The Strange things I saw in New York

This was not a fashion statement. It really was so cold that the dogs needed coats. I even saw one with custom made booties. Everyone in Manhattan walks their dogs. Meaning, I assume, that all of these dogs live in apartments or townhouses. The dedication that it takes to be a pet owner in a large city is admirable. While I have five dogs and two cats, the dogs entertain each other, chase a few lizards, lie around or when particularly bored, uproot my plants. Could I live with them in closer proximity to me? Hmmmmm. This is so not the scene that you think you are going to come across in uptown Manhattan. I haven't seen laundry soap like this in years. We don't even get it like this here. So of course I had to investigate what was in this haberdashery. It got better, believe it or not.
Lo and behold- Matouks gets around. Here it was in this little, West Indian/Chinese/multi-ethinic, everything you need to whip up an exotic recipe, store. And we Trinidadians know that you can't beat a Matouks Pepper Sauce
Okaaay then. Dried something fishy. Who would look at this and say.....yes!! That has to come home with me today. There's no accounting for culinary taste.

And it wasn't cheap!

Thanks World

Thanks everyone who has visited and made comments on the blog. Thanks blogger team.

Desiderata- Sometimes a Reminder is Good

Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;f or always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantmentit is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Dusk in the Garden

This is my favorite time of day. Dusk. Lights are just coming on in the houses, dinner is cooking and all the lovely smells from the neighbours' simmering pots come wafting by. The speed of a tropical twilight is not to be underestimated. It seems to come up from the ground rather than fall from the sky. First the shadows lengthen and then the sky goes from blue to violet and then suddenly into clear night.
This orange heliconia is particularly vibrant and prolific. The bracts last for weeks on end. And this variety only grows to about 3 feet which is very manageable in the heliconia world.

One of my favourite begonias. I have never seen it flower but the leaves are so flamboyant that perhaps the flower is very insignificant. This variety catches easily by piece and provides much needed depth of colour in green beds.

Fern fronds make me happy.

This tanager is quite young with the pin feathers still showing on his chest. I have no doubt that his mama and papa are still close at hand, keeping a watcful eye. He has come for the bananafest that I have on my bamboo feeders every afternoon

Sunday afternoon on the Savannah

You can jog, walk, shoot the breeze or just chill under the lovely flowering pouis.

Or you can stop for a icy cold coconut water. Mr. Coconut will lop the head off for you with a cutlass (machete) and you can drink it straight from the nut. After it's finished, slice in half and eat the nutritious jelly on the inside. Yum! Great after a jog or good for a quick pick me up.

Mr. Coconut seller has an interesting life. There's not much that goes on in Port of Spain that will get past the vendors around the savannah. Just a stone's throw away, you can find the oyster vendors with their aphrodisiac molluscs served up in a spicy cocktail sauce.

My Very Old Orchid

This was my mother's favorite orchid. The actual plant was passed down from my great grandmother's second husband, a man called Pedro Centeno. While we don't have an exact date, it must be close to 70 years old. Mother (my great grandmother), as we knew her, had lost her first husband to typhoid in 1910. She was under 30 with six children, my grandmother Dora, the youngest just 10 months old.When I'm having a bad day, I think of her.
I come from a family of women. They gardened, they cooked and they talked. This is the first year that I won't be ringing Mummy to boast that the Shower of Gold as we know it, has outdone itself and offered up some five to six sprays. I hope she can see her favorite flower in bloom from heaven. All these women still live in me. And the orchid is still here blooming every year.
For all the orchid afficianados, I've included an excerpt from the site http://www.exoticrainforest.com/ that I've linked to below.

Dendrobium lindleyi Steud.Synonym: Dendrobium aggregatum
Often known as Dendrobium aggregatum, which is now considered to be a synonym of Dendrobium lindleyi, this species is a native of Indochina, the Himalayas, Burma, and the Malaysian peninsula. Capable of producing relatively large sprays of up to one dozen flowers, the small pseudobulbs measure approximately 5cm (2 inches) long. Typically, Dendrobium lindleyi blooms in the spring producing orange-yellow flowers measuring approximately 3.5cm (1.5 inches) in width. The flowers produce a very light scent and are suspended from an inflorescence that hangs like a pendent to the side of the orchid. Some growers choose to grow the epiphytic species on slabs of cork but they can also be potted or grown in wooden baskets. If placed in a pot the potting media is best if it consists of a fibrous material such as sphagnum moss. Dendrobium lindleyi prefers large amounts of water in summer along with warm temperatures (70 to 90 degrees F) and moderately bright light. Water frequently with a dilute fertilizer added to the water. The species prefers cool nights with temperatures down to the low 50 degree F range during the winter along with just enough water to keep the pseudobulbs plump. Some growers do not recommend fertilizer during the winter.


This Easter lily has just popped up as well. That is how I know that we are well into the dry season. They are always a lovely surprise when they pop up like this.

Another sign that dry season is in full form is the blooming of the pink poui. All the tree around the Savannah are in full flower and the roads, pavements and savannah grass is all covered in a carpet of pink. I believe the pink poui is the National Flower of Venezuela which would make sense as Venezuela is only seven miles away from us.
I think the sheer beauty of this flower does more for the psyche of the average Trinidadian than any marketing or peace summit meeting. If everyone had a poui tree in their yard, that amount of beauty could not fail to have a soul soothing effect. And responding to some primal clock, all trees thoughout the island begin their show at the same time. The things nature could teach us.
Thank you poui for gracing our landscape. Below is some information on the geneology of the plant: Thank you http://mgonline.com/pinktab.html

Zone 10
Pink Tabebuia is native from Mexico to Venezuela. It may be seen called Pink Poui-Rosea or just Pink Trumpet Tree
Larger than the Yellow Tabebuia, it is rated widely from 20-50 feeTabebuia Most mature trees we see locally are about 30-35 feet. Tabebuia Young Pinks grow like the Yellow but then fill out taller and wider
This Tabebuia is one over 100 species with blooms starting near the first day of spring in South Florida. Its clusters of pink trumpet flowers are very attractive

The Landmarks that Caught my Eye

It took us a day or two to realize that this lovely building that was outside of our 12th floor room was the famous Carnegie Hall. I caught the sun glinting off the windows in an unusual pattern.

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street.
Built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1890, it is one of the most famous venues in the United States for classical music and popular music, renowned for its beauty, history and acoustics. Carnegie Hall has its own artistic programming, development, and marketing departments and presents about 100 performances each season; it is also rented out to performing groups. It has no resident company, although the New York Philharmonic was officially resident there until 1962. To continue article click on text.

There is something incredibly peaceful about snow covered cemeteries. This pretty church did not suffer as much as a broken pane of glass on the dreadful day in September 2001. What did take the brunt was the ancient Sycamore tree that was felled by the debris. The sense of peace in this church will provide comfort to anyone visiting this site. It is literally across the road.

This was about as close as I could face getting to Ground Zero. Instead of looking closer, I spent more time in the chruch opposite to this fateful site. I quote from the sign in the churchyard.....

Built in 1766, St. Paul's, an Episcopal Chapel has witnessed the unfolding history of New York City and the nation. In the wake of September 11th, an extraordinary volunteer ministry emerged at the Chapel. It brought together thousands of people of every nationality, race and religion to provide care and solace to the recovery workers at Ground Zero. This new ministry became a symbol of the power of faith and the resilience of the human spirit. Today, St. Paul's continues to provide a sanctuary for people from all faiths and backgrounds who seek hope and healing.

New York the Wonderful

Here we are in the Big Apple. We were such tourists. It truly is a remarkable city just for sheer size and human density. Manhattan is actually very small and is home to some 1.3 (?) million but a whole lot more people pass through. Rockefeller Center was excellent to see because in my head it is the centre of the world. Goes to show the power of media.
Greek gyros on the street. Did we ever have any? Of course not, we were looking for the fancy places. There was so much choice it was ridiculous. Next time I suspect we'll be eating a whole lot more pretzels and gyros. Not such a bad diet if you think about it.
Votives lit in the church opposite World Trade Centre site.
The view of the building outside of our room. The sun was just coming up and hitting the front of the building and turning one side gold and one side silver. The snow just beginning to melt.
We did a lot of this. A lot.

The buildings are beautiful. And each one seems to say, "that's it..I've been here for a long time, I've seen them all come and go. So go your way, live your life, I'll still be here". Humbling, really. I took pictures of lots of churchs- this is St Malachy's and I quote straight from Wikipedia.....In 1920 the Theatre District moved into the area, and actors, dancers, musicians became prominent members. An Actors' Chapel was constructed below the main church in 1920. St. Malachy's became famous as a haven of worship for the entertainment community.

This church has seen notable ceremonies such as the marriage of Douglas Fairbanks to Joan Crawford (for our generation- the actress from Mommy Dearest fame) and Walter O'Malley's marriage to Katherine Elizabeth Hanson, and Rudolph Valentino's funeral.
The Neon Blue Electric Fountain in Rockefeller Center is new and very impressive. It was recently created by Tim Noble and Sue Webster. It is, like everything else in Manhattan, real but not real. I was overwhelmed by the power of image and illusion in this city Everything is digitally projected and coming from an island images like a neon water fountain struck an odd chord.

Below is an extract of a recent New York Times article on the project.
The two, the London artists Tim Noble, 42, and Sue Webster, 40, seemed even more excited than the crowd as they watched two years of work and a decade-long dream finally take shape. “The piece is really about danger,” Ms. Webster warned impishly. “Everyone knows you shouldn’t mix electricity with water.”
Yet the water will be only a simulation. Turned on each day from 6 a.m. to midnight through April 4, the fountain’s blue neon tubing and LED lights will create the illusion of cascading water.

To read the entire article clink on the text above.