animal visitors

As I mentioned in the heading of this blog, we never know who (or what) we will meet. These days we have had a few animal visitors of note.

Last week there was a stray cat that adopted us and mewed in just the right places for the kids to say, "Oh, Mommy, he's hungry, he wants his mommy, we must help him..." So we put out some milk and the skiddish kitten was soon ready to come inside and get cuddled which is not what this Mommy was looking for....especially when we saw it was a female cat which would mean kittens which is really not what I am looking for!! I am grateful that the kitten seemed to have the same feelings and after a few days, ventured off for better grounds.














Then Carl got the rare chance encounter with a baby porcupine while hiking with some visitors in the pouring rain. We were sad we all couldn't see it but were grateful for the pictures Carl brought back for us (yeah to the Olympus waterproof camera - that is a blog tribute unto itself that I will do at some point!!).


















Today Kahlil found a small green frog (the size of his pinky) while we were at the Visitor Facility (where I work on weekends) that he proudly carried around to show all who were interested and some who were not interested at all! I did not have the camera to capture this amphibian visitor, but Kahlil proceeded to keep it on his hand and name it and talk to it until at some point I guess the frogged hopped away (I never really did get the end of that story as I was distracted with some work).


Tonight we found a snake on the road in front of the house. Once determining it was not harmful (we do have 4 poisonous species in Trinidad), Carl held it, Kahlil held it and Kamala touched it while Mommy photographed. We all love snakes and generally all animals.


























We have several pictures of Kamala sitting in an infant seat as a baby with Kahlil holding various animals up to her face for her to see - frogs, crayfish, beetles. This one here is a mountain crab. I am pretty sure it is mainly because Kamala sees us holding and touching animals that she wants to get involved as well since her first instincts seem to be more on the squeemish side.

















I love all the wildlife that comes into our lives and the lessons they bring. We try to find at least the name of each animal we see and to read about some of its habits. This is all part of connecting with all that is around us and knowing that we are all one, we are all connected, we are all important!

Rainy Days Lessons

The rains were torrential today. Heavy, cleansing rains that made rivers overflow their banks and change their course. This evening we did what we always do after heavy rain - take a walk by "our" river (as Kamala has deemed it) to see what changes have occurred. Yesterday there were two pools (perfectly kid-sized) - one which Kahlil and some friends have been working on every day to damn up and make a little bigger by building up rocks and digging out sand. The river then narrowed to flow downstream. Now there is a big deep pool and lots of sand and stones have filled up the other pool and widened the bank considerably. If the sun shines tomorrow we will see how fun the new pool can be and we will marvel at how clean and smooth the stones are now that the raging waters have stripped off any moss and we will look to see where the crayfish were hiding and how many still remain in the pool.

I love how close we live to nature and how much we can learn and grow from Her lessons. Cleansing is important - to wash out the old and make room for the new changes. And even after those cleansing down pours it is good to notic that the waters remain rough and dirty for some time, the waters keep churning before they can settle into their new patters. Good reminders.

Sheppard Waterfall

We live where rivers abound and because we are in a valley there are waterfalls galore. On Monday we took a walk to one we had never visited before. Our great friends the Sheppard Family (Nancy & boys Chas, Sam and Max) are moving to England tomorrow and Brasso Seco was the one place that everybody said they must go before they left. We were so glad because although we do not see them often, our times together are always adventure-filled!

Of course this is the height of the rainy season but the mornings have been beautiful so we set off after a big breakfast, took a 10 minute drive to reach the river and headed out in search of the waterfall. Walking in the rivers always requires dilligence and awareness - rocks are slippery, footing is precarious. But these boys make light work of such tasks and love the challenges of scrambling up the sides of a gorge or to the top of the waterfall. Meanwhile, Kamala is happy in the back pack - high up as she instructs mommy on how best to advance.

It was not a long walk to reach these twin 30 foot waterfalls that we named Sheppard Falls in memory of our best buddies.

After exploring, bathing, snacking, stone skipping and of course a wizard duel with new found wands, we were off to home again and back in time to make some lunch as the heavens openned and the rains poured down!

It was a perfect walk with fabulous friends who will be missed greatly! We are wishing you Sheppards all the best in your new adventures. We look forward to return visits and new explorations!!

Happy Birthday Kahlil!

Kahlil turned seven on Wednesday. He was woken by a call from his Grandparents (who are living in Italy) and then saw a note hanging by his bed. This note started a treasure hunt where he had to follow the clues to find each present. His first gift was a small magic set and book that I thought he would get into but the day revealed that he is too honest a boy to be a magician as he loved sharing the secret even more than doing the tricks =). I was still lazing in bed with a sleeping Kamala and he would come in to ask for a little help when necessary but when he found the second present of a (small) Lego Star Wars ship, I must have fallen asleep and he came back to show me the finished product that he had sat down and done himself. After finding his other gifts (a raincoat, new book and some money) using his clues, we all got up to make cake. It has become tradition that on anybody’s birthday, making a cake is what we do together as soon as we wake up.

The rest of the day was relaxed and dinner was made from Kahlil’s favorite food – smoked chicken – which we ate when Carl returned from a hike with a researcher who has been with us off and on over the past two years. That’s when we did the official singing of Happy Birthday and putting a candle in the cake (which had been picked at for most of the day). The day was simple and joyful and Kahlil went to sleep happy. And I marveled at how important all the little things are and how grateful I am that Kahlil can appreciate and enjoy those things as well.

















Now Kahlil’s one and only request for his birthday was a new bike – and not just any new bike but a mountain bike. The bike he has had since he was 4 and on which he learned to ride without training wheels has now lost it breaks and has a broken chain and tire. So I was sent in search of a kid’s mountain bike by my parents who wanted that to be their gift to him. I know NOTHING about bikes so I called in the help of some friends and the result was a great, newly refurbished mountain bike. Since its arrival on Thursday, I think Kahlil’s bottom has only left the seat to drink, eat and sleep and only when absolutely necessary! He has been riding in hot sun, pouring rain, wet grass and muddy puddles and the smile on his face is permanent!



















Here’s to a few great days, seven great years and many, many more to come!!

Grand Riviere

Last week we went as a family to the village of Grand Riviere which is a 3 hour drive from us to the North Coast of Trinidad. We were going to attend an Organic Agriculture Workshop on growing carrots and beets but also as a little get away to this lovely area of Trinidad that we had not been to in eight years and the kids had never seen. One of the members of this Org. Ag. group owns a hotel right on the beach and had offered to accommodate us for the night. My kids are not the greatest car travelers. Kahlil gets car sick and Kamala gets antsy and wants to get out. So we plan travels accordingly and this time we left at 4:30AM so they could sleep the whole trip and when they woke up we were pulling into the hotel.


When we arrived, the first thing we noticed was a beach littered with vultures – some sitting, some flying, some hoping around – all looking and waiting for good things to eat. The Leatherback Turtles that come to lay on the shores of Trinidad deposit hundreds of eggs in well dug, incredibly camouflaged holes in the hopes that one may survive. Unfortunately for those babies their struggles are high – waves, dogs or vultures that dig up nests and those same dogs and vultures waiting on land for the hatchlings or other birds of prey and fishes waiting in the sea. And this is without mentioning the many negative aspects of humans. So we were excited to see and help a batch of hatchlings make it into the sea only to observe the feast of the frigate and man of war birds as they plucked the turtles from the water.













Luckily, on this beach there is a man who walks up and down watching for hatchlings, collects them by the buckets-full, puts them in a large covered pit and releases them when the birds (and hopefully a lot of the fishes) have gone to sleep. Kahlil was his assistant for the day and I only caught the rare glance of him as he came to tell me how many they got so far or to get a drink of water. Kamala was hesitant at first but quickly got into holding and helping the babies. What a treat!