn’t heal you, I don’t know what will!!! Bliss! 🙂
Beautiful and serene! Certainly a wonderful peaceful place to heal mind, body, soul. Lovely photos!
Thanks Z. Your pictures are healing to me. I love the tree fern picture from the vantage of us ground bound humans. Best wishes amiga, BTG
Such a lush and beautiful world you are surrounded by. I hope it will all inspire you to get well again. Good to read that at least you are feeling stronger.Wish you all the best.
Glad you are on the mend. You will be in a very beautiful place – love the pink cloud forest view from the porch. Very interesting plants and butterflies too.
Yes, the cloud forest is very pretty, and to my knowledge it’s not a home for the dengue-carrying mosquito! Thanks!
Looking forward to seeing a drawing of your blackberries and butterfly. Glad to hear you are recovering from the dreaded dengue.
Ha! A new kind of B&B!
Yes, there are many people in this area that are equally-relieved to be getting better. The dengue/chikungunya struck fast and knocked a large percentage of us in one fast swipe!
That’s two viruses I won’t hve to worry about dodging!
Soothing pictures, Lisa. Angel trumpets, foliage and butterflies. I’m curious as to the butterfly on the white bloom. Very unusual wings. Get well soon.🎨
I don’t know what kind of butterfly that is. There are so many beautiful species of butterflies and moths. They deserve their own spotlight, don’t they?
The photo under the one of the bamboo and pond has a butterfly with translucent wings edged in brown. I looked it up and it is a Patilla Clearwing and its range is Mexico to Panama. I doubt that either one of us is going to need this trivia, but your close up photography is stunning making identification easier.
wow, i am thrilled to have my very own personal research assistant! thank you so much, dear lynne! my friend cynthia commented via email about that one (she was having trouble commenting the reg. way.)
thanks so much – i am so happpy to have an id, even if that little one strayed a bit beyond its range!
Such diversity!
amazing view
It will surely be a place of healing. 🙂 The pink ginger is my favourite.
Amazing photos – I have to get to Mindo! Glad you continue to feel better 🙂 P.S. My favourite pic is of the berries and the butterfly – wow!
So many gorgeous tropical beauties Lisa both flowers and butterflies. So pleased to hear you are at long last starting to feel better and the paints are calling you…
Reblogged this on So, I Read This Book Today and commented:
Such beauty in the world . . .
Thank you! Many people pass right by that beauty every day and never note what’s there. You definitely are one to notice the finer details of one’s day!
Sounds like a wonderful place and perfect for healing Z! Nice to see you again – beautiful flowers.
Thanks, Mary.. Yes, it’s great to be getting better, though the fatigue is baffling. I’ve read, however, that it’s the biggest complaint – even after the joint pain goes away, the fatigue lingers.
I’ll be painting today and look forward to that. My hands feel swollen, and holding a pen/pencil/brush feels almost foreign, but the body has a way of adapting after ten or so minutes.. Hopefully in another hour, I’ll be in the ‘zone.’ It’s about time!
Thanks! Z
Happy to read that you will be painting – looking forward to seeing some of your nature studies. It sounds almost like working your fingers when arthritis sets in to get them going again. I hope this rest begins to lessen the hold that the fatigue has had on your body.
yes, ‘they’ say that the side effects are much like rheumatoid arthritis.. sometimes the side effects remain for almost two years, where others get well much sooner. i’m shooting for one more week before all’s clear… as for the fatigue, it’s baffling, and it takes half a morning to emerge from the deep sleep. 11 hours last night with zero awakenings..
Wow, 11 hours? Have you lost a lot of weight? You were very thin to begin with, but I would imagine that this has taken its toll in a lot of ways on your body.
Si, John Grisham’s novel, The Client, tells of a man who gets dengue in the amazon. When he sees his boss, the boss says he looks horrible… Nate replies, ‘Thanks, you want to lose 15 pounds fst, you have to meet the right mosquito.’….
My appetite is back, so the weight is returning! Thanks!
ps…i am so much better this week! i’ll be working at the museum and should have reliable internet and will catch up starting tonight…. how’s the weather there? my niece wrote to say that they had rain over the weekend in arkansas.. sounds abnormal for july…
Hi Z! Thanks for the note – so glad to read that you are feeling better. Bet you are enjoying being able to paint again and feeling productive. Still crazy – had over an inch of rain two weeks ago (unheard of for this time of year), but this coming week the temps will be in high 90’s and dry so TX weather is settling back where it should be. Many of the lakes here in N. TX are closed because they are still at full capacity.
Getting those water levels back is great, a much better reason for them to be closed than from being too low. Makes me wonder how the fishing would be. Long ago, fishing was my vice when I lived along the Mississippi!
We are thrilled to have the water back – keeping conservation measures in place will only aid us down the road when the drought hits again. Why doesn’t fishing surprise me?? I don’t fish, but one never knows maybe someday!
I think the fishing came second place to the immersion in nature. I loved the solitude and comfort of those serene waters, expecially when floodwaters allowed me to explore the willows in my little boat.
Doesn’t surprise me that you like solitude and fishing is perhaps why people are so drawn to it.
You have an endless source of inspiration, Lisa. Now, all you have to do is get better to hold those paint brushes steady. Hugs from Nicaragua.
thanks, amiga.. the mind/brain/eye sees so much/wants to do so much, and the fatigue says, ‘oh no you don’t..’ i am so much better than a week ago… one day at a time! z
All those images are wonderful, but my favourite is the end of day image. It does look moody in an oriental painting way….love the pinks, misty distant forest and foreground branches. Looking forward to you resuming paintings. Sometimes downtime is time of observing and mentally processing; it will download as art in no time!!