09.21.06
Monsoon Season
Recently Hurricane Lane stormed up the coast. We rarely get direct hits from hurricanes here because we are in a deep bay which is protected by a mountain range that skirts the south end of the bay. If the hurricane comes from the south, the mountains push the hurricanes farther out to sea. If the hurricane comes from the west which is rare, we can get hit. We were hit by Hurricane Kenna several years ago which did a significant amount of damage especially 3 hours north in San Blas. Lane dumped close to 5 inches of rain on us in 24 hours. It rained very hard for almost 12 hours. As I was paddling across my yard to my meditation room, I recalled that in India and south east Asia during the monsoon season, the monks go into retreat and spend the time in quiet meditation. The people provide them with the necessities for the length of the monsoon season so that they won’t be disturbed during the rains.
09.14.06
Land Crab
All along the Pacific coast in Mexico, each year in the spring the land crabs make their yearly migration back to the ocean. If they are lucky enough to actually make it there, they dig burrows on the beach, mate and deposit their eggs in the ocean. With humans increasingly populating their territory, they have to cross highways and cross properties many of which are surrounded by fences and walls. During that time we find them everywhere. Our little dog will often find them in closets and under beds. If I can catch them I take them to the beach. Sometimes they don’t survive the encounter with the dog. Sometimes they stumble into the swimming pool where the chlorine does them in. It’s a hard life being a land crab.
09.02.06
Two Hibiscus Flowers
Hibiscus is one of the most beautiful flowers of the tropics. It comes in a huge variety of colors and color combinations. When we planted our garden, I found a dozen different varieties from pure pink, yellow with red throats, red with yellow throats, white with red throats, etc etc. Two years ago we had a plague of Cocinea Rosada, a bug that was imported into Mexico because it is a source of red dye. It has gotten out of control and it particularly likes Hibiscus plants and hardwood trees. The government in order to save the hardwood forests had a very intensive eradication program and we had to cut down all of our infested plants, mostly our Hibiscus plants. Most never recovered, just two redish-pink plants and one red that were particularly strong. We haven’t seen any sign of Concinea Rosada so we hope the plague has passed.
The other beauty of Hibiscus plants is that when the flowers close (they only last one day) you can pick them and dry them and use them to make a tea. They make a very tart red tea that is drunk all over Mexico as “Agua de Jamaica”. It’s very high in vitamin C and is an excellent diuretic similar to cranberry juice. Best served cold with a little sugar.
