To celebrate my previously belabored 25th island anniversary, I'm choosing to do exactly what I want, & possibly not what you'd expect. I did not go to the beach, or to one of the great local restaurants, bars, galleries, or shops.
I turned off the DVD player & Netflix, grabbed Mu & an iced lemongrass/peppermint tea, & spent the entire weekend in the back yard. I pulled vines & trimmed dead leaves off the palms & bananas, knocked down jack Spaniard nests & unearthed a bunch of lovely surprises.
Under miles of happily yellow-blooming wedelia vine I found all those Guzmania bromeliads I got the last 2 years when Home Depot left them for dead & knocked down the price are blooming again. Juicy, bright & fresh, & just showing off for each other since no one without X-ray technology could have seen them.
I also found Soursop Wars are in full swing again, with their gushy, overripe bombs dropping all over, loudly & unexpectedly. I filled a pail with their squishy selves & dumped them in the compost to do some last measure of good.
The never ending parade of fruit is at it behind the scenes too. Turns out the very-much-missed when fallow key lime tree is again full of fat little green marbles & my days of lamenting the poor excuses in the stores are almost over. The Surinam cherry is covered in little white blooms too. And there is a huge bloom pod on either a plantain or a banana down below the porch. Major plant nerd excitement either way.
And in the non-edible category, the surprise winner is the bullhorn orchid. Blooming so high up in the African tulip tree & nearly obscured by neighboring Flamboyant limbs covered in their red-orange petal confetti, staring was required to see the prize. Not a bad thing to be unable to see beauty obscured by gorgeousness.
As for beauty, Mu is demanding I think about dinner (as in mine becoming hers), so I'll leave you to look for your summer surprises. May they be wonderful!
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