Click on first photo to enlarge and on arrows to move through gallery.
A friend suggested I add this link for those who wonder about the story of me sitting in the surf in the chair. Have a look at this link: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2014/08/05/de-picted/
http://ceenphotography.com/2016/02/29/cees-fun-foto-challenge-things-that-are-wet/
Leapin’Lizards
Iguanas, lizards, gekkos, turtles, toads and frogs and snakes
are not the things that we should fear in life, for goodness sakes.
These creatures in their own domains present no awful threat.
Just leave them where they are, for none were made to be a pet.
Our tame lives seek to steal the wildness from such natural things,
but wildness is not what curtailing wildness ever brings.
We must learn to leap ourselves––by entering our lives
and breaking free from prisons–our cages, pens or hives––
to buzz the world around us and see what we can find
to release us from our lethargy and the ties that bind.
If you do not know the way, just go and find a child
and follow him or her to places where they keep the wild.
The beach or any sandpile may serve to be your clues
of how to color your own life with more vivid hues.
A thing as simple as wet sand can take a child to
places where you had forgot you could be taken to.
Castle moats or rivers, dams, mountain tops or caves
huge mansions that are sacrifices to that evening’s waves.
Our wild imaginations are where we all should go
to find a little wildness when our lives are slow.
Go find a dog to walk with if you need a pet
then take him out to some wild beach–and both of you, get wet!
Wildness is for doing, not for sitting on a shelf.
So free the creatures pining there and find some for yourself!
(Click on first photo to enlarge and view gallery)
Those baby sea turtles are being set free, not being collected. Happy Leap Year!!!
(If you want to know more about the release of the baby turtles, go HERE.)
This poem was written partially in response to this strange strange news from my home town that was sent to me by two friends yesterday. Read about it here: http://www.chapala.com/webboard/index.php?/topic/60430-tiger-in-la-floresta/
It was also in response to the prompt “Leap,” in honor of this being the extra day in this leap year! https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/leap/
It isn’t often that a boy finds such a receptive audience outside of his own family, but obviously, this boy had some story to tell! (Click on first photo to view all photos in enlarged view. When you get to last picture in this series, click on the black area to the right of the pictures and it will cause the second set of pictures that tell about Aedan’s adventure to appear.)
CLICK ON FIRST PHOTO BELOW TO SEE THE SLIDE SERIES AND READ ABOUT AEDAN’S BIG ADVENTURE.
Laguna Sunset
This was the sunset two nights ago that greeted us as we were nearing the end of our river birding trip on the laguna and river in the bird sanctuary that runs between La Manzanilla and Boca de Iguana. The two young men who operated the oars on our boat pointed out hornbills, egrets, herons, cormorants, crocodiles, giant iguanas and a plethora of other birds as we quietly moved through the mangroves. At one point, we had to lean down flat in the boat to go under an extremely low bridge…but those pictures will follow. The point of this posting is the incredible sunset which was actually even more virant than these pictures depict. As we approached the beach again from the laguna, the sky was a vibrant scarlet. These pictures capture part of the ever changing spectacle.
Beached! More Adventures and Misadventures of a Reforming Compulsive Blogger.
Busy day. A few fish, a few fisherman and a few pelicans returned to a beach that has been empty of all of them for the past few days. New neighbors moved in upstairs–Pat and Nancy, reformed English teachers from Michigan. A bit of beach combing, then talked to Angie, local beach jewelry vendor, who is going to macrame some sample bracelet cords for me to see if they’d work better than the wire and wax-linen wrapped button bracelets I’ve been making. Once Angie left, Candace came with sewing machine to make some cloth prototypes for bracelets. We tinkered all afternoon and think we’ve come up with a design. I’ll sew on buttons tonight to see how they work but for now I’m going for a beach dinner up the beach and then to either a storytelling or salsa dancing…Undecided at this point. All those buttons so neatly sorted on the table above were mixed up in three big bins when I started out to sort them last night. Finally finished at 4:30 in the morning. It is called obsessive compulsive!
Life’s A Beach
Here are a few pictures of what I’ve been up to since I arrived at the beach on Saturday.
The porch was rebuilt on Casa Gaviotas, but instead of bamboo and wood, it is now concrete and stone. The palapa roof seems to have survived the hurricane. The little palapa structure to the right of the orange building is Casa Gaviotas–my home away from home.
First night, a little party/jam session at Carol’s house:
Guitar, harmonica and flute. Not a bad combination. We mouthed the words we weren’t sure about but came on strong during the choruses!!
Loved this painting by Carol on the wall of the kitchen. The butterly is so realistic.
Um, more realistic than I’d initally realized, I surmised as the moth flew to a new location on the painting.
This little fella high up on the wall added his own chorus to the music.
El Gato from next door comes every morning for a nibble that isn’t fish. Usually he depends on the gifts of kind fishermen who share their catch with him. Quite a life for a cat. Here he keeps an eye on both fishermen, ready for breakfast to be tossed his way.
We inherited him as a kitten five years ago when we were here when the French lady who got him from the shelter left. I meant to take him home with me but when the time came, he refused to come with me, preferring his free and easy beach life and fresh fish every day. so Daniel next door agreed to look after him. Now I see him each time I come to the beach and he slips back into being a little bit my cat–especially around meal time. I call him Bobino. Handsome cat, and he shows the beach dogs who is boss!
Both nights, sunset tequila ceremony at Daniel’s–a nightly occurrence, year round:
Both mornings, I walked the beach, but not many offerings so far:
I’ve been swimming every day, took walks both mornings, wrote a bit and cooked up a pot of chili and another pot of spaghetti sauce. I like cooking in big lots and then not cooking for the rest of the week. I took some chili over to Daniel next door, then had a visit from my friend Michael. Yesterday Linda visited.
3 o’clock. Time for a swim. Another lazy day in paradise. No snow so far.
I did the below prompt over a year ago. You can see it on the WordPress site. So, I’m instead telling a bit about beach life today!!!
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/cant-stand-me/
Signs of Life: Smoke Signals (Under the Volcano)
Kids, don’t do this at home, but the rush of life lately has caused me to break some general rules of sane behavior. Let me preface my confession by saying the past three weeks have been crazy as I’ve been trying to balance life with construction projects, art exhibitions, doggie problems and packing to leave for two months at the beach. As a result, I’ve missed several of Cee’s photo prompts–which I try to never do.
So, jump ahead to yesterday (which sounds like an oxymoron, and I guess it is.) I finally have the car loaded to the ceiling with art supplies, kitchen gadgets, groceries, clothes and boxes of retablos for an art walk I’m participating in at the beach. My house and canines are left in the accomplished hands of Maggie, my house sitter. True, I forgot to fill up the car, check fluids and check on why the “maintenance” light has been on for the past month, but at least the guy at the first Pemex station I come upon notices that all of my tires are 10 lbs. under the prescribed pressure and has filled my power steering fluid up to the prescribed level–even though the warning on my car says to use only Honda power steering fluid. Where outside of Guadalajara would I find Honda power steering fluid? It’s probably just like that warning to only use genuine HP laser cartridges in my color printer (at $100 a pop times four as compared to the $10 generic ones). At any rate, I’m off and thinking about prompts missed when I suddenly catch my first sight of Colima volcano!!!
That’s it…that little breast-shaped mountain to the left of the far right tree on the horizon.
I do pull off the road whenever I can, but also start snapping shots through the windshield as I drive.
No, I’m not focusing by taking my eyes off the road. I’m glancing up, putting the camera more or less where my eyes are and snapping shot after shot. I’m holding the camera out the window and shooting.
235 shots in about an hour’s period as I approach the volcano, pass it and OMG!!! As I look into the rear view mirror, I notice that THE VOLCANO IS ACTUALLY VENTING!
At the end of the day, after 5 hours of driving, I reach my destination, immediately run into someone I know, find my rental agent out of her office, make a call but no answer. I sit in the car, air conditioner running. (Yes, it is hot at the beach) and review my photos in my camera. Thanks to the Lala truck that drove in front of me for a good distance, I’ll be able to use my photos for both the ABC prompt and last week’s “Compose Yourself” prompt, but I think I’ll put those pictures in another posting. I think the venting of a volcano as one drives by is excitement enough for this post, don’t you?
I call Juani from Juani Rentas again and finally get her. She’ll be here in 5 minutes. I shift to a parking spot opening up across the street from Casa Gaviotas––my home away from home for the next two months. I unload the car with the help of Israel, across the street, put my frozen stuff in the fridge, duck over to Daniel’s for a fast tequila toast to the sunset and set off for a music jam night at my friend Carol’s house. Home at 10:30 to finally have a better look at my volcano shots, and here a few of them are. By the time you see my “Compose Yourself” and “ABC” posts, your trip to here will seem as long as mine has been, perhaps. Sorry Ann, sorry Audrey–two friends who always advise less is more, but who would I be if I took their advice? Certainly not me!!!
I’ve shown you what I did this week. Now, here are my answers to the weekly wrapup questions:
http://ceenphotography.com/2016/01/16/cees-weekly-wrap-up-january-16-2016-and-wpc-alphabet/
(My alphabet pictures will be in another post.)
Since my learning style is experiential and this trip has certainly been a experience in excess photography, I’m posting it on the Daily Prompt page as well! https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/learning-style/
Since opposites attract, I’m linking my Salt posting to this Sugary prompt as well!
Worth its Salt
One of the first sights we saw when we drove into Cuyutlan for our writers’ retreat was a sign that said, “Salt Museum.” I determined then and there that I had to see it before we left, and we did so on the way out of town three days later. Here are some pictures I took.
The bones are of a whale that washed ashore some years ago. The lovely edifice is, of course, the exotic museum itself. The little creatures are carved from coconuts by locals. I resisted purchasing one.
Other pictures are of various steps in the salt collection process. The building is probably one of the weathered wooden storage sheds that warehoused the salt waiting to be shipped via rail. Cuyutlan was one of the major salt suppliers for the Guanajuato silver mines and I have read that the area is still a major producer of sea salt.
HERE is a link to Maria Holm’s photos and stories of the Mariager Salt Center, that prompted me to make this posting.
Here’s the Sugar prompt as well.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pour-some-sugar-on-me/
Two Times Three
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “An Odd Trio.” Today, you can write about whatever you what — but your post must include, in whatever role you see fit, a cat, a bowl of soup, and a beach towel.
Once again, been there, done that!!! Go HERE to see my response.
Yesterday, the center of Hurricane Patricia made landfall about 20 miles northwest of La Manzanilla, Jalisco, Mexico, where I usually vacation and for the past four years have spent two months a year. In this picture taken five years ago, the palapa to the right is the ocean-facing porch of my home away from home in La Manzanilla, on the Pacific coast, before Patricia. That is my friend okcforgottenman, blogger extraordinaire, making a “V” for “Very Pale.”
For La Manzanilla during Hurricane Patricia go HERE to see a 4-second video directed at my palapa rental from the back as the winds finally knock the webcam to the ground.
For La Manzanilla after Hurricane Patricia go HERE to see a video made today. It looks like the house I rent is still standing on the street side (at 2:14 into the video), but I haven’t seen it from the ocean side. Thanks, okcforgottenman, for sending it to me.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 