Wednesday 27 June 2007

Nostalgic for Mayaro

I'm going down a different road today . All day I've been nostalgic. Must be something about the humidity in the air that made me yearn for Mayaro and its long , wide expanse of sand. I spent hours on this beach as a child , digging for chipchip and soaking in the small pools at the surf's edge. Two weeks over August holidays would soon slip into the familiar routine of waking up, running out to get your coconut off the tree, drinking the water straight out of the feshly beheaded nut before the nut was split so we could scoop out the slippery jelly. These pictures are from my mother's childhood. They would be dated around the mid 1940s. She talks of her parents packing up the car complete with the cat, the dog and the pet squirrel.
The beach is still the same today. Yes, there has been a fair amount of development but by and large, it is the same. Certainly no full scale tourism or large projects. The full moon still rises over the Atlantic ocean much in the same way that it has done for infinity.


The pictures below are my Mum at about five. It's obvious where my love of animals comes from as they have been part of my life from my earliest memories. It's so hard to believe that these are from a life over a half century ago. Some things change but so many remain the same.
Here she is again with a baby donkey. The baby deer below was orphaned and belonged to her friend and Mayaro neighbour Marlene. He was bottle fed and and the centre of much attention.
The poses of childhood are universal and timeless.My Mum has been battling breast cancer for 12 years now. She is a survivor who has fought her battle with dignity and humour all the way.