April in Paris..er I Mean Tegucigalpa

Well, it's April where I live...Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It's that time of year when all the farmers (and whoever else) want to clear their fields to get ready to plant this years crop. I'm thinking maybe someone should let them know about plowing under the leftover dead plants or even cutting them down to feed the many skin and bone horses and cows I see all the time. Below are 2 pictures. One was taken last year around September while looking out my window at work. The other was taken today from the same window. That smoke will linger until the rainy season, which starts sometime in July. Then the torrential downpours will wash all the smoke away and commence to flood the streets and wreck havoc. I love the word havoc. And knucklehead. I digress....back to the smoke issues.



This is the 'before' shot. Note the clear view of the mountains, the clear picture of the houses. Well, make that shacks. Over 80% of ths country live below the poverty level, with an average annual income of around $1500US. Annual.

And then we have today's shot below, with lots of smoke and a really big polution factor. The news says it's a combination of the smoke from burning fields here and from neighboring Central American countries and just plain old pollution. I'm supposed to fly to Utila Friday but when the visibility gets bad, some planes just won't start their engines here. Wish me luck...I can't wait to get snorkeling in the ocean.

In the meantime, does anyone have about 100 huge fans we can place stratigically here and there to help blow the smoke away??

A Visit/Reunion Home

In Honduras, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a time when the entire place celebrates by leaving town for the week. Since the Embassy closed Wednesday-Friday, I decided a trip home was in order. It's a good thing to go home every opportunity that comes up because my next post may be somewhere far away and I won't be able to afford the quick trips home to Texas.

The day before I left Tegucigalpa (April 3) my son surprised me with the news that he and one of my grandsons, Gavin, would be flying to Texas too. And then, a few minutes later, he told me my daughter was also flying in. What a treat! So, for the past week, I've been enjoying my daughter, son and grandson and my father. I love it!

Today is the last day here, with a very early flight back to Teguc in the morning. I decided that getting up at 4AM to return rent car and get through security and be ready for a 6:30AM flight was a pain. So, I booked a room for all of us at the Hyatt Regency at the airport. We will return cars (both mine and my daughter's) tonight and have a nice dinner and a good night's sleep. My son's flight isn't until 9:30 so he gets to sleep in! By tomorrow afternoon, we'll all be back in our respective homes.

My next scheduled trip home is next summer. I may have enough miles to make the Teguc-Kauai-Fort Worth loop early next year, but if I don't, I'll have a great 3 week home leave to look forward to next summer. I can't believe I'm halfway through with my tour in Honduras.

Being with family is the greatest...

A Ficus is a Ficus is a Ficus....

I've lived in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for about 10 months now and there's something that I've noticed that I want to share with you. When I lived in Texas, I used to look at a shrubs that were pruned into shapes and just wonder what possesses someone to turn a perfectly beautiful plant into a triangle, a ball or even (the worst) a group of balls. Well, I'm here to tell you that they absolutely LOVE to prune the Ficus trees and/or shrubs here!!! The sky is the limit when it comes to just what these lovely plants are shaped to resemble.

Here we have a lovely example of a...well, an exclamation mark? Maybe an egg? Perhaps it's a round ball that got out of hand.

On we go down the street and we come across this lovely row of oddly shaped boxy specimens. I can't wait to see what they do with them if they get too big for their spaces! Here's an example of artistic freedom and have yet to figure out just what the pruner had in mind when he connected the 2 trees. Is it 2 ducks kissing?? I really have no clue.

And then we have this really cool example of pruning a lovely tree into a basket, with a handle even! However, note that the garage door is directly behind the opening of the handle. It's my guess that the owner of this house got tired of not being able to see if a car was coming as he pulled out of his property and decided to kill 2 birds with one stone...make the tree a basket and then look through the handle!!

These next 2 trees (and I use that term loosely) are down the street from my house and I pass them every day. About every other day there is a man on a ladder pruning pruning pruning! Not one stray leaf is left by the time he's done. Anyone want to guess what this shape is called? These are about 15 feet tall....massive!

OK....I've saved the best for last. Well, at least the last of what I have photos of. I'm sure there are so many more works of art out there for me to photograph. I took this picture through the window of my car as I was driving. A guard sits outside the house directly across the street...with a very long 'gun' with a long barrel and a short handle. If I can stop someday and take a better picture, I will. Anyway, here it is...my current #1 pick for Honduran Creativity in Ficus Sculpture!!! It's a tree...shaped like a HOUSE!!

Next time....Houses built in the shape of trees!!!

Twenty Five Things About Me

25 Things About Me You Probably Don't Know

1. For 7 years I held a license to carry a concealed handgun in Texas.
2. I’m allergic to Penicillin and Cipro. Good thing I’m healthy.
3. I once hit a fantastic golf shot onto the green to within 4 feet of the cup from 190 yards out in front of Ben Hogan.
4. I got Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon’’s autographs when they were filming Some Like It Hot. Wish I still had them.
5. When I got my divorce after 25 years of marriage, I took my maiden name back.
6. My first job while in high school was gift wrapping Christmas presents at the local department store, spending every dime of my pay on my Mom's presents.
7. I was caught shoplifting Barbie clothes when I was 8. Never did it again.
8. As a child, I had a blast trying to catch grunion on the beach in Coronado.
9. I have over 257 different Nolan Ryan baseball cards. I went to Cooperstown when he was inducted in to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
10. I don’t have a favorite food.
11. On my first trip to Kauai, I did the helicopter tour. Best $135 I ever spent.
12. Toughest interview in my life was the one for my State Dept job.
13. I have too many "Best Day of My Life" to list.
14. The day I hated being a grown up most was the day I had to put my cat, Brandy, to sleep.
15. I have experienced love at first sight and it’s magnificent.
16. No one believes me when they find out how old I am.
17. One day, I WILL live near my grandchildren.
18. I’m bilingual and love to keep it a secret sometimes and listen to what they are saying about me.
19. The thing(s) I’m the most proud of is what great adults my children are.
20. I will never try oysters or escargot.
21. When I was 6 years old, I entered a contest to name the San Diego Zoo’s new moose. I sent in “Foghorn” and won a Shirley Temple doll.
22. I have climbed up to the flame in the Statue of Liberty.
23. I’m writing a book…the outline is nearly done.
24. I would love to earn a living at photography.
25. I do want to be married again…who wants to grow old alone?
    

Change...Some Good, Some Not So Good

I’ve now been in Honduras for a couple of days over 8 months and I’ve noticed some changes in myself. Some are subtle changes. Some are quite striking. Some are good and some quite possibly could get me in trouble when I return to the states!

For example, I am now a maniac on the road. I’ve come to realize that in order to survive while in the confines of your vehicle you need to take charge. You need to be assertive. You need to have nerves of steel. In short, you need to be a little crazy. If you show any weakness whatsoever, they (all the other crazy drivers on the road) will take advantage of you and crush you. I’ve lost all of the courtesy that I once showed when driving in Texas. If you are nice and let one car cut in front of you, you will incur the wrath of all of the cars behind you. You’ll also quickly realize that you weren’t just allowing that one car to cut in front of you or cross the street, but now there are 10 or 15 others, forming an unbreakable chain. It looks like their bumpers are glued together! Safety in numbers! CHARGE! So, there you sit, a line of cars crossing in front of you, the 40 or so cars behind you leaning on their horns (yea, that will sure make me plow through the car in front of me!), and everyone at a standstill because no one will yield to anyone else. And let’s not forget about the 12 motorcycles that have now seen a weak spot in the line of traffic and are virtually wiggling their way between cars to move forward. As a result, I’ve learned to only wave a car in front of me when I can clearly see there are no more behind him and there are not too many cars behind me. It is definitely survival of the most aggressive here in Tegucigalpa.

Something else that has changed about me is that I find I’m no longer a late night snacker. I used to love to snack after dinner was over. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t sleeping as well as when I first got here. I mentioned it to someone and they asked me if I ate late at night. I confessed my habit of getting a “little something” in the evenings. They told me that at this altitude, sometimes your digestion doesn’t happen as fast as you’d like so consequently, you lay in bed with a full stomach for hours. Your brain is overseeing your digestion and won’t rest until it’s done! Once I stopped heading for the kitchen late at night, I started sleeping better. I should have realized that long ago since many years ago, I lived in Mexico City and we always ate our big meal at 2:00 PM and at night had a small meal. Same reason…

I’ve also found that I have become a true volunteer. At the Embassy, I volunteer for whatever function or committee that comes along. Of course, it’s great for your EER (annual evaluation) but just getting out from behind my desk to go to meetings or realizing that I might have fun with a certain committee has made life better. I think this is the year of volunteering, or so I’ve heard on TV. You should consider it. What’s one afternoon or evening out of your life spent helping someone? Habitat for Humanity could really use some help. The local soup kitchen or even school might have some work that a good volunteer could do. Think of the good feeling you’d have during that one day a week that you helped someone else. I heard on CNN the other night that there’s a website set up and you can enter your zip code and it shows all the people/organizations who could use a hand in your area. If you’re smart in something…math, English, a foreign language…contact a high school and see if you can tutor some student. Imagine the welcoming smile from them (and their parents) when they find out you won’t charge $50 an hour!

Seriously…volunteering is a good thing. Give it a shot!

My, How My Garden Does Grow!

I thought it was time to post an update on how my garden was doing. When I moved in, there was very little in either the front or back garden areas. That just wasn't going to work for me because I'm a real visual kind of person and I like looking at pretty things. So I would buy plants, mostly small, and have Jesus, my gardener, plant them for me. As much as I love working in the garden, the economy is such that employing gardeners and maids is such a help to the economy and...who am I to buck the system?? When he would go with me to the nursery, I would pick out some plants and he would say, "No quieres mas grande?" (don't you want it larger?) I would shake my head and tell him he would make sure they grew to be large in no time at all! Well, this whole process started in mid August and I'm here to tell you that living on the equator is wonderful for gardens!!

Here are some pictures of the back yard, before and after shots.

This is the before shot. There was really only a large Bougainvillea and a Bird of Paradise and an ugly shrub on the left. Note that there were no flower beds at all. I'm not sure why, but it seems that everyone has a drain in the middle of their yards (the square black thing in the lawn).

And now here is the after shot! This doesn't really show how really pretty it is. With photography, unless you're a real professional, it's hard to capture the real beauty of the subject, whether it's plants, a sunset or a child. But I'm trying! All the 'little' plants that I bought are growing like weeds and the garden is filling in beautifully. There are roses, Mexican sage, dusty miller, Bird of Paradise (4 cuz I love them), vincas in a gorgeous orange, hibiscus, ginger, tropical orange flowers, begonias, gerber daisies, candle flowers, rosemary and basil, and some beautiful red and pink flowers. There's more but that's all I can remember! And since I'm working on my photography skills, my garden is my best subject. I would love to drive around shooting local people and sights, but I'm afraid I wouldn't get back home with my camera.

This is a view from my dining room, looking out into the back garden in August. I was getting ready for my first dinner party and thought it was a pretty picture...Sally's Guatemalan place mats, the Ginger flowers I bought for about $2.00 and my 'lovely' back yard.

Here's the same shot, taken yesterday (11/15/08). As you can see, I really like flowers on my dining room table! What can I say...my grandmother had a wonderful garden and I remember, as a child, getting lost in it, exploring for flowers and critters. Thanks Gram, for instilling in me to appreciate the natural beauty around us!

This is a view taken from the back of the yard toward the house. Again, it doesn't really capture how pretty it is.

I love close up shots, so here are a few of the flowers in my garden. This blue flower, I am told, is Mexican Sage. The flower, stems and leaves feel like velvet. It's beautiful!

I'm not sure just what this little flower is, but I love them! I have them in a bright orange and yellow, planted around the garden. The hummingbirds love them!

I love this shot taken from the table on the veranda. I've never been a big fan of orange but for some reason, it works here. These vincas are growing like crazy. I had to cut them back about 2 weeks ago because they were beginning to cover the red hibiscus behind them.

And the lovely gerber daisy. Not sure how I got white...maybe the plant looked so healthy that I didn't care what color it was!
So, that's the back yard. The front is not bad either, as you can see here. It too, began as pretty much the climbing plants in the right hand corner and 2 overgrown bougainvilleas that were moved. Roses, vincas, bird of paradise and other flowering plants are now on the way to making this a lovely spot to see when you enter my front gate!! Here are the before and after shots of the front.

Before....and after.
Better, huh?

I realize that if you have no interest in gardening, this post will probably rank pretty low on your list of favorites. But when you live in a third world country and your home is, literally, your castle, an important thing is to surround yourself with things that make you happy. Flowers make me happy and sitting at the table on my back patio in the morning, drinking a cup of coffee and watching the hummingbirds make their rounds...that's my little escape. Fortunately, plants grow very fast here. The time span of the before and after pictures is from mid-August to mid November...3 months. It will be hard to leave this garden in 16 months or so!

By the way, I post lots of my photographs on a site called JPGMAG. To see them, go to www.jpgmag.com/people/DebiD.

New England Beauty

New England in the Fall is a beautiful thing. I was in Washington DC October 11-16 for a reunion of my high school friends. Unfortunately, most of the spectacular color was gone…except for 2 trees at the home of my teacher, who was so gracious and let me stay with her and her husband. One tree was glorious in yellow and the other was absolutely beautiful in all its red. If you’ve never been to New England in late September-early October, you really are missing out on one of the most beautiful areas of our country. I’ve made the trip during ‘leaf peeping’ season several times and am still in awe of the beauty. My eyes are treated to such beauty at every turn.

The tree with the red leaves is included in the registry in Chevy Chase, Maryland so you know it’s special! Sherry, my teacher, told me that people often stop to take photographs of it and school children stop to collect leaves for their classrooms.

By the time I left, the vivid red had turned to a dark rust and the leaves began falling…and falling and falling. The front lawn was a carpet of color, a mixture of greens, reds, browns, yellows, pinks, beiges….it was beautiful!

The only way I could have gotten a picture of the entire tree was to cross Connecticut Avenue and I didn't want to do that. You'll just have to take my word for it that these 2 trees were a magnificent sight!

Maybe one day I'll be able to visit this area every year and enjoy the beauty. One thing is for sure...this was definitely not my last visit there!