....vignettes on an island

Yogis,
I’m back from a week spent soaking in the sun, sand, sea and sensations of the small island of St John. A few vignettes on my experience………

Earth

So many things catch your eye and leave impressions when you spend time in a place that is not home. One thing you can’t help but notice in St John is how they dispose of their vehicles. Cars, pickups and motorcycles which have happily provided service for their long useful lives are simply parked on the shoulder of the road, a bit into the brush. Turned off and left. Abandoned.

They are everywhere. Red ones, blues ones. Paint dulled or peeling away. Flat tires, a missing door or an occasional smashed windshield. Observing them is like being given a glimpse into a time gone by.

While the car became motionless, life around it did not.

It may have begun with a single vine weaving its ways around the rear bumper. A bush, blanketed with vivid red flowers, slowly drapes herself over the hood. The determined cactus coaxes the small rust spot to give way, allowing it to push its head through the truck floor, turning the truck bed into a container garden.

Slowly, very slowly, the earth begins to take back what was left behind. Creating beauty and art from that which we discarded. No hurry. She has all the time in the world.

New Friends

A raised wooden walkway led from our front door to the road, which could barely be called a road. On the right stood a very tall cactus tree and within its branches lived a small spider. I noticed her on the second day.

She had spun her web from one cactus arm to another and she waited in the center. Patiently. She was always there when I checked.

I began photographing her on the fourth day, only realizing how spectacularly beautiful she was when I was able to get my zoom to focus for an instant at a time. I spoke to her as I clicked. I watched as she thickened lines in her web that led away from her legs making her appear bigger when seen from afar.

As we left for the airport before the sun rose, I said goodbye as I passed. She was a new friend.

There were others. The donkey who stuck his enormous head inside the car window when we rolled it down for a picture. The self-assured egret who stood unafraid while acting as the greeter near the entrance to the campground. And the Turks Head cacti with their silly way of leaning this way or that in groups, appearing tipsy yet steadily guiding you along the trails.

I met and spoke with lovely humans as well, but the friends I will remember and seek out on my next visit were of the non-human kind.  

Turtle

The warm water buoyant making floating effortless. My mask bringing even the smallest shell into focus. My breath the only sound in this much quieter underworld.

I spot her floating on the bottom. An intricate pattern woven into her shell.  Her strong legs push the water aside as she swims upward. A pause. For a few moments we swim together, side by side, our eyes locked.

My heart gets a bit bigger.

Om,

SARAH

I See You......