“If you’d have a mind at peace, a heart that cannot harden, go find a door that opens wide upon a lovely garden.”
Somebody once said, I forget who, that intense love of a garden might be a mere hallucination, an idiosyncrasy, a want of manliness, a softening of the brain. Be that as it may, I have come to realize that the madness infects men and women from all parts. This is my garden diary.
Jean Renwick
This is January month, year 2000. The weather is unpredictable. For the first time we saw a hurricane move from west to east in the Caribbean Sea and our dry sea which normally starts in December hasn’t come yet. The lawns are green, the flowers brilliant, but the trees that need the change are confused and haven’t dropped their leaves to flower, the orchids are still waiting, the frangipanis unhappy.
We are told that a long term cycle, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation is shifting gears and wacky weather is still ahead. It is noticeable that the tides are very high this year and sea surges have done damage to the western coasts of the chain of islands never experienced before, except when accompanied by a hurricane. Oh well, as long as the garden remains we’ll manage.
What is gardening? Walking in it, enjoying flowers, harvesting herbs, or is it hard work done with delight, mowing the lawns, raking, pruning, watering – because that’s what it is for me. I tied a comfortable hammock to two coconut trees in shade, brought pillows, table, rum punch and a book but could only lie there a few minutes at a time because my eye would see something that needs fixing and I’d either have to do it right away or get pencil and paper so it got done soon.
Monday February 7, 2000
Today is Independence Day. There will be celebrations in Queens Park. Yesterday, at a tea at my sister-in-law’s home we talked about the Gairy days, trying to compare his dictatorship with the experiment in communism Grenada experienced from 1979-83.
I remembered the way we walked, thousands of marchers chanting “Gairy must go – right now!” just before Independence in 1974. What we got in ’79 to replace him was even worse.
Saturday February 12, 2000
For about 10 days now we haven’t had any rain but a few light showers. The lawns are starting to go brown. Soon the battle to keep the less hardy plants alive will engage. I must do a lot of watering.
The temperature has dropped and the Jade vine is sending its three foot long flowers down they will flower until May when it starts getting hot again.
Lunar dust, all aglow and Hawaiian sunset, some of the hibiscus hybrids, are showing their beautiful faces to the sun. The African tulip tree is covered with blooms.
It hurts to pull out a plant and destroy it and sometimes when I accidentally step on one or break a branch I apologize. Yet in trying to achieve harmony in the garden in connecting plant to landscape to soil to house one must accept that what detracts from this unity must be sacrificed.
Now that I look back how I wish I’d had an inkling of the joy I would get from plants, perhaps I would have studied and worked at making gardens – but how nice to have discovered this joy and to have the opportunity and space to practice it.
Tuesday February 15, 2000
In an hour’s time 11 visitors will arrive to tour the garden. Alvin is placing a Jade vine flower near my young vine so they can see its beauty, dog turds are picked up (my neighbor’s dog!) leaves raked, an Ackee fruit and mahogany pod placed, benches are wiped – it rained last night. I will go now and do some mowing before they come.
One of the visitors has found Mucuna Bennettii for me – she and her husband flew back to Hong Kong and I received an email and now look forward to getting the seeds. This plant, the new Guinea Creeper is similar to the Jade vine, but is a brilliant red – I’ve been trying to find it for years.
There is often great interest in the birds and animals but the time to see and enjoy these is in the early morning and late afternoon when they come to feed. The green parrots, a recent addition in Grenada having been released from cages intended for the U.S., are multiplying and their loud squawking will wake you up in the morning. They are never still but move along the branches of the mahogany trees bobbing their heads and talking to each other. They have a great instinct for knowing just when the fruit will be ready for eating and particularly like out ackee, carambola, avocado, and mangos. You wonder how it is that the ackee in which has killed children who bite into the unopened fruit, does them no harm at all.
The hummingbirds like the nectar of the Thevetia Peruviana flower. Yet this tree is poisonous to humans, even the milk from the bark and the small green fruit; although I’ve read that the seed is used in the making of a heart medicine. How amazing nature is.
Wednesday March 8, 2000
The Erythrina, we call the Immortelle tree has decided to flower although it still cannot drop it’s leaves and is looking very pretty. A chicken hawk who built a nest last year high in its branches has come back to have her young and her mate watches nearby. Yesterday he swooped close to the gardener and knocked my husband’s hat off twice – can’t blame him, I’d protect my young too.
I have returned from my first cruise on a boat and spent a day in St. Maarten with daughter Lucian and two grandchildren – so good to see them happy and loving.
On returning I see my son has brought two truckloads of bagasse – the remains of the sugar cane after juice is extracted and Mr. Redhead’s nephew has delivered many crocus bags of pen manure – now I will mix these with my compost to mulch and protect the more tender plants and drier areas so the coming dry season doesn’t do so much damage – now the fight engages.
In Miami I found some plants I didn’t have before, devil’s trumpet (a Brugmansia) white desert rose, the red passion flower vine, a beautiful white ground orchid, a succulent with green platelike leaves tinged with red. I must care them well or the shock of losing all their soil will kill them.
Thursday March 16, 2000
No rain these days and I watered yesterday for two and a half hours. This might sound boring but it is not at all. I get to see how everything is doing. The Baobab is dropping its leaves at last. I was showing it off to a visitor from South Africa being very proud since it may be only one of it’s kind in Grenada when she said “Actually, it’s a very poor specimen.” After that I read that the trunk can be as much as 33 feet in diameter and sometimes it’s turned into a shop or church. My Baobab is about 6 feet diameter.
Monday March 27, 2000
8:00 a.m. - It has been raining steadily for to days now. ‘Unseasonal’ my husband says. What an understatement. I have canceled the cruise ship tour for today.
12:00 noon – WRONG!! The tour came off, the rain stopped just before the buses arrived. Couldn’t be canceled because by the time I reached the agents the visitors were already at the pier.
The chicken hawk is being very aggressive and I have to warn visitors to watch out as they pass under the Immortelle. The male is attacking, knocking off my husband’s hat repeatedly and even hitting his head with his beak. Robin is threatening to kill him if he can find a way to do it and I am trying to get him to just leave that area alone and allow the young hawks to leave the nest.
The Immortelle’s flowers are falling like heavy slow drops of rain, the ground is a carpet of beautiful orange. Soon all the flowers will be gone. The small black birds are braving the presence of the hawks to get the last of the nectar from the flowers. Before the hawks put their nest in the tree you’d see maybe a hundred birds at one time but now they are afraid of the hawk.
Today I will start to protect the northern boundary in Mt. Parnassus with Pandanus, of which I have maybe a hundred plants coming off old mature ones. This reminds me of something I once read by Thomas Hill – “Gather… in due season of the year, the seeds found in the red berries of the biggest and highest Briers, the thorough ripe seeds of the brambles, the ripe seeds of the white Thorne… mix and steepe for a time… unto the thickness of honey; the same mixture lay diligently into old and untwisted ship or well – ropes, …being in a manner starke rotten… where you be minded that the hedge shall runne and spring up, there digge in handsome manner, two small furrows, and a half deep: into which lay ropes with the seeds…” Whew! Who said gardening was boring?
Saturday April 8, 2000
There are two fluffy white babies in the hawk’s nest. They seem to get bigger everyday. The mother looks after them diligently, bringing lizards and other treats constantly.
Yesterday Alvin, Everest, and I mowed, raked, weeded, tidied as best as we could because Greetings magazines sent photographers to take pictures. They got the mermaid pond, heliconias, the Jade flowers, even the Brownea (rose of Venezuela) sent out it’s 8” diameter flower for the occasion.
Sunday April 9, 2000
Yesterday Alvin, Mikey, and I got the boundary down Darlington hill on Mt. Parnassus started. We cut a 30 ft Bay tree for posts and made sure out fencing was the obligatory 6 inches away from the boundary iron. It rained off and on – usually on – all day and we wore ponchos I had brought back from Miami. Such fun!
All the same, kite flyers will be in trouble come Good Friday. Haven’t seen this weather in April for 20, 25 years.
Saturday May 20, 2000
I returned to Grenada early May after two weeks in St. Maarten with children and grandchildren.
What a different garden – brown lawns, falling mahogany leaves, plants gasping for water – as usual, I lost a plant or two from lack of care. The hummingbirds and lizards come closer now because they need the moisture on the leaves when I water. About six hours a day of watering by sprinkler and hand is needed to keep things going. Rain did not come at the full moon which has just gone and now we wait for the one in June. A Julie mango tree has put on blossoms twice but no mangoes have formed – another first.
Monday June 12, 2000
The rains come with the new moon in early June – and did it ever come! The mahoganies are dropping – leaves, pods. You need a hard hat to venture under them. The pods falling on the galvanized roof of the house wake you up at night. But it’s so wonderful to see the bright green grass and the butterflies once more. Every leaf and pod from ten trees must be picked up.
Sunday June 18, 2000
Full moon was on the 16th. I am reminded of my father, always referring to MacDonald’s almanac for times to prune, trim and move plants. Samuel Gilbert put it well when he said, “...out what trees you would have quickly grown again, when the moon is above the earth, in the first quarter; and if may be, joined to Jupiter or Venus. Set and out tree or shrub, that you would have its growth retarded in the decrease of the moon in Cancer...”
At six in the morning, six green parrots were in one of the mahogany trees. The trees are shorn of their leaves now, with fresh new growth just starting to appear so you can clearly see the parrots and they are pulling at the pods, holding them with their claws and biting them, pecking at the seeds inside – all of them are doing this, why? Surely they can’t eat them. Now, with a screeching they are off to another place.
Wednesday July 12, 2000
My trio of workers has arrived. Everest, age 77 or 78 who knows his hours are 7-12 a.m. and arrives at 6:30 to sit or stand and wait for 7 o’clock. Alvin with his white panama hat enjoying the feeling that he looks more like a boss than a worker and Mikey who will only wear his shirt inside out and will not wear white – ever.
Yesterday the Calivigny mango tree got pruned at last after throwing blight over my plants for months. Benny, the tree cutter arrived half an hour before dark with no previous warning and with a chainsaw that worked for just half an hour and then stuck – par for the course!
Last night I was in two minds as to whether the dogs should be tied since Carmen Williams called to say she was putting out poisoned sardines for the dog that delivers other people’s garbage to her yard at night, took the chance and didn’t. However, Rufus nearly ate the meter reader at 6:15 this morning – why do they have to read meters at such an ungodly hour. This one arrived in a beautiful shiny new car – in my day, they came on foot.
On a bright note, the Strelitzia Regina is in full bloom – so unbelievable the brilliant yellow-gold, blue and red. First time in 3 years and now I read that it is not a tropical plant but likes to be cool. Truly a bird of paradise.
Monday July 17 – Thursday August 17, 2000
What a month! Children and grands started arriving from July 17 –So wonderful to see the family together – so nice that they like to come back to the old house and us. There was a reunion of Randy and Vaughn’s school friends who came from all parts. The 40-45 year olds. Carnival was Monday and Tuesday this week.
In the 60’s and 70’s Carnival was held in February – Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. We would look forward to seeing Maypole dancers. They came up our gap on Monday, set up the Pole on the lawn and danced with the long ribbons, platting them around the Pole, all decked out in long, full, colorful skirts, the men in long, wide-sleeved shirts, children too. Sometimes a jabjab would arrive with cow horns on his head, long clicking extensions on his fingers, a chain around his waist held usually by a young boy, and of course, the whole point of the matter – a bowl to collect money so he doesn’t blacken you with the oily black tar he’s covered his skin with. If the devil looks like that no wonder we are scared of him.
The inaugural cruise of the “Aurora” was on August 3rd and I had 30 visitors to the garden. Nowadays all I can do is see that lawns are mowed, plants tidy etc., so much rain, everything is growing too fast especially weeds. Just put out three 100 lb bags of 12.12.17. Have to watch the Miami weather channel on t.v. so it doesn’t get washed away. Only one hurricane so far this year, Alberto. Right now it’s doing a circle in the Atlantic and is actually headed southwest again, having curled right around.
Wednesday August 23, 2000
I sit in the big verandah and watch the empty space that yesterday housed my confir. It was round as it was tall, about 8-9 ft diameter. Randy’s truck took it to it’s new home on Darlington, across the Zoysia grass where it will be the backdrop for a Japanese garden. I hope it survives the move. About 5 guys from the rum shop helped it on and off the truck – each one a boss and knowing exactly how to deal with it. I could barely get my voice heard to inform them that I wanted it handled my way seeing as how it was my plant. I gave them US $12 and EC $25 which is what I had in the house and they had a great time handing out dollar by dollar and counting, perhaps they were a little drunk?
Hurricane Debby just passed over the northern islands on its way to Florida, it seems. Lucian had some damage in St. Maarten but not much.
We were in Canada at the time of Janet, the hurricane that devastated Grenada with 150 mph winds in 1955.
Apart from destroying the banana crop and felling the huge nutmeg trees on the estates, it threw down so many houses, built precipitous hills. Sunnyside house sheltered quite a few Grenadians whose houses fell or were insecure. One mother’s baby was swept out of her arms as she struggled to get to the house across the pasture, it was impossible to find anything in the dark wind so she cried all night in one of the upstairs rooms for her lost child, a man coming behind, running to safety, kicked a soft bundle only to find the baby wrapped in it. He spent the night downstairs and she had her baby back next morning.
The devastation caused by Janet took many years to recover from.
Wednesday September 20, 2000
As I write the date I remember it’s Lili’s birthday. She’s four. This is the time of the year I move plants and it’s raining so much that I’m moving more than usual much to Robin’s dismay. The gardeners just think that I’ve gone a little off in my old age.
Yesterday we moved the Jasmine Vine to a trellis against the house, two palms, one about 12 feet tall, about 20 heliconias and a black-eyed susan. Of course, I would not have had to move them if I’d put them in the places they liked the first time, but when I started I put plants where I wanted to see them and did not understand their need to be in a place they liked. You always know if you’ve chosen the right stop by the way they flourish almost immediately and say ‘thank-you’.
Got a call from Huggins, agents for some of the cruise ships. Black Watch will be here Nov. 17 and I’ll have 130 visitors to the garden. It’s such a pleasure when the season starts, anticipating the joy I get from people enjoying the garden.
Tuesday October 3, 2000
Out of 20 named storms for 2000, ten bore Renwick names – Chris, Debby, Florence, Helene, Keith, Joyce, Gordon, Valerie, Tony and Patty. So I was convinced we’d be hit by one of them. On Sunday, Joyce passed close to Grenada. After agonizing over whether to stake palms, secure benches, move potted plants etc. I did nothing since the worst winds were 40 mph. Vaughn was here and we all sat in the verandah eating fish and chips waiting – we didn’t even get a breeze, just a little dripping rain and cloud cover for some hours. The private hospital nearby boarded up their windows. The weather channel was busy with Keith, who dumped over 20 inches of rain on the Yucatan Peninsular, spinning at 135 mph – there were a few deaths. We are so lucky.
Wednesday October 11, 2000
“A world where gaity knows no eclipse” I can see what Sedding meant by that. This morning the lotus lily is fully opened with it’s pink and white petals – at least 5 inches wide. Randy planted 2 small bulbs in a copper just 4 weeks ago. Mikey came to work yesterday – only the second day for the month! Coie says that he’s doing a ‘pankwi’. No one can tell me how that is spelt but it means ‘another work’. Anyways, we moved plants madly all morning long – a 20 ft palm, a screw pine, red cordelines, an amazing reedlike plant that sends up 3 ft bright red flowers in October. The thin shiny leaves hang over to 3 ft. looks a bit like a rainforest bromeliad. Also a Scheflera – and divided up the Strelitzia, bird of paradise! I’ve got eight plants now they’ve spread over the hillside, can’t wait to see those amazing blue, gold and orange flowers next August. The weather is perfect for moving things, total cloud cover and no rain so we don’t all have to get soaked.
Sunday October 29, 2000
Suddenly it’s over and seems like the dry season is here. The Immortelle is dropping it’s leaves having been confused a year ago when June to August were so dry that it dropped leaves in September thinking it was the dry season. They should fall in February. Yesterday we had a successful tea at Sonia Beatson’s in aid of the Horticultural Society. A colorful garden, her Bougainvilleas were in full bloom – it’s so dry in the South. Robin came in late and we stayed for drinks. The very wealthy Anthony Brown regaled us with stories of his days in the Navy and his trips to Bhutan and far away places.
Sunday November 5, 2000
Never say never – Yesterday, it rained all day, a soft penetrating rain not the heavy “Oh good, look at all that lovely top soil I’m pouring down the hillside”. In between, Alvin and I planted some white Petria to complete the hedge on the main lawn and replaced some greenheart steps down to the ‘rainforest’ area. Earlier this week we put out about 10 bags of nutmeg shells on the paths. Wish I had some visitors to see how nice it’s looking! September and October brought only ten visitors in all. It’s still so hot and humid.
Did I mention the Aechmea Bromeliad flowering under the Immortelle? It’s glorious – red and orange rising out of the plan itself, a mottled green. Randy is preparing an area under the almond tree for tortoise and I must plant some ferns etc. to give them places to hide.
Friday November 10, 2000
Yesterday, Shahiba showed me how to prune and wire Bonsai. I want to do Bonsai for the Japanese Garden but I’m not sure I have the patience since I’m more of a mover and shaker and find it hard to spend two hours pruning two plants! She is so keen on Bonsai.
At last the tortoise area is finished. It took 120 ft of fencing to surround it. Now Alvin is weedeating the roadside and I will put a small sign with a smiley face asking passerby to help keep it clean by not dumping plastic cups etc.
Wednesday November 15, 2000
It rained most of yesterday, last night and it’s pouring cats and dogs this morning. The 70 or 80 feet fern tree down the hill broke in two – I guess the philodendron vine got too heavy with water and the totem pole fell down – it’s balsa wood and so it rotted away, the rain was just the last straw.
The muracoys (tortoise) are in residence. Just 5 “red footed cluckers”, I think Randy calls them. The biggest is about 14” long. They must have been frightened by the car drive ‘cause they messed and one has a serious case of worms – must call the vet.
Thursday November 16. 2000
Woe is me! I have come unstuck. Rained all day yesterday, most of last night and it’s so heavy now at 7 a.m. that you’d think we lived on a tiny 10 acre atoll – not even Fort Matthew and Frederick are visible. Tomorrow I expect 130 visitors on the ship ‘Black Watch’. For seven weeks we’ve pruned, clipped, weedeated, mowed, replaced old greenheart steps, placed nutmeg shells on the walks and had some anxious talks with the flowering plants encouraging them to flower at just the right time – now the blue plumbago is beaten down with heavy drops and may not recover and water cascades down the gap and floods over the grass.
Friday December 1, 2000
When rains comes after a dry period, it is pleasant to wake at night and hear the sound, to see, in the morning new life and gladness of the plants and trees.
The last week however has been reverse, 14 inches of rain in November, the most for the past 8 years. You can only walk the grass if you put your feet down carefully – some places not at all.
The 17th we had a visit by “Black Watch” – 120 garden lovers and luckily it didn’t rain. It’s so good to show the place and hear the comments. Then on the 25th again we had a dry day – it was Trevor’s wedding. But the past week’s been impossible. I cannot mow the grass at all. Tours have to be cancelled. One good out of it is that the gardeners and I have been sanding and painting all the garden furniture and it’s taken the entire week. They do not enjoy painting and are not good at it, especially when they have to paint the grandchildren’s chair and table set in two colors. Never mind, everything passes.
Saturday January 20, 2001
Today was my mother’s birthday. Her ashes, in a box planted under the yellow frangipani, now in full bloom.
We are mulching for the dry weather which is here now and as I watered the bottle palms on the top lawn a pretty grey and white pigeon arrived to walk in the spray and drink from the watery patches on the grass. It followed me after being frightened off by Sheba, our dog. So tame, I could have held it.
Last week was busy, two boats and two hotel garden tours. This coming week will be busier with the Horticultural Biennial show next weekend. This year I am not as involved with the show but will help organize cocktail parties and do secretarial work for it – also take my gardeners down to arrange, clean etc.
All four children were here for Christmas. Seven adults and four grands in the house! So nice. So lucky to have a big family and be able to get together like this. One morning Lucian saw a man picking out fruit. She said “you’re picking fruit” he answered, “Not a lot, just some” and wished her a happy holiday. It turned out to be ‘Bubul’ whose habit it is to take other people’s fruit. Soon after, another fruit picker was up the golden apple tree just across our boundary. Although I argued with him that I needed what fell on my side, he seemed to feel that he needed them all. The owners of the property have not occupied it for many years.
Tuesday January 30, 2001
The show is over. Our Biennial flower show has just ended and what a relief. I swear my back will never be the same again. The orchid and Horticultural Societies of Trinidad came and showed their wonderful Chaconia and a multitude of orchids. The entire stage area of the Youth Centre was filled with our Heliconias, vibrant, powerful flowers, the sexy pink hanging four feet, Caribbea standing tall, a truly phallic symbol.
I brought hibiscus flowers to strew on steps and ledges and jade flowers to hang and actually won a first prize for my large flowering bromeliad about 3 feet tall.
What a pity that so few younger people have the time or passion for this wonderful pastime. Like the calypsonian said, “only old woman we taking home”. Most of us were struggling to carry the paraphernalia needed to set the show up. Thank goodness for my son, Randy and his truck “move it – ti evom”. He even manages to set up a pond with Koi carp.
So that the plants do well we must see the diversity of soil under out feet, it can be claylike, unmalleable, sticky, dry or warm, crumbly, humid.
This is to the time to mulch so that the strong gusty winds which have come early this year, does not combine with the dryness of the soil to erode the garden.
I have been reduced to stealing bagasse – the skin of the sugarcane – from an old sugar mill. That is, until I finally got the name of the owner, called and begged to be allowed to buy some and pay for what I already taken, only to be told that if he found anyone taking it again he’s carrying a cutlass and he’d use it. I have lots of compost and cow manure but I have to find bagasse to mix with it.
Thursday February 8, 2001
Solomon in all his glory cannot surpass the beauty of “Rose of Venezuela” or “Rosa del Monte”. This morning the first bloom, full five inches in diameter is showing its bright red face, framed by the dark green leaves, so abundant that at least three maribunta nests hang under the canopy. I stopped pruning this tree when it showed me damage done to its limbs, so soft a trunk. So now you must search for the flowers that hide in its darkness to feel that surge of happiness, almost bringing tears to the eyes.
Monday April 16, 2001
Today is Easter Monday. There’s been no rain since January – maybe a few light showers in February, surely the baddest dry season in a decade. Francis Bacon said, “Nature best reveals her secrets when tormented”. However no secrets are being seen. Only the crisp drying grass, the sad droop of leaves. The mahoganies, all 12 of them, all over 80 feet tall are dropping their leaves. The almond has just finished and boy are those leaves big. I can no longer water all plants and few are dying, as it is I sprinkle or water about seven hours most days.
As I write, the manager of Nawasa – National Water and Sewerage is on the radio. They are locking off water because of the drought. Many areas will now receive water for two hours every day and water trucks will deliver water where necessary.
Wednesday April 25, 2001
A few palms look as though they are dying and two coconuts have dropped grappes of fruit and most of their branches. I will try to discard some of my water loving plants and replace them with cacti and other drought tolerant ones. Oh for full moon! Surely we’ll get rain by then.
Visitors sometimes ask if we get animals troubling the kitchen garden – we don’t – except for the two footed kind. “Bubul” is back. He takes the prize lettuce, beets, always leaves some for us, so that we’ve gotten an estimate for installing a warning system. He came about two weeks ago. This time to climb a grapefruit tree, much of the fruit is gone but a branch he’d have to stand on to pick them is broken – it was rotten – hopefully he’s lying in bed with a broken leg or worse.
Tuesday May 8, 2001
Not even a mosquito opened it’s mouth last night – the wind was so high. The yellow pouis were all aglow in their golden flowers for the last few days. Nine trees on the hill, all flowering at the same time, since eight of them have sprung up from the roots of the original tree. So amazing, that golden shower.
Thursday May 17, 2001
Still no rain – none at all. A 50 foot Royal Palm fell down two nights ago. Coconut trees are dropping branches and grappes of fruit.
Worst of all, NaWaSa came to Darlington yesterday and said they will return today to meter the water. Now I have two choices, a gun to my head or slitting my wrists. If I can’t keep the plants alive with water, many will die.
Monday May 21, 2001
Three tree cutters took down the big mahogany tree close to the house Saturday. They worked from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. without a break except to drink water or coke. When they discovered that they were not being paid that day by their employer, they were very angry and I had no choice but to pay them in the hope that the lady who bought the tree from us would repay or else we’ll get the sawmill to buy direct from us. What a job! They were good – no damage to plants really, but no safety features! – No belt or rope to secure the man perched 80 feet up in the tree, no mask or goggles to keep sawdust from eyes, nose, mouth or even hair.
Thus tree was hollow inside, the bees having shown us this some months ago and it was too close to the house to ignore. Such a pity to cut down a beautiful tree like that. The wood will fetch a few thousand dollars.
Monday June 18, 2001
Spent a few days in Guyana last week – Demerara Life’s AGM. So much potential but so much chaos. Elections brought fighting in the streets, a few deaths, burning of buildings in the city. Flying over, the beauty of the treetops, sculpted rivers, so beautiful. After dark you must not walk the streets, the water is not drinkable, so brown. The dollar $1.60 to US $1.
The rainy season is inching its way in. Lawns green with a few dead patches. Days are spent raking mahogany leaves and pods but the promise of fresh life is seen in the delicate mint green leaves of new growth. The Cassia Fistula decided to flower after all and long yellow bunches hang down. The flamboyant is aflame and the weeds, not to be outdone, are popping up all over.
On Saturday June 9th, the Horticultural Society had a BBQ here. It was a success, we made over $3000. Luck was on our side – the large tent we rented never turned up, it got lost somewhere between Grenville and Beaulieu – or so the owners told us. We were lucky there was no rain.
Sunday July 1, 2001
The Intercontinental Convergence zone sent us a very stormy day with thunder and lightning, but best of all lots of rain so that low areas flooded, a few landslides on the roads. The lawns are green again. Chris Baasch, my landscape man from Valencia, Caracas is here for two weeks and helping design my Japanese Garden which must be like a room you enter through an opening in a hedge – yet to be planted.
I’m mowing again for 1½ hours most days. Today Vaughn and family arrive. Lili will spend a few days. Randa and Robyn had a pool party yesterday. Teenagers! Surely a breed apart – such exuberance, noise, laughter, what would we do without them? (Probably sleep better)
Tuesday September 4, 2001
Randa and Robyn left for Miami July 17th. I’ll miss Randa’s youth, exuberance. A thoughtful teenager, fun loving but conscious of others needs. Robyn we don’t know so well yet since she hasn’t lived with us.
August brought more rain than we needed. Slides on the roadsides, flooding in River Road – and plagues of insects.
The lovebug from silk cotton trees suck and destroy the young buds of the hibiscus, swarm around the house light at night – never seen that before. Crickets eat the grass roots on the lawns and maribuntas come to eat to crickets. Ants, frogs making their loud calls at night and hopping from pond to pond.
Lili and I saw some jab jabs Carnival Monday. Got some pictures, also of the Shortknee band – had to pay them to get pics. Carnival this year was controversial – Carnival Committee vs. Govt. Calypsonians told not to perform etc. but the people on the streets had a ball. Got a picture of Craig dressed as a girl with blonde curls, high heels – make up. Did he look gorgeous!
Sunday September 9, 2001
Alvin says he’s going to plant the Tobago – this completely confuses me until I realize he means Plumbago. This is the approach to the Japanese Garden which is starting to come together.
Wednesday September 12, 2001
Yesterday terrorists hijacked 4 US planes inside the country and flew then into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. The world looked on in dismay as television, radio and computer showed the terrible happening. No information as to numbers of dead yet. What is to come?
Sunday September 16, 2001
A week drowning in horror and pain. Images never seen before. My eyes fill with tears at the agony of those left to wonder if relatives are still alive, buried or long dead.
Wednesday October 3, 2001
Terror in America/ USA at war. The news stations are full of the aftermath of September 11th. The world gears for what? An end to terrorism, is that possible? Fears of biological/germ warfare. Time alone will tell.
The garden is at last starting to recover from the onslaught of bugs – grass eating crickets, lovebugs. The lawns look dark green once more, the hibiscus dance with many colored flowers. Yesterday Elsa Baasch pruned trees all day – what energy! The frangipanis, Brownea, red plum, graptophyllums, Orchid tree, the ground is strewn with branches. I’ve got a second gardener at last, Spanish will work 3 days a week.
How lucky to live here in peace with all beauty around.
