Flora and Fauna

“To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle, every cubic inch of space is a miracle.” – Walt Whitman “Miracles”

Sitting here at my small table as I write my post’s outline for the week (in longhand), I’m amazed at what this corner of the living room can reveal. Facing me is a tall narrow window (part of the sliding glass doors of balcony living) and to my right, a large rectangular window – already I’ve seen a beautiful, wide rainbow stretched over part of Stanley Park and flanking Cypress Bowl (one of the many mountains I can see), there is also storm clouds undulating over the forest while I sit in bright sunshine. On the other mountains there are both dark and light patches, sunlight and shadow revealed as the clouds gather there and drift apart. And if that wasn’t enough beauty to take in, nature provided me with the spectacular view of a young eagle drifting on the thermals, his dark brown wingspan taking up a patch of emerging blue sky. This is one of our last days of winter and the signs of the new season to come are everywhere.

A favourite sign at the moment are the number of neighbourly vistas revealed by the many open curtains and window blinds I can see from my own open windows and on my many rambles. On one of the paths that I like to walk ( a path that is found on the edge of the park that parallels Chilco St.), I came across a ground floor apartment whose patio windows gave me pause. I think it was the stack of books against the wall that caught my eye and the simplicity of the space. The only other furniture was a single bed (neatly made) and a nightstand, I imagine those windows would be filled with the vision of the many trees and lush greenery of the park and if one were to grab a book, recline upon the bed with a cup of tea nearby, what more could anyone want? I love how we open our homes and ourselves during these waning days of winter to the conversations of nature, leaving behind our hibernating habits and unfurling those cozy blankets to embrace the new flora and fauna that is waking up to Spring.

Journal Entry: December 04, 2011

We are back at “Cafe San Angel” for a tea and coffee (they came with a bagel with their morning special). We came here for breakfast on our first morning in Vallarta. It feels good to be at our favourite table, taking it all in. Our days have been spent attending to our small chores; reading, shopping for food and many city/malecon walks. Two highlights of last week were our day trip to the Vallarta Botanical Gardens and down to the zocolo for the first procession (Dec.01st) of the holiday season. The gardens were beautiful, we spent over three hours exploring. We went on some jungle walks, some easy and one, very hard (the Jaguar trail). On our walks we saw wild vanilla, cocoa, poinsettia and quite a large strangler tree. There were also fruit trees, cactus and many plants. We had lunch on the upper terrace of “Hacienda D’Oro” overlooking the river (that we checked out on the way to Jaguar trail). The view was breathtaking and reminded me of Hawaii. A romantic touch was the various hanging glass hearts of all different sizes and colours. They had none for sale – I knew I might be able to buy one at the famous craft store near “Ley’s” and I did!  There were only two on display, so I bought one in a dark plum shade. It will bring back good memories of our jungle adventure.

A breathtaking shot of the flora & fauna at the Vallarta Botanical Gardens in Mexico