Dendrobium Moschatum

This is what greeted me when I arrived home after a weekend away. Yaaaaayy! It's the first real blooming of one of my deciduous dendrobiums. All this means is that all their leaves fall off and then the canes send forth these fabulous flowers. I picked up this plant years ago in Arima thinking that it was the more common "Dendrobium superbum" which flowers a strongly scented purple flower. This flower is quite different because of its lip or "slipper" pouch.
Isn't it gorgeous?
http://www.orchidspecies.com/denmoschatum.htm has lots of information on it including the fact that is is indigenous to the area around the Himalayas, Nepal, Vietnam and Burma. Visit the site for more information on this amazing plant which grows to be very large.

Evening glory

The sight of the sun setting on the South American mainland never fails to amaze me. The mountains in the background are not Trinidad, but Venezuela. Less than seven miles away. It's surprising that there is not more movement between the two countries but language barriers persist.
There are several small islands that hug the northern peninsula of Trinidad and each of these islands has a distinct history. Our family has an island home on Monos.
This pirogue (local name for these solid fishing boats) was bustling on its way when we passed each other.

Just off the tip of Gasparee, one of the largest of these off shore islands, we were lucky to see the wild dolphins that are so common in our waters.

This was a particularly big pod and they frolicked (they really do frolic, because that's not a word I use lightly) around for a long time. They love to run with the bow of the boat so all the children hang over the edge to watch these magnificent creatures criss cross as they run alongside and under the boat. They often travel in pairs and sometimes we are lucky enough to see a baby. I don't presume the benevolence of dolphins because they are wild animals and interact according to the rules of their pack. I will never underestimate their intelligence but see no reason to impose my Hollywood "Flipper" assumptions on them.