RIP Lukas

Just adding this extra bit, in case anyone reads it. My beloved boy, Lukas, was put to sleep yesterday, 17th January 2012. He went peacefully, here at home. God speed, darling and rest in peace. Love always, Mum xx

The Last Post

I am now closing this blog because I am no longer in St Lucia. I made the decision to move back to England to be a hands-on granny to Pia's expected twins and I arrived back here on Easter Monday, 13th April.

I am currently staying in a rented flat in the middle of Stockton on Tees whilst the process of buying a house I've seen in Hurworth, a village between Eaglescliffe and Darlington, hopefully comes to fruition.

Pia's twins were born just after 10 pm on Tuesday 9th June. Two little boys, Toby and Finlay.

I'm starting a new blog now, which will be mainly about them.

Thanks everyone for reading this one.

First Picture Of My Grandchildren!

This is a picture from the scan that Pia had yesterday. You can just see both babies in it. The diagonal line across the middle is where the two embryonic sacs meet each other. Amazing!

Sue and The Beanstalks

You may (nor not) remember that when Malcolm was here in May we visited the little organic farm at Latille Waterfall. Michael, the young man who showed us round, gave me some beans - the seeds, not the green things - and told me they were Wing Beans.

Malcolm had come across these in northern Africa but not within the Caribbean and I'd never heard of them. Michael was rather cagey when I asked him where he'd got them from so maybe they were brought in illegally.

When we got home I looked them up on the internet. Above is one of the pictures I downloaded. They originate from Papua, New Guinea, and are one of nature's wonder foods as every part of them is edible. They are also easy to cultivate as they need no fertiliser, instead putting nourishment back into the soil.

One of the things that is difficult to obtain here is a supply of fresh, green veg. that are not ludicrously expensive because they are imported. So this seemed like a good way of providing myself with something that a) would be good for me and b) I would enjoy.

I started the beans off in those seed trays divided like ice cubes - can't remember what you call them - then potted on and finally put them in the garden. My biggest fear was that the dogs would dig them up, or that the male dogs would wee on them and kill them, so I surrounded both wigwams with chicken wire.

Amazingly (to me!) they flourished and I have so far had two servings of them. Next year I shall plant more!

Wow! They're growing!

As Michael at Latille had planted his in wigwams, just like British runner beans, I did the same. I had enough beans for two.

It was very exciting when they began to wind their way up the supports. Here's one of the wigwams, pictured shortly before my Uk holiday.

Crossed fingers . . .

When I got back from my holiday in England, one of the first things I did was check my beans.

I was thrilled to see flowers on them - where there are flowers, beans may follow . . . . .

IncrEDIBLE !

I still get excited, even at my advanced age, when I plant something and it grows!

This is one of the beans my plants produced - just like the book!

AND it tasted delicious!

CORRECTION

The birds that nested in my avocado tree are not tropical mockingbirds, they are grey kingbirds.

Sorry!

Out of the nest!

Yesterday I was watching all the wing-flapping and practising going on in the nest and couldn't understand how they didn't fall out! A mug of tea on my desk inside went cold whilst I was out there, I couldn't tear myself away.

Just as I was waking up this morning I heard a lot of noise from outside and when I went to see how things were today I found the nest empty!

However the youngsters hadn't gone very far - they were all perched on nearby little branches, just a short hop from the nest. It was quite difficult to get this picture because the parents are more protective than ever.

To shoot a mockingbird

A pair of tropical mockingbirds have nested in an avocado pear tree close to one corner of my balcony. I've been lucky enough to get photos of the chicks as they developed and of the parents feeding them. This was my first venture into wildlife photography so please bear with the varying quality of the pictures! I couldn't seem to manage apertures, shutter speeds AND watching for the parents returning with food for the babies.

The parents were a little nervous and tended to dive-bomb me if I got too close but I think they were actually more bothered by my laundry flapping on the line. Once I took the sheets in they calmed down quite a lot.

The dark mass in the lower left hand corner of the pic is the nest. As you can see, it is very unprotected. We have had strong winds and torrential downpours in the last few days and I wondered whether the chicks would survive. They did!

The nest was near the top of an avocado tree near a corner of my balcony (closer than it looks in this photo).

The dark splodge in the upper left corner of the tree shows the position of the nest.

Whilst one parent was off hunting for food, the other kept watch from the top of the tree.

I didn't fancy being stabbed with this lethal-looking insect eater's beak.

I never did work out which was mum and which was dad. They seemed to share the parenting and the hunting for food.

First view of the newly hatched babies. There are actually three of them in the nest, though only two wanted their pictures taken.

'One day, my son, all this will be yours!'

The other parent has returned with food for the babies.

They grow so quickly. This was taken a couple of days after the last pics. You can just see the head and beak of the third baby in the middle of the nest.

Here are the 3 fledglings this morning. How they all fit in the nest beats me! Judging by all the wing-stretching and flapping that goes on, I should think they'll be ready to take off pretty soon.