Horses and hair sticks

     Three generations of the Julio Lopez family in Bluefields carve items mostly from rosewood and mahogany that they rescue.   In Virginia, when the utility company clears power lines, the trees that get taken down are usually oak, or pine.   Near Bluefields it might be mahogany, like the piece they took home to cure not too long ago.   
     Their creations include items that the Lopez family already knows will sell quickly as well as items that are custom made.  And their work has traveled far:  a group of Peace Corps volunteers recently collected pre-ordered plaques and there's a piece of the family's work on display in the Nicaragua's Embassy in Washington, D.C.  
     I have what was to the senior Lopez a piece of trash:  a mahogany rocking horse (minus the rockers obviously). The first horse of a custom order didn't meet his pretty exacting standards and so was discarded - literally dropped on the ground where it propped up one end of a low seat for years.   The horse now hangs on a wall at my house in Virginia.  

     

A recent visitor to False Bluff custom-ordered hair sticks made of rosewood....

    

 and then gave a pair to a member of our False Bluff family.

     My friend Sylvia Fox - who is more like a sister I never knew I had until I got to Nicaragua - liked the idea of the hair sticks enough to make her own from a pair of bamboo skewers she found in the False Bluff kitchen.  

...and beach treasures

     Not everything that washes ashore is trash.   I have bowls of pumice (see July 23, 2011 post) scattered throughout the house.   

...some even with remains of sea creatures still attached.

Beach trash

     For decades very few people visited False Bluff because the only way to get there was either to hire a boat and travel a costly distance up the Caribbean coast...or to slog a half-mile through a swamp, very uncomfortable in the dry season and hell during the wet.   
     So there's not been much effort to clean up the trash that washes ashore.   It's easy to see it's been coming in for a long time because some old stuff has been buried deep, uncovered as the sand comes and goes.

     I've tried to figure out where the trash comes from.   The closest land to the east where humans live and produce trash are the two Corn Islands, Big and Little.   They're only forty miles off shore but a lot of what has washed ashore at False Bluff isn't the sort of stuff that would have come from either place.   I think most of it's the residue of decades of cruise ships jettisoning their trash into the Caribbean.  
     As recently as 2009 many of the islands and countries in and along the Caribbean sea had not adopted the United Nations dumping ban that requires cruise ships to treat ship-generated garbage on land.   The Marine Pollution Control Act bans cruise ships from dumping plastics anywhere but they are permitted to dump garbage into the sea if it's been ground into smaller pieces (whatever 'smaller pieces' are).  

     I've begun to wonder over the last few years if maybe publicity about their dumping has caused some cruise ship lines to re-think their policies and take some ameliorating action.  (They make much of their money off the Caribbean, so to me it's logical that they'd invest in taking care of it.)  I think this because much of what we clean up are 'vintage' products, often quite easy to determine by labels; and because less and less 'new' stuff washes shore.   
     Maybe that last is wishful thinking on my part, that part about less stuff washing ashore because of a cruise ship line's efforts.   And that in reality we've cleaned up trash that took decades to collect and so we're seeing less now simply because we're making constant efforts to clean up, not waiting decades between clean-ups.
   

picture by Andre Shank

     Maybe the trash is still coming in on each tide the way it always has, and the difference is that now someone's taking the time to pick it up before it collects.  Who knows...but we'll just keep cleaning the beach.



   

Landscaping with swamp lilies

      The palapa near the end of the main roadway sits right at the edge of the beach.   Before the house was enlarged to include a kitchen, the palapa was the kitchen, with plastic sides and a primitive stove (see April 24, 2012 post). 

     Sea turtles nest in the sand just to the right of the palapa so after we removed the larger of the two buildings that were there, we thoroughly cleaned the area.   We also planted some coconut trees and swamp lilies nearby but we did nothing that will get in the way of the turtles.  Neither the small trees nor the swamp lilies give much of a show right now, but in only a couple of years the lilies at least will look as though they've been there a long time.

Swamp lilies

     I have no idea what this plant's called but it grows well almost everywhere...in sand close to the water and in low swampy land along the edge of the creek.  It's got a huge bulb that looks like an onion, with fleshy roots; and though it grows into a large clump it doesn't spread fast or far enough to be invasive.  

     And its exotic bloom's so white it seems to glow.

And among the guests an artist

     Andre Shank, one of the guests from Virginia, is an artist.  He's  a prolific painter so he's adding new work to his blog pretty regularly.  I've got two of Andre's paintings, one a gift from him and two of the other guests; and one I bought later.   
     Two of the paintings on his blog are portraits of people he met while at False Bluff.  Mr. Allen (also see May 8, 2012 post) and Mr. Allen's neighbor Ariel, both of whom live on the beach north of my place.   You can see Andre's work, including the portraits of Mr. Allen and Ariel on horseback, at his blog.   Check it out to find the portraits of these two people:

http://thebombproof.blogspot.com/

     Mr. Allen and Andre at the Caribbean Dream Hotel on Bluefield's main street.

     

     Ariel heading past False Bluff on his way to El Bluff and then to work in Bluefields.

Guests

     Five guests from Virginia visited False Bluff recently.

  

Passion fruit

     Another flower...pretty like the water hyacinth; but this one is more than just pretty.   The passion fruit, known in Nicaragua as calala, produces a delicious fruit as well as a pretty flower.  Different varieties of passion fruit grow in a lot more places than Nicaragua, including Virginia in corn and tobacco fields.   
     According to some sources the name 'passion fruit' is attributable to early missionaries somewhere who compared parts of the flower to the 'passion' or torture of Jesus:  the three stigmas of the flower reflected the three nails that nailed him to a cross; the twisty tendrils of the vine were like the whips that were used on him; and the ten petals of the flower 'resembled' the apostles (although I heard somewhere there were twelve apostles).  All whimsy, but a lovely flower nonetheless.
        

   
     And from each flower comes a fruit.  In markets in Bluefields the variety of calala for sale is smaller than what we have growing wild at False Bluff; and the fruit in the markets there have yellow, wrinkled skin.  
       Below are shown two vines that grow right outside the kitchen.  We made some serious inroads into this batch on a recent visit. 

  

     

     We pick our pale green variety, slice off the top 1/4 or so, and scoop out and eat the insides with a spoon, seeds and all.  The fruit also makes a delicious drink. 

Late for the party

     The guest that didn't make it in time for the birthday cake.

A birthday party

     Choreographed better than the Bolshoi Ballet, a birthday party 'arrived' at False Bluff early on a February day.   We were making breakfast when a boat from Bluefields - loaded with people and food and balloons and a huge cake and tables and chairs and gifts and party favors - came up the creek. And what a surprise it was!  

     Not even a bit of rain slowed things down for long.

     Three hours later everybody and everything had been loaded onto the boat and was headed back to Bluefields....except for a week's worth of left-overs, a cooler full of ice, and some memories of very good friends.

WTF

     Never know what you'll find....

Bermuda grass....maybe

     There's a really interesting grass that I think's in the Bermuda grass family.   It grows lavishly all over the Corn Islands but at the start of this project, not at False Bluff.....probably because when I started the project there wasn't any place for grass to grow.  Here's what it does on Big Corn where it seems to have an affinity for coconut trees, piling up against the base of a tree trunk like a ten car crash in a snow storm.  

     There's not very much of this grass to be found in Bluefields.  But there is some in the elevated front yard of the Moravian School along the main street; and it had 'dripped' out of the school yard to spring up in the cracks along the sidewalk four feet below.  I rescued some from pedestrian traffic.
      I planted the few small clumps I took out to False Bluff at the base of coconut trees - five or six trees, I think.  The grass has established itself well enough that now we're taking clumps from those patches to put at the base of other coconut trees.  And we've got a lot of coconut trees.  The picture shows where hand-sized  divots have been dug out for planting elsewhere (those divots are the size of the original plantings).

     Some people really dislike this grass, but I find it a pleasure to see and a pleasure to walk on; and since it grows right up to the edge of the beaches on Big Corn, I know salt water spray isn't a problem.   Anything that'll grow and thrive in that environment is worth planting....as long as it looks good.
      But one of the things about this grass I didn't know is the way it grows when it's starting out.

Where the main 'avenida' goes

     So far there are two of these avenidas at False Bluff.  The short one,  branching off the main roadway, leads to the house. 
    The main one and its landscaping have taken up the three previous posts.  It goes from the end of our first dock (see July 30, 2011 post), past the house, and across part of False Bluff to a shady spot right at the edge of the beach.... 

Even more about the fence and about lemon grass-with an edit

     The last couple of posts have been about putting up a new section of fence primarily to direct traffic flow across the property; and about planting lemon grass as an edging directly below the cross-pole parts of the fence.  Once the lemon grass has matured into big clumps, the fence won't be needed:  the lemon grass will do what the fence does now.
      A few years ago, when we were still having to buy coconut trees to plant, I lined the 'avenida' (which goes across part of False Bluff) with the tallest coconut trees I could find locally.  This roadway divides the dock part of the property from the part of the property that will eventually house small cabins facing the water.  The new fence goes along one side of this roadway, directly in front of one of the two lines of coconut trees which edge it.  And, of course, now lemon grass also lines the edge of the roadway where the fence is. 
     So we have two lines of coconut trees which meander across part of the property, with a fence along one of the lines, and a row of lemon grass.   Eventually, there will be tall coconut trees and low clumps of lemon grass.

     There's a shrub that's used for landscaping that I first saw in Bluefields.   I found it growing wild at False Bluff and have no idea what its name is.  It has glossy green leaves and bright yellow flowers - and once it gets big enough to bloom it doesn't stop.   I rooted more than a  hundred cuttings and the first ones I planted along the house in front of the kitchen - a year ago - are blooming.   The ones between the coconut trees aren't quite there yet, but when they do begin to bloom they'll add a whole other dimension to the landscaping along the dock side of the roadway.  
     NOTE:  A reader identified this plant as 'Allamanda,' prolific in the tropics of Central and South America.  Thanks Joe!
     There are three of these shrubs planted between each pair of coconut trees, just behind the lemon grass.  So what we will have, again, eventually, are tall coconut trees, mid-size blooming shrubs and low clumps of lemon grass.  
      When that happens I'll post pictures.  Until then here's the plant in full bloom and you'll just have to imagine the rest:

Lemon grass edging

     About a year ago I dug up a large clump of lemon grass and divided it into much smaller plants.  I used these small plants to edge the 'avenida' leading to the house.   Here's what the grass looked like a couple of months after it was first planted.

        It turns out that lemon grass is one of the plants that thrive in the hot salt-laden air at False Bluff.  Each of the small plants I used as edging then, are themselves now big, fat clumps.   As landscape plants they are impressive in their hardiness in the Caribbean environment, the speed with which they grow, and the show they put on.

          And so the day after the new, short, no-wire fence was finished (see previous post) I began digging up and dividing other large clumps of lemon grass.   I didn't have to dig up the grass edging the 'avenida' to the house;  I had left several clumps to use later...and now was 'later.'
     Directly beneath the poles tied to, and between, the posts of the newly created fence I planted a small starter-plant of lemon grass that I pulled from the large clumps I dug for this purpose.   I put one of the little plants about every eighteen inches all along the 200 meters of new fence.   You can hardly see the small plants now, but they'll make a stunning edging in less than a year.   
     Lemon grass is more than just a pretty face:  it scents the air at dusk and dawn; and it makes nice tea, hot or cold.  Locally known as 'fever grass' the tea is reported to reduce fever although from what I've been able to find online there's no supporting evidence for this.   
     It's also used to infuse distilled alcohol...like rum?    I haven't tried it in rum but vodka infused with lemon grass is a well known and popular combination in other parts of the world.  

More about fencing

     Three years ago we put a fence along much of the east and south property lines.   We used barbed wire because it's a) cheap, b) readily available, and c) easy to install.   What I didn't fully consider was what the salt in the air would do to the wire.  Along all of the eastern fence line, and much of the southern, the salt has dissolved the galvanized wire:  the fence is gone.   

       
     By now, though, people heading to the beach from the pier act as though the wire is still there and don't trespass so the missing wire's not too important.  I knew when we installed the fence that strands of wire - even barbed wire - weren't going to keep people off the property.   At the most the fencing just marked the lines.
     But there was still the issue of short-cuts across the property that were resulting in worn pathways that look like stripes across the emerging grass and through landscape plantings.   So additional fencing was in order.  
     This time though we needed a fence that went from the pier all the way across the cleared section of the property in front of the house, in line with some of the coconut trees we've planted...about 200 meters' worth.   We just had to figure out a fence with a minimum visual impact and no metal.
    We ended up setting short posts about twelve feet apart:  one post between each pair of coconut trees.   Tied to, and between, each post is a pole, about as big around as a fishing pole.  The poles are at waist height, nearly at the top of each of the posts:  too high to step over unless you're about seven feet tall;  too low to get under unless you crawl.   
     Much lower impact all round.

      

Water hyacinth

       A welcome addition to the expanding variety of flowering plants at False Bluff.  The man who cleared the creek and thatched the roof and takes visitors fishing found a large patch of this hyacinth somewhere.  
     He brought and planted several small 'starts' in low lying areas that stay wet most of the year.   Slowly spreading, it sports new blooms daily.  

Pastry

     Cooking pastry at False Bluff isn't simple.   Done with wood and an open fire makes it trickier than simply turning on your stove's oven.

     First collect and split the wood.   

      Making the treats from scratch is done pretty much the same around the world.

 

      The pastry is placed in the bottom of a large, heavy pot which is then put both over - and under - a fire.   A piece of metal (in this case a piece of metal roofing material) is used to cover the pot and provides a surface for the top wood fire.

 

      This pastry is filled with a cheese/sugar/cinnamon mix and is golden brown when cooked.

  

    

Another spectacular sunrise

     False Bluff faces east and we see many days that have pretty amazing beginnings.

Some of the hibiscus

     There's a variety of hibiscus blooming and additional varieties being planted.  Fun to see and to cut for use in the house.